Saturday, December 19, 2015

Retro Y'all! Holiday Edition

I originally intended for all the December Retro Y'alls to be novelty songs, but this one kept coming back to mind over and over again.  The song I had originally chosen for this week didn't quite seem appropriate, given all that's going on right now.

For too many people, the world is a scary place right now.  In that light, this was the only choice to make.

Do they know it's Christmas time?


Saturday, December 12, 2015

Retro Y'all! Holiday Edition!

I had to bend the rules for this one, but there was no way in heck that I was not going to include it.



I always try to find a period performance video by the original artist to go with my selections, but there just wasn't one this time.  There were lots of vids using the original recording in the video, but this is the one I really, really liked, even though I'm pretty sure it's a cover.  Those guys are having too much fun.  So I'm using this one in the spirit of the holiday.

Out of all the Christmas novelty songs that have ever been recorded, this one is certainly a front-runner for the oddest, which is why I love it so.

By the way, Santa's donkey was really named Nestor.  I think I would wanna be called Dominick too, if my name were Nestor.

No offense meant to any Nestors out there.  Really.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Gather 'round!


 Come join the circle!  I have a tale to tell.  A tale of a wonderful, far away place.  A place called "Arkansas."

This is a land of plentiful thrift shops.  I found four on one street!  Some have familiar names--Goodwill and Salvation Army--but others have different names, like MARVA.  One legendary store is referred to as the SCT (Super Cheap Thrift) by one beloved local.  Alas, I did not get to behold those glories (of the SCT and the beloved local) at this time.  Perhaps on a future trip.

Plentiful treasures are found within these shops! 
Items are priced in cents, instead of the usual dollars.  When there is something priced in dollars, more often than not, it's only one dollar and not several.  What prices!  What treasures!  Things practically fall into your cart and you walk out with bags full of stuff, all for less than five bucks!

There are even stores where things aren't priced, so you don't know what you're in for until you get to the register.  Now, this is not an ideal situation, as you are set up for a nasty surprise,
but in Arkansas, the surprises are always pleasant.  You know you're in good hands when your pile of stuff gets you a "How about three bucks?" from the friendly cashier.

Oh, yeah.  The cashiers are always friendly.

Even the antique malls are havens of affordable delight, which is not something I can always say.  Have you ever seen a booth in an antique mall with a sign that says:  "BARGAIN BOOTH!  Everything a dollar or less?"  I have.
It's in Arkansas.

Arkansas.  Truly a junker's paradise.  You have to experience it for yourself.

If you do go, don't forget to check out my man, Fred.  I always have to go to Fred's when I visit.  Look at all the Christmas clearance I found!

Christmas clearance at Thanksgiving?  That's the wonder of Arkansas! 


Can't wait for my next trip to this wonderland of junk!

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Thoughts from a Scan

I had my scan yesterday.  I'll get results next week.  Getting a scan is a lengthy process.  If you've never done one, you would think they just shove you in the machine, yank you out, and that is that.

In actuality, it takes about two and a half hours for the full body scan, which is what I get.  First off, you have to do all the prep stuff:  blood sugar check, isotope injection, and contrast consumption.  The contrast is gross-tasting, like an off-flavor Tang.  After that, there's a wait for the contrast and the isotope to get all over your insides, so they'll be all glowy and stuff for the scan.  Bear in mind, that while this is happening, you are very aware that you haven't eaten for HOURS.

The scan itself takes about 40 minutes, or at least mine do.  They do two scans on me.  The first is a head/neck scan, which is the short scan.  This is followed by the rest of the body, which is longer, and also requires that I hold my arms above my head, which makes it seem a lot longer.  My shoulders are always so stiff that I can barely lower them when it's over.  I do have to admit that this part is a lot more bearable since the steroids came into my life.

That's a lot of time just laying around, doing nothing, which means that I start getting bored, which means that my mind starts to wander on to all kinds of bizarre things.  If I actually got around to typing all the blog posts I have drafted in my head during my scans, you all would either think I'm a genius or totally insane.  (As if you don't already.)

This time, however, there was a bit of a wrinkle.  I've been taking anti-biotics for the past week or so to finish off my post-Thanksgiving illness.  I took the last one today, so that's done.  Everything is cleared up, even the cough is gone.  I'm feeling good, but this process has not been without side effects.

To be blunt, the anti-biotics have made me...well...a little...gassy.

Now, I'm not talking blow-the-door off, clear-the-room all-out farts.  These are just little build ups of air in the gut that have to go somewhere.  Somewhere, as in outside of me.   Generally, it's just a bunch of tiny toots.  A bunch.  Usually these little spells last for several minutes and happen two or three times a day.  Since I took the last pill today, I'm expecting them to stop in a day or two.

Of course, one of these spells hits while I'm getting the scan.  As I'm sitting in the injection room, waiting for the contrast to take effect, I just start firing off a series of these little toots.  It lasts for about ten minutes or so and then it passes.  I'm alone in a closed room, so it's no big deal.

Until I get to the long scan.  And another spell hits.  I'm in the scanner.  The tech is in another room, running things.  These are the thoughts that result.

"I gotta fart."

"Should I fart?"

"Who would know?  Maybe I should fart."

"What if I accidentally move a little when I fart?  Would that mess up the scan?"

"I would hate to have to do this again, just because I farted."

"Surely I can fart without moving.  Don't most people?  I've never seen any fart wigglers. Or wiggly farters."

"What if I don't fart?  Will that show up on the scan?"

"I couldn't eat or drink, because that would show up on the scan.  Would a suppressed fart show up?"

"It's just a cloud of air in my gut.  Would a cloud of air show up? I guess it could make me look bloated."

"If I look bloated, would that be some sort of sign on the scan that could be misinterpreted?"

"I would hate to get bad news next week, just because I didn't fart."

"If I get bad news because I didn't fart, then I would have to tell them that I had to fart and didn't."

"I don't want to go to the cancer clinic and talk about my farts."

"Maybe this kind of thing happens all the time, and they can tell on the scan when someone needed to fart and didn't."

"Would that get noted in my file, where anyone could read it?"

"I would hate for all the interns to be looking at me and thinking: 'So this is the fart represser.'"

"How would I explain that to Chiquito?" 

"If I farted, and they could tell that, would that end up in my file?"

"Would people start watching me to see if I'm going to fart?"

"Nobody wants to be known as 'the farty dude.'"

"I'd rather be called 'Gassy Guy!'"

"That would be a good super-hero name."

"Just fart already and get this over with."

"I'm totally going to have to blog this."

In the end, I decided to fart.  We'll see what the result was next week.  I'm working on my Gassy Guy costume, just in case.

Monday, December 07, 2015

Monday Rambles

So, I broke a mirror yesterday.  There goes the rest of the decade for me!



Also, I bought some stuff on Saturday, so I have a teeny Mazda shot.

What's in Mazda?

Sales are getting fewer and farther between here, but I did scrape a couple up for Saturday.  We had to hop across the river for them.  We went to a church that was having a Christmas yard sale fund raiser.  I was hoping to find some more vintage stuff, but no such luck.  I did pick up a few small things, including a Hulk ornament.  Nothing special.  The cashier spent all this time carefully wrapping these candle holders that were mostly cast iron, then tossed the ceramic figurines in the bag unwrapped.  Sometimes, I feel like I live in Bizarro World.

That church also runs a thrift store, which is only open about six hours a week.  I love it, but I never get to go there because of their schedule.  It epitomizes the one thing Louisville lacks--the little church-affiliated thrift run by little old ladies with tons of stuff at super cheap prices.  I wasn't sure if they would be open because of the church sale, but they were.

Their Christmas was all half off.  I gathered up a box of stuff, both Christmas and non, including a complete vintage Yahtzee game.  Prices ranged from 5 cents to 2 dollars.  The older lady doing the check out decided she needed to sort the Christmas out so she could do all the half price at once.  Good plan.  Then she declares that three ornaments aren't Christmas.  In fairness, they were little houses and buildings, so they didn't look like typical ornaments.  They were only a quarter, so I let it go.

Then she declares that the religious articles--crosses, Jesus pictures, etc--are Christmas because "You can use them for that if you want."  So, I got more of a discount overall than I would have if she had left those ornaments in.  I always throw in a small donation at fund-raisers and church sales, so I kind of made up a little of that difference for them. 

She grabs this roll of bubble wrap for the glass stuff I bought and this little older man, who I assumed was her husband, moved to the counter to help. Or at least I thought.  He grabbed the end of the bubble wrap and started popping the bubbles!  It was too funny.  She fussed at him and he stopped.

The other big sale I went to was a library book sale.  One of the libraries across the river holds a book sale twice a month.  I had been wanting to go, as I had heard good things about it.  Oh my gosh!  It was so organized, that it was nearly mind-boggling.  Everything was on shelves, instead of tables, with clearly labelled sections.  Prices were super-reasonable.  All around, it was impressive.

I ran into blog reader Elizabeth while I was there.  From time to time, she pops up at the booth, usually when it looks the worst, but she always says nice things about it anyway.  I've been meaning to mention her here and keep forgetting.

Anyway, I got a nice box of books there, plus a large stack of cookbooks out of the FREE boxes out front.  Love me those free boxes.  I sell a lot of cookbooks.  It was nice to be at a sizeable book sale.  The Louisville library has discontinued its large sales, much to my consternation.

We grabbed lunch at our usual Asian Buffet, and I made a stop at the Thrift Store that's in the same little mini-mall, since it was having a sale. I ran in the library branch in the mall to use the bathroom, then saw a dude with a bunch of tables in the middle of the mall selling comic books!  Seriously.  I'll leave it to you all to fill in the result of this discovery.

Saturday night, we went to one of our favorite holiday events.  It's been three or four years since I've gone, due to health stuff.  I was so glad to be able to do it again.  We wandered the streets, popped in and out of shops, enjoyed hot cider, shopped a bit, then finished off with a wonderful dinner.

I didn't get many photos, but I did get a few.

Santa's VW van sleigh

Always gotta get a Kizito cookie.  Fresh and hot!

The Eye of God is watching you!

Blow molds!

There was a rep from the business guild that sponsors the event driving around with a bunch of lights and blow molds on a truck, all lit up.  I could never get my phone out in time for a pic.  I also failed to get a pic of the girl in half a banana costume doing sidewalk karaoke.  I did get some short video of the laser light show.





I hope this works.  I've never done video on the blog before.  Well, like this anyway.  That Eye of God pic comes from the neighborhood Catholic Church, by the way.  There are more pics of the amazing decor in the church at their web site.  Doesn't Keith look all ruggedy and mountain manny with his walking stick and beard?  Believe it or not, he was wearing shorts!

So much goes on at this event.  Past years have included Elvis impersonators, bagpipes, Dickensian carolers, and concerts.  I look forward to it every year, and was so glad to be able to do it again.

This is going to be a pretty busy week.  Today, I'm heading back to the booth.  It was busy there yesterday, that I didn't get everything done that I needed to.  I have a cartful of stuff in the break room that I need to get put out.  The store is having its vendor party and open house on Saturday, and they need the room for that.  Sales are remaining strong so far.  I'd like to have a couple of $100+ days in the mix, but otherwise I can't complain.  I still cannot seem to get all my Christmas out.

Tomorrow is my next scan.  Results will be next week.  After that is done, I'll be headed to Mount Sorrow.  Thanks to being sick, I am a week behind on the work I wanted to do there.  I also just remembered that I have two sleds buried in the back (!) of that mess and they should have been at the booth two weeks ago.  I'll probably pull a small load out of there while I'm at it.  Since I'm going to have to pull a lot out to get to them, I'm planning to get it all back a little more organized.

Wednesday, I'm planning on working at home.  I need to go on an orgy (not like that!) of pricing and packing.  I am going to get any stray little bits of holiday stuff I might have missed.  I keep feeling like there are a couple bags of stuff still kicking around here.  I also have a new stack of comics to bag and price.  (Heh!)

Thursday, it's back to the booth.  Friday, I'm sneaking out to finish getting Keith's presents.  This weekend, I'll be at the Peddlers Mall vendor get-together, and maybe going to a holiday gift show.  It's run by the same people that do the Big Flea, and I've been wanting to check it out for a while.  I'm not planning to buy anything, but I would love to check out the displays.

Sunday, December 06, 2015

Your Chiquito of the Month for December

This one is another wedding shot, combined with holiday cheer.



He's popped up in his wide-eyed best pose to wish all his internet friends a Merry Christmas!  Thanks for all the many wonderful things you all have said about him this year.

Saturday, December 05, 2015

Retro Y'all! Holiday Edition!

Last Sunday's Hardrock/Suzy post was supposed to be a Retro Y'all! post on Saturday, but it didn't work out that way.  I am dedicating Retro Y'all! this month to those undeservedly forgotten or overlooked Christmas novelty classics.  Some things are too good to be allowed to slide into obscurity.

Like this little jingle.



Fun fact:  She actually got the hippo.  Take a look at the other people who've recorded this, including two Captains:  Kangaroo and Toni Tennille's then-husband.  The video is actually from the Ed Sullivan Show.  Gayla Peevey's website has the full version from the show with Sullivan introducing her.

Friday, December 04, 2015

Catch Up Updates

After several days of anti-biotics, I have arisen from the sick bed!  And taken a shower!

And there was much rejoicing.

I still have the damn cough, but I'm bouncing back and on the mend.  Thanks to everyone for your get well wishes and patience.  It's been a bit too long since I've blogged.  So, let's catch up, shall we?

Except for being sick, Thanksgiving was really nice for us.  We never really seem to have enough time to spend in Arkansas, but that (and being sick) was really the only downside.  We were actually going to stay longer this time around, but that would have required rescheduling my treatment last Tuesday, and Keith's mother would not entertain that idea in the least.

Keith's mother and I have both been hinting at a summer visit, when we could stay a little longer and not have so long between visits.  Keith thinks that it would be too expensive to do that, but I think I have a plan that might make it possible.  We'll see....

I've always felt kind of bad that we spent so much more time over the years with my mother than we have been able to with his, simply because of the distance.  He and his mother are as close as I was with mine, and I would do just about anything to have them see each other more often while that's still possible.  

Any chance to see Keith's mom is worth it because she is such a jewel.  We tried beforehand to convince her that there was no need for a huge spread for Thanksgiving.  We were happy just to be with her.  When we got there, however, she kept pulling out dish after dish after dish and setting them on the table.  Her one compromise was that she bought the potato salad, instead of making it!

It was a good thing we had plenty of food, because Keith's brother came to dinner as well.  To be honest, Keith's relationship with his brother is, well, a bit strained.  This isn't the place to really go into the reasons, but we were surprised to learn he was coming.  The meal was cordial enough.  Everyone behaved and we all had good conversation.  They all even continued visiting after I went back to the hotel to rest.  We still have no idea why he decided to make the trip, but Keith's mother was ecstatic to have all of us there at once, and that's all that matters.   Oh yeah, everything was delicious!   

Since I was sick, I didn't get to visit with Keith's elderly aunt, whom I adore.  She's in her 90's, and I didn't want to pass anything on to her.  She's another sweetheart.I think everyone in town knows her.

Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving, aka "Black Friday"), we set out for the mall in the nearest big city.  Yes, the mall.  On Black Friday.  I had to go.  It's tradition.  Several years ago when we were visiting, Keith's mom decided that she didn't like the look of Keith's shoes and that he needed new ones.  Not willing to take "no" for an answer, she swept us off to the mall and the shoe section of Sears.  Once we were there, she decided that it was only fair that I got a new pair of shoes as well.  I really protested this, but to no avail.  It's been our Thanksgiving tradition ever since. 

The shopping trip doesn't always fall on Black Friday.  Usually, it's a couple of days before Thanksgiving, but our trip schedule was different this year.  Honestly, I'm not wild about this tradition.  It's terribly sweet of her, but shoes aren't cheap.  I hate her spending that much money on us, especially when we don't often actually need the shoes.  Right now, I am wearing a pair I bought two years ago at the JC Penney Outlet that closed here.  I wear shoes until they have no life left in them before getting rid of them.  I still have pairs from the last two years to get to before wearing the pair we got this trip.  It feels like a wasteful use of her money to me.

Still, it's her money, her choice.  She is being sweet, and I don't want to hurt her feelings.  I thought we weren't going to do it this year.  I had Keith talked into finding an alternative--I had suggested going to a different town, doing some fun shopping, having coffee, and just hanging out for a while.  He's not any more of a fan of the mall than I am, but she would not hear of not getting shoes.

So I have shoes.

I already had Batman boxers.

And Batman socks.  Because Batman socks. And clearance. These were free by the way.  I used Keith's Sears points to pay for them.

Oh, yeah.  I may have gotten a bit of thrifting in.  Just maybe.  Hee hee hee!  Tune in later for that.

So, today, I am wandering out for the first time since we got back.  I have got to get over to the booth, which I know has to be a total wreck at this point.  It's been nearly two weeks since I have been there. True to booth logic, however, the longer I go without coming over, the stronger sales get.  Seriously.  December is young, but it's strong.

Which is good because November never really caught on.  I was having a mini-rally right before Thanksgiving, which had me thinking I could still pull a good month out, as long as Black Friday weekend was strong--which it wasn't.  It was just average, and so November became average as well.  Average is better than below average, but I was really wanting to build a fall streak of super-duper months.  Color my hopes dashed.

I do need to get out there, as most of my big ticket Christmas stuff has sold, and I need to put more out.  I also need to get caught up on everyone's blogs and emails.  I'll do that this weekend.  There's an indoor all Christmas yard sale at a church that I'm planning to hit, plus a library book sale.  Our favorite holiday event is Saturday night, and I am looking forward to that as well.

I think I still have time to pull off all the holiday surprises I had planned for the blog, so keep checking back.  A little vintage.  A little oddity.  A little cheer.  Just the way I like to celebrate. 

Stay warm and stay well..


Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Sickbed Rambles

How are you?  I am sick.  Not just sick.  Sick, SICK, SICK! The kind that lasts for days and leaves you flat on your back in bed wishing for the sweet release of a NyQuil coma.  Yes.  That sick.

Keith was down with a cold for most of the week before we left for Arkansas.  I did my best to avoid catching it, but the night before we left it was pretty obvious it had caught me.  By Thanksgiving, I was a wreck.  I ate dinner, then went back to the hotel and totally crashed out for the rest of the day.  Friday, I seemed to be doing better.  Saturday, we left, and I thought the worst was behind me.

WRONG!

Sunday, I felt worse than ever before and just stayed in bed with Chiquito curled beside me.  Yesterday, Keith called our doctor for some meds, while I stayed in bed.  I'm starting to feel better today, but I am sick of coughing and wheezing like an old bagpipe.  Also my head still hurts.

Needless to say, this has pretty well screwed up my week.  I still haven't even unpacked yet!  Hopefully, I'll be a little more back in the swing of things tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm going to take more meds and go back to bed.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Let's Get This Holiday Season Started!

We are back!  I'll have more to say about all that in tomorrow's ramble.  In the meantime, we've got to start rolling out the holiday cheer.  For this blog, there's only one way to do that.



If you've been around here for a while, you know that Hardrock and friends are the traditional Eddie-torial opening to the holiday season.  They've been featured in a post every year at this time for five or six years, at least.  I got so busy with the wedding and such last year that I actually forgot them, but Roger made up for my goof on Facebook.

Anyway, they're back!  Enjoy!

Of course, when those elves come passing by, Suzy is sure to follow.



I'm planning a lot of fun, musical surprises for December, so please stay tuned. 

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!


Thanks for hanging with me 
through another year!  
Best wishes to you and your families!

Vintage Thanksgiving card from a box of greeting cards I found at an estate sale last year.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Some pics I forgot to share

I've had these kicking around for a while, since my last cancer treatment, in fact.  I just kept forgetting to put them in a post.  Being way off track in my blogging schedule lately threw off a lot of my content plans.  When I have to rush to get something (anything) up, it throws off my content plans.  Since I have another treatment tomorrow, it seems like a good time to put these out.


Getting my port accessed.  That's my favorite nurse at the center.  He is so laid back and mellow.  I'm letting my hair grow out right now, so it's always somewhat of a mess.



Lily also came by again for a visit.  She went right to me and laid on my feet for the longest time.  I'm hoping she might drop by again tomorrow.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

What's In Mazda?

Believe it or not, I've managed to cross quite a few things of my pre-Thanksgiving list.  I'm not going to get it all done, of course.  I've already abandoned hope for most of the larger stuff, except for the booth.

I loaded up Mazda today with a huge mound of stuff from Sorrow Mountain, along with some comics and stuff from the house and headed across the river to the Peddlers Mall.

This is what it all looked like.


That's one of the biggest loads I've ever crammed in there.  No time this week to do a reveal shot later on, but you can imagine all the junkie goodness therein.  I am making some serious progress on Sorrow Mountain. 

After the first of the year, I am going on a total buying moratorium until yard sale season 2016 starts.  I'm going to spend the first part of next year burrowing deep into that mountain. 

Oh yeah.  I made some great comics scores at the Cavalcade of Comics.  I'll have much more on this later, but here's a pic.


Friday, November 20, 2015

Wouldja believe Friday Rambles?

Let's begin with a thought from a classic:

https://img0.etsystatic.com/065/0/11126217/il_fullxfull.772242648_cybx.jpg 

That's kind of the way I'm feeling these days.  Too much to do and not enough time to do it.  Every time I get started on something, I find three things that need to be done first before I can do what I started on.  Aiiieeeeee!

We leave Tuesday for Arkansas to spend Thanksgiving with Keith's mother.  I'm looking forward to the visit, but it's a long drive.  I also have treatment on Tuesday.  Seems like we did it that way last year too.  I wanted to see about re-scheduling the treatment, so we could leave earlier, but she kind of insisted I stick to my schedule.  She's had kind of a rough year, so I'm looking forward to seeing her.

So what all do I still need to do?

LAUNDRY!!  I'm not sure about Arkansas, but Kentucky frowns on nude Thanksgiving visits.

SHOPPING!  I got some road snacks at the Peddlers Mall last night, but we still need a few more things.

PACKING!  I'm not sure where the suitcases went after we got back from San Francisco.  I'd hate to have to carry those clean clothes in grocery bags.  Keith already calls me a bag lady because I carry a reuseable grocery bag with a bunch of stuff in it wherever I go.  I need to pick out my trip reading and find the laptop.

BLOGGING!  (and commenting and answering emails)  This is going to have to do for this week's (late) ramble and next week's (early) ramble.  At least it will replace Bo Donaldson's face that's been hanging around a bit too long.  I'm hoping to get a few posts scheduled to carry us through the holiday and our trip.  Expect some long overdue posts for your reading pleasure.

CHIQUITO!  I need to get things ready for the person who'll be taking care of him while we're gone, so she knows the drill. We stocked up on cat treats last week and have enough food to get through until we get back.

WINTERIZING!  I still need to put away some yard things before the cold weather hits.  We've also got to take the A/C out of the window before we leave.

BOOTHING!  Sales have stunk most of the month.  Last night as the first good weekday report I've gotten since the first.  Weekends have been really good, but that all dries up come Monday.  People just ain't shopping.  Or if they are, they ain't buying much.  Interestingly, I am now selling some small furniture in dribs and drabs, but the smalls trade, which is my bread and butter, has dried up considerably.  Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth.  I am hoping that this is just the lull before Thanksgiving.

On the upside, that has made for an easy booth upkeep for the last couple of weeks.  I've got 90% of the Christmas out now.  Sunday and Monday, I'm going to spend the day there, doing a super-duper tidy and rearrange and stock, since it will be the last chance to get ready for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.  I'm pulling the last of the Thanksgiving stuff and putting the rest of the Christmas in its place.

I also need to finish the current tidy session on my junk room, which is about halfway done.  I want to have a load priced up to take when we get back.  I have an idea that should let me put four (!) new shelves in and a ton of new smalls, but that is going to have to wait until we're home.  Of course, putting in shelves means that the elevation of Sorrow Mountain drops a bit, which is always a good thing.  I am hoping to terraform the Mountain and the Hillock together by the end of the year.

CLEANING!  Week before last, I cleaned off my desk by dumping everything into a large tub, which has been sitting in front of my dresser ever since.  I want that to go away before we leave. Also, the fridge needs to be cleaned out before we go.

THIS AND THAT!  I need to get prescriptions refilled.  I need to pay the water bill.  I need to go see if the metal lawn chairs listed as freebies on Craigslist last night that are two streets over from us are still there.  (Probably not.)  I need to call my brother.  I need to cash in my change jar.  I need to clean all the tubs and boxes out of Mazda.  I need to do the dishes.  I need to ponder where the magic elves that are supposed to help with all this shit have hied themselves off to.  (That's the thing about magic elves that few people know.  You have to talk to them in Shakespearean, or at least King James, English.  They don't understand modern.  So they haven't run away.  They have hied themselves hither.)

COMIC BOOKS!  The second annual Cavalcade of Comics is tomorrow, and none of the list above is going to make me miss it.  It's a great show, not really a con, since there are no panels or costume contests.  There will probably be a few cosplayers though.  Everyone loves an excuse to dress up as Batman.  It's retail focused, so there will be lots for sale, which is why I'm going.  Last year, I got some great bargains on some great stuff.  I've been looking forward to this one all year.  It will be the last major shopping spurt for me until the New Year Big Flea.  Besides, how often do you get to use the word "cavalcade" in conversation??

So, yeah.  I got lots to do.  I guess I better get started.  But first, I've got to get another cup of coffee.  And pet the kitty.  He never gets any attention--to hear him tell it anyway.  You all, however, can enjoy some awesome super-hero Lego art.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Midweek Rambles



Let's start off with the birthday 51sr revolution around the sun celebratory dinner fortune cookie wisdom.


Kind of sums up my life pretty well, I think.  Needless, to say, there was eating to celebrate the day.  Yay, eating!  We went to my favorite restaurant, which is where we have our special occasion meals.  We love it, and the food is incredible, but it's just a tad too pricey for regular eating.

On the way home, we found a junk pile on the curb, not far from the restaurant.


That window has a latch and hinges on it, so it must have swung open.  Finding that pile means that junk set out for that neighborhood was last weekend, but I had other plans.  (More on that later.)

The celebration is going well.  So far, I have been to three different Peddlers Malls, finding interesting stuff along the way.  I've also been to a non-Peddlers Mall vendor mall, with two more to go.  We have so many of those dang things here.

Thanks for the well wishes last week!  I love it when my friends celebrate with me!

Yard sale season is slowly petering out here, so getting some indoor shopping in is the way to go!  If you take your time at a vendor mall, you can find much good stuff at yard sale prices.  Most of the good finds are at (or are going) to the booth.  I'll try to get some pics.

Speaking of the booth, these are interesting times.  Indeed, they are.  Last week was just awful, sales-wise.  Every day was less than one half what I had been selling the month before.  Just nerve-wracking.  Saturday was a super day, which caught up most of the lag, but this week has not been setting any records.  It looks like November is determined to work my nerves.

All of the Halloween is out and safely stashed away for next year.  (Will someone please explain to me why almost none of the skulls sold this year?)  The Christmas is going out bit by bit.  I have some stuff to haul off Sorrow Mountain on Saturday, and that should wrap it up.  I'll take some pics when it's all done. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to get my Endcap Booth in order or die trying.  If I never posts again, you'll know what happen.  Of course, with my erratic posting schedule of late, you'll need to wait about three or so weeks before you make that call.

Can you believe that it's almost Thanksgiving?????  I have so much to do before we leave to see Keith's mom.  Ack!

I had the best time this weekend, hanging out with Lorraine's husband Chris at the Wizard World Louisville Convention.  Technically, I was helping at his booth (for his company, Black Flame Creations), but really I was just hanging out having a good time.  I'm not sure how much help I was, but I had a lot of fun and learned an awful lot about steam punk and the art of making steam punk attire and accessories.  You need to go to the BF web site and check out Chris' work.  He's very talented.  It's like sci-fi/fantasy geek-oriented repurposing/upscaling!  Thanks for letting me spend some time with you, Chris!


Image borrowed from Lorraine's Facebook
Chiquito and Keith are both extremely flattered by the attention and praise you all have given the calendar pics.  I told him that there was clamor for a sequel, but he thinks he doesn't have enough pictures for another one.  He usually doesn't start work on the calendars until we visit his mother and he gets new pics of her, so the question is still open.  I'll keep working on it.

The weather is getting fall levels of cool here, and I'm loving it.  It's so much fun to go for walks these days.  I hope you all are experiencing that as well.

Saturday, November 07, 2015

Retro Y'all! Birthday Weekend Edition

In honor of my recently completing yet another revolution around the sun, I present, from one of my favorite movies, what is possibly the best musical scene ever:



The only thing that could possibly top it?  The finale from the same movie.



Thirty-five (!) years on and it still gives me goose bumps!  Now that's a classic.

Friday, November 06, 2015

Some thoughts about curb-diving

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post with some tips/hints for hunting junk curbside.  While wandering around this time, I had some new thoughts I wanted to share about the endeavor.  One of the things that struck me was how much I've changed as a curb-picker.  For one thing, I am no longer reticent to take stuff with the owners watching.  Sometimes, when I've gathered stuff while the home owners were still around, they offer me extra stuff.  One time, a lady asked me to help her carry a heavy-ass dresser to the curb.  She couldn't handle it by herself.  I didn't take that one.  I don't like to do heavy-ass.  I just make extra sure that I'm neat when I'm being watched.

Speaking of being watched, somewhere along the line, I lost my inhibitions about this.  Last set out, I ended up over by the building where Keith and I used to work.  He's transferred to another site now, but still sees people from this building all the time.  I called him and told him that his co-workers were likely to be telling him they saw his husband digging through the trash!  In fact, on that day, I ran into an old friend from that job!  I was covered in sweat and grime and carrying a bag of goodies.

This time around, an old man that lives down the street came by while we were setting our own junk out.  He said he had seen me carrying off all kinds of junk and wanted to know what I did with it, so I told him.  He kind of shook his head and walked off, but not before he took a flower arrangement off our pile.  I turned to Keith and said:  "How does it feel to be married to the neighborhood hobo?"

Nowadays, I go out several times all throughout the week, starting when the piles start showing up.  There are lots of early birds and also lots of late starters.  There can be new stuff to look at every day.  I've also started going out in light rains (no competition) and after a rainy day.  Not everything gets ruined by the rain.

In our neighborhood, I tend to go out on foot.  It's easier to spot stuff that way.  We live kind of in the middle of our set out zone, so I can go just a few blocks in any direction and find things, but I'm never too far away to do a drop off at the house.  It's good exercise too.  I just take a couple of bags and head out.  Of course, for the big stuff, there's always Mazda.

Setting limits is important, too.  I know some people only look for certain items, but I look for a little bit of everything, so I set some limits.  Looking everything over closely is important.  I tend to look for reasons to not take something, instead of reasons to take it.  Since I have a lot of large items right now and they don't seem to be selling, I pretty much by-passed most of the furniture finds.  I had a strict "no chairs" rule and a "no heavy shit" rule.

if I hadn't limited myself this time, I would have overwhelmed myself with reclaimed wood.  There was a ton of it out there, and I saw some folks who were going out just for that.  Not having the space for it kept me from going overboard.  I;m not sure how many reclaimed wood folks like to buy their supplies, as opposed to finding them.

Personally, I think it's a ton of fun to go out and search.  I kind of like that we have designated times to set stuff out.  I know there are places where you can just set your stuff out for any garbage pick up day.  I'm not sure I could handle going out and picking all the time like that.  With a few set outs a year, I kind of look forward to it as a special treat, like a holiday.


Thursday, November 05, 2015

Mary Gauthier and Eliza Gilkyson

On Halloween night, instead of greeting Trick or Treaters, we went to a concert by two of my favorite singer-songwriters.  It was an early birthday present from Keith.  I've been fans of both for years, and we'd seen Mary Gauthier (pronounced "Go-shay."  She's Cajun.) several times over the years.  This was the first time we saw Eliza Gilkyson, however, and I was pretty excited about that.

It was an awesome show--just two women trading songs and jokes back and forth, taking the audience on a musical journey.  They each did some of their fan favorites, plus a few unexpected treasures along the way.  It was truly a Halloween treat.

These clips are not from the show, but they did both of these songs that night.  They both touched me in similar, yet different ways.  I always get a little wistful around my birthday, thinking about that would have beens and might have beens and what ifs.  These two stories about making your own way and following your own dreams fit into that vein for me, and I'd like to share that experience with you all.

Enjoy.




Wednesday, November 04, 2015

And today, I am 51

Or, as I have taken to saying, I have completed 51 revolutions around the sun.  I guess this could also be looked at as the start of my 52nd revolution around the sun.  Come with me.  It is your destiny.

Fifty-one is an odd number.  It's divisible by three, which is cool.  Numbers that divide by three are my favorites.  Yes, I said that.  Actually my real favorite numbers are ones with six or more digits when they are found in my checking account.  Since that never happens, I'll stick with numbers divisible by three.

Do you all know the easy way to tell if 3 will go into a given number?  Add the digits of the number up.  If the sum is divisible by three, then the original number is. 

5 + 1 = 6

Six is divisible by three, so 51 is divisible by three.

If you can't tell if the sum is divisible by three, keep adding the digits together until you come to a sun that you can tell.

578,424,372

5 + 7 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 7 + 2 = 42  

Not sure what you've got?  Keep going!

4 + 2 = 6

Six is divisible by three, so 578,424,372 is too.  And also 42!  Isn't it cool?

When I was a kid I used to entertain myself on car trips by seeing if the numbers on billboards, license plates, etc were divisible by three.  I still do it sometimes when I'm bored.  Once a nerd, always a nerd.

Finally, the source of my fascination with threes.  I was a kid in the 70's after all.  The part when they start counting by threes  gets me every time.



Happy Birthday to me!  (I don't think "51st Revolution Around the Sun Completion Day" works in the song.  Someone will have to do something about that.)

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

The rest of the curb finds

I had to wait for the rain to stop this week to get these pics.  It's still pretty overcast, so they're not great pics.  Also, most of this stuff needs at least a little cleaning.  Even still, I think there's at least one thing that you're gonna like.


More stuff from the place at the bottom of the hill where I found the weight bench.  I think I found something new there every day I went out.



I know I'm going to regret those two beer banners right up until they sell.  I can already hear myself cussing because they keep getting left unrolled all over the booth.  Still, I had to grab them.


 Oddball stuff is my forte.  The brown thing is a Styrofoam storage box that has been painted.  The case is for an old Smith-Corona typewriter.


This green shelf is my favorite find of the set out.  Just awesome.  I love small racks like this really nice one.  I use them to expand the display capacity of my large shelves.  My book booth has a built in pegboard wall.  I also hang them there and use them to display action figures and other nerd toys.  I have no earthly idea what that board with the holes is for, but it's cool.  Eddie stuff.




There are always little bits of odds and ends, like these plates and beads.  The jadeite colored plastic bowl will look cool at the booth with Christmas ornaments in it, I think.  The brown thing in the back is a vintage bed tray from a nursing home that's now defunct.


I found a skimmer board like this at the last junk set out and it sold quickly.  Maybe this one will too.  It's a little battered, but the other one was too.  I'm thinking it's a cool decor piece.  Large bowl from the place down the hill.  Such eclectic stuff there. The little gray thing is a vintage metal ashtray shaped like a horse shoe.  That's a popular motif here. Finally, the end of an old cement smoother and a wood shovel handle.  Why not?


I grabbed the Lowe's buckets for display purposes.  I need them for tools and implements.  Someone added a spout to one of the buckets.  Don't ask me why.


 These strange pottery things were a mystery until I found the switch plates with them.  Someone was trying to make some custom switch plates and plug faces out of clay.  I'm not sure it's the best medium for such a project, since the pressure from the screws that hold them to the wall would surely crack them.  That may be why the project was abandoned.  There were a lot of them in various stages of completion.   I think someone might want them for some other kind of project.


More odds and ends:  Gold-rimmed tea cups (Several of these), Corona bucket (quick sell), Small canning jar (Can't have too many of these).  The black thing is a plastic Coke crate.  I also found a stash of "collectible" Coke bottles from the 90's and 00's.  They have either NASCAR or UK logos on them.  More popular local themes.


Finally, a child-sized Adirondack chair.  I made a "no chairs" rule before I started out, because I have so many right now.  Kid chairs were the exception to that, since I do sell them frequently. I left the adult chairs that were at the same spot for someone else.

All in all, not a bad time out in the trenches.  I mean, on the curbs.  Thanks for taking the journey with me.


Monday, November 02, 2015

Monday Rambles

Well, I did it.

Despite all my freaking out and hand-wringing and stressing, I had a truly record month at the Peddlers Mall.  It was great.  I'll be getting my largest check ever for a regular month.  I am so stoked.

I got really worried the middle of the month, when things slowed down for me, particularly because some of my slow days were busy days for the mall.  The strength of my early October sales I knew could carry me over a few bumps, but when the bumps started piling up, I got a little (okay a lot) worried.

Not that anything bad would have happened, mind you.  I still would have had a usual month and gotten a usual check, which would have been okay, but I would have been so disappointed at starting the month so well and coming in just average.  This is why I try not to get my hopes up.

Now it's new month and we'll see what that has to offer.  My Endcap Booth is a total wreck and has been for a while,  I'm going today to fix it and see if I can make it so people will get in the darn thing.

Maybe one of these days, I'll figure out what I'm doing and then I'll be able to have months like this all the time.  Right after that, Chiquito will learn computer programming.

I saw my PCP on Friday.  We're working to try and adjust my meds so that the steroid effect on my blood sugar is lessened.  My great fear is that he would take me off them, but he didn't.  I just don't want to go back to the fatigue days.

Tomorrow, I go for my next treatment.  If I'm counting right, this is number 12, so I'll get another scan before the next one.  It's been one year since I started treatments again.  Last year at this time, I was starting the clinical trial with the belly shots (BLAM!) that didn't work out.  This also means that I've had my Purple Power Port (Engage!) for a year too.  Looking ahead while looking back, New Year's Eve will mark the third anniversary of my surgery that removed Nigel and Sixtus.  We've come a long way, baby.

Wednesday is my birthday, or as I'm calling it now, the marking of my 51st revolution around the sun.  I totally stole that from a Facebook friend.  It sounds so much more cosmic and spectacular than just being another year older.  It sounds more like a quest or something.  "Join me on my revolutions around the sun.  Let us see how many we can make.  It is your destiny."

Thursday, I'm doing my pet-sitting gig with a cute little orange tabby named Frodo.  I won't have access to WiFi  there, so I'll most likely be offline for a few days.  I'm taking a couple of cheesy movies with me to pass the time.  Also comic books.

I'm really excited for this weekend!  It's the Louisville Wizard World Comic Convention, and I am going to be helping Lorraine's husband at his booth.  He's an artisan specializing in steampunk gear, and his creations are amazing!  I am so psyched to be helping out.  It'll be loads of fun.  Back in the day, I helped out a comic book publisher with their booth at the big San Diego Comicon and had a ton of fun doing it.  This was back before it became the big media extravaganza it is now.

Somewhere in between things, I'll be slipping in some junking and a birthday meal.  I usually celebrate my birthday with a big junking fest across town, going to stores that I don't normally hit because they are out of the way or really only worth going to once in a while.  It's pretty normal for me to spread the birthday junkathon throughout the whole month, because one day is not enough to celebrate your 51st revolution around the sun, you know.

I'm going to try and have regular posts this week.  I miss getting comments and emails from some of you all.  I'll also be answering some emails from folks as well.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Sunday, November 01, 2015

Your Chiquito of the Month for November

Happy November, everyone.  I hope that you all survived the ghouls and goblins last night, and that you got lots of goodies.  It's a new month, and that means a new Chiquito pic.  This time there seems to be some tomfoolery afoot.



I don't remember Chiquito being at the wedding, but I was a tad emotional, so maybe I didn't notice.  It would be just like him to hide away in a box like that.  He's got lots of hidey holes and cubbies around the house.  I'm not sure I even know them all.  That worries me sometimes.

This is the next to the last Chiquito of the Month pic.  I hope you've enjoyed your trip through the year with my little rascal.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Retro Y'all! Halloween Edition

I know you all are probably expecting this one today, but, since I like to avoid the obvious choices, I give you this instead:



Happy Halloween Everyone!  May all your ghouls and goblins be friendly ones!

Alice Cooper and the Muppets?  Who'da thunk? 


Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Let's Go Curb-Diving!

Junk set out time is like Christmas for junkers, especially if you cast a wide net for merchandise.  When stuff is free, I will take things that I would not normally pay for.  Free is free.

I started wandering the neighborhood last Wednesday, looking for the early bird piles.  I was not disappointed.  In fact, from Wednesday through Saturday, I did not get any further than two streets away.  There was a new pile or two every day, and people were still adding to the existing piles.

The fall set out is different from the one in the spring.  In the spring, people are doing spring-cleaning and down-sizing.  There's a lot more smalls and furniture that isn't broken and less remodeling debris.  In the fall, that reverses, because people are trying to finish up their projects before it gets cold.  To be really general about it, spring is more about stuff people don't want any more than fall is.

However, there's still plenty around.  Let's take a look.


This coffee table was right down the street from me.  It's heavy, solid and has been painted brown.  (Why?)  I figure someone will see it as a project/makeover kind of thing.  Right now , it's in the shed waiting to get cleaned and taken over.


One of the oddest things I found was this homemade weight bench.  You can kind of see the notches at the top to rest the weight in.  It's smaller than a standard weight bench, so I think it was made for a child.  It's one of those unusual items that I cannot resist when I find them.  Eddie stuff, in other words.  It was down the hill from us, in front of a house that always yields good finds.  They start early and keep piling things on, so I keep coming back.


 This is one of those storage boxes for the back of a pick up truck.  I found it at the same spot as the weigh bench.  I got this for Keith, who likes to store his camping gear in them.


Speaking of Keith, this picket fence section earned me one of his infamous eyerolls.  It's certainly unlike anything I've ever picked up before.  I think it would make a nice porch decoration this winter, with some snowmen and a Santa.  Two of the slats are loose, so they need to be screwed down before I take it in.



 I got a little lazy and didn't set the slide up.  The colors seem to be washed out in the pics.  They're really vibrant and not sun-faded in the least.  They need a good cleaning, but that's no problem.  They're old school Little Tikes from the days when they were made in the USA.  I think the quality in the older toys is much better than the more recent ones.  They're much sturdier, for one thing.  They won't last long in the booth.


I found about eight of these milk crates at the same spot.  They're so useful for storage, transport, display, plus I sell a lot of them.  Please don't tell the Dairy Police on me.  I need to clean them up a bit.  That's always a recurring theme during junk set out.  Also, a really big basket.



White drawer organizer, gold plastic frame, empty silverware box, box of records and a small computer desk.  The organizers sell like crazy at the Peddlers Mall.  The last one I took in sold the day I dropped it off.

At the spot where I got the frame, there was also a mirror that I was about to take, but another guy there asked if he could have it.  I let him take it, because I don't need to get all of the junk.  He then shows me two issues of the National Enquirer that he found there and talking about how "old" they are.  I hated to do it, but I had to point out that they were dated 2015 on the covers.  I was afraid he was building up to try and sell them for ten bucks each.  He said:  "For real?"  Then he took a closer look. "Oh man!"  He tossed them down and took his mirror and left.


Close up of the box of records, which I found behind the secondhand store down the street.  There were a ton of records there, but I only took this box and one other.  I simply don't have the space to be able to handle them all.  Since this is not my forte, and they've already been through a dealer (who surely researched them), I'm going to sell them as a lot.

That's all I have photographed for now.  I've been trying to pull some Xmas to take over to the booth, so I haven't gotten to the rest yet.  Give me a couple of days.  There's some good stuff to come.

Finally, I saw this while I was out hunting.


 I was so very tempted to nab it.  So very tempted.  It was at the curb, after all.

Linking up with Thriftasaurus, because I'm so glad he's back!

Monday, October 26, 2015

Monday Rambles

I guess now that everyone has forgotten about me, I should start blogging again.  This is how you have a blog for over a decade, yet only have a little over 1500 posts.  I told you:  I'm not very good at this.  Never have been. Probably never will be.  But, still, I keep doing it.  Most of the time.

You can kind of look at the index of my postings and see the gaps in my history.  While I do think some of them were understandable, a lot of them were caused by my seeming inability to get back on the horse after getting away from it for a bit.  Once I get out of the habit of doing something, it gets harder and harder for me to get back into it, even if it was something I really loved doing.

In the old days, it was usually just Roger who would check on me and urge me back into the fray.  These days, there are several of you peering under rocks and wondering where I've gone.  It's kind of a nice feeling to know that there are people who miss you, even if your primary contact with them is through a silly little blog.

Truth is, I was having a particularly bad couple of weeks and I just didn't want to set Debbie Downer and Bitchy Betty loose on the blog.  I hate to whine here, even though I do it so freaking much.  Compound that with the downside of having fantastic sales (which I just discovered):  You have to work your space all the time to keep up.  All.  The.  Time.

I ended up not having enough time to process everything else going on, and I didn't want the blog to suffer for it.  I started a "Monday Rambles" post two weeks ago, but trashed it when I saw just how negative it was.  I can write about the bad things, but I don't want to wallow in them.  At least not here.

Everything is better now.  At least a little.  One of the situations I was dealing with is going to take a little more time to resolve, but it is manageable at this point.

The lowest point came when another vendor actually accused me of stealing from her. That was resolved pretty quickly, but I just wasn't in the mood that day to be called a thief over something I bought and paid for.

Health-wise, I seem to be doing okay.  The steroid is messing with my blood sugar, which is not good.  This resulted in a very bad conversation with a nurse at the cancer center who basically told me I was stubborn and uncooperative, but in nicer terms.  She was acting like I was rejecting her advice over the situation, when she really wasn't giving any.  I still have no clue what it was she thought I should be doing.  I told her I was going to talk to my PCP about it and left.  I was upset about the whole situation for days.

My own sales have kind of crapped out over the past couple of weeks.  I've still had some really, really good days, just not one right after the other like I was having.  I was having sales, but they were way lower than they'd been running and way below my daily goal.  Thankfully, I was far enough ahead that I had a big cushion in my daily average, which softened the blow, but even that was starting to get worn down.

I was seriously worried that I might have some of my best days ever and still end up with the same old check at the end.  This business drives me nuts sometimes.  Needless to say, none of this really helped with my mood.  I seem to be recovering, I think.  It looks like, barring a string so low/no sales days that I'll come out well for the month and will even set a record.  We'll see, I guess.

It's junk set out time in our neighborhood!  The neighborhood next to ours had its set out last week, so I prowled it a little, but basically came up empty-handed.  My own neck of the woods is full of early-birds and head-starters, so stuff showed up all week, even though you're not supposed to set anything out until Friday of your week.

I've gotten several great things all through the week, and I've never gotten more than two streets away.  Today will be a big sweep, as I try to dodge the scrappers and other pickers.  Competition is somewhat fierce this year.  It's supposed to storm tomorrow and Wednesday, which will kill everything off.  I'll have pics later this week, but here's a teaser.  

The Official Sign that Junk Set Out Has Begun: