Monday Rambles

Well, so much for my moratorium on yard sales.  I didn't violate it by much, I promise.  It was only three sales.  Seriously.  In my mind, it was only going to be a few things and an hour or two.  Then I was going home and back to bed.

Shortly after I made my declaration, I found out that a church in our neighborhood was having a sale.  Oh dear.  Church sale.  In the neighborhood.  In a church that always has good sales.  A church that is also rumored to be closing.  I felt like I had to go, just in case they do close and there are no more sales.  Oh well, it's only one.

I found an estate sale on Friday that advertised lots of vintage Fisher Price toys and older Star Wars toys.  I'm expanding my vintage toy selection and the sale was run by a company I like that usually has good prices.  I was the last customer in on Friday, but there were still lots of the FP toys left and the prices were pretty good.  The Star Wars stuff was out of reach, but that was okay.  Since it was the end of the last day, I got a little bit of a deal.

I also got something I've been wanting for a while.

 

Vintage Our Lady of Lourdes figurine with St Bernadette in the Grotto.  It's safely ensconced in my religious collection!

As I was leaving, the workers called out and said "Be sure to come back tomorrow for half price day."  Half price?  Shit!  That makes two.  There were a few toys that were just a hair too high for me at their original prices.  I'd be sticking my head back in to see what was left for half price day.

Finally, I saw a listing for a sale that was going to be just down the street from the church sale.  Well, I was going to be passing it anyway.  That made three.

I figured three was pretty true to the spirit of a moratorium.  It would only take a couple of hours.  I'd only pick up a few things and that would be that.  I wasn't counting on lots of well-priced larger items.  Take a look.

I got two of these crafting cubby/organizer things and a small black bookcase at the church sale.  Cannot have too much display and storage.  The cubbies will be good for small toys and such.

Chippy pink cabinet with orange interior.  I need to brush it out a little.  It looks like it's been out in the barn for thirty years.  My favorite part is that sticker on the right hand door.

 This brings back memories!  When I was a small town Kentucky boy, Burger Queen was the only "fast food" place in our little town.  They changed their name to Druthers in the 80's, but went out of business ages ago.  When I moved to Louisville, their corporate HQ was not very far from where I lived.  I was kind of tickled to find this.  My father used to say that my mother would make him drive a half hour away so they could get BQ after they were married.  This was before my little town got one.  My mother always claimed she did not remember doing this. I do remember eating with each of my parents at both the one in our town and the one a half hour away.

Coolest find of the day.  This portable ironing board with storage baskets!  When you're through with that pesky ironing, just fold the sides down and roll it back into a corner!

There's chippy and then there's almost scary.  This chair kind of delicately treads the line between the two.  It's not child-sized.  Take a closer look.  The bottom of the legs have worn away!  I can see this one on a front porch, holding a large fern!

I like to use plant stands like this to hold small toys or bottles or other junk for display.  They're great for small books too.

I did buy some smalls, but those will have to wait until later.  We had to do a smalls drop off at the house so that I could fit some of the stuff in the van.  As for the tragically decapitated lady from yesterday, I'm going to try and save her.  The accident was totally my fault.  I should have laid the lamp down.  I had room for that, but I got lazy.  It's such a gaudily cool piece too.

This week is going to be totally insane!  Except for Tuesday, I'll be spending all day every day at the Peddlers Mall.  I'm completely redoing everything!  The manager finally decided which vendors get the new spots she opened up across from me in front of the store.

She was going to do a drawing, but she decided that she wanted to go with known quantities and good vendors, for those spots, which makes good retail sense.  They're the first things people will see as they come in the store.  There's going to be a certain standard look for these spaces too.  Walls and shelving will be a little more regulated than in other booths.  She wants vendors who will work with that.  Think you know anyone who meets all that criteria?

Well, I do!  And I got one of those coveted spots.  So it's all getting upended!  I'm moving all my books, comics, reading materials, ephemera, modern games, jigsaw puzzles, music and movie media, and nerd toys into the new spot.  

The end of the row spot will become furniture, home decor, art, vintage, primitive, rustic, classic, and vintage toys and games.  The spaces on the aisle will house the religious items, modern toys and stuffed animals, housewares, appliances and kitchenware, barware, glasses and dishes, and all that oddball stuff I like to pick up.

While I'm not really wild about the rent expense for the new spot, I do need to make this move.  My biggest sources of customer mess are books and comics, so getting them their own spot will make for easier maintenance.  The space gained by moving them out will allow me to move a bunch of my stash out and into the booths.  And I'm reshuffling all my shelving to new spots, so everything will look different.  I'll get some pics up as soon as it's all done.

I think that this is the step that will eventually move me up to the level I want.  It's just going to take a lot of work to get there.  Which is why this is an all week work thing.  I have to allow time for my breaks when I need them.  Keith is afraid that I'm pushing it a bit too much.  Honestly, I probably am, but I don't want this to take forever.  If things sit half-done for too long, then sales are going to suffer, so I want to get it wrapped up quickly.

My new spot will not be available for move in until Wednesday, which complicates things a bit.  There is some work that needs to be done for the new spaces that will not be finished before the first.  I picked up some nice industrial sized shelves from a vendor who is leaving, and they need to be out of her old spot before Wednesday, since that spot is already rented again.  I'm going to try and park them in another empty booth, but if I can't then I'll cram them in my space for a day.

Tuesday is treatments day (and also scan results day), which also means I'll be moving pretty slow the rest of the week. If I can just get the bulk of it done by Friday, I'll rest over the weekend.

And from here on out, for reals, honest to goodness, NO MORE YARD SALES until further notice.  I anticipate spending most of next week moving a lot of the stash over to fill in holes created by the new booth scheme.  After that, I'm going to start planning for my own yard sale at the end of the month.  I'm going on a cleaning/decluttering tear in the kitchen, the backyard shed, and the back porch with one mission:  toss, sell, donate.  Some will end up in the booth, but there's a lot of things I want to go quickly, so a yard sale is the better route, I think.

Come August, I'll reassess the moratorium.  If I can greatly bring the stash level down, I'll start thinking about laying in a winter stash.

Someone please remind me that I've said all of this in a public forum.  Thank you. 

PS Go send Lorraine some love.  She needs it!