Tammy said: "It seems like once we hit the Ohio/Kentucky border, y'all have a
southern accent. I can just hear a southern drawl coming out of that cute
face!!!!"
Well, first off, you just seriously made me blush! Thanks!
And secondly, most of what comes out of this face are belches and burps.
There's a couple of interesting thoughts buried in that statement, which lead to several trains of thought in my head, which in turn lead to some stories and such. In other words, I'm gonna ramble. And it's not even Monday.
I have always considered myself to be a Southerner. To me, Kentucky is the South, but there are a lot of folks, particularly from deeper South, that would disagree. I'm not sure what the criteria is that one uses to make such decisions, or even if there is an official designation or determination anywhere. It just seems to be one of those things that folks have different opinions on.
I also consider myself to be a country boy at heart. I was raised in a small town in a rural county. When I was a kid, you could still shop on the town square in family-owned stores that had been there for generations. We lived in town, but lots of my family members had farms and raised horses, grew tobacco and corn, etc. Those are my roots and part of who I am.
It seems to me that Kentucky accents are a good deal more diverse than people realize. This is probably true for most states/regions. In the eastern part of the state, where all the mountains and coal mines are, the accent is more (for lack of a better term) "hillbilly." The twang is a little different there, even though a lot of the linguistic usage is the same as the rest of the state.
I should probably note here that I am not any kind of a linguist or accentologist or anything like that. There are no academic or scholarly credentials that back any of what I am saying up. I'm just a guy who thinks too much about things, loves to watch the world as it passes by and has a blog full of his rambles about stuff.
Speaking of academics, I went to college in the foothills of the Appalachians, so I spent five years listening to those wonderful accents.
When you move towards the south-central part of the state, where I am from, the accent gets more "country" or "hick." It's hard to explain in writing, but the sound is slightly different. Some words become a little more extended, but not quite like a Southern drawl.
The further west you go, the sound gets more what people think of when they think "Southern accent." It's a little more genteel, a little more drawn out, a definite drawl. I went to high school in this part of the state for a year, after my parents divorced.
Of course, none of this is hard and fast. The distinctions can be very slight and you can find people in all areas that speak with all kinds of accents. I'm laying this out as a kind of general guide.
In Louisville, there's a great mixture of speech mannerisms and accents. People move here from all over the state and all over the world. The biggest linguistic indicator of someone's origins is the way they pronounce the city's name. If you have lived here any length of time, you pronounce it almost like it's a one syllable word: "Luavull", sliding over that "ua" dipthong as smoothly and quickly as you can. If you say "Lewis-ville" or "Louie-ville" then we all know you ain't from around these parts.
As for the non-belch sounds that come out of my mouth, well, I'm a country boy. It's not really that thick or heavy, but there's a hick twang that sneaks out around the edges when I talk. When I go back home or spend time with my family, it comes out a lot more.
It wasn't always that way. We moved to Germany when I was in second grade and stayed there until I was in fourth grade. Then we moved to El Paso and stayed until I was in sixth grade. When we moved back to Kentucky, I didn't sound like anyone else. At all. It was so distinct that other kids would try to get me volunteer to read out loud in class, so they could listen to me talk. Not in a "make fun of it" kind of way, but in a "this is kind of interesting" kind of way. I was a little embarrassed nonetheless. My mother used to say that she couldn't wait for me to get home, so she could hear me again, instead of all the little kids in the neighborhood. Funny thing, I do not recall anyone making a big deal out of the way my brother sounded.
Gradually, of course, I lost that "different" sound and blended in a little more, but I never fully adapted the local sound. It's always been a little bit lighter with me, a little more subtle. It's enough that, when I'm in other parts of the country, people notice it, but not enough to "mark" me in anyway. At least, I don't think so. Sometimes, if I push this point too much, Keith will tell me to give it up and say that I sound like some hick kid from the sticks. The moral of that story is "don't get above your raising."
Not all of the sounds that come out of my mouth are in English by the way. My degree is in Spanish. I'm really shy about speaking it, because I've lost so much of my vocabulary and grammar to disuse. I really have to think hard about what I'm saying, which can make it hard to carry on a conversation. Sadly, I used to be damn near bilingual at one time. I get so frustrated with myself that I feel like if I can't say it perfectly, then I won't say it at all. Which really doesn't help me, I know. One thing I have not lost is my accent. On those rare occasions when I do speak in Spanish, people inevitably tell me that I sound authentic. It's something. I guess.
Anyway, if you want to hear a brief snippet of me talking and judge for yourself:
The full story behind that whole video is here. Behind the scenes pics are here.
That's a much younger, much less shaggy me, pre-cancer me. In fact, that mole that you see on my neck is the one that started all the trouble.
I can't believe it's been nine years since that happened. A whole lifetime ago.
Showing posts with label Ask Eddie Anything. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ask Eddie Anything. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Ask Eddie Anything: The Keith Thing
It's a two-fer day! You get not one question answered, but TWO! Who says this isn't the Eddie-torial Comments age of bargains and extra value?
First up, Judy asked: "Inquiring minds want to know.....How did you and Keith meet?"
Keith and I have kind of a long and complicated relationship. Once I finally came out to myself and the world, I set out on a journey to find my knight in shining armor and ended up stumbling ass-backwards into the love of my life, who'd been there the whole time.
In other words, it happened pretty much like everything else in my life. That's how I roll, I guess.
We met in seminary (Baptist), where we were both studying. Keith was going social work degree and I was studying for Christian education. Honestly, seminary and I were not a good fit, for a lot of reasons. One of which was the fact that I was trying to deal with some personal questions of identity in a place that wasn't very supportive of what I was realizing about myself.
Keith had been out for years, and had somehow managed to get in anyway. Never did figure that out, but it was also very risky for him, as he could have been kicked out on a whim.
A mutual friend introduced us. I was taking a class that required a daily, typed personal reflection, and Keith offered to let me use his computer. This was in the late 80's, when having a computer was not commonplace. I ended up typing most of my reflections and other papers in his room, and we got to know each other.
We became pretty fast friends, and were soon inseparable. It wasn't always an easy friendship. While we could talk about anything, sometimes things got to close to topics I wasn't yet willing to face up to about myself. During those times, I would back off for on the friendship for a period of time. I know I hurt Keith a lot during those times, but he never cut me out of his life.
Eventually, I ended up leaving the seminary, realizing that I had, for my own good, to come out of the closet. I knew that begin the kind of person I am, that I would not have been able to live in secret, afraid of being found out, so I left. Keith left about a year or so later.
We started getting active in the local LGBT community, and were pretty much seen everywhere, but always together. Most people just assumed we were a couple, but we were just friends. Friends who hold hands. And kiss each other goodbye. It was very hard to get a date, trust me.
A couple of years later, we moved in together, as roommates. During this time, we were internally out of sync which each other. There were times when he would be wanting more of a relationship, but I didn't. And then there were the reverse times. And, of course, we never ever talked about this.
Finally, I started talking about this with a couple of other friends, one of whom said: "It sounds to me like you're working awfully hard not to be in love with him." Wiser words were never spoken.
When he and I finally had "the talk" we were walking to a bus stop after some meeting or another. In my own smooth, suave style, I blurted out: "I've fallen in love with you." I walked on a few more steps, babbling about something or another, before I realized that I was walking by myself. Keith was stopped back where I made my admission, with a dumbstruck look on his face.
That, as they say, was all she wrote. It's been me and him and a flock of cats ever since. No looking back. No regrets. Thick and thin. Better and worse. Richer and poorer. Sickness and health. Keith and Eddie. Seems right to me.
Also tying into this is the question that Roger lobbed at me, inspiring me to do this in the first place:
"Oh, I know. we need to ask you questions, which you would have to answer. Such as, if you knew that Obergefell was going to happen so quickly, would you have waited and gotten married in Kentucky?"
Obergefell, in case you weren't aware, is the name of the Supreme Court case that settled the same-sex marriage question a few weeks ago.
Honestly, I think we would still have gone ahead and jumped the gun and gotten married in December. For one thing, there were still too many health questions up in the air for me at that time. For another, the wedding is part of our "two year plan" getting ready for Keith's upcoming retirement. I think we would have still proceeded down that path when we did regardless of what we knew or didn't know.
I still want to have a local ceremony, if we can swing it.
Well, that's it for this round! We're coming to the end of the questions. There are only three more to go.
First up, Judy asked: "Inquiring minds want to know.....How did you and Keith meet?"
Keith and I have kind of a long and complicated relationship. Once I finally came out to myself and the world, I set out on a journey to find my knight in shining armor and ended up stumbling ass-backwards into the love of my life, who'd been there the whole time.
In other words, it happened pretty much like everything else in my life. That's how I roll, I guess.
We met in seminary (Baptist), where we were both studying. Keith was going social work degree and I was studying for Christian education. Honestly, seminary and I were not a good fit, for a lot of reasons. One of which was the fact that I was trying to deal with some personal questions of identity in a place that wasn't very supportive of what I was realizing about myself.
Keith had been out for years, and had somehow managed to get in anyway. Never did figure that out, but it was also very risky for him, as he could have been kicked out on a whim.
A mutual friend introduced us. I was taking a class that required a daily, typed personal reflection, and Keith offered to let me use his computer. This was in the late 80's, when having a computer was not commonplace. I ended up typing most of my reflections and other papers in his room, and we got to know each other.
We became pretty fast friends, and were soon inseparable. It wasn't always an easy friendship. While we could talk about anything, sometimes things got to close to topics I wasn't yet willing to face up to about myself. During those times, I would back off for on the friendship for a period of time. I know I hurt Keith a lot during those times, but he never cut me out of his life.
Eventually, I ended up leaving the seminary, realizing that I had, for my own good, to come out of the closet. I knew that begin the kind of person I am, that I would not have been able to live in secret, afraid of being found out, so I left. Keith left about a year or so later.
We started getting active in the local LGBT community, and were pretty much seen everywhere, but always together. Most people just assumed we were a couple, but we were just friends. Friends who hold hands. And kiss each other goodbye. It was very hard to get a date, trust me.
A couple of years later, we moved in together, as roommates. During this time, we were internally out of sync which each other. There were times when he would be wanting more of a relationship, but I didn't. And then there were the reverse times. And, of course, we never ever talked about this.
Finally, I started talking about this with a couple of other friends, one of whom said: "It sounds to me like you're working awfully hard not to be in love with him." Wiser words were never spoken.
When he and I finally had "the talk" we were walking to a bus stop after some meeting or another. In my own smooth, suave style, I blurted out: "I've fallen in love with you." I walked on a few more steps, babbling about something or another, before I realized that I was walking by myself. Keith was stopped back where I made my admission, with a dumbstruck look on his face.
That, as they say, was all she wrote. It's been me and him and a flock of cats ever since. No looking back. No regrets. Thick and thin. Better and worse. Richer and poorer. Sickness and health. Keith and Eddie. Seems right to me.
Also tying into this is the question that Roger lobbed at me, inspiring me to do this in the first place:
"Oh, I know. we need to ask you questions, which you would have to answer. Such as, if you knew that Obergefell was going to happen so quickly, would you have waited and gotten married in Kentucky?"
Obergefell, in case you weren't aware, is the name of the Supreme Court case that settled the same-sex marriage question a few weeks ago.
Honestly, I think we would still have gone ahead and jumped the gun and gotten married in December. For one thing, there were still too many health questions up in the air for me at that time. For another, the wedding is part of our "two year plan" getting ready for Keith's upcoming retirement. I think we would have still proceeded down that path when we did regardless of what we knew or didn't know.
I still want to have a local ceremony, if we can swing it.
Well, that's it for this round! We're coming to the end of the questions. There are only three more to go.
Thursday, September 03, 2015
Ask Eddie Anything: The Junk Thing
Let's see now....
Where were we?
Oh, yeah. I remember.
Linda asked:
"Questions, how did you get started in the junk business?"
A lot of this has been covered in other posts. I think the best way to handle this is with some quick links to those posts for background, then I'll fill in the blanks in this post.
First off, all my posts with the "junking memories" label. A couple aren't totally relevant, but the ones called "Family Ties" and "Leitchfield Flea Market" kind of lay the groundwork for my junk history. I've kind of let the thread drop on this series. I need to pick that up again. I know I've got a couple of drafts for new posts somewhere in my list.
Another one to read is this one that I wrote after moving out of Dixie earlier this year. It tells the story of my growth there.
Finally, here is the very first post featuring my very first booth, practically from the very first day. You can see pics of a tubby, slightly more clean-shaven, pre-cancer Eddie in this post. I got so wrapped up in doing the booth (plus a few other things) that I didn't blog again for a whole year!
Now that the groundwork has been laid, here are some of the finishing details. Keith and I had been doing some heavy duty yard saling for a couple of years, usually getting stuff for the house, presents (for a long time almost every birthday and Christmas gift we gave was yard saled or thrifted), or stuff for us. From time to time, I would grab something and say that when I got my booth, this would go in it. I had a "someday booth" kind of like Laurie's beach house.
Right after we moved into the house, we went to our very first Peddlers Mall and I was in love with the idea. People were selling junk! I had junk! I could sell my junk! But it was just a dream I never did anything with. A little later, the friend we used to have yard sales with took a booth in a secondhand store. We kind of had a ringside seat at learning how to do it. When I finally bit, I had an idea of what to expect.
What finally pushed me over the edge was a combination of factors. I had talked with the store where my friend was, but gotten turned down, as that owner only took vendors he knew and selected. I had also placed my name on a waiting list at a Peddlers Mall. I was told they had a six month waiting list. I never heard back from them.
I went to the opening of the Dixie Peddlers Mall and they had open spaces, which would mean no waiting list. Anyone could sign up. No funky vetting procedures. Keith was away that weekend, and I wanted to talk to him before I actually took the plunge.
At that particular time, I needed an outlet badly. I was trapped in a job that I was coming not just to hate, but to despise. Too many reorganizations and shuffles. An overly bloated top tier loaded with incompetent cronies. A toxic atmosphere where secrecy, favoritism, and backbiting were the order of the day. I had watched both a good friend and a supervisor become targets of scapegoating and witch hunting. The supervisor got summarily dismissed. A few months later, it became pretty obvious that my ass was in the target zone.
I needed something to help me keep my sanity and restore a very badly-shattered self-esteem. I had no idea how badly wounded I was by the whole experience until the day I finally got canned along with almost ten other people, barely a month after my mother died. I was pretty shattered.
The booth kept me sane that last year of employment by giving me distraction--something that I could do where I only had to answer to myself. I only had to please me. I could do things my way and learn my own lessons. With so much else out of my control, having something where I was making the decisions meant so much to me. Any money that I made was a bonus.
Doing well proved to me that I was not the incompetent fool that I was being made out to be by the people who kept changing the rules at work to make it so. Having a place to put energy, initiative and creativity that I was not allowed to exercise at work allowed me to reinvent myself.
After I lost my job, grieving my mother and full of a lot of rage, I threw myself into selling junk. Keith says it saved me. I tend to agree. Junk healed me, as melodramatic as that sounds.
There are the germs for two or three Junkin' Memories posts in this one. Look for a flurry of those to come sometime in the future. After I finish all the Ask Eddie Anything questions, of course.
Where were we?
Oh, yeah. I remember.
Linda asked:
"Questions, how did you get started in the junk business?"
A lot of this has been covered in other posts. I think the best way to handle this is with some quick links to those posts for background, then I'll fill in the blanks in this post.
First off, all my posts with the "junking memories" label. A couple aren't totally relevant, but the ones called "Family Ties" and "Leitchfield Flea Market" kind of lay the groundwork for my junk history. I've kind of let the thread drop on this series. I need to pick that up again. I know I've got a couple of drafts for new posts somewhere in my list.
Another one to read is this one that I wrote after moving out of Dixie earlier this year. It tells the story of my growth there.
Finally, here is the very first post featuring my very first booth, practically from the very first day. You can see pics of a tubby, slightly more clean-shaven, pre-cancer Eddie in this post. I got so wrapped up in doing the booth (plus a few other things) that I didn't blog again for a whole year!
Now that the groundwork has been laid, here are some of the finishing details. Keith and I had been doing some heavy duty yard saling for a couple of years, usually getting stuff for the house, presents (for a long time almost every birthday and Christmas gift we gave was yard saled or thrifted), or stuff for us. From time to time, I would grab something and say that when I got my booth, this would go in it. I had a "someday booth" kind of like Laurie's beach house.
Right after we moved into the house, we went to our very first Peddlers Mall and I was in love with the idea. People were selling junk! I had junk! I could sell my junk! But it was just a dream I never did anything with. A little later, the friend we used to have yard sales with took a booth in a secondhand store. We kind of had a ringside seat at learning how to do it. When I finally bit, I had an idea of what to expect.
What finally pushed me over the edge was a combination of factors. I had talked with the store where my friend was, but gotten turned down, as that owner only took vendors he knew and selected. I had also placed my name on a waiting list at a Peddlers Mall. I was told they had a six month waiting list. I never heard back from them.
I went to the opening of the Dixie Peddlers Mall and they had open spaces, which would mean no waiting list. Anyone could sign up. No funky vetting procedures. Keith was away that weekend, and I wanted to talk to him before I actually took the plunge.
At that particular time, I needed an outlet badly. I was trapped in a job that I was coming not just to hate, but to despise. Too many reorganizations and shuffles. An overly bloated top tier loaded with incompetent cronies. A toxic atmosphere where secrecy, favoritism, and backbiting were the order of the day. I had watched both a good friend and a supervisor become targets of scapegoating and witch hunting. The supervisor got summarily dismissed. A few months later, it became pretty obvious that my ass was in the target zone.
I needed something to help me keep my sanity and restore a very badly-shattered self-esteem. I had no idea how badly wounded I was by the whole experience until the day I finally got canned along with almost ten other people, barely a month after my mother died. I was pretty shattered.
The booth kept me sane that last year of employment by giving me distraction--something that I could do where I only had to answer to myself. I only had to please me. I could do things my way and learn my own lessons. With so much else out of my control, having something where I was making the decisions meant so much to me. Any money that I made was a bonus.
Doing well proved to me that I was not the incompetent fool that I was being made out to be by the people who kept changing the rules at work to make it so. Having a place to put energy, initiative and creativity that I was not allowed to exercise at work allowed me to reinvent myself.
After I lost my job, grieving my mother and full of a lot of rage, I threw myself into selling junk. Keith says it saved me. I tend to agree. Junk healed me, as melodramatic as that sounds.
There are the germs for two or three Junkin' Memories posts in this one. Look for a flurry of those to come sometime in the future. After I finish all the Ask Eddie Anything questions, of course.
Thursday, August 06, 2015
Ask Eddie Anything: The Job Thing
Donna said:
"I'd like to know all the jobs you had before becoming the master of junk."
All of them? Well, I'd better get started, since this is going to be a long post. (I don't really consider myself to be a "master" of junk. Most of the time, I hardly feel like I know what I'm doing!)
The first time I remember being paid for doing a job for someone else happened when I was about fifteen or sixteen. After my parents divorced, we moved to a different city for a while and lived in a basement apartment. I don't remember why, but our apartment flooded, along with the one next door to us. The landlord paid my brother and me to clean the carpets after the repairs were made.
Not long after that, I started mowing the lawn for a woman who worked with my mother.
The college I went to required that all students work a campus job at least ten hours a week. I worked a variety of jobs throughout my college career--the dishroom in the cafeteria, janitor for the Baptist Student Union, the children's room in the library, teaching assistant in the Spanish department, the direct mail department of the fundraising office, grader in the Basic Math program, and finally student instructor in the Basic Math program.
After graduation, I moved to Louisville to attend seminary. I did one night as a banquet server for a temp service, but pretty much realized it was not for me. I worked in the produce department of a large Kroger for a while. I would come in at five in the morning and core pineapples. I worked in a bookstore for a while, but it went out of business. I worked as a janitor on campus, then took a job at Lowes as a cashier. I held both of those jobs for a while.
It was around this time I met Keith. He helped me get on at the homeless shelter where he worked. I was the overnight guy there for the longest time, working the graveyard shift. At the end of my shift, I would get everyone up for breakfast. We both worked there for a while, then we both went to work for state as Food Stamp and AFDC workers. At the same time, I moved from the homeless shelter to become resident manager of a transitional housing program.
Somewhere around here, I also started working in the nursery at my church as a paid worker. I did that on and off for several years. One Christmas, I was a mall Santa.
I left the state job after three years, realizing that I was burning out massively. I cleaned houses for a while after that, then worked in a friend's print and design shop. After that, I worked for an agency that placed adults with mental handicaps in factories and other job sites. I served as a crew leader/supervisor for groups of workers. I thought I'd be working there for a while, but I was offered a job at a local agency to do HIV/AIDS education and prevention services.
The director who hired me left, and the new director got rid of many current staff members, including me. However, the old director hired me at his new agency to design and implement HIV training programs for agencies that served the homeless. I went from there to a statewide agency that worked with housing and homeless agencies. That job required a daily commute to the state capital, which wasn't any fun.
The commute finally did me in, and I went to work for the county government in staff development and training for the social services department. The city and county governments merged, but I stayed on there for nine years, until I was fired in the midst of a huge department upheaval.
I had been working in the adult continuing education program of the school system teaching computer programs on the side, so I continued to do that and picked up some extra hours there. I worked a couple of external contracts for them teaching more computer classes. I moved over to the basic education side of the program and taught math classes to adults looking to get their GED until I left that earlier this year.
And that's my checkered employment history. Next time, I'll get to Linda's question and talk about where the junker evolved out of this.
"I'd like to know all the jobs you had before becoming the master of junk."
All of them? Well, I'd better get started, since this is going to be a long post. (I don't really consider myself to be a "master" of junk. Most of the time, I hardly feel like I know what I'm doing!)
The first time I remember being paid for doing a job for someone else happened when I was about fifteen or sixteen. After my parents divorced, we moved to a different city for a while and lived in a basement apartment. I don't remember why, but our apartment flooded, along with the one next door to us. The landlord paid my brother and me to clean the carpets after the repairs were made.
Not long after that, I started mowing the lawn for a woman who worked with my mother.
The college I went to required that all students work a campus job at least ten hours a week. I worked a variety of jobs throughout my college career--the dishroom in the cafeteria, janitor for the Baptist Student Union, the children's room in the library, teaching assistant in the Spanish department, the direct mail department of the fundraising office, grader in the Basic Math program, and finally student instructor in the Basic Math program.
After graduation, I moved to Louisville to attend seminary. I did one night as a banquet server for a temp service, but pretty much realized it was not for me. I worked in the produce department of a large Kroger for a while. I would come in at five in the morning and core pineapples. I worked in a bookstore for a while, but it went out of business. I worked as a janitor on campus, then took a job at Lowes as a cashier. I held both of those jobs for a while.
It was around this time I met Keith. He helped me get on at the homeless shelter where he worked. I was the overnight guy there for the longest time, working the graveyard shift. At the end of my shift, I would get everyone up for breakfast. We both worked there for a while, then we both went to work for state as Food Stamp and AFDC workers. At the same time, I moved from the homeless shelter to become resident manager of a transitional housing program.
Somewhere around here, I also started working in the nursery at my church as a paid worker. I did that on and off for several years. One Christmas, I was a mall Santa.
I left the state job after three years, realizing that I was burning out massively. I cleaned houses for a while after that, then worked in a friend's print and design shop. After that, I worked for an agency that placed adults with mental handicaps in factories and other job sites. I served as a crew leader/supervisor for groups of workers. I thought I'd be working there for a while, but I was offered a job at a local agency to do HIV/AIDS education and prevention services.
The director who hired me left, and the new director got rid of many current staff members, including me. However, the old director hired me at his new agency to design and implement HIV training programs for agencies that served the homeless. I went from there to a statewide agency that worked with housing and homeless agencies. That job required a daily commute to the state capital, which wasn't any fun.
The commute finally did me in, and I went to work for the county government in staff development and training for the social services department. The city and county governments merged, but I stayed on there for nine years, until I was fired in the midst of a huge department upheaval.
I had been working in the adult continuing education program of the school system teaching computer programs on the side, so I continued to do that and picked up some extra hours there. I worked a couple of external contracts for them teaching more computer classes. I moved over to the basic education side of the program and taught math classes to adults looking to get their GED until I left that earlier this year.
And that's my checkered employment history. Next time, I'll get to Linda's question and talk about where the junker evolved out of this.
Friday, July 31, 2015
Ask Eddie Anythng: Booth Business (Part 2)
BOOTHS 4&5: THE AISLE BOOTH
Moving down Aisle 6 from the Endcap Booth and passing two not very well-tended spaces on the right will bring you to my final double spot, which I refer to as the "Aisle Booth" because, well, it's on the aisle.
This is the view coming down the aisle. This booth starts with those pink bears and runs to the brown bookcase in the distance. I hate having that pole right there, but there's nothing I can do about it. I have almost knocked that fire extinguisher off that pole more than once.
Here is a more head on view into the booth.
This is kind of my catchall booth for stuff that doesn't work in the other spots. It's also my spot for the oddball and eclectic. It's also my problem child. I'm just not happy with this space right now. You'll see why in a minute.
This is the home for my religious section, which includes religious books and media. I would love to work one more shelf in here for religious stuff, but I can't think of a way to do it without violating the laws of time and space and causing the universe to implode. I'd hate to end up floating in the timeless, spaceless quantum void and have one of you drift by and say: "Way to go. You just had to try and put one more shelf in there, didn't you?"
I have a few pieces of small furniture in this booth, mainly overflow from the Endcap Booth. I am toying with the idea of grabbing a bunch of chairs and such out of storage and going whole hog with them in here. Can you really have too much small furniture? Maybe I could put more religious items on the small furniture, thus eliminating the need for another shelf! Huzzah! The universe is saved! I am a hero once again!
This is also my spot for kid-sized furniture and large toys. And non-vintage, non-nerd toys in general. Toys are fun, but, man, are they a lot of work. Kids are messy.
And I have a nice selection of barware. I must have a regular crew of drinkers and smokers that shop from me, because I sell a lot of this stuff.
I hate this shelf. It has out lived its usefulness and, frankly, was never that useful to begin with. I bought it from another vendor in a panic when I was moving in this store, because all of my other shelves were in use in Dixie. It's too deep and awkward to display stuff, plus it's clunky and ugly and just gets on my nerves! I need to come up with a plan to get rid of and replace it. Sigh.
Now we come to the problem in this space. These shelves. Well not the shelves, per se, but what's on them. I need for it to be other stuff, but I have a hard and fast rule that nothing comes home from the booth. The only things I will pull are either broken or seasonal holiday stuff. Everything else stays until it sells or rots away. I just move it from booth to booth and spot to spot until that happens. I refer to all my bottom shelves as "purgatory" as that's where stuff ends up sitting after I give up on
I know this is bad retail strategy, but I sell enough on a daily basis that my booth is constantly changing, purgatory shelves notwithstanding. I'm just honestly too lazy to want to schlep stuff home. Every couple of years, I will pull a bunch of the shelf sitters and either donate them or do a bulk sale to another vendor, but nothing's coming back with me.
Where did all this stuff on these shelves come from? Remember a while back when I mentioned that I had bought out a vendor who was leaving? This is part of that stuff. Some of it is the lower quality end of the lot. When you buy a whole booth, you get it all, even the warts and turnip rinds. (Do turnips have rinds?)
I wasn't really intending to buy this woman out. We were negotiating a deal for her shelves, which I liked because of their size. I was moving a bunch of shelves to the Endcap Booth, and these would make good replacements. All of a sudden, she makes this ridiculously low offer for the shelves plus all her stuff. And the rest is history.
There was a lot of good stuff in her space: Fenton, Louisville Stoneware, Hadley, ByBee, Boyd's Bears, a couple of Longabergers, plus a ton of Asian decor. The good stuff went into the Endcap Booth and is selling pretty well for me. I've made my money back on the deal in just a few weeks.
It's just that there's now a lot of this stuff to deal with. Combs. Bibs. Shoes. Hair accessories. Vegetable peelers. There's nothing wrong with any of that stuff or with the people who sell it. It's just not me, and it's taking up space that I want to use for other stuff.
The toys and glass on the white shelves I kind of like, except for the fact that the toys keep falling off the shelves if you look at them sideways. And there's way too much of the glass. We're talking like a metric shit ton of glassware. I'm not kidding.
There are DOZENS of these divided relish dishes! Who serves that much relish, besides maybe the Queen of England. Oh wait, she doesn't serve relish because it makes her gassy. Don't ask me how I know this.
It's that way with every glass piece. Instead of one or two, there are many multiples. The glass was one of the reasons I got the booth, but I seriously underestimated how much of it there was. Some of this stuff has got to go.
Since I've made my money back, I'm starting to mark this stuff down. Way down. There is enough of it that I'll still make a killer profit on the sheer bulk of the stuff. Hopefully, that will move this stuff out fast!
Whatever is left at the end of the month will go in my yard sale. I will be doing a one time only violation of the "no pulling items" rule and yanking any of this that is left and selling it even cheaper. Anything left after that will be donated. Hopefully, there will be very little for the yard sale.
The good stuff will stay full price and stay in the Endcap Booth.
I guess that wraps up the whole booth tour thing, and also our first Ask Eddie Anything. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to swing through these parts any time. I'll be glad to help you fill up a cart.
Moving down Aisle 6 from the Endcap Booth and passing two not very well-tended spaces on the right will bring you to my final double spot, which I refer to as the "Aisle Booth" because, well, it's on the aisle.
This is the view coming down the aisle. This booth starts with those pink bears and runs to the brown bookcase in the distance. I hate having that pole right there, but there's nothing I can do about it. I have almost knocked that fire extinguisher off that pole more than once.
Here is a more head on view into the booth.
This is kind of my catchall booth for stuff that doesn't work in the other spots. It's also my spot for the oddball and eclectic. It's also my problem child. I'm just not happy with this space right now. You'll see why in a minute.
This is the home for my religious section, which includes religious books and media. I would love to work one more shelf in here for religious stuff, but I can't think of a way to do it without violating the laws of time and space and causing the universe to implode. I'd hate to end up floating in the timeless, spaceless quantum void and have one of you drift by and say: "Way to go. You just had to try and put one more shelf in there, didn't you?"
 |
| I promise there is a chair under all that crap. |
I have a few pieces of small furniture in this booth, mainly overflow from the Endcap Booth. I am toying with the idea of grabbing a bunch of chairs and such out of storage and going whole hog with them in here. Can you really have too much small furniture? Maybe I could put more religious items on the small furniture, thus eliminating the need for another shelf! Huzzah! The universe is saved! I am a hero once again!
This is also my spot for kid-sized furniture and large toys. And non-vintage, non-nerd toys in general. Toys are fun, but, man, are they a lot of work. Kids are messy.
And I have a nice selection of barware. I must have a regular crew of drinkers and smokers that shop from me, because I sell a lot of this stuff.
 |
| I am talking about that rack in the background here |
I hate this shelf. It has out lived its usefulness and, frankly, was never that useful to begin with. I bought it from another vendor in a panic when I was moving in this store, because all of my other shelves were in use in Dixie. It's too deep and awkward to display stuff, plus it's clunky and ugly and just gets on my nerves! I need to come up with a plan to get rid of and replace it. Sigh.
Now we come to the problem in this space. These shelves. Well not the shelves, per se, but what's on them. I need for it to be other stuff, but I have a hard and fast rule that nothing comes home from the booth. The only things I will pull are either broken or seasonal holiday stuff. Everything else stays until it sells or rots away. I just move it from booth to booth and spot to spot until that happens. I refer to all my bottom shelves as "purgatory" as that's where stuff ends up sitting after I give up on
I know this is bad retail strategy, but I sell enough on a daily basis that my booth is constantly changing, purgatory shelves notwithstanding. I'm just honestly too lazy to want to schlep stuff home. Every couple of years, I will pull a bunch of the shelf sitters and either donate them or do a bulk sale to another vendor, but nothing's coming back with me.
Where did all this stuff on these shelves come from? Remember a while back when I mentioned that I had bought out a vendor who was leaving? This is part of that stuff. Some of it is the lower quality end of the lot. When you buy a whole booth, you get it all, even the warts and turnip rinds. (Do turnips have rinds?)
I wasn't really intending to buy this woman out. We were negotiating a deal for her shelves, which I liked because of their size. I was moving a bunch of shelves to the Endcap Booth, and these would make good replacements. All of a sudden, she makes this ridiculously low offer for the shelves plus all her stuff. And the rest is history.
There was a lot of good stuff in her space: Fenton, Louisville Stoneware, Hadley, ByBee, Boyd's Bears, a couple of Longabergers, plus a ton of Asian decor. The good stuff went into the Endcap Booth and is selling pretty well for me. I've made my money back on the deal in just a few weeks.
It's just that there's now a lot of this stuff to deal with. Combs. Bibs. Shoes. Hair accessories. Vegetable peelers. There's nothing wrong with any of that stuff or with the people who sell it. It's just not me, and it's taking up space that I want to use for other stuff.
The toys and glass on the white shelves I kind of like, except for the fact that the toys keep falling off the shelves if you look at them sideways. And there's way too much of the glass. We're talking like a metric shit ton of glassware. I'm not kidding.
There are DOZENS of these divided relish dishes! Who serves that much relish, besides maybe the Queen of England. Oh wait, she doesn't serve relish because it makes her gassy. Don't ask me how I know this.
It's that way with every glass piece. Instead of one or two, there are many multiples. The glass was one of the reasons I got the booth, but I seriously underestimated how much of it there was. Some of this stuff has got to go.
Since I've made my money back, I'm starting to mark this stuff down. Way down. There is enough of it that I'll still make a killer profit on the sheer bulk of the stuff. Hopefully, that will move this stuff out fast!
Whatever is left at the end of the month will go in my yard sale. I will be doing a one time only violation of the "no pulling items" rule and yanking any of this that is left and selling it even cheaper. Anything left after that will be donated. Hopefully, there will be very little for the yard sale.
The good stuff will stay full price and stay in the Endcap Booth.
 |
| I use every inch of space in this booth too. Everything builds up! |
I guess that wraps up the whole booth tour thing, and also our first Ask Eddie Anything. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to swing through these parts any time. I'll be glad to help you fill up a cart.
 |
| Let us pray! |
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Ask Eddie Anything: More Booth Stuff (Part 1)
I'm taking care of a bunch of tasks at once here. This is the more in depth look at the booth I promised earlier, but it also ties in with the first two questions from Ask Eddie Anything that I want to answer.
Joy said:
"Darn, can't think of a question. Love pictures of your booths so, more pictures???"
And Donna asked:
"And how much selling space do you have now?"
To start with Donna, I now have five booths, each 8x10. Four of them are set up as a pair of doubles, which is just two booths side by side.
Let's take a look. Before we do, let me give a few caveats. First, the lighting in this place is horrid for pictures. Bright overhead fluorescents bounce off the white tile floor. The glare is hideous. I don't even try to counter that when I take pics. It's just too much work.
Next, I am not a stylist or a decorator. I have no talent at this booth arranging thing. My aesthetic is more "cram it in" rather than "create cute vignettes." I'm there to sell stuff, not make pretties. Probably, if I could do the latter, I would do more of the former
BOOTH #1: THE BOOK BOOTH
There's an aisle that runs across the front of the store, and all the other aisles branch of it to run the length of the store. Between that aisle and the front wall are a few booths. This is where the book booth is. It's a single space, only 8x10.
I'm standing in the aisle, looking into the booth in this shot.
I call it the "Book Booth" for short, but that's more of a theme than a literal definition. Most everything in the booth relates to that theme, at least in my little mind. The exception is that vintage curio mirror on the right. It should be in the Furniture Booth, but there is just no room for it right now.
Things that "relate" to the theme (to me), include the note cards in the black basket and the media items on the shelf below. Those baskets are in the booth next to me. I would never put baskets in a book booth! Except for the black one that I put note cards in....
CD's, DVD's, VHS, card sets and card games on the left. I don't categorize my books, with two exceptions. One is the manga shelf under the orange tag on the right. The digest size of most manga trades means they would get lost in a box of comics and graphic novels.
I have previously admitted to my thing for school desks. The chair was one of my bulk purchases from another dealer when the Dixie store closed. I got three of those chairs, a bakers rack and a microwave cupboard from her. That one chair is all that's left. I've got school binders in the chair because I don't have any other place to put them. That's kind of a recurrent decor motif for me.
Children's books (tub on top), vintage texts, baskets of ephemera (bottom two shelves), plus a yellow step stool so that people can look in the tub on top without taking it off the shelf. The stool sold this weekend, so I need to find another one. The flower basket stands to the lower right hold small books and more note card sets.
I need to find a better arrangement for the ephemera items. Those baskets just aren't working and the whole effect is just too messy.
The wonderful thing about using tables for display is that you can stash more stuff under them. I am all for filling every. single. inch. with things to sell. After all, I am paying rent on those inches. If I could get away without leaving space for people to walk, I would. Even the shelving and displays are for sale. As a wise woman once said "NFS doesn't pay the rent." (NFS = Not for Sale)
Of course, there are comics. Would not be my space without them! I need to bring in a new box of them. One of the long boxes completely emptied out the other day. I have some magazines and other odd items mixed in with the comics.
Well, what do you know? Books in a book booth! Whodathunk? Books are very common in flea market booths, so I try really hard not to have the stuff everyone else does. You won't find the usual suspects here. No Danielle Steel or Stephen King or John Grisham. Who's going to buy them from me when they can get them from just about anyone else? You can see the empty spaces here. I need to bring some more books in. They're just in a hard to get to spot in my storage and I haven't felt like hauling all that crap out to get to them. Plus, books are heavy!
On the left under the blue tag is my other specialized area for books. You can find cookbooks, craft books, and gardening books there. Lots of people come looking for them, so I thought it was a good idea to make a section for them. It's not really a section I ever planned to have, but my mother had a lot of gardening books and someone left a huge box of cookbooks behind at Dixie, which got passed on to me.
I actually do have a third specialized area for books, but it's actually in another booth.
Text books. One of the continuing education programs gave me a bunch of surplus text books. I keep them all on this shelf, which I guess is a special book area, meaning that I don't really know what I'm talking about, even in my own booths.
Finally, my annoyance. Those big, blank, empty shelves are not in my booth. The booth next to mine put in a bunch of shelves with pegboard backing in their booth, but turned them around backwards. I'd really not have them there. If they put merch in there, I'm going to complain. I do not pay rent for people to stand in my booth and shop someone else's space.
The wrestling figure on the right is the only toy that made it into those pics, but I do keep action figures, collectible card games, and other nerd toys in this space, since the comics are also here.
BOOTHS #2 AND 3: THE FURNITURE BOOTH
Turning around from the Book Booth, you find the Furniture Booth, which I also call the Endcap Booth, because it's a double booth stretching across the end of Aisles 6 and 7.
This is the Aisle 7 side. Lots of smalls for something called the "Furniture Booth." I try to limit smalls in this booth to vintage, retro, rustic, classic, and general decor items.
This is my Asian decor section, which is on the Aisle 7 side.
Coming into the booth from the Aisle 7 side. That loveseat sold right after I took this pic, saving me from having to bitch about the fact that it's still there! It was a freebie from the Dixie move out, one of the last large items I was given. I was sooooo sick of it. Now, I get to bitch about having to fill that space. Junkers! We're never happy.
Head on view in the booth. That unfinished wood shelf is interesting. It's handmade and held together by wooden pegs, not nails or glue. I think it was some kind of history project, because there are three names written on it, along with a grade. They got a B.
You're probably noticing empty spots here and there. I took these pics after a few days of my "ain't gonna restock smalls for a while" pledge. I'm letting a lot of these bits and bobs sell down to make lots of room for more. I have bunches of smalls. I sell bunches of smalls.
Vintage toy shelf. I'm selling a lot of Fisher-Price right now.
I like to use small shelves to extend the capacity of larger shelves. Some of my pricier stuff is on this shelf.
These two shelves are sitting on a work table on wheels. I am debating wheeling that whole kaboodle over into the space where the love seat was, just to shake things up a bit. I need to ponder that some more, as I'll need to figure out what to put in this spot after the move.
That afghan seems to be photo-bombing every pic in this post!
Old metal cabinets are great for displaying magnets! I never met a small table that I could not stack.
The view down Aisle 6. More magnets on that metal cabinet. I try to catch people's eye from every possible angle.
You've gotta use ever nook and cranny! And cubby! People will look wherever there is stuff. Not all of them will, but enough do to make it worth stocking every spare inch. Letting these bits and bobs sell down allow me to shuffle stuff around to fill spots, which moves things into places where they might catch the right eye. I have been really surprised at how many of my Dixie leftovers sell as soon as I put them out. Sometimes, all it takes is a new location.
This post is running long, so I'm gonna stop here. I'll be back with the last spaces on Friday.
Joy said:
"Darn, can't think of a question. Love pictures of your booths so, more pictures???"
And Donna asked:
"And how much selling space do you have now?"
To start with Donna, I now have five booths, each 8x10. Four of them are set up as a pair of doubles, which is just two booths side by side.
Let's take a look. Before we do, let me give a few caveats. First, the lighting in this place is horrid for pictures. Bright overhead fluorescents bounce off the white tile floor. The glare is hideous. I don't even try to counter that when I take pics. It's just too much work.
Next, I am not a stylist or a decorator. I have no talent at this booth arranging thing. My aesthetic is more "cram it in" rather than "create cute vignettes." I'm there to sell stuff, not make pretties. Probably, if I could do the latter, I would do more of the former
BOOTH #1: THE BOOK BOOTH
There's an aisle that runs across the front of the store, and all the other aisles branch of it to run the length of the store. Between that aisle and the front wall are a few booths. This is where the book booth is. It's a single space, only 8x10.
I'm standing in the aisle, looking into the booth in this shot.
I call it the "Book Booth" for short, but that's more of a theme than a literal definition. Most everything in the booth relates to that theme, at least in my little mind. The exception is that vintage curio mirror on the right. It should be in the Furniture Booth, but there is just no room for it right now.
Things that "relate" to the theme (to me), include the note cards in the black basket and the media items on the shelf below. Those baskets are in the booth next to me. I would never put baskets in a book booth! Except for the black one that I put note cards in....
CD's, DVD's, VHS, card sets and card games on the left. I don't categorize my books, with two exceptions. One is the manga shelf under the orange tag on the right. The digest size of most manga trades means they would get lost in a box of comics and graphic novels.
I have previously admitted to my thing for school desks. The chair was one of my bulk purchases from another dealer when the Dixie store closed. I got three of those chairs, a bakers rack and a microwave cupboard from her. That one chair is all that's left. I've got school binders in the chair because I don't have any other place to put them. That's kind of a recurrent decor motif for me.
Children's books (tub on top), vintage texts, baskets of ephemera (bottom two shelves), plus a yellow step stool so that people can look in the tub on top without taking it off the shelf. The stool sold this weekend, so I need to find another one. The flower basket stands to the lower right hold small books and more note card sets.
I need to find a better arrangement for the ephemera items. Those baskets just aren't working and the whole effect is just too messy.
The wonderful thing about using tables for display is that you can stash more stuff under them. I am all for filling every. single. inch. with things to sell. After all, I am paying rent on those inches. If I could get away without leaving space for people to walk, I would. Even the shelving and displays are for sale. As a wise woman once said "NFS doesn't pay the rent." (NFS = Not for Sale)
Of course, there are comics. Would not be my space without them! I need to bring in a new box of them. One of the long boxes completely emptied out the other day. I have some magazines and other odd items mixed in with the comics.
Well, what do you know? Books in a book booth! Whodathunk? Books are very common in flea market booths, so I try really hard not to have the stuff everyone else does. You won't find the usual suspects here. No Danielle Steel or Stephen King or John Grisham. Who's going to buy them from me when they can get them from just about anyone else? You can see the empty spaces here. I need to bring some more books in. They're just in a hard to get to spot in my storage and I haven't felt like hauling all that crap out to get to them. Plus, books are heavy!
On the left under the blue tag is my other specialized area for books. You can find cookbooks, craft books, and gardening books there. Lots of people come looking for them, so I thought it was a good idea to make a section for them. It's not really a section I ever planned to have, but my mother had a lot of gardening books and someone left a huge box of cookbooks behind at Dixie, which got passed on to me.
I actually do have a third specialized area for books, but it's actually in another booth.
Text books. One of the continuing education programs gave me a bunch of surplus text books. I keep them all on this shelf, which I guess is a special book area, meaning that I don't really know what I'm talking about, even in my own booths.
Finally, my annoyance. Those big, blank, empty shelves are not in my booth. The booth next to mine put in a bunch of shelves with pegboard backing in their booth, but turned them around backwards. I'd really not have them there. If they put merch in there, I'm going to complain. I do not pay rent for people to stand in my booth and shop someone else's space.
The wrestling figure on the right is the only toy that made it into those pics, but I do keep action figures, collectible card games, and other nerd toys in this space, since the comics are also here.
BOOTHS #2 AND 3: THE FURNITURE BOOTH
Turning around from the Book Booth, you find the Furniture Booth, which I also call the Endcap Booth, because it's a double booth stretching across the end of Aisles 6 and 7.
This is the Aisle 7 side. Lots of smalls for something called the "Furniture Booth." I try to limit smalls in this booth to vintage, retro, rustic, classic, and general decor items.
This is my Asian decor section, which is on the Aisle 7 side.
Coming into the booth from the Aisle 7 side. That loveseat sold right after I took this pic, saving me from having to bitch about the fact that it's still there! It was a freebie from the Dixie move out, one of the last large items I was given. I was sooooo sick of it. Now, I get to bitch about having to fill that space. Junkers! We're never happy.
Head on view in the booth. That unfinished wood shelf is interesting. It's handmade and held together by wooden pegs, not nails or glue. I think it was some kind of history project, because there are three names written on it, along with a grade. They got a B.
You're probably noticing empty spots here and there. I took these pics after a few days of my "ain't gonna restock smalls for a while" pledge. I'm letting a lot of these bits and bobs sell down to make lots of room for more. I have bunches of smalls. I sell bunches of smalls.
Vintage toy shelf. I'm selling a lot of Fisher-Price right now.
I like to use small shelves to extend the capacity of larger shelves. Some of my pricier stuff is on this shelf.
These two shelves are sitting on a work table on wheels. I am debating wheeling that whole kaboodle over into the space where the love seat was, just to shake things up a bit. I need to ponder that some more, as I'll need to figure out what to put in this spot after the move.
That afghan seems to be photo-bombing every pic in this post!
Old metal cabinets are great for displaying magnets! I never met a small table that I could not stack.
The view down Aisle 6. More magnets on that metal cabinet. I try to catch people's eye from every possible angle.
You've gotta use ever nook and cranny! And cubby! People will look wherever there is stuff. Not all of them will, but enough do to make it worth stocking every spare inch. Letting these bits and bobs sell down allow me to shuffle stuff around to fill spots, which moves things into places where they might catch the right eye. I have been really surprised at how many of my Dixie leftovers sell as soon as I put them out. Sometimes, all it takes is a new location.
This post is running long, so I'm gonna stop here. I'll be back with the last spaces on Friday.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Monday Rambles
This is what it's like here right now.
It's that hot. And humid. And icky. To top it off, we get these thundering downpours that last an hour or so several times a day, making everything even stickier and more humid afterwards. It's kind of like living in South Florida.
We went out for maybe two-three hours on Saturday, and I could not wait to get home. I'm kind of glad to have a moratorium right now. I certainly don't wanna be standing in some stranger's driveway, dripping in sweat.
I did go to anerd herd sidewalk sale at the comic shop on Saturday, because those are not part of the moratorium and I need lots of comics for the booth these days. Instead of being 50 cents each, like they usually are at these sales, the comics were a quarter each, which is bargain city!
I was thinking that they would move the sale indoors, due to the heat. They have a side room that they have used in the past for sales, including three this year. However, everything was out on the sidewalk in the blazing heat. At one point, it was just me and one other guy there. He looks at me and says: "Either we like this stuff a lot or we're nuts." Or both. It was pretty miserable.
That song, by the way, is a John Prine classic, which has also been covered by my beloved Iris DeMent. I could not find a good video of either of them performing it, so I went with Josh Ritter, who is quite a fine singer-songwriter in his own right. (Still love my Americana music!)
Like I always say, you can't go wrong with a Prine song for a blog-opener. Well, maybe I don't always say that, but I do when the occasion calls for it. Like this one.
We've had so much rain that all our bushes and such are growing out of control. I keep thinking about working on that a little bit, but the heat keeps putting me off. If you drive past our house, turn your head. At least the neighbors haven't complained yet.
Tomorrow is a treatment day. Number six, I think. I'm scheduled early, early this time, so maybe I won't get caught by the delays we've had the past couple of times. Then I'll be home for my post-treatment nap.
I'm going to try to go the booth Wednesday and Thursday. It will need straightening and tweaking. I want to get some better pics too. I have not promoted the booths on Craigslist for a while, since i moved into this store, in fact. I need to get in gear again. I'll share pics with you all, of course.
My plan for the next few weeks is to keep the place tidy, but not to restock for a bit (except maybe for comics and replacing furniture that sells). I've got a bit too much in stock in the booth right now and need to sell it down to make room for new stuff.
One of the odd things that I often is experience is a slight sales drop after I do a lot of work on the booth. It's not a big one this time, but there is a difference between what was happening when the place was trashed and what's going on now, counter-intuitive as it sounds. Sometimes, I cannot figure this business out.
Finally, a new idea. Blog pal Roger dealt with last week's incredibly boring ramble by asking an excellent question. That gave me an idea: Why not see if anyone else has any questions they would like to ask?
Soooooo....introducing:
If you've ever had a question(s) that you wanted to ask me, leave it in the comments, or drop me en email, or contact me on Facebook. I'll take those questions and answer them here in the blog in upcoming posts. Deadline for questions is this Friday! Get pondering and get asking! I'll answer Roger's question in a few days.
Thanks for reading!
It's that hot. And humid. And icky. To top it off, we get these thundering downpours that last an hour or so several times a day, making everything even stickier and more humid afterwards. It's kind of like living in South Florida.
We went out for maybe two-three hours on Saturday, and I could not wait to get home. I'm kind of glad to have a moratorium right now. I certainly don't wanna be standing in some stranger's driveway, dripping in sweat.
I did go to a
I was thinking that they would move the sale indoors, due to the heat. They have a side room that they have used in the past for sales, including three this year. However, everything was out on the sidewalk in the blazing heat. At one point, it was just me and one other guy there. He looks at me and says: "Either we like this stuff a lot or we're nuts." Or both. It was pretty miserable.
That song, by the way, is a John Prine classic, which has also been covered by my beloved Iris DeMent. I could not find a good video of either of them performing it, so I went with Josh Ritter, who is quite a fine singer-songwriter in his own right. (Still love my Americana music!)
Like I always say, you can't go wrong with a Prine song for a blog-opener. Well, maybe I don't always say that, but I do when the occasion calls for it. Like this one.
We've had so much rain that all our bushes and such are growing out of control. I keep thinking about working on that a little bit, but the heat keeps putting me off. If you drive past our house, turn your head. At least the neighbors haven't complained yet.
Tomorrow is a treatment day. Number six, I think. I'm scheduled early, early this time, so maybe I won't get caught by the delays we've had the past couple of times. Then I'll be home for my post-treatment nap.
I'm going to try to go the booth Wednesday and Thursday. It will need straightening and tweaking. I want to get some better pics too. I have not promoted the booths on Craigslist for a while, since i moved into this store, in fact. I need to get in gear again. I'll share pics with you all, of course.
My plan for the next few weeks is to keep the place tidy, but not to restock for a bit (except maybe for comics and replacing furniture that sells). I've got a bit too much in stock in the booth right now and need to sell it down to make room for new stuff.
One of the odd things that I often is experience is a slight sales drop after I do a lot of work on the booth. It's not a big one this time, but there is a difference between what was happening when the place was trashed and what's going on now, counter-intuitive as it sounds. Sometimes, I cannot figure this business out.
Finally, a new idea. Blog pal Roger dealt with last week's incredibly boring ramble by asking an excellent question. That gave me an idea: Why not see if anyone else has any questions they would like to ask?
Soooooo....introducing:
THE FIRST EVER ASK EDDIE ANYTHING!
If you've ever had a question(s) that you wanted to ask me, leave it in the comments, or drop me en email, or contact me on Facebook. I'll take those questions and answer them here in the blog in upcoming posts. Deadline for questions is this Friday! Get pondering and get asking! I'll answer Roger's question in a few days.
Thanks for reading!
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