Monday Rambles

LOOKIE HERE!

It's Monday!  I'm rambling!  Will wonders never cease?

QUESTIONS WHICH DEMAND AN ANSWER

Has my forehead always been this wrinkly?  Also, is my hair thinning?

STRANGE WEEK

This is going to be an unusual week for us here.  I have treatment tomorrow.  If I feel up to it, I'm going to go see Black Panther afterwards.  If not, I'll be seeing it later in the week, for sure. 

Keith is heading to Arkansas after dropping me off at the cancer center.  It's moving day for his mother, and he's going to help out.  It's been a long, stressful journey for everyone concerned--one that demands its own post.  Tucker and I will be holding down the fort here.  Woo hoo!  Cartoons all the time!

WRAPPING THINGS UP

After today, I should have the big booth redo I've been working on for several weeks now completed.  I've just got a few more things to do, including taking pics, and I'll be able to do the big reveal here.  This has been a real challenge this time around.

Just as soon as I would get one part done, a really large prominent item would sell, meaning I'd have to start on that part all over again.  Then junk set out hit last week while I was still working on the booth, adding in more big, new stuff to deal with.  On top of all this, Keith has been inspired by his mother's ordeal to start downsizing, which means more things for me to deal with. (So. Many. Books.)  On the other hand, getting that crap out of the house has been nice.  We even got a new bed to celebrate.

Speaking of junk set out, it was kind of short this time around.  It rained off and on. It was cold.  Not much stuff got put out.  Regular spots didn't participate. Then, the trucks came through extremely early in the week and it was all over.  Despite all of this, I did get two mice Mazda loads of stuff.  I just finished getting pictures of it all, so I'll be sharing those too.

MUSIC FOR MONDAY

Not much else to talk about right now, so let's cut right to a very special Music for Monday.  Seriously, even if you normally skip these videos, check this one out.  It's awesome!



Old Sesame Street kicks ass.

Have a good week!  Watch out for wrinkly foreheads and buckets with holes!

Monday Rambles

Crazy times!  That's what these are.

My CPAP machine gave up the ghost a few days ago, and trying to get a replacement that isn't going to involve a lot of time, effort, and extra expense is proving to be a hassle.  It is actually cheaper to order one on my own and not involve my insurance, but I don't have a copy of my prescription and the sleep center where I did my study won't give me one.

In the meantime, Keith and I are sharing his, which means that neither of us is feeling particularly rested at the moment.

Booth sales have been off the chain lately.  February ended up being my second best month ever (coming very close to my record), despite the weather issues at times.  March has started off even better.  I know that ride will have to slow down at some time, but for now, I am content to let it go as it will.

I topped 200 in sales two days in a row last week, which has never happened to me before.  All of a sudden, everyone wants to buy my shelves.  I sold three different sets last week, which, of course, meant I had to rearrange booths three different times.  I feel like I have been living at the mall.  I love tax time!

Saturday, a guy parked himself in the book booth and stayed for well over an hour.  He just kept looking through books and tossing them in his cart.  I really needed to do some work in there, but I did not want to disturb him, since he was on a roll.  I was kind of concerned that he might be one of those folks who fills up a cart, then makes a second pass through everything and puts most of it back, but he wasn't.  The cashier said she told him that he was making me a happy vendor for the day, and he told her that was good because I had made him happy too.  Thta's the way it's supposed to work.

On the other hand, a woman wandered into my other booth and started complaining loudly to anyone who would listen about the price on a small end table.  She kept repeating the price, then loudly stating:  "Judy would give me one for free."  After she had done this a few times and had people staring at her, I looked at her and said, "Well then, why don't you go ask her?"  She stared at me for a moment, then walked off muttering something under her breath, which I was hoping wasn't about Judy coming back to punch me in the stomach.

The weather is still iffy around here.  Good one day.  Not so good the next.  Still, the sales are starting.  At least the church sales.  One of my regulars happened last Saturday, with another one scheduled for this Saturday, followed by one of my favorites the week after.  I'm trying to stick to just the tried and true this season, while I keep whittling down the Mountain.  Having a couple of nice days in a row would help in that process.  I am tragically low on smalls in the booths.  There's a good-sized stash of them on the Mount of Sorrows, but they're on the back side of it, due to poor planning on my part.  I need some more reliable weather before I can pull everything out to hunt for them.

Thanks for all the kind words about my TV interview.  I was surprised they used as much of me as they did.  They actually talked to three patients, and I thought the other two were way more interesting than me.  One of them they ended up not having time in the spot to include, and she's the one who got to meet Jimmy Carter!  The PR person at the cancer center said that you don't often see a spot as long as this one was.  It was nearly five minutes on air, which is unheard of these days.  I thought they got some good stuff from Dr Chesney too.  He is a really cool dude.

I think it's kind of funny that he's the deputy director of the center, and my other doc is the director!  I get the executive treatment.  They do some incredible work there, and are both so down to earth about it.  The director in particular is fascinated with Keith's beard.  Keith's beard has lots of fans.

Sometimes, they even get in trouble over it.  Saturday, after the church sale, we stopped off for Mexican food for lunch.  They sat us next to a table where there were three little kids. One of them took one look at Keith and started yelling:  "It's Santa!"  He gets that a lot.  He is a big guy with a big beard, after all.

Well, this kid cannot control himself,  He keeps staring and yelling and pointing.  His mother keeps telling him to turn around and finish eating, but he's having none of it.  He looks at Keith and says:  "Say 'Ho Ho Ho!'"  After Keith does, the kid starts shouting "Ho Ho Ho!" over and over again.  Finally, Mom loses patience and heads off to the bathroom, kid in tow.  Keith looks at me and says:  "I guess I should put myself on the naughty list."

They come back and the kid is a good deal more restrained, although he does keep sneaking peeks at Keith.  Finally, they all finish their lunch, and Mom says:  "Let's go potty one more time."  The kid says back:  "Are you gonna yell at me again?"  Poor guy!

Monday Rambles

I'm having a problem of skeleton indecency at my booth.

Really?

Anyone know what I can do about it?  I guess this is to be expected when you're working with folks who walk around with everything hanging out like they do.  Or at least it would be hanging out if it were still there.  Or something.

Also, there may be a headless goose wandering around this Halloween.

Beware!

I guess it's about time for the Country Crafts Zombie Apocalypse to happen.  FLEE!

Walnuts are falling in our back yard, so I guess that means it's fall.  Thing is, we've been in this house for 15 years now, and I never noticed that we had a walnut tree before.  In fact, I would almost swear that we never, ever had walnuts before!  Is this normal?

Another thing I love about this time of year is going through the stores and looking at all the seasonal merchandise--Halloween right now and the bits of Christmas that are trickling in.  Seeing all this fills me with happy thoughts about scooping some of that crap up when it's 75% off  for the booth next year.  Yes, I stalk the holiday merchandise!  Essentially, I case the joint, shamelessly.

So, I had a yard sale on Saturday.  I brought some stuff home from the booth (mainly that damn glass), grabbed my tables off Sorrow Mountain, and four boxes of books off the Hillock, then set to work in the shed--aka Sorrow Mountain, the Backyard Edition.

Except for those banana boxes and a couple of large items, this is all household stuff that we don't use/need/want.  I dug through about a third of it and ended up with enough for a yard sale.  Along the way I found the last of my mother's stuff.  (I have said this about four times now.)  It was all her kitchen/household/tools and such that we don't need because we have all of them already.  It went into the sale, and all of it sold!

Speaking of the banana boxes, when we loaded them in after Dixie closed, there were 50 of them.  Last week, it was down to 24.  I'm planning on taking 10 of them next week, which will have me down to 14.  I think by the end of the year, all those babies will be gone!  Woo hoo!

I also found about six boxes of old papers that need to be sorted and probably recycled.  That's this week's project.  Since I have treatment tomorrow, I want something I can work on while I sit down, and this will fit the bill nicely.

I also ended up making a couple of boxes of booth bound stuff from the shed, so pricing that is on this week's agenda as well.  

Keith came up with the bright idea of setting up a tent in the back yard, so I could just put stuff in it when I got it ready for the sale. That way I didn't have to re-clutter the shed and I could set up on Saturday without even having to open the shed.  It worked wonderfully.

Peeking in through the opening

Come Saturday, way too early in the morning, I threw it all on the sidewalk in back of the house, people came and bought it, they gave me money, and I got rid of it.  The end.

Crappy cell phone pic alert!

I was in serious "Get this shit out of here mode" so stuff was way cheap.  And it sold. And it sold.  And it sold. And it sold.

In the end, almost everything sold, except for the books, which were hardly touched.  They are probably off to Half Price Book this week.  I pulled a small stack for the booth, but I already have a bunch waiting to go in the booth, so I don't want to keep too many.  I have a couple of vintage leather jackets that didn't sell, so they're going to the second hand place down the street this week.  Purge, baby, purge!

The damn glass that was left went to the curb with a "Free" sign after the sale.  It was gone by Sunday morning.  That was my offering to the junk gods for success at next month's junk set out.  Ritual is important, you know.  All in all, I was a happy, if tired, camper Saturday evening.  I think I ran that steroid completely out!

As always, the fun part is the people.  There was the book scanner who showed up over an hour before opening time.  I ran him off, politely of course.  I didn't even have the books out and I was not about to let him dig through the boxes.  Scanners around here are pretty notorious for bad behavior and leaving messes.  I have no patience for that.  It occurs to me that I may have jinxed my book sales somehow by doing that, but I would do it again regardless.  Scanners never buy more than two or three books anyway.

Then there was the scrapper who pulled up in a truck full of junk--bed frames and the lot--and said:  "You selling that stuff or giving it away?"  I'm not kidding!  I said: "It's a yard sale."  He grunted (really!) at me and drove off.  I didn't even have any scrappable stuff.  Why me?  Sometimes, I feel like I must not be living right.

A younger, hippie type dude came up late in the afternoon and asked:  "Do you have any books on, like, shamanism and stuff?"  I was kind of tickled to tell him that I did!  And he bought them!  Pays to be a weirdo I guess.

After he paid, he saw the tent in the yard and got all excited.  "Dude!  I feel you!  I camp out in my back yard all the time.  I got my tent fixed up all cool inside."  I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was only up to hold yard sale stuff.

Then there was the construction worker who bought the daintiest glass stuff I had.  "I just love knick knacks."  And the mother/daughter duo who bought a ton of stuff. made everybody smile because they were so nice, gave me more money than I was asking for because they thought everything was too cheap, and rearranged my tables as they went to make things prettier so I would sell more.  I tried to get them to stay.

Overall, it was a lot of fun.  It sent much better than it had a right to, considering I half-assed the entire thing.  I had decided I wanted to do a sale, then kept losing enthusiasm bit by bit as it got closer.  You can see in the pics that I didn't even sweep the damn sidewalk. Half-assed, I tell you!  Hell, I didn't even put the Craigslist ad up until the morning of the sale.

Look what I found:

It's old, heavy as hell, and it needs a decent top and a new back panel, but I think some project minded person is going to love it.  It's the epitome of something with "great bones."  All the file drawer hardware is still inside.  I saw it on the curb from the bus on Tuesday, but obviously couldn't get to it then. It was still there on Wednesday, when we were headed to my scan.  Incredibly, it was still there Wednesday evening, so I nabbed it.

I get my scan results on Tuesday, so I'll let you know.  I'm going to tell the docs I'm tired of getting scanned and ask to be faxed next time.  Just to mix things up a bit.  Keith has to go out of town for a family thing that just came up, so me and Chiquito are solo for a few days.  I can't go because of my treatment.

Booth sales were crazy wild over the weekend!  I did super well selling nothing but smalls.  That makes for a long-ass email report, let me tell you!  In fact, I haven't moved a stick of furniture in a couple of weeks.  This is such a crazy business.  Earlier in the week, I had spent three days working the booth, so, of course, for those three days my sales were off quite bit.  That always seems to happen, for some reason.  My daily average was starting to lag a bit much for my taste, so the weekend upswing was welcome news.  I'll probably have a lot to tidy up today.

The Halloween stuff is really on fire now.  A lot has sold, but there's still plenty left to sell.  I'm going to have to remember to get it out earlier in the future.  The fall stuff seems to have stalled and it just sitting there.  I'm going to try to spruce it up today.

Speaking of today, I'd better get moving.  

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.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH!

Today is my Sweet Babboo's birthday.  He's a year older now than he was yesterday.  Wow!  That's a lot of years.  But not as many as there will be.

This one's for him.



One of his favorite songs by one of his favorite singers in a video I don't believe he has ever seen.

We've got plans for later on tonight, but for right now, let this post kick things off.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

I LOVE YOU!

Monday Rambles

You all know I'm a terrible, bad, horrible junk blogger, right? 

Good.  That's established.

Then you won't be surprised when I tell you that I had a really good day Saturday.  Despite the fact that it was the day of the big fireworks show, we managed to get a decent amount of stuff, including some good large items. And I forgot to get a Mazda shot!!!!

Bad junk blogging.  That's what it is.

Due to the big hoopla downtown, we didn't take anything to the booth, so I can still get some pics and post it all later in the week.  I'm not going to put it all back in Mazda, though.  Sorry.  I'm also a lazy blogger.

Booth sales have been lackluster lately.  I only had one good day last week, and that was only because I sold a large item, the only one of those I sold all week.  Derby malaise is here!  (Of course, I'm partly responsible for this as well.  My "little old man" booth is out of control and I have lacked the fortitude to tackle it the last few times I have been there.

Somehow, a bumble bee got in the house yesterday.  I'm still trying to figure out how.  Luckily, I got to it before Chiquito did.  I'm not sure about the effects of bee venom on felines and I'm not really wanting to find out.

I'm starting to get small patchy rashes on my arms.  They flare up and itch from time to time, but mostly they don't bother me.  It's a sign that I'm having immune reactions to the new drug.  If it stays this low key, then I'm not going to do anything about it, since it really doesn't bother me.  I don't want to do steroids unless I'm covered head to toe.  I will tell the doctor about it at my next infusion, which happens to be next week.  My, how time flies.

Tomorrow is Keith's birthday.  We've made it another year!  I'll have a special post for him tomorrow.  I got a special surprise in the mail last week.  I'll do a post about it too.  Overall, it should be a low key week around here, which is good.  I have a lot of comics to bag and that takes a while. 

It's going to be another on again, off again, on again, still on again, off again rainy week.  Just like every other week this month.  I'd still rather have this than the snow, but I'd also like to be able to send some of this rain to the areas of the country that really need it.  The real problem for me is that I have a lot of stuff I need to do outside.  I seem to have the unerring ability to waste all the non-rainy time working inside the house, then, right when I am ready to work outside, the rain starts.  At least, Saturdays have been spared the rain.

Oh well, better get to work.

Your Chiquito of the Month Catch-Up

Here are the January and February pics from the Chiquito calendar.

January:

This is one of those sleeping poses I was talking about in Wednesday's post!  He seriously does this all the time.  How can you not love it?

February:

Look at that face!  You just have to love it to pieces, I tell you!

BONUS SHOT:

Here's the cover for the calendar.

This was right after he came to live with us.  He has always had to greet us when we come home. Vociferously and enthusiastically.  The first one home gets the most intense treatment.  It's like we've been gone for days.  Seriously.

So on this day, Keith got home first.  He did the whole "love the kitty" routine, then bent over to take his shoes off.  Chiquito, not being done with the loving part, hopped up on the table, then crawled over on Keith's back and started kneading and purring.  Keith said it was hard to keep him balanced, but he managed to grab his camera and snap this shot.  I love it.  It so totally captures the sweet natures of both my fellows.

I'm so freaking lucky.

Snowed In Monday Rambles

Well, this is the view outside my kitchen door today.

That's Keith shoveling snow.  Silly man.  Doesn't he know it's still snowing?  And this is the view outside the back door.

It's supposed to keep doing this. All.  Day.  Long.

So, all things considered, I don't think I'll be going to Goodwill as planned.  Instead, I shall stay in and blog, eat apple pie, drink hot chocolate, price and photograph cool finds, make popcorn, do laundry, listen to music, and take a nap.

Of course, it's 3:30 in the afternoon as I'm typing this, so the work is proceeding, well, slowly.  I have gotten the nap out of the way (of course), and am currently listening to music, so it's picking up a little.  I'm being kind of lazy because I have already found out that I won't be working tomorrow. Actually, the rest of the week looks pretty doubtful.  I do need to get to that laundry, or else I'll be going to Goodwill anyway.  To find clean undies.  (TMI?)

With that settled, let's move on to other things.  We got our "wedding rings" on Saturday!  It seemed like the thing to do on Valentines Day, plus we had a Groupon.  I think they came out really well.

I mean, if you're going to wait until your fifties to get your first tattoo, it might as well be your husband's initial.  Seriously, we are so not jewelry people, and I would be the first one to lose a ring.  It just didn't seem worth the expense.  I think we can keep up with our fingers pretty well.  (Unless one of us takes up meat carving as a hobby.)

The original idea was to use all three of our initials, plus I wanted the wedding date as well.  Turns out that there's a limit to what you can put on one finger.  Glad I found that out before I asked for the Constitution on my other hand.  To keep it legible and prevent everything fading into an unreadable mush, we went with just first initials.  That actually solved a bit of a dilemma regarding my initials, which happen to be the same as a former boss I had who was, well, psycho.  She also insisted on going by those initials as her name, further complicating the issue.  Truth be told, I had them first, but she ranks very high on my list of people I never want to interact with under any circumstances again EVER.  Seriously, she could be standing outside my door with one of those big-ass Publishers Clearinghouse checks, and I would refuse to open it.  It was that bad.  Definitely not something either of us want to have associated with our marriage.

I like the way they turned out.  It's bold. Kind of quirky.  And really so very Keith and Eddie.  We had the spot of color added to keep it from looking too biker or prison-ish.  Quirky? Yes, yes we are.  Bad-ass mofo?  So very much not.

That shine on the tats (I can say that now.  We got tats!) is from the ointment we have to put on them for the first few days.  In case you were wondering, it didn't hurt at all.  Seriously.  I've been in more pain at the cancer center in the pre-port days.  (Engage!)  The only real feeling I had was like a mild sunburn, and that was right after he finished the tattoo.

Overall, it was a very cool experience.  The guy who did it for us (Smithers) was way cool and loved the idea that this was our wedding rings.  We went to Triumph Tattoos.  If you're ever in Louisville and need a tattoo, I recommend them.  (I guess you can "need" a tattoo?)  Somewhere in the back of our heads, we're both contemplating another one.  I can see why people get into tats.

On Friday, I went out to the booths for the first time since the move.  The manager looked at me and said:  "Are you all rested up from the move?"  I said I was and she added:  "Good.  Because your booths look like crap."

She's right.

Gaze in terror and flee!  AIIEEE!

I want to put up a sign that says "Pardon our mess, until we figure out what the hell we're doing."

During the move, I just told folks to drop stuff off at that store and "stick it wherever it will fit."  The goal was moving, not pretty.  Now I have to go back and make all that pretty again.  I didn't take a pic of the other booth, which was waaaaaaay worse. I worked on it several hours on Friday and got it to the point of being "passable."  As in it might pass for being a booth and not a junk pile, but not much more.

Surprisingly, sales have been pretty decent since the move.  A few of the large pieces I brought over have sold already.   My theory is that they were the ones people could get to.  I did move all of the large ticket items around to where they were accessible, in hopes of continuing that trend.

Also on Friday, I picked up some surplus equipment for free, including some old transcription/dictation recorders.  You know, the ones with the foot pedals?  That one prompted the old "Just because it's free, you don't have to take it" lecture from Keith.  I hear that every so often.  It makes him feel better or something.  Well, I sold every one of those suckers on Saturday.  Not that I'm gloating or anything.

It was so good this weekend to have normal errands and stuff to do, instead of booth moving.  It was just so relaxing and fun!

I was planning on going over to the booths to finish up the straightening on Wednesday, then do a super-major restock on Saturday.  However, I think the weather has scrambled those plans.  I'm not able to get into shed or storage to get stuff ready right now.  Plus, I just found out that the town where this store is located has declared a weather-related state of emergency and closed the streets to everyone except emergency personnel.  So much for sales today.  (And maybe the rest of the week.)  Dang.  At least I know that I'll be in for a good day once it clears up.  Nothing makes for crowds of eager shoppers like cabin fever.

As bad as all this snow is, I do know it pales in comparison to what the Northeast has been enduring this winter.  I do hope that everyone's friends and loved ones in that part of the world are safe and warm.

Retro Y'all! Muppet Edition

This one has been stuck in my head all week.  Out of all the many Muppet songs, this is probably my favorite.



Happy Valentines Day!  I hope you find your place to go back to someday.  And someone to go with you.

Dedicated to my sweet husband, Keith!

The Wedding of the Century!

Move over Charles and Diana!  Watch out William and Kate!  This is the true wedding of the century!  The ages in fact!  An event 25 years in the making! Presenting.....

EDDIE AND KEITH!

And if you've seen this shot, well, you've seen most of them.  Seriously.

That's my jacket piled on a chair in the corner.  Classy.

To be honest, civil marriages conducted at the courthouse don't have a lot of pageantry or glamour.  Our photographer was Keith's camera on a tripod set to snap every five seconds, so there's not a lot of movement or drama.  The biggest change from shot to shot seems to be my facial expressions, which get frownier the more I'm trying to keep from crying.  And the frownier I get, the more I look like my mother.  Creepy.  Keith told me to delete any pic I didn't like, but I left them all in.  I told him that I started to take out all the pics where I looked fat, had a goofy expression on my face, or looked too much like my mother, but then I realized we'd have no pics whatsoever.  I guess if you're gonna make goofy faces at your wedding, you gotta live with the results.

I started tearing up the moment we entered the judge's chambers and was on the verge of losing it the whole time.  I'm going to write more about this later, but it boils down to this:  after being together half my life, we finally achieved something that other couples have taken for granted for years.  Our relationship finally has some recognized validity under the law which entitles it to certain rights and protections.  It's an overwhelming, powerful moment.  Don't ever take it for granted.  I know I won't.

It was an experience to remember, for sure.  There were moments of pure sweetness, moments that seem to come out of a bad movie and moments that were purely Keith and Eddie.

We got to Chicago on Monday (Dec 22) evening, then got lost trying to find one of the suburban offices where we could get a license.  We ended up getting there about fifteen minutes too late.  Between some ridiculous road construction hold ups, the rainy weather, and getting lost, we didn't stand a chance.  That was kind of okay with me, because I really wanted to do it all downtown anyway, so we could look at all the cool architecture.

The next day (Dec 23), we headed out bright and early to get the license.  We ended up in the County Clerk's office, in the basement of the Richard Daley building.  I was kind of surprised that there was no line at all.  I always thought the Christmas Eve was one of those "romantic" times to get married and all.  We ended up with kind of nasally, slightly brusque, totally stereotypically bureaucratic licensing clerk who took our information.  Seriously, it was all "Name", typey-typey-typey, "Address" typey-typey-typey, very mechanical kind of thing.  It was kind of funny.

The other thing that cracked me up was some of the questioning.  I mean do they really have to know where my mother is buried?  They actually asked that!

And then there were the answers.  I told Keith that I sounded like quite a colorful person compared to him.

Robot Woman:  Place of Birth?
Keith:  Arkansas
Me:  West Germany

RW: Mother's Place of Birth?
Him: Arkansas
Me: Kentucky

RW: Father's Place of Birth?
Him:  Arkansas
Me: Pennsylvania

I halfway expected her to look at me and tell me to stop making things up.

I wanted her to put my whole name on the license, but she said she had to go with what was on my ID.  Then I got to wondering how Keith got his whole name on his, when they wouldn't let me put my whole name on mine.  They actually told me that they couldn't do it.  I'm going to have to check on that again at the next renewal.  We both use our middle names and I really wanted out license to say "Keith and Eddie" or at least "Keith and Edward" or "Ronald Keith and Michael Edward" (ooo classy!) instead of "Ronald Keith" and "Michael E."  It feels kind of incomplete to me.  When I introduced myself to the judge,  I was kind of afraid that she might object because I said "Eddie" so I quickly explained, but she was cool with it.

After getting the license, the Robot Woman wished us congratulations in the most heartfelt way she could muster, which I thought was kind of sweet.  We went out in the hall and took the first of many pics of the license.

Since we had a day to kill before we could get married, we got some coffee, then went thrifting!  (Well, he asked what I wanted to do.)  It was pretty disappointing overall.  We got lost a couple of times.  Most of the prices were way, way high.  I did find a few things though.  Forgot to get pics. Sorry.

The next day (Dec 24) we got up bright and early to head to the Marriage Court.  We hadbeen told that they might close in the early afternoon, so we didn't take any chances.  The clerk there filled in the rest of the license, except for the judge's signature, and verified our ID's.  The judge called us right away.

I've done a lot of public service jobs over the years.  I know how hard it is to deal with person after person on issues that are important to them, but not necessarily to you, and maintain an air of courtesy and concern without turning into Robot Woman or into Total Phony.  I was very impressed with how warm, welcoming and sincere our judge was.  Even though the ceremony was very brief, she let us take the time to set up Keith's cameras (one video, one still), then take them down at the end.  She never rushed us and seemed genuinely excited to be there on Christmas Eve to be part of what she called our "special day."  She even thanked us for "allowing her to be a part of" it.

Keith told her that she had the neatest job and she smiled and said:  "Yeah, I do."  She even asked him for photography advice.  It was such a remarkable experience.  It may have been a dull, bland bureaucratic room, but she helped make it our wedding chapel.

And then, we're standing in front of her--me desperately trying not to cry--making our pledge to each other.  I kept thinking about how very right it all was.  Christmas Eve had always been a special date for us because we moved into the house on Christmas Eve 2001.  This is the man I have made my life with.  Even more astounding, this is the man who chose to make his life with me.  I still marvel at that--our little messy house, all of the kitties that have passed through, all the wrecked cars, lost jobs, crazy junking ventures, dying parents, this stupid fucking cancer--and he's been there through all of it.  He's the only one that could have gotten me through it all in one piece.  He's my rock, my constant.  The one person who always manages to make my life and--by extension--me better each and every day.  I cannot imagine life without him.  I am the luckiest man in the world because he is my husband and I love him.

And I'm still trying not to cry while I'm typing this.

Finally, she pronounces us "spouses for life" (YES!) and then comes the moment you've all been waiting for:

FAT GUY PORN!

Then more pics of the license, which is now signed.  (Which reminds me.  We still need to send for the certified copy.)

We got papers now!

This is the point where I finally lose the battle to hold it all in.  And find that there is no tissue in the room!  (Really?  People do cry at weddings.)

I cry at soap opera weddings.  I'm going to remain dry-eyed at mine?

On the way out of the offices, the lines that I had been expecting had started to form.  There was a rush to get married on Christmas Eve.  We just barely managed to miss it.  In the crowd were these two Latino guys who must have been in their twenties.  As we passed  them, one said to the other:  "Estas listo, amor?" (Are you ready, my love?)  My heart melted.  I can't say what our lives would have been like if we had been able to so that when we were that age.  I can say that we both know that this was a moment to be treasured forever.

At the top of the escalator going down to the Marriage Court, we got one more pic:

Not crying here!

We hailed a cab back to our hotel.  When we go in the driver asked how we were doing.  We said we were great because we just got married.  When we got to the hotel, she wouldn't let us pay.  She said it was a wedding gift.  More heart melting.  My dad was a cab driver for years.  I know what it means to give up a fare.

And now we are married.  And still waking around with goofy grins any time someone brings it up.  One of the clinical trial nurses at the cancer center is planning on getting married at the courthouse in Chicago in the summer, so she wanted all the details.  One of the other nurses came in to start talking about the treatment and such, and the first nurse said:  "How can you talk business?  They just got married!"

I have a couple more posts planned about being married and what it means.  Those will be up in a few days.  I can say this.  We've been together just a few days short of forever.  We honestly thought that things would not feel any different.  We were wrong about that.  I didn't think it was possible, but we're even happier than before.  And closer.  I have a husband.  I never knew I wanted one, but I'm never going to let this one go.

Let's have one more look at that license:

FANCY!

And that kiss:

Awwwwww!

The video was wildly out of synch, so Keith edited the audio into a slide show using the still photos.  I'm going to put it up on YouTube in a bit.  I'll embed it here after that.

Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes and supports and such.  One of these days we might do another ceremony here in Kentucky, so that family and friends can attend.  I'll make sure that you all get word.  I want to wait until it's legal in Kentucky to do that.  The only bummer to the whole experience is to come back to one of the handful of states where we're not recognized.  That time will come.  I hope it's soon.

Cancer Updates

I just realized that I haven't done a major treatment since the second infusion, which was my first with the Purple Power Port.  (Engage!)  When I got that infusion, you could actually hear the nurses whispering to each other in the clinic:  "He's got a port now."  "Oh, he's got a port?"  "Did you hear he's got a port?"  Seriously, the nurse that was handling my infusion almost ran to tell the head nurse about it.  I think I had a reputation.

To use the port, it first has to be accessed, when they put the IV in.  They also draw out a tube of what they call "waste blood" which probably fascinates me more than it should.  Everyone has to wear a mask for this part, including me.

I do think it's a good look for me.  I would have been an awesome super-hero!  Or, if that didn't work out, a train robber.

One of the things that always strikes me when I get a treatment is how boring it really is.  You hear the words "chemo" and "infusion" and you get all these images of glowing, humming chemicals and labs and people's hair falling out immediately as they turn green and huge and go on a rampage.  (Oh wait.  That's the Hulk.)

You basically just sit and watch your IV drip away, wondering what that stuff is going to do to your insides.  The issues and side effects usually happen later.  My infusions this time around take 90 minutes.  I think they took about that last time, but they had to slow the drip sometimes because it burned.  Add in the wait for the bloodwork labs to come back, so they can see if you're clear for the injection, plus the time for the hospital pharmacy to mix and deliver the drugs (which is never done in advance due to the expense of the meds), and that's a lot of sitting around.

I bring my big puzzle book to pass the time.

Yes, I'm a lefty! (In more ways than one.)

My shirt says "World's Greatest Teacher."  My class got it for me.

 Or sleep.

In that first pic, I haven't even been hooked up yet!  The lab and the pharmacy were both backed up that day.  It took forever!

Keith?  Well, he takes pictures.  I've noticed that we seem to be the only ones doing that in the clinic.  I guess no one else has a blog.  There are TV's, of course, but I'm not much of a TV person these days.

As of this writing, I've had the last of the four infusions for this drug.  I started the last round of belly shots (BLAM!) last night.  I have a scan scheduled for the 26th to see what this treatment has done and a consult on the 27th to discuss next steps, if any.  We'll just have to wait and see.

I'm doing okay with the side effects, mostly.  The fatigue is different this time.  Last go-around, it was constant, like a huge weight I was dragging around.  This time it comes on sudden.  I can be okay for a day or even just a few hours, then WHOMP!  I try to take advantage of the time I have, but even then, I have to take a lot of rest breaks.

As far as my internals go, I haven't had an issue with the dread diarrhea.  My problems there are on the other end of the spectrum.  I'll let you figure the rest out.  It's bad enough that I have to fill out a survey about my poop habits at each treatment.  I won't turn this blog into "Eddie Poops."

I do have a lot of dizziness, usually when I get up or have to stand.  It can also be a precursor to the fatigue.  Usually, it's how I know I need to take a break.  It's not an all out dizzy, whirling around, get the smelling salts, where's the fainting couch, oh wait we sold it to a junker, I guess I'll have to swoon on the floor, call 911, but only let the hunky EMT do the mouth to mouth, kind of spell.  It's more like a lot of lightheadedness, what my grandmother used to call being "swimmy headed."  I used that phrase to describe it during the last consult and the LPN who works with my doctor cracked up.  She is originally from India, so she'd never heard the expression before.  She kept referring to it as "swimming head."

"Besides the swimming head, anything else you need to tell me?"  Then it was my turn to giggle a little.  My grandmother would have loved it.  Except for the part where I have cancer, of course.  She died from breast cancer.  My mother died from lung cancer.  I'm not going to make it a trifecta.

That's where things stand right now.  The fatigue may not sound like much, but when I share some of the other things going on right now, you're going to see why it's really interfering with things.  I take it as easy as I can.  I rest a lot.  I nap a lot. (Chiquito loves this part.) I let others help and do stuff, but there are some things that I'm the only one who can do right now.  I keep chugging along, because I have to, thankful that I'm not having any worse effects.

I'll keep you all updated.  Thanks for all your thoughts and hugs.  I feel them every day.

TOMORROW:  The Wedding!

Monday Rambles

It's been a long time since I had to recover physically from a holiday weekend, but the 4th of July kind of did me in.  We went camping in a nearby forest.  For me, it was the first camping trip since before my surgery and chemo.  Keith goes frequently during the summer, but I can't usually go due to yard sales and such. I decided to go for one night this weekend, since there weren't many sales on tap for the holiday weekend.  Keith gave up most of his camping trips while I was sick, so I thought I should put in at least one night for him.

It was fun and very peaceful in the woods, but I got very little sleep that night.  Our air mattress started leaking!  One minute everything is fine, and the next, I'm thinking "My butt is touching the ground.  Now my back is touching the ground.  Now I'm on the freaking ground."

I couldn't deal with sleeping on the ground, so I tried to sleep in the van, with no luck.  Both situations just exacerbated the sleeping issues I was already having from not using my CPAP machine in the woods. 

I was going home after one night anyway, so I stayed up for most of the evening.  When I got home, I totally crashed out for hours!  I am such a wimp.

I'm heading back to work today for three days this week and thee days next week.  The week after that, my full regular schedule starts back, which is good.  I'm not used to being this tight on funds in the middle of yard sale season.  I am just about out of furniture at the booth and need to restock desperately.  I want another record month!  (I think this is how capitalist greed gets started.)

I went to the last day at the thrift store that was closing and was really disappointed.  They had been regularly putting out new stuff all this time, and then stopped for the last week.  It was all dregs and crap.  I did find a few things, but not as much as I really expected. 

I went to the big flea on Sunday.  To avoid the parking fee, I used a free Lyft ride to get there, then Keith picked me up at the end.  Usually Keith picks me up and drops me off, but he was still in the woods.  It screws with the prices of things too much when you start factoring in the parking costs, so I try to avoid it if I can.

The big buy there was a huge box of old religious books and pamphlets for seven bucks.  There is a regular dealer who sells the leftovers from his storage unit buy-outs for a buck a pop.  After the furniture and appliances and the like are sold off, there's almost always tons of small stuff left in a locker.  Most folks who buy lockers will sell that stuff cheap, knowing that they'll make a ton of money on sheer volume.  They've made their profit on the big stuff, and the little crap is just gravy.

There are a couple of locker buyers at the Peddlers Mall, and I shop from them all the time.  They have good stuff cheap, and I have plenty of room to turn it over and turn a profit.  So, I like this kind of deal.  You just have to be careful and inspect everything carefully. Most of it has not been packed really well, so there are lots of chips and cracks.

Anyway, I was not about to pay a buck a piece for the stuff in this box.  There was over 100 items in there!  So I asked him what his best price would be.  I was expecting him to say ten bucks and was planning to counter with five, so that we could end up at seven.  I kind of think he was thinking along the same lines, because he just said:  "How about seven bucks?"  I like it when we can cut the bullshit and get right to a price we can both live with!  I still need to go through the box all the way, but there are a few things I'm going to scan for the blog.

I also had a long talk with another dealer about the ins and outs of reading condition comics vs. collectible condition comics and made a nice score on some small items that might show up here this week, if I get a chance to take some pics/

I sold a table over the weekend at the booth, so that means it's time for a rearrange this afternoon.  This weekend is another sidewalk sale at the Peddlers Mall, in celebration of the store's 5th anniversary at its current location.  I've not decided what I'm going to do yet, but I'm leaning towards blowing out some old stock at 25 and 50 cents a throw.

I'm having a bit of a writer's block when it comes to larger posts right now.  I can throw together some things pretty quickly, but I have some ideas brewing for several longer posts that just can't seem to get off the starting point.  Everything is fine in my head, but when I sit down to put words on screen, nothing comes out.  I hope it's temporary.

Thursday Scrambles

Happy Boxing Day!

We'll be spending it on the road heading home.  Getting the car packed to go back is going to be a challenge.  Keith's mother gave me six boxes of junk she had collected.  I condensed it down a little, but it still takes up a lot of room.

Keith and I brought our gifts to each other with us to exchange, thus adding to the car situation.  We couldn't let Christmas Eve go by without present!  And Santa!  We mainly got each other clothes this year, which we both needed badly.  We both wear things until they're shot, and neither of us had bought any new clothes in ages.  An outlet store has been going out of business not too far from us, so that helped our shopping go farther than it normally would.

Santa, however, bought us both tablets!

It's been a good visit.  We got caught in a horrible storm coming down, but the weather has been nice otherwise.  Chilly, but nice.  We've seen all the relatives, spent time with his mom, bought local wine, shopped at Fred's (one of my obsessions), and did a little (unproductive) thrifting.  If we had another day, we'd hit the thrifts in the surrounding towns, but we're out of time and car space.  Therefore, next time.

We also had lovely meals on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We cooked on Christmas Eve and made an abbreviated version of one of our traditional holiday feasts.  On Christmas Day, Keith's mom made all of his favorites.  It was a feast, let me tell you.

It's also been a time for doing some reminiscing.  Christmastime always makes me think of my mother and all the holiday things she did.  This visit, I heard a bunch of stories from Keith's family that I did not know.   His mom read us a letter from his dad that was a lot about him.   Keith and I have talked a lot about our relationship on this trip.  We've had a lot of Christmases together, all of them special.  This year was a little harder on us than most have been, but we're still rolling on.  His mom was excited about the engagement and happy for us.  Now, we just have to get our ducks in a row with our planning.  I'm truly lucky to have him in my life.  I wouldn't trade our time together for anything or anyone.

Now it's time to go home.  Keith set up a kitty cam in the bedroom so we could keep tabs on the boys, but it's time to see them in person.  Kosh will be in need of some major lap time, for sure.  I was gone house-sitting for the week before we left, then I came home briefly and we both left.  He's not well for that kind of thing.

I've been having too much fun to take pics, so you'll just have to imagine everything.

It's going to be busy, busy when we get home.  I'm off until the 13th, but last night I was figuring out everything I had to do when we get back and realized that's not as long as it seems.

Besides all the unpacking, laundry, putting away, cleaning up and such the usually come with returning from a journey, I  have to:

Get these boxes of stuff priced and to the booth
De-Christmas the booth
Restock the booth
Tidy the booth
Clean the house
Catch up on Days of our Lives and General Hospital on hulu
Go to the New Years big flea market
Read some comics
Work more in the junk room
Hit the 75% off post-Xmas clearance sales to stock up for next year
Price and store that post-Xmas stuff
Have traditional Xmas/New Year's brunch with friends
Write some blog posts
Initiate the Secret Project I mentioned a while ago
Take more loads from the house to booth storage
Take at least one nap or two
Spend some quality time with the boys
Junk with my uncle
Thrift a little
Finish a book that I've been reading forever

Not much of a vacation, huh?  Looks like 2013 is going to end and 2014 is going to start on a busy note.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that 2014 is bright for all of us.  Talk to you in a couple of days, after we get home!
 

We made a new friend today

I'll have more to say later, but I had to share one of today's purchases right away.

 

Who doesn't need a four foot tall wooden Teletubby cut out?

Blame This One on Keith

So, the other day, we were pulling up in front of the house when, out of the blue, Keith starts singing:  "Baby cried the day the circus came to town."  Then he stops and says "I don't know why I did that.  I don't even know what song that is."

Well, of course, not only do I know the song, I also know all the words, so I burst out into the first verse, making Keith regret he ever started the whole thing to begin with.  There are times when he gives me this "I can't believe I know you" look.  This turned into one of those times.

As soon as we got inside, I hit the computer. First I had to find it on YouTube, to make sure I remembered all the words correctly, which I did.  Then I had to go to Wikipedia to see whatever had happened to the singer, Melissa Manchester. 

You can look all those details up yourself, but here is the best video I found, with the warning that it features a Muppet on a high wire and some creepy clowns. 



I think the real story is that Baby was trying to get away from those creepy-ass clowns.  That's how she found herself on that high wire.  I'd cry too if I saw those suckers in a parade, or anywhere else.

Things I Like!

Since I'm having chemo today, I thought it might be a good idea to do a post with a happier theme.  Sometimes, being reminded of the good stuff in life can take your mind off the not-so-good.  It was pointed out to me several months ago by a certain person that they had no idea I liked nuns, since I had never put that in my blog.  Aiming to rectify that oversight, I now present a list of things that I like.  Don't expect a lot of explanation here, although I might do a more detailed post on a few of these in the future.  Please note that this is not an exhaustive list.  I might also do a sequel or two at some time.

I was kind of a bad blogger and did not keep track of where I borrowed the pics from.  I hope that doesn't get anyone's nose too much out of joint.

I guess I'll start off with the point of contention:

Nuns!

Penguins!

Batman!

And Robin!

Wonder Woman!

Soap Operas!  (Especially Days of Our Lives)

Comic Books!

 Cartoons!

Can you name everyone in this picture?

History!

I won all the History awards in high school.  Still love it.

Catholic stuff!

Writing!

Emmylou Harris!

Her new duet album with Rodney Crowell is about 87 different kinds of excellent!

 Cats!

My sweet baby Chiquito.

Yard Sales!

Watch for the return of Junkin' Memories soon!

Keith!

You would not believe how long it took me to find that pic.  The original file has been lost in computer switches and shuffles.  I had to page through almost four years of blog posts to find where I had used it! That's a lot of posts, even for someone like me who doesn't always post very regularly.

Still, it was so worth it.  I love that shot!  And that man!

Mexican Food!

I think I could eat Mexican food every day for the rest of my life.

YouTube!

The Spanish Language!

Fun Fact:  My BA is in Spanish.

Murder Mysteries!

Excel!

Everyone should have a favorite software program.  This is mine.

Bybee Pottery!

If I had room, I'd probably collect Bybee, but I'm content to just sell it.

The Go-Go's!

And that's probably enough for this go around.