Monday Rambles (Back Home Edition)

ALL HEED THE WISDOM!

That's the nicest thing a fortune cookie has ever said to me!

Well, it worked for Trump......

True that!


HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN

We got back at about 11:30-ish Thursday evening and were very happy to be off the road.  We made excellent time coming back too.  The trip is about a 13 hour drive, give or take.  We made it in 11.  We were worn out, but it was worth it to be back home.

FAMILIAR FACE

We were greeting enthusiastically and vociferously by this little guy.

Okay, so he's not quite so enthusiastic here, but trust me, he was.

He even slept in between our pillows that night, something he never ever does.  He was super, super clingy for a few days after.  He definitely doesn't like it when we go away.

We've finally figured out that he's not a very social kitty.  Kind of like his people, he's just not that into interacting with most people.  We're all just anti-socialites here.  We told our cat-checker to just make sure that he was okay when she stopped in, but not to try and pet him or play with him.  Even at that, he still growled at her every time she came over.  He's a two-man cat, our boy.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Since we still had our rental car for an extra day, we decided to make this year's long overdue cemetery trip.  Mazda just ain't up to long interstate journeys any more, so we rent a car to go to Arkansas.  Things have been too crazy of late to head to the country, so snubbing Black Friday seemed like a good idea.

My mother now has her new winter hat.

I also averted a crisis at my grandparents' grave.

I'm pretty sure Grammie wasn't happy about this.

All better!  I picked up the stray flowers after I took this pic.

THE VISITATION

We had a real good visit in Arkansas.  Even with the extra time we had, it still seemed way too rushed and way too short.  I guess it will always be that way.  Still, we did cover a lot of ground and had wonderful times with as much of his family as we could.  One of his aunts had been going through her mother's papers and pictures and gave him an envelope filled with his old school pics, family pics, and lots of pictures of his father as a boy.  It was great!

HOLIDAY SHOPPING

I did manage to get some junking in during the trip.  More on that tomorrow.  I found a Salvation Army that I had never seen before and revisited a cute little vendor mall that I was last at a couple of years ago.  I also stopped at a couple of flea markets during the cemetery trip as well.  I didn't find a lot, but there were some cool things.

REARRANGING THE DECK CHAIRS

Booth sales are still down in the dumps.  I had a little bounce in November, but not enough of one.  I'm still due for a really low check.  It seems that consumer confidence didn't rise with the election results. 

I've got Mazda loaded down with holiday stuff to put out this week.  We'll see if that helps at all.  I desperately need a really good end to this year.

MUSIC FOR MONDAY (HOLIDAY EDITION)

I guess I'll wrap it up with this and see you all later.

My Thanksgiving Wish to You

May your meal preparations 
be more like this

than this

PS Doesn't Snoopy fold napkins like a Boss?

PPS  We'll not talk about Curly shoving his arm up the nether regions of a turkey.  Okay?

Tuesday Rambles (On the Road Edition)

Howdy  from Arkansas!

It's our annual road trip to visit Keith's mother.

We ended up making the whole 13 hour drive here in one fell swoop, quite unintentionally, so we arrived about 3 in the morning on Sunday.  That actually turned out to be a good thing, even though we are far too old to be trying such foolishness, because it gave us an extra day to spend here.  We've already gotten the annual ritual of the shoe buying over with, and had time to visit with one of his aunts.

Something special also happened yesterday,but I may wait until next week to talk about it.  It was STUPENDOUS!

Today, we're lunching with his oldest aunt, possibly visiting another aunt who is ill, and maybe popping in on My Man Fred.  That's one of my favorite traditions. Yes, Keith does have a full collection of aunts.  Tonight and tomorrow,we'll eat our Thanksgiving with his mom and then hit the road on Thursday.

Why leave actually on Thanksgiving?

No traffic!

Safe travels and happy visits to everyone!

Much love.

Gather 'round!

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

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

Plentiful treasures are found within these shops! 

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

There are even stores where things aren't priced, so you don't know what you're in for until you get to the register.  Now, this is not an ideal situation, as you are set up for a nasty surprise,

but in Arkansas, the surprises are always pleasant.  You know you're in good hands when your pile of stuff gets you a "How about three bucks?" from the friendly cashier.

Oh, yeah.  The cashiers are always friendly.

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

It's in Arkansas.

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

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

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

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

Catch Up Updates

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

And there was much rejoicing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So I have shoes.

I already had Batman boxers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay warm and stay well..

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks for hanging with me 

through another year!  

Best wishes to you and your families!

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

Monday Rambles

All right folks, I guess it's time to crawl back up in the saddle.  I've gotten several sweet notes recently from many of you, so I need to let you know that I'm all right, for the most part.  Thanks so much for your concern, everyone.  I'm sorry to have made you worry.

I came back from Thanksgiving with a nasty cold, which has really only cleared up in the last three or four days.  I don't understand how I can be doing all these immune-boosting drugs and still get a cold, but I managed it.  That really slowed me down for a while, as I was only venturing out to do what had to be done, then coming home to my NyQuil coma.

The cold was bad enough, but I've also been going through some really hard bouts of fatigue.  This isn't at all like the bricks.  I could function with the bricks, albeit very slowly.  I'm going through periods now where I have no energy whatsoever.  Sometimes, I'll be in the middle of something and will just run out of steam all of a sudden.  Sometimes, I'm down for the count, but usually I can recover if I sit down for a while.  I kept getting swamped this way all through our visit to Arkansas. I spent most of the trip sleeping on one couch or another.

I'm also having these dizzy spells all the time.  Mostly, it's just a constant light-headed feeling. What my grandmother used to call "swimmy-headed."  I can deal with that, but sometimes it's really head-spinning dizzy, often with queasiness.

I have yet to have any of the digestive/intestinal issues, which concerns me a little.  These effects have been talked up so much that I am actually worried that the treatment isn't working because I don't have them.  I know that sounds really weird, but it kind of nags at me.  The other night I told Keith that I would feel so much better if I would throw up just one time.  That look you all most likely have right now after reading that is exactly the same one he gave me.

The booths are running okay, but I am behind on what I wanted to have dome this month.  I keep making plans like a healthy person, forgetting that it takes me twice as long to do everything right now.  I do have most of my Christmas out, and it is selling steadily.  I am almost at my sales total for last December, and I still have half the month to go! One thing I've been happy about is that I've kept my four digit sales total going, despite the diagnosis and everything.

The new store is doing a lot better too.  I made rent this month faster than I have before, which is a good sign.  My Christmas is grooving there as well.  My biggest problem there right now is getting it together to go work that booth.  The other store demands more time because it's a lot more space.  Everything would still be doable if I were operating at full steam.  As it is, I'm having to constantly reschedule store #2 in order to finish up the work for store #1.  All of a sudden, two-three weeks have gone by and I haven't been over there.  That's no way to grow a booth.

I've had to cut way back on my work hours,  I am down to five hours a week, which has bummed me out a bit. I really miss everyone there.  Some people I don't get to see at all ,because my hours are all in the evening now and they're gone by the time I get there.  This is really a life-altering thing. I'm not totally sure that I was fully aware of everything I was slogging through last time.  I have no idea how I kept going.  I have to stop by work this morning and drop something off.  It will be nice to visit a bit.

A long-time vendor has also been battling cancer.  It's been an on-again,off-again fight for years, and it just came back this year.  He's just been told that there may not be anything else they can do about it.  At the same time, a friend where I used to work just lost her husband to cancer.  When I left there four years ago, he was in remission and doing fine.  It's all done such a number on my head.  I don't know where I am emotionally sometimes.  I've had long talks about it with my brother and with Keith.  Some days I am fine,  while others I can't string a coherent thought together.

I had a lot of plans for blogging this December, but I think I'm going to put them on hold for next year.  Some days I really want to, but the words just aren't there.  Other times, the words are there, but the energy isn't.  Hell, even reading takes too much effort some days.  Been watching a lot of cartoons on YouTube instead.  Some things even cancer can't take away.

I was afraid that this post would go downhill fast.  Sorry about that.  If it's all too much of a downer, you don't have to finish it.  I realize that my depression is also coming on hard and fast right now.

Treatment number three is tomorrow.  A week from today, we are leaving for Chicago.  By the end of next week, we'll be married!  Come hell, high water, or cancer, we are getting married. I don't care if I am in a wheel chair.

I'll try to get some pics from Thanksgiving up this week, plus some more overdue junk finds.  It's going to depend on how I feel.  Here lately, when I start tiring, I start lopping things off the to do list.  Taking pics for the blog is always one of the first to go.  Sorry about that.