Some Updates

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for hanging with this blog through the silly season of this past week.  I'll go ahead and warn you that there will be some more of the same coming up in the weeks to come, but hopefully not as constant.  There's something wrong with my head in that I kind of like doing that sort of stuff, but it also buys me some time to get some longer pieces written (or, as in the case of this week, work the booth every day).  It's not easy being me, but, apparently. someone has to do it.

We interrupt this update to being you a picture of a cute blue birdhouse.

 
That little "thank you" you're hearing right now is coming from your soul.

Sunday, in the Mazda post, I promised cuteness and awesomeness in the Monday Rambles post, but there was no post on Monday.  (Boo, me!)  Let me make up for the lapse now.  Also, let me assure you that there will be a Ramble this coming Monday.  I'm not sharing everything in this update to make sure it happens.  Sneaky me.

Anyway, as to cuteness and awesomeness, prepare to be blown away.  I hereby present:

KAWAII

The idea is get you to look up nerdy Japanese terms.

KAIJU AND SENTAI  (AND MECHA)

SUMO BUTT

This whole set folds up into its own little carrying case

There was a lot more of each, but I think you get the idea.  The most unique church sale in town happened last week.  It's not one of my gold standards, but it is one of my favorites.  One of the churches in town also sponsors a Japanese church, and that Japanese church has a fund-raiser sale every year.  It's a really fun event, complete with food, music and cultural demonstrations.  Also, great stuff for sale at great prices.

It can be a really good source for manga and anime, both untranslated and translated, which is one of the reasons I like to go.  Another is the availability of really cool imported toys (like the above) at not imported prices.  It was well worth going.

I've been doing more diving into the renovation dumpsters up and down the street. Well, except for the one that is too tall to get into.  I mentioned this mirror before, but I wanted to share a pic after I got it cleaned up.  It's a beauty.

It's also quite heavy.  And was found at the bottom of the hill.  The cool, heavy stuff is always at the bottom of the hill.  The dumpster was full, but this mirror was laid neatly on top, as if the demo folks wanted someone to find and take it home.  Glad to accommodate.

I found these counterweights at the same house on the way to the bus yesterday.  I also seem to have a knack for finding awkward heavy things when I am on the way to catch the bus.  All I had to try and carry them in was a plastic leopard print bag.  If you can't be practical, be fabulous!

As I mentioned above, I have been working pretty much non-stop for the past week re-doing the booths.  After seven days, four of which were entire days, I am still not done.  I needed a break, however, so I stayed home today.

Here's a preview.  More pics to come when I'm done.  In the back on the right, you can see the new Wall of Canisters that I created!  It's been an exhausting week, but I've had some interesting meetings with some of my regular customers.  I'll write more about that on Monday.

A little girl of about eight or nine pointed to this Raggedy Ann doll and yelled:  "Hey Mom!  Look at this clown!"  What are they teaching kids these days?

More to come! 

Until then:

Woo Hoo!

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell have another duet album coming out soon! I'm totally psyched about it!  Here's the title cut, which is only seven different kinds of awesome.




I have seriously been playing this over and over.  I love it!

Woo Hoo!

Checkmate! (Finds Catch-Up Vol II)

A little while ago, I found a box of odd little stoneware pieces at a sale.  There were a bunch of them in a box marked "Two dollars for all."

Aren't they cute?  Those little cup things are the pawns.

The dude running the sale told me that they were part of a custom, artisan-crafted chess set, but that he had lost several of the pieces.  Since they would be impossible to replace, he was selling the rest off to get rid of them.

I thought they were both interesting and unique, the two main things I look for when I am out trolling for merch, so I bought the box.  I thought that they were quirky enough to sell as individual pieces for people who like interesting accessories and decor.

After sorting and cleaning them out, I realized that there were four pawns missing.  Additionally, two other pieces were damaged, sadly including one of the queens.

The bishops look kind of...well..phallic.  (Someone had to say it!)

I've priced them as individual stoneware peices, with no mention of the chess set.  So far, they're selling pretty well.  I've made the two bucks back and then some.

Sometimes this junking thing is about having the vision to see beyond what something is to what else it could be, then helping others to see it too. I will eventually work a few of the pawns into my religious item section, because they look like cool little chalices.  The bishops I will add to my adult novelties section. 


(Suitable pause)


No.  I do not really have an adult novelties selection!

It's a matter of scale!

I like tiny versions of things that are large and large versions of things that are tiny, especially when they still function like the regular-size version of those things.

From one extreme....

Dig that original price!

  ...To the other....

Don't they kind of look like little aliens?

...IT'S ALL FUN!!!

But wait, there's one more:

 

Oh dear!  It really is a collection now!

Awesomeness!

So, I was in this woman's backyard on Saturday, looking at the stuff she had for sale.  Pretty typical for me.  I think she used to have some kind of crafting/scrapbooking store, since there were multiples of many of the kinds of things one would find in a store like that.  Usually that kind of stuff is not my style, but there were a few things I liked, except that they were priced just a tad high for me.  I was contemplating making an offer, when she says:

"There's more in the basement, if you want to look."

Never one to turn down an invite to look at more stuff, I followed her instructions,  walked through the garage, and down into the basement.  One of these days I'm going to do that and never be heard from again.  There was a lot of stuff down there, including some vintage Christmas, but none of it was priced.  I decided I just did not feel like gathering up a bunch of it, hauling up out of the basement, finding out it was too much for me, and then negotiating in the heat.  It was the last stop on the list, and I already had a van full.  I'm also not in a big hurt for stuff right now.  Given all of that, I tend towards leaving everything for the next buyer.  Maybe that makes me a bad junker.  I don't know.

Churches for burning incense

Doves for holding candles

 As I was turning to go, I saw this shelf full of Mexican terra-cotta artwork.  Lots of wonderful pieces, all priced--well-priced at that!  It's like it was put there just for me.  I carefully emptied some other stuff out of a box, then equally carefully put the pieces in it.

When I got back upstairs with the box, she asked me what I had found.  I handed the box to her and simply said:

This isn't all of them.  There were two that would not fit.

"Awesomeness!"
 

She laughed.

Then agreed with me.

And gave me a discount.  

It pays to call it like it is sometimes!

I'm glad I've finally gotten in the habit of bringing paper to wrap purchases with when I go saling. 

We're Sorry!

The blog you have tried to reach is unavailable at the moment.  If you'll leave a message with the hairy guy with the trident, he'll make sure someone gets back with you as soon as possible.

 

In the meantime, have a nice 4th of July and a super weekend!

PS Does anyone know anything about these little guys?  They are cute as hell, but there's no sticker or other indication of who the manufacturer might be.

Let us sing of unsung finds....

Here are a couple that fell through the cracks, because I forgot to take a picture at the time.  I've been intending to get to them in the intervening weeks and have just had so much to do at the booth that I kept forgetting.

But no more!

These are sacramentaries, basically the books the priest uses that have the rituals and rubrics for the different sacraments.  They can be pretty costly, depending on how ornate they are.  This stack used to be a little larger, but I've sold several of them already.  I went to an estate sale for an Old Catholic priest and bought a hunk of his library.

The books sit on the same shelf as this antique altar candle holder from a local church.  It's ornate and heavy and detailed and lovely!  I found it at a different sale on the same day that I bought the sacramentaries.  Short of finding the Holy Grail in someone's front yard, I think that one day may be about the best religious item scores one could hope for.

Days like that make you forget all of the duds and downers.

HULKIES!

Behemoths that can tear tanks apart with their bare hands really should not be so darned cute!

Every junker has an item or two that ended up in an odd place, instead of getting placed right out for sale.  I found these bad boys in the bottom of a bag that held a couple of vintage serving trays and an Ironstone pitcher.  Not sure how they got there, since I was convinced they got placed on a shelf in a booth right after I bought them.

Totally convinced.

Over a year ago.

Man, I have got to get organized.

Why, yes.

Yes, it does!  Passion also lives in a mobile home, apparently. Never knew that part.  I did know about the lips, though.  Best not to say much more.

That's one of a pair of wine bottles I found with labels based on old trashy pulp covers,

I bet the Cycle Buff Beauties could kick Passion's ass, red lips or not.  In fact, it probably already happened on some cheesy cable movie!

Monday Rambles

This week finally begins the long-awaited (well, by me at least) "Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day" series using the booklets I bought at a church sale in the beginning of February.  The reason it's taken so long to get to these is that I got really inspired with my blogging last month.  The whole month was planned out by Feb 5 and all written by Feb 10.  There just wasn't room for the booklets.  I didn't want to do double posting like I do with the vintage Christmas cards, because those are part of a special time of year.  Plus, I had that smattering of vintage Valentines going up as double posts, and I didn't want to overdo it.  I want to keep that specialness kind of reserved for the holidays and such.  I think it works better that way and doesn't look so much like I'm trying to pad my post total.

Since the booklets aren't tied to any particular time or season, I'm going to spread them throughout the month.  They'll be featured on Tuesdays and Thursdays in March as primary (solo) posts.  Hope you like them.  Look for the first one tomorrow.

I've gotten most of this month pre-written  and already uploaded, except for two posts and the Monday Rambles, which are always written on Sunday evening or Monday morning.  There's a lot of different stuff:  video posts, some image-based posts, and a couple of essays on various topics.  I'm trying to get a little bit ahead and build up a cushion for a couple of reasons.

First, I need some time to work on Top Secret Project Phase Two.  It's just about ready to debut, which should happen next week.  I need to make a few more tweaks first, however.

Second, my goal for the blog this month is to get all of the partially written drafts and posts that are just titles with (maybe) an outline finished and published.  Call it online spring cleaning, if you will.  Some of these have been hanging around for ages and ages and need to be done.  There are about enough that I can spread posts throughout the spring and summer.  We'll see.

Anyway, that's the plan.

As I write this on Sunday, we're battening down the hatches for a winter storm that's due in a few hours and which will snow us in again, according to the forecasts.  I am anticipating (but not hoping) not to work tomorrow.  The timing could not be worse.  I already have to miss one of my sessions on Tuesday to go to the cancer center for my six month follow up.  I always try to get my appointments scheduled early, so I can get in and out and not miss work.  This time, I was unable to get anything before mid-morning, and they're always backed up an hour or two by that point.  Rather than run the risk of missing work, I went ahead and made plans not to be there.  Interestingly (or ironically), I was supposed to pick up a few extra sessions this week, filling in for a colleague.

Speaking of the follow up, I got scanned on Friday in prep for that.  I always hate the scans, because they require an IV for the contrast, plus the yucky tasting oral contrast.  I'm so not into needles these days, thanks to the chemo.  This time around, it took two sticks to get it in, which for me is pretty good.  Would have been better if  the tech hadn't dug around with the first one to try and hit the vein.  Still, it's better than the alternative.  This time last year, I was finishing my radiation and scheduling the first chemo for later in the month.  Seems sort of like a distant, unpleasant memory.

Saturday was awesome, weather-wise.  It was the kind of day just made for going to sales.  Better yet, one of my most favorite church sales was going on.  They fill their gym with all kind of stuff--and I mean they fill it!  The last hour is half-price, so that's usually when we plan to show up.  I made two trips through, but didn't spend as much this year.  There wasn't as much stuff I was interested in this year.  I was more in furniture mode (last year I bought a bunch at this sale), and they just did not have a lot.

I did have one of those experiences/mad coincidences/total frustrations that only junking can provide.  At that sale, they had three vintage folding chairs that would have been only a dollar each at the half-price.  Thing is, I have several already at the booth, along with several other chairs, and they've all been there for a while.  I debated getting them and storing them, but the thought of doing that for an extended period of time did not appeal to me.  So, I took the "rational" course and left them behind.  What did I sell on Saturday?  THREE CHAIRS!  Sigh.

Even more interesting is the window that I took out of my storage at the Peddlers Mall on Saturday to take to the second booth.  I was also taking a shelf and some other stuff, so I ended up forgetting the window and leaving it in my PM booth.  I realized when I got home that I had left it at the Peddlers Mall and not taken it to the other booth and figured I would just grab it the next time I was in.  Guess what sold out of the wrong booth on Sunday?  A sale is a sale I guess.

I did get a couple of fun things during the rounds on Saturday:

The Egyptian image is a felt-like material that has been stretched and stapled to a board.  It was sitting behind a bunch of other pictures at an estate sale.  The lady running the sale said that she did not know where her mother got it, but she sat it in front of the opening of her fireplace for ages.  It's got a little bow in the wood from sitting propped up for so long, but I think I can set some books on it for a while and work that back out.  I do have a lot of books, you know.  That was the find of the day.  Every time I look at it, I start humming this.

The umbrella thing is like a party or bar decoration, rather than anything practical.  It's in three pieces that fit together, and the umbrella is a burlap type fabric.  I didn't have time to open the umbrella up for the pic, but when I was taking it inside the Peddlers Mall, the cart it was in hit a bump, and the damn thing popped open!  Scared me to death!

That's our "new" ride in the background.  We went the used car route this time.  It's a mini-van with plenty of room for junk hauling.  I put a shelf in it to take to the second booth, and the whole thing slid right in with room to spare!  This might be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Happy Birthday to Roger this week! 

Booth sales were solid last week at both sites.  I ended up with a banner week at the Peddlers Mall and that turned into a banner month.  It wasn't my record month, but it's in the top five.  I was very, very happy.  At the second site, it pushed me close, but did not quite make, rent.  Sigh!  Still rethinking that one.  What to do?  What to do?

BEST THING EVER!!!

I found this baby the other day while I was working my booth.  Another vendor had it for sale and it was cheap!

I tried several times in several places, but could not get away from the glare on the glass.  This was my best shot.  Damn overhead fluorescent lights.

I thought the entire picture, dogs lining up to use the local tree, was too funny, but the real delight is in the details.

 This little guy just can't hold it, much to the chagrin of the guy in front.

The caption, which is handwritten in pencil, roughly translates from the French as "Wait your turn!"  Thank you three semesters of college French with Mlle. Watkins and Mme. Andre and that really cute dude who was the husband of the German prof who was head of the Foreign Language department.

This copyright info helped with the identification.  Charmarande is a small village in the burbs of Paris.  O'Klein is the artist.  He was a French cartoonist known for his humorous prints of dogs.  Apparently urination was one of his themes, according to Wikipedia.  A Google image search for his work brings up tons of fun little cartoons, including mine.  He was quite prolific, it seems.

Blurry signature, which doesn't look like O'Klein to me, but whatever.

The head of the line.  I love the satisfied look on the face of the little guy who's finished his business!

I look like this when I have to wait too long in the line for the bathroom!

Pity the poor guy at the end.  He's got some different business to conduct.

So, now I have a dilemma.  Keep or resell?  I have to admit that I'm really captivated with this guy's work and would kind of like to have some more of it.  I need another collection like I need more work to do, but I really like this!  A quick Amazon search did not pull up any kind of a book about O'Klein or collection of his art.  That would have solved the problem easily.

I think I'm going to have to keep this one while I figure it out.  For now, it's hanging in my storeroom at the Peddlers Mall.

What would you do?

Linking up with:  Thrifty Things Friday and Thriftasaurus!

Awesome Stuff You Never Knew Existed

Or maybe:  Awesome Stuff You've Known About for Years!

Or possibly:  Stuff That You Don't Really Think Is All That Awesome Whether or Not You Knew About It!

How am I to know?  Pick your category, people.  Me?  I'm going with the first one, because I thought it was pretty cool.  Then again, I am easily amused.

I am so totally in love with this mini shopping cart that is made out of metal (not plastic)!

True Confession Time:  I knew these existed.  I sold one in the early days of the booth and have been looking for another one ever since.  Didn't have much luck until a couple of weeks ago.

Awesome Stuff You Never Knew Existed!

Or maybe:  Awesome Stuff You've Known About for Years!

Or possibly:  Stuff That You Don't Really Think Is All That Awesome Whether or Not You Knew About It!

How am I to know?  Pick your category, people.  Me?  I'm going with the first one, because I thought it was pretty cool.  Then again, I am easily amused.

 

It's a bucket designed like a Bud can, with a lid, for storing beer and ice at tailgates and the like.  It caught my eye and it's perfect for the Peddlers Mall, so I snatched it up a couple of weekends ago.

I'm not a beer drinker at all, but I thought it was pretty awesome.  

Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

I Need Some Awesomeness

I really need some awesome music today.  Here are two of the most awesome that I can think of.

Mark Knopfler doing "Devil Baby":



Lyle Lovett and "If I Had a Boat":



 Awesomeness is meant to be shared, so enjoy.

Chemo -2 days always calls for awesome.

Y'all are awesome.  Don't forget that.

Thus concludes this moment of awesome.

Some of you aren't going to get this, but I think it's hilarious!

Not to mention that I think it's pretty awesome to be able to pull it off at all!