Monday Rambles

To start us off, a poor picture of belly-button rings.

OUCH!

Why a poor picture?  Because I accidentally totally deleted the carefully edited and fixed up one.  I am a crappy blogger.

Why belly button rings? Because I found them when I was going through a big batch of jewelry that came with the booth I bought.  I was bagging like items into bulk lots and marking other things down.  It just struck me as kind of odd to find all this body jewelry mixed in.  There are booths in the Peddlers Mall that sell body jewelry and stuff like that, but that's all they sell.  You don't normally find it mixed in with lots of toys and dozens of relish dishes.

Also, aren't some of them a tad elaborate to be hanging out of a navel?  I'd be afraid they'd get tangled in my shirt or something.  Of course, I'm not really a piercing kind of guy, unless you count the time I took a BB to my left buttock hind quarter.

Too much info?

How is that for a totally random start to the week?  How about some junking stories?

I was in a thrift near the booth a little while ago, just kind of browsing stuff.  There was an older couple there, also just browsing stuff.  All of a sudden, he finds a pink wig.  He starts rubbing it and holds it out to his wife.  "It's sooooooo soft!  Feel this!"

They walk around the store carrying the wig for a while.  When I go to check out, they get in line behind me, still carrying the wig.  They're chatting with each other and the cashier.  I'm chatting with the cashier as well.  Finally, I cannot control myself any longer.  I've paid for my stuff and they're getting ready to pay.  I turn to them and say:  "I just have to know which one of you is going to wear the wig."

Everyone starts laughing, then he kind of stammers out:  "My wife will wear it."  To which she immediately replies:  "It's your collection.  You wear it!"

Collection? Of pink wigs? Odd colored wigs? Wigs in general? Cosplay stuff?  What can of worms did I unwittingly open?  Oh my!

Sometimes I need to just keep my mouth shut, I guess.

It has been a typical August for the booth--a long, hot slog.  Daily sales have been all over the place.  Fabulous one day.  Not so hot the very next one.  I was holding my own until the fair started last week. For the first three days, everything ground to a halt.  Killed my momentum and my sales.

The fair was late this year.  Usually, there's a week or two afterwards for sales to recover.  This year, there's only two days.  I'm going to come out about like normal, when all is said and done, but I'm looking for some sales growth before the end of the year.

The fall is usually good for sales.  I've already put my fall decor in, and am going to start putting Halloween out this week.  It's a little early for the Halloween, but I've got the space and a little more Halloween than normal.  Last year, during Halloween clearance sale time, when I was stocking up for this year, it was right around the time I started chemo again.  I think I was a little more aggressive in my shopping in order to make some kind of personal point.

At any rate, I've got a lot of skulls to sell.

No one seemed to know what to call the metal thing in Mazda yesterday, other than "something metal."  The community sale I went to was right around the corner from the Peddlers Mall, so I dropped off the big stuff and took these reveal pics.

The metal thing is actually used to convert linear measurements between metric and standard units.  It's just odd enough and geeky enough that I couldn't resist it.  Also an old window.  I only like to carry windows that have something kind of special or different about them.  I like the privacy style glass on this one.

Everybody pretty much guessed the bookcase.  The checks are contact paper.  One of the churches I went to had closed its preschool and was selling stuff off.  Unfortunately, most of the furniture was either too large, too ratty, or too pricey for my needs, with the exception of this bookcase.

I did get some fun small stuff there, however.  But you'll have to wait for tomorrow for that.

Technology has been frustrating us lately.  Our internet went our last weekend, when something knocked our cable loose.  We get that fixed, and then the power goes out Saturday right before we were heading out to the sales.  A transformer down the street blew.  I step out front and join the neighbors in staring down the street, like that's going to fix something.  It was back on by the end of the day.

This Saturday, the Peddlers Mall is going to have a sidewalk sale and cookout.  I've signed up for a spot and will work on getting stuff together this week.  I plan on putting out a lot of what I have left from the booth buy-out--marked down real cheap. I've had a lot of luck moving the marked down glass stuff and toys.  The toys are nearly gone, and a good hunk of those divided dishes are too.  Now is the time to finish them off, along with a lot of the household implements and such from that buy.  It'll be a bargain extravaganza!  (I'm hoping to find a few deals for me from other sellers.)

I set up a special sale table for those dishes.  That's helped them move.

I'm also going to pull a couple of things off Sorrow Mountain to join the fun.  Speaking of Sorrow Mountain, that post brought lots of comment.  I call it "Sorrow Mountain" because I am not so happy that it is there.  I don't like the added expense that comes a long with it and I hate having that much excess stuff.  My goal in life is to whittle it away to Weepy Molehill.

I resisted getting a storage unit as long as I could, but it was inevitable.  When you lose a store where you have ten spots, including a storage room, it's a big hit.  Up until the last days of the move out, I kept insisting that we could handle the overflow in my junk room, our shed, and the small storage unit we have for the house.  As it turned out, I used all of those areas to hold stuff, and still had to get Sorrow Mountain.

I didn't mind having a backlog in the beginning, because I was afraid that I might not be able to get out as much in the summer, due to my treatments.  My plan was to slowly whittle away at it with the goal of majorly reducing it by the fall.  I had a vision of going over there every week and sorting stuff and tagging stuff and making it something more viable than just a repository.  That kind of didn't happen, mainly due to the treatment fatigue.  It's been hanging on me like a weight ever since.  Getting over there the other day to do the little I did felt good.  Real good.

By the way, in answer to Judy's question, the patron saint of Sorrow Mountain is, of course, Our Mother of Sorrows.  This reminds me that I ought to warn tell you that my answers to your "Ask Eddie Anything" questions resume this week.

Turns out I got a little too carried away pulling stuff off Sorrow Mountain to take the booth last week.  Somehow I had it in my mind that I needed four small pieces of furniture to fill holes that didn't really exist.  I'm a bit packed right now, needless to say.  Fortunately, one piece was a too cute yellow primitive table that sold practically as soon as I unloaded it and thus made more money than it would have continuing to sit on the Mount.  Unfortunately, I realized too late that I had never taken a pic of that table for the blog.  Sorry.  Bad blogger.

I took six boxes of books, tapes and records from Sorrow Mountain to Half-Price Books last week.  HPB is my last ditch resort to get rid of stuff, since they don't pay that much.  I ended up walking out with something better than money.

WOO to the HOO!

TWO FLATS OF MANGA!!!!!!  That's over 100 volumes.  I made enough selling my stuff to pay cover one of the flats, so that all worked out well.  I had to rearrange my book booth to get them all in.  I now have two entire bookshelves of manga.  I think I'm going to take the shelf I bought over the weekend and dedicate it to graphic novels, which will free up space in the comic boxes, which means I can bring more comics in.  All is good.  That sound you hear is the local nerd council humming in agreement and approval.

Of course, since it's Labor Day weekend coming up, that means there's also going to be a Big Flea coming up--with an antique wing, yet--woo hoo! Gotta get the granny cart spruced up and ready.

I read the best book the other day.  I've been trying to use my down time to read more, since that always makes me feel better.  It's sad when I get too tired to read.

Image from Amazon.

It's a sort of alternative look at Shakespeare's King Lear though the eyes of the court jester, who's quit a bit smarter than his sovereign.  If you remember your Shakespeare at all, you'll know that being brighter than Lear wasn't terribly difficult.  I say it's a "sort of" alternative look, because Moore deviates wildly from the plot, tosses in characters from other plays (like the witches from Macbeth), and is not afraid to throw in an anachronism or two for giggles.  It's a wonderful, if somewhat bawdy, romp and an awesome way to spend an afternoon.

While our cable was out, I needed something to listen to/watch while I tagged merch, so I dug through the DVD pile and did some binge watching.

Image also from Amazon

This is one of those lesser quality sets you can buy for five bucks at Wal-Mart and the like, usually containing material not available elsewhere.  I paid a buck for this one when the local Borders stores were closing.  It provided hours of entertainment.  It seriously doesn't get any more retro cheesily wonderful than this--preposterous plots, laughable special effects, and plenty of buff shirtless guys in mini-skirts.  (Not that I was noticing that or anything.)  Totally awesome.  I ought to do stuff like that more often.  I have a Bela Lugosi set around here somewhere....

While we're on the subject of good reading and the like, please check out this awesome post of tips for folks planning to hit those long highway yard sales from Melissa's Antiques.  She actually went to the Highway 127 sale for the first time this year, but--like me--she's a vet of several smaller, local highway sales.  Good tips and advice in there.  One that I would add is to keep an eye out for small country churches.  Even when they're not having sales, the empty parking lots are a safe place to pull off the road and do things like rearrange your load, without having to worry about getting mowed over by a semi.  Be sure not to miss the pic about halfway down or so in her post.  You'll know which one I'm talking about.

I have my next cancer center visit tomorrow.  These infusion days roll around fast.  At my last visit, they gave me a prescription for a low dose steroid in hopes of helping with my fatigue.  Boy Howdy!  The difference is like night and day.  I'm not even taking the whole prescribed amount each day and I feel so much better.  I need fewer rest breaks and my energy level is much more consistent.  I do feel a fade slowly come on late in the day, but I'm able to get so much more done in a day and not feel like death while I'm doing it.

Don't worry.  I'm being cautious and careful and not overextending myself.  I'm still rests and breaks and the like, but it feels good to get things freaking done.  I feel like my life has been on hold all year, while I've been eking out little dribs and drabs that have never quite been enough.  It's nice to see a change on that front. I don't like adding another med to my regimen, but this feeling seems to be worth it.

How about we wrap things up with a pic of Chiquito making his sleepy face?  He always looks so cute when he's struggling to wake up and figure out what's going on.

Focus on the cute, groggy kitty.  Not the messy sheets.

That's not even your Chiquito of the Month for September!  You'll get that tomorrow, of course.

Monday Rambles (LONG)

Everybody run!  It's Monday the 13th!

Discussion in our house yesterday:

HIM:  Do you want to stop by that one thrift after your massage?  It's on the way.

ME:  Which one?

HIM:  That St Vincent dePaul.  Oh, wait.  You went there just a few days ago.

ME:  I was there a week ago!  That's like an eternity in thrift time!

Of course, we stopped.  Of course, it was like an eternity had passed.

Sorry that it's still in Mazda.  That sucker is HEAVY!

This was a fortuitous find.  I sold a bookshelf on Friday and needed a replacement.  I'm down to only one in this size in my storage.  I have never, ever sold as many shelves as I have this year.  I'm going to have to start grabbing every one I can find for ten bucks or less until I build up a little cushion.

Turns out the antique mall I went to last weekend (the one with the 75% off booth) is also on the way.  I had wanted to go back there because I re-read the Craigslist ad and saw that this booth actually takes up four spaces and I had only checked in the first one.

Good thing I went back.

There is also a little wood hammer and a bunch of wooden pegs of different shapes to fit in the holes.  This may be the most awesome thing I have ever found.  Or close to it.  I found something else this weekend that surpasses even this, but you'll have to wait a few days for it.  It's so special that it gets its own post.

True to form, I was pretty tired and cranky for most of the week after my treatment.  It started getting better on Friday, so I was able to get out for a bit.  I was kind of glad to able to do that, since it was a truly beautiful day, weather-wise.  I am having what may be a side effect issue that I'm not quite ready to talk about.  I need to see my doctor first.

We had glorious weather all weekend, in fact.  This week looks pretty good too, except for a chance of storms tomorrow.  Spring is here.  Yay!

I've been reading the most interesting book lately.

I "borrowed" this image from Wikipedia.

It's the story of two brothers surnamed Sisters who are two of the most feared hired guns of the Old West.  Imagine a cross between the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino and you pretty much have it.  It's got a wry, sly sense of humor, but it's also pretty bloody.  It's also quite good.


Last week's booth sales were really good for a Spring Break week.  A couple days were excellent, in fact.  There was only one day that was a bummer.  I still sold some stuff that day, but very little.

Saturday was one of those yard sale days full of stories and stuff.  The theme for the day was "vendors."  I had a frustrating encounter, some strange encounters, and some wonderful encounters.  It was one of those days that someone really needs to write about.  I was there, so I guess I'll do it.

The first stop was a digger sale.  The woman having the sale was just grabbing the boxes and hauling them out of the garage.  She said that when she got done with the garage, she's start in the house.  She wanted stuff gone and was ready to sell!  Prices were unbelievable.  The yard was crawling with people, some of whom kept grabbing her yard and deck decor and trying to buy it.  It was a little bit funny.

She'd be giving out all these reasonable prices.  "How about a dollar?"  "How about fifty cents?"  Then someone would come up with something from the yard.  "OK. I really wasn't planning to sell that, but I could let it got for 30 bucks."  Back it would go!

I made quite the little pile and got quite the great bargain.  Many of the items that were grabbing your attention in the Mazda shot came from this sale.

A family of plant stands.  (Three have already sold.)  The black rack came from a later sale.  Two of the rails on the bottom shelf were bent out of shape, but I got them fixed pretty easily.

This picnic basket has a lot of minor condition issues, but the inside is clean.  It was only a buck, so I had to get it.

There were two of these primitive little shelves.  I snagged them as soon as she brought them out of the shed.

The bottoms on both of them are pretty warped, probably, I think, from standing in a damp basement or cellar.  I thought they were still worth going for because a suitably industrious person (not me!) could easily replace them.

Plus they have this wonderful dovetailing on the tops.  These have both already sold too.

 
I also got some smalls here.

I had to have that family crest for the "Strange" family.  I picked up several of those butterflies too.  My grandmother had a lot of butterfly decor.  The tea tins, tiny stein, and poker cups came from a different sale.  There were four of the cups.  

The bottles in this photo came from that sale.  I love the Sno Bol bottle.  All of the painted on directions are still there and legible. The green and gold thing is a framed Irish Blessing print from another sale.  It's a nice, quality piece from Abbey Press.

I got a box of vintage Christmas for a buck!  I almost never find Christmas.  There are two of that Santa in the sleigh.  Santa's been twisted in this one so that it looks like he's riding side saddle.  I can't decide whether to fix him or not.  It's kind of cute.  The flocked Santa is a little rough on the back side.  The dinosaur is from one of my favorite Xmas specials, A Stocking for Bronty.  It used to come on right after Rudolph.  It was one of my childhood holiday highlights.

Okay, so I made that up.  But you would have watched it, if it had existed.  C'mon.  You know you would.  Actually I also got a nice box of toy dinos at this sale too.  I sell a ton of dinosaurs.  Any variety.  Any size.  I never pass them up, especially by the boxful.

The real kicker to this sale?  The woman having it is a vendor at a different mall!  She told me that she buys all this stuff at auction, then never gets around to putting it out, so she's getting rid of it.  That's not my preferred business strategy, but I'll buy your stuff.  I'll make sure it gets sold too.

The next sale was also being held by a vendor, but I think this was one who gave it a go, didn't do well, and got out.  (Most likely way too early.)  About half the stuff still had booth tags on it, but it was all reduced.

I got this cow bell at this sale.  It was fifty cents.  They retail for a lot more than that.  It attaches to a drum set.  I was telling a vendor at my mall about it and he offered to buy it from me!  He's a drummer and a guitarist.  I'm going to clean all the duct tape off it before I take it to him.

The books in this pic came from sale number three, which was not on my list, but it's a family not far from the house that always puts out a good yard sale spread every year.  I also got something there that's going to get its own post later in the week.

Across the street was another sale not on my list.

These string balls reminded me of the crafts I used to do with my Vacation Bible School classes.  I had to play the "What do you want to pay?" game to get them.  I hate that, especially when the sellers are really nice, but clueless.  Finally, I kind of sheepishly said "A buck."  They said "For both?" and I thought that would be the end of that.  (That's why I hate this game.)  Instead, they said "How about a dollar each?"  The game doesn't usually end this well.

Keith did his eyeroll and laugh thing at these when I put them in Mazda.  They sold the same day, within thirty minutes of being set out.  That's why I'm the one who buys the stuff.  We went to a community sale in a church parking lot next.  Most of the things I got are in the pics above--the black rack, the Irish Blessing, the poker cups, tea tins and mini stein.  Also the Our Lady of All Graces pics and the paperback books.

We then had to drop off the boxes of smalls at the house, since it was close and we were running out of room in Mazda because of the boxes.  At this point I tried to remind myself that I'm really trying to not buy smalls right now.

At the next sale, the guy quoted ten dollar prices on three items I asked about, so I asked him if he would take 25 for all three.  He said he wouldn't because "that's too much of a bargain."  So I decided that wold be too much of my money to give him.  I would seriously have probably bought those things until he decided to get snarky.

Okay.  I know I'm a huge smart-ass, but I do know when and when not to snark off.  The estate sale we went to next didn't seem to be happening.  The next sale was supposed to be an estate sale, but it was a vendor selling off her wares.  (Back to the theme, then.)  I got the deal of the day there.  It's something so awesome that it simply must have its own post.  Come back tomorrow for that one.

We went to what was advertised as a massive book sale, kind of like what I did recently.  It turned out to be only three table of books, but we were getting close to the end of the sale, so we'll give them the benefit of the doubt.  The prices were good.

 Billy Graham is a sure seller for my religion section.  I used that Documents of the Christian Church book (right hand stack, second book) when I was in seminary.  I may give it a look through before I take it to the booth.  Butler's Lives of the Saints (left hand stack, second book) is a classic of hagiography.  If you are at all interested in the saints, you should have a copy.  I have a really ornate one in my library.  The office supplies came from a very small church sale.  (Yes, I consider a bottle opener to be an office supply, depending on where you work.)

We crossed the river for the last three sales.  We always end up in Indiana anyway, because that's where the Peddlers Mall is, so why not hit some sales.  The two we went to have been advertising on Craigslist for the last several weeks, talking about their "wonderful collections" of "too much stuff" at their "indoor yard sales."

One of them turned out to be a store! There's a big sign in the yard that says "Not your typical yard sale" and you go inside and there's a cash register and display cases all over the place.  It's a secondhand store being run of the front of a house.  The stuff was neat.  Just about everything was vintage.  Prices were okay, just not yard sale prices.  I just feel like I was reeled in by misleading ads.

We pulled up at the second one, and there's a sign that says "Yard Sale Inside.  Come On In."  Okay.  We open the door expecting to see tables of stuff and find ourselves standing in the middle of someone's living room.  We can see people getting their lunches ready in the kitchen.  I said "Keith, I think we just walked into someone's house."  It was odd and uncomfortable.

The people didn't seem to mind.  They just pointed to a door and said "The stuff's downstairs."  Okay.  It was a little digger, but everything was out on tables.  Some stuff was a dollar apiece.  Some was two for a dollar.  Some was three for a dollar.  Some stuff had vendor tags on it, and I recognized the booth number and handwriting.  It's a guy in my Peddlers Mall!  I buy from that booth all the time.  He's running his own little flea market out of his basement.  Some of the stuff was things I looked at in his booth that were a little too much for me.  And here it is, three for a dollar.

I amassed a huge tub of stuff.  He came downstairs at one point to put his laundry in a dryer and handed me an empty plastic tub to put stuff in. I kept trying really hard to remember what came from a two for a dollar table and what came from a dollar table, etc.  Then when I went to pay, he just started grabbing out items three and four at a time and saying "This is a dollar.  This is another dollar."  He didn't really seem to care what table stuff came from.

I need to look those odd coffee cups up.

Purple disco balls!

I know it's too late for Mardi Gras, but I really kind of liked this.

The Lucy DVD is still in the plastic

I'm actually kind of proud of this pic.

That last line up is one of those that kind of sums up who I am as a junker really well.  That makes it a really good place to end this overly long post.

Well, maybe one more.

Can't leave out that fun bank!

Thanks for slogging through hanging with this extensive ramble!  I seem to have lost my ability to self-edit on this one.  I'll try to do better.