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.

Post Mother's Day Thoughts

Mother's Day wasn't anything special for me this year.  Enough time has passed now since Mom died that I don't dwell on it all day any more.  It's not far from my mind on Mothers Day, but I'm more able to go on throughout the day than I was before.

I got on a buying tear on Saturday (more on that later), so I went to the booth and worked all day.  When I came home, I settled in with an old puzzle book that I found when I was cleaning out the shed.  It's one of the series of books put out by Games Magazine that I bought several years ago.  Somehow, it got lost in the shuffle, so I never completed many of the puzzles in the book.  I found a couple of these in the shed and I have been working through them ever since.  It's a nice way to unwind.  This was the first time I had gotten into this book since I found it.

I started thumbing through it, looking to see what had been completed and what had not been started, and I got a real surprise.  There, interspersed with my unreadable scrawl, was page after page of puzzles done in my mother's neat, even printing.  (I've always kind of marveled that she wrote so clearly and nicely, while neither my brother nor I can produce anything resembling legibility.)

At some point in time, during some of her visits with us, she had gotten her hands in this book and worked a few pages.  I found puzzles that I had started and she had completed.  I found puzzles that I had screwed up and she had corrected.  I found pages that she had whipped through on her own.

I get my love of puzzles from Mom.  When I was a kid, I would get into her puzzle books all the time.  I was always amazed at all the different kinds of puzzles she could do so easily.  Somewhere along the line, she started leaving the easy puzzles for me to do, so I would stop trying to do the hard ones and mess them up before she got to them.

For a while, she would cut the easy puzzles out, glue them to a piece of construction paper, put the solution on the back, and let me take them to school, so I would have something to do when I got finished with my other work.  My favorites as a child were word searches.  Today, I like all kinds of puzzles.  My favorite app on my phone is my crossword app, which I use daily to download and work puzzles.

The other night, I could not sleep, so I got up and got out a puzzle book.  Keith woke up and looked at me and said "Are you really doing word puzzles in the middle of the night?"  I said that I was and he said:  "Of course you are." Then he went back to sleep.

I used to get Mom a new puzzle book every year for Christmas.  I found the last couple in her stuff after she died.  They still had some undone pages, so I took them with me.  Finding books of mine that she had worked on made me think of those books of hers.

Last year for Christmas, I got Keith's mother two books of  Bible-themed word searches.  She had never worked any kind of puzzle before. which was a huge surprise to me.  She loved them!  A few weeks ago, she finished the last of them, so we ordered her some more.  I overheard Keith telling her about me and Mom and our puzzles on the phone the other day.

Looking at those puzzles Sunday night made me smile.  I ended up having Mother's Day thoughts about Mom after all, but they were happy ones.  In a couple of weeks, it'll be the fourth anniversary of her death.  My brother turned 45 last week, which means I'm almost exactly six months away from 50.  Where has the time gone?

I think I'll go to the big flea over Memorial Day weekend, since that's one of the things we used to do together as kind of a late Mother's Day celebration.  She'd be looking for yard and garden stuff.  Sometimes, she would find a puzzle book or two.  Maybe I'll find one this year in her honor.  

Weekend Hunting

I kind of failed as a junk blogger (again) by not taking pics of some of the more interesting things we encountered over the weekend.  Seriously, one sale had more plungers than I've ever seen in one place in my life.  I guess I'm still getting in the groove of things.  Or maybe I'm just a bad junk blogger.  In lieu of those pics, here's the story, plus pics of the finds.

Perhaps the best seen, but not bought, item over the weekend was also at the plunger sale.  There was a white, satiny sash with the word "Bride" on it in glittery letters.  Because, you know, she's often so hard to pick out from the rest of the wedding party.  On the way back to the car, I told Keith that I really should have gotten it to wear at our wedding.  Or at least modeled it for a pic.  Bad junk blogger.

I had a big dilemma early on Saturday:  Go to the estate auction that started at 9 or follow the list of sales?  I've been moaning about needing to get more furniture, so the estate sale seemed like a good bet for that.  There were a bunch of high end large pieces, but also plenty the kinds of stuff I like:  odd dining room chairs, side tables, small shelves, etc.

Inexplicably, the auctioneer started with the flats and boxes of smalls, instead of the larger stuff.  After watching flats of nice, but not that special glassware, go for $30+, I realized that most of the crowd was either newbies driving up the prices or folks looking for stuff for themselves and not really caring what the price got to as long as it was less than regular retail.  Can't compete with that, so we split.

I really do need to hit more auctions, though.  It's just hard when the best ones are happening when I'm working, especially in the evenings.  Hopefully, I'll be able to do more in the summer.

One of the sales billed itself as the "best sale of the year."  Naturally, it was pretty much a bust.  I did buy a chair there, because it was furniture and it was cheap and I'm sure I can sell it.  It's also hideously ugly.  I don't have to like things to sell them.  At one point in time, it was a pretty ordinary chair.  Then someone "upscaled" it by painting it pink.

Or at least "upscaling" was the intent.  It might have happened too, with a better paint job and color choice.  Instead, it's a case in point why I'm leery of this redoing, repainting trend.  For every excellent, truly upscaled piece created by someone with talent who knows what they are doing, there are tons of hideous pink chairs.   Still, like I said, I can sell it, and that's kind of all that matters to me.  I sell lots of things I love and some that I'm not so fond of.  It's part of the job.

Another sale advertised that the person was getting rid of "1/4 of everything" they owned.  I decided that someone might need one of my fraction lessons, because there just wasn't that much stuff in that yard.  Either that or there's a really big house that's already practically empty.

I bought a cool purple trumpet at this sale.  I kept calling it a bugle, even after I asked Keith for sure what it was so I wouldn't embarrass myself and he informed me that bugles don't have buttons.  Yet, right after getting his sagacious clarification, I said this to the seller:

"I'd like to buy the bugle, please."

She responded:  "Oh, do you play the trumpet?"

Me:  "If I did, I wouldn't have just called it a bugle"

Corkboards (with $2 Bag  #2 contents)

I also got several small corkboards from her.  Those sell well for me, and I happen to be out of them.  (I found a couple in the shed Sunday, along with a small whiteboard, that I'm adding to that stash.)  Before leaving that sale, I totally lost my mind, by buying something truly questionable because it was only 50 cents.

It's the epitome of 80's sofa art, right down to the plastic black and gold frame.  And it's HUGE!  What the hell was I thinking?  It might be time for the intervention.  (On the other hand, I sold it last night, so I might be on to something.)

We passed several sales that had not been listed on Craigslist before we set out Saturday morning.  That's a sure sign that we're getting into the season, indeed.  I managed to find items at several of them, too.  In addition to hideous things, the other theme of the day seems to be pink chairs.  I got that one by practicing the time-honored negotiation tactic of walking away.

I asked the price and was told, "I don't know, two-three dollars?"  (Don't do this people!)  There's too much uncertainty in that for me to even want to deal with, so I said I would think about it, browsed a tad longer, thanked them and headed to the car.  "I'll take a dollar for that chair."  BINGO!

Flea Market Finds

I planned our route so that the last sale would be the one closest to the booth, to make an easy drop off.  I avoid backtracking and looping as much as I can.  We ended up driving by the indoor/outdoor weekend flea market on the way and decided to stop.  I'm kind of glad we did that, not because I bought a lot of stuff (although I did find a few things), but because it brought back happy memories for both me and Keith.

He was reminded of the outdoor flea markets we went to in Mexico City, which were a lot of fun.  I spent the time wandering the outdoor rows, remembering my father.  There used to be a ton of these kinds of flea markets in this part of town, and he and I went to all of them when I was a teenager.  He loved them.  I loved them.  It was one thing we had in common during the period right after my parents divorced and my relationship with him was really strained.   Back then, you could still find mid to late Silver Age and early Bronze Age comics for less than a buck at those kind of places.  It was good to remember those days for a little while.

Next to the flea market was a VFW with a flea market in the basement.  They kept trying to sell us bullets, which was kind of creepy.  They said the back room was fill a bag for two bucks, so I filled a couple.  Always glad to oblige when there is bag filling to be done.

$2 Bag #1 contents

The last sale we hit was sponsored by the deaf community.  All of the sellers were deaf.  My sign language is pretty limited:  "Thank you."  "You're welcome."  and "Jesus."  So I bought a Jesus picture and said "thank you" for it.

Also pictured is a pink TV tray.

The picture is lenticular.  This is the second image.

Other purchases from the same sale.

My fave find of the day was this big bag of HUGE plastic bugs.  On the one hand, they're bugs and bugs are creepy.  On the other hand, the scale of these suckers makes them kind of awesome.  They will fly right out of my booth.

This isn't all of them.  Just a representative sample.

When I got to the booth to unload, I showed the manager the trumpet.  She said:  "You know weirdos are going to put their mouths on that."  As long as it sells, I'm kind of okay with that.

Mongoose from trumpet sale.  Bags from VFW backroom.

I gotta run.  I'm supposed to be hitting the road with my mongoose.  He's already packed our bags.  We might take the trumpet and make a tour of it.

Sharing with:  Thrifty Things Friday

I forgot someone!

Lordy, but I hate getting old and forgetful!  It seems like I'm forever leaving something out or off or under the bus or something.  

This time, I forgot to include this little cutie in my latest post about the Big Flea.  She was in the bag or ornaments I bought.

Isn't she cute?  She's one of those pieces that I can't tell if she was hand-made by someone or mass-manufactured and sold.  She's very very well-made and detailed. 

She even has her ballet slippers on!

The Big Flea!

Tuesday's trip to the Big Flea was fraught with complications.  To begin with, the alarm I thought I  had set did not go off, so we overslept, making it impossible to get there when the gates opened.  Since we were already running late, we decided to go to a breakfast buffet first, only to find we arrived there right before the buffet closed.

Further complicating matters, I could not get to my Granny Cart without taking a bunch of stuff (and I mean a bunch of stuff) out of the shed to get to it.  Every time I shift things in there, the carts get moved around, even thought I try to leave them close to the door.  Organization will forever be my elusive quest.

Without a cart, I was forced to use a substitute.

Now, a wheeled backpack cannot begin to equal the capacity of my Granny Cart, so I had to make unloading trips to the car at intervals.

Once we got into the building, it was obvious that we had one final challenge to face, lots of dealers were closing up to leave, even though the flea market didn't close until 5.  Instead of ending on New Year's Day, like it usually does, the Big Flea closed this year on New Year's Eve.  I think it had to do with January 1 falling on a Wednesday.  They run the show for four days and always try to include the weekend after Christmas, so that meant that this year they ended on December 31.  Dealers were excited about the possibility of getting to celebrate new Year's at home, so many of them were closing early, even though the organizers strongly discourage that.

On the plus side, that meant that sellers were willing to deal.  On the minus side, it meant that there were fewer of them there and the number kept shrinking throughout the day.

I only took one picture, because I got busy shopping right away, but it was one of the best things I saw.

It's an antique Last Rites cabinet.  I fell in love with it, but the seller wanted a bit more than I was willing to pay, based on the condition.  I debated making an offer, but what I wanted to pay was enough lower than his price, that I knew he would not deal with me.  This guy is at every Big Flea and he can be really grumpy and irritable when people try to haggle.  I wasn't in the mood to deal with him, so I went on.

New Years and Labor Day are always special at the Big Flea, because they have the special antiques wing.  There are sellers with antique and vintage in the regular section, but the antique wing brings in 400 more and they always have special stuff.  Lots of them have markdown tables where they try to move out their backstock, estate sale buyouts, box lot leftovers, and anything else they aren't interesting in selling in their stores.  I spend my time looking at the more expensive things and admiring them and learning about them, but my shopping happens on the bargain tables.  On the last day of the show, which Tuesday was, most of the bargain tables turn into dollar tables.

You have to dig through some crap and you have to check stuff carefully for damage, etc, but you can find some great stuff for a buck if you're willing, which I more than am.  For example:

Stuffed toy with Eat-It-All ice cream cone.

Sexy aftershave bottle

Vintage Knott's Berry Farm souvenir jar

Gorgeous vintage postcard books from Italy

Please pardon my total lack of staging and presentation in my pics.  Laying aside the fact that I totally suck at staging pictures, I was trying to price all this stuff and get it ready to go, so you get my messy desk.  If I let things sit until I have time to stage and arrange, then they'll never get to the booth, which means I never get any money.

I also got a bag of vintage Christmas stuff (for a dollar) that included some gems:

 A bizarre little dog thing.  I can't decide if this was made and sold that way or if someone got crafty with a satin ornament.  I also can't decide whether it's too sweet or tacky as hell.  What do you think?

Best of the bag:  vintage wooden angel ornament, sweet Japan wood Nativity, and a vintage snowman.

Sweet wooden Japan mouse.  It's laying on top of a basket that I picked up at on dollar booth to carry stuff in while I shopped.  I decided I liked it, so I bought it too. 

Sweet felt horse head

Tiny vintage elf head cup.  I know it's really a child in a sleeping cap, but I'm calling it an elf anyway.

Pair of ornaments with school pics trimmed and attached.  I think they were part of some school art project.  Every so often, you get a reminder of the history of the objects you find.  I wonder if these hung on Grandma's tree for years?

I did get more than that off the dollar tables, but I thought those were the most interesting finds.

I got some other stuff too.  There's always a couple of people there who have yard sale stuff at yard sale prices.  I picked up some things from them, since yard sales are few and far between right now.  I got some price tags from a vendor supplies booth.  They have about the best prices around, and I'm getting ready to do some markdowns, so I need some extras.  I'm going to be marking a lot of stuff down.

I also did find some comic books, which was one of my goals for this trip.  One of my favorite comic sellers was at this show.  I hadn't seen him there in a while.  He always has 50 cent, one dollar and two dollar boxes with good stuff in them.  He also has Golden and Silver Age stuff for good prices.  I've gotten some decent shape, low grade Golden Age books from him for 3-4 buck before. 

Interestingly enough, I usually cannot tell the difference between the stuff in his 50 cent, dollar and two dollar boxes in terms of era, content, or condition.  There are a few really ratty books in the 50 cent box, but a lot of the stuff I see could be in any of the three, so their placement seems totally arbitrary.  Unfortunately, a bunch of what I bought was actually for me, although I did pick up a few things for the booth.  You do what you can right?  (I didn't get any pics of my comics haul when I was taking the others.  I might add some later.)

All in all, roadblocks notwithstanding, it wasn't too bad for the first junking trip off the New Year!  I had fun anyway, and that has to count for something.

Holiday Monday Rambles

Happy Labor Day!  Just kind of kicking back today.  Actually, I'll be sort of kicking back all week, since I'm off.  Budget cuts run down hill, and, thanks to sequester, our program has about a $300,000 cut to absorb for this year.  As a result, the center where I work has to close this week.  I know the reality is that I'm being furloughed without pay, but it honestly feels kind of like this:



(A couple of things that kind of tickle me about that video:  Gina mouthing the beat counts while she's drumming and the totally stoned look on Belinda's face when they're doing the water ski bits.)

It wasn't a planned time off, but it's really welcome.  I have needed a few days to catch up, rest, and breathe since June.  I always tried to take minimal time off through the chemo, even going in some days when I really shouldn't have.  (One time they sent me home.)  Those last months it was pretty obvious that I was putting the minimum effort I had to into things, because that was all I had to give.

Even though, I'm feeling a lot better now, there's still just a little lag in me that's calling out for a few days of not having to report anywhere or meet any expectations.  I know I'm not getting paid, but this week is a godsend for me.

I'm not totally off either.  My night sessions will still take place on Tuesday and Thursday, but going in at 5 for a couple of hours on those days still gives me a major break the rest of the week.

I'm planning to spend the week resting, of course.  I'll do some reading and a little housework.  Now that I am feeling better, it's time to take some of my responsibilities back from Keith's shoulders.  He's done a great job handling the load since January, but he can't do it alone.  I'm also going to get the blog back on schedule.  My hiatus messed up my scheduling, and I'm still getting that straightened out.

Of course, there will be some booth work.  It's time to get some Halloween and harvest items out.  I'll also try to squeeze in a little thrifting along the way.

These guys will be the first to go to the booth.  I was pricing them last night.  The foam pumpkins are from the 80's and I think they're super fun.  I got them over the weekend.  There's a foam witch head too, but you can't see her.  She's behind the pumpkin on the right.

It was too hot to do any yard sales over the weekend (and they're really weren't any listed worth going to), so we went to the big flea market instead.  The Labor Day show is when they have the special antique wing, and there's always some bargains there in amongst the big ticket stuff.  I didn't get too much, and part of what I did get is actually stuff for me or for the house, but I did make a killer comic score.  (More on that in a later post.)

Mainly, the trip was about seeing the interesting stuff.

Very interesting stuff.

 

Very interesting, indeed.

Apparently, it was lady legs day at the flea market!

As a rule, I don't like things that are faux-aged or distressed.  But I did like this guy's large metal letters and stuff.  I loved that he used the typographic symbols!

I got one of these big foam fingers for my brother, because he's such a Miley Cyrus fan  he's a big University of Kentucky fan.  Since he lives in Tennessee, I always get him something UK-themed for Christmas.

It's kind of interesting that there wasn't a University of Louisville fan merch booth there, as well.

Among the other things I intend to do this week is get some of my recent finds photographed and posted, plus lots of pricing and packing things.  I'm way behind on that.  My junk room is a disaster right now.

All together now:

Vacation!  All I ever wanted!

I'll be humming it all week long.

ROAD TRIP!

Saturday, we loaded up the car and headed out on a brief road trip.  At my grandfather's funeral, I noticed that the flowers on my parents' graves were really weatherbeaten and tattered.  The cemetery is not far away from Louisville, but it's far enough that we don't get over there very often.

This is the kind of thing we could have done in a day trip--just pop down there and back--but I wanted to make a bit of an adventure out of it.  I planned for us to take the old highways, rather than the parkway, and hit the flea markets and thrifts along the way.  I also got us a totally unnecessary hotel room, because I wanted to make it an overnight trip.

Usually by this point in the summer, I've gone camping with Keith at least once.  With the chemo, I'm just not up to roughing it, but I really wanted to get away with him. So, even though my old hometown is less than two hours away, I still got us a room.

Unfortunately the junking was not good.

First stop was an antique mall that I've always wanted to stop in.  It was totally not my kind of place.

 Seriously not my kind of place.  With prices to match, I might add.  Although I did see a couple of cool things, like these replicas of the Chinese terracotta warriors.

I even made a new friend, although I'm not quite sure if her intentions are honorable.

I also saw one of those old-timey comic book racks like they used to have in store when I was a kid.  I've always wanted one!  It's kind of sad to see the dilapidated older comics sagging out of it.  Those are not the most practical means of long-term storage and display for comics, because they don't provide adequate support.  You would think someone who is trying to get $28 or $52 out of a comic would know that.  Just about everything on the rack was really ratty from being stored there too long.

I was most looking forward to hitting the Bowling Lanes Flea Market.  I have fond memories of shopping there as a kid.  Sadly, my memories from Saturday are not as fond.  I only bought like two or three things.  

The lot where the flea is used to be home to a bowling alley.  All that's left now is the sign.  When I was a kid, the building was still there.  People used to set up all over the parking lot.  There are still outdoor set-ups today, but there weren't very many on Saturday.  I think it might have been the heat or forecasted storms.

There's also an indoor component, which was totally missable.  Every booth was a wreck, and over half the vendors weren't even present in their spaces.  It was really disappointing.  As usual, at these indoor/outdoor kinds of set ups, the best shopping was found outdoors.  There just wasn't much of it.

Since shopping had been so light, I decided to hit a vendor mall.  Pickings were slim there too.  How slim?  This slim:

To be honest, I did put a couple more things in the cart right after I took this pic.  Still wasn't much of a haul.

I did come across this great new idea for booth security and theft deterrent that I cannot wait to try in mine.

There were probably some bargains in this bin, but I'll never know.  I'm all about the digger booth, but not when I have to bend over with my butt in the air!  Ain't happening.

I did see Donna while I was there.

After this we hit a thrift that wasn't all that thrifty.  We have a couple of these kinds of places in Louisville.  They call themselves "upscale resale."  They're very selective in what they accept for donations, so their prices are way out of line with the typical thrift experience.  I did find a few things, but I don't think I'll be heading back.  I give the ones in Louisville wide berth too.

After a nice drive through the country, we finally hit my old hometown.  We stopped first at a local vendor mall, where again I bought very little, but I did get flashed.

Then we headed to the cemetery (more on that in a few days), and checked into the hotel.  I was kind of glad I had made a reservation, as we were both pretty wiped by that point.  We had a nice Mexican dinner (my favorite), then retired for the evening.  I kind of overextended myself and did way too much walking.  I could hardly move once I got settled in a comfy chair.

The next morning was lovely.  The hotel's free breakfast included fresh pancakes, which was nice.  After we enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast, we had a long talk together in which.....

Keith proposed and I accepted!

After all these years, he's going to make an honest woman out of me!  We're still working out the details.  We want to do it in a state where same-sex marriage is legal, with an eye to retiring there, if the rest of DOMA is not overturned in the next few years.  No matter what you may hear on the news, key components of the law are still in effect.  I'll probably have more to share about all of this as it develops.

Junkin' Memories: The Big Flea Market

This year, they're down to four.  That really bothers me.  Not that long ago, there was one a month.  I think it's due to the economy, which means that they'll be bouncing back as things improve.  I hope so.  The Kentucky Flea Market, which I lovingly call "The Big Flea Market," has been a part of my junking life for decades now.

I cannot remember for sure when I first came to Louisville to go to the big flea market, which is held at the state fairgrounds.  I know I was aware of it when I was in high school, because I remember reading an article about it in the paper.  I know I was going by the time I was in college.  One of my roommates was from the same part of the state as me, so we would ride home together for the holidays and such.  I made a couple of trips to the flea market with him and his family then.

It was when I was in college that I went one time with my dad when I was really sick.  We made it through like two rows and I had to leave.  He called my mom, and the consensus was that I must be really bad sick if I couldn't stay at a flea market!  Buncha comedians in my family.

I know that I've been a regular at the big flea market ever since I moved to Louisville.  It was a really wonderful deal in those days--all kinds of sellers selling all kinds of stuff at really good prices.  I've bought tons of comics there over the years, plus books, CD's, religious articles, and just general fun stuff.  (Not to mention the occasional practical item.) 

The flea market was a monthly deal in those days.  If there was a holiday in the month, then it was held on the holiday weekend.  If there wasn't, then it was usually the last weekend of the month.  Like I said earlier, I think they were still having monthly shows as late as last year.  The holiday shows were the ones to be sure to attend.  Lasting four or five days (depending on what day of the week the holiday fell), they would often fill up two wings of the fairgrounds exhibit space.  That's a heckuva lot of room!

In the past few years, the two wing shows have fallen off considerably.  It finally settled into a pattern where the Labor Day and New Year's Day flea markets would take up one wing, plus an extra hall.  Not quite as much room as before, but still considerable.  The extra hall is dedicated to antique sellers and there's always some awesome stuff during those shows.

For at least a decade before she died, my mother and I would make a trip to either the Memorial Day or the 4th of July flea market.  It was one of our traditions.  Going with Mom was about the people watching as much as the shopping, but we did a lot of that too.  She had opinions about everyone and everything and didn't mind sharing them.  We could have a ball just sitting on a bench watching the world pass us by.

The entire thing is run by one family-owned company that also does flea markets in Indianapolis and Knoxville.  They used to do one in Nashville as well, but discontinued it a while ago.  A few years back, the man that started the company passed away, but his family is carrying on.

I'm kind of surprised and a little disappointed to see them cut back so much this year.  I know part of it is the economy, which is hurting both vendors and customers.  The presence of so many vendor malls and flea markets here in town can't be helping either.  People don't have to wait for a special weekend any more.  They can come on over any time and get their bargain shop on!  It's kind of ironic to be involved in a retail system that might be hurting the flea market I have loved so much over the years.

Another factor that doesn't help is the fairgrounds itself.  They've let some of their fees and things get really out of hand.  It costs eight bucks to park now!  Outrageous.  When I actually go to one of the shows with an antique wing, I have to plot to get around the parking fee.  Those are the shows I am most likely to be looking for merchandise, so I need to not pay 8 bucks to park because I don't want to have to add that in to the cost of the items.  I've ridden my bike.  We've parked somewhere else and walked in.  I've had Keith drop me and the granny cart off outside the gate and pick me up later.  I've flapped my arms and flown over the fence.  (Okay..maybe not that last one...but if I thought it would work, I'd give it a try!)

I'm remaining hopeful that, as soon as it is feasible, the big flea market will increase the number of shows again.  I may not be able to go to all of them like in the good old days, but I'll definitely go to two or three a year!  Old habits die hard.  Whether shopping for me or for a booth, I'll always look forward to a visit to the big flea market.

Monday Rambles

I'm definitely feeling better right now.  No nausea. No tin foil.  Just lots and lots of bricks.  Thanks to the 4ht, I got a four day weekend, which was nice.  It gave me a chance to rest up, yet still do things.  It rained most of the weekend, which meant no yard sales, which meant  really good sales at the Peddler's Mall for the first time this month.

I took a good load in on Wednesday and straightened up quite a bit.  I discovered that, despite slow June sales, I had some pretty bare shelves.  Four totes later, most of that was taken care of.  Now, of course, I have new bare spots to fill.  We're having our fourth anniversary fling this coming Saturday, so I'll be taking more stuff in to get ready for that.  I think I'm bringing in mainly larger items, but haven't decided for sure.  I'm not going to be in town for the shindig (more on that in a bit), but I have high hopes for some good sales.

We went to the big flea market on Saturday, as mentioned previously.  We started the day with a traditional family breakfast at my dad's favorite restaurant.

 

 

I was well-armed with my granny cart.  (I actually have three of them.  I'm really wanting one of the newer models that has a drink rack on the back.)

 

I wasn't looking to do any serious re-sale shopping.  I'm pretty well-stocked at the moment.  The main goal was to look at stuff, have some fun, and celebrate my mother's birthday.

As far as big flea markets go, this wasn't one of the better ones.  The variety that's typically there was lacking.

The Fiesta people were there.

The T-shirt people were there.

The banana box people were there.

Also, the fashion belt people, the leather purse people, the dip mix people, the flavored coffee people, the "As Seen on TV" people, and the dollar jewelry people were all there.  In fact, dollar jewelry seemed to be the theme for the day.  It seemed like there was a vendor in every row with boxes of jewelry to sort through.  Some of it looked to be older, but I don't know jewelry and don't really have the patience to stand there and jostle with people rooting through boxes.  So, I passed.

What was missing were the secondhand dealers that are always there.  There were a few, but mainly book dealers.  There were some higher end antiquers there, but not the kind of folks who have a wide variety of stuff at good prices.  Normally, there are a lot of these "mom and pop" sellers there, right alongside the "pros."  I'm not sure what the deal was, but it was a little disappointing.  I'll be writing more about the big flea market and the way it's changed over the years later this week.

We still had fun, and I did spend a little money.  I bought a couple of games for resale and a nice pic of the 23rd Psalm for a dollar.  I got some comics and books for me, plus a couple to sell.  The Kentucky Proud kettle corn folks weren't there, which was a bummer.  I did get some snacks and some stuff for the house.  It was just a relaxing, no pressure, shopping for fun kind of day--just like I used to have with Mom.  Sometimes, it's nice not to be "working."

It was still pretty tiring, since the bricks came along too.  I took a several hour nap when we got home and spent Sunday lazing around and resting up.

One of the things I picked up was a flower arrangement for Mom's tombstone.  When we were there for the funeral, I noticed that the flowers at her grave were getting kind of ratty.  We're going to take a road trip this weekend to go and spruce it up a bit.  We're also going to hit a couple of flea markets and antique malls on the way.

I've found a couple of new niches on YouTube that have me tickled:  old Disney cartoon shorts and soap opera broadcasts from the fifties and sixties.  I caught an episode of Secret Storm from the late fifties that I totally got into.  Great, classic soap opera like they don't make any more.  I also found a classic As the World Turns featuring several of the performers who were still on the show when it was cancelled a couple of years ago.  It was pretty cool.

Of course, as a junker, I have a hard time watching vintage TV without being distracted by all the background set decor and props!  So many vintage goods!  So much that I could sell!  It's a sickness, I tell you!