No Ramble Today

Kinda busy right now.

And there's still at least two days to go!

Tell me honestly....

Would you buy used furniture 

From this man?

Well, would you?

I'm not convinced myself, but dozens of other people have, surprisingly.  C'est la vie!

Poor Johnny!

So you see, Johnny.

When Santa found out just exactly how bad you've been this year, is head blew right off his shoulders.

CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED THIS YEAR!!!!

AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!

Poor Johnny!

So you see, Johnny.

Mrs. Claus found out what really happens on those "holiday planning trips" that Santa takes every spring with the Easter Bunny.  What happened next wasn't pretty.

CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED THIS YEAR!!! 

 

Poor Johnny!

So you see, Johnny.

The North Pole was attacked this week by a bunch of half-crazed, holiday-hating, sword-wielding ninja warriors.  The elves and the reindeer fought back valiantly, but the outcome was never really in doubt.  When you spend your life teaching folks to be good all the time, your self-defense skills aren't always up to par.

CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED THIS YEAR!!!!

 

Poor Johnny!

So you see, Johnny.

Santa is really an android robot thing.  They take him apart every year and store him away for the summer.  Unfortunately, this year, when they put him back together, they discovered that his Jolliness Circuits had all melted down.  After he was rebooted, he ate three of the elves and set fire to the toy warehouse, so they had to dismantle him again.

No one seems to be able to reach the Kris Kringle Geek Squad either.  They've moved and left no forwarding address, and their web site is down.

Unless someone can figure out how to fix Santa,

CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED THIS YEAR!!!!

Hang in there folks!

The Hershey's Truck is on its way!

It's just been delayed by an emergency stop in Louisville.  It will be back on its route as soon as the situation is resolved.

It should only take about six or eight weeks.

Or until I get full.

Whichever comes first.

You might want to call for another truck or two.

Those would be for me.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

No this isn't a comment on the election.  But it could be.

Rusties, Crusties, and Dusties! Oh My!

Since I'm on low to no buying right now, there's still no Mazda shot.  I did go to a music sale at the comic shop yesterday, but the oddball goodness I found there would not have made a very interesting shot.  You'll see it later in the week.

In the meantime, here's something for you to marvel at:

I just borrowed the shelf for staging.

Even if I'm not really on the hunt right now, there are still a few booths at the Peddlers Mall that I simply have to check out every time I'm in.  A few of them belong to friends, and I just like to see what treasures they've found lately.  A couple are good sources of good stuff from time to time, usually at great prices.  These goodies came from one of my regular spots.  The whole stash cost less than fifteen bucks!

From top to bottom:  metal gas can, tin picnic basket, rusty metal card drawer, rusty plant older, seriously heavy old handmade wooden tool box.

Well, good!

I do hate it when the zebras are laying around all strewn about!  "Nothing worse than a willy-nilly pile of zebras!"  That's what Aunt Tilda always said!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

This

is what you'd "really like to be"?

REALLY??!!??

I guess so.




Society has spoken.

A Literary Tragedy

Although everyone thought she was going to have a promising career, it wasn't meant to be.

Turns out, Hulda only had the one story in her.

BEHOLD!

How about a different kind of Mazda shot?

I'm kind of mixing things up today.  I am caught in one of those booth vortexes again where every job seems to keep leading to two or three more jobs that have to be done first.  None of my "in head" visions are working "in booth."  I have seriously, literally, honestly been working since Thursday on just the book booth and I'm still not done.

At the same time, thanks to the super March sales, I am at the point where I simply have to do a massive restock.  Seriously massive.  If I don't, people are going to start calling my booths "Eddie's Empty" instead of "Eddie's Attic."  Tumbleweeds are lining up in the aisles, waiting for their chance to roll through my empty spaces.  It all looks full, but if I consolidate and tighten my shelves up, I'm probably really about a third empty.  Plus, I still have a whole shelf unit full of bunnies and shamrocks!

Ironically, I realized last week that the reason my junk room at the house is so full is not because I have all the stuff waiting to be priced and taken to the booth, but because I have all this stuff that's already been priced and has been waiting to be taken to the booth.

Since the beginning of the year, I have made a supreme effort to get stuff to the booth right after I pick it up.  On that front, I've done well, but I had a bunch of stuff ready to go into the booth that I managed to completely forgot about.  I am so talented.

All of that verbiage is leading up to this, the first ever Mazda shot taken before going to the yard sales on a Saturday.  Seriously, I've had all this ready to go forever. 

Since it's all in bags and boxes, here's a handy key to what's what:

 
An advantage to filling the car before you go out is that it limits your buying ability and makes you think harder about your purchases.  That's right.  You can prevent over-buying by filling the van with stuff you've already over-bought.

Who am I kidding?  Junkers never "over-buy"!  We "stock up"!

Actually, getting new stuff wasn't that much of an issue yesterday.  It's still early in the season, so they're aren't that ,many good sales yet.  We mainly only went out because there were a couple of good-sounding sales in our neighborhood, plus the most interesting church sale of the year across town.  (More on that tomorrow.)

In other words, there were only a few purchases, and all of them were small.  I'll go ahead and toss a couple of pictures in here, since we don't have a proper Mazda shot.

The "robots from the future" sale was loaded with oddball videos and music and books (yay!), a cute puppy (which was not for sale) and these sweet handmade Christmas ornaments created from magazine pages.  I got about a half dozen of them.

I scored this super-sweet memorial plate for Pope John XXIII at the local senior center sale.  They always have vendors in the parking lot, plus stuff inside that their members donate for the center to sell.  It was very breezy and cool yesterday (although deceptively sunny) and most of the outside vendors did not show.

It's even in the original packaging, complete with price tag, which is very close to the price I paid for it!  One of the center members declared that the center ought to have a "yard sale room" all year round, so folks could drop their stuff off and they could sell it.  I would not object to that.  This place is only a few blocks from the house!

Tomorrow, I'll overload your cuteness circuits!

Meet Babs!

I have a new friend.

Her name is Babs.  She is incredibly helpful.

I'd been wanting a price gun for sometime, when I found her on a super-good clearance price--way less than half-price--at Staples.  I had already been researching them, so I knew the brand was good and that I could find labels in several places at good prices.  Thus, Babs came home with me.

It's a move that makes sense for me.  I move way too much merch to constantly be filling out labels.  She's saved me a bunch of time already.  I can click through a stack of comics in no time!  I do still make tags for certain items--sometimes I feel like I need a description that points out a feature that would explain the price.  I also feel that large items deserve a large, visible price tag.

Nevertheless, Babs is here to stay.  She's now part of the team.  Yay Babs!

By the way, she's named in honor of a real person.  Since that real person is still around, I'll refrain from sharing her story, but it's an apt homage.  Trust me.

Quickie Rambles

Not much happening here at the moment, so just a short rundown. With incomplete sentences, yet.

It's junk set out in my neighborhood.  I've been prowling the alleys and curbs since Friday and dragging home the bounty.  Pics to come.

I have discovered that, if you wander the streets with your head stuck through a big picture frame, people will give you a wide berth.

We've had cold and snow storms for the past couple of days.  Nothing major.  Just an annoyance.  Been staying close to home and drinking hot chocolate.

Booth sales are very good so far this month.  Very strong.  It's too early to count any chickens, but the potential is strong for this month.

I got a new shirt at the Peddlers Mall the other day.

It's wrinkly because it sat in a pile of clothes after coming out of the dryer.

Snazzy, huh? 

Believe it or not, I have always wanted one of these tux t-shirts.  Another vendor found it for me while she was looking through some clothes in a booth.  She showed it to me and said "This looks like something you need."  She was right. 

One of my goals for this year is to replace my aging, tired wardrobe.  I'm off to a good start.

That's all the news from these parts.  What's up in your corner of the world?

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..

Your Chiquito of the Month for November

Happy November, everyone.  I hope that you all survived the ghouls and goblins last night, and that you got lots of goodies.  It's a new month, and that means a new Chiquito pic.  This time there seems to be some tomfoolery afoot.

I don't remember Chiquito being at the wedding, but I was a tad emotional, so maybe I didn't notice.  It would be just like him to hide away in a box like that.  He's got lots of hidey holes and cubbies around the house.  I'm not sure I even know them all.  That worries me sometimes.

This is the next to the last Chiquito of the Month pic.  I hope you've enjoyed your trip through the year with my little rascal.

Retro Y'all!

Blame this one on Lorraine.



You have to imagine this guy performing the song.

Photo "borrowed" from Clamco

Let's just call him "Ethel Mermonster."

Friendly Faces

I spent yesterday cleaning off my desk, because it was something I could do sitting down.  I still have a tote of junk beside it to go through, but I'll do that Saturday.  I've needed to do this, like, forever!

As often happens, I found a bunch of stuff that I had forgotten about:  a few comic books, some booth reports, a bunch of blank price tags, a couple of holy cards, some vintage Christmas cards, and a trio of friends:

Two cute vintage Kokeshi dolls and a Little People airline attendant!

Say hello, everyone!

Hello, everyone!