2010: A Year of Loss Part I: Mom

In March 2009, I had a chance to have a quick visit with Mom.  I was at a work conference not far from her place, so I called her and she came over for a little while.  She wasn't feeling very well.  She looked tired and run down and said she had a sinus infection.

I didn't think anything of it at the time.  It was right after the big ice storm that hit her county so hard, it actually made CNN.  She went without power for a while, and I think we both thought she must have gotten sick then.  Mom was always prone to colds and sinus infections, which always seemed to hit her hard and last longer than they did in other people.  Seeing Mom sick after a hard winter just did not seem to be that unusual.  In retrospect, though, this was something entirely new.  I'm now pretty sure that this was the first manifestations of her cancer, but none of us were thinking in that way yet.

In the summer, she called me and told me she was going into the hospital.  She still wasn't over her illness, so she was going in for an anti-biotic treatment.  They were going to give her some high strength anti-biotics by IV during the day and release her at night to go home.  She'd been scheduled for surgery on her sinuses, and the hope was that the treatment would knock the infection out so they could operate.

Right after this, she called again.   During some testing that they did during the hospital stay, they discovered a grapefruit sized "mass" in her lung.  There wasn't going to be any sinus surgery.  Instead she'd be going for scans and biopsies and such.

In September, I went with her to an oncologist here in Louisville.  She had all her scan results with her and they were going to give her a diagnosis and discuss treatment options.

It wasn't good.  The mass was cancer, but it had grown to the point that surgery wasn't an option.  It had also spread, primarily into her liver.  She was given a prognosis of 4 to 6 months without treatment and 6 to 8 months with treatment.  The initial plan was for her to start a course of radiation and chemotherapy within the next few weeks.  She was going to do the radiation at a hospital closer to her and the chemo in Louisville.

My mother was one of those people that seem to be hyper-sensitive to medication.  All of her life, if there was a side effect from something she was taking, she'd have it, sometimes pretty severely.  The thought of her doing radiation and chemo scared me.  It's rough under the best of conditions.  I was afraid it would be murder on her. 

And it was.  In November, my uncle Larry passed away unexpectedly.  She had started the radiation at that time, and the day of the funeral, she was too weak to attend.  None of us, including her, ever saw that one coming.  I remember sitting in the funeral home, surrounded by family, and realizing that we'd be doing this all again.

By Thanksgiving, she'd been hospitalized.  Between the radiation and the loss of appetite, she'd developed anemia and an infection.  We had planned a family gathering, but that turned into my brother and I bringing her home.  My brother, his wife and I did spend some time cleaning her house and stocking her up on things.  She had been so weak for so long, she was leaving her trash bags on the porch, because she couldn't get across the yard.    My brother and I took 300 pounds of trash to the dump.

She was supposed to be starting the chemo around that time, but the decision was made to finish the radiation and then start the chemo after the holidays to give her a chance to rest.  It was a good decision.  Radiation had taken a toll on her, but chemo would be even worse.

I never could figure out the effects on her appetite in a way that made sense to me.  If she was with me and my brother, she would eat and talk about how good the food was and how much she was eating at one sitting.  If she was at home, she wouldn't eat.

By the end of the chemo, she was emaciated and bald.  She had one lock of hair in the front that didn't fall out.  It was only a few hairs, but she'd always comb them forward so that they would show under whatever hat she was wearing.  She'd always been proud of her hair--managing to create a somewhat civilized, stylized version of a femullet that she rocked right into her late 60's.  When got to the point that I was signing admitting papers and such for her, I'd show them her id so they'd know what she looked like before she got sick.

Unfortunately, for all the nasty effects on her, the chemo didn't seem to faze the cancer.  At the end of the course, the tumors in her lungs were shrinking, but the ones in her liver were not.  Some of them were even growing.  She was too weak at that point to start a stronger chemo, so they were going to give her an oral chemo for her lungs and send her home in the hope that she might be stronger in several weeks.  Privately, the doctor told my brother that she wasn't going to get any stronger and would most likely enter a rapid decline within six weeks.

In May, that decline hit.  We were all working toward getting her moved off the farm and into town during the next to last week in May.  My brother and his wife were to help with the move that week.  Keith and I were going in the weekend before to pack things up.  I was taking off the Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day and staying through the holiday to get them settled.  At least that was the plan.  The reality was a whirlwind of hospital admissions and releases, hospice involvement, and ultimately, her death. It was so fast, none of us knew what was happening until we were in the middle of it.

Keith and I made a surprise visit on Mother's Day, something I am so glad that we did.  She was alert and coherent and able to sit up and visit with us for a bit.  It would be the last time.  Hours after we left, she was rushed to the hospital.  Even though we weren't supposed to come back for two weeks, we decided to go down the next weekend, since there was a lot of packing to do.  It didn't get done.  We had to rush back to the hospital with her.  Her pain and weakness were growing so intense that she couldn't bear them.  She'd go to the hospital, get rehydrated and get new pain meds, stay a couple of days to stabilize and then be released home until the next time.

At was also at this time that she started to become more and more incoherent.  She'd been saying for a while that the morphine was making it hard for her to understand things. When we arrived, she was in a panic about a bill that needed to be paid, but she couldn't remember how to write the check or how to record it in her check register.  I helped her through that, but I was so stunned to be doing that for the woman that taught me how to do a check register when I was sixteen.  Later, when I was looking back through her stuff, I realized that just three or four days earlier she had written a bunch of checks to pay some bills and had done everything perfectly.  Rapid decline, indeed.

My brother spent as much time taking her to the hospital as he did moving her when the time came.  At the end of that week, she was released to her new place, and we were to start making arrangements for hospice.  That all fell through over the weekend.  We weren't able to arrange for any kind of in home care for her, so hospice wouldn't admit her.  Her pain was growing worse and worse, so she was admitted back to the hospital.

Sometime around this point, she snapped back to lucidity for a few hours, but it was a paranoid lucidity.  One of the side effects of morphine is acute paranoia.  The nurses were trying to kill her.  The clock was spying on her.  The last conversations we ever had with her where she wasn't either semi-conscious or mumbling through her pain, and they didn't make any sense.  My brother stayed over night with her and said it never got any better.

During her last hospital stay we got her doctor to approve her release to a nursing home, instead of going back home.  Hospice would step back in with her in the nursing home, because they would be assured of her round the clock care.  By Thursday of that week, she had started her final decline.  The nursing home called me and I started making calls to the family.  I stayed over night with her in the nursing home Thursday night and Friday night.  At about 3 or 4 in the morning, the nurse who came to check up on her and give her meds woke me up to tell me her feet were getting cold.  A few hours later she was gone.  I had been sitting with her and she passed so quietly, I hadn't even noticed.


All of a sudden my brother and I were orphans.  All I could feel at that moment was relief.  She wasn't in pain any more and didn't have to go through that any more.  It was over.  The time for dealing with loss would come later, but at that moment, Mom wasn't stuck in the middle of all that any more.

One of the things I learned from working with AIDS organizations in the 90's is that the disease strikes at one person, but it usually manages to wound a larger group of people--the family and friends of the infected person.  I've never fully experienced that until this roller coaster ride through cancer hell. 

I'm not totally sure that this is that I set out to write when I decided to finally say something about Mom's passing.  I think I really wanted to talk about memories and things.  But this whole experience has been bottled up for so long, that it was starting to all run together in my mind.  I really needed to get the story out first.  I'm not through with this topic, for sure.  I have a feeling that I'll be coming back to it for some time.

But, when I think of 2010, this is what I think of. 

Rolling and Rambling

And junking, of course.

Headed to Unique on Monday for the half off sale.  I was expecting a day of long lines, overly ambitious prices--even at 50% off, the eternal struggle for the ever elusive shopping cart, buying lots of bagged sets, and--just maybe--one super fabulous score.  I was pretty much wrong on all counts, or at least misguided.

At the Portland store, I managed to make due without a cart. I found a large, cheap bag on one of the racks and used it instead.  I did find one item that wouldn't fit, but I managed that by checking out when the bag was full and then going back for it.   It was a little awkward, and my on my second trip I got stuck in line for a while, but it worked out and I avoided the dread shopping cart vulture line.

The large item was a really cool M&M store display rack.  M&M stuff sells pretty well for me, so I have hopes for this one.  They actually had two of them, but the other one was too banged up for me.

The crowd was light, which was a real blessing. The aisles in Portland are so narrow that navigating them when the store is crowded can be nerve-wracking.  My first trip through the check out line was quick ans smooth.  I had a little bit of a time trying to get the check out person to understand that I didn't need a bag because I already had one. 

I didn't find that super score in Portland, but I did get a Louisville Stoneware "Cookies for Santa" plate that will be a sure seller come Christmastime.  Louisville Stoneware is popular here, but hard to find at prices that allow for resale, so this was a nice surprise. 

 

Image taken from Louisville Stoneware site.

At the Preston store, I couldn't find a decent bag on the racks, and I did find a few things that I really couldn't carry easily, which meant I had to do the cart vulture thing.  Honestly, the Preston store is much larger than the Portland store, so I don't understand why they don't have more carts. 

For those of you who have never done it, this is the Unique Thrift shopping cart vulture routine:

1. Find someone waiting in line to check out.
2. Ask them if you can have their cart when they're done.
3. Stand there with them as they wait to check out.  This is a key step. If you don't guard your promised cart, then someone else will get it.
4. Take cart and go on your merry way.

It is extremely awkward, but it is an acceptable part of the social contract at Unique.  So is bringing your own cart, which is something I need to start doing.

Anyway, the Preston store was extremely crowded, so it took a long time to get through.  No real scores, but I did get a Bybee bowl.  They're another awesome local pottery I like to carry when I can find it at a good enough price to resell.  "Always, always, always get local stuff when you can," is one of my primary rules.  It doesn't matter whether it's local crafts or vintage memorabilia, local sells.

As always, one of the most interesting things is the people watching.  In Portland, there was a guy standing in the middle of one of the narrow aisles with a stuffed musical frog.  He was pressing the button to make it play music over and over and over, like it was favorite song or something.  Or else, he'd maybe somehow avoided seeing stuffed animals that play music all of his life until that moment and was extremely fascinated and bewildered by this new phenomenon.

Either way, he was blocking the damn aisle.  After about three rounds of frog music, I finally said "Excuse me," and tried to ease past him.  Would you believe he glared at me like I was interrupting some kind of private, intimate moment?  Dude, buy the damn frog and get a room.  But, first, get the hell out of my way.

One of the real surprises for me was the pricing.  Unique tends to be on the high side, so the only time I can really use them as a source is during the half-off days.  I noticed on Monday, though, that they're starting to swing down a little bit.  I didn't have to rely quite so much on cheap bagged sets to find bargains.  (Which is a good thin, since there weren't that many good bagged sets this time around.)

All in all, it was a fun day.  I got enough stuff to make the trip worthwhile.  Some of it will go in the booth this week.  Some of it will be held for the future.  I got some Valentine's items, which I desperately need, and I've started the stockpiling for Christmas 2011.  It's a never ending cycle.

The title of this post is an allusion to one of my favorite songs, Robin and Linda Williams' tribute to the late. great Hank Williams, "Rolling and Rambling." It's been on my mind a bit, since we just paseed the anniversary of his death.  (If you don't know, he died on New Year's Day.)   So to close out, here's Emmylou's version.  (I tried to find one by Robin and Linda, but couldn't turn up a good video of the two of them doing it.  Just some concert shaky cam jobs.)



Yes, I just turned a post about junking into one about Emmylou.  Anything can be turned into an Emmylou post, especially around here.  You're surprised?

And since one good video queen deserves another, check out Sue's video debut over at her blog.  I'm sorry she didn't make the cut.  I'd rather watch her than those Picker doofuses or that annoying Cash and Cari woman.

This is my favorite Iris Dement song

I do love me some Iris!  She's got one of those unique voices that either draws you in or repels you, but I can't get enough of it.  She's a ball to see live.  She's got a really dry sense of humor that I just love.  Her songwriting is simple, but vivid; the imagery in this song is a good example.  It's just so sweet and endearing.

I can't believe it's been seven years since her last album.  I need me some new Iris!

Looking Forward and Looking Back

It's probably no surprise that I approach the idea of a new year a little differently than the world at large.  It seems like the pattern is supposed to be something like this:

1.  Enter December.
2. Spend most of the month hung up on Christmas
3. Shop, eat, party, repeat
4. Around December 27, notice that the year is almost over
5. Spend a few days looking back over the year that's ending
6. Stay up late to eat and party some more on December 31
7. Dash off a couple of resolutions you have no intention of keeping
8. Carry on as normal

It's like our looking back has to be all wrapped up well before the ball starts dropping and our looking forward is an insincere little ritual.  The reality is, though, that time doesn't settle into little compartments.  The years flow into one another, and the only distinction between them are the arbitrary page breaks on our calendars.  The events from the past year keep on rolling and reverberating into the current one for sometime to come.  We may only want to spend a few days looking back, but life is a continual process of retrospection in order to renew and move forward.  I don't think our little quickie end of the year procedures do it justice.

I'll freely admit that, for me, some of this comes from the fact that I never seem to have my shit together at the end of the year enough to do my processing when everyone else does.  But, I also seem to need more time to really sort through things than other folks do.  Not sure why that is, but I do have a tendency to over-think things to death.  Given that, it takes me a little longer to transition from one year to the next, especially after a year like this last one.

The month of January is named for Janus, the Roman god of doorways.  When you pass through a doorway, you move into a new room, but can still see and access the room you left.  For this reason, Janus is depicted as having two faces, one looking forward and the other looking back.  It's an image that is actually pretty meaningful for me.

If Janus is the symbol for the month, then--to me, at least--the whole month ought to be about looking forward and looking back.  Or, at least, more than just a day or two.  Not that everyone ought to sit around and navel-gaze for four weeks, but somehow, in between the blither and blather of daily life, we ought to spend more time thinking about where we want to go over the next 300-plus days than the few minutes it takes to babble out a standard resolution about losing weight or stopping smoking.

When I journaled, it was usually somewhere around the fifteenth or the twentieth of January before I felt ready to approach the topic of the new year, particularly when it came to goals and ambitions.  I've not really dealt with the topic much in the blog, because by the time I'm ready to do it, everyone else has moved on to other things.

But the 2010-2011 transfer is different for me.  I've never had a year like this last one and it's still echoing through my life.  I need to bring some sort of closure to it--no matter how limited--for my own sake.  I also need to throw out ll these dreams and ideas I have for the upcoming months, just to get them out of my head.  If I don't write them down somewhere, then I don't have any way of checking back later to see how well I did with them.

So, next week is going to be about finally starting to lay the ghosts of 2010 to rest.  I think there'll be about three or four posts worth of stuff for that.  After that, I'm going to finish inviting the new spirits of 2011 in with another couple of posts about my hopes for this year.

C'mon Janus, let's get this party started.  Happy 2011, y'all.

Things Only Dolly Parton Can Do

Turn "House of the Rising Sun" into a raging campfest without totally ruining the song:



(First in a series)

And this is the first Emmylou post of 2001!

Just in case you haven't been paying attention, this is my favorite Emmylou Harris song:



I always love seeing her perform when she twirls and dances with her guitar! Thanks to the wonders of the YouTube, I've probably watched dozens of Emmylou videos, and it seems to me that she always seems so happy when she's performing with the Nash Ramblers, the band in this video. I know she's the kind of performer who gives it all every time she comes out on stage, but the energy with this particular combo always strikes me as kind of special.

Check out this video for another example of what I'm talking about. And dig her cowgirl hat while you're at it! I guess it's easy to be upbeat with a great band and a great song, not to mention Sam Bush rocking back and forth with his mandolin. Although I am a little worried that he could put out an eye when he swings his fiddle bow around like he does in the "Louisiana" vid!

This is the First Go-Go's Post of 2011!

Just in case anyone was wondering, this is my favorite Go-Go's song:



It's off their Vacation lp.  The album version had a fun sax solo in place of the guitar solo. When I first came out, I did what a lot of young newly emancipated gay men did and fell madly in love with the first man I went out with.  I used to play this song for hours and daydream.  I was totally puppy-loved out.

The relationship didn't work out, of course.  He was too hung up on an ex to even be aware of how I was feeling.  It took me a while to figure it out, but by the end of the year, we were pretty much over.  Still, every time I hear this song, I think of being young and goofy, in that way that only someone totally hung up on the wrong person can be.

I also remember what a huge thing it was for me to have a crush on another guy and be honest with myself about it.  There's an indescribable feeling that comes when you finally say "This is who I am and it's okay."  The whole world seems different--sometimes better, sometimes scarier--but definitely new.  Learning not to be afraid of yourself is the greatest gift you can give yourself.

It's twenty-plus years on now.  I don't think the young giddy me could ever imagine being in a long-term relationship, having a mortgage, being so settled.  The old, settled me sometimes has a hard time believing that other me ever existed.  But this one song takes me right back every time.  And I realize that if it weren't for young, gay, foolish, falling for the wrong guy Eddie, then there wouldn't be long-term, settled Eddie.  What a long, strange trip it's been.

Another reason I like this one so much is because it's one of the few Go-Go's songs that takes advantage of Jane as more than a back-up singer.  I always wished they had capitalized on her singing more as part of the band.  This song, I think, shows what a missed opportunity it was.

Isn't Belinda so cute in the video?  I love that dress and her beauty mark phase!

One Ass Thoroughly Kicked!

Well, so much for good intentions, I guess.

Last week got eaten by the booth.  In a good way, mind you, but it didn't leave any time for anything else.  What I thought would be a two day job turned into three and a half, but it was worth the work.  The place looks great!  The Christmas stuff is gone away to storage until next year, except for a few vintage items, which will stay in the booth.  Vintage Christmas sells year-round, so I like to have a few things out at all times.  It might be the thing that draws someone into the booth.

All the shelves are cleaned and dusted, not to mention totally restocked.  I had good months in November and December, selling lots of holiday items and a bunch of other stuff as well.  Once the holiday stuff was stowed away, the shelves were almost bare!  It was shocking.  Now the booth is probably 3/4 "new" stuff.  I'm already getting deep into my winter stock, which is a good thing.  Stuff is leaving the house and heading to the booth where it should be.

I rearranged my main booth, shifting a table and shelf unit to make better use of my peg board wall.  I shifted all my religious items to my wall space to draw attention to them.  I'm wanting to phase out of glass stuff, or at least cut back on it, so it went on the shelf unit that used to have the religious stuff.

I shifted a couple of small pieces of furniture out to make them more visible.  I've gotten too comfortable using them to display items instead of trying to display them so they'll sell.  Now they're a bit more prominent and don't look like just a part of the booth furniture. 

I bought a couple of new shelf units from another dealer.  They're old store displays and really sturdy.  By shifting thing around in my main and my media booths, I was able to fit them in without making it look cluttered.  In fact, there is actually more floor space in both booths now.

Finally, I created two clearance areas.  In the main booth, when an item was a slow-seller, I would it to a bottom shelf.  This would free up the "prime" real estate for newer items, but still leave the other items accessible.  Every week, one or two things off the bottom shelves would sell, so I think it was worth keeping them around.  Still, those shelves were getting pretty crowded.

I've dedicated one whole shelf unit to clearance now, with items marked down to move out.  A few bottom shelf items got worked back into the regular stock, just to give them another chance.

Last summer, I made a great bulk buy of computer books and Spanish instructional tapes from the school systems adult education department.  They've been steady sellers.  I've made my money back three times over on them.  But despite selling tons of them, there's still a lot left and I'm kind of tired of looking at them.  I made a clearance table for them as well, and they are flying out the door!

It was a lot of work, but a new year calls for a new booth, right?  It jump-started my sales right out of their post-holiday lull, which is a good thing.  Winter weather can wreak havoc with sales, so every little boost I can create is a good one.  They're calling for three inches of snow today.  I'm hoping it won't derail the sales train too badly.

Or at least not as badly as the booth derailed the blog last week.

First Post of 2011!

I'm baaaaaaack!  Didja miss me?

This damn cold is finally going away and I'm starting to feel kind of normal again, so it's time to get going.  After all, it's a new year!

I've spent most of the last few days in bed, but did manage to get out to the New Year's Flea Market Spectacular.  There are a couple of regular dealers there where I get supplies for my booth, and I needed a few things. Beyond that, I've been going to the Flea Market since I was in college, especially the New Year's show.  I had a couple of moments where I thought I wasn't going to make it all the way through, which would have been a historical second.*  I was pretty wiped at the end of the day, though.

It wasn't too bad as flea markets go.  It seems that there are fewer dudes selling socks and seen on TV items these days and more selling second-hand items at decent prices these days.  Maybe it's the economy.  Anyway, I did find some good stuff, and didn't spend too much at all.  In fact, my booth supplies actually cost more than the other items I got.

Prize of the day was most likely a couple of packets of vintage religious pamphlets and pics.  They were selling for 50 cents an item, but I asked about a bulk price for both packets.  Kind of freaked out the guy selling them, so he had to get his wife.  They always have to get their wives.  I think most of the guys are just along for the ride or something.

Anyway, she counted everything out, then came up with a total based on 25 cents per item, instead of 50.  Then, she knocked four bucks off that, so I got both packets for eight bucks.  Pretty good, since her count came up about 10 or 15 less than mine to begin with.  (Sorry no pics.  I cannot for the life of me find my camera right now.)

I was a little disappointed in the antique wing this time around.  They only have the antique wing a couple times a year any more, and I always look forward to it.  If nothing else, it's a good chance to do some research (also known as drooling over cool shit). 

The past few times, though, there were a lot of dealers with really good stuff (not junk) selling everything for a buck an item.  I figure it was probably a sign of the economy, especially since antiques are luxury items.  For whatever reason, it was a good source for affordable quality merchandise, even if it only came around twice a year.

Well, I guess the economy really is turning around, because a lot of those dealers are easing out of the dollar table business.  It's the same stuff, mind you, but now they're charging regular antique retail for it.  There were still a couple of the bargain folks there, so I did get a few items, but it wasn't nearly the picking field it had been.

Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

I'm moving into my slow down phase as far as acquiring stuff for the booth goes.  It's winter, and there are fewer buying opportunities, so I stockpiled stuff through the summer to prepare for the lean months.  Now it's time to work through the stockpile.  I probably held back a bit too much, because the house is sort of over-run with tubs of merch!  It's time to get the stuff hauled out and sold.

It's probably going to be a two-day booth run this week.  One day to get all the Christmas packed up, things rearranged, and a bunch of stuff marked for clearance, and the second day to cram it full of new stuff.  I set a record in December, and want to keep building on it.

As far as the blog goes, I think I'm going to spend this week looking back on 2010 one last time.  It wasn't pretty, but I survived.  Then, we'll look ahead into what I hope 2011 will be.  After that, I want to look at some of the junking TV shows that are sprouting up like weeds, and then review the latest bestseller.  Who knows?  There might even be a video or two along the way.

Welcome aboard!  2011 is just getting started.

*When I was in college, my father and I went to the New Year's Flea Market one year when I had the flu.  I lasted about two aisles and had to throw in the towel.  My dad talked about it for months.  In fact, the whole family talked about it for months.  Apparently, my leaving a flea market early for an reason was considered unthinkable to that point.

Last Post of 2010

Been kinda sick these past couple of days, but did want to get one more post out before the old year passes and 2011 toddles on to the scene.  I'll be heading back to NyQuil land right after I finish this.

So anyway, Happy New Year to all and Best Wishes for 2011 and all that sort of stuff. 

I'll be back on Monday with some regular posts again, including some thoughts on the year just ended and on what's coming up.

Take care!

Christmas Wrap-Up!

Life, as they say, is what happens while you are making other plans. I ended up being unexpectedly off the grid for the past couple of days with only one post scheduled. I had my other end of the holiday season posts in various stages of completion and no vintage cards ready to roll, so I was caught a little off guard. Please accept my apologies.

I'll finish up the holiday posts and store them away for next year. Never hurts to have a backlog. I'm planning on going dark for a couple of days to kind of recover from the holidays and get some posts scheduled. I'll be back before the end of the year.

Since the day has arrived, and I'm left with a few extra vintage cards, here is my Christmas gift to you, my three or four readers: The Parade of Vintage!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!  See you in a few.

Go-Go Ho-Ho's!

Crappy quality, but it's the thought that counts.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

Pondering, updates, and linkages

Just a bunch of sheer randomness.  Trying to get a bunch of stuff done right now, so I apologize for the extreme stream of consciousness ramble.  Onward!

Cold weather moved in with a vengeance last week.  Snow, ice, and wind.  I can deal with everything but the ice.  Everything has been slicked over like a skating rink.  The effect is beautiful when you're looking at blades of ice-encrusted glass poking up through the snow.  Not so much when your stuck in the middle of a damn sidewalk trying not to fall on your fat ass.

Seriously, it's like we're having January four weeks early.  What's up with that?  More is on the way for Xmas.

When the storm moved in, I had a one day sales dip, but it bounced right back.  I'm over 600 at the moment.  Not sure how much higher they'll go, as I'm expecting a slow down this week.  I'd like to clear four hundred this month, which would be my new record. 

I'm holding up on re-stocking right now, hoping that the last of the holiday stuff will ride out the month okay.  Otherwise, I'm shifting things around to fill holes on shelves.  Sometimes, all an item needs is a new location  in the booth to sell.

I'm planning on calling a moratorium on merch purchases at the end of the month, after I get through the post-Xmas clearance period.  I've got about 8 large Rubbermaid tubs of stuff stashed all over the house, which should give me enough to last the winter.

Early next month, I'm sweeping through, pulling some items, marking down a bunch more, making a clearance table and completely re-stocking with fresh stuff for the new year.  I'm ending 2010 on a roll, so I need to blow into 2011 with a bang.

I had a moment of panic a couple of days ago when I couldn't remember all Santa's reindeer.  I was forgetting Dasher.  Why does Santa have a reindeer named Vixen, by the way??

I've come to realize that I could watch the Powerpuff Girls Christmas Special, "Twas the Fight Before Christmas" over and over every year and not grow tired of it.  And I'm not ashamed to admit it either!

Enough of that, how about some links?

Queen of Fifty Cents has put a new video up.  This time it's all the pets she has met while out saling this year.

Why has this not been done? Link courtesy of VRS.

Well, I gotta scoot.  More later.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

I like the 3-D look to this one and also the kind of handcrafted feel it has.  There were six or eight of this one in the box, complete with envelopes.  It was the largest matched set of cards.

On the Third Tuesday in December, Eddie-torial Comments Gave to Me...

Patty Griffin and Natalie Maines singing "Mary."



I'm not overly fond of Natalie Maines (although they do sound nice together), but all the versions I could find of this with Emmylou had crappy, shakey video.  I knew I wanted to use this one this month for sure.  After all, according to the stories, Mary was there, right?  So it seems kind of fitting.

Happy holidays, folks!

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

We're getting close now! Only a few more (days and cards) left! So much still to do! Hope you've enjoyed this little project as much as I have.

This is actually a much more modern image than the others, but I had to include it because it's so, well, flat-out creepy! Seriously, a demented looking child staring through a window? Whose ides of Christmas cheer is that? Stephen King?

Possible captions for the inside:

Merry Christmas from the Children of the Corn!

If you're naughty, Santa will let him loose in your living room.

This year, remember that creepy soul-stealing children need love too.

That's not Jack Frost nipping at your nose.

Crazed dementia is just another way of saying "Holiday Spirit."

Season's Greetings from your local exorcist.

Don't forget to lock your doors and windows on Christmas Eve! No telling what you might find under your tree if you don't.

Okay, that's enough of that. I have gifts to wrap. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section.

Vintage Vantage

I was going through some comics that I recently bought last night, bagging and pricing them when it dawned on me how many of them I bought when I was in high school.  Then I realized that they were thirty years old!  Ack!

Seriously, if you follow the rule that says that something has to be at least 25 years old to be considered "vintage."  Then comics from 1982 (the year I graduated high school*) are now vintage!  When did that happen?  It's hard for me to think of items that came with UPC bar codes on them as "vintage."  That word conjures up images of the 70's at least, and then on back from that.  The 80's?  No frigging way!

 Honestly, this is a vintage comic?  Really?

Nevertheless, 1980 was thirty years ago!  Hell, 1990 was twenty!  In five more years will we call stuff from the 90's "vintage"?  Yeesh!  We need a new term for more modern items that are aging.  In fact, we need a whole new scale for classifying these things.  I suggest:

1980's-90's: classic
1940's-70's: vintage
pre-1940:  antique

"Classic" conjures up the same kinds of sweet nostalgic memories that "vintage" does, but without the same connotations of "really old and worthwhile."  I like it.  Now to get everyone to start using it.

*That means my high school diploma is vintage! Does that make me vintage too? I don't wanna be vintage! Make it stop!

Marvel Two in One cover courtesy of GCD.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

Another religious one, this time more sweet than devotional. This one also came from a religious order.

Always Remember!

Robots need love, too!



Won't you show some robot love this holiday season? You'll be glad you did.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

Felt like it was time for another religious themed card.  This one is super fab. It came from a religious order, probably with a fund-raising appeal.  Yep.  It's a vintage fund-raising incentive/freebie.  I guess charities have been sending out those card sets for decades.  Wonder if this one also came with address labels?

I think vintage religious graphics are my favorite vintage graphics of all.  One of these days I'll scan some of my holy card collection.

We has a seecret!

Ther'z more uv us!



Secret Kitten! brought to you by Prank Videos

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

What more needs to be said?

So, how did it go?

Last weekend, the mall where I have my booth had its Holiday Open House.  As a part of the event, vendors were encouraged to be on hand in their booths to make deals.  I'd never done that for one of their special events before, but I had heard dealers who did were making over a hundred in sales, so I decided to try.

Friday, I loaded up the last of my Christmas merch, plus a few other items, including a bunch of books,  and headed to the booth to get ready for the booth.  I spent a few hours there rearranging some things, filling in holes, straightening up, etc.

As I was getting ready to leave, a customer was in my book booth, filling up her cart with all kinds of things.  I talked with her for a little while, and she got some things from my other booth too.   It was an hour or so until closing time, but I was done, so I left.

Based on what she had placed in her cart, I was potentially in for a really good day, sales-wise.  However, I've been around long enough to realize that it can go in someone's cart, but it's not a sale until it's been paid for.  I've seen  plenty of people load up on stuff, only to leave most of it on the returns table.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I got my sales report for the day in my email that evening.  Not only had she bought everything she picked up, but her purchases pushed me way over 100 dollars for the day!  That's a new daily record for me!  It's kind of ironic that I was prepping the booth to try and make the next day into a hundred dollar day on the day that I had my first hundred dollar day,  but that's business, I guess.

Saturday morning, I went to a couple of indoor sales, bought a few things, then headed to the booth.  Since some of the stuff I had intended to have for the open house had already sold, I brought in some of the stuff I had just picked up to fill in the holes.  It had actually been a good morning for second-hand shopping.  We stumbled on a church rummage sale that had not been advertised, which was full of stuff.  A lot of it was priced at ten cents, ti boot.  It was like early Christmas!

I had been a little worried about just hanging around in my space and either looking too dorky for folks to approach or else scaring off customers who just wanted to browse.  I'm one of those shoppers who doesn't like to be disturbed when I'm browsing around.  Store attendants, sellers, vendors, etc. who come on too strong with conversation turn me off and make me less inclined to buy.  I have a feeling that I'm not alone in felling this way.  Plus, an 8x11 booth is just not large enough for me to hang out in and also have others come in!  I take up a lot of space these days.

I purchased a couple of bar stools at a sale the week before, so I would have a place to sit.  (One of the lessons of this experience is that I don't have a body built for perching on a bar stool for long periods of time.)  There's an empty booth across the way from me, so I put my stool there.

For the first hour or so, I had the stuff I brought in to price and put out, so that gave me something to do.  After that, I perched on my stool and read a book.  If someone approached who was more outgoing, I'd strike up a conversation with them.  If they seemed more reserved, I'd just let them shop in peace.

A few items have been taking up space in my booths for a long time, and those were the ones I was determined to see go during the open house.  I ended up moving a few of them out.  Any time someone expressed any sort of interest in those objects, I swooped in with a deal at the ready.  And away the object would go.

A gentleman bought a truck from me that I had just bought that morning.  Turns out the name on the truck was for a Louisville-based food distributor that went out of business in the 80's.  He had worked on the railroads and used to load stuff from their trucks to the railroad cars.  Pretty cool.  He was psyched to find it.  I was psyched to sell it.  I ended up selling about half of the new items I brought in that morning!

I had at least three cart-fillers pass through, but it seems like they also bought the stuff they picked up.  I had very few returns to deal with.  Whenever I got too stiff from sitting on the stool, I made the rounds to my booths and straightened things up.  Then I'd go chat up the cashiers and check for returns.  A couple of times, I just wandered around the place to stretch my legs.  I ended up finding a book to buy that way!

Things really started getting fun when Santa showed up.  He was set up in a space right behind the one I put my stool in.  A couple of times, he let go with a hearty "Ho Ho Ho!" and kids who were in the aisle where I was would look at me like I had done it!

I nearly had an anxiety attack waiting for the sales email that evening.  I left when the open house ended at six, but the mall didn't close until eight.  The sales emails don't come until after nine.  I've not been that anxious for a report to come since the early days of the booth, but it was worth the wait.

Two days in a row over a hundred.  Who would've thought?  If the cold weather that's moved in doesn't stifle things, I'm set up to have a really good December.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

The square shape for this one marks it as a part of the same original card set as yesterday's card, I think.  So does the odd color scheme.  This one has the more traditional colors, but in an impressionistic kind of painting style.

Interesting.

I hate it when that happens!

I was in a thrift the other day and they were playing some country station over the intercom.  All of a sudden one of those songs comes on that never fails to get stuck in my head for days.  As is typical for earworms, what actually gets stuck with me is one particular phrase, playing over and over and over again, never progressing because I actually don't know the rest of the damn song!

So, of course, I have to head to YouTube to try and find it and break the spell.  And I did:



But now, I have to wonder how badly I've screwed with my YouTube recommendations.  I mean, I listened to the Judds, for god's sake!  Will the denizens of YouTube now try to entice me to...what...check out....oh my god...Clint Black?  Garth Brooks?  Or worse?  Billy Ray Cyrus?

What's going to happen to my cool alt-countrystreet cred when this gets out?

Sigh!

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

 

I love this one for two reasons.  First off, it's just plain fun!  Almost whimsical, in fact.  Secondly, the color scheme just fascinates me.  You don't often see a lot of Christmas cards with such muted colors, even down into brownish tones.  

Oh yeah, and it's got this fun square shape, too.  There weren't a lot of envelopes with this batch of cards, and what were there were kind of hard to match up with the right cards.  It was pretty clear to me, though, which one went with this card.  

It was square.  And it was brown.

And then there was the time Olivia Newton-John, ABBA, and Andy Gibb sang a bunch of their songs together

Some thoughts:

As crazy as I was for both Olivia and ABBA when I was in high school, I'm sure I must have seen this when it was on TV. I have absolutely no recollection of it, though. The whole things just screams to be released on DVD! Whatever happened to variety shows and specials?

You know the women in ABBA were just burning with jealousy that Bjorn had kickier boots than they did!

I don't remember Andy Gibb being quite so good looking as he is here. Wonder how he would have held up over the years had he lived?

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

 

Not quite so overtly religious this time, but it's got a quiet serenity to it I think.  Reminds me a little of the legend of the animals at Christmas time.

And, it's got that sweet kind of cuteness that vintage cards seem to have.  It's like another Rankin-Bass cartoon scene that you never saw before, but should have.

On the Second Tuesday in December, Eddie-torial Comments Gave to Me:

Emmylou Harris singing "Red Dirt Girl."



Okay, I know it's a sad, tragic tale, and not very holiday-appropriate, but when I saw the holiday decor on the set where she's singing, I couldn't resist. That's Patty Griffin singing with her.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

It's the first religious card from this batch.  Aren't the little angels sweet?

Now this is cute!

Claymation-ish Go Go's?  I'm there!




I've always felt that the Go Go's were one of those bands where every cut on an album, whether or not it was released as a single, would latch itself in your brain and not let go.  I constantly find myself humming some of the lesser known tunes.  It wasn't all just "We Got the Beat!"  But it was all equally great.

It's interesting to me as I watch Go Go's vids these days to see exactly how strongly they perceived of themselves as a unit, a band.  Everyone gets equal spotlight in the videos (even the concert clips).  It's not Belinda nad her back up band.  It's the Go Go's.  Pure and simple.  Yet, the "Belinda and band" image is the one that snuck into the popular conciousness.  Wonder how that happened?

I know part of it comes from the fact that Belinda had a much more popular solo career in the US for a while (even though Jane's solo LP's were actually better).  And we're very used to seeing lead singers go off and have solo careers.  But that image was around before they broke up.  Even in their heyday, there were people who thought of them in terms of Belinda and her band.

Anyway, wasn't Gina Schock just the best drummer for a rock group, pretty much ever?  Listen to that drum track.  Hell, listen to any Go Go's track.  It's the drums that grab you and don't let you go long before anything else sinks in.  We got the beat, indeed.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

  

This is one of my favorites of the whole batch.  I love the idea of Santa setting his clocks--and look how many he has!--so he won't miss Christmas.  It's a non-traditional look at the jolly old elf, but there's a touch of retro-whimsy to it as well.  It's like a scene from one of those Rankin-Bass holiday classics.

Fun Finds: Modeling from the Inside Out

I found these at a thrift a while back. I was never into modeling as a kid. I think it was because cars and trucks and planes and the like just didn't interest me that much. I did have a Robin model, but that was it. And I never painted him. I just put it together. Not my thing.

I think I would have gotten into these, however. I always loved it when we got to the part in science class that covered the parts of the body. There was a time when I could still name all the bones in the body. Now I just refer to them as the ones that hurt most of the time and the ones that hurt all of the time. The non-nom-nom and non-shopping parts of getting older really suck.

Anyway, I flipped out when I found these and had to get them. How cool are they? I mean, really, build your own ear! Who wouldn't love that?

I just wish the rest of the body had been there too. I'd love to have a spleen model.

Speaking of that old Robin model, here's what someone with a lot more time, money, equipment, drive, desire, interest, etc, did with it:



Kind of cool, in a nerdy sort of way.  Just the way I like it.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

Today is the holiday open house at our mall.  They're going to have free cookies for the kids, plus food and drinks for sale.  Santa's going to come as well.  I'm going in to work in my booth, meet customers and make deals with them on certain items. 

They do these events once a quarter, and I've heard vendors who work those days report sales in excess of a hundred bucks.  I've not done one yet, mainly because my prices are pretty fantastic already, but I'm going to give it a whirl this time.  I'd like to have a killer December (which I'm already on the way to doing) and I've got a few items that have worn out their welcome and need to go.  I'm not totally sure how to direct people's attention to those items, but I'll figure that out once I get there.

I'll let you know how it goes.  In the meantime, here's today's card, to get us all in the spirit.  If all this holly and greenery can't do it, then nothing will.

Let us proclaim the Litany of Saints!

A little while ago, I hit the jackpot at my favorite thrift, which is my favorite partly because it's run by a Catholic organization, which makes scores like this a little more likely than at other thrifts.  I was shopping at this place before I was a re-seller, back when all I was looking to do was expand my own collection of saints.

Anyway, I turned a corner, looked towards a set of shelf, when something golden caught my eye.  Could it be?  Yes!  It was!

St Therese of Lisieux,

Pray for us!

And she had friends, all equally glittery and golden.  You can see the whole gang after the jump.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

I love the colors on this one.  So Christmassy.  So vintage-y.  Ahhhh!

I guess Santa's going to bring him everything he wants this year!

After all, he is a good boy!

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

This is one of my faves from the batch of cards.  I've never seen a Christmas anything with Zodiac signs on it before.  Fascinating.

Speaking of vintage Christmas, nobody I know loves the stuff as much as monkeybox does.  In fact, she's devoted a whole new blog to it.  She's looking for other contributors to join in and share their own vintage Christmas collections too.  Check it out.

Also, My Vintage Soul shares a story prompted by a recent find.  I think every junker at some time or another wonders about the people who previously owned one of their finds.  I always love finding little notes and things in books that give a glimpse into the past.  It kind of personalizes the whole re-selling thing a little bit.

Eddie's Attic: The Evolution

It has occurred to me that I have not done any update posts devoted to the booth itself since my original booth post last year.  I've posted about stuff I've found for the booth, but not the booth itself.  So, on the verge of my year and a half anniversary (is there such a thing?), I feel like I probably should.

Go take a good look at last year's post linked above.  We'll wait until you get through.

Now, hop the jump and take a look at some of these pics.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day!

I just love long, skinny vintage holiday cards!  Don't you?

It Rained. It Snowed. We Came. We Glowed.

So, about last Saturday...

It was cold and windy all day long, and most of the time it either rained or snowed,  Everything was wet and slushy and just icky.  But we went anyway, because it was Bardstown Road Aglow, dude!  You gotta go!

The weather definitely kept the crowds down, which was a bummer for the stores, but not for us, since we could walk around in a lot of the smaller shops without much problem, for once.  So I spent a lot of time in some places that I usually avoid because of the crowds and came away with the eternal question on my mind:

"How many trendy, vintage boutiques can one part of town support?"

I'm all for small, local business.  I'm all for people following their dreams.  But, seriously, there are a half dozen of these shops in a five or six block area.  Sometimes, one will open, close after sic or eight months and be followed by another one.

I may be down on these stores in general because they're also the kind of places that take affordable vintage out of the secondhand market, which makes it harder for guys like me, who want to find it at affordable prices and sell it at equally affordable prices, to find good stuff at decent prices.

We got some amazing hot spiced chai at a tea shop we went in.  The owner told us they were thinking on closing soon, so we could have a cup for free to help empty the pot.  They had been selling it earlier.

Sometime in the past year, the messiest, most cluttered used bookstore in town apparently started to give a damn.  The place was not only clean, but everything was on clearly labeled shelves and easy to find.  I thought I had entered the Twilight Zone or something.  They still need to vacuum, though.

I went in one store and all the staff were seated around a table playing games.  No one even bothered to look up or acknowledge my presence in any whay whatsoever.  I admit that I'm not the kind of shopper who likes a hovering attendant shadowing his every move, but it is at least nice to be recognized as a human being.  I'm needing some supplies for the booth that I was hoping to get there.  I didn't see what I needed out, and there was no one at the register to ask because everyone was playing.  I left without asking anyone because I didn't think it would do any good based on what I saw.  The store?  it was a comic shop.  Of course.

Passed someone heading down the street to go in and overheard them say "It'll be just like" another local shop (the one I have frequented most regularly in the past).  I looked at Keith and said "No.  At that shop they actually have staff that are there to help you."

We didn't see much street entertainment, but we did hear the bagpipers behind us.  I guess the weather had something to do with that.  We also saw some kind of a firebreather person too.  At first I thought it was one of those outdoor space heaters exploding.

As usual, we saw the Eye of God.  It was kind of odd this year.  A friend of ours who went to this church passed away a few weeks ago.  There's been a lot of loss in 2010.  I'm totally ready for it to stop.

At one point, there were a group of kids running and playing through some of the snow that had accumulated during the day.  There was a group of adults following, and one of the women yelled to the kids:   "Remember what I told you about your feet.  When they get wet, they get cold.  And they'll never be warm again!"  Let me repeat that:  "They'll never be warm again!"  That's a little harsh, don't you think?

Because of the weather, we didn't do as much of the whole road this year, as in the past, but I did make it into the one of the few true used bookstores left in this town.  There used to be three in this one block, but one's been gone a while now.  The other one is the aforementioned messy one.  This one always has a great sale during December, so I try to go during Aglow and at least one more time throughout the month.

For the past five or six years, I've looked at a hardback collection of the Barbarella comic strip and put it back on the shelf.  Each year, I've said "This will be the year I will buy it."  And each year, I've gotten other things instead.  This year?  It was gone.  Ah well, I couldn't have afforded it now anyway.

Our big dilemma of the night was eating.  Our tradition has been to eat at a certain place before the event started, and then set off from there.  It made sense, as the restaurant was toward one end of the street and we could work our way down from there.  The placed burned out several months ago and moved down the road to a spot more in the middle of our route.  So we started out before eating, but when we got there, we didn't want to interrupt the flow and stop.  But, when we got to the end we didn't want to backtrack.  We're going to have to rethink this part of the equation.

Probably the best part of the night was stopping at Kizito Cookies.  Now, everyone in town knows the Cookie Lady and everyone loves her cookies.  She's an institution.  But, until last night, I had never had one fresh and warm out of the oven.  Omigod!  Imagine the best homemade chocolate chip cookie you've ever had, all warm and gooey and fresh-baked.  Now multiply that by about 300.  That might come close to what we had.  Maybe.

It wasn't the busiest Bardstown Road Aglow we've been too, but it was certainly fun.  And we're glad we went, freezing weather and all.

Your Vintage Christmas Card of the Day

I bought a huge box of Xmas cards at a thrift during my birthday thrifting expedition.  Only cost a buck.  Got home and started going through them and realized that all but a handful are vintage.

I love vintage graphics, so I pulled my faves to share her on the blog.  Look for a new one every day (as long as i remember to do it) until Christmas.

Special thanks to my friend Rick for assistance with the scans.

We'll start off with this cute little holly tree.

On the first Tuesday in December, Eddie-torial Comments gave to me...

Nanci Griffith singing "Fist City" with Loretta Lynn at the Grand Ole Opry! Don't get much better than that, particularly for Nanci! Can you imagine getting to perform at the quintessential country venue with one of your absolute idols?

Why, it'd be like Christmas!




Be sure to keep checking back. I've found some really special holiday treats this year!

And years from now, they'll all be in therapy talking about it...

Scary Gourd Santa Says:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Doesn't this thing just scream "Happy Holidays?"  

Okay, maybe not.

One of the things I have to live with as a dealer is carrying things that don't personally appeal to me.  I remember the frustration of not finding books I wanted to read in a comic shop because the owner didn't like them and didn't want to carry them.  Which, in the end, meant he lost the money he could have made from selling them to me.  It's a problem which still plagues the comics market--shop owners making their shops in their own image and driving away potential customers who have different tastes.

I don't want to do that with the booth.  While I try really hard to have a space that's distinct from the others around me, I don't want to be so tunnel-visioned that I pass up potential sales.  Even if it means carrying painted gourd Santas.  It's not something that I would buy or decorate my home with, but there are those who like that sort of thing.  And it will look good in my growing Christmas section.

I do like having a space that's somewhat different from others--one that reflects who I am as a seller.  I also like seeing that my instincts are right when I pick something for the booth.  I have some practical considerations--no clothing--and a few taste-driven ones--no unicorns.  And I never want to have so many things out that I bought just  because I knew they'd sell that I  overwhelm the character of my space, since it does have some fans who come by looking for things they know I have that no one else in my mall carries.  In the end, it's a careful balancing act, but one that you have to play to be a successful seller.

We'll see how gourd Santa works for me.

So, why do I call him "Scary Gourd Santa?"   Take a good look at his face:

Seriously, what's up with those eyes?  They look like he's wearing biker shades or something.  Not like any Santa I've ever seen before.  Kind of creepy, if you ask me.

Doesn't that make you want to come down and get him?  Look deep into his eyes.

SCARY GOURD SANTA SAYS:

"COME BUY ME!!!"

It's time to glow!

One of my favorite events of the year is tonight:  Bardstown Road Aglow.  Many of the stores in the Bardstown Road business corridor stay open later, hold open houses, have free goodies, run specials, and sponsor entertainment.

It's a fun thing to do, even if you don't spend a lot of money, which I certainly don't have this year! The entertainers are fun.  There's always at least one Santa wandering around.  Several of the people who come out to shop and browse will also show up in costumes, which adds to the excitement.  There maybe a choir on one corner and a group of babpipers on the next one.

Of course, the goodies are always good too.  Plus, at a highly commercialized time of the year, it brings a focus to a part of twon that is home to a lot of small, locally-owned businesses, many with eclectic themes or unique niches.  The sluggish economy hits these kinds of places especially hard and they need the holiday dollars more than the big boxes.  There are too many empty storefronts in the area, so we need to remembers that this part of town can glow all year round if we support it.

And, since another holiday season kicked off this week, here's Hasidic rapper Matisyahu--dude's been around six or seven years now and it still seems like a contradiction in terms to say "Hasidic rapper"--with his recommend YouTube playlist for Hanukkah.  (Be sure to check out the new video for his own Hanukkah song--it's awesome!)



No, this one isn't on the list.

And we wonder why they consider us backward!

Kentucky's governor has given the rest of the world yet another reason to make fun of Kentucky.

It was bad enough the year (2004) the state legislature couldn't get its act together long enough to pass a budget, but could see to it that an anti-gay marriage amendment to the state constitution made it on the ballot.

And then, last month, the people of this state decided that this guy was the one they wanted to represent them in the Senate.

Now this.  Honestly, we've already got one of those crackpot museums in the state already, do we need to build another one using state tax incentives?

Geez....

The Circle of Junk

Vintage Rescue Squad had a post the other day that reminded me of a conversation I had with my uncle last year.  He's also a re-seller (sounds better than saying that he's a dealer), but at a much higher level than me.  For me, it's a hobby; for him, an income source.  He sells at flea markets, live auctions, and a booth in a vendor mall, plus eBay.  And his stuff ranges from the antiquey to the junky depending on the venue.  I've gone with him a few times to pick up what he refers to as "junk" to round out his load for the auction house.  By junk, he means perfectly usable, ordinary objects with a lot of use/life left in them, not the piles of broken down crap that the term conjures up.  There's nothing special about any of it, but it will sell for him and that's what matters.

Many of us re-sellers refer to ourselves as "junk dealers" in equal parts deprecation and endearment, but the reality is, even a penny ante guy like me wouldn't be caught dead actually selling real junk.  It's especially cute when someone like VRS, who deals in serious antiques, talks about "junk" and "junking."  You can tell by the pics of her stuff that her "junk" outclasses mine by the proverbial country mile.  (And check out the awesome display of religious statuary in the post I've linked to.  Makes me weak in the knees, truly.)

Anyway, when she writes in this post about buying things from dealers in other locales to sell at her booth, and vice versa, it reminded me of my uncle's theory, which he calls "The Circle of Junk."

It goes kind of like this:

1.  I buy something at a yard sale for 25 cents and put it my booth marked 50 cents.

2.  Someone comes along and buys it for 50 cents and puts it on sale in their establishment for a dollar.

3.  Someone else buys it for a dollar and puts it on sale for 1.50.

4.  This continues until someone gets it and prices it beyond what anyone will pay for it, so it sits for six months.

5.  The last buyer gets tired of seeing it taking up space in their booth, takes it home, and puts it in their yard sale, priced at 25 cents.

6.  Someone buys it, takes it to their booth, and prices it at 50 cents.

7.  And so on, and so on, and so on.

There's also an alternate ending, where it doesn't sell at the yard sale, gets donated to a thrift, priced at 50 cents and someone buys iy there to restart the cycle.

If you're not a reseller, you might think we're exaggerating, but it really can be like this.  Sometimes I wonder if anyone besides resellers is out there buying stuff.  You see the same people over and over at sales and auctions.  When I walk our mall looking for misplaced items of mine to return to my space (one of the drudgeries that has to be done in this business), I'm always seeing things that used to be in my booth that someone has bought and put in theirs.  I have other sellers in our mall telling me they like to shop my space for stuff.  Is there anyone out there who just buys stuff because they like it?

Okay, so I am exaggerating a wee bit.  Still, it does make you think sometimes.  It's almost like a closed, self-perpetuating economic cycle.  I find that fascinating.

Fun Finds: The Mystery Case

This one is a bit of a mystery, but it's also really cute! I couldn't resist it when I saw it and I was able to talk the seller down on it, which made it quite the bargain.

I've always had a thing for boxes and containers. I cannot imagine where it comes from, since I'm so horribly disorganized. It doesn't matter if it's a tin, an old cigar box, a picnic basket or a sewing kit. If it was designed to hold something and it looks kind of cool, I'm there.

And with its corner reinforcements, handle, and pink design, this one has cool down pat.

It's also interesting from a construction point of view, with a layer of light wood inside the tin.  There's a paper lining over the wood.

It's got a few bangs and dents, which speak to possible age, or at least a lot of use.

I'm at a total loss as to what its purpose would have been. It's sturdy enough to have been more than purely decorative. From the stain on the inside, it may have held other containers, I think. Maybe some sort of make up case? It seems a little small for that.

It looks for all the world like a small version of an old style suitcase. Maybe for a child or a doll?  It's no bigger than a large candy tin.

I'm also not totally sure on the age, either. It feels vintage to me because of the design and solid construction, but there are no dates or marks on it anywhere to confirm that.

I'm not having a lot of luck with my searches on eBay and Google, so I'm throwing this out so someone else might see it and fill in my blanks.