Comic Buy

Eddie-tor's Note:  I have been trying to write a Junkin' Memories post about comics for a while now, but I can't seem to keep it from being four or five parts.  They've been just so intertwined in my life for so long that it's hard to be brief when I talk about them.  While I wrestle with that issue, another opportunity to talk about comics popped up for me.  Let's see if I can do this one in just one post.

A couple of weeks ago, the best local comic shop was having a sidewalk sale, which they do every so often.  It's the kind of thing I never miss, if I can help it.  It used to be that I was looking for finds for my own collection.  Now, I go looking for stuff to sell.  When the comics are a quarter or less, I can usually find it, too.  I sell a lot of comics, you know.

My relationship to comics has changed over the years, but this store is still kind of special to me.  It's the first comic shop I ever visited, way back in my senior year of high school.  My best friend and I came up right after Christmas that year.  It was an amazing experience for me.  So many comics in one little spot.

That was 30 years ago, and when you consider that the store has been open for 35 years, that means that I have been shopping there, in one form or another, for most of its existence.  Most of mine too, now that I think about it.  Even though I am not a regular any more, one of the managers still knows me by name.  It's that kind of place.

Anyway, back to the sidewalk sale.  Usually, these sales are about clearing out overstock of titles from the past couple of years that didn't sell through as expected.  I'm looking for these "event" issues that were hyped up and sought out then, but have cooled waaaay off now.  If I can pick several up in the 25 cent range, I can make decent money reselling them at a fraction of the cover price.  It's a strategy that seems to work.  With prices of comics these days, not everyone can afford to run out and buy every issue of the big crossover story any more.

When I was digging around in the boxes, though, something else happened.  I found memories.  For some of us, the nostalgic aspect of junking is a motivating factor.  It's just that instead of striking the nostalgia chord  by buying something to keep, we buy it to pass on and strike someone else's nostalgia chord.  I've found that it's just as satisfying to own something for as long as it takes to sell it, as it is to hang onto it for life.

You have to understand that when I was a young lad trolling the quarter boxes at flea markets and in shops, they were treasure bins.  Classics from the late sixties and early seventies would fall into my hands.  Eighty page giants.  One hundred page specials.  Classic stories.  Classic art.  I built an awesome collection a quarter at a time.

This was pre-eBay, pre-internet, when things were abundant and cheap and you never knew what you would find.  Quarter boxes haven't been like that for years, if you can even find them these days.  Mostly, they're fifty-cent boxes any more.  For a few moments that Saturday afternoon, things were almost like they used to be.  I was finding treasure scattered amongst the merchandise.

This was one of the first Marvel comics I can ever remember buying with my own money.  I got my copy at the old drug store on the square in my hometown, the one with the soda fountain where they cut your hot dog in half down the middle and fried it on the grill.  They never had very many comics, but they did have a few on their magazine rack.

What If?  (first series) #4

I was never that into Marvel as a kid. I just always preferred the color and wonder of DC's to Marvel's angst and bombast.  But I liked the Invaders.  Until I got into the X-men a few years later, it was the only Marvel comic I followed.

Superboy #208

This was a reminder of quarter boxes past.  You used to be able to find these old giants all the time.  You sure can't find them on eBay for that price!  I didn't get to the sale until about one o'clock, so I was surprised this was still there.  Kids these days don't know what they're missing.  I already have this one (and the Invaders above), so they'll go to the booth to be passed on to someone else.

My mom would go through these phases when she would try to "clean up" my comic collection.  Mind you, this was in the late seventies and early eighties.  Mainstream, newsstand comics were pretty tame in those days.  One year for my birthday, she got me a whole stack of Spire Christian comics.  Another time, it was a bunch of these literary adaptations.

Marvel Classics #18

After Wonder Woman and Teen Titans, this was my favorite title, drawn by one of my favorite artists.  I am pretty sure I have both of these, but I'm hanging onto them until I know fir sure.  I've been paring my collection way down over the years, but some things you keep.

Two more Superboys, for which I did not note the issue numbers.

Finally, a find I could not believe.  You never find these Classics Junior issues for a quarter, even when they're in rough shape.  These babies are keepers.  I've always loved the Classics Illustrated titles.  I read a ton of them when I was young and they were still being published.  I think my mother may have had a hand in that as well.

A gaggle of Classics Illustrated Juniors

One of the wonderful things about junking is that you just never know what waits for you when you set out.  This is true no matter what the reason you go out searching for junk.  Sometimes the unexpected find is tangible and will bring you dollars.  Other times, it's just a memory that makes you happy.  I'm not sure which I prefer more.

The Challenge of Chiquito

You can sing the title of today's post to this tune.  Indeed, how does one solve the challenge of Chiquito?

It begins with trying to take a pic of some newly acquired merch.

It was six years ago that I announced his arrival into our household.  He was a cute little kitten and a hyper little bundle of energy.  At the time, I kept saying "Wait until he turns five or six.  He'll start slowing down and grow out of this manic energy."

Suddenly, the help appears!

Well, he's now six and he still runs through the house, climbs on everything, tries to pull pictures off the wall, incessantly demands attention, and just wreaks general havoc.  Keith keeps looking at me and saying:  "You said he would grow out of this."

I try to remind him that Kosh was quite the hell-raiser when we first got him, as well.  In fact, Kosh didn't calm down until he was about three, right after we brought Chiquito into the house.  Kosh seemed to mature and settle down all at once after that.  I suggest that we try the same approach with Chiquito, but Keith just doesn't seem to want to go for that approach.  I think he's afraid the newcomer and Chiquito would band together and gang up on the rest of us!  

Ooo, does that card have a tassel on it?  Why, I do believe it does!

Next year, he'll be considered a senior cat.  At seven, you have to start getting geriatric check ups for your kitties.  I'm wondering if he's going to be an old man swinging from the ceiling fan.  The answer to that scares me.  He may not be slowing down as he gets older, but the two people in this house certainly are!

Is this the face of a guilty culprit?

As I am writing this, Keith is in the kitchen yelling "Get down!"  That only means one thing. We have to keep dishes on top of the fridge and boxes on the cabinets to keep him off of them.  We've never been able to break him of jumping on top of them.  If he gets up there, he claws at the ceiling tiles.

In his defense, he is cute, sweet, cuddly, funny, silly and an excellent mouser.  How do you solve the challenge of Chiquito? 

Dorothy

This past Saturday, we pulled up at a sale, and I realized that I recognized the building.  I turned to Keith and said, "Honey, it's Dorothy's place!"  All of a sudden, we were both lost in memories.

Dorothy passed away about ten years ago, after a life of rabble-rousing and hell-raising.  She had lived in an apartment in that building for decades.  Back in the days when we were young and idealistic, she was one of the core members of a group called Honesty.  We were Southern Baptists.  We were gay and gay-friendly.  And we were determined to try and change our church.

Dorothy was in her late 70's when I met her, I think.  She smoked a couple of packs a day most of her life and had the loud, gravelly smoker's voice and cough to go with it.  She spoke her mind, no matter what the circumstances.  She also had two cats, a sweet long-hair named Gypsy and a stray tom that she took in and called Clyde.  He was huge and not very friendly.  Dorothy and Clyde had a running battle to see who would control the household.  Those cats were her family, and she turned one room in her apartment over to them.

I met Dorothy when I was in the process of coming out.  I was a young, active Southern Baptist raised in church, and I had dated several different women over the years.  I struggled for a long time to make the pieces fit together.  Eventually, I settled on bisexuality as kind of a temporary stopping point.  I identified as bi when I joined the group.  Dorothy told me later that she was thinking, "Poor thing.  He just doesn't realize he's gay."  It took me a few more weeks, but eventually I figured it out.
  
Dorothy and I kind of clicked right away, but ours was never an easy relationship.  I've always been bad with returning phone calls, and she would get mad at me for weeks over that.  Eventually, she would forget why she was mad and say something like: "You little shit, I can't remember what you did to make me mad, so I'm not mad anymore.  Get over here and give me a hug!"

We liked the same soap operas, so she would save her soap magazines for me.  We would look at them and argue about which actor was the cutest.  After we got our first cats, we would swap cat tales.  I had a few houseplants when we got ours, but could not keep the cats out of them, so I put them all on the porch.  I promptly forgot to water them and they died a slow, withering death.  One time when she was leaving our apartment after a meeting, Dorothy looked down at the pathetic, withered pots of plants and said, "Eddie, your flowers are looking lovely!"

She was truly a treasure, and we were privileged to know her.  Eventually, the group disbanded.  Slowly, but surely, we were all leaving the church and didn't see the need to keep fighting to change it.  Most of us realized it was a dysfunctional, abusive relationship, and the best thing for us was to get out of it.  Dorothy advocated strongly for keeping the group together.  I don't think any of us realized that we were her primary source for socialization.

We kept up for a while, but then slowly drifted apart.  A few years later, we got a call that she had passed away.

It was kind of odd to buy stuff out of that yard.  We ended up telling the kids that were having the sale all about her.  It turned out that two of them were living in her old apartment!  Yard sales are often about memories, but usually it is the memories of the people selling their stuff.  Sometimes, someone shopping will find something that they used to have and remember it.  This is the first time I can remember that I've gotten lost in memory over the place having the sale.

We're no longer quite so young.  We're no longer quite so idealistic.  We're no longer Southern Baptist.  We are, however, still gay!  One thing we'll always carry with us from those days is the memory of Dorothy and how she touched our lives.

Monday Rambles

I'm finishing this up on Sunday, as I usually do, but I may or may not be able to get it posted.  We've already had a brief power outage, which was preceded by several flickers, due to strong winds.  We'll just have to see.  It's kind of like Spring usually is around here.

There's only one thing worse than getting a sales email that says you only sold 59 cents at your booth. That would be not receiving one at all the next night.  Typically, that means that there was an email glitch, but coming after such a low night, you just can't say that for sure.  Happily, I got one (for 36 bucks) the night after the missing mail, and some quick math revealed I really did have sales, so it was just a glitch.

As you can guess from the 59 cent thing, it was kind of a low sales week, although I had a couple of good days at the Peddlers Mall.  Still no skull sales.  What do people have against skulls??

We need a new home!

 We set out Saturday on a yard sale journey that we expected would last until about 1:00.  That's pretty typical.  Why were we dragging back home at 7:00 that night??  We are still wondering where the day went.  We did make some good finds for all that time out.  I also had a couple of strange life flashbacks that I'll be writing about later on.

Things to never, ever believe when a junker says them:  "I'm not really going to buy any more today.  I think we have enough and the car is getting full."  This is typically followed by emerging from a Goodwill with a vintage padded bench! It was six bucks. I couldn't leave it!  Keith just rolls his eyes at me any more.

Last week's Love Match has been made.  I have no idea how the happy couple is doing, but it left me with a good feeling in my heart and a nice jump in my sales report.

If you've been following my bargaining tips, I have a new one to add to the list of things not to do.  At a church sale on Saturday, a gentleman was trying to buy several pairs of socks and a pair of shoes.  I had a huge box of stuff that I was paying for at the same time.  When he was told that the socks were 50 cents a pair, he loudly exclaimed:  "I'd rather pay 25 cents!"  My immediate thought was that I would "rather" walk out with all this shit without paying for it, but it ain't gonna happen!  Needless to say, the women running the sale were not impressed.

I've got a lot to do this week.  Several irons that I've had in the fire are due to come out, and my work hours pick up just a tad.  Better to be busy than bored, I guess.  I should have posts every day, though.

Maybe they were hiding in the closet?

Earlier this week, I was getting together my last little bits of Halloween stuff to take to the booth when I discovered something.

Somehow, I managed to overlook not one....

Not two.....

Not three.....

But FOUR SKELETONS!

And one of them is orange to boot!  How does that happen?  I have got to get organized.

Happily, they are all ensconced at the booth, ready for new homes.  And they are large and prominent enough they make for the many things I've sold out of the killer Halloween display.

Better late than ever, I guess.

Spooky Special: Danse Macabre

For my second Danse Macabre treat, I wanted to share my favorite video version.  There really isn't much animation, per se, but the artwork is nice.  It evokes the mood of the song really well.  I love that some of the skeletons have tattered clothing hanging off them.  It's also got just the right touch of sweetness and humor for a video about skeletons dancing, and some nice dramatic bits as well.

By the way...

If you are not busy on Oct 20, I have a suggestion for you.

 

I'll be there!  In costume, even!

Literary Corner

Eddie-torial Comments proudly presents:

A Poem What I Made Up Myself

by Michael Edward Mitchell, age 47

Dude.

Jude.

Crude.

Rude.

DUDE!

Monday Rambles

Well, I spent some time last week totally cleaning out and revamping my Blogger drafts.  I pitched some things that were never going to go anywhere and dated everything else for 12/31/12, so it will be at the top of my post list and I will remember to finish it.

I found more posts than I remembered having that were basically done, except for a little tweaking and a photo.  This week is a light work week for me, so I think I'll be able to work on some of those.  At the very least, I'll get some special Christmas things done and on the schedule.  That 200 post goal is really coming close.  (And, yes, I know you all are tired of hearing about that.)

Part of the problem I have with working in advance is that I never know how far is too far and when to stop.  I've also never figured out exactly how to make good use of the "cushion" once I've built it up.  I tend to get about a week ahead and then blow the intervening days by not writing at all until the posts are about to run out.  I wish I had a steadier pace.

It's good and fall-ish now here in the Ohio River valley.   I had to dig out a jacket last week.  I love this time of year, as the leaves turn and fall and the temps drop a bit!  It means my birthday is on the way!  I'm not sure how it happened, and it's probably totally my fault, but somehow my Facebook timeline said that my birthday was last week.  Actually, it's not until next month.  I appreciate the well-wishes from those who sent them, however.  I guess I will have to fix that, some day.  It's probably a good indicator of my attitude toward Facebook.  I'm only reluctantly on there. I really don't care for it that much.

We had a good weekend for yard sales Saturday and it resulted in some good buys.  I ended up making a dumpster dive at a church that was selling off its library books and equipment.  I realized that they had already been pitching stuff when I was checking out, so I headed to the dumpster to see what was what.  I salvaged a few items there, with the help of a pole from a tent Keith had  bought earlier.

Perhaps the best find of the day was another "love connection."

It was part of a set that included the play sink and stove, but the other pieces were missing parts.  This one needed a couple of wing nuts to steady the top half, but that was an easy fix.  The doors on the bottom don't meet evenly, and I cannot figure out why.  All of the hinges are tight and nothing is sagging.  That hits the limits of my abilities to fix things, so I'm hoping the rough room shopper who finds this gem will know how to fix it.

I also went to yet another sale at the local comic shop.  This time they had their 8 p.m. to Midnight special 50 cent comic sale.  I went looking for more expensive items I could turn around pretty easily.  Yes, I ventured back into the nerd herd for a second time in a week! I stayed until I had met my budget and my tolerance level for the herd, which happened at about the same time.  I did end up with some good stuff that will sell well for me.  I think I tend to get people who don't necessarily even know that there even are comics shops, but that are kind of interested in comics when they see them.  This makes comic shop sales a good place to look for stuff, without actually being my direct competition.

Sales were surprisingly slow everywhere last week, but picked up at the Peddlers Mall over the weekend.  I guess everyone was in a beginning of the month slump or something.  I am just about out of Halloween make up, party favors, and costume accessories at the killer Halloween display.  I have a few small things to put out today, and I'm going to condense it and move all the fall and Thanksgiving items over to one end of that table.  I need to move a few more costumes and decorations, but there's time.  Still very little in the way of skull sales. which puzzles me.  Has this town reached the Skull Saturation Point?

I was disappointed to learn last week that I could not put up a sign in my booth addressing customers who pull things out of bags as "fuckwits."  Maybe it was my anger at finding all the pieces from one of my more expensive costumes strewn all over the booth, but it seemed reasonable to me at the time.  Now, of course, I realize that those who do stuff like that are most likely not customers of mine, as I highly doubt they actually buy anything.  It's one of the hazards of selling in a large, indoor flea market, I guess.   But how am I going to sell a brand new costume that now looks like it was used because I cannot get it nicely in the bag like it was?  Grrrr......  Not happy!

The central lesson of the weekend was yet another manifestation of the cyclical nature of junking.  One year a sale can be seven kinds of fabulous, and the next, just the opposite.  One of my favorite sales of the whole year was such a bust that it almost wasn't worth going to.  Disappointment does not begin to describe my feelings.  It's only the sale where I made the most awesome religious buy of all time.  Sigh.

Spooky Special: Danse Macabre

One of my favorite pieces of orchestral music is Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens.  It's one of those melodies that will pop into my head from time to time in a quiet moment.  I find it to be haunting and evocative, yet playful and fun at the same time.

Since October is the month for haunts and treats, I thought it would be cool to share with you all some of the ways different video makers have visualized this piece.  If you're a skeleton lover like me, you're in for a real treat!

I'll do one of these every Saturday, but if you want to see more, do a search on YouTube for "Danse Macabre."  There are several other vids out there.  For the first one, I'm going with one that could be subtitled "Skeletor Macarena."

Cat Philosophy

Cleanliness is next to catliness.



I think the face washing is one of the cutest things a cat can do.

But wait! There's more!

I forgot one of the best parts of my post last Thursday.  I was in a hurry to get finished and catch the bus to work.  When I sat down at the bus and looked down at the bag I was carrying, I realized:  "Oh poot!  I forgot to talk about this!"

You see, when I bought those Stations pics, I also bought several other items, including two Fulton Sheen tapesets.  With all the pics and the large tapesets, the cashier was trying to figure out the best way to bag it all up, because the pics were probably going to just tear through the bags.  She wanted to give me a box, but I was on the bike, so that wouldn't work.  (I have almost no fear of buying lots of stuff when I'm on the bike.  I'll make it work.)

She thought for a couple of minutes, then went over to the wall where they have tote bags and purses.  She took a couple of sturdy bags off the wall, tore the tags off them, said "You can have these!" and then packed up all my stuff.

And it worked perfectly!  So I got all those cool pics, a bunch of other stuff, a good sturdy bag to use to carry stuff to work, and another one to sell because I don't need two of them.

Not bad.

September Sales

Well, September is certainly the month I've been waiting for all summer!  Cooler temps and better sales!  The fall bounce has begun!

I didn't exactly set sale records, mind you, but they were up at both sites compared to previous months.  After a long, hot, somewhat discouraging August, that was most welcome.

At YesterNook, I was really surprised by some unexpected furniture sales. I'm talking pieces that had been there pretty much since the store opened.  And they are gone and I am happy.  I haven't been looking for furniture too much of late, because it just doesn't sell that well for me, but now I can keep an eye out for a couple of good pieces.

Meanwhile, at the Peddlers Mall, it was all about books, comics, religious items, and, of course, Halloween!  The killer Halloween display created a most welcome end of the month bump, and all indications seem to be that it will keep bumping for a few weeks yet. I've already sold all my tombstones, lots of the make up and fake blood, many of the party favors, but not that many skulls.

What it all adds up to this go around is a couple of good checks and one very happy vendor!  Let's see how it plays out for this month!

In case you were wondering...

My favorite Station of the Cross is number six.

That's Jesus meeting Veronica and her veil, in case you didn't know.

What?  Don't you have a favorite Station of the Cross?  Doesn't everyone?

Monday Rambles

Lots of rain last week.  Some of it made things cool.  Some of it made things muggy.  I prefer the cool things to the muggy things.

I managed to edge my post total up to 160 last month, so I've got three months to do 40 posts and make my 200 goal for the year.  It's looking more and more doable all the time.

Oh Lordy.  What have I done now?

And this is only a very small part of it.  I just grabbed a handful out of one of the boxes for a pic.  I have five boxes of this stuff, and innumerable bags.  I bought out the stock of a vendor who left and now I'm swamped with cards and nick nacks.

It's all Hallmark, though, so I'll make good money on it.  Sadly, no Xmas ornaments.  Still, I got this stuff mega-cheap!  Some of it will have to go into storage for the appropriate holiday, so I have got to get it all sorted and priced first.  It's a never-ending journey!

This is a crazy, crazy week.  My Tues-Thurs afternoon gig wants me in on Mon and Wed as well, so  I'll be there.  Extra hours mean more dollars but less time.  However, my Friday morning gig ain't happening this week, so I'll get a bit of a breather there.  I've got posts slated for most of the week, so be sure to check in here. 

I've been running low on books at the Peddler's Mall.  My new book table was half empty, and all of those were old books that I put on it so that it wouldn't be all empty!  I rectified that with a mass purchase of fifteen boxes of good stuff.  I'm going to be set for a while.  The best part is that I'll be able to put them out in "themes" for a while, since I have lots of books on certain topics now. I think the first theme will be hymnals.

I'm already having a pretty good run on the killer Halloween display.  Several pieces have sold already, including many costumes from the tub, which makes it less obnoxiously full.  I have a few last bits to put out this week and then I'll let it run.

I sold 73 dollars last Friday.  Wish I could have days like that all the time.  It was a bizarre combo of Halloween stuff and religious books that makes me wonder about the world.  Sometimes, I like to imagine that everything I sell in a given day was bought by one person.  Then I try to picture who that person is.  It's an interesting game.  This time around, I'm conjuring up a bizarre mix of Mother Teresa and Aleister Crowley.

I'm in a real good spot with stuff overall right now, so, other than some clearance gift items and small thrift runs, I've not done any heavy saling lately.  (Except, of course, for the big buys above.)  I did go to a sidewalk sale at my fave comic shop on Saturday.  I'll have more to say about that later, when I've got a chance to write it all out.  I do have to say right now, though, that it's been a long time since I've been a part of a nerd herd when it's converged on quarter comic boxes.  Thankfully, it's like falling off a bike. You pick it up pretty quickly, once you get thrust in the middle of things.

Ever notice how good a simple veggie burger with a slice of cheese on a nice whole wheat bun with a ripe slice of tomato and some leaf lettuce and a dab of spicy mustard tastes?  Mmmmmm....

And, finally, an open letter to an asshole:

Dear Asshole Who Thought It Would Be a Good Idea to Try and Rip Me Off at the Grocery While I Was in the Potty,

Do you really think I would leave my backpack in an unattended cart if it weren't empty, Dummy?  Seriously.  I had it there to put my damn groceries in.  Asshole.

Oh yeah, Fuck You!

Love, 

Me

One more reason...

Not that it's really needed or anything, but Emmlyou's love and concern for animals is yet one more reason to love the lady herself.



If you're looking for a charity to make some end of year donations to, this certainly looks like a good one.  Of course, see if you have a local animal shelter to support first.

Just in case there's any doubt that she's an animal lover:

And then there was the time Emmylou Harris did an unlikely collaboration

She's known for her musical collaborations and for her love of all kinds of music, but still this one was a little surprising to me when I found it on YouTube.  I love finding little gems like this from the Goddess of Music!



You might also notice Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins in the band.  I would love to know how this one came about!

Well, what are you waiting for?

Seriously, come on already!



I'm, like, tired of waiting.  What's that?  Just one more minute?  Are you sure?  Oh, all right...

Playing Nice with Others

I'm working on a post about thrifting for resale, but it's taking longer than I thought to finish.  Hopefully, I'll have it done next week.  In the meantime, here's a real life example of some of the things I'll be saying in that post.

I stopped by my favorite thrift a little while ago when I was making my rounds.  I was barely in thee door when the cashier told me about something on the shelves with the picture frames that I might be interested in.

These:

It's not a complete set, but that's all there were of these framed Stations of the Cross.  With religious pictures you have to be careful, particularly if they are in frames.  Sometimes, what you have is simply a modern holy card in a Wal-Mart frame, which isn't going to get you anywhere if you try to resell it.  The ideal is, of course, an older piece in an older frame, but life isn't always ideal.  Sometimes you get what I got here:  older pictures in newer frames.  Not a fabulous find, but not a terrible one either.  I'm going to pop these out of the frames and sell the set together and then sell the frames on their own.  You gotta do what works.

The important part of this particular story is not the find, but what led up to it.  Store staff told me about it!  That means three things:

1.  They remember me.
2.  They remember what I like to buy.
3.  They remembered to tell me about something I might like.

Take it all together and that means that I've obviously built some kind of relationship with them.  We're not BFF's or anything, but the few seconds that I've taken to make small talk when I get checked out, the little conversations we've had about things I've bought, and the patience and politeness I show when I'm in the store have paid off in ways that can only benefit me.

As a reseller, I go to the thrifts as part of the hunt for merch.  I don't have to make the effort to relate with the staff or be nice to people, but I do it anyway.  A lot of resellers don't, which is why we have such a poor name in some circles.   When you do, though, it produces dividends.  I like knowing someone is taking notice of stuff and thinking of it when they see me.  Every little bit helps.

Killer

It's probably one of those "eye of the beholder" things, but the killer Halloween display is done.  It's not quite as snazzy as last year's, which actually told a little story, but it will most certainly do.  I had a lot more to work with this year.  Last year, I had three totes full of stuff and sold nearly everything.  I had a little less than a half tub left at the end of October.  This year, I brought in four tubs.  I hope it sells as well this time around.

My table covering would not cover all three of my card tables, so I ended up using the one from last year to cover one of them.  I could have just reused it, as it did cover everything, but I hate repeating myself.  I may yet get some cobwebby stuff to cover the shelf with, just for added effect.  I guess with all the holiday madness coming that those card tables are committed to displays until the end of the year.

Enough babbling from me.  Take a look and see.  I'll warn you that displays really aren't my strong point.  I have absolutely no discernible talent for arranging things.  I'm much more of a "plop it down, stack it up, and cram it in" kind of guy.  Sometimes, I end up regretting my choices.  I already know, for example, that the tub of costumes is over full and will give me no end of grief.  Still didn't stop me from doing it, though.

I wish it was possible to get a good pic of part of my booth without the mess in all the other parts showing up as well, not too mention all the other booths around me.

It's a tub of make-up!  Halloween Monster Power, MAKE-UP!  

 I know I'm going to regret that.  I just know it.

I like skulls.  If I were thirty years younger, I would probably be goth.  Thank god, I'm not thirty years younger.  Black lipstick is not a good look for me.   For some reason, all those skulls lined up like that makes me want to sing this song.  I am not a well person.

BEWARE THE DEMON DOLLS!  I have a few more creepy dolls to add to that cauldron.  Brrr...dolls.  Hate 'em.

Better the Demon Dolls than the DEVIL DUCKS!  FLEE!  RUN AWAY!

Monday Rambles

Fall has certainly fallen in this part of the world.  We've had wonderfully cool-ish, fall-ish temperatures for several days now.  I am in heaven!  I live for this time of year.  Not too cold.  Not too hot.  I just love it!  Too bad it only lasts for a little while.

I spent the weekend cat-sitting, so I didn't really get out and do any yard sales.  I decided to spend some time reading instead.  Actually, I've been doing a lot of that lately.  I can take one bus right from my front door to the latest incarnation of my work gig and back again, so I have a lot of time for reading.

If you are a whodunnit fan, I highly recommend MC Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series for its warmth, wit, and clever plotting.  Unfortunately, her Agatha Raisin series is an acquired taste that I have yet ti acquire.  Another favorite is anything by the wonderful Sharyn McCrumb.  The mysteries usually turn out to be incidental to the overall plot, but her stories are so fabulously hilarious and delightful that I really don't mind at all.  Currently, I'm elbow-deep in Luis Miguel Rocha's The Last Pope.  I've not quite warmed to it just yet.  I think after this one, I'm going to shift gears back into some manga or graphic novels.  I've got a little stack that I want to burn through and get to a booth.

Sales have been nice lately.  The fall bounce is in full swing.  I like that!  I did have a couple of lag days last week, but things picked right back up.  I'm heading to the Peddlers Mall today to set up this year's killer Halloween display, just as soon as I dig all the stuff out of the shed.  I've sold most of the Halloween/Fall stuff that I've already set out already, so it's time to go all out.  I'm going to try and remember to both take the camera to get some pics and then to actually take them.  It seems so simple, but I screw it up so often.

I hope some of you are checking into the YesterNook blog.  I'm updating on Tuesday and Friday over there.  

"This calls for the Bat-Tweezers!"

Indeed, it does!

Making a Love Connection

Sometimes, what junkers do is like matchmaking.  We're trying to put items that need some lovin' together with someone who will give it to them.  For example:

When I first saw it, I knew it would be love at first sight, for the right person.

It's got just enough rust to be kind of classic, but not so much that it's falling apart.

The drawer works well.

The top cleaned up quite nicely and is largely intact.

The bottom is intact and attached!  Lots of times, in these metal cabinets, the bottoms are the first thing to rust away.

I gave it a light cleaning, but it certainly needs a lot more elbow grease.  Maybe some new paint.  Maybe some sanding here and there.  I think I got it "Rough Room Ready" which is where it's headed.

It will sit and wait patiently for the right person to come along and fall in love it it.

The Nose Knows, or Does It?

Sorry about the lack of a Monday Rambles for this week.  I'll be sure to have one for nest week.  Last week was sooooooo busy that I just did not have time to take notes like I usually do for that post.  This week should be much calmer.

In the meantime,  maybe you can help me with a mystery.  What are these?

They're made out of stone and very heavy.  The question is, why would anyone make noses out of stone?  What are they supposed to represent?

I thought they might  be some kind of tiki thing, but they're marked "Made in Kenya" on the bottom.  I don't recall a tiki tradition in Kenya.  Googling "Kenya stone noses" gets me nowhere.  "Kenya stone carvings" brings up a lot of sites, but I can't find a match and much of it is soapstone, which this most definitely is not.

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Suggestions?

Special Announcement!

I've taken on a new project.  Check out the new blog for YesterNook.

Coming soon:  The YesterNook web page!

Timing Is Everything!

So, I mentioned yesterday that I had started my Halloween and Christmas displays of stuff at one of the booths.  This is kind of important, because all the other retailers that shoppers frequent on a regular basis are doing the same.  They're pretty much conditioned to start looking at and picking up this stuff.  I think that it's important for resellers to get in this groove too, at least a little bit.

Even though the weather is still warm, now is not the time to stock up on patio furniture and outdoor toys.  That kind of stuff is on clearance at "regular" retailers, so customers can actually buy new for about the same price as they can get used from you.  You have to keep things like that in mind to keep from making costly mistakes.

This even extends to online sellers, as friends I know who eBay are now listing their Halloween costumes and some selected Christmas.  You have to keep up with the times.  It took me a couple of years to figure this out.  My first year, I didn't get my Xmas stuff out until December 15.  I didn't get it.  I also didn't sell a lot, except for my vintage items.  The next year, I made sure to have some new in the packaging items to sell as gift ideas, but still didn't really get it all going until December 1.  Better, but still not perfect.

Finally, I developed a routine schedule for this time of year.  Remember, most retail money is made during the last quarter of the year.  There's no reason why re-sellers can't claim a chunk of that for themselves.  Here's the way I do it (as always, your mileage may vary):

PREVIOUS DECEMBER-JANUARY:  Stock up on clearance ornaments and decorations.  Wait until they are at least 75% off.  Price and store.

FEBRUARY-AUGUST:  Hit the clearance racks for low-priced items in the packaging.  Hit the yard sales for assorted holiday decor items, but don't overdo it.  Stick to vintage and really high end stuff, if possible.  Also keep an eye out for more new in packaging items.

Don't forget the smaller holidays during this period:  Valentines, St Patrick's, Easter, Derby, July 4.  I don't put together a huge spread during these times or maintain a large backstock of stuff, but I will pull a table together.  As always, vintage is a plus!  The end of July and August also call for back to school!

EARLY SEPTEMBER:  Start with the Halloween stuff (small display), Fall themed items (all you have), and Christmas (even smaller).  Grow these small displays bit by bit over the next few weeks, adding more items and larger items each week.

LATE SEPTEMBER:  All of your Halloween and Fall stuff should be out.  Xmas should be growing, but still not huge.  Also, try to keep it away from the Halloween display to keep your space from looking too schizo.

OCTOBER:  Rock the house with a killer Halloween display!  Keep slowly growing the Xmas display.  Bring out Thanksgiving if you have it and incorporate any remaining Fall items into it.

EARLY NOVEMBER:  Hit the stores for Halloween clearance to stock and hold for next year.  Price it and store it.  Wait for it to be at least 75% off.  Don't forget to grab a few costumes.

Take down the Halloween display as close to Nov 1 as you can.  Shoppers' minds immediately turn to Thanksgiving and Christmas once November hits.  You can't afford to look dated.  All of your Fall ad Thanksgiving should be out now.  It will probably be small compared to Halloween and Christmas, but it should be prominent.

Keep bringing out more and more Christmas throughout the month, building it into a large, coherent display.

MID-NOVEMBER:  All Xmas should be out, including gift items.  Place these on a table with a sign that advertises that they are new in the package and would make great gifts at bargain prices.  Persons who sell primarily secondhand items tend to have a sales dip during the holidays. Featuring new gift-appropriate items will minimize that, but you have to promote them.

THANKSGIVING WEEK:  Your store will be closed on Thanksgiving, so make sure to stop in on Tuesday or Wednesday to make sure that you are ready for Black Friday.  Pull the Thanksgiving and Fall stuff.  It will only look out of place on Friday.  Make sure everything is out and arranged and neat.

BLACK FRIDAY-MID-DECEMBER:  Visit often to tidy and reconfigure your displays.  Be prepared to mark down some holiday items around the middle of December to minimize your leftovers.  Participate in any holiday activities your store plans.  These can only increase your sales.

CHRISTMAS WEEK:  Markdown as many items as you can in preparation for a final rush.  Keep it clean and tidy.  Try to visit a day or two before Christmas to make sure everything is fairly tidy for the day after Christmas.

Set a date in January (no later than the 10th) to get the bulk of your Christmas items out of the booth.  I always leave some vintage items and any unsold gift items, but I take down the gift item display.  Then get ready for the clearance sales and start the whole damn mess all over again!

Well, that's how I do it, anyway.  What works for you?  It may seem like a lot of work, but re-sellers are at a little bit of a disadvantage during the holidays, when everyone thinks "new" is better.  Ever since I figured all this out, I've managed to have really good Novembers and Decembers, so I know it works.  Timing is everything.

Don't forget, though, that the holidays are also supposed to be about fun, friends, and family.  Be sure to enjoy yourself a little along the way.

Monday Rambles

Last Tuesday, I stayed up a little later than usual to work on some stuff for the booths and such.  This caused no end of consternation for Kosh and Chiquito.  Every half an hour or so, they had to come bounding over the top of me, and everything I was doing, to remind me that I was supposed to be in bed.  They alternated this with a couple of rounds of fighting to remind me that I still wasn't in bed.  We finally managed to come to an agreement, with Kosh lying at my feet while I worked and Chiquito off doing, well,  whatever it is that he does.  This lasted long enough for me to take care of things and finally get to bed.  I think it'll be a while before I try that again.  It's not worth the feline hassle.

Cats:  The True Harbingers of the Status Quo.

Junking Rule #637:  Try to Limit the Number of "Project" Pieces You Have Piled Up Waiting for Your Attention.  I've been violating this one of late, which is not a good thing.  The more something sits and waits for your attention, the less money it makes for you.  I've got to admit that I am pretty pathetic about this, because the scope of my "projects" are so pathetic.

It's not like I have furniture waiting around to get painted or fixed.  That would require a level of industry (and mechanical aptitude) that I simply do not and will never possess.  No, I work on a much smaller scale.  Stacks of comics that need to be bagged, that's more my speed.  Bags of buttons and sewing stuff to be sorted and bagged (or jarred).  A few pieces of dollhouse furniture from an old buy that needed some minor touch ups and repair.  (Hey!  I do really do furniture.  It's just tiny!)  A couple of things that have needed a good cleaning before they can be sold.  Linens and fabric that needs to be priced.  A tin dollhouse that needs to be reassembled.  (Screw furniture!  I'm building houses now!)  Jesuses (Jeses?  Jesi?) that need to be put back on crucifixes.

Despite my best intentions, I've got a pile of this stuff.  I started working through a lot of it last week, because I'm going to need to move it from the place where it currently sits soon.  I'd rather take care of it and move it out to a booth than move it across the room.  I made a pretty good dent in a short amount of time, which surprised me.  A couple more afternoons and I should be able to wipe it out.

Actually, I guess you could say that my "project pile" is more of a "procratination pile."  Or, you could just call it "pathetic."

I had an interesting experience on Wednesday.  I went to cash in some change at the grocery and filled up the Coinstar machine!  Seriously.  It not only stopped taking my coins, but it started spitting some of them back out at me.  I hadn't even put in half of what I've got saved up either! I still got over a hundred bucks out of it.  I guess I'll have to try again.  Maybe I need to go to a couple of different groceries to do this?  I wish I had thought to get a picture of the "this machine is full" message on the machine while I was there, but I was so surprised by what happened that it slipped my mind.

My dad got me in the habit of tossing my loose change into a jar or can years ago.  We've paid for all of our meals on vacation trips this way in the past.  Nowadays, I keep one of the big coffee cans around for this purpose, and that sucker is full to the brim!  I forgot to turn in a timesheet a couple of weeks ago, so I didn't get paid last Friday, so the can is now my survival money until next Friday.  I have so many short term gigs starting up and ending with the same agency that I have to keep a carefully annotated schedule of when things are due to keep up with the paperwork.  Despite all this, one managed to fall through the cracks.  Oh well, the next one will be a nice check, at least.

Lord, but last week turned into a booth week!  I was at each one practically every day by the time the week was over.  That's turned out to be a good thing, since I'm going to be hard-pressed to find a time to drop in this week.  I've had some extra work tossed my way that's going to keep me hopping from one end of this town to the other over the course of the week.  I just hope that I've got everything well set at the booths.

I really do think they should be okay.  I spent two days redoing the YesterNook booth--shifting things, marking a couple down, taking a couple of things out.  I did roughly the same for the Peddlers Mall booth, plus I added some furniture.  I also finally created my Halloween shelf and start-up Xmas display at the Peddlers Mall.  Both of them will grow over the coming weeks.  All in all, I think everything is in pretty good shape, unless I have a massive run on stuff.  While that would not be unwelcome, I'm not sure when I'll have time to restock before the weekend.

All of which brings me to the blog.  It's probably going to be a lighter week again, out of necessity.  I've got a couple of posts very near completion, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time to put the polish on them or not.  I'll certainly try, but don't be surprised if you don't hear from me until Friday.

Ah, but Friday!  On Friday, be sure to come back for a very special announcement!

Finally, I need to make an addendum to my Tips for Yard Sale Holders post, based on my experience this past weekend.  Make sure you have bags!  Honestly, there's no excuse for not having an adequate supply of bags for your shoppers and their purchases.  You can't go the store without acquiring three or four more (unless you use the reusable bags)!  If you're saving those bags for re-use or recycle (which you know you should be), then there's a plethora of them in your home, ready for your yard sale.

I was at a church sale where several vendors were set up and not one of them had any bags!  Not one.  I bought five or six small items and pretty much reached my limit on what I could carry without dropping something.  That's a point to remember:  People may buy more, if they can easily carry more.

Before I left, I decided to hit the bathroom.  One of the reasons church sales are great is that they allow you to combine a potty stop with one of your shopping stops.  The sink counter top was covered with water.  There's no place to put my stuff so I can pee!  If you didn't know, aim is kind of an important factor for guys and requires the use of at least one hand. Arrgh!  This all could have been avoided with a simple grocery bag!  Bags people!  They're more important than you think!

This Might Be the Most Awesome Song Ever Written

If it's not,then it's certainly in the top ten.  I mean, c'mon, you've got Georgia O'Keeffe and Michael Jackson in the first verse!



That's Pete Yorn covering Warren Zevon, by the way.

Cat Philosophy

The job is not done, until you lay on the paperwork!

Dollar Days and Flea Market Finds

One of these days, I'm to post a Junkin' Memories story about the big Stewart Promotions flea market at the fairgrounds and my long history with it.  But that's a story for another day.  For now, I want to share some of the things I found at the Labor Day 2012 edition of the flea market this past Sunday, most of which was a dollar or less.  This isn't everything I bought by a longshot, just the highlights.  I decided not to bore you all with pic after pic of a bunch of comic books, although I did do pretty good in that regard, too.

Obligatory messy desk background alert!  Don't look too closely at the background of the pics if you are the slightest bit faint of heart.  You have been warned!

Fisher-Price TV Van

I just love Fisher-Price toys, from just about any era.  This van is from their Adventure People line in the late 70's.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Vintage F-P Ring Stack Toy (with wood base)

This one has been loved and played to death.  The top ring has been lost to posterity, but I couldn't leave it behind.  It's just too sweet.

Vintage Green Glass Planter Bowl

I love colored glass when the colors are this rich and vibrant.  A good cobalt blue anything will make my toes curl.  I had to become a junker.  There's no other way to make use of an attribute like that.

Assorted Toys

One booth had these huge bins of mostly Happy Meal toys for 25 cents each.  Digging though, I found a few more interesting items.  The horseshoes in back are cool and the lamb and the bird are really sweet.  The Lifesavers cup isn't old, but I like advertising stuff like this.  The Batman discs aren't really old either, but, hey, they're Batman!

Old Cootie Parts

I found this baggie of old Cootie parts amongst the McToys.  There are plenty of everything in the bag, except there are only two tongues, so you can only make two complete Cooties.  This is from back in the days when the Cootie looked more bug-like and really creepy.

 Vintage Dates and Mates Book

Early calendar/diary for teens.  It's got some slots for pictures on the inside and a notepad with the days listed on it, so you could keep track of your important things to do, like the sock hop.  The pade has been used, but there is still plenty of sheets left.

The top one even has some notes on it.  I love the one about "asking Mommy."

Vintage Carry Case

Love it!

Finally, something that wasn't a dollar.  It was two.  This Batman-Joker card game starter pack is new and still sealed.  It's going into my stash of holiday gift items for sale later in the year.

That should give you a pretty good indicator of what the day was like.  There's lots more, but these are some of the highlights.  Any more would be overkill.  Suffice it to say, it was a very good day.

August Sales Report

I told you I hate August.  Over and over again, I told you.  And you looked at me with bog, blank eyes and asked "What has August ever done to you?"

Well, here's my answer:  THE LOWEST SALES MONTH OF THE FRIKKIN' YEAR!!!

It's not like it was unexpected.  After doing this re-sale thing for a while, you get the hang of how the months tend to run.  It is still just a tad frustrating, though.  I mean you still work as hard during the slow months, even if the payback is lower.  Things still get messy and need to be tidied.  Some things still sell and need to be replaced.  The hunt for good merch is eternal.

When I say that August is weak, I don't mean that sales pretty much stop on the first and don't pick back up until the 31st.  There are still some good days amidst the doldrums.  The week and a half or so at the beginning of the month before school starts can be okay.  The problem is that, once things fall off during that first week of school, at some point they've got to really bounce back to make up for the lag.  In August, that doesn't happen right away, because the start of school is followed shortly by the State Fair, which lasts a week and half and covers two weekends.  After that, there isn't enough month left to allow for sufficient bounce back.  Them's the breaks, as they say.

Bounce back is hard to achieve under the best of circumstances.  When you have a few days with a sales lag, the next few days need to not only be at their normal strong sales level to maintain your course for the month, they need to be extra strong to make up for the weak days.  You don't always get that extra boost.

I will say this, however, about the month just ended:  It could have been a lot worse.  I had very strong weekends at both sites throughout the fair, which was a very nice surprise.  Plus, I had a super end of month bounce at YesterNook that left me wishing for one or two more days in the month to keep it going.  Alas, that was not to be.  Sigh.

In the end,  it was a typical August--lowest sales month of the year.  I did come out ahead at the end of things, though.  In that regard, I can't complain too much, although that's never stopped me before.

The good thing about slow months is that they eventually come to en end.  August has gone, and the much stronger fall sales months have begun.  I'll see you next month, with a much better report.

Holiday Monday Rambles

Happy Labor Day folks!  I hope that you are enjoying a day off and possibly having a cookout or going swimming or something.  Hopefully, Isaac hasn't messed up to many of your plans, but if he did manage to, please remember how much we all need this rain.  Just pop your burgers in the oven and have an indoor cookout!

Last week was really wild for me.  I started the week out with a few hours at a new work gig and ended it with an increase in hours at the same gig, before I had even officially started!  This is going to work out really well.  It's part time, but at a really good hourly rate.  It leaves plenty of time for junking and other projects.  To top it off, it's something I really enjoy.

Yard sales were pretty much non-existent due to the holiday weekend, but I did squeeze a trip to the big flea market at the fairgrounds yesterday.  I didn't make that many purchases, but it was a nice way to spend a weekend indoors, surrounded by junk.  I always like it when they have the antique wing at the flea market.  It's a great opportunity to see some neat things and do a little research.  And I managed to walk out with a few treasures that may become the subject of a post later on this week.

Thrifting had gotten kind of weak recently, so I decided to lay off the stores last week for a little bit.  Instead of popping in a couple of times over the week, I waited until Friday to let things build back up a little.  It paid off big time!

I found a metric shit ton of manga at Goodwill.  That's a technical junking term by the way, metric shit ton.  Thanks to the uniform pricing policies at Goodwills in Kentucky, they were only 50 cents each!  I sell buckets of manga and have been running low, so this is most welcome.

I took a big, big load of stuff to the Peddlers Mall last week and it almost turned into a disaster.  I nearly ran out of time to stock!  They were making the "20 minutes to close" announcements, and I had three (!) boxes left to put out.  I haven't a booth fail that major in a long while.  I shifted into major high gear and started slamming stuff out left and right!  I managed to get most everything put out.  It ain't pretty, but it's out.

I ran out of time for two reasons.  First, I spent a little too much time talking to other vendors and store staff.  It happens.  We had a lot to catch up on.  It's good to connect with the people around you.  I also planned to do just a little bit too much.  Doing a major restock is one thing.  It requires shifting old merch around to make place for the new and is generally a lot more work than people realize.

However, I was also trying to take my back to school display down, reconfigure another display, and start two mini-displays for Halloween and Christmas that will gradually grow over the next few weeks.  All that together was a bit too much, even without the talking.  Still, I managed to get everything but the holiday things done, so I'll pop back out this week and work on that.

I did have a really nice surprise when I was working.  A few weeks ago, I had put up a display of all clear glass stuff in my booth.  It was mainly stuff I had scattered throughout the space that I decided to consolidate together for the summer and see if that would help move some of it out.  Honestly, I had been thinking of it as a failure.  Nothing really seemed to be moving.  Once I got it all straightened and consolidated, though, I realized that I had sold almost half of it!  Sometimes, it's hard to tell from just looking at your space how well you're doing.

I've been a bit behind on my blog-reading lately, so I just found the very nice shout out the folks at We Are: Clamco gave me.  It's brought a few new readers this way, and I greatly appreciate it!  They have a nice blog, which I highly recommend, even if the name makes me think of this theme song every time I see it.  Plus, they have cats!  Yay cats!  Junkers rock, but junkers with cats totally rock!

This is going to be a light blogging week, I think.  It's the last week I'll have for a while with no work commitments, and I have some assorted projects I want to finish up, including some longer blogging essays. 

And Then There Was the Time That Emmylou Harris Had a Very Unfortunate Hairstyle

Seriously, it looks like a poodle sat on her head!  Thankfully, she was joined by a bunch of other very talented musicians with equally unfortunate 'dos.  Dig Ricky Skaggs' foofy mullet!

What were we thinking in the 80's?