Halloweening

I didn't have time yesterday to get the booth pics sorted and edited, so I decided to wait a day to show you the fully "Halloweened" set up.  There were also a few shots that I did not get on Sunday, so I took them yesterday when I went by the booth.

Everything starts with pulling all the Halloween merch out of the shed.  This stash includes a few left-overs from last year, plus some yard sale finds, and all the items I bought at clearance sales last year.  This year, it came to six tubs and four bags.  This also includes fall-themed decor and Thanksgiving-related items.

Please ignore the mess on the back porch.

Shots of the mostly finished table.  I've used those tablecloths for the past three years.  The one with pumpkins keeps bunching up in places.  I keep smoothing it out, but it's kind of a never-ending battle.  I didn't notice the problem until I had almost everything out and on the table and I really didn't want to pull it all off again.

Front view.  I love that Jack O'Lantern piggy bank!

Side view.  Still in love with those foam pumpkin heads!

I think the different patterned tablecloths together is kind of cool.

Back view.

It's important to label everything really well when you put it in storage, since it's going to be there for nearly a year before you put it out.  I label the outside of all my containers.  I also indicate whether the items are new or secondhand and if they have been at the booth previously on the label.  As you can see, this label was on a bag of bags of bones.

I'm not sure why I put my booth number on all my labels, but I do.

 I usually make at least one shelf of Halloween stuff on my shelving that holds my "new to the booth" items.  This is usually the secondhand stuff.  That way, I can grab people as they walk down the aisle, even if they don't go into the booth and visit the table.

I got all these items at a yard sale this weekend.

To make the Halloween table work, I had to set up a new area for my comics.  They normally go on the table that's now the Halloween table and will later be the Xmas table.  If it were other items, I probably would have just boxed them up, but I can't afford to be without my comics sales until after the first of the year.

Ignore the orange tub.  It was only in that spot temporarily.

Is it legal to include two Amish dolls in with the pilgrims and such in your Thanksgiving display?

This is the whole Fall/Thanksgiving display.  I don't do a lot of this compared to the Halloween, but I do think it's a nice touch to have.

Not all of the Halloween stuff would fit on the table.

The lighting in that place is so bad for pics.

Of course, it's not a Halloween display without a creepy bride doll in the middle of things!   I've had a creepy doll in every Halloween display I've ever done.  Since all dolls are creepy, that's not too hard to do.  This is the second time I've had a bride doll in that role.

She's in good company!

So far so good.  When I went back today, several things had already sold.  In fact, I had a really good sales day for a Monday.  I also have about twenty dollars in sales coming from the management there.  They'll hold their items until payday, but they're good for it.  I usually sell several Halloween items to them every year.

Monday Rambles

How did it get to be Monday again?  No one consulted me about this.  Honestly.

I spent yesterday Halloweening the booth.  (I know that's not a real verb, but it totally should be.)  I'm about a week or so off my preferred schedule, but I kept putting it off because I didn't want to deal with the clutter in the shed.

I finally forced myself out there yesterday morning, expecting to spend hours out there dealing with it.  There's a ton of stuff in the shed, and some of it had fallen over, creating a mess I just didn't think I could face.  Turns out, I was done in less than two hours!

The mess was nowhere near as bad as it looked.  I was able to get to exactly what I needed without much trouble, plus rearrange things so that the Christmas stuff is easier to reach to boot!  To top it off, I found a box with several Halloween items merch that I feared was lost after I could not find it last year.   I didn't remember that I had put it into a large cardboard box, instead of the tubs I usually use for storage.  It looked so much like the boxes of my mother's stuff that is still out there that I just assumed it was part of her junk.  I'm really happy to have found these items, because there are some really cute plush ghosts in there that I think will sell fast.

After spending all damn day at the booth rearranging and Halloweening, I'm still not all the way done.  I chose to make getting the Halloween stuff done my priority, so  I didn't do any of the usual tidying and straightening that needed to be done.  I'll be headed out there after work today to get it finished.  In fact, I still have a little of the Halloween stuff to do.  I just dumped a tub of costumes in a chair and I can't leave it like that.

Of course, spending all day at the booth does have its hazards.  I watched two different people knock something in the floor and leave it there!  I beat them to death with a broom and threw the bodies down the freight elevator.  What else was I supposed to do?  (Okay, not really.  But I really wanted to.)  At least one of them bought something.

Send Shara some good sale vibes this week!  Her big, much-anticipated barn sale starts in a couple of days.  Also, reader and commenter Lynn is off on some adventures of her own--Happy Trails, Lynn!

Kosh had a good vet visit.  She said he was looking well and seemed to be happy, other than the fact that he was at the vet, which makes him cranky.  He was pretty well-behaved the whole time.  We made an appointment for Chiquito for November.  God help us all!  It'll take a tactical SWAT strike just to get that boy in the carrier!  He's got an unerring sixth sense when it comes to knowing when to run and hide.  He's faster than either one of us!

Because of Kosh's vet visit, we only had time for a few yard sales, but there weren't too many that looked good anyway.  I did get some vintage folding chairs and a bunch of autumn decor and a tote of Halloween bears.  Pretty light overall.

Thanks for all of the comments on my Albatro$$ series.  I probably should have mentioned that all that stuff has been Craigslisted forever.  (I did write the guide on using CL to promote your booth, you know.)  I did not put the chairs in the kids' section, so I'll try that again.  As for painting anything any color (much less turquoise--yuck!), it ain't gonna happen.  All three items are on the markdown trail, so they will be gone one way or another.

Busy week ahead.  I'm looking at two visits to one booth and one to another, plus some more shed time.  While the weather is nice, I want to deal with some boxes of books I have out there, plus the last of Mom's stuff.  October is going to be a very busy month for me, resale-wise, and I'll need some of that stuff from the shed to do it, so I might as well get started.  I'll tell you all more about my plans later.

Eddie's Albatro$$ Part 2

Here's another one of those things I wish I'd never even seen, much less bought.  Share my pain, people!

I have a good track record with chairs of all kinds, especially kid-sized chairs, so I thought these two cutesy Adirondack chairs were the very definition of "no-brainer."

"No-seller" is more like it.  It's been over a year, and they're still here.  We're coming to the end of the second deck-sitting season since I bought them, and they're still here.  Two different booths, and they're still here.  Every possible selling platform, and they're still here.  Every possible price point, and THEY'RE STILL HERE!

Honestly, I'm baffled.  I think they're adorable, but I guess what I think doesn't really matter.

They're on the mark down trail to oblivion now.  (Sadly, I paid more for these than I normally do.  I did manage to get five bucks knocked off the price, but it was still higher than I usually pay.)  I want these suckers out of my life.

Sigh!

YAY!

Just in case anyone was worrying, I just wanted to let you all know that the phone is okay!

Here it is, all safe and sound:

And all is well that ends well!

Monday Rambles

Omigosh!  It is soooooooooo wonderful here right now.  Cool. Sunny.  Lovely.  It's supposed to rain some this week, but overall be this nice the whole week.  I love this time of year, on the cusp of the changing of the seasons.  It's the first real sign that my November birthday is approaching!  (Don't worry!  You all still have plenty of time to shop...)

I am debating having a yard sale in October, but can't really decide.  We live in a shotgun house, and the front yard is the size of a postage stamp.  Parking is also the pits.  There's no way to get from the front of the house to the back of the house without going through the house, so that's not a good option either.  The parking is better in back, however.  If we did advertise is as being in the back, it would not make sense to use our address, since the back of the house faces another street.  Would people come if I advertised it as "near the corner of Flux and Glibbly streets, across from the Convenient Store?"

Complicating this is the frustrating inability of one of the stores that I am in to decide whether or not it wants to repeat its very successful parking lot sale, and if so, when it would be.  If they had one, I might not be thinking about having one of my own, but the back and forth on this one is driving me a little insane.

In the meantime, I am having a sale right now.  I may continue it through October with a bigger discount.  Sure doesn't seem to be helping things.

Still, if you're in the area this month, hit me up.  I'll give you directions.

I'm just kind of desperate to get rid of some things right now, for a lot of reasons.  I'm starting to put out the Halloween stuff, so I need more room for it, and the Christmas stuff that's going to follow.  And I just need more sales.  I'm really starting to feel like I don't know what I'm doing here.  I have another furlough week coming up, and maybe more to follow.  It's looking like we might actually have to close for a few weeks in a row to deal with the budget shortfall.  (My real fear is that we may have to start looking to layoffs.  The human face of sequester is me.)  One of my income sources needs to become reliable.  Hell, I may have to start putting shit on eBay.

I have a few more tweaks and rearranges to make to my booth this week, so maybe that will help.  It will sure give me a lot more room.

Thank goodness for comic books!  Sometimes they're all I seem to sell.  I need to take another load to one of the booths this week.  After that, I'll have to bag some more because I'll be out of the pre-bagged ones.

Kosh has a vet appointment on Saturday, which will be fun.  (Not really.)  He doesn't like the vet at all.  Not at all.  But he needs some tests.  He's a grumpy old man now, and grumpy old men need tests.  (Right?)  He's claimed so many new sleeping spots for himself this week, that I can't keep up with him.  This is also flea pill week, which is also lots of fun.  (Not really.)

Honestly, I am in a better mood overall than this post would seem to indicate. 

This may have just changed my life!

But I'm still not sure.



I think I need to watch it four or five hundred more times to be sure.

I'm calling in sick today.

Eddie's Albatro$$

You try as hard as you can not to do it, but every junker will end up with a lemon from time to time.  I'm so tired of looking at these things that I thought I'd put them up here, so you all could share my misery.

First up, this:

Now, I fell in love with it when I first saw it.  Solid wood.  Oh so rustic.  Awesome tile inlay.

And a built-in bookshelf!

I was convinced someone would love it as much as I did.  It's got a bookshelf, for crying out loud!

It was a little more than I normally spend on a single piece, but I was getting a whole lot of other, cheaper furniture pieces at the same time, so I jumped on it.  That was almost two years ago.  I should have dumped it a long time ago, but I have a hard time giving up on something I find so cool.

I've had it everywhere:  both booths, consignment spaces, rough room.  No luck.  I filled the bookshelf up.  I emptied the bookshelf.  No luck.  I have lowered and re-lowered and re-re-lowered and re-re-re-lowered the price.  No luck.

Now I've got it at cost.  Thankfully, all of the other items from that buy have sold, sold quickly, and sold well.  I've made my money back on the buy and a nice profit, so I'm not going to hurt as bad over this one piece as I would otherwise.  (As long as I don't think about the rent for the space it's occupied for two freaking years!)  Still, I would have liked to have made money on it.  Now I just want it gone.  I'm prepared to go below cost if I have to.

Sigh.

Turns out there's not a market for solid wood, heavy, sturdy 70's end tables with a rustic flair.  Wish I'd gotten that memo earlier.

Uh Oh!

Here's an update on the phone from this post.  Looks like the situation is getting worse.

 

Poor thing.  Just lying there like that.  Can't you hear it calling out?

Help Me!

Help Me!

Help Me!

Is there no one that can do anything?

Linking Around

This is a longer Linking Around post than usual.  I had the links gathered for a normal length one, but hadn't started writing it before I took my break.  I kept adding to it in the time since, so here it is in all its glory.  We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's get started.  Some of the comic links in this post come courtesy of the awesome Comics Reporter.

I'm behind on my Days commenting, so I didn't do my Day by Days yesterday.  I'll have to do an extended one of those soon.  However, here is a list of sexy Days wicked ladies, and (in the interest of equal time--AHEM!) a list of hunky henchmen to tide you over.

Speaking of Days, I was a little dismayed to see that they have released Chandler Massey, who plays Will, from his contract almost three months early.  Yes, he had said he was wanting to move on when it expired, but this seems odd to me, especially since the kid brought so much acting cred to the show with back-to-back Emmy wins.  I think the show is gambling on the fact that they tape so far ahead (Massey will actually air until the end of the year) that the fan furor will die down before the recast actually appears on the show.  I think they're wrong.  Honestly, I see some backtracking and an effort to get Massey back in a few months.  Charlie Sheen can't be wrong, can he?

On the one hand, the IRS moving forward to recognize same-sex couples is yet more progress on the gay marriage front.  On the other hand, it can create some other issues for couples like us who live in a state where same sex marriage is prohibited. 

Within the last few weeks, we lost a couple of really talented gentleman.  Cowboy Jack Clement helped shape the Nashville music scene for decades and is one of those forces that helped keep the kind of country music I like alive, leading to the birth of alt-country and Americana music.  Stan Lynde was an excellent cartoonist who drew the western strip Rick O'Shay for many years.  I used to get this magazine called Comics Revue in the early 90's which reprinted strips from many eras.  One of those included was Lynde's.  I was quite fond of his work.

Did you ever hear about the time some newspaper comic strip captions got switched by accident?

This guy is my new hero. 

This piece from the venerable Comics Journal is a great article about comics and the misconceptions of their value. It should be mandatory reading for junkers and resellers.  What I found most interesting was the assertion that lots of fans from my era are trying to get rid of the comics of their youth right now, creating a soft market.  I know I've found those issues in good shape in the 25 cents to a dollar range for quite some time now, without much trouble.  The real irony here is that thirty years ago I was finding them for that price in flea markets!

I unloaded a ton of that stuff several years ago and I'm glad I did now.  I took the X-men stuff (including the seminal and sought after Giant Size X-Men #1) to my comic shop and got over $350 and then sold a bunch of long boxes at a yard sale for $400.  I didn't know it then, but apparently timing was on my side.

Oh, Pooh!  Say it ain't so! 

I was really upset to learn from Roger that Linda Ronstadt has Parkinson's.  We're talking one of my favorite artists from my youth and an incredible musical talent.  As I've said before, she's the reason I discovered the musical love of my life, Emmylou Harris.  I know there are treatment advances happening all the time, so I'm hoping for the best for her.

Look out, Miley Cyrus!

One of the first Golden Age comics I was ever able to buy was an issue of Fairy Tale Parade by Walt Kelly.  I came of age reading all kinds of Golden Age reprints, so I've always had a love for them.  The problem is that GA comics tend to be pretty pricey in the back issue market.  I was kind of tickled to not only find this one in an antique store in the town where I went to college, but to get it for a dollar.  (Really!)  This was just a few years after I graduated.  I had come back for homecoming and was wandering around town.  I found the comic on a shelf of books and the store owner didn't seem to know what it was, so he said "How about a buck?"    Needless to say, I took it.  Here's a sample of the kinds of stories Kelly (better known for the newspaper strip Pogo) did back then.  (Link courtesy of Comics Reporter)  His art is fluid and expressive and the story is sweet as can be.

Finally, ever wonder how the design for the push button phone came to be?

Post-Vacation Monday Rambles

All together now:

Vacation!
Nice, but it's over!
It's Monday!
Have to go back to work!

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.  Guess I got a little too involved in the "rest" side of the "rest and relaxation" thing.

I didn't get my junk room straightened.
I didn't get any blogging done.
I didn't do much of anything, really.

I did, however, nap.  A lot.  I got some good, much-needed rest.  I'm starting to feel much more energetic and much, much better.  Almost normal, in fact.

It's going to be a challenging week at work.  Our session ends this week, and the week off isn't going to help anybody when test time comes.  Just have to make the best of it, I guess.

I did get a little thrifting in last week.  My uncle and I got together twice and hit the shops.  I didn't find too much, but it was good to see him again.  We went to one place I had been wanting to hit for while, but for some reason had not.  It ended up being a bust, so the place is on my "visit once a year" list now.  At least now I know.

Yard sales were really good this weekend.  You've already seen my new friend.  If not, scroll down.  I also made a killer Ficher-Price score that I will write more about later.

I spent yesterday at the Peddlers Mall working on the booth.  My sales have drifted down to almost nothing.  My check last month was pitiful.  August is usually a bad month, but not that bad.  I know part of it goes back to the effort that I wasn't able to put into the space for months.  During chemo, I was doing only what had to be done, and that was usually just putting new stuff out and picking stuff up off the floor.  I just didn't have anything else in me.

I just now feel like I'm able to really take advantage of the larger space I have.  Expanding when I did (right after my surgery) wasn't the wisest move, but it was a chance I had been waiting for.  If I had let it pass, I would have had to wait a long time for that one corner to open up again.

The problem is, I can't support this space on smalls alone.  At least, not the nick nacky kinds of things that have always been my stock in trade.  I need more medium-sized items and small furniture.  I also need to spend more time there, now that I am able to.  One afternoon a week  just won't cut it any more.

The fall is usually a busy time, so I'm bouncing back at the right moment.  I cleared out two carts of shelf sitters and took them to the thrift downstairs.  I won't be able to shop there for a month now.

Some of that stuff had been there since I opened the booth!  A lot of it were things that folks have given me.  I have a good line with a couple of vendors who give me their cast offs.  I'll usually sell a lot of it, but there's always a piece or three that just won't do anything.  Some of it came from box lots where I had sold the bulk of the items and more than made my money back.  And there was one little smidge that never should have gone into the booth to begin with.

Back when I started the booth, I set back four or five tubs of stuff I got at a couple of auctions to use as "emergency" stock if I ever ran low.  I never touched the stuff, so I brought it in when I wasn't feeling well.  It was already priced, so it was easier to deal with.  However, there's a reason I deemed the stuff for emergencies only.  Clunker city!  About a fourth of it sold and the rest has sat there and mocked me all summer.  Well, not any more.  I long ago made my money back from those auctions and then some and then some again.  It's all gone now.

I put out some Halloween stuff and will have more coming this week and next.  I also started a small Christmas shelf.  I pulled a bunch of things to markdown as well.  I didn't get to them (ran out of time), so they are still sitting in a cart.  I'm hoping the manager won't notice tomorrow.  I'm going to clearance them until the end of the year, then take what's left to the thrift.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to pump a ton of new stuff into the space.  It's time to turn this ship around!

I feel like I should turn to the camera at this point and exclaim "I'm back, bitches!"  As I have no idea who the "bitches" are which I would be referring to, I'm going to refrain from doing so.  I still have a massive amount of stuff to do, but it feels better in there than it has in weeks.  I'll be heading back on Wednesday to finish up.

Other than that, this week is going to be mostly about catching up and moving on.  To quote Robert Earl Keen:

"It feels so good feeling good again!"

We made a new friend today

I'll have more to say later, but I had to share one of today's purchases right away.

 

Who doesn't need a four foot tall wooden Teletubby cut out?

Holiday Monday Rambles

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mainly, the trip was about seeing the interesting stuff.

Very interesting stuff.

 

Very interesting, indeed.

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

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

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

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

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

All together now:

Vacation!  All I ever wanted!

I'll be humming it all week long.

And Now for No Apparent Reason, I Present...

A CLOSE UP PICTURE OF A TABLE LEG!!!!

Actually, there is sort of a reason.  I was feeling kind of silly and giddy and cleaning and stocking the booth this week.  I really shouldn't have a cell phone camera at those times.

We do hope you enjoyed this little jaunt in to my insanity.

Fun Finds: Salem Tray

I was stocking at the booth this week, when I pulled out something I had meant to photograph for the blog and forgot.  The lighting isn't always the best there, so you'll have to pardon that, but I couldn't let this one go without sharing it.

 

I got this from a sale we just happened to run across on our way to another sale.  It was all one dollar tables and quarter tables.  I got a lot of stuff there, including this vintage advertising tray.  

What are they advertising with this lovely, delicious-looking still life?  Is it the bread?  Or the fruit?  Maybe it's the lovely tulips in the back?  None of the above, I'm afraid.  Take a look at the lower right corner.

 

Yes, it's Salem cigarettes!  Can't forget our after dinner ciggy, one we've finished with all these delectable goodies!  Let's lay them out here on the, uhm, steak so we won't forget them.  It was a totally different time back then, huh?

I know I've seen a similar tray, only with all kinds of breakfast goodies surrounding the cigs, but I forget which retro-vintage blog I saw it on.  They really stand out and look odd on that one!

I owe the blog an extended post of finds from the past month or so.  I just haven't gotten around to finishing the pics.  It's been a slow summer with very few good hauls, but there has been some cool stuff popping up here and there.  I'll try to get that out next week.

So what happened, anyway?

I feel like I should explain a little bit, to the extent that I can, what happened recently that caused me to take a step back from the blog and reflect.  I'm still trying to make some sense of what happened and I think this will help me sort things out.

As most of you are aware, putting things out on the internet makes you a potential target for just about anything.  This is a wild, wooly, very public forum, and what you put out there never really goes away.  I have always tried to remain cognizant of this and have typically been very circumspect in what I've written.  I don't really write about my jobs, for example, past or present.  (Although I do admit to making some extremely veiled comments mainly for my own amusement during a particularly bad time at my previous employment.  Roger, that is what "Flee the Yellow!" was all about!)

At the same time, I have been open about other personal details (like my cancer), which I think has made my blog both an interesting read, as well as useful and cathartic for me.  I don't regret anything I've said here, even now.  However, it seems there's always someone out to make some kind of trouble for other people.  And that's what happened to me.

So What's Next?

Today is my one week anniversary of being CANCER FREE!  Yay!  Let the pigeons loose!  Huzzah!  Huzzah!  And there was much rejoicing!

Melanoma spreads easily and has a high rate of recurrence.  The whole purpose of my chemo regimen was to make sure there was no spread and to try and prevent a future occurrence.  In order to be sure that everything worked, I have a lot of following up to do.  I may be cancer-free, but I'm not yet doctor-free.

Here's my schedule for the foreseeable future:

EVERY THREE MONTHS

Alternating scans and x-rays, followed by an appointment at the clinic to get the results.  At some point this will drop to every six months, then once a year.  After about five or so years, I'm done.  At that point, I'm considered to be successfully non-recurrent.

EVERY THREE-FOUR MONTHS

Dermatologist appointment.  I have to get all my moles regularly checked and monitored by a doctor for the rest of my life.  I have one on my back right now that is kind of suspicious and has tested abnormally.  We were holding off on doing anything until the chemo was over, so I'm thinking that pretty soon that sucker's gonna go.  My next appointment is November, and we'll probably make the arrangements then.

Given my family's history of cancer--both my mother and grandmother died from it--and moles*, I'm pretty much okay with doing whatever we need to do to keep this from happening again.  Cancer has pretty much consumed 2013 for me, and I am not the least bit eager to ever repeat these last eight months again.  If it means inviting the damn dermatologist to Thanksgiving dinner, then I'll set him a place at the table.

It won't be too long before I'll be at the age where colonoscopies come into my life on a regular basis.  I'm guessing there'll be some prostate screenings too.  Bring it on, I say!  I intend to hang around for a while yet.  There are comic books to read and junk to buy and sell and blogs to write and bikes to ride and kitties to pat and music to listen to and soaps to watch and.......lots of other important stuff to do!  Not to mention the fact that I have a wedding coming up!

Thanks again, everyone, for going through this ordeal with me.  Blogging and touching base with you all was an important part of my coping strategy, whether I was writing about the cancer or not.  I truly do appreciate you all and have nothing but good hopes and wishes for all of you!

*My grandfather told me about the moles he had removed when I saw him right before he died in July.  One of my cousins had to have pre-cancerous moles removed in the spring.  My whole ordeal even prompted my uncle to get his moles checked out and he had to have several removed.  He had been putting that off for years.  We are a moley people!

Return of Monday Rambles!

And....I'm back! 

Thanks for waiting for me.  I had a lot of stuff to think about regarding this blog and some other issues, so I appreciate your patience.  I'll be explaining more in the next couple of days.

My body is starting to realize that I didn't get any chemo last week.  I'm a little perkier and a little more energetic.  I still tire suddenly and unexpectedly--those damn bricks are still sneaking up on me--but I can feel myself slowly returning to normal.

I actually took a short bike ride the other day!  It was wonderful!  I kept it very short and reasonable and stayed close to home.  I can't pull hills just yet, so I had to walk the bike in some places.  Windy needs some work done, so I actually took Keith's bike, which worked well, because it's easier to ride.  Of course, once I made it home, I immediately crashed--hard--but I got to take a bike ride!  I'm planning another one for this weekend.  If it goes well, I'm going to start semi-regular riding next week.

Booth sales have been uneven due to the fair.  The first week of the fair, they were pretty good for fairtime, but last week was more typical.  In other words, sucky.  I'm glad it's over.  Things pick up in the fall, so I am looking forward to it.  I have to start gathering the harvest and Halloween stuff.  My back to school stuff didn't do as well this year as last year.  Don't know what's up with that.

Yard sales have been spotty this summer, but last weekend was good:  old comics, wooden kids' chairs and other fun stuff.  I'm needing to do a post on my finds real bad.

I need to run, so I'll sign off.  Look for regular posts this week.  I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Let me leave you with this pic of a phone booth near my work:

I thought it looked kind of artistic with the bright colors and the broken receiver.

YES! YES! YES!

And we have the "All Clear"!

I am CANCER FREE!!!!

I have to go for regular scans and follow ups over the next few years, but everything looks like it's supposed to and there is high confidence on the part of the doctors involved that it will stay that way.

This is me getting good news and not getting chemo!

I'll have a lot more to say about this shortly, but for right now, I'm enjoying the feeling of knowing that all that chemo and all those bricks were worth it.  I'm still waiting for all the bricks to fade away, which might take a few more weeks.

Thanks so much to all of you who have supported me through all of this .  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your notes and thoughts and prayers and emails.

Look for regular posting from me to resume on Friday.

Buying Comics

The only productive stop I made during last week's less than fruitful yard sale run was the comic store that I used to shop at.  I still consider it "my shop."  I started shopping there when I was a senior in high school, so old habits are hard to break.  The manager still knows me by name and talks to me every time I come by.  Mostly, my trips these days are to buy booth stock on sale days, get comic bags, or do some research.

Last weekend was their sidewalk sale, which is always a good source of stuff for me.  I try not to miss them.  They didn't have as much non-comic stuff out as they usually do (or maybe they did and I just missed it), so I mostly bought just comics.

Buying comics for the booth is kind of tricky, but I think it's one thing I've got down.  There are other dealers with comics in the Peddlers Mall, but I think I outsell them.  It's not unusual to find their comics left at my comic boxes.  People will leave them there after carrying them all over the mall, because my selection and prices are better.

There are three things (I think) that help me as a comic seller:

1.  I know comics and I have a pretty realistic view of them.
2.  I know what's selling in the bargain bins and boxes in the comic shops, comic shows, and places like Half-Price Books.
3. I have been the dude searching through the comic boxes at flea markets looking for treasures.

What this does for me is give me a selection of comics that's more varied with price points that are better than other sellers around me.  I don't have long boxes full of stuff from the 90's glut that no one wants.  I don't uniformly price my comics, either.  Everything is priced issue by issue.  I do have some standard price points, but my comics are priced according to a variety of factors.  My stock changes regularly too.  I add new comics every week.

It's a little more work for me, but I want to do it right (or at least what I consider to be "right').  I think it works for me, based on conversations that I have with people shopping for comics and conversations I overhear from shoppers looking through them.   I pretty much sell some comics every day, even when I don't sell anything else.  (It's the "anything else" part I gotta work on.)

Anyway, here's some of the stuff I got.  Just some.  I got tired of taking pics, so I quit.  I'm such a bad junking blogger.  The lighting in some of these is really off too.  Sorry about that.

I always have to get Silver Age Lois Lane comics when I can get them cheap.  The boxes that held my Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen comics came up missing when Keith and I moved in together, and I have been trying to rebuild that part of my collection ever since.  The one on the right is in rough shape, but for 50 cents, what do you expect?  These are keepers, but I think I might have that one on the right.  If that turns out to be the case, I'll toss it in the booth.

Stuff from the era of my heyday buying comics as a reader/fan.  I think the late seventies to mid eighties gets undervalued in terms of comics.  Stuff was well-written, well-drawn and a lot of fun.  I like to carry that stuff when I can find it.  I think there's some nostalgia out there for it.  The last Supergirl comic was a promo/giveaway thing done with Honda.  I love those kind of product-placement comics, so I'm keeping this one.

Series I always wanted to read when I was a kid.  Keepers, for the moment.

Nineties crap.  So much stuff was pumped into the market in the mid to late 1990's, that you have to be careful with this stuff.  There's a lot of it out there in the secondhand non-comic market.  Dealers will buy a long box of crap for 60 bucks at an auction and think they're going to clean up because the comics are 20 years old and everyone knows old comics are worth a lot of money.  What they don't know is that what they're buying is stuff the original owner thought was going to be worth a mint when it was published.  After that never panned out, they took it to the auction with a bunch of other old junk they didn't need any more.

There's so much of the so-called "hot" comics of that era out there, that you can get burned if you're not careful.  If it's selling in quarter and fifty cent bins at comic shops, then it's really not going to bring more than that in your flea market booth.  What I try to do is limit myself either to getting whole series cheaply then bagging them to sell as a set or else just stick to special issues--basically anything with more pages than a normal issue.  I always liked to feel like I was getting more for my comic money, so I like to pass that feeling on to my shoppers as well.

Stuff from this century.  Again, I try to stick to larger than usual special issues and such.

Major "event" comics from this era.  I hate the whole concept of "event" comics and crossovers and such, but the idea is here to stay and it ain't going nowhere.  When I can get them cheap (that's my mantra), I'll sell a whole series as a set.  Otherwise, I'll stick with the odd issue or special.  Believe it or not, there are buyers like me who would bypass the thing at full price in a heartbeat, but check it out when it's super-cheap. 

Another thing I always look for is what they used to call the "prestige format" (comics with cardstock covers and square spines).  It's another way of offering more bang for my customers dollar.  All I have to do is find them cheaply enough.  (There's that mantra again.)  I wish I had been able to buy all four issues of this one, then I could have sold it as a set.  Oh well.

I know it seems kind of hodge-podgey, but that's what I'm going for, a variety of things from a variety of eras.  There are comic readers who have been priced out of the market who still wouldn't mind catching up on things, if they don't have to pay an arm and a leg.  They don't care if it's the hot event from three years ago.  It's new to them.  They're one of the groups I try to cater too.

Like I said, it seems to be working.  I have a good sell through and turnover.  I also have an audience of regulars who seek my stuff out.  I love selling comics because I still love comics.  I have fond memories of being that kid at the flea market, digging through the boxes in search of back issues.  I remember the thrill of finding a treasure for 25 or 50 cents.  I want to provide that same feeling to someone else.  All I have to do is buy carefully and find things cheaply enough.

Something Has Happened

I'm going to be taking a blog break for a few days.  Not sure how many, but hopefully, it won't be long.  I need to figure some things out with relation to this blog.  A couple of personal things have happened involving the blog and I need to take a step back and think.  I'll explain more when I come back.

Before any of you who have been following the cancer stuff get worried, let me say that I am fine.  Nothing has happened to me, at least not physically.  Keith and the cats are okay too.

I had my scan yesterday, which led to another struggle to find a vein for an IV.  (I'm really starting to hate needles.)  After that everything went okay.  I did have to drink the yucky contrast stuff.  Ugh!  I'll get the results next Tuesday.  The word we want is "All clear."  Keep that in mind.  Thanks.

I've got a post scheduled for Saturday that will go on.  After my appointment next week, I'll update on my health status.  But after that, it may be a little while.

I'm rich I tell you!

I just opened a box that I bought at a vendor mall a little while ago and I found that it was stuffed with money!

Seriously, take a look:

Do you see those hundreds?  There are dozens of them!  What a lucky find, just sitting in this innocuous box, waiting to be discovered.  Fancy that!

I mean who would suspect that a box labeled "Play Money" would contain such riches?

Wait a minute....

Never mind.

But isn't vintage play money cool?  There's stuff from at least four different companies here.

Grumpy Monday Rambles

I came really close to pre-empting this Ramble.  Really close.  I'm in a foul mood that won't seem to lift and just don't want to subject you all to it.  I do enough whining here as it is.  Last week was a crappy week, and that's all I'm going to really say about it.

Other than this:  my sales remain in the toilet.  I've had one good sale day so far this month.  I get depressed just thinking about it.  It's at the point that it doesn't matter that yard sales are really sucking right now, because I'm not moving through my stock right now.

Not even my beloved Days of Our Lives could cheer me up this week.  There were lots of nice little scenes--Victor and Brady for one--but the big blow up between Marlena and Kristen--which was hyped in the network previews--turned out to be anti-climactic.  If we're only going to see Marlena once every three weeks, then she should at least get to knock Kristen out.  It's only fair.

I spent Sunday on the internet (instead of pricing merch, writing blog posts, and tidying my junk room) reading comic book blogs and sites, which actually made me feel a little better.  I might write some more stuff about comics over the next few weeks.  I'll definitely be pulling some stuff out of my graphic novels to read stack this week!  A whole lot of what I read online pretty much reconfirmed my decision to get out of the hobby as a hardcore collector.  I can definitely echo the relief of this post about getting rid of comics.    At the same time, though, I was also reminded how much I do love comics themselves.  It might be just the thing to cheer me up a little.  It's worth a try.

My scan is scheduled for Wednesday, so I'll be one step closer to (hopefully) finding out that I am cancer-free in a few days.

I'm probably jumping the gun a bit, but I intend to take a bike ride this week.  I don't know how far I'll end up going, but I'm getting tired of having to be so damn inactive.  Maybe it will make me feel better.

Not sure about blogging for the week.  Nothing is really planned or set up as yet.  Might be for the better, given how crummy this post is turning out to be.  Oh well.

I think dealing with the cancer over the past eight months has really impacted my depression, which would certainly explain my mood.

Eddie Does Dolls

It's pretty well known among the members of the Yard Sale Queen message forum that I find dolls to be, well, really creepy. (Also clowns.)  Maybe it's one too many horror flicks, but I look at them and the only thought that comes into my head is that at midnight they're going to come to life, form a coven, have a satanic rite, and eat my soul.  Brrr. 

Sometimes, though, you just can't pass up a bargain.  And so I have these.

Really, one of them is named "Miss Mary"!  I'm supposed to pass that up how exactly?

Luckily, they're still in their original packaging, which renders them and their evil inert until opened.  I ain't gonna open them.  I'm just gonna sell them.  What happens after that is beyond my doings.  Caveat emptor, indeed.

The YSQ forums, by the way, are a great place to hang out, share junking stories, and learn more about this wild, insane world of re-sale buying and selling.  Several of my regular commenters are also members there.  Folks are super nice over there, so check it out.  I highly recommend it.  Tell 'em I sent you!  (You do have to be a member to read the posts.)

Linking Around

It's "Geek Week" on YouTube, so in honor of that I present this pretty awesome Nerdy Jokes video.  How many do you get?  I'm either pleased as punch or appalled that I got everyone of them, save two.  Nerditude confirmed. 

Turns out the most famous Mark Twain quote about Kentucky didn't come from Twain.  Doesn't matter.  It's still true.

Roger already did this one but it's too funny not to share:  George Takei on the aftermath of the DOMA decision.

Finally, links to a couple of collectors sites that I got from monkeybox.  I'm always interested in seeing what people collect.  Sadly, both these sites are defunct, but they've been left up for others to appreciate.  I didn't care for Collection a Day so much because it was so curated and staged.  It really felt artificial and contrived to me, because I didn't feel any of the passion of the real person that is supposedly collecting all these things.  She did get a book deal out of it, so what do I know?

Copycat Collector based her blog on the CaD site, featuring a part of her collections every day for a year.  This one I like a lot.  It just feels much more genuine.  Part of that is because she shares about her items, where they came from, why she likes them.  That is what collecting is about.  It doesn't matter what it is.  There's always a reason why someone collects it.  Divorced from that reason, a collection is just a pile of stuff, and who wants to look at that?

Listen to the Music!

Music has always been a huge part of my life.  I know I'm not alone in this, by any means.  There used to be a group of bloggers that did mix CD exchanges a few years ago.  That's how I met Roger.  I loved doing that, because I found so much new music that I liked.  Lately, I've been using YouTube as my source for new music.  I hardly ever listen to the radio any more (unless it's NPR), so I tend to play/listen to my old faves and stand bys a lot.  I watch YouTube stuff while I work, so I still get a good dose of new/interesting stuff.

I thought I would do a post about some channels that I really like.  First up is kexpradio, a public radio station out of Seattle.  They apparently do a tremendous amount of in studio artist appearances, because they post three or four a week.  The variety is amazing--established acts, new acts, indie artists, alternative stars, local and regional faves--and the spread of genres is pretty varied.  Not everything is my cup of tea, but there's a lot more hits than misses.  I always have several of their shows on my Watch Later list. 

Another one I really like is MusicCityRoots, the channel for a concert series out of Nashville that focuses on the wide variety in the Americana and alt-country scenes, but also ranges out into rock, jazz, and world music from time to time.  Jim Lauderdale is pretty involved

here, as he keeps popping up in their vids.  That's always a good thing.  The acts range from established folks to local/regional artists, which means there's always a lot of folks I'm not familiar with in their feed.  Since this is my "favorite" type of music, I usually find an awful lot to like.  My only gripe is that I wish they would put up whole sets in their feed, instead of individual songs.  Sometimes I find someone I really like, and there's only one song from them.  Augh! 

The last one I want to plug is not connected with any kind of outside entity.  It's just a channel done by a fan, who uploads music that she likes.  And she has a vast library of stuff to choose from! 1000Magicians has a real bug for the Americana and traditional country scene, so you can find all the good stuff on her channel:  John Prine, Kristofferson, Patty Griffin, Nanci Griffith, Vince Gill, Allison Kraus, and of course, the lady, the legend, the goddess herself:  Ms Emmylou Harris.  If you know me, you can see why I like this channel a lot.  It never disappoints.  You can find some real gems here from classic performances.

Happy listening!

Monday Rambles

Monday?  Again?  Already?  Are you sure?  Oh well....

Last week pretty much kicked my ass.  The chemo may be over, but the bricks are still here and they were really dragging me down last week.  A couple of nights, I hit the bed as soon as I got home from work.  Heck, Saturday I crashed in the car on the way home from yard sales.  I foresee no marathons in the immediate future.  I am so impatient to be 100% again!

My schedule eases up this week, as my summer gig ends today.  That will change me from having to be at work at 9:00 am to having to be there at 12:30 pm.  That shift will really help in terms of the extra rest.  Also, I'll be able to get some things done at the house before I go, when I feel like it.  I've kind of been a lump for too long as far as the house is concerned.  I can hardly keep up with just the booth stuff.  Keith has been so good about picking up my slack, but I'm feeling a little bad that he's had to do so much for me.

Speaking of the booths, I am really discouraged right now.  For the first time in my junker career, I feel like I do not know what I am doing.  I went to work the space on Wednesday and just ended up sitting and staring and feeling sorry for myself.  July sales were just about the worst I have ever had.  I cannot seem to sell any large items right now to save my life.  That would be okay if the smalls sales weren't in the toilet too.  I've had way too many days lately of less than 10 dollar sales, sometimes less than five.  I seriously wanted to cry on Wednesday.  I just don't know what to do.

Part of it is my fatigue, I know.  It makes me a lot more dramatic about things, but there is an element of hard reality here smacking me in the face that I don't like.  I need to be going in twice a week to tend to the space, but I just don't have that in me right now.  I'm paying the price for that, so I feel like a failure.

Things did pick up over the weekend.  I had a killer day in smalls on Saturday--over 50 bucks--and sold a glass-topped table on Sunday.  That's left me feeling a little better, but I also know that it's August, which means State Fair and Back to School and traditionally low sales overall.  I know it's all ebb and flow.  I know that I have to get better to do what I need to do.  That doesn't stop me from feeling down and upset over this.  My confidence is really shaken right now.

Oh, geez.  This is another one of those whiny Monday posts, isn't it?

Sales were so-so this weekend.  Threatened thunderstorms, which did not happen, really cut down on the participation in one of my favorite neighborhood sales.  What was there was pretty mediocre.  I had to put up with one seller telling me that the plate she was overcharging for was "selling on eBay for that."  Someone hasn't read the rules!  I barely caught myself before I told her to go put it on eBay if she wanted that price for it.  I did find a couple of things and have a couple of stories to share, but I'll do that later in the week.

Day by Days:  Sami had a bail hearing and Marlena was not there?  I call foul!  At least Hope is showing up more and more.  They need to make up their minds about the extent of Rafe's injury.  Does he have trouble with simple sentences or can he spit out monologues?  It seems to vary from scene scene.  I love the dressing down he gave Nick though.  This was a good week for Nick, with scenes with Rafe, Maggie (yay!), Kate, and Vargas (yum!).  I think they're maneuvering him for new story.   The show does need to decide what they're going to do with Vargas.  Right now his story and back story are a mess.  I thought it was a clever set up for Stefano was to deal with Chad and not lie to him.  That'll tied the story up for a while.  By the way, I still don't care for the increasingly dull Chad-Abby-Cameron triangle.  I'm also not excited about Chad's would be brain tumor.  Oh well.  Still, any week that gives me Lucas and Sami together is a good week.  I also loved when Anne cornered Theresa.  Yes,  I was rooting for Anne to do something besides get hit by a bus.

Stuff got away from me last week, so I didn't get posts all week long.  I think I'll have the fixed for this week.   See you around the internet!

Cat Philosophy

I've been a little lax in sharing the philosophies of the feline brotherhood.  Please accept my apologies.  Here are several to make up for the lack.

There's no such thing as too much of a good thing.



Don't forget to share.  If someone does forget to share, remind them.



It's important to be helpful.



There is Napping.  Then comes everything else.



Note to Kosh and Chiquito:  There.  I did it.  Now, please, give me my keys back!

Need some spice and flavor?

Try a little Salt n Pepa!

Shoop



She Thing



Twist and Shout



Let's Talk About Sex



Independent



Works for me!  Hope it worked for you.  Sometimes I just need something a little different, yet familiar.

This is How We Do It: Shopping for Catholic Stuff

Junkers are notorious for not revealing our sources.  There's too many of us, and not enough stuff to go around to be giving away all our secrets.  Interestingly enough, we do like to brag to each other about our most awesome finds.  We want to show off our stuff, just not tell where we got it all.

When you specialize in certain kinds of items, you get known for having a good selection of, in my case, religious items.  You create a bit of a customer base, and eventually you get the question:  "Where do you find all this stuff?"

My standard answer is:  "Everywhere!"  Admittedly, it's a bit vague, but it's also pretty much true.  As a collector, I'm more tuned to find the items I collect than someone who is not.  Truthfully, they just leap out at me, because I notice them more readily.  It doesn't matter where they are.  I use this to my advantage as a seller.

Sometime last year, I was hitting some estate sales with another dealer.  She went down in the basement and came back up declaring that there was nothing there I would be interested in.  I went down, stayed five minutes, and came up with half a dozen framed vintage religious pictures.  She was oblivious to them, because it's not something she was tuned into.

It honestly doesn't matter what the item is, someone who collects or deals in that item will be more likely to find it in a general setting.  This doesn't mean that it's all sheer luck and keeping your eyes open, however.  There are some other tricks that I use in my hunt for Catholic religious items in particular.

It does help to know a little bit about the religious history and development of this area.  Part of my interest as a hobbyist has lead me to do a lot of reading about the Catholic church in Louisville, so  I use that information when I can.  Call it "pre-find" research.  I use it to choose my hunting grounds.

Along with that, estate sales in neighborhoods that have been heavily Catholic are a good source.  In days past, life was more neighborhood-centered, so many people belonged to the churches in their area.  Usually an estate sale near an older church will be the home of a deceased parishioner.  Older church members are typically more devoted to having things like images and statues, so those sales are a good source.  This is true even if the church has been closed or consolidated with another one.  Just because the church moves doesn't mean the people do.  Oftentimes, the family will keep one or two items that have a lot of memories, like a rosary, but have no interest in the other stuff.

Another great source for me is to make sure to hit sales in the somewhat more eclectic parts of town.  Lots of the "cool kids" are into this kind of stuff too, so I find a lot there.  Never underestimate what you can find at a "hipster" sale.  Stuff is usually cheap too.

Finally, another no-brainer:  look for church-run thrifts and/or sales benefiting Catholic schools, organizations and charities. Never miss a sale run by a Catholic church either!  Ever!

That's how it works for me, anyways.  For another category of item, the tips might be a little different, but mainly it's about using the knowledge you have to figure out where you need to be.