Re-introducing Saint Attica

I told you all yesterday that I had to restock and redo my religion wall.  A couple of weeks ago, someone came through and pretty much cleaned it out.  It happens from time to time.  I have regular niche customers who come to look for certain items: comic books, Disney characters, M&M stuff and religious articles.

Some of them come frequently and buy up small batches of stuff.  Others come once a month or every other month, and these folks will buy a HUGE batch of stuff on their visits.  I always look forward to seeing those visits show up on my sales report, dontchaknow?

Since this clean out happened at the same time that I am closing out my other booth, I have some religion stock to spare, but not much.  I am on the hunt right now for Madonnas and crucifixes.  Can anyone spare a saint or two to help a junker out?

I also had some small shelving and such to move over, so I decided to spiffy things up a bit with my restock.  Take a look.

The small shelves came from the other booth, and I think they've added a little bit of interest to the wall.  They're also a place for me to collect all my leftovers from the buyout and leave the rest of the space for new stuff.  After the first of the year, I'll mark those leftovers down and move them to my clearance shelves.  The big Madonna and Child pic on the right has already sold.  I'll move another pic from the stash at the left to replace it.  I have some religious kids books from the other booth to work in there this afternoon.

Close up of the picture stash.  I just love that sweet Hummel print of the praying kids.

Is it wrong that I find even Madonna and Child dolls to be a bit creepy?  I wish someone would buy this thing!

Finally, one for Shara.  A couple of super-sweet framed vintage kids' prayers.

By the way, I call my religious space "Saint Attica" because my booth is named "Eddie's Attic."  Can't remember if I've mentioned that before.

Monday Rambles

Dang!  What a week!  It turned into all booth, booth, booth!  I didn't get anything else done, including blog posting.  Sorry about that.  Also, sadly for a vacation week, I only got to sleep in one day!  Ack!

Here's a play-by-play:

Monday

Went by the vendor mall I want to move into.  They were very busy on a Monday just after opening, which is good.  I'm still on waiting list.  Sigh.

Did buy a few things there, including an awesome gold and black basket to put in my Halloween display.  I'm going to put bones in it.  I also got a few small Halloween things to fill in some holes.  I have to buy cautiously at this point.  I still want the display to look full and fresh, but I also want to start condensing it to one table.

Ate yummy Mexican food lunch.

Went to Peddler's Mall to straighten, tidy, and stock after weekend.  Had a cartful of items I had taken down to sell in the outdoor sale that needed to be returned to the shelves.  They did not get returned on Monday.

Instead, I bought a ton of items from two booths where the vendor had been evicted.  When an eviction happens, the vendor can't get their stuff until they pay the rent that is owed.  The mall sells it in an attempt to recoup some of the losses, since typically the vendor doesn't come pay and the mall is stuck with the stuff.  Most of the seized stuff is crap.  (There's a reason the vendor wasn't making rent.)

Evicted space.  You can't make rent if customers can't get in the damn booth!

I ended up buying a cartful of miscellaneous stuff, a metal baker's rack, a retro metal plant stand, a work table, and a wooden doll bench.  Even though they're trying to make their money back, the mall really doesn't want to deal with the stuff, so it's really cheap.  I ended up dealing with all that for the rest of the day.

In the cart, I found a couple of bowls marked Hall.  At first I thought they were Autumn Leaves, better known as the Jewel Tea pattern, but there was too much color.  Autumn Leaves doesn't have any green in it.  Turns out, it's a pattern from the 30's called Crocus.  Both bowls are chipped, but that kind of makes me love them even more.  This stuff was made to be used and used, not collected.  To me, evidence of that utilitarian life gives them character.  I hope someone else loves them too.

Not Jewel Tea, but Crocus

Tuesday

Went junking with my uncle.  I sold him a vintage campset from a box lot I bought.  It will sell better in his flea market set up.  He sold me a cool set of vintage bells for teaching music.  I was on the hunt for more religious items, since my religious wall has been pretty well cleaned out.  I did find a few.

Also got word that due to repairs needed from the roof collapse, my booth at YesterNook was being closed off and the stuff boxed up and stored.  Tried to negotiate with the owner on how that was to be done.  Ended up feeling really bummed about that, since I won't be able to have any kind of a sell down on my stuff.

Wednesday

Went to YesterNook to see what I could do.  There is a big-ass hole in the ceiling right outside my booth.  I do not understand how my stuff was not damaged.  The booth across the aisle from me was totally wiped out.

BIG ASS HOLE!

Not thrilled to see my stuff used to block off aisle.

My booth with restricted entrance.  It's empty now.  Everything has been removed.

Potential Big Ass Hole.  This one is right above my space.

Spent the morning packing up my religious articles to move to the Peddlers Mall.  Also moved all my small furniture items out.  Half went to the Peddlers Mall.  Snuck the other half into the YesterNook rough room without permission.  Shhhh.

Bought a couple of table top book racks to use at Peddlers Mall to hold graphic novels.

Talked with the store owner.  Managed to get an agreement to hold out the stuff I wanted to put in the store outdoor sale and to keep my stuff accessible in storage so I can continue moving out.

Took load to Peddlers Mall.  Worked on religion wall.  I hadn't realized how hard it had been hit until I pulled everything off it to redo it.  Normally the stuff from that area fills a cart and then some.  This time, it was barely half a cart.

Did not get items from outdoor sale back on shelves.

Thursday

Went back to Peddlers Mall.  Finished religion all re-do.  I added some shelving that I bought over from YesterNook to give it some new pizazz.  Finally, got the items from the outdoor sale back on the shelves.  Started Xmas display.  Tidied and foofed.

Hit my fave downtown thrift and found a small stash of religious stuff.  Chatted with the cashier a while.  Talked myself out of an end table.

Friday

Sleep in day!  Finally!  Got stuff ready for the Outdoor Sale at YesterNook.  Made a Craigslist ad for my stuff there.   Sorted two boxes of comics--priced some to go to Peddlers and boxed the rest for the sale.  Caught up on General Hospital and Days of Our Lives.

Saturday

YesterNook Outdoor Sale.  Sold about a hundred bucks worth of stuff, including a couple of large items I did not want to move.  Tried to negotiate a deal for some of my large shelving, but I'm not sure if it's going to go through or not.  Would love to not have to move all of them, but we'll see.  Bought a couple of things and had a bunch given to me, including a huge Xmas wreath.  Went to quarter sale at comic book shop.  Bought a stack of comics.  Moved all remaining small furniture to Peddlers Mall.  Stashed boxes of smalls at home.

Sunday

Sorted and priced stuff from outdoor sale.  Put up some new Craigslistings for Peddlers Mall booth. Sorted and priced comics.  Got load ready for Peddlers Mall.  Wondered where week went.

And that was the week that was.  I'm heading to the Peddlers Mall this afternoon after work.  Got to restock, tidy, and foof.  Also going to put out the very last Halloween stuff.  After that, it's time to watch the remaining stuff sell through.  I made rent yesterday, which is the earliest that has happened all year!  Really psyched about that.

This week, I'm going to try and see how accessible my stuff is that YesterNook has in storage.  I don't think there was much follow through on that after all.  I also have to get ready for my own yard sale, which will be Saturday.  After that, I'm taking a load of books to Half-Price Books to sell.  That should clear enough storage room for me to start moving the last of my stuff out of YesterNook.  My goal is to be gone there well before the end of the month deadline.  We'll see how it goes.

Last furlough, I was still tired from chemo recovery and just welcomes the chance not to have to do much.  This time around, it was go, go go!  I think that's a good sign.

Monday Rambles (Another Vacation Edition!)

Let's see...

I'm furloughed again this week, except that I managed to swing some evening hours for Tuesday and Thursday.  It's a good thing too, because I've got a booth to get ready to move.

If I can get in there, that is.  We had torrential rain all weekend, and the roof of the section of the store where I am fell in.  I was told my stuff was not damaged, but I'm not going to be fully satisfied on that point until I can see it myself.  The damage is supposed to be taken care of by now, but I didn't have any sales yesterday, so I'm not sure.  The store is closed tomorrow, so I think that will give them a chance to get things squared away.

My old sale has ended, so I'm starting a move out sale:

The store is having its outdoor sale this weekend, so I'll be cleaning out the booth for it.  Hopefully, that won't leave me with too much to move out.  I will be starting to haul a few pieces out and over to the Peddlers Mall this week.  I would love to be completely out before the end of the month, but we'll see what happens.

Speaking of the Peddlers Mall, the outdoor sale over there was only kind of so-so.  The previously mentioned torrential rains kind of put a damper on things.  The weather was okay on Friday, but Friday just isn't a bog yard sale kind of day for Louisville.  The storms broke just as soon as  I had closed down, and I got totally soaked to the skin trying to get home.  I felt like (and looked like) this.

Saturday it poured nearly all day.  Sellers were set up in the covered area of the parking lot, so we were okay, but it was raining so heavily that people could not get out of their cars to make their way to us.  When the rain finally slacked off, and it looked like things might pick up, the power went out inside the store, forcing it to close for two hours.  It was just a downer day.

It wasn't all bad, however.  I did make about sixty bucks.  I sold the albatro$$ chairs, albeit at a great loss.  Still, they're gone!  Never again!  I also sold an albatro$$ I hadn't gotten around to featuring yet, this large, handmade cabinet, which I thought had a nice rustic kind of flair, but quickly realized I could never display properly, as I have no walls:

What in god's name was I thinking?

Bonus:  I actually made money on it!  Which is good, since if you look up "hosed" in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of me and those damned chairs.  I almost brought the table down too, but I decided to hold off until I saw what kind of day Saturday was shaping up to be, since it is really heavy and doesn't sit on any of the flatbeds real well.  Turned out to be a wise decision.

Mostly what I had for sale were items that were left from a set of box lots I bought from another vendor.  I had already priced and taken the "good stuff" to the booth.  What was left were items that either weren't right for me, things I already had a lot of, or just plain crap.  I had 'em priced at $1 or .50 an item and everything sold but the crap, which I promptly took to the neighboring thrift at the end of the sale.  I made enough off of those items to cover the cost of all the boxes, so as the "good stuff" starts to sell, I'll be making money.

I also had a few experiences selling comics that will be the subject of a post later this week.

I also had a tragedy:

Don't worry.  The bear survived.

The flatbed cart I was using on Friday to haul stuff back upstairs to my booth didn't stop when I thought it did (darned momentum).  It kept going and careened into one of my card tables.  The only casualty was a ceramic liquor decanter, which is surprising, since the cart was heavy enough to have taken the table down.  Not five seconds after it happened, a woman came by and bought the other three decanters I had for sale.  I wish she had been ten seconds earlier.

Today, I'm going back to Peddlers Mall to freshen my Halloween display.  Most of the big stuff is gone, so the sales are starting to slow.  I did buy a few more things over the weekend, so I'm going to rearrange everything and spruce it up.  I'm also going to stop by the store where I am on the waiting list to see what things look like on that end.  I would love to be opened up in a second spot by the end of the year.

On the run

Eddie-tor's Note:  I finished this post once, but Blogger seems to have eaten it.  Bad Blogger!  The original was witty and intelligent.  This one is going to be bare bones and frustrated.

Busy!  Busy!  Tomorrow is the Outdoor Sale at the Peddlers Mall.  It's supposed to rain, but we've got a covered parking lot. Ha!  Take that competing yard sales! I actually think tomorrow will be slow, but Saturday will be busy.  Should be a fun time.

I've already got most of my stuff to sell stashed at my booth, but I'll be bringing some boxes of comics tomorrow.  I've got my signs all printed and everything.  I'll also be doing a 20% off sale at the indoor booth.  These special days are the only time we can run sales like this, but it brings out the shoppers, because many vendors will do it.

I just have to get some change cash today and I'll be set!

I'll do a late post tomorrow with the day one deets, then finish up on Saturday or Sunday. 

Righting the Ship

I've not made a secret of the fact that my re-sale stuff hasn't been going as well as I would have liked recently.  While I'm not going under, things haven't been performing at the level I need them to for some time.

The fault is mainly mine.  I got into the habit (out of necessity) of doing the bare minimum to keep things running while I was sick, but haven't made any efforts to get out of that mode since I've been better.   

September was my wake up call.  I didn't make my rent until the last week of the month.  For a while, I thought I wasn't going to make it at all.  Things turned around that last week, thanks in part to the renewed efforts I started making.  My sales for the end of September were better than they had been in a long while, even if we take the exceptional last Saturday out of the equation.

I've been putting a lot of thought in to this and I've started taking some steps to make the needed changes.  It will take a little time and a lot of effort, but I'm sure I can not only move in the direction I want to be going, but also really start hitting my sales targets.  I've still got a lot to do, though.

Refocusing:  Dropping one store is going to allow me to put my time and energy into the one that has always consistently produced for me.  Just the little extra time I've been putting in at the Peddlers Mall is already starting to pay off.

Clearing Out the Deadwood:  I've taken several bags of booth duds to a thrift and the rest are getting marked down and put out for the various outdoor sales and yard sales I have coming up.  It's time for all the shelf sitters to go.  I bring in fresh stuff each week.  It needs to stand out more than it does with all the deadwood all around it.

Taking a Leap:  I took a big leap of faith the other day at the Peddlers Mall and priced most of my shelving and display pieces.  Once I get the YesterNook shelves over there, I'm going to have too many, so I'm trying to be a little proactive.  Plus, it shakes up the look of a booth and forces me to work a little harder when one sells.  It can also generate a nice chunk of change, since I priced those puppies enough to make it worth my while to deal with getting replacements. So far, one has gone and I'm thrilled.  Even if none of the others actually sells, it's a chance worth taking.

Getting It All Together:  One of my goals for the year was to get my junk stuff organized.  So far, I've failed miserably at that.  Up until now, I could blame that on being sick, but that excuse is starting to look faded and shopworn.  I was able to do some buying while the chemo was going one, but the pricing and packing and prepping part that has to come after every buy only got done about half the time.  I've got some cool shit to sell that needs to make it to a booth.

Being Present:  Since my space has gotten bigger, I've come to realize that I need to go over more than once a week.  My night shift knocks out two possible evening for booth work, but I still have all day on Fridays, plus Monday and Wednesday afternoons.  My current plan is to go in on Mondays to clean and restock from the weekend and Fridays to clean up from the week and get ready for the weekend.  I've been doing it for a couple of weeks now, and it seems to be working. 

Putting It Out There:  I've come to realize that once things make it into the house, they run the risk of getting stuck there for longer than is necessary or healthy.  I've already started running larger items out there on the day I acquire them.  I need to set a turnaround limit on smaller stuff to stick with it.

Thinking Big:  I'm a smalls guy at heart.  Big stuff, like furniture, scares me.  It feels risky and I don't do well with it.  There's a lot I don't know.  But I need larger items and the money they can bring.  Slowly, but surely, I'll be taking more of that plunge.  I've got the room.

Using All the Options:  The Peddlers Mall consigns furniture for vendors, which is an option I've not used to the greatest extent I could.  I'm starting to get my stuff back up on Craigslist again.  Two years ago, I set up a blog, Twitter account, and Facebook page for my booth activities.  I still haven't done anything with them yet.  And I'm starting to seriously consider eBay and Etsy, even though I have some qualms about the idea.

Planning Ahead:  Ending one booth and moving it all out is going to take a lot of work.  Doing it in an orderly fashion will take a lot of planning.  I think this will be good for me.

Appearances are Everything:  The layout for my space needs a facelift badly.  It was what I could make out of the new space when I was ill, but it's really not the most functional or welcoming.  I'm mulling ideas right now, but it will probably be the first of the year before I make a major shift.  I'll need to get past the holidays first.

Staying on Schedule:  As we move into the holiday season, getting stuff out in a timely fashion is important.  I've already been paying the price for not having my Halloween stuff out in time.  It's not going to happen with the Christmas stuff.

Playing to My Strengths:  One thing my experience at YesterNook has taught me is who I am as a seller.  I'm not a vintage market, decorator oriented, repurposing, trend-following kind of dude.  I'm a flea market seller.  I like to sell fun, cool things of all types, including awesome vintage.  I sell comic books and religious items and have an audience and customer base for both.  I like to have fun in my buying and selling.  I kind of lost track of that somewhere along the line.  One of my goals is to get it back.

Taking a step

I'm making a really big step today.  Things are about to change for me, starting today.

In a few hours, I am submitting the letter announcing my intent to leave YesterNook, one of the stores where I have a booth.  By the end of the month, I'll be gone.  I'm going to focus all my resale efforts on the Peddlers Mall for the time being, while I look for a second site.  I'm on the waiting list for another store, but it may take a few months before my name makes it to the top of the list.

In the meantime, I've got a lot to do:  sell off as much as possible, plan the move out, figure out where to place/stash stuff, etc.  I think I can accommodate most of my shelving and large items at the Peddlers Mall, either in my booth or on consignment.  My large item sales there are picking up, so it's good to have some more to move in.

This was not an easy decision to make and there are a lot of reasons behind it--both business and personal.  I'm not going to go into a lot of them here.  This isn't the place for such a discussion.  The bottom line is this:  my business has been hurting since I got sick.  I just didn't have it in me to do what needed to be done to keep things on an even keel, so things started to slide.

Now that I am getting back to whatever passes for 100% for me, it's time to reverse that slide.  After just a little effort, I can see Peddlers Mall starting to turn around.  It's going to take a lot more effort to get it where it needs to be, and I have decided to dedicate my energy there.  I know what I can do there, whereas at YesterNook I never really did approach the levels I wanted.

In the end, it's a matter of making a rational decision and doing what needs to be done.  I can't help feeling like a little bit of a failure, though.

Monday Rambles

Well, I guess a week where I spent most of my time humming old Muppet sketches, 1990's earworms, plus this, and, somewhat inexplicably, this can't be all bad.  I think.

A quick word on that Doris Day link.  My mother used to sing that song all the time.  Only, being my mother, she'd sweep through with a grand flourish, building up through the "Will I be pretty?  Will I be rich?" line.  Then she'd stop and deadpan in this mousy little voice:  "No!"  And leave the room.  It used to crack me up.  It's probably one of those "you had to be there" moments.  Actually, it's more like one of those "you had to have known her" moments.  She was a hoot sometimes.

It's fixing to be a crazy week in my neck of the woods.  Actually, a crazy month, when you get down to it.  Next week is another furlough week from work, which means I have a ton of stuff to do to get ready for that. 

On top of that, here's what is coming up in the land of booths and re-sales:

Oct 4-5:  Fall festival and outdoor sale at the Peddlers Mall.  I'll have a booth. 

Oct 12:  Outdoor sale at YesterNook.  I'll have a booth.

Oct. 19:  My yard sale.

That's a lot of prep work, on top of the usual booth routines of stocking and foofing and such.  Expect some short posts and video posts and gag posts to fill in the gaps.

Speaking of the booth, to follow up on Saturday's post:  I ended up setting a new booth record!  my total sales were $145.24!  (My old one day record was $125.)  I haven't had a $100 day in at least a year, so it was much welcome.

In fact, it had been such a slow month up to now that I was singing the blues.  I seriously just made rent on Thursday.  The Halloween stuff kicked me into high gear, so I'm pissed that I didn't get it out two weeks earlier.    Several of the autumn items have sold as well, and I typically don't sell many of those.  Many of the most expensive Halloween things have already sold, which is nice.  I always worry that I've sunk my money into a dud.  The only thing that's not really moving is costumes, but I don't have many of those.

I've actually started working on a plan to get that large booth space producing at the level it should be.  I'll have another post about what I'm doing soon.  I'm making some radical changes, some of which are already paying off.

Saturday was a good yard sale day.  A couple of my favorite sales took place, although one was a total bust this time.  In addition to the blow molds in Saturday's post, I got a lot of nice smaller items.  It was one of those days where I ended up holding stuff on my lap, because the car was so full!

What A Day!

I'm totally beat.  It's been a long day, but a fun one.

I made some more new friends:

Think they'll get along with Po?

I also saw some interesting things:

I would have made friends with these ladies, but they scared me.

Best of all, when I stopped off at the Peddlers Mall to drop off the blow molds, the manager paged me to the register.  She was so excited to show me that I had already sold 100 dollars today, and it was only 1 pm!  I'm on pins and needles waiting for my sales email tonight!

Literary Corner: Booth of Dreams

A Poem What I Have Wrote
By Michael Edward Mitchell, age 48
 
If you stack it, they will scatter it.

If you tidy it, they will mess it up.

If you put it in your booth, they will leave it somewhere else.

If someone else places it in their booth, they will leave it in yours.

If you arrange it, they will move it around.

If you stage it, they will leave their empty pop bottles in the middle of it.

If you price it, they will switch the tags.

I'm pretty sure the toy jackhammer doesn't go with the Jesus pics.

If you close it, they will open it.

If you open it, they will close it.

If you put it up, they will take it down.

If you place it, they will move it.

If you put it on a shelf, they will leave it on the floor.

If you try to sell it, they might buy it.

The other stuff, though, is a given.

Getting it out of my system! Now!

Two weeks ago--seriously--I was eating lunch before work when this song came on the radio.  It's been stuck in my head ever since.  It's almost as bad as it was when the thing first came out.  Let me afflict you too, so I won't feel so alone.



Back when the song came out, I was in the throes of my brief involvement with anime fandom and the Sailor Moon reference tickled me.  (I'm still do like anime, but I have less time to follow series and such and certainly no time for organized fandom.  Plus, I have a stack of unwatched DVD's to go through.)  I still totally adore that show, even if--bit by bit--I'm selling off my memorabilia.

Back to the song, here's a parody version that kind of expresses how I've been feeling for the past two weeks.  (I still catch myself humming and singing along when I'm dong other stuff.)  There's a little bit of language to deal with in this clip.



Finally, here's an acoustic version that I like quite a bit.  That link also includes the lyrics, if you need them once you start humming along.

Valderee! Valderah! Valderaaaieeee!

Somehow, Keith and I got to talking about this Muppet sketch the other day, so I had to go look it up on YouTube.  I was remembering it as done by Muppet mice, but it turned out to be pigs.  This is one of my favorite Muppet sketches and it's still a scream after all these years.  Enjoy!



Here's what the song sounds like without the pigs.  I remember singing this in sixth grade.



It's more fun with the pigs.

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.