Meet Windy!

This is Windy!

He's my new (to me) bike!

Isn't he cool?  I love the lines.  He's so sleek and awesome looking.  Even the built-for-people-with-smaller-asses-than-mine seat is awesome.

He is taking a bit of getting used to, though.  He's taller than my old bike, but his 17 inch frame is more appropriate for my height than the 15.5 inch frame of the old bike.  It's just an adjustment to get used to sitting so high up.  Right now, I'm having a little trouble getting started back up from a dead stop because pushing off from that height is a little awkward for me.  I think I'll get the hang of it, though.

Windy rides really smooth.  He's lightweight, so it's easy to build up some speed.  And he takes hills really well.  I'm enjoying the ride a lot.

I also like that he's got space on the back for carrying stuff, plus more than enough room for a couple of baskets, which will be coming soon.  Windy's going to be an awesome thrifting and yard saling bike!  I'm not sure if I can fit a basket on the front, but I am going to try.  Another thing I really like about Windy is the kickstand.  I haven't had a bike with one since I was a kid.  It's so convenient!

Now, about the name.  Keith's bike is called "Townie" because, well, it's a Townie.  My old bike was a mountain bike, so I called it "Mountie."  Windy is a Windstream.  You get the idea.  (If I had gotten another mountain bike, I would have called it "Re-Mountie.")

I'm betting that some of you (I'm looking at you, Roger!) immediately thought of this when you saw the name:



I have to admit that it makes a catchy riding tune to have playing in your head as you cruise along.  However, I get other images, because I'm weird like that.  (Besides, Windy looks a little creepy in that video.  Sometimes she seems more menacing than carefree.)

This is my vision:



It's from CardCaptor Sakura, one of my favorite anime from days gone by.  Did you catch that the first card is called "The Windy,"  I have a deck of those Clow Cards around here somewhere. Anyway, in the anime, they say "Windy" with a heavy phonetic Japanese pronunciation, so it comes out as "oooindee" which I just love.   I could not find a clip of her using the card with the original sound intact, so you all could hear it.  Seems everyone wants to mess around with their anime clips on the YouTubes.

Anyway, that's what I think about when it comes to the name "Windy."

Yes, I know.  I'm strange.

And even though both of those Windy prototypes are female, my bike is male.  It just seems more fitting, somehow.

Pedal Peddling: Stuff to Consider

This is a follow-up to yesterday's post about yard saling by bicycle.  You might want to read that one first.  I thought there were some more technical (for lack of a better word) considerations that I would like to discuss, but didn't feel that they fit in a post about the overall adventure.

First is the obvious limits to saling by bike.  I know that when I make the choice to take the bike out on a yard sale venture that I am automatically limited on two fronts:  how far I can go and how much stuff I can get.  We're getting to the time of the year when there are sales (and good ones) everywhere.  I mean everywhere!  All other things being equal (meaning no large or special sales, like a church sale), I can pretty much do just as well hitting the sales in the neighborhoods surrounding my house.  This weekend, one of my favorite church sales (it's huge!) takes place, along with the city-wide sale for the area around the church.  It's all the way across town, so it's definitely not a biking jaunt.

As far as limits on purchases go, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes, I can benefit from having to be a bit more thoughtful and choosy when yard saling.  Due to the plenty right now, I'm verging on being overstocked.  It's the "feast" end of the "feast or famine" cycle.  Besides, if I plan my route well, I'll be passing the house often, so I can unload (and pee) frequently, if need be.

Large items (like furniture) are quite out, of course.  But, even then, I can pay for something and make arrangements to pick it up later.  Which I actually did last weekend.  I bought a cool vintage office chair, which went right to a booth after I picked it up, so it didn't get photographed.

I'm a regular bike rider.  I consider my bike to be my primary form of transportation.  I use it to go to work, run errands, thrift, and so on.  So hoping on the bike to head out yard saling is not that strange an idea to me.  It's pretty much a natural thing to do.  Others, of course, are going to--for their own reasons--think differently about the idea.  And that's okay.  What I can't understand is why I 'm still fat, given that I ride my bike all the time!  

One thing you do have to do when you sale on a bike is make preparations to carry the stuff you buy.  I do this with my super-large backpack (which could hold a small scout troop), the baskets on the bike, and several reusable shopping bags.  The bags provide good cushioning for items against the bouncing in the baskets, plus they can be easily tied on to the handlebars.

However, the more you buy and carry, the less maneuverable you become.  Keith's bike, which I used over the weekend, is pretty bulky as it is, but when you load it down with a few extra bags of stuff, it becomes like steering a battleship.  This cuts down on your speed and ability to steer easily. You have to take that into consideration, for safety's sake.  So if you try this, be prepared to take it slow and cautious!

Large loads also affect balance, especially on a bike like Keith's, which only has a basket on one side in the back.  That huge bag really threw things off, and made the bike only able to stand on the kickstand for a few minutes before toppling over.  That happened twice.  Thankfully, the basket cage kept things protected from scattering and breaking.  An added challenge was having all this extra stuff to throw my leg over when getting on and off.  I fell over the bike one time, which was really embarrassing!

Weather issues also come into play. I wouldn't try this on an extremely hot day.  Make sure you stay hydrated, regardless.

Finally, you also need to keep a careful eye on your bike and your purchases while you are shopping.  There isn't always a place to chain your bike up.  I didn't go to one sale on my list Saturday because I could not figure out a way to easily get my loaded bike up the hill in the front yard of the house and around to the back of the house where the sale was.  I didn't want to leave it chained up to a light pole in front of the house, since it had a lot of stuff in the baskets.  It just felt safer to me to bypass the sale.

Anyway, it may seem like something really weird to do, but yard saling by bike can actually be a lot of fun.  Just wanted to share.

Tomorrow, you'll get the chance to meet my new bike!  Can't wait to take him out saling.

Pedaling to Peddle

This is my bike:

This is my bike on yard sales:

Any questions?

In the interest of accuracy, I do have to admit that this is not really my bike.  It's Keith's, which is better for yard saling because it has two baskets.  I'm going to get a couple for my new bike and then I'll have the perfect yard sale bike!  Yay!

Saturday turned out to be the perfect day for yard sales and for biking.  It was clear, cool, and a little bit breezy.  Ideal.  So, I made up a little list and set out on my pedal journey to find stuff to peddle.

Re-selling has acquired a reputation for being a "green" form of retail enterprise.  Like a lot of other claims to environmental friendliness, I believe this reputation is both overstated and misunderstood.  There's a long blog post about this topic for sometime in the future, but I seriously do try to maintain some level of environmental sensitivity in what I do and how I approach my re-selling enterprises.

One of the things I do is try to plan routes on yard saling days that proceed along some sort of a path and minimize backtracking and fuel consumption.  And from time to time, I take my bike out on the hunt.  One time, I even set out on foot!

Another factor that worked out in favor of the bike was the presence of many sales right in my own area.  I've lived in this neighborhood for a decade now, and I was on streets Saturday that I had never even heard of before.  It was kind of cool.

Taking off on a bike to a sale provokes all kind of reactions from the sellers.  A couple of younger guys having a sale thought it was cool, and we talked for a while about bike riding and stuff.  At another sale, a woman offered me a huge of glassware and cups and such for a dollar.  I had to decline and cited space reasons on the bike and she started laughing.  Another woman at a different sale tried to sell me a basket.  When I tried the same space line on her, she said "Hang it on that left handle bar!  There's nothing on it."  What else could I do?

I also stopped at a sale with a set of sisters who were willing to do whatever they needed to do to get everything I wanted on the bike.  I thought that everything  would work out the way it was first packaged up, but they were doubtful and so they repacked and re-wrapped and re-bagged everything until they were satisfied it would work.  And it did!  Nice job ladies!

There was a benefit sale that I like to go to every year, so I shopped the neighborhood for several hours and then dropped everything off at the house.  The bike pic above comes from the drop off stop.  I hit the benefit sale after that, but didn't pick up quite as much there.  I stuffed my backpack full, but didn't use the baskets at all.

So how much can you buy when you yard sale on a bike?  Well here's the haul from both trips, all spread out.

  
The pic did not turn out as planned and looks more cramped than I wanted.  It started raining when I started taking things out of the house to photograph, so they're all stacked up on a lounge chair on the back porch, instead of artfully arranged on our backyard table, like I planned.

To make up for that, here are some close up shots:

Not too bad, if I do say so myself.  Tomorrow, I'll follow up with some thoughts and considerations for yard saling while bicycling.

New Month Monday Rambles

Happy June Everyone!

Well, last week turned out to be better than the one before!  Much less whiny Eddie this time around!

First off, I was able to blog throughout the week (thanks to some planning), even though I wasn't at home.  The house where I pet-sit has such a lousy internet connection that I never know for sure what's going to happen.  But, in looking through my draft file, I found one nearly complete post that I was able to wrap up before I left and schedule.  Then, on Wednesday, I was able to get on long enough to do the Doc Watson post.  That, plus my usual weekend video postings, means that I am now toppling the 2011 post record and 2008 is going to fall this week!  Halfway through the year, and I'm well on the way to making this my mostest postest year, ever!  Yay, me!

And the sales slump finally ended.  I did make rent at both locations, and will even get a check at both!  Of course, one of them won't be very big, but it beats paying out.  Now, if I can just have a month with consistent sales in both locations, I'll be one happy junker.  Once things got back to their usual levels at one site, I ended up with the third highest month for the year so far, which both makes me very happy and pisses me off to no end.  I can't help thinking about what my month end total would have been without that low sales week.  Arrgh!

So far, sales are steady at both locations.  Had a killer Saturday at one spot and a surprising Sunday at the other.  Of course, it's too early to think about anything or make any calls, but I am hopeful for a good June.

The weekend was busy.  Hit tons of sales and made a lot of purchases.  I'm going to be doing all that up in a special post tomorrow, with a follow-up on Wednesday. I hit the big library book sale yesterday for the last day 10 dollar box special and got three boxes.  Just got through pricing all that this morning.  There are an awful lot of drudge tasks associated with this junk thing.

I got a new (to me) bike last week.  The shop looking at the back up bike told me it had a cracked frame, so there wasn't anything they could do for it.  So, I ended up getting one from a new place that just opened up.  It actually ended up being a no brainer for me and a totally awesome experience!  There is seriously so much about this place that is awesome. 

It's not only local, but it's actually in my neighborhood.  There are too few businesses in this part of town.  It's a new business, which is a good thing in this economy.  It's also this kid who's just starting out and is pursuing his dream.  You have to love that and support it!

Beyond that, he's all about putting older bikes back into use, which makes us kind of kindred spirits.  Anyway, my "new" bike is totally awesome.  It's a perfect bike for riding around town and has plenty of room  to put a couple of baskets on for thrifting.  All in all, it was a great choice at a great price and a great experience.  If you're in Louisville, check out Old Bikes Belong on Preston!

I'll try to get a pic of the new wheels up in the next couple of days.

And if the last two days didn't spell it out for you....

Yes, it's true.  I am a big ole nerd.  Always will be.  And there ain't a damn thing wrong with that.

In fact, I'm the one that's cool.




So there!

What else can you follow Science with, but Magic?

Or at least Prestidigitation?  The ending of this one is kind of obvious and a couple of the feints and distractions are a bit easy to see coming, but it's still pretty cool.  Listen to the song lyrics for an enhanced experience.

Your Science Education Moment of the Day

One of my mottoes is "You're never too old to learn something new."  In fact, one of my daily goals is to learn something new every day.  Or re-learn something I had forgotten.  Or better understand something I thought I knew.  It takes many forms.

Between the proponents of "intelligent design" (aka the GOP) and climate change denialists (aka the GOP)--there's a pattern forming here--it's easy to forget just how truly amazing and wonderful science is.

Hopefully this will remind you. 



You're welcome.

RIP Doc Watson

This country lost one of its musical treasures this week with the death of Doc Watson.  There's a hole in the traditional music community that can never be filled. 

We were lucky enough to see him in concert a few years ago, and were completely amazed at his playing.  I'm so glad now we had the opportunity to see him, and even more glad that we took it.  There's still a sore spot in my memory whenever I think about the free show Bill Monroe gave in a park a few blocks from where we were living at the time.  The free show Bill Monroe was giving that we did not go to.  That will rankle until the end of time.

Never, ever pass up a chance to see a true musical legend.  Every year we lose a few, and they can never be replaced.  A few years ago, a mailing list I belong to started a "bucket list" of acts people want to see before they (the musicians, not the people making the lists) are gone.  I've been lucky enough to have seen many of mine:  Dylan, Odetta, Jean Ritchie, Doc Watson, Hazel Dickens, Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, Kristofferson. There are already more than a few that I'll never get the chance to see again.  And several others I never got the chance to see:  Monroe, Johnny Cash, Lilly May Ledford, Townes Van Zandt.

I still need to see Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson, though.  Better do something about that, for sure.  And Merle Haggard.  And Pete Seeger.  And Springsteen (although I'll never be able to afford that one).  And Joan Baez.  And Janis Ian.  And... 

So, who's on your musical bucket list?  Who do you regret not getting to see?  Who are  you glad/grateful you had the chance to see?

Perhaps, there is no greater statement about Doc Watson and his talent than this.  Being included in a Guy Clark song is perhaps the ultimate tribute for a musician.

Share the Lava!

Sometimes when you're working your space, you get the opportunity to interact with customers who are browsing.  The Sunday after I moved into my new spot, I was at YesterNook trying to get everything set up, while working around the usual Sunday crowd.  Not an easy task, let me tell you.

A woman came through with a kid who must have been about 11 or 12.  He was the kind of curious little guy who was interested in just about everything he saw.  I like kids like that.  They remind me of a younger me, except I was a lot quieter than this guy was.

Anyway, my space is a mess.  I'm still moving stuff around to get it into place.  I've got tubs crammed full of stuff everywhere.  Very little of my actual inventory is accessible or visible.  And his eyes land on one of the few items that are both--a lava lamp.  And then his eyes light up!

The next few minutes are a flurry of questions and pleading that can only come from a child who has discovered a true treasure that he must have.  And his poor grandmother was caught completely off-guard.

"Nana!  It's a lava lamp!  I've always wanted one!  Can I get it?  Will you get it for me?  It would look so cool in my room!  How cool is this?  Please, Nana?  Please?  My birthday is coming up?  It's only 12.99!"

She put up a valiant defense, but I could tell she was struggling.  "We'd have to call your mother. She might not want you to have one.  I can't get you something like that without talking to your mother."  Of course, his answer was:  "Call her.  She won't mind."

I was in and out of the space, constantly running downstairs for something or another, so I don't know if the call actually got made.  However, I couldn't resist getting involved and stirring the pot a bit.  On one of my passes through, I pointed out to both of them that I was having a moving sale and everything but furniture was 20% off.  Sneaky devil.

That, of course, got the little guy going again.  "Nana!  20% off!"

Now, I fully admit that getting involved in these kinds of things is a little risky.  I'm all for making a sale, but it can come across as being pushy or nosy.  Still, nothing ventured; nothing gained.  Right?  And, honestly, anything that I didn't have to try and find a place for in the new space was a blessing to me.

Besides, it was kind of fun to watch the kid go.  I was kind of rooting for him to get it at that point, just to see him win.

So, I pulled out my last secret weapon.  The markdown.  I had to run back downstairs, so I turned to Nana and said "I could take a couple bucks off the price for him with no problem.  And you'd still get the 20% off."  I thought the little dud was going to jump through the roof at that one.

When I came back upstairs, he was holding the lamp and thanking me profusely.  Score one for the kid!

Whiny Monday Rambles

I'm in a Junk Funk.  I got the Booth Blues.  I got the Low Sales, No Sales, Ain't Makin' Rent, Cryin' Shame, Down in the Dumps, Whinin', Cryin', Moanin', Blues!

Cue slide guitar here.

Okay, so I'm being melodramatic.  It's something I do so well.  But I'm in a bit of a slump here and I'm not coping with it well.  Not well at all.

I've already talked about not making rent at one site last month.  What I haven't really talked about is the fact that I almost didn't make rent the month before as well.  If I hadn't had several last week furniture sales, I would have gone in the hole that month too.

Last week started off looking like the same thing was going to happen again.   Can't have that.  Just can't.  So I went on the offensive (or is it the defensive?) ad pulled out the big guns.  I rearranged the whole booth.  I marked a couple of large pieces down (one sold).  I slammed the hell out of Craigslist.  And on Friday, I started a sale that's running until the end of the month.

I really didn't want to do the sale route.  I try to keep my prices low enough that I don't have to.  Any more off that cuts my margins way too thin.  Besides, I had done one at the beginning of April and didn't sell a damn thing.  It seems to be working this time around.  I finally made rent last night.  There's still a couple of days in the month, so I can still make a little money.  Maybe.

Everything that I'm seeing is telling me that it's just been an overall slow period at this store, but it's so hard not to take it personally.  I've had a real crisis of confidence over the whole thing.  I know the late spring and early summer is a slow time in this business.  In Louisville, we have to deal with Derby mania on top of everything else.  I also know I wasn't the only one to not make rent in April.  I know all of this, but it hasn't seemed to  help my mood.

Of course, part of that problem is the fact that last week sales at the other store tanked.  For most of the week (and the weekend before) I didn't do over ten bucks a day.  To add insult to injury, a week ago Friday, I had a super day.  Tons of sales--over 70 bucks worth.  Then BAM!  The floor dropped out.

One booth struggling I can deal with.  One of the reasons I have two is so they can supplement each other.  But when both are struggling, I start feeling like maybe I really don't know what I'm doing.

Thankfully, sales have picked up at that location again.  Last night, I matched last month's total, so I'm now set to increase, which is always good.  It's just that I was on a trajectory to have a killer month.  A real killer month.  And that's been totally derailed.  There's almost no way I can do that now.

So, maybe it's not bad enough to be singing the blues now, but it was for a little while.

On top of everything else, my bike got stolen last week!  From out of our back yard!  Someone hopped our fence and swiped it.  I'm still seeing red over that.  I've got another one, but it's going to require about 200 bucks worth of work to get in running shape.

So last week pretty much goes down as not one of the best ones ever.  Maybe this one will be an improvement.  I'll be house sitting this week, so I'm not sure about blogging just yet.  I intend to try, but those plans never work out when I'm away from home.  We'll see.

Today is the second anniversary of this.  I went to the big flea market over the weekend.  That was something we always did either on Memorial weekend or the Fourth of July weekend.  Didn't buy too much.  Just kind of wandered around, checking stuff out, like she and I used to do.

On a happier note, if Blogger's counter is to be believed, I have finally matched the 2005 post count!  Now for 2006 and 2011!

Song for a Sunday

I've always had a fondness for songs about music, especially when they use titles from other songs in the lyrics.

Indeed they were, Nancy.

Indeed they were.

I guess this was inevitable

All this talk about music of my youth lately has put me in the mood for some ABBA.  Ah....ABBA!



Their Greatest Hits LP is another one I checked out from the library over and over again.

Fun Finds: Button Bonanza!

Okay, so last weekend started the period where folks in my neighborhood can set out their junk for pick up.  This, of course, means that the pickers, scrappers, and junkers were out in force, with me right there in their midst.

Finds were few and far between--a couple of Playboys here, a boxful of Matchbox cars there--but nothing spectacular.  I did find a fabulous old wood file cabinet, but it weighed about six tons, so I decided to leave it where it was.  I could not picture wrestling that thing to a second floor booth!

But every little find adds up, and that's why we do these things.

The best find of the day was this stash of vintage buttons, many still on the card.  I found them on the corner where a woman was digging through the drawers of a busted up antique dresser.  There was a cardboard drawer thing a few feet away, so I started going through it.  That's where I found these.

Some of them were plain and everyday:

I particularly like the one on the lower left.  The flowers on the corner of the card are embossed!  Such a fancy detail for such plain, ordinary buttons!

Others were much more fancy.  This pic doesn't do them justice.  The pink ones are incredibly vibrant and the glass ones in the middle are almost prismatic.

For the most part, the fancier ones are older than the every day ones.  The row in the middle are marked "Made in Germany--US Zone" on the card.  And, of course, you gotta love the nurses buttons!

There were lots more in this stash, but this is a representative sample.  There were also many cards that were missing several buttons, old pill bottle full of buttons and so on.  I'm going to sell the fancy button cards individually, but bag all the plainer ones together and sell as a lot. 

I found some old small jars from a spice rack at the same curb.  They were filthy and the labels were coming off, so I soaked them clean and took the labels off.  I'm taking the loose buttons and the ones from partial cards and putting them in the bottle for sale.  It turned into a tidy little find!

One more story and then I'll close.  I pulled up at another curb where someone was working a pile, and the guy grabbed the box he was going through, jumped in his truck and sped away!  I guess I look pretty rough when I'm hot, sweaty, and dirty!

These were actually supposed to be a part of yesterday's post...

Between my dying camera battery and my dying memory (not the camera, computer, or phone's memory--mine), a couple of pics and items didn't make it into the Pictorial Monday Rambles.  G However, they are too wonderful not to include, so I'm going to make Monday Rambles history by turning the first ever Pictorial Monday Rambles into the first ever two part Monday Rambles!  If this weren't a blog, I'd be advising you to double bag this one and save it for twenty years to sell on eBay for big bucks because it is sure to be a collector's item!

So, without further delay, I give you:

Monday Rambles Pictorial Edition, Part Two!

Guess what I found over the weekend while I was out curb-diving during junk set out?

I kid you not.  I never realized there was irony in junking.  I'm going to have to keep this one in my junk sorting and pricing room as a reference manual.  No way I could sell that one.

Also, while I was out wading through people's cast-offs, I stopped for a Diet Dr Pepper, because I was really hot.   I texted Keith, who was home in bed with Kosh about the heat.  He replied back that hot, sticky, muggy curbside picking was what entrepreneurs were supposed to do.  As opposed to him and Kosh, of course.  They're not entrepreneurs and don't have to do sweaty picks.

A few seconds later, he texted me this pic:

Gotta love it.

I'll have more about the whole curb dive experience this go around tomorrow.

Monday Rambles--Pictorial Edition

Just wanted to try something a little different today.  Enjoy!  The pics are not the best, I know.  I was trying to snap them while watching the little battery icon drain to empty, so I was a little rushed and had no chance for retakes.  Only the finest here at Eddie-torial Comments!

Oh no!  I have the Bank Balance of the Beast (plus change)!

Had to stop at the bank on Saturday to replenish my cash.  I actually had to borrow from Keith at this sale that turned into one of the best I've hit in a while.  It was then that I noticed that my bank account was cursed!  What else could I do?  I had to shop a little more to bring that sucker down to a safer number.  I did it for humanity.

Behold!  The world's largest vintage button!

This is part of the junk set out weekend finds.  More on that later in the week.  (And I know it's not really the largest vintage button, but it's the biggest one I've ever seen!)

Sadly, it wasn't the best week for the musicians of my youth.  Right after Donna Summer, we lost Robin Gibb.  Sixty-three seems awfully young to be passing away.  Linda Ronstadt damn well better hang around for a couple more decades.  Just sayin'.

I loved the disco-era Bee Gees like nobody's business, of course, but my favorite Bee Gees stuff was the pre-disco folk-rock songs they did in the early seventies.  I'd never heard it before Saturday Night Fever came out, but I totally fell in love with it.  I remember checking the Bee Gees Gold album out from the library and being totally shocked at how different it was from the Bee Gees songs that were playing on the radio!

So, here's my tribute video.  My favorite Bee Gees song ever:



Look for more posts this week!

Last Dance, Indeed.

I usually don't get a chance to post when someone famous passes away.  Usually, it falls during one of my non-posting times or else I've already got a ton of posts done and scheduled and don't have time to rearrange things.

I had to make time for this one.  Donna Summer was part of the soundtrack of my high school days.  I wore the grooves off the Last Dance and Bad Girls LP's through repeated listings.  I've never been ashamed of my disco-baby past and I'm not going to start now.

Looking back over Donna Summer vids on YouTube, I'm struck by two things.  First, that's a helluva a voice!  I'd forgotten what a powerhouse vocalist she was.  That woman could sing!  Listen to those high notes and long notes.  Wow!

Secondly, she was making music for the audience to dance to, but she's not really dancing herself.  Kind of refreshing to see a singer concentrating on entertaining folks with her voice rather than her stage show.  I'm going to sound like an old fart when I say this, but those were the days, huh?

Keith tweeted me the news of her death yesterday.  I was on the bus to work at the time, but, for just a few minutes, I was a fifteen year-old again--hanging out with friends, listening to the radio, trying to finish my geometry homework.

And, there she was, playing in the background.

You'll be missed, Donna.  Thanks for the music and thanks for the memories.

Once Again, The Incomparable Roy Zimmerman!

In costume and make up, yet!

27 Different Kinds of Awesome

Just so you can see/hear what I'm talking about, a couple of cuts from the Amy Ray album I was talking about yesterday:



No way I could not like this one:

Monday Rambles

Okay.  I have managed to do what I could not do at all last week--carve out a few minutes in the day to put up at least one blog post.  Let's do this.

Thanks to Shara and Lynn for their sweet comments on my last post about not making my rent.  It still smarts a bit, but I appreciate the encouragement and support.  The whole deal has really made me second guess myself and whether I really know what I'm doing in this junk field.  More on some of those thoughts a little later.

This is my last week on this schedule.  I'll have a few weeks with slightly reduced hours, until about mid-June, so blogging (and junking) should pick up a bit for me.  I hope to get some posts that are hanging around finished and then stored away. I still have that 2005post total to beat!  I'm getting too close to be messing around with work and such!

Sales this weekend sucked!  I think I bought maybe a dozen small items.  Not even enough to fill up one of our backseats.  If my sales at one site continue at the place they've set so far this month, I'm going to be hurting for stock soon.  I may have to pull from the slower booth (which is struggling to get to rent again this month) to make do.

We went to four different neighborhood sales and it was only at the last one that we found sufficient quantities of sellers for it to be worth our while.  Even at that, though, most sales were nothing but crap.  I did get a cool stuffed Hong Kong Phooey toy, some glass Fleur de lis stuff, and a couple of vintage wooden kids' school chairs, but nothing else worth mentioning. 

However, we passed my former comic shop and saw that they were having their sidewalk sale, so I was able to stock up on comics, bags, and--oddly enough--old religion books.  I think I've got enough now to tide me over for a while. 

Yesterday marked Mother's Day number two without a mother.  Memorial Day will be the second anniversary of her death. Time keeps marching on in spite of everything else, doesn't it?

Finally got to listen to the new Amy Ray CD, Lung of Love, over the weekend.  It's about 27 different kinds of awesome and I cannot recommend it highly enough,  A couple of cuts give me goosebumps!

Speaking of goosebumps and cuts and such, I burned my arm on an exposed light bulb in a lamp in a booth where I was shopping last week.  I've been putting aloe and Bactine on it, but it still hurts and it's formed a blister.  I'm not sure what to do?  Should I pop the blister or leave it alone?

Okay, my few minutes are up.  Time to spell check this, throw in some links, post this puppy and go!