Junkin' Memories: The Big Flea Market

This year, they're down to four.  That really bothers me.  Not that long ago, there was one a month.  I think it's due to the economy, which means that they'll be bouncing back as things improve.  I hope so.  The Kentucky Flea Market, which I lovingly call "The Big Flea Market," has been a part of my junking life for decades now.

I cannot remember for sure when I first came to Louisville to go to the big flea market, which is held at the state fairgrounds.  I know I was aware of it when I was in high school, because I remember reading an article about it in the paper.  I know I was going by the time I was in college.  One of my roommates was from the same part of the state as me, so we would ride home together for the holidays and such.  I made a couple of trips to the flea market with him and his family then.

It was when I was in college that I went one time with my dad when I was really sick.  We made it through like two rows and I had to leave.  He called my mom, and the consensus was that I must be really bad sick if I couldn't stay at a flea market!  Buncha comedians in my family.

I know that I've been a regular at the big flea market ever since I moved to Louisville.  It was a really wonderful deal in those days--all kinds of sellers selling all kinds of stuff at really good prices.  I've bought tons of comics there over the years, plus books, CD's, religious articles, and just general fun stuff.  (Not to mention the occasional practical item.) 

The flea market was a monthly deal in those days.  If there was a holiday in the month, then it was held on the holiday weekend.  If there wasn't, then it was usually the last weekend of the month.  Like I said earlier, I think they were still having monthly shows as late as last year.  The holiday shows were the ones to be sure to attend.  Lasting four or five days (depending on what day of the week the holiday fell), they would often fill up two wings of the fairgrounds exhibit space.  That's a heckuva lot of room!

In the past few years, the two wing shows have fallen off considerably.  It finally settled into a pattern where the Labor Day and New Year's Day flea markets would take up one wing, plus an extra hall.  Not quite as much room as before, but still considerable.  The extra hall is dedicated to antique sellers and there's always some awesome stuff during those shows.

For at least a decade before she died, my mother and I would make a trip to either the Memorial Day or the 4th of July flea market.  It was one of our traditions.  Going with Mom was about the people watching as much as the shopping, but we did a lot of that too.  She had opinions about everyone and everything and didn't mind sharing them.  We could have a ball just sitting on a bench watching the world pass us by.

The entire thing is run by one family-owned company that also does flea markets in Indianapolis and Knoxville.  They used to do one in Nashville as well, but discontinued it a while ago.  A few years back, the man that started the company passed away, but his family is carrying on.

I'm kind of surprised and a little disappointed to see them cut back so much this year.  I know part of it is the economy, which is hurting both vendors and customers.  The presence of so many vendor malls and flea markets here in town can't be helping either.  People don't have to wait for a special weekend any more.  They can come on over any time and get their bargain shop on!  It's kind of ironic to be involved in a retail system that might be hurting the flea market I have loved so much over the years.

Another factor that doesn't help is the fairgrounds itself.  They've let some of their fees and things get really out of hand.  It costs eight bucks to park now!  Outrageous.  When I actually go to one of the shows with an antique wing, I have to plot to get around the parking fee.  Those are the shows I am most likely to be looking for merchandise, so I need to not pay 8 bucks to park because I don't want to have to add that in to the cost of the items.  I've ridden my bike.  We've parked somewhere else and walked in.  I've had Keith drop me and the granny cart off outside the gate and pick me up later.  I've flapped my arms and flown over the fence.  (Okay..maybe not that last one...but if I thought it would work, I'd give it a try!)

I'm remaining hopeful that, as soon as it is feasible, the big flea market will increase the number of shows again.  I may not be able to go to all of them like in the good old days, but I'll definitely go to two or three a year!  Old habits die hard.  Whether shopping for me or for a booth, I'll always look forward to a visit to the big flea market.

Monkey

I have a new friend.

His name is Monkey.

He has a friend.

Her name is Witch.

The other night, we had to move the computer (we have an all-in-one) to check some of the cords.  In the process, Keith pulled out Monkey and Witch.  They'd been back there for a while, and I had totally forgotten them.

I picked up Monkey at Goodwill a while ago.  Isn't he cute?  His little pots serve as either candle or incense holders.  He'd been pretty well-used, with burn marks, ash smudges, and smokey smears all over him.  I'd been able to clean him mostly up, but a few stubborn marks won't come off.  I set him aside, planning to give him an Oxy-Clean dip to finish the job.  I think he's got enough glaze on him to protect his paint job.

I left him sitting on the desk, to remind me to finish cleaning him up.

In the meantime, Witch came home.  She'd been in the booth for last Halloween, but had taken a broom ride around the mall or something.  At any rate, she wasn't in the booth when I came to take down the Halloween stuff.  She did make it back a little later, so I took her home.  Since the Halloween stuff was already stashed in the shed, I set her aside to take out the next time I went out there.

Somehow, Monkey and Witch managed to slide behind the computer, and I forgot about them.

Now that they're out again, they've been keeping me company.  I talk to them.  They listen to me.  They wait patiently for me to come home each day.  We have tea parties together.  And do crafts.  And read stories.  I'm afraid I might be getting a bit too attached to them.

What if Monkey doesn't want to go to a booth and be sold?

I Won Beefy!

That sounds vaguely...well...dirty, like some kind of cut-rate internet porn, but I promise you that it isn't at all like that.  (Oh, what the preceding sentence will do to my Google search hits...)

There's this totally cool junking blog called Dig This Treasure, which is run by two friends named Erin and Sarah.  They share their exploits hunting for fun stuff to keep or re-sell with the kind of wit and bite that I totally get into.  You can tell that they enjoy what they do, but are not so wrapped up in everything that they can't laugh at some of the odder stuff they come across, even if it's each other.  It's become a daily must read for me.

A couple of weeks ago, they had an anniversary contest, where they gave away this awesome blow-up dog named "Beefy."  I normally don't enter things, because I never win when I do, but I thought he was pretty cool, so I did.  For once, I actually won!

I borrowed the pic from their site.  I'm afraid to blow mine up, just in case he attracts too much attention from Chiquito.  Actually, I'm just too lazy/busy to do it right now.  I'll get around to it. I just didn't want to keep delaying this post waiting on me to get my act in gear.

Please go check out Dig This Treasure.  It's a totally fun read and well worth the time.  I'm not just saying that because I won, either.

Thanks Erin and Sarah!

Monday Rambles

I'm definitely feeling better right now.  No nausea. No tin foil.  Just lots and lots of bricks.  Thanks to the 4ht, I got a four day weekend, which was nice.  It gave me a chance to rest up, yet still do things.  It rained most of the weekend, which meant no yard sales, which meant  really good sales at the Peddler's Mall for the first time this month.

I took a good load in on Wednesday and straightened up quite a bit.  I discovered that, despite slow June sales, I had some pretty bare shelves.  Four totes later, most of that was taken care of.  Now, of course, I have new bare spots to fill.  We're having our fourth anniversary fling this coming Saturday, so I'll be taking more stuff in to get ready for that.  I think I'm bringing in mainly larger items, but haven't decided for sure.  I'm not going to be in town for the shindig (more on that in a bit), but I have high hopes for some good sales.

We went to the big flea market on Saturday, as mentioned previously.  We started the day with a traditional family breakfast at my dad's favorite restaurant.

 

 

I was well-armed with my granny cart.  (I actually have three of them.  I'm really wanting one of the newer models that has a drink rack on the back.)

 

I wasn't looking to do any serious re-sale shopping.  I'm pretty well-stocked at the moment.  The main goal was to look at stuff, have some fun, and celebrate my mother's birthday.

As far as big flea markets go, this wasn't one of the better ones.  The variety that's typically there was lacking.

The Fiesta people were there.

The T-shirt people were there.

The banana box people were there.

Also, the fashion belt people, the leather purse people, the dip mix people, the flavored coffee people, the "As Seen on TV" people, and the dollar jewelry people were all there.  In fact, dollar jewelry seemed to be the theme for the day.  It seemed like there was a vendor in every row with boxes of jewelry to sort through.  Some of it looked to be older, but I don't know jewelry and don't really have the patience to stand there and jostle with people rooting through boxes.  So, I passed.

What was missing were the secondhand dealers that are always there.  There were a few, but mainly book dealers.  There were some higher end antiquers there, but not the kind of folks who have a wide variety of stuff at good prices.  Normally, there are a lot of these "mom and pop" sellers there, right alongside the "pros."  I'm not sure what the deal was, but it was a little disappointing.  I'll be writing more about the big flea market and the way it's changed over the years later this week.

We still had fun, and I did spend a little money.  I bought a couple of games for resale and a nice pic of the 23rd Psalm for a dollar.  I got some comics and books for me, plus a couple to sell.  The Kentucky Proud kettle corn folks weren't there, which was a bummer.  I did get some snacks and some stuff for the house.  It was just a relaxing, no pressure, shopping for fun kind of day--just like I used to have with Mom.  Sometimes, it's nice not to be "working."

It was still pretty tiring, since the bricks came along too.  I took a several hour nap when we got home and spent Sunday lazing around and resting up.

One of the things I picked up was a flower arrangement for Mom's tombstone.  When we were there for the funeral, I noticed that the flowers at her grave were getting kind of ratty.  We're going to take a road trip this weekend to go and spruce it up a bit.  We're also going to hit a couple of flea markets and antique malls on the way.

I've found a couple of new niches on YouTube that have me tickled:  old Disney cartoon shorts and soap opera broadcasts from the fifties and sixties.  I caught an episode of Secret Storm from the late fifties that I totally got into.  Great, classic soap opera like they don't make any more.  I also found a classic As the World Turns featuring several of the performers who were still on the show when it was cancelled a couple of years ago.  It was pretty cool.

Of course, as a junker, I have a hard time watching vintage TV without being distracted by all the background set decor and props!  So many vintage goods!  So much that I could sell!  It's a sickness, I tell you! 

Day by Days

This was a big week!  Sami went before the grand jury!  I loved the way they intercut the grand jury scenes with the memorial for the cop she shot.  They are plotting this one like they have a destination in mind.  I hope they get there.

By the way, if you are coming here from any other place that's been discussing this story, let me make one thing perfectly clear:  Abe is not hiding the evidence that would clear Sami.  There is a lot of confusion, at least in the discussion on hulu, about this.  There was a scene after the shooting when Kayla hands Abe an envelope and says "We found this in the room."  We never see the contents of this envelope, but in the next scenes, Abe is with Sami telling her that Bernardi's police badge and id were found in the room.  I think the connection is pretty clear.  Except that there are people who don't get it and think that Abe (who is like an uncle to Sami) is hiding the razor she says she saw.  Proponents of this theory are kind of overlooking the fact that Kayla, who would know that Abe has the razor, is Sami's aunt and certainly would not stay silent while everyone is saying "If only we could find that razor."

A lot of this is due to the habit this writing team has of not spelling out every detail for the audience and trusting us to infer what is going on from the clues they are giving.  Unfortunately, some audience members aren't as smart as the writers give them credit for being. Oh well.

Anyway, I can't believe that Sami got acquitted, but this story ain't over yet.  Adrienne still has evidence she doesn't know she has.  I'm glad they finally revealed that, even if Adrienne hasn't seen it yet.  We're in for a week or two of "near misses" probably, before the lid gets blown off this particular pot.

I liked the day at the lake.  It's always fun to get a bunch of characters together and see how it finagles the various plots around, even if nothing totally earth-shattering happens.

How exactly does Kristen think she's going to put out a video of her and a drugged Eric doing the deed without everyone knowing she's behind it?  That's got to be some awfully good editing she's paying for.  I really hate the way this story is going.  I don't care for Eric the boring priest, but there has got to be a better way to give him a story.  It's pretty obvious that this is just a setup to get him de-frocked so that he and Nicole can get together because the writers have realized that it was a really stupid decision to make him a priest.

The other thing I hate is that we have yet another Kristen revenge plot against Marlena, yet Marlena is nowhere to be seen.  I hate it when they make her a bystander in stories that are at least nominally about her!

I can't believe that with all the story potential of three young parents living together with a newborn, they're immediately throwing Will into a "does Sonny really want to be with me?" plot.  This is how you use a two time Emmy winner?  Stop telling us how tired Gabi is!  Show us why she's tired!

Let's see:  JJ is annoying.  Jennifer is making dumb decisions.  Ann really needs to fall down an elevator shaft, except that she's the only thing making Jennifer even sightly interesting right now.  That remark Kate made to Nick was beyond crass and definitely beneath her.  There was a Vargas (woof!) sighting.  And the suspense around EJ and Justin's plan to oust Stefano is killing me.  I wish they would pull the trigger already.

Overall, it was kind of a mixed bag of a week.  We're at the place where everything is still developing, so we've got to be patient.  Still, the groundwork has been laid for some July fireworks.  Can't wait until the fuse is lit.

Those Who Have Gone Before

Today would have been my mother's 72nd birthday.  This is a picture of her, my grandfather, and my Uncle Larry.  I'm not sure when it was taken.  I found it in a bunch of her stuff I was going through.

None of them are with us any more.  Larry passed away about six months before Mom did.  It was kind of sudden.  Mom passed in 2010.  We just buried my grandfather on Tuesday.  My family is getting smaller.  I know it's supposed to happen, but it's still disconcerting.  I am now the oldest member of this particular branch of the family tree.  There's nothing that prepares you to have that thought.

I know that's what my Uncle Mike is feeling right now, too.

When my great-grandparents died in the late eighties, I remember thinking that, because they died in their late 90's, I'd have a long time to spend with my family.  After all, my mother had over 40 years with her grandparents, and my grandmother had her parents in her life for over seven decades.  It was comforting to come from a long-lived line.

It was not even ten years later when my grandmother died, blowing that idea out of the water.  I am the oldest grandchild, and she and I were quite close.  At the time, I thought it wasn't fair that I didn't get nearly as much time with my grandmother as my mother had with hers.  I was barely in my thirties!  It was only later that I realized my mother had much less time with her mother as well.  She died rather suddenly, and it was a loss that still affects me in some ways.

My father died at 75, but my mother was in her late sixties.  Again, I got a lot less time with them than prior generations in my family had with their predecessors.  In fact, it was actually kind of disturbing:  from late 90's (my great-grandparents) to 80's (my grandmother) down to late 60's (my mother).  It seems like each generation was getting less and less time!

My grandfather passed away at home, which is what he wanted.  I'm glad he was able to do that.  He made it into his 90's, so he kind of restored the longevity of our family.  He also still had all that hair when he died.  That kind of gives me hope.

I was privileged to be at the bedside of both my parents as they passed.  I got to have a private, final moment with both of them.  As much as I wish that those passings had not happened, I am thankful that I got to be there.  I got to say good-bye.

Shortly after my mother died, I was standing in the graveyard with my Uncle  Mike.  We had gone down to take care of the settling of the estate and stopped by the cemetery.  As we were walking from grave to grave, he turned to me and said:  "There are an awful lot of people in here that I used to sit around the Thanksgiving dinner table with."

And now there's one more.  Some parts of getting older stink.  This is the stinkiest of them all.

I'll be celebrating her birthday this year by going to the big flea market at the fairgrounds.  It's one of the things we used to do around this time of the year.  We'd either go at Memorial Day or the Fourth of July.  It was kind of our Mother's Day/Mom's Birthday get-together all rolled into one.

We'd start the day with the breakfast bar at Shoney's.  Guess what else isn't there any more?

This Is How We Do It: Thrifting for ReSale Tips

Eddie-tor's Note:  I started this post quite a while ago, but it sat in my drafts forever waiting to be finished.  As a result, it is now going up when I'm kind of in a thrift-lull imposed by my chemo and the bricks.  Please read this as a description of the way I used to do things, the way I would do things now if I could, and the way things are going to be again--very soon!  Thanks!

A lot of re-sellers I know don't like searching for merch at thrifts.  'The prices are too high," they say. "I can never find anything."  Most of these folks have never thrifted for fun, pleasure, and personal use, so I don't think they get the thrifts and the thrift mentality.  Me, I love them.  Always have.  Always will.  Whether shopping for me personally or for re-sale, going to a thrift is an adventure I look forward to every week.

Which is not to say that there isn't a certain knack involved in thrifting for re-sale.  Here are some thoughts to keep in mind.

The wider your net, the better your luck.  The more focused you are in your quest, the more specific the type of merchandise you seek, the less likely you are to be successful on a given day.  One of the reasons I usually find several items is that I sell a great variety of things.  If furniture is too high on a given day, toys and books may not be.  Greater focus leads to more finds.  (Although there always will be those days where you find absolutely nothing!)  If I were totally focused on high end antiques or gold and silver jewelry, I don't think that thrifts would be high on my list.

Routinize your thrift stops.  Because of travel distances and gas prices, one of the best way to keep expenses down is work your thrift stops into other trips that you have to make.  The way I look at it, if I am heading somewhere I have to be for some other reason, that thrift stop doesn't add any extra expense to the trip.  It's just a stop-over.  I'm lucky in that my weekly work route takes me by three thrifts.  I can't help but build in a few extra minutes every few days for a quick junking run.

Not all thrifts are created equally.  Let's be honest.  Some thrifts are over-priced for what they have.  Some are full of nothing but crap.  Others are just a musty, dusty mess.  It's okay to recognize that some thrifts are just not worth trying regularly, even if they are convenient.  There's a thrift in the same building where I have a booth.  Even though I am over there regularly, I still only stop in there only once every few weeks.  It's just that hit or miss.  I walk out of there empty-handed more than any other thrift.

But neither should any be totally written off.  On the other hand, that same thrift has frequent sales, with deep discounts.  So I keep an eye on it, in order to know what's going on, but limit my visits based on experience.  Infrequency makes the heart grow fonder.

Small hauls add up.  Even if you only find a few items every time you visit a thrift, that haul adds up over time.  I try to be excited and thankful for every little bit I can find.

Know the policies.  Stick to them.  Thrift stores have a purpose, typically supporting some charity or cause.  They also have expenses to meet--including overhead and payroll.  They're not flea markets, and generally bargaining is not encouraged or appreciated.  If you know you are at a store where the prices are fixed, don't embarrass yourself or the staff by trying to bargain.  Also, make sure you know their policies on returns (in case an item doesn't work) and on holding purchases (in case you buy something large).  There's a store in town I love, but they have an odd rule about not shopping out of the carts that the staff are using to stock shelves.  I think it's weird and arbitrary, but it's their store, so I honor the rule. 

Be polite to the staff.  Chances are they're only making minimum wage.  They have to put up with a wide variety of people, some of whom can be demanding and rude.  Don't add to their burden.  Dealers have a bad rep because some of them are some of the biggest assholes you can run across.  I've kind of made it my mission to make a different impression on folks.  That includes thrift staff.  As a result, some of them have gotten to know me and my interests.  They'll point things out to me when I'm in the store.  I never ask them to bend the rules, but I do take the time to make some conversation. 

Don't be afraid to politely ask for what you need.  There's a clerk at the local Goodwill who is kind of haphazard with her wrapping.  Sometimes she'll wrap breakables, sometimes she won't.  I've learned that if she's in the mood where she's not wrapping, that I need to ask her and she will.  If there's something you need or want, that isn't against any posted rules or guidelines, it never hurts to ask.  Just be understanding if they cannot do it. 

Stay informed.  Some stores have regular sales.  Others have systems for rotating merchandise so that something is always on sale.  Some even have some sort of sale running every day.  Staying informed can lead you to the best bargains.  Do you know if a store in your area has half-off on Monday holidays?  Sign up for email lists.  Check the web.  Look for Facebook pages or Twitter accounts.  There are lots of ways to stay on top of what's going on at your fave thrift.  Take advantage of them.

Wrapping stuff well is an art.  Getting your purchases home in one piece can be a challenge, whether from a thrift or a yard sale.  When you thrift on a bike, like I do frequently, it's even more challenging.  Some cashiers are diligent about doing it well.  Others, not so much.  I've been known to throw in a helping hand when I have a large order or I see that it's not quite up to snuff.  I do it under the guise of helping out, not being critical.  Everything I know about effective wrapping I learned from one of the best thrift clerks in the city.  One of these days, I'll do a post about that.

Large orders take time.  Along with the above, I also try to be really friendly with the clerk and with the folks in line behind me on days when I'm buying a lot of stuff.  It kind of eases the tension that builds up when people have to wait.  I also make sure to thank everyone effusively when we're all done.  Always let the little old lady who is just buying a hat or something small go in front of your cartful of stuff.  That's a rule.

Check everywhere in the store.  Thrifts are the worst for items getting moved and never put back.  There's usually too much stuff to keep up with.  You may not buy toys, but check the toys anyway.  The vintage scarf you find over there may be right up your alley.  Check the kids books for adult titles that got misplaced.  Plus, older and vintage items often get mixed in with the newer stuff.  Make two or three passes, just to make sure you get everything and see everywhere.  It's not always convenient, but it's worth it.  A couple of thrifts here in town put stuff in these bins that are attached to the tops of the clothing racks, and it's always stuff that is not at all related to clothing.  They treat them as overflow display for any type of item, so a lot of people give them a miss.  I've made great finds in those bins.

Have fun!  If you're not enjoying it at least a little, then why are you doing it?  Seriously, find another avenue for your stuff-gathering.  The day re-selling stops being fun is the day I stop.  There are too many sour-faced dealers out there as it is.

Don't force yourself to spend money.  You don't have to buy something every time you come into a thrift.  If it doesn't speak strongly to you, don't buy it.  If it doesn't speak to you at all, don't buy it.  If you have four of them waiting to go into a space, don't buy it.  Use your head and common sense.  If I'm thrifting and I see several "eh" items, but no "wow" item, I tend to pass by, unless I really need stuff.  My personal rule is that one "wow" item trumps several "eh" items.  The corollary is that I have to find the "wow" item before putting any "eh" items in my cart.  It serves me well and keeps me on budget.

That's how I try to do it, anyway.  As always, your thrifting mileage may vary.  I'd love to hear your thoughts or ideas in the comments.

Fun Finds: FORE!

It's no secret by this point that the littlest things amuse me to no end.  Plastic carrots, anyone?  Here's another one that just tickled me to death.

Vintage barware is so much fun!  I got this little dude on half price day at a thrift near the Peddlers Mall.  It's kind of a hit or miss place, but I do make a point of hitting the half price days when I can.

The little golf clubs are swizzle sticks, and they sit in this awesome little golf bag!  Is that cute or what?

 There's a bottle opener attached.

 The swizzle sticks include both woods...

 ...and irons!

 There's just no end to the awesome on this thing.  The golf bag also doubles as a jigger.  It's marked off in the following measurements on the side:

2 oz--Drive

1 1/2 oz--Iron

1 oz--Putt

Can't you just see it sitting on the bar back at the club house?

Best of all from a seller's perspective is the vast amount of crossover appeal it has:  golf fans, barware collectors, vintage fans!  Someone is bound to love this little guy!

It's Not All Anti-Nausea Pills!

I did manage to squeeze a short thrift run in on Friday after I got my shot at the cancer center.  It was only two stops--that's all I could fit in before I started to feel too many of the effects--but it was worth it.  It was the first thrift run I had made in ages and ages.

I don't normally do these kind of run down posts.  There are lots of reasons for this:

1.  I am fundamentally lazy.  It takes a lot of work to take all these pics!
2.  I cannot stage a photo for crap!
3.  I look for all kind of things, not just antique or vintage (although I love them too).  When I showcase a buy like this, I feel kind of awkward about standing out from the rest of the junking herd.  I can't help it, though.  I like being Ed-clectic!
4.  I don't like handling the merch any more than needed.  Taking pics for posts adds an extra time of wrapping and unwrapping to the processing chain.

Nevertheless, I felt so good about getting out that I had to take pics and share.  Plus, I found some cool things.

Nice religious article stash--stack of kids' religious books on the saints, plus some plaques and a pair of sweet nuns.

Told you they were sweet!  The Child Jesus plaque in the back is super-sweet, too.  It says "Hope of the World" on it.  All of the books come out of a church library.  I normally don't mess with ex-library books, but these are not titles you run across every day.

I got a few religious plaques, too.  Most are pretty standard stuff, but one is pretty special:

It's an older Our Mother of Perpetual Help and I love her!  Several of the "jewels" in the crowns have fallen out, but that makes me love her even more.  I'm tempted to keep her, so I am Reserving judgement on this one.

I bought a few non-religious items, as well.  Here are a few of them.  Why just a few?  See reason number one above.

 

The duck looks like it's been into the Heaven Hill a little bit!  That shot glass is kind of like contraband, by the way.  This particular thrift won't let you shop for items until they are placed on the shelves.  If you take something out of one of the carts of items that are waiting to go on the floor, then they ask you to leave the store!!!!  I saw someone else brazenly taking something out of one of the carts, so I stole a peek.  There were like three things I wanted to grab and buy, but I only had the nerve to grab the shot glass.  I mean, this is my fave thrift.  The clerks know me!  Getting thrown out just would not do!

I also hit a church sale on Saturday.  There's this church in the neighborhood where we lived before we bought the house.  For several years, they've been engaged in the yard sale left-over pick up business.  They make the rounds as sales are wrapping up and offer to haul off what's left.  They hit a couple of our yard sales back in the day when we used to have them and saved us a helluva lot of clean up hassle.

They bring it all back, sort it out, clean it up, re-price if needed, and store it away for the summer, when they put it all out in their basement and open it up for regular sales.  There's not a thrift in the area, so they kind of fill the gap.  Every other week or so throughout the summer, they have a huge sale.  There's always lots of stuff--some of it quite good--and always cheap!

 

Twenty volumes of manga!  Ten cents each!  I sell tons of this stuff.  We're talking paydirt, here!  The three on the left are ex-library, and I should have left them, but I went for the drama of clearing the whole shelf.  I'll just sell them for a little less than the others.

 

I bought a bunch more stuff, but this is the most interesting of the lot.  See Reason #1 above.  There are even vintage salt and pepper shakers in the sewing box that I didn't feel like unwrapping.  The Pyrex fridge box has a couple of scratches in the color, but I'll cover those up with a Sharpie.

Okay, I'm just kidding about the Sharpie--just wanted to see if you all were paying attention.  I'm still pretty sure I can sell it.  Flea markets can be very forgiving of slight boo-boos.  I love the design on the black and white cocktail mixer.  The Chi-Chis margarita glasses were impossible to resist.  They'll be an easy Peddlers Mall sale, for sure.

I also got out to a barn sale on Sunday for a thrift that seems to be closing (boo!).  I'll have more to say about the closing, but I only have a couple of pics of the whole ordeal.  It was overwhelming, irritating, crowded, frustrating and absolutely WONDERFUL!  I made about eight or nine trips through--loading up until I couldn't manuver the crowd, then checking out, heading to the car, and diving back into the fray.  If I had my pre-chemo energy, I probably would have stayed the whole afternoon.  As it was I did some damage.

No pics of the haul, but here is the car at the half-empty point.

And, here are a couple of shots from the lunacy.  You might recognize the handsome, if portly dude in the middle.

Anyways, that's my latest haul.  I get around when I feel that I can.  Thankfully. I'm still able to find some stuff.

Monday Rambles

I'll warn you in advance, this is one of the rambliest rambles I've put down in digital ink in ages.  Get ready for a wild ride!

Another chemo week is down the pike and I'm slowly crawling out of the pit.  I've figured out that part of the problem during chemo weeks is the extra pills I have to take to accommodate my shots and stuff.  The Benadryl beforehand makes me so sleepy I can't stand it, so I end up going home after my shots and going to bed.  By the time I wake up, the chills from the shot are setting in, so I have to take more pills.  I think all the extra meds contribute to my nausea problems.  I know I start feeling better by Sunday, when all of the extra stuff has filtered out of my system.  Then I can start dealing with the bricks.

One more to go!  One more to go!  I'm filled with an equal measure of anticipation and dread.  Sometimes, just thinking about going back to the cancer center makes me reflexively retch.

My grandfather passed away Saturday morning.  They said he had a really rough couple of days and then passed on.  I'm really glad that we went to see him week before last.  He was alert and talkative then, and that's a good final memory to have.  He was 94, and kind of just gave out.  The last few years were pretty rough on him.  Besides his own declining health, one of my uncles passed away in 2009 and then Mom died in 2010.  I cannot imagine being in your 90's and yet having to bury your kids.  No one expects that.

His funeral will be Tuesday, which is going to make for an odd sort of week.  The Fourth was already throwing an extra day off in there, and I'm still trying to recover from missing a day of work last week due to chemo.  It's going to be a short week, but one with lots of commotion, apparently.

For some reason, my sales decided to pick up over the last week and a half.  That was a bright spot during the week of chemo blight.  All of a sudden, I started selling large items again and making my sales targets.  I finally made rent, and now I'll be getting a (very small) check.  But it will be a check.  Now I've got to get busy and replenish my stash of larger items.  About half my floor stock of small furniture is gone.  Luckily, I kind of made up for that with some weekend shopping.

I did get out to one church sale over the weekend.  We actually went to two, but the second one wasn't happening until Sunday. What kind of church does that?  I mean, besides the Adventists?  We did end up going back on Sunday, but it was a bust.  We found enough stuff at another Sunday stop to more than make up for that minor irritant.  More details on that tomorrow.

Speaking of church stuff, week before last when I was working my booth, there was a woman there seated on the floor in front of my religious wall.  She was going through all the pamphlets and booklets very carefully, like she was looking for certain particulars.  At one point, she asked me where I found all the older Catholic resources.  I kind of gave my usual hem and haw answer (junkers don't reveal their sources easily), so she asked if I was Catholic.  My answer to that is always "I'm not, but my father was."  She asked if I was raised Catholic.  I told her that I was raised Southern Baptist.  (The "Southern" part is very important--even all these years later.)  I didn't mention my conscious lack of a religious affiliation these days.  That seems a bit too personal for a casual conversation with a stranger.

Anyway, in the middle of all this, she says"  Well, you know those guys in Rome right now aren't the Catholic Church.  It's been nothing but anti-popes since 1958."  OMG!  I have a real-life sedevacantist on my hands!  I knew that Louisville had an SSPX chapel, because I had been to an awesome yard sale there one time, but I had no idea that there was anyone in town who was so anti-Vatican II that they went to the extreme positions.  Wow!  Now I realize why she was looking through everything so carefully.  She was checking for publication dates and imprimaturs!

She told me that she appreciated the stuff I had for sale and that it was a great resource for her and others, then left.  Wow!  I'm supplying goods for extreme traditionalist Catholics!  Who knew?  For the record, I find church politics almost as fascinating as church articles.

Day by Days:  It was another solid week, for the most part, but not a spectacular one.  The show was more about laying groundwork for some of the bigger action to come, as Sami prepares for trial and EJ moves ahead with his plot to take down Stefano.  I'm beginning to wonder if Kate wasn't the one who swiped the razor from Rafe's room, to bog down Sami's defense.  Judi Evans was excellent this week as Adrienne tried to keep her fears in check and keep from alienating her family.  Sonny and Will and the baby are so cute together.  Nice little moments with Nick/Will, Gabi/Nick, Kate/Sami (loved how Sami's hand kept hovering over Kate's shoulder, inches away from giving a little comfort, yet totally unable to reach out to her worst enemy), EJ/Chad and Adrienne/Jennifer.  JJ continues to annoy me.  The Cameron/Abby/Chad triangle looks to be boring as grass growing.  Who is the rooting couple supposed to be?  Durned if I know.  And, we got a Lucas scene!  Not enough of those these days.

Kim Thompson died recently.  I was going to mention here it last week, but I forgot.  He was co-publisher of Fantagraphics, which was one of my favorite comic book companies.  Towards the end of my comic book days, most of what I was reading were Fanta titles.  He was responsible for, among other things, bringing the works of Lewis Trondheim and Swedish artist Jason into print in English.  He brought wonderful things to an impoverished American comics market, and had a tremendous impact on my own reading habits.  He will be missed.

Finally a political note.  (Those of you who don't really want to read this sort of thing can skip the next two paragraphs.  I probably should have said that about my Days paragraph too.)

Like a lot of folks, I am celebrating the Supreme Court decision last week in the DOMA/Prop 8 cases.  At the same time, I am only cautiously optimistic about the eventual results of the decision.  For one thing, Keith and I still cannot get married under the laws of this state.  The decision changed nothing about that.  We cannot go to a state where same-sex marriage is legal, get married, and have that marriage recognized here.  That part of DOMA was not in the challenge.  My parents were married sixteen yers before they split.  Keith and I have been together 23.  My mother was able to get an increase in her Social Security when my dad died, and they weren't even married then!  Me?  It's not totally clear yet.  That's what I get out of the decision.  Not entirely clear yet.

I'm not downing the decision.  It was the right one.  It was a strong challenge to an unjust law.  All I'm saying is that looking at the aftermath and the meaning has to be done with a careful eye.  To go further, there is no federal law protecting LGBT folks from discrimination in housing or employment.  Unless someone lives in one of the cities or states that offers such protection, then they can be fired or evicted simply for being gay.  It's 2013, and this is still reality.  It's unconscionable.  We won a big deal last week.  There's no doubt about that.  We also still have a long ways to go.

From chemo to yard sales to soaps to Catholics to comics!  From the personal to the political!  I've hit the rambling gamut today, haven't I?  How about that?  About the only thing that didn't make it in was an Emmylou Harris mention.  And now you have that.

Despite everything that's gone on this year, I have managed to stay on track with my posting goals.  We are halfway through the year, and I am just a little over halfway to my posting goal of 200 posts for 2013.  Blogging has helped me cope with the stress of chemo, and I appreciate your reading along with me.  This week is already plotted out and pre-published, so keep checking in.

Indecision

Sometimes, I just can't make up my mind.

I don't know if this is my favorite Todd Snider song....




But it might really be this one.  (To be fair, he didn't write this one.  It was written by the equally awesome Fred Eaglesmith, who is one of those songwriters you don't want to listen to when you're depressed.  I checked out several vids of this one and Snider flubs the lyrics in every one of them.  Not sure what's up with that, but I like this one too much to leave it out.)



This one?  (I know I've used another vid for this one in the blog before.  Sometimes I repeat myself.  it comes with age.)



Or this one?



Hell, I don't know.  I just don't know.

What a nice quandry to have.  Think I'll listen to them all again and see if I can figure it out.

Awesome Stuff You Never Knew Existed

Or maybe:  Awesome Stuff You've Known About for Years!

Or possibly:  Stuff That You Don't Really Think Is All That Awesome Whether or Not You Knew About It!

How am I to know?  Pick your category, people.  Me?  I'm going with the first one, because I thought it was pretty cool.  Then again, I am easily amused.

I am so totally in love with this mini shopping cart that is made out of metal (not plastic)!

True Confession Time:  I knew these existed.  I sold one in the early days of the booth and have been looking for another one ever since.  Didn't have much luck until a couple of weeks ago.

Chemo Scoreboard!

Five down!

I look kind of bemused here.  Don't know what that's about.

ONE TO GO!!

Things went really smoothly this time.  I was dreading the actual stick, since last time was such an ordeal.  The nurse told me later that he was too.  It's not good to be remembered because your veins are uncooperative.  I'm coming out of this thing with a definite dread--less than a fear, but more than a dislike--of needles.  It ended up taking just one try, so I am very grateful for that.

The doctors told me that I'm doing very well, tolerating stuff well, and having comparatively few issues.  Here I thought I was being weighed down by pallets of bricks and puking on my doorstep, but it turns out I'm doing better than most.  I don't know whether to feel guilty that I'm such a whiner or relieved. 
 

Junkin' Memories: The Early Louisville Years

When I lived in Old Louisville, there was a DAV store a few blocks from where I lived.  Down the street from it was a thrift that supported a neighborhood charity.  Sadly, they're both gone now and have been for quite a few years.  The DAV closed because of shoplifting problems.

I first went to that DAV when I was in seminary.  I took the bus through Old Louisville to get to a job interview and saw it.  I remember going there to buy some props for a scene I was doing in a church drama class.

I used to take stuff over to the neighborhood charity shop to donate from time to time.  One time, I left a couple of bags of donated things at the counter, then went shopping.  I found a huge stash of vintage Peanuts paperbacks there.  When I went to check out, the cashier got all confused and tried to price all the items I had donated so she could ring them up for me.  It took me like five minutes to explain to her that THOSE were the items I was bringing in for them and THESE were the things I wanted to give them money for.

One of my first thrift purchases after I moved to Louisville was a vintage black London Fog overcoat that I paid five bucks for.  I loved that thing and wore it everywhere.  I even bought a hat in a consignment shop near the seminary to wear with it.  When I went home for Christmas that year, my brother took an immediate liking to the coat and wore it a few times.  He then started working on me to pass it on to him.

His argument was that he was a poor college freshman who didn't have any money for clothes.  I tried to tell him that he was in he right demographic to start thrifting, but he told me the town where he was going to school didn't have any thrifts!  (As if!)  Eventually, my mother convinced me that I could always find another one, so I let him have it.  Of course, he lost it and I've never seen another one like it. 

Interestingly enough, when my brother was in seminary himself, he discovered the Goodwill in the nice part of town and would go there all the time.  He told me that he was getting a fabulous brand name wardrobe at a fraction of the cost.  I went there a couple of times when I would visit him and we'd both load up our carts.  For the seminary record:  His was Presbyterian and he graduated.  Mine was Southern Baptist and I dropped out so I could come out. 

Speaking of my limited run at the seminary, there was a convent down the road that used to have regular indoor yard sales and book sales in the basement of one of the school buildings.  I never missed one, if I could help it.  I bought tons of stuff there, including several Madonnas and rosaries that made my dorm mates at the Southern Baptist seminary look oddly at me.  Awesome stuff at awesome prices.  The basement was stuffed with all kinds of stuff!

They even had a rack of clothing that was mostly habits--nothing old, but rather the more modern modified habit.  I wanted one so bad, but never had the nerve to even go over and look through them.  Suddenly, the sales just stopped.  I later learned that the particular nuns who organized the sales got too old to continue and none of the others were interested in doing it, so they just stopped.  I've always wondered what happened to that basement full of stuff.  I've also always regretted not getting a habit when I had the chance.

One last seminary memory:  One Sunday, I chose to attend a particular church, so I could go to some yard sales that were happening down the street.  Seriously.  Maybe it's a good thing I didn't pass muster as a seminarian.
 

Monday Rambles

Chemo is tomorrow and I am dreading the whole thing.  It was such an ordeal to find a vein last time, that I am not looking forward to going through it again.  I just keep telling myself that by the end of July it will all be over.  I hope I don't puke this time.  I hate throwing up.

I did get out to three church sales on Saturday.  I didn't get anything really spectacular, but did have a couple of interesting experiences.  A lady nearly ran into me at one sale.  She was walking across the room right at me, while looking over her shoulder in the opposite direction the whole time.  I, of course, had my arms full of stuff, so I moved to get out of her way.  She, still without looking in my direction at all, adjusted her course so she was still heading right at me.  It was kind of creepy.

Finally, when she was about to barrel right into me, I said "Excuse me, Ma'am!" and tried to step around her.  She snapped her head around and gave me the nastiest look.  I don't know, maybe I was supposed to just let her walk right into me?

At another sale, I found this little guy.

He's clearly marked $5 on the top, but being in church sale mode, my mind interpreted this as five cents.  Heck, most of the other stuff I was grabbing was 10 cents, so it's kind of a natural assumption.  I didn't realize my error until I was checking out and I looked at the price again.  Doh!

I was on the verge of telling them that I didn't want it, when one of the check out ladies asked the other one if that price was right.  The second lady said that was the correct price "because it's an antique" but I could name a price if I wanted.  I offered two bucks, and they accepted.  For the record, I'm pretty sure it's a reproduction, but I am also sure I can turn it over in one of my booths pretty quickly.

Speaking of the booths, I finally made the damn rent at the Peddler's Mall over the weekend.  It's never taken this long before!  This has been an agonizing month! I'd have a forty or fifty dollar day, followed by a string of four dollar days.  Early last week, the sales were so low, I was suicidal.  One day, I said "It can't get any worse than this."  The next day was a dollar less than that, so I decided I needed to keep my mouth shut.

The heat over the weekend turned the tide for sales, because it drove everyone inside to do their secondhand shopping.  I'm hoping for a scorching summer.  I don't ask for much, just thirty dollars a day.  That's a pretty reasonable goal.  It makes the rent, covers the expenses, and gives me a nice check.

I did a YouTube soap opera binge over the weekend.  I found a CBS special from 1994 called Fifty Years of Soaps.  Two hours dedicated to the TV broadcast history of the soap opera.  Tons of stars.  Tons of flashbacks.  Man, those were the days.  In fact, those were the tail end of the glory days of the soap.  In a couple of years, the decline would start.

There were ten shows on the air at that time, as opposed to four today (not counting the really lame online versions of All My Children and One Life to Live).  I guess I got a little nostalgic over the whole thing.  These are tough times to be a soap fan.  It's tough to be fond of an artform that might be on its last legs.

I've got posts put together for the whole week, so keep checking in,  If anything happens with chemo, I'll update that on Wednesday.  Other than that, I'll probably be low key for the rest of the week.  Take care!

Day by Days

Thoughts about this past week's Days of Our Lives

First off, how nice to see Marlena loaded for bear, after so many weeks of basically serving as John's doormat and whipping gal.  Those scenes with Adrienne were excellent!  It's also really nice to see more of Adrienne and Justin this week.  I look forward to more of this as some of these stories unfold.


I do hope that part of the unfolding includes someone, say Maggie, sitting down and giving Adrienne a chill pill by reminding her of her own history.  She hardly comes from a sterling bunch herself, and she definitely didn't marry into one!

I love a good, out of left field twist that starts a story spinning in a different direction, and the reveal that Chad has video of Sami fighting Bernardi certainly fits that bill!  Wow!  When he said a little while ago that he had "vintage psycho Sami" on video, I thought he meant that he had filmed her fight with Kate at the coffee shop right before they found out Will had been shot.  What he's actually got is a whole different kettle of fish.

What I like most about this twist is the layers it adds to the story.  There are others who now know that Sami lied to the police and her lawyer about not knowing the man she shot.  It also puts Will's secret back into play.  Best of all, it expands the reach of this story, since Abigail is now involved.  Well done!

What I really can't wait for is the scene when Adrienne realizes that she has this fight video too.  It's pretty obvious (to me at least) that Sonny did not send her a video of the baby.  He just thinks he did.  The question is how long will it take her to find out?

Brady and Nicole hopping back into bed on the heels of his break-up with Kristen is so totally in character for both of them that I really liked those scenes.  Brady is making what Maggie would call "an impulsive, self-destructive decision, typical of an addict," while it's just plain nice to see Nicole do something besides wring her hands over a priest.  I don't think this will be the resurrection of them as a couple.  There's been way too much water under that bridge!  I like their dynamic and chemistry as friends much more, even if they do boff each other from time to time.

Speaking of Kristen, I like watching her unravel.  She's so much fun when she's psycho.  Eileen Davidson looks like she's having so much fun with the material!  I just don't get what her plan is.  She drugs Eric so she can sleep with him?  Unless she's recording it so she can ruin his standing as a priest, there's no way that's going to have an impact on Marlena.  There's no indication she's doing that, however.

I'm more than a little annoyed with the JJ story at this point.  I think it's a good thing that I can't stand the character, because that means something is working right.  He's a despicable little brat, so he should be disliked.  I have always liked the idea of the bad seed offspring from the upstanding, core family.  It's worked for 20 years with Sami, and she has become a pillar of the show and a core character.  I'm pretty sure that fans really hated her when she first arrived on the scene.

The problem with the JJ story is Jennifer.  I've been cutting her some slack on the way she's dealing with her son, because I can understand why she wants to be sensitive,  The problem is that she's starting to appear both dumb and in denial.  Maybe she'll catch on when he causes her to lose her job.  After all, if Anne had found JJ with the scrip pad instead of Daniel, she would not have stopped until Jennifer had been booted out the door.

All in all, it was a good week.  There were some nice little moments--Daniel and Jennifer checking on Brady--which I always like to see.  The little interaction between Kate and Maggie at the coffee shop was nice too.  I don't always get to see my two favorite characters play together.  The Sami/Eric sccenes were extra sweet.  Plus, Vargas is back!  The only onscreen clunkers for the week were the overly-contrived and purely plot-driven hassles that Nicole had trying to reach Eric with his papers.

I do have a bone to pick about what wasn't shown this week.  Sami is choked into unconsciousness in her cell, and we don't get to see someone finding her there?  Think how much more dramatic it would have been for EJ to discover her like that.  How exactly did Sami make bail anyway?  I'm extremely annoyed that there were no scenes from her arraignment at all.  My only real beef with the current writing team is that they sometimes choose to leave out moments like these, which should be pivotal scenes.  It's a decision I don't understand, since it undercuts the drama.

Linking Around

I haven't done a link post in ages.  Not sure why that is, so I thought I would rectify that and do a post of a bunch of quick shots and links.

When I was a kid, I had a collection of pennants from states that we had visited in our travels.  For the life of me, I don't know whatever happened to it.  Luckily, Magpie Ethel knows where hers are.  Mine were in the style of the Texas and Oklahoma pennants in one of her pics.

Congratulations to Days of Our Lives for winning "Best Show" at the Daytime Emmys!  I guess I really do need to finish those Days posts I've been working on.

I thought this was funny.

You all know how I feel about cancer.  It's not so hot for other people either.  Please show Heidi and her family some love.  They need it.  I should warn you that this is a three hanky link.

Fear the thrift horrors!  God knows, you see a lot of this kind of stuff when you're junking.  An awful lot.  Heck, you sometimes see a lot of it in other booths in your vendor mall.  Flee!

Curious about what you can send via media mail?  Ignore their really poor understanding of comic books and graphic novels.  That link comes courtesy of the fine folks at Yard Sale Queen.

Speaking of thrifts (and I do have a long post about thrifting planned for next week), did you know you can get your junk on even when you're not on your home turf, thanks to ThriftShopper?  I've used it more than a few times and found it to be pretty accurate and helpful.

Roger writes about writing.  I've always admired him for his ability to turn out thoughtful posts day after day after day.  His thoughts about excuses people use not to write are interesting.  Wonder where chemo-induced fatigue and nausea come in on that list?

That was kind of fun.  I need to make a point of doing that again sometime!

Comics: The Gateway Drug! (Junkin' Memories)

Scratch most resellers deeply enough and you'll find a collector/lover of something, be it antiques, pottery, books or music.  Many of us started buying secondhand because of our collections and selling secondhand because the collections were about to get out of hand.  For me, it was comic books.

Actually, comics were the first serious collection I had.  If I had stuck there, I might or might not have gone on to sell.  Collectors rarely stick to one area, though.  Catholic religious items came along.  My library grew wildly out of hand.  I had a flirtation with anime fandom.  I fell in love with penguins.  As my music interests grew, so did my CD collection.  From time to time, I would pick up the oddball tchotchke, just because it was cool looking.   I kept telling myself that if I had time, space and money, then I would collect older toys and children's books.  Then, one day, I realized that it was out of hand.  One person just does not need this much stuff.  And Eddie's Attic was born!

But it all began with comic books.

I can't pin down the exact moment I became I comic book collector.  I can remember reading them as far back as seven years old. A friend of my parents had made a massive toy chest for my brother and I.  It was basically a huge wooden box with no lid, but several large shelves above it.  We could keep practically everything we owned in it.  I used to arrange stuffed animals on the top and lay down in it to read comics.  There was a Superboy comic that was my favorite.

Around this time, Dad was transferred to Germany by the Army.  He went several months before we joined him, so I could finish the school year.  When we got off the plane, he had a stack of comics for me.  I remember the one on top was a Spider-Man.  It seems like my reputation for comics was already cemented, at least in my family.

When my dad was stationed in Germany, all of the kids read comics.  We traded back and forth all the time.  Whenever someone got transferred back to the States, they would make their kids give all their comics away.  I amassed a nice collection this way.  I kept them in a wooden toy chest.  The one I was talking about above was too large to ship over, so we had a much smaller, more conventional one with a lid.  I filled it with comics and would lay on top of them and read.

One would think that gathering a collection of comics from departing kids would start to make me aware that my collection might one day be given away, but I was completely oblivious.  So I was blindsided when my parents made me do the same to mine.  It was probably the first traumatic event of my childhood.

Not nearly as traumatic as the one that immediately followed.  Mom decided that my brother and I were getting too old for stuffed animals, so we had to throw them all away.  Yes, throw them all away!  What was she thinking?   That included my much-beloved Beartrack, the Teddy Bear I had owned as long as I could remember.  I had loved all the fuzz off him at one point, so my grandmother had sewn washcloths on him as a new covering.  I had to carry him and all the others to an unmarked grave in a dumpster at our Army housing in Germany.  I think I still have scars from that.  Even Mom told me much, much later that tossing him was a mistake.

When we got back to the US, Dad was stationed in Texas.  I started buying comics at the Circle K. Things just kind of grew from there.  By the time I was in high school, I was getting off the bus early on Wednesdays, because that was the day they put the new comics on the rack at the convenience store.  I'd walk the rest of the way home.

I did an oral report about comics in my ninth grade English class that scandalized my teacher, who happened to be my very gossipy preacher's wife.  Guess what they talked about in my mother's Sunday School class that Sunday?  My mother's response was classic:  "Who is the best reader in your class?"  Gossipy Pastor's Wife:  "Eddie."  Mom:  "Who reads the most in your class."  GPW:  "Eddie."  Mom:  "Who has the best vocabulary?"  GPW:  "Eddie."  Mom:  "Who is your best writer?"  GPW: "Eddie."  Mom: "And your problem is what, exactly?"

My best friend and I would spend Wednesdays in the summer at the local flea market looking at back issues.  After my parents divorced, my dad would take us to other flea markets and buy me other comics.  I went to my first comics shop when I was a senior in high school.  The idea that there was a whole store with nothing but comics blew my teen-aged mind.

From there it was on to the big flea market in Louisville, which is where my hunt finally expanded to include other items.  A junker was born!  I spent my college years hitting this flea a couple of times a year.  After graduation, I moved to Louisville,  home of the both the flea and the comic shop, and I would say that my destiny was kind of sealed.

Of course, I wouldn't become a seller for several years yet, but when I did, one thing I was determined to sell was comic books.  Might as well put a lifetime of knowledge and experience to use somehow.

I don't buy very many new comics these days, except for resale purposes.  I've lost interest in a lot of the contemporary comics market.  There's probably something out there that would appeal to me, but I just don't have the time any more.  Instead, I concentrate on filling holes among my older issues and enjoying the classic issues I still have.  It's still a great past-time.

And it led me into a wonderful world.

Monday Rambles

This is probably going to be the most boring edition of Monday Rambles ever.  Ever.  Quite simply, I got nuthin'.

I faded out towards the end of last week.  Blogs were written and set up, but I started tiring out about mid-week and never got to taking the pics that I needed for the posts.  I'll try to do that this week.

And that's pretty much the story of the week--too tired to get the things done I needed/wanted to.  Like I said, boring.

We did take a trip to the country on Friday to visit my grandfather, who is not doing very well.  It was a nice visit.  He can talk your ear off, that's for sure!  It was the first time I had seen him in a while, so I was glad we went.

Honestly, that's all that happened.

Well, wait.  I can tell you all this:  it's been a terribly slow sales month.  I've not made my rent yet and I'm starting to get both worried and frustrated.  I don't really know what to do.

This is the last week before chemo number 5, which happens next Tuesday.  I'm hoping to have a bit more energy and maybe actually do more than go to work, come home and veg out.  We'll see, I guess.

Sorry this one is so hopelessly dull, folks.

Fun Finds: Doing the Research

So I found these little dudes at the YesterNook outdoor sale and could not resist them.

I can't decide whether they are cute or creepy.

They have no markings on them, other than the words "Mattel 1975" on their backsides.  I googled "Mattel toys 1975" and found a pic of one of them from an old Etsy sale.  That sale led me to the phrase "lil guy", which I added to my search.  That then turned up an eBay auction for a Mattel Little Big Guy.  Turns out, these little dudes are firemen and originally came with removable coats and boots. Cool!

And, that, my friends, is how you research your finds!

I also found a couple of other great items at the sale, as well.

This super-cute dollhouse dresser has an actual mirror on it, instead of a piece of tin foil or some such.

I also got this sweet Hummel holy water font.  It's cracked, but for two bucks, I'll take it!  It's likely the only way I'll be able to have an old piece of Hummel.  This one goes in the collection.

I love this mini metal bench that's been painted to look like graniteware.

Just goes to show that shopping can happen anywhere, even when you're selling!