Boot Hill Cow Pet

No one really seemed to take notice of my odd little hint the other day, which means that either I was too obvious and you saw through my not-so-clever ruse or I mystified you all.  Either way, this is the special junking place I got to visit the other day:

I told you it only kind of rhymed.  Boot Hill Cow Pet.  Goodwill Outlet.  Get it?  Huh? Huh? Get it?  Oh well.  Enough of that.

This particular outlet is in Nashville.  (What was I doing in Nashville?  Well, that's another post yet to come!)  If you are unclear about the concept of a Goodwill Outlet, here's some helpful information.

Unopened 90's X-men Valentines

This was the third GW Outlet I have visited, but I consider it to be my first "real" GWO experience.  I went to one in Gary, Indiana right after we got married, but everything was priced by the item (extremely reduced), not the pound, and the only brought out one new bin the whole time I was there.  I got some good stuff, for very little money, but the whole experience was kind of lame.

I also went to one in San Francisco.  This one was small and cramped, but stuff was sold by the pound.  It was a higher per pound price ($1.49) than others I have heard of, but I still came out well.  I went twice, on two consecutive days, and was a bit disappointed to find on the second day that no new bins had been brought out.

The store in Nashville had the whole Outlet thing going on.  Most stuff was .79 a pound, except for shoes, which were $1.39.  Luggage, furniture, and books were priced per item, although there were a few of each that would come out in the other bins.

I've scattered pics of a few of the things I found through out this post.  Everything was bought at the per pound price.  I have to say that this was one of the wildest junking experiences I have ever had.  The people-watching was as fun as the junking, and that was awesome.

Complete Bible on cassette

Let's talk about the drill first, then I'll share some thoughts and observations.  They wouldn't let people take pictures inside, for some reason.

Basically, you're in a large warehouse-like room that's filled with large blue bins on wheels.  There's a yellow line taped on the floor around every bin.  There are separate bins for clothes, shoes, books, luggage, and everything else.  A few bits of furniture line the walls.  Groups of people are rummaging through the bins and tossing stuff into their carts.

Vintage Briefcase

Every so often, someone comes out of the back and starts wheeling a few of the bins away.  After a while, the bins return, filled with new items.  Everyone lines up, careful to stay on the outside of the yellow lines, and waits for the okay to dig in.  While they wait, they crane and stretch to try and see what might be in the bins.  Touching anything is forbidden.  Getting too close is forbidden.  Staff people stand by the bins and play hall monitor to this group of adult kindergartners, making them back up and keep their toes outside the lines.  The adult pre-schoolers, in the meantime, are literally (and I am using that word correctly here) bouncing up and down in anticipation.  It's truly a sight to see.

Big Raggedy Ann!

Once the staff are satisfied that everyone is suitably outside the lines, they give the okay and everyone dives in!  Then it's all stretching and reaching and elbows and, in a couple of cases who really needed larger pants, butt-cracks all over the place as everyone tries to out-dig and out-grab everyone else.  Eventually, they start fading away, hopefully with a few more items in their carts.

When you are satisfied that you have enough, you head to the check out.  If you have a few items, then you put them on a scale on the counter. If you have a cartload, you wheel it on a large scale set in the floor.  I got quite a kick out of that, let me tell you!  I made two trips through, filling up a cart each time.  I'll talk about my strategies in a minute, but first some overall reflections.

File Boxes and NIP Puzzles

First off, it was way more fun than I had anticipated.  I knew I would have a good time, but I also knew that there would be obnoxious people reaching and grabbing and generally spoiling the fun for everyone else.  I'm not a grabber or an elbow-thrower.  I tend to adopt the philosophy that it's all just stuff.  There will always be more stuff.  There will always be more chances to get stuff.  My reason for existing will never, ever include having to make a jerk out of myself to be the first person to get stuff.  Ain't gonna do it.

Frame and Lego Case

Instead, I didn't see any of that going on.  People seemed to be very respectful of each other and their hunting.  People were even leaving their carts stashed in corners and adding stuff as they went, and no one else was bothering them.  I had not expected this, as I had read that you needed to keep an eye on your cart, lest anyone rummage through it.  In fact, I think I irritated a couple of folks hauling my overstuffed cart around.  I did end up in one situation where another guy and I reached for something at the same time.  He was just going to move it aside, so it was no biggie. 

I wanna play!

Originally, I planned on avoiding the new bins while everyone else was diving in.  I quickly found that I could do pretty well for myself going through the more picked over carts.  Most of the items in this post came from bins that everyone else had finished with.  However, once I saw someone pull a vintage trike out of one of the newer bins, I decided that I had to try it at least once.  It was a trip, let me tell you, but not nearly as bad as I was expecting.   

Ice skates!

I wish I was a sociologist, so that I could do an observational study of a GWO.  There were mothers there looking to get nice clothes for their kids, but not spend a lot of money.  There were obvious resellers.  The eBay folks were being very picky and focused, while the flea market folks were a little more eclectic.  I saw people buying cartloads of shoes, video tapes, and super nice clothes.  When we pulled up, there was a guy unloading three or four carts of all kinds of junk into his pick up.  Some of the best vintage stuff I saw was in the cart of one lady who looked to be about 75.  There was also a younger girl there going for selective vintage items.  I think she was more a vintage fan, than anything else.  Of course, there were also three or four hoarders as well.  They were the ones most likely to be vocally irritated at other people for getting things they wanted.

Shutters

One of the things I learned was that there are many ways to go about shopping in such a place, but it is important to have a system.  People were repacking their carts and sorting their purchases, neatly folding the clothes and stacking the other items.  This enabled them to keep track of things and also fit more in their carts.  Others brought lightweight reusable shopping bags and used those in their carts to organize their items.  Some folks come for the day, staying from open to close, often coming every day.  They hang out during the time after the bins have been picked and the arrival of new bins.  They chat, text, read.  There's a kind of little society going on in this warehouse.

Sweet Train Case!

My own strategy was just to cut loose and have fun.  If I wanted it, I grabbed it.  I did sort through my stuff, but I tried not to think about it all too much.  I just wanted to enjoy the experience.  If I were to do it again, I would spend more time thinking about weights and such in order to maximize my profit. 

Even without putting a lot of thought into it, I still did pretty well.  Once I got everything packed into boxes, I found that I had spent about as much per box as I would have at a typical (very good) church sale, but I had a lot more to show for it.  By contrast, I went into the regular Goodwill store right by the Outlet, spent about half what I paid for one cart, and got less than a third of the amount of stuff.  Regardless of how you do it, GWO shopping is a bargain!

Bizarre Burlap Snake Thing

You do have to check everything carefully.  It's all been transported from stores all over the place and then dumped into these bins, where it's roughly rummaged through.  The potential for damage is high.  Also missing bits and pieces, but if you search the other bins in the store, you might just find those pieces.

Sadly, there is not Outlet in Kentucky.  We're one of the few states that does not have one.  What's up with that?  I keep hearing rumors that we're going to get one in Louisville, but nothing so far.  Bummer.

This is not something I could do every day, much less all day.  The potential for burn out is too high for me.  I could see dropping in once a month or so during the warm months, maybe more when it's cooler and there are no yard sales.

MAVIS!

You can kind of get an idea of what I found from the pics in this post. This isn't everything, of course, but a good sample of the best items.  One thing I didn't get a pic of was a rotary dial phone.  It's tan, rather than red or black though.

One last find I wanted to highlight is Mavis, who is going to become a yard sale companion this summer.  She's sturdy and hefty, perfect for both hauling around neighborhood yard sales and junk set out times!

HISSSSSSS!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Where were you

when the giant McNugget roamed the Earth?

Monday Rambles

Gentle Readers--

(I've always wanted to say that!)

We are aware that last week lacked the usual Monday Rambles that many of you have come to expect at this blog.  The truth is, a Ramble was started, but someone forgot to finish it there were technical difficulties.  We regret the situation and will endeavor to make it up with an extra rambly, Ramble now.

Life is pretty good here in the Ohio River Valley right now.  We're still having frequent rainy and cool days, but also lots of sunny, warm ones.  And sometimes some sunny and cool ones.  Snow showers keep popping up in forecasts, so I know winter may still have one last blast up its sleeve.  After all, I can remember a Derby Day with snow in my adult life!  (For those who don't know, that would be snow on the first Saturday in May, also known as Free Comic Book Day in nerd-dom.  This has been the first official mention of FBCD at this blog in 2016.)

As the weather warms up, so do the yard sales.  There still aren't many taking place in actual yards, but the listings get a little longer every week.  The church sale scene is hopping right now!  Two of the four best church sales in the city have already happened, along with several other favorites.

There was also a Big Flea this past weekend, and I got a chance to go to a special place.  I don't want to spoil it, because I am working on a post about it, so let's just say that it rhymes with "Boot Hill Cow Pet."  Sort of.  Kind of. Maybe.

The booth is humming right along, as tax season continues to unfold.  After this past weekend, March could turn into my best month ever, depending on what happens as we get closer to Easter and people start thinking more about buying plastic eggs and chocolate bunnies than junk.  For the record, I do have a small stash of plastic eggs that they're welcome to.  The chocolate never seems to make it to the booth. (AHEM!)  Even if sales end up slowing this week, I'll still have one of my top months, so I'm happy.  I'm taking HUGE Mazda loads every week now and working several day stretches to keep up.

So what is selling?  Here's a recap.

COMICS  Stacks and stacks at a time, it seems. I have priced and taken every one I have in the house, So I need to go get my last two boxes of Mount Sorrow.  I have a feeling that I'll be doing some major restocking on Free Comic Book Day (second mention).  This last Big Flea trip disappointingly yielded only three (!) comics.

BOOKS  I only have maybe six books left from that old book buy I mentioned a few posts ago.  My children's books got cleaned out a couple of weekends ago.  I've been working the booth on several recent occasions as younger guys walked out with armloads of books.  It's always kind of cool to see the Kindle generation buying words on paper.  

RELIGIOUS STUFF  Like I said in my last post, it's taken a while for my religious section to catch on, but it finally seems to have clicked with customers.  The book sales extend to the religious titles, especially hymnals.  Everybody loves a good, old hymnal.  Yesterday, it seems like I must have sold half my religious stuff, according to my report.  Another thing to dig off the Mountain!

SHELVES  First it was big shelves.  Then it was small shelves.  Then it was that cool white cabinet.  Every time, the booths had to get a makeover.  I think I've ended up with a slightly new look every week this month.  I kind of ran out of time last week to finish up, so I'm planning to stay at the mall for the rest of the week and rework it all, again.

CHAIRS  Adult-sized.  Kid-sized.  Dining Room.  Side Chairs.  Easy Chairs.  Stools. Folding Chairs. When the month started, I had a surplus of chairs.  All over the place.  Now I only have a handful left.  Another trip up Sorrow Mountain!

BAMBOO  You might remember a bundle of bamboo poles from a recent Mazda shot.  They're gone!  As well as the ones I found to supplement that stash.  I got them because I thought they were cool-looking.  I had no idea I was on to something.

METAL BOXES  File Boxes.  Cash Boxes.  Card Boxes.  Recipe Boxes.  Candy Tins.  Tool Boxes.  Tackle Boxes.  If it's metal, I cannot keep it in right now!

WOOD BOXES  Crates, small boxes, card boxes, and such made of wood are also selling well.  Not quite as strongly as the metal ones, but they're definitely moving.

I wish I could get baskets to move as well as the boxes.  They're just sitting right now.  A couple of days ago, it looked like a vintage toy spree was about to begin, but it's a little early to make that call.  What's selling for you right now?

In other words, it's a good time to be a junker!  Wheeeee!  I hope your sales and finds are also going well right now.  I need to ride this wave while I can, since Spring Break is coming the first week of April and that usually means a slow-down.  After that, the Derby Festival will be starting. Another slow-down.  Last April was not as slow as I thought it might be.  I think being in Indiana, rather than in Louisville, helped.  Things don't get quite as mad on that side of the river, but for some events, the bridges across are blocked, which does have an effect.

My plan this week is to work it, work it, work it.  I'd like to get the booths squared away enough that I can spend next week focusing solely on the Mount of Sorrows.  That's actually been the idea behind the last couple of weeks, but it's not played out quite that way, due to the strong sales.  not a bad problem to have, except that I really, really want (and need) to work in the storage unit.  Sometimes, it's hard to prioritize when you're a one man show.

Finally, a query.  Does anyone know who these little guys are?

 I got them in a baggie of toys from a church sale.  They're marked "Saban" on the bottom, but I didn't turn up anything on a Google search for Saban characters.  Saban was the production company that unleashed the Power Rangers on this country in the 90's.

Here's another look.

Let me know.  Thanks.

Have a good week.

SURPRISE!

Sometimes, you get more than you thought you were getting.

Friday, I had a doctor's appointment downtown, so I stopped in at the thrift that is just down the street from his office.  I didn't find too much there, but there was this.

It's a vintage sick call cross.  These used to be fairly common in Catholic homes.  The top crucifix comes off and there are things inside that a priest would use if he had to make a call to anoint a sick family member.  They do still exist, but are not as common as they used to be.

Typically, when you find one, it's empty.  The kit is supposed to contain a bottle for Holy Water, a small cloth, and two candles.  Over the years, those things can get used up or lost.  This one was a good price for an empty kit and a really good price for one that still had the contents, so I picked it up. 

I come across these regularly, even though it's been a while since I had found one.   They are typically not something I keep, unless I find a really ornate or really old one, but they sell well at the booth.  It doesn't matter if they are empty or full.

I tried to get the top off in the store, but it was stuck.  The wood can swell over the years and make opening the kit difficult.  Rather than risk damaging the cross or spilling the contents, I decided to buy it and work on it later.  A little shake confirmed that there was stuff inside, which was enough for me to know at that moment.

A little later, I sat down and worked the top off and found a huge surprise!

SCORE!!!!!!

A REALLY HUGE SURPRISE!

Woo to the Hoo!!!!!

I guess that someone was using the cross to hold some of their most cherished religious keepsakes.  Maybe they had belonged to a beloved relative, and someone had wanted to keep them together.  I am thinking that whoever donated the kit had not opened it to see what was inside.  I'm pretty sure the thrift store staff didn't open it either, or they would have removed all this stuff to the jewelry case and priced it separately.

The little Holy Water bottle was probably part of the original kit.  I'll be taking it and the brown scapular to the booth.  I already have a ton of scapulars and a couple of Holy Water bottles that have labels on them.

Wazzat?

 These two intriguing little bits are my favorite pieces in the lot.

Oooooooo!

Pocket Saints!  The little containers protect the figures from damage, although you can see that the Sacred Heart of Jesus has experienced some wear over the years. 

I'm totally bowled over by these little figures!  I love that they have an almost primitive look to them.  They kind of remind me of santos figures, especially Jesus.  They have that same handcrafted look.  These babies are keepers for sure!

Two first communion pins and a St Benedict medal.  The pins are keepers.  I have a larger and older St Benedict medal, so it's going to the booth.  I'll make up a small set of medals and put them in a jar or little box to sell. 

Saint Benedict medals are used to foil curses that may have been placed upon you by the devil or other people, by the way.  If you experience some kind of mechanical issue that does not seem normal to you, attach a St Benedict medal to whatever is not working right and it is supposed to start cooperating.

This is the back of the older communion pin.  It would have been a cherished memento. 

Cute little cross pin.  I love the detailed flowers.  This one is kind of generic, so it's going to the booth.

Saint Dominic Savio pin.  Another keeper.  I love it when I find items related to saints not already represented in my collection.  The popularity of some saints waxes and wanes over the years, like Dominic here, who was more revered in the early part of the last century.  It's always fun to find "by gone" devotional items like this.

Dominic Savio is one of the youngest saints ever canonized.  He was 14 when he died.  Considered the patron saint of Catholic youth (especially boys), the club would have been a gathering of youth who attempted to follow his example.

The Saint Pius X medal is a keeper.  The other thing is called a four way medal.  It combines several religious medals into one to save space in your pocket and reduce jangling, I guess.  It's also a more bang for your buck thing.  It's going to the booth. 

I'm totally tickled that the Pius medal refers to him as "Pius The X" instead of just "Pius X" which is more standard.  I have never seen that before.  Little unique bits like that make something a definite keeper in my book.

On the back of the Pius medal is the motto of his pontificate.

Pius X was Pope in the early part of the 1900's.  He was a staunch conservative and determined above all to keep the church from moving with the times.  He even instituted a spy corps to check up on priests and theologians to prevent them from teaching new ideas.  He also wrote an oath that newly ordained priests had to sign and swear to follow declaring that they would reject any forms of new thought or belief.  Seminary professors and religion teachers had to sign the oath at the start of every school year.   

In other words, he would not have been the type to invite the current Pope over for tea.  (Although I do think that would have changed if he had only gotten his picture taken in a sombrero.)

He was canonized in the 1950's, becoming the first Pope to be named a saint in about 400 years.  He would be the last Pope canonized until John Paul II and John XXIII were named saints a couple of years ago. They also would not have been invited to tea with Pius.  That's got to be awkward when the Saints go marching in.

The largest group of Catholics fighting to preserve the Latin mass and more traditional ways is named after St Pius X.  They basically still recognize the current Catholic Church and Pope, but they don't like the way anything is done these days.

This was the first large scale keeper religious find I've made in a while, which made it extra fun for me.  Some to sell.  Some to keep.  Awesomeness all the way around!  After about a year of so-so sales, my religious section is finally getting some regular customer love.  It's nice to have some new stock to put in.  I have about a half dozen boxes of religious items on the far side of Mount Sorrow, but the last expedition I sent to find them never came back.

How About a Few Recent Finds?

I haven't shared anything I've picked up in a while, so here are some highlights from a couple of church sales, plus a Goodwill run or two.

The comic shop had a sale the other day.  The comic selection wasn't the hottest, although I did find quite a few things.  Mostly it was the fifty cent graphic novels and sets that made the bulk of my purchases.  I came out way under budget on this trip, which is probably good.  At the last sale, I went over budget, mainly on stuff for me.  There was very little of that this time.

One thing  I did get was DVD's.  I'm pretty well-stocked on movies right now, but they get people into the book booth, so I made some selective choices, namely multi disc packs of older movies:

Stuff still new in the unopened shrinkwrap:

And religious topics:

A most unexpected find was a small graphic novel by one of my favorite singer-songwriters.  You just never know what's out there.

If you don't know Hayes, here's a good example of his work.  The man do have a way with the words.



This one is my favorite.  (Admittedly, a hard pick to make.)







If I don't stop now, The focus of this post is going to change dramatically.  Do a YouTube search for Hayes Carll.  I promise it's worth the time you'll lose.

Now, where was I?  Oh, yes.  The comic shop sale.


Of course, some oddness just for me.  Santa vs Satan?  It's the battle of the anagrams!  I am so there.

I still pick up VHS from time to time as well, as long as I don't pay more than a quarter. Flea markets attract people who, for whatever reason, have not upgraded their media technology.  I have seen customers, particularly older men, with carts full of nothing but VHS tapes.

Since they do take up a lot of room, I don't go searching them out deliberately.  My rules are pretty much the same as for DVD's:  Disney, a few classic films, oddball stuff, and religious topics.

This is actually one that makes me wish I still had a VHS player.

Of course, I got something for myself.

Reusable Marvel super-heroes shopping bag for the win.  I can't wait for the next big flea to break it in!  Woo to the Hoo!

The only thing I really knew about this book was that it was published at $150, but was on sale for $5.  There's got to be some room to do something with that.  It's totally not my thing, but someone else may like it.  It's also signed and has a set of prints included.

Courtesy of the local Goodwill, I found more SUMO BUTT!  Which means I now have three of them.  Which means I am a Sumo Butt collector, I guess.  My mother would be so proud.

Aren't these just the sweetest Kokeshi dolls ever????  I have become quite infatuated with Kokeshi over the past couple of years.  If I had room (those Sumo Butts take up a LOT of space), I would probably be seriously collecting them.  Instead, I am quite content with owning them and admiring them in the booth until someone else comes along who will take them home.  Re-selling:  It's dealing with your hoarding issues by making them someone else's.

IT'S THE RETURN OF THE REALLY BIG BUGS!  (And I love it!)

Finally, this bassinet doesn't have the hood, but I got it for a song, so it doesn't matter.  I thought it would be a cute display piece for teddy bears.  Looks like I was right, although I might switch those out for Disney beanies, since I have a ton of them.

Oops.  One more.  I found this vintage Bakelite View Master at such a good price, I had to check to make sure I hadn't turned into Shara.

The reel that was with it?  Is it some lost, vintage classic? 

Uhm, no.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!

We interrupt this blog to bring  you this notice from the Committee to Endlessly Extract Dubiously Humorous Posts from the Simple Act of Washing Junk.* (Also known at the Division for the Continued Flagellation of Deceased Equines.)

It's time...

...to wet...

...your whistles!

Please proceed accordingly.

*You can take this as confirmation a warning that there will be more of these posts.  The Committee extends its regrets.

Monday Rambles

Crazy times!  That's what these are.

My CPAP machine gave up the ghost a few days ago, and trying to get a replacement that isn't going to involve a lot of time, effort, and extra expense is proving to be a hassle.  It is actually cheaper to order one on my own and not involve my insurance, but I don't have a copy of my prescription and the sleep center where I did my study won't give me one.

In the meantime, Keith and I are sharing his, which means that neither of us is feeling particularly rested at the moment.

Booth sales have been off the chain lately.  February ended up being my second best month ever (coming very close to my record), despite the weather issues at times.  March has started off even better.  I know that ride will have to slow down at some time, but for now, I am content to let it go as it will.

I topped 200 in sales two days in a row last week, which has never happened to me before.  All of a sudden, everyone wants to buy my shelves.  I sold three different sets last week, which, of course, meant I had to rearrange booths three different times.  I feel like I have been living at the mall.  I love tax time!

Saturday, a guy parked himself in the book booth and stayed for well over an hour.  He just kept looking through books and tossing them in his cart.  I really needed to do some work in there, but I did not want to disturb him, since he was on a roll.  I was kind of concerned that he might be one of those folks who fills up a cart, then makes a second pass through everything and puts most of it back, but he wasn't.  The cashier said she told him that he was making me a happy vendor for the day, and he told her that was good because I had made him happy too.  Thta's the way it's supposed to work.

On the other hand, a woman wandered into my other booth and started complaining loudly to anyone who would listen about the price on a small end table.  She kept repeating the price, then loudly stating:  "Judy would give me one for free."  After she had done this a few times and had people staring at her, I looked at her and said, "Well then, why don't you go ask her?"  She stared at me for a moment, then walked off muttering something under her breath, which I was hoping wasn't about Judy coming back to punch me in the stomach.

The weather is still iffy around here.  Good one day.  Not so good the next.  Still, the sales are starting.  At least the church sales.  One of my regulars happened last Saturday, with another one scheduled for this Saturday, followed by one of my favorites the week after.  I'm trying to stick to just the tried and true this season, while I keep whittling down the Mountain.  Having a couple of nice days in a row would help in that process.  I am tragically low on smalls in the booths.  There's a good-sized stash of them on the Mount of Sorrows, but they're on the back side of it, due to poor planning on my part.  I need some more reliable weather before I can pull everything out to hunt for them.

Thanks for all the kind words about my TV interview.  I was surprised they used as much of me as they did.  They actually talked to three patients, and I thought the other two were way more interesting than me.  One of them they ended up not having time in the spot to include, and she's the one who got to meet Jimmy Carter!  The PR person at the cancer center said that you don't often see a spot as long as this one was.  It was nearly five minutes on air, which is unheard of these days.  I thought they got some good stuff from Dr Chesney too.  He is a really cool dude.

I think it's kind of funny that he's the deputy director of the center, and my other doc is the director!  I get the executive treatment.  They do some incredible work there, and are both so down to earth about it.  The director in particular is fascinated with Keith's beard.  Keith's beard has lots of fans.

Sometimes, they even get in trouble over it.  Saturday, after the church sale, we stopped off for Mexican food for lunch.  They sat us next to a table where there were three little kids. One of them took one look at Keith and started yelling:  "It's Santa!"  He gets that a lot.  He is a big guy with a big beard, after all.

Well, this kid cannot control himself,  He keeps staring and yelling and pointing.  His mother keeps telling him to turn around and finish eating, but he's having none of it.  He looks at Keith and says:  "Say 'Ho Ho Ho!'"  After Keith does, the kid starts shouting "Ho Ho Ho!" over and over again.  Finally, Mom loses patience and heads off to the bathroom, kid in tow.  Keith looks at me and says:  "I guess I should put myself on the naughty list."

They come back and the kid is a good deal more restrained, although he does keep sneaking peeks at Keith.  Finally, they all finish their lunch, and Mom says:  "Let's go potty one more time."  The kid says back:  "Are you gonna yell at me again?"  Poor guy!

Retro Y'all

It was the Springiest thing I could think of.

Breaking Up with Winter

Dear John Winter,

It's over.  I'm sorry.

It's not you. It's me.

We should see other people.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Maybe we can still be friends.

Sincerely,

Me

---

Winter--

Okay, maybe I could have been a little more tactful.  I'm sorry about that, but it really is over.

Best wishes,

Me

PS Go away.

---

Win--

Freezing rain and sleet?

That's supposed to win me back?

As if.

Stop trying.  You're only embarrassing yourself.  People are starting to talk.

Me

---

W--

I'm sorry, but six inches of snow is not likely to make me want to meet you for lattes to "talk this all out."

Adding the freezing wind was a really poor choice.

Honestly, it's your sucky gift-giving skills that are a big part of the problem.

Shoo!

Me

---

Okay,

This has gone far enough.

If I find one more fleck of frost on my windshield or even one stray flak of snow in the back yard, I'm getting a restraining order.

For the last time:

LEAVE ME ALONE!

---

Maybe if I set it to music?



PS:  I'm now seeing the cute bear with the rectangular guitar.

Louisville doctor says breakthrough treatment could wipe out cancer in a decade

This is the news story I was a part of at the cancer center.  Keep in mind that the camera adds pounds and years and also makes your hair look uncombed.



Louisville doctor says breakthrough treatment could wipe out cancer in a decade: There's a new breakthrough that's sparking hope and it's already saving lives.

Retro Y'all!

Monday Rambles

It's the return on the Masked Man!

For once, I was having a halfway decent hair day last week on cancer center day.  Good thing too, because I got interviewed by a local TV station for a story about the drug I'm on.  I don't know yet when it will air, but I'll post links and such when I do.

New Blog Recommendation:  Look What I Found! is another trash-picking and selling blog, but the author lives in the Netherlands, which gives her varied and more interesting outlets for finding and selling stuff.  She also makes things to sell, and there are cats.  I've read back through the last few years of posts and quite enjoyed it.  Give it a look.

And speaking of things that I found that I'm kind of fond of, take a listen to this:



Also, Lara at Pretty Quirky did a round up of blog posts all about the booth business that's worth checking out. (Even if she didn't include a certain handsome, if shaggy, intelligent, if goofy, dude we've all come to love and enjoy.  Sniff!)

Also, another fun blog I've been meaning to recommend for a while, but kept forgetting, is Stories of Objects.  I really love her sparse, almost minimalist, vibe. Since she's another European, her stuff and her stories have a different flair to them than what you might be used to.  I will say that her header photo might unnerve you a bit, so be ready for it. I think it's kind of cool, but that's just me.

One of these days, I shall have to make a blogroll and incorporate all this good reading!  (Plus the many blogs that belong to you great people!)

Tuesdays seemed to be cursed, sales-wise, for me right now.  I'm in this pattern where I have a good weekend, a strong Monday, and then a really crappy Tuesday.  Not at all sure what that's about.  It's still a good month overall, though.

This weekend was particularly good.  I was there all day on Saturday and the place was packed!  Every shopper seemed to have a cart just crammed with stuff.  at one point, it felt like everyone in the store was in my aisle at the same time.  I had been a little worried, since it was really, really nice both days.  I was afraid that after the bad weather we'd been having that people would want to be outside on a nice weekend, rather than cooped up in the mall buying my awesome junk.  Happily, I was wrong about that!  Junk triumphs over nice weather!

By the way, I'm really kind of amazed by the number of you who say that your sales go UP on bad weather days.  It can be hit or miss here.  If it's rainy, that'll drive the folks indoors to shop, but if it's wintry, around here they tend to stay home.

I'm also surprised by the stories of how slow it can be this time of year for booth sales.  This is our busiest time of the year.  Once the tax money starts rolling in, so do the customers.  I don't know if it's a regional thing or that fact that I'm in a flea market flea market that makes the difference.  Our slump season is the summer.

I spent Thursday and Friday at the booth, bringing my brand of order to my brand of chaos.  I went in with a nice load from Sorrow Mountain and the Hillock, thinking that I really didn't have too much to do other than put it all out.  With that thought in mind, I decided to tackle a couple of other jobs that I haven't had the time to do lately.

Those jobs turned out to be the proverbial jobs that lead to other jobs, which lead to other jobs, which lead to other jobs.  End result?  My easy afternoon of stocking turned into three crazy days of work!

At least for once I wasn't out in the aisle with my stuff, because there was an empty booth next to my spaces where I had plopped my boxes.  I never block an aisle and I keep my stuff far away from other booths when I work.  The end result is that all access to my own stuff is pretty much blockaded until I get done.  Despite this, a couple of my neighbors constantly complain about me and my stuff, which is never anywhere near their booths and is crammed as closely up to my own spaces as I can get it.

So, I'm working along, happy for once that no one can complain about anything I'm doing, when along comes the folks who have just rented the space where I'm plopping.  Of course, I cleared out right away, but I still got the stink-eye.  It seems I am forever cursed to be hated by my neighbors!

At least, I got everything done!  All of my religious books are in the booth (finally)!  Valentine's stuff is gone.  Some Easter is out.  (I found a couple of boxes of Easter on the Mount of Sorrows that I had forgotten about.)  I still have a few Easter things in the shed to dig out.  I have a little more Easter than I really like right now, but I caught a 90% off sale last year where they still had some BIG items left, so I got a couple.  We'll see what happens. I have about one more half-load of stuff on the Hillock to take out, and then it will be time to close it down!  Woo hoo! 

I ended up working from open to close on Saturday.  I was exhausted by the end of the day.  About midway through the day, one of my favorite vendors came in.  He's got two booths, one about halfway down the aisle from me and one the next aisle over.  His booths are kind of like topsy-turvy land.  Stuff that should be high-priced is super-cheap and the stuff that should be super-cheap is way too high.

I ended up buying this:

It was way cheaper than I would have expected and is the right size for holding board games and puzzles in my booth.  I also got some small things from him, including some vintage Fisher-Price. A little later in the day three guys came by looking for glass jars.  I know this dealer always has tons of cheap jars, so I sent them to his booths.  Later, I saw them checking out with a bunch of them.  I felt like I repaid him for all the good stuff I got.

I did hit one garage sale on my way to the mall.  It was the only one worth stopping at.  I already had Mazda loaded with stuff for the booth, so I didn't take a Mazda shot.  It would not have been fair to the new stuff.

This is the sale by the dealer that lives not far from us with great stuff and good prices.  I told Keith as we were leaving with Mazda about half full that this would be the day I found a ton of stuff from him, just because the van space was so limited.

Talk about self-fulfilling prophecies!

There were two of these extra large wire baskets.  Only this one made it into the pic.  The other one turned out to be quite camera-shy.

Fun wrought iron plant stand and a really interesting box.  Really interesting.  I think the box itself is kind of old.  The wood looks like it.  It has tiny, old metal casters on the bottom that barely roll.  Along the way, someone attached paneling to the ends of the box and carpet to one side.  Quirky.

All these books!  Two U-Haul boxes full of them.  I saw one of them and it was marked five bucks.  I pulled the tag off and added it to my pile.  Then the seller tells me he's got another one that he'll let me have for four, so I take it too.  

Just then, another guy there starts trying to get down in the second box as I'm checking it out and taking it to my stash.   "What you got there?  Anything good"  Not cool, dude!

This one is my favorite book of the batch.  It's also the only picture book.  There were a lot of old textbooks, several old Bibles (LOVE!), some old religious books, a few novels, and several books from the Five Little Peppers series.  All in all, a really nice haul.

 This is my second favorite from the lot.  Sadly, there are no illustrations inside to match that sweet cover.

 

This book yielded one of the most awesome surprises I have ever found tucked inside a book.....

....VINTAGE PAPER DOLLS!

Cut right out from the newspaper!  How fun is that???  They remind me of those wonderful Golden Age Katy Keene comic books.  Of course, she wasn't the only comic in the 40's to have paper dolls, but it's one of my favorites.  There was a brief Katy revival in the 80's, which I totally loved, even if I did slip her in between the Batman comics in my stash at the comic shop.

There was also another really fun item of great historical interest in another book, but I'm saving it for another day.  Those are the highlights from the haul.  I also got five toy guitars and a framed golf poster, but didn't get pictures.  Combined with what was already in Mazda, I filled it up!

Not much on tap for this week.  The weather is supposed to be okay for a couple of days, so I'm going to spend some time in the back yard cleaning the last of the curb finds, so they can head to the booth. 

I have a couple of fine-tuning booth touches that need to be done and I need to finish my Easter display.  Once I get everything done, I'll take some pictures for you nice people.  I haven't done that in a while.