Pre-Monday Rambles

I have to be at the hospital pretty early in the morning, so I'm writing this on Sunday.  There's still so much to do!  I'm getting a little cranky and stressed at this point.  I've been eating so much crap that I'm actually bloated and gassy.  Stress-eating combined with holiday feasting is never a good idea.  Ever.

We went to the big flea market at the fairgrounds yesterday.  Keith actually went with me, which doesn't always happen.  I had a lot of fun.  One of these days, I'll do a Junkin' Memories post about my history with this particular flea.  It's kind of part tradition, part junking, part something else for me.

In terms of actual merch hunt, the only time to go the big flea is New Year's and Labor Day, when they have the special antique wing.  There are a lot more vendors there and much better chances of scoring.  The parking fee at the fairground is just too much these days to go every month, like I did in the old (pre-booth) days.

The antique wing is great for three reasons.  First, it's a chance to see a lot of cool stuff in one place.  I've always loved browsing the antiques!  Second, it's a good chance to do some research and learn about things.  Finally, there are the dollar booths!  Yay!

There are always several dealers who are dumping a bunch of items that they got in bulk buys, box lots, and estate clean-outs.  They've pulled the big dollar items for their stores, which is where they'll make their money.  Everything else they sell at a buck a throw, just to get rid of it.  Sometimes, there's even overstock from their shops that they're tired of looking at.  Nothing is organized, but you can find some great bargains, if you're willing to dig a bit.  I'm always willing to dig!

Unfortunately, because of the surgery, I had to go on the first day of the flea market, instead of the last day, which is what I usually do.  On the first day, the items are two bucks each, which pretty much cut down on what I could buy.  Bummer.  I did find a couple of dollar booths, just not as many as there will be tomorrow.  I scored this awesome, clear Pyrex bowl for a buck!  It's huge!

I'll have a couple more posts on the flea market later in the week.

This afternoon, we headed out to look for post-Xmas clearance.  I've had such a sell-through on Xmas stuff that I definitely need a restock for next year.  For the most part the markdowns still aren't high enough for me, but Target had just hit the magic number!  I got quite a bit of stuff--more than I usually would.

I like to get several small stashes of Xmas from different stores, so that I've got a variety when the next year rolls around.  I'm kind of afraid right now that I'm going to miss the big markdowns due to the surgery. If they go low on Tuesday or Wednesday, I'm going to miss out for sure.  To be on the safe side, I decided to get a larger stash from target than I normally would.  I'll have a little less variety next Xmas season, but Target stuff is nice, so I should be okay.

I've still got a couple of blog post to finish for next week, a couple of YesterNook posts to write for the week, and laundry to do.  I know I'm not going to have them on very long tomorrow, but I would prefer to go into the hospital with clean undies.

By the time you read this, I'll most likely be in surgery, unless you're catching this early Monday morning, in which case I'm checking in and waiting for my turn to be sliced.  I haven't told Nigel and Sixtus what's going to happen.  I want the little bastards to be caught off guard!

Hopefully, I'll be back at the keyboard pretty soon!  Take care y'all and be safe this New Year's Eve!