Changes in Perspective

Used to be, when I saw this video,



I'd think about what an awesome song it is and how cool the video is.

Now, when I see it, I think about all the junk lying all around that house and how I'd like to back the car up to it and scoop it all up and take it to a booth!

But, it is still a cool song.

Retro Y'all!

Stuck in my head

I came out of the shower the other day with this stuck in my head:



If you're around my age and you watched Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, you probably remember the great Schoolhouse Rock shorts.  Usually, I get hung up on the math (naturally) or history shorts, but grammar is what invaded my head the other day.  I think it's because I've been encouraging my classes to write within the context of out math classes.

Another imminently hummable, irresistibly catchy one:



Hey!  That's not fair!  Giving a guy a shot down there!  Gotta love it.  I think the girl with the rainbow "Wow" would look awesome on a retro style t-shirt.

I love this one for the names alone:



The next time I get on the bus, I'm going to holler out:  "Who let that rhinoceros on this bus?"  That piano line is really pretty.

And, finally, nouns:



I love how the pop culture references were already a little dated when this one first aired in the early 70's.  I have a sneaky suspicion that you can sing this one to this tune (and vice versa).  I haven't tried it all the way through, but parts of it seem to work in my head.

Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day

I love the bold design, colors, and retro font on this one:

As a bonus, it's got a chart!  I love fundamentalist Bible charts!  I  grew up with them, especially the ones about the end times!  I loved the graphics and the fonts and following all the arrows and lines.  I gotta admit, though, that the one in this book is one of the most confusing and unclear ones I have ever seen:

Even with the explanatory text below, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  But it is kind of interesting to look at!

This is the last of the booklets, by the way.  I hope you enjoyed this little mini-series.  I'll be on the look out for more to share!

Junking Humor

Protect yourself from annoying fluid spills and discharges!

Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day

Don't have too much to say about this one, except that I think it's kind of cute that the author's name is "Grounds" which is a synonym for "Reason."  Odd little things like that appeal to me.  As far as I know, "Vernon" isn't a synonym for anything.  The Bible on the front is kind of cute, too, floating in the clouds like that and all.  Well done.

I do love the hand reaching down for the Bible on the back.  I wonder if it's supposed to be the hand of God blessing the Bible or just some random dude patting it?  Or maybe taking an oath?  Maybe he's getting ready to testify in court?  We may never know.

Monday Rambles

All right.  Time to face another week, while we lay last week to rest.  Or something like that.  This is going to be an interminable week for me, since next week is Spring Break and I cannot wait for a little time off.  I will have a couple of sessions throughout the week, but I will have next Thursday and Friday totally off, which I am looking forward too.  I think I might even take in a matinee one of those days.

In the meantime, I have to get through this week, which includes deciding whether or not to have a yard sale this coming Saturday or not.  If I decide to have it, then I'll have to spend the week getting ready for it.  I don't mind doing that, but the long-range forecast is for rain on Saturday.  I guess I could do all the prep work and then just postpone it until the nest weekend, but I'm still on the fence.  What would you do?

Speaking of yard sales, Saturday was a real mixed bag.  I ended up with a vanload, but it was sure looking doubtful for a while.  A church sale that's been pretty good in the past simply wasn't.  It was held in a big, non-crowded basement that smelled like the previous night's fish fry.  (Blech!)  THere really weren't that many people there, so I oculd not for the life of me figure out why I got bumped into several times.  Really people?  The selection stinks.  The basement stinks.  And now you want to run into me?

I also had one of the oddest conversations I've ever had with a fellow shopper.  I was looking at a figure from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame when this woman says:  "Are you a toy collector or do you just like the Hunchback?"  What?  I'm not one for small talk with strangers under the best of conditions, but that was just plain weird.  At least she wasn't bumping into me.

Then at checkout, the cashier mis-totalled my items and then shorted me on change!  I was never more glad to get out of a sale in my life.

We went to another church sale that has always been lame in the past, but flush from last week's experience, I went in determined to give it a chance.  I found three things and a line to check out that was stretching all the way down the length of the gym.  I could not figure out why the line was so long, since there were three cashiers, then I realized that all three of them were involved in checking out each seller!  Since when does it take three people to check out a person with two or three items?  No wonder it was taking so long.  I think they needed all the extra fingers and toes to add up the totals!   I looked at that line and my three so-so items and left them lying on a table.

Time was kind of tight, since Kosh had a vet appointment at noon, but with two loser sales in a row, all of a sudden  I had time to spare for the second day estate sale in a picked over house, a sale with a box of Beanie Babies for $150 (really!), and another second day estate sale where all of the furniture was still in the house because it was priced so high. (And they were entertaining no offers or thoughts of markdowns.)

I was really discouraged by the time we got to the sale I had saved for last because it was near the house and we could scoop Kosh up and head to his appointment when we were finished.  Thankfully, It was awesome.  I should have gone there first.  (I would have planned on going there first if we hadn't had the vet appointment.  I hate backtracking, so I try to plan kind of smooth routes.)

We picked up a ton of stuff there, including this custom built bookshelf with a drawer in it.

I love the use of the beadboard in the back!

Totally solid wood--no pressboard here.

And this cute little table.  Another custom piece.  The artisan's label is stuck on the underside.

The apron is off-kilter on all sides.  It's a fun look!

Not the best image, but I love this flower detail!

I also snagged an awesome piece at another sale that I'll save for a later post, since I don't have a pic yet and it's at the booth.

Kosh checked out okay at the vet.  He was a little cranky and hissed a couple of times, but overall he behaved fairly well.  He's my sweet grumpy old man!

Booth sales are strong this month.  I've sold everything from my curb picking except for two chairs.  I sold the school desk I bought from the Deliverance people on my birthday.  I've already sold the school desk I bought last week and the fringey party umbrella from a couple of weeks ago.  I went through my sales emails last night and 30% of my total sales this month is coming from furniture!  I've never been a big fan of selling furniture, but now I need to rethink that.  Having the space to sell it right helps and having the van to haul it helps keep the supply coming in.  In the past, I've had to pass great pieces up because I had no way to haul them.  Now, I'm finding and bringing stuff in every weekend and that keeps the flow going.  I'm still not a fan of selling furniture, but at least now it's because of bad experiences with other furniture sellers and not because of furniture itself.

I plan to spend this week catching up on my blog reading and commenting. I owe quite a few of you all comments, so don't be surprised if a big bunch of comment from me start popping up on your blogs.  Also, thanks for all the kind words on my biopsy results.  I appreciate each of you. 

Retro Y'all!

Friday Rambles

This has been one crazy-ass week, let me tell you!  I left some space in my blogging schedule for some writing, including my normal Monday Rambles post, and then watched it all fall away from me.

My head is kind of spinning from everything going on, so let me put a few points out there for you all to bring you up to date and confirm that I do, indeed, still exist and that I can do something besides post about religious booklets.

First and foremost, the biopsy came back negative!  They'll keep monitoring that spot, but it is not cancerous.  I cannot tell you what a relief that is for me!  I'm back on the regular cycle of three month scans and follow ups.  Thanks so much for all the kinds notes and thoughts.  I really appreciated it.  After we got the news, Keith made me waffles for supper to celebrate!

Last weekend's sales were pretty good.  The van continues to prove its usefulness by hauling lots of stuff.   We're still very early in the season, which means that I can get by with less than fifty bucks, because there aren't that many sales.

I had a rare and mystifying experience on Saturday:

I found myself waiting in line to get into a church sale.  I'm not one for lines to get into sales, especially when I can tell that there are several other dealers also in the line.  For one, I just don't have the patience for it.  You'll never catch me signing up for a number at an estate sale, unless that estate sale features an Emmylou Harris concert in the living room (and they're selling good comic books).

For another, I hate with the passion of a thousand white hot suns the shoving and grabbing games that some dealers like to play.  I know that one of these days I'm going to end up telling one of these assholes off for trying to push past me, and I'll be the one that gets booted from the sale.  There are a lot less frustrating ways to get stuff.

Besides that, I hit this sale every year, but it's never really that good.  I only put it on my list because it happens at the time of year where there aren't that many sales available to choose from. (Got another one of those coming up tomorrow.)  So I found myself kind of baffled that this particular sale had a line.  Really?

Then it dawned on me that I had never been to this sale as it opened.  I always get there after it's been going a while.  Maybe it's a little better come opening time.  So, I bade my time and waited in line and pondered which one of these dudes was going to be the one to piss me off.

The sale finally opened and I went right to the stuff I was looking for, which is furniture these days.  They had the most adorable kids' school desk for a couple bucks.  I could feel the other guys lining up behind me to stare at it, so I took my time going over it.  Then, while a couple of them were glaring at me, I took out my dollars and paid for it.  I got dirty looks for the rest of the sale and a couple of comments about what a steal I got as I was leaving with it.  You can't always judge a sale by the past, I guess.

Buying a cute school desk:  wonderful.  Pissing off a bunch of obnoxious dealers in the proces:  PRICELESS!

Sorry no pics.  I rushed everything to the booth last Saturday and totally forgot to snap any.  And i also picked up the most awesome set of wicker chairs to boot. They're purple!

I've got more to babble about, but I've got to head out the doo to grab a bus for work.  I'll throw it all into Monday's Rambles.  Have a good weekend and happy yard sales!

Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day

This one. front and back, is my favorite out of the whole batch.  Another really nice combo of bold, retro colors and artwork grace the front.  You cannot go wrong with a Middle Eastern theme on a Bible booklet, right?  I love the use of red for highlights.

Besides, camels totally rock!

The back cover completely changes gears with this brightly colored line drawing.  I love the dramatic light that is just beaming from that candle.  Awesome!

The glasses are kind of cool. too!

Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day

This one is one of my favorites from this batch of booklets!  I love the bold stylized artwork.  It's kind of modern, yet kind of primitive and folksy at the same time.

I wonder if they've looked behind the sofa?

The real kicker on this one is the back cover:

Take a closer look at the record on the top left:

I know it's been a while since I've done this kind of thing, but I seem to remember the purpose of these kinds of endeavors was to keep people from going to hell, not picking people to send there!  I guess it would really pay not to get on this guy's bad side!

That Cecil Todd:  He's hardcore!  (He's also not above playing fast and loose with the truth for his flock.  Neither is his son.)

Closing Time

The liquor store down the street from us seems to have closed.  When I say "right down the street,"  I mean it.  It's three doors from our house.  Ordinarily, I wouldn't be commenting on something like this.  Liquor stores are not places I normally frequent.  Family-owned, neighborhood-based businesses, though, are an interest of mine, especially those with a long history.  All of that describes this place to a "T."

The beer advertising in the windows has been replaced by curtains.  The lights are out.  There's a notice on the front door about where to deliver mail.  The really cool big neon sign of the beer bottle popping its cap has been taken down.  When I first came to Louisville, it used to still work, but over the years, it kind of deteriorated.  It was still kind of a neighborhood landmark.

This was just a little mom and pop business, the kind where the family lived upstairs or in the back of the business.  The elderly woman who owned it still lives in the building.  I don't know a lot about the history, but I'm pretty sure she kept the business going after her husband died.  When I used to have to catch an early bus to work, I'd see her coming out of the back of the building to open the business up.  I used to wonder then what kept her going.  Now, I'm kind of hoping that the decision to close was her own, not something forced on her by doctors or her children.

The closing of this little corner liquor store won't attract big attention or news.  In fact, I'm not sure myself how when it happened and I walk by the place every day.  I just happened to notice the curtains the other day.  Like I said, these kind of places interest me, because there are fewer of them left all the time.  The little Dairy Dell not far from us has a for sale sign up.  I guess you could say that it's a sign of the times we live in, but it's hard not to be a little nostalgic, or maybe a little wistful, when a place like that closes.

Places like that were once touchstones for neighborhoods.  Longtime residents dropped by for a visit or to catch up on gossip.  Those kinds of businesses were anchors and landmarks.  Even when I was a kid, you could find dozens of them everywhere.  I'm not trying to make any to make any kind of grand statements here about anything, at least not this time.  I definitely do have my opinions and biases, but for right now I'm just feeling a little reminiscent about a place I never visited, but was always there, just three doors down.

And then I peek above the curtains and see all the classic beer promotional items that are still hanging on the walls and my inner junker kicks in:  What's going to happen to all that cool stuff?  And the cycle goes on.

 

Retro Y'all!

Junking Humor

Sister Mary Claretia had no idea what she was getting into when she entered the order of the Sisters of the Sacred Ten Pin!

Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day

Oops!  Someone misspelled "Apostles!"  Tee Hee!

It's not crooked.  The cover was slightly miscut.

All right, all right!  I know "Apostates" is a word and I know what it means and I know that's what they intended to use here.  It's been a long time since I've done any Bible study, so I don't remember what's actually in the book of Jude.  I am, however, not one to resist a chance to make a lame joke.  (Or belabor the point in an unnecessary aftermath.)

This is the back cover.  It seems most of the back covers are given over to some kind of ad for the booklet publishers.  I kind of love that cute little picture of grumpy Daniel Webster.

Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day

I love this color combination!  It's the kind of thing you only get in vintage graphics.  It's almost trippy, which is a strange thing to say about a religious booklet cover.  Groovy!  It's really interesting that the hues change so drastically on the back cover.

I could swear this was straight when I edited the scan.

Monday Rambles

Well, my scan turned up a small, unexplained subcutaneous spot on my back.  It's about 8 mm long.  It's too deep and too small for the doctor to feel, so I had to have a biopsy on Thursday, which meant more missed work.  (Work was cancelled due to weather on Monday and Tuesday.)  I won't get the results until next Tuesday.

I'm trying not to dwell on it, but it's hard.  The rational side of my head (yes, there is one!) says that it's likely nothing and that we just have to check it out, given my history.  The other side of my head is trying not to panic.  Until I know for sure what's going on, it doesn't make sense to play "What if?" games.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Part of the reason for my concern is the abnormal mole on my back that my dermatologist has been watching.  I'm not sure where it's located in relation to this new spot, and that worries me a little.

The whole biopsy was an adventure unto itself.  It was supposed to be done with ultrasound, but the machine could not detect the spot.  They sent me back for another CT scan, so they could pinpoint it better.  I actually got my hopes up that maybe there wasn't a spot, and the whole thing was just some kind of glitch.  Except that the CT scan found the damn thing again.  The doc put an "X" on my back and then they tried the ultrasound one more time.  It still couldn't find the spot, so they did the biopsy with the CT scanner.  They would shove me in the machine, yank me out, poke at my back, shove me back in the machine, yank me out, poke at my back--over and over again, until they decided they had enough cells to test.

And now I wait.  Yeesh!

Let's move on to something more pleasant, like disappointing yard sales.  (I didn't say "something a lot more pleasant."  Still, even disappointing yard sales are more pleasant than biopsies.)

The unthinkable happened on Saturday. I left one of my favorite church sales empty-handed!  There just wasn't anything there.  At least, not at the sale.  There was all kinds of good stuff, but it was going out the door as I was going in.  Apparently, that was all the good stuff that was there, because there wasn't anything left.

We got delayed by a foot race that had some of the streets blocked and we took a wrong turn in the park we were cutting through to avoid the street closings.  That made us just late enough that the booty went home with someone else.  Waaaah!

Normally, I don't sweat someone else getting the goods before me, but I'm needing big stuff right now.  I've been trying to stay true to my motto:  "It's only stuff.  There will be more stuff." but that's hard to do when you're pouting.

I did get a few things at a couple of other sales, but dropped them all off before I could get pics.  It was far from a huge haul though.  It's still early in the season.  We've just come out of another bad weather spell.  The pickings are kind of slim right now.

I spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon cleaning out my shed.  This accomplished several goals for me.  I have more room in the shed now.  All of the old merch from the booth I closed in October is now in storage at the Peddlers Mall.  (I'll be putting it out this afternoon.)  My tubs of backstock are now in my storage space as well.  I also made a really nice pile of crap for curbside junk pick-up which happens this week.

Before I was even done, I got hit by a scrapper who grabbed my broken lawn chairs and a busted folding table.  (I scared him when I yelled at him not to make a mess.)  Later on, a little girl and her dad got all excited by a box of scrap paper I had set out.    They took it home for art projects.  Having made my contribution to the curb economy, I then set out to see what I could find for myself.

And the finding was good.  More than good enough to make up for a weak yard sale day.  Almost good enough to make up for the biopsy.  Almost.

According to the curbside pick up rules, you have the entire weekend to set stuff out, and the trucks will come by sometime during the week that follows.  What this means is that Sunday is the best night for picking.  I filled the van.

I was picking through one pile, when a junker who sells at the store I left offered me four dining room chairs, which I took on the spot.  Then I found a large, heavy decorative piece of pottery at another spot, followed by an old quilt rack.  A couple of streets over, I snagged a two drawer file cabinet that had somehow been missed by two different scrappers, who were parked down the street.

I also got some cool small stuff too, including a couple of old lunch boxes and a pair of vintage light covers.  I also found a brand new roll of Christmas wrapping paper.  You never know what you'll run across during junk set out.

All of that means that I'm going to be busy this afternoon at the booth.  All the curb finds need to be cleaned and set out, plus the stuff I got out of the shed.  That busy-ness will carry over into the rest of the week.  Now that I have some space cleared out in the shed, I need to spend some more time out there sorting through things.  There's a Goodwill load or two out there, plus I want to have a yard sale in a few weeks.  There's also another batch of things I could run through the booths.  I just have to find it.  Finally, there's also a table out there that I want to move into my junk room in the house, so that I can actually make some progress towards taming it.

Truth in blogging time:  If it stays warm and dry, I'll probably make a couple more curb runs before the trucks get to us.  Usually, they don't get to our street until the end of the week.  Even though they're not supposed to, people will add to their piles as the week goes on.  Besides, I can always find things other pickers miss.

Let's hear it for Spring Cleaning!  And Spring Junking!  And Spring!

Please keep your fingers crossed for my biopsy results.  I appreciate it. 

Ephemeral

A little while ago, I got a message on my phone telling me I was running out of storage space.  I've gotten in the habit of just whipping out my phone when I need to take a pic for the blog or Craigslist or whatever.  I usually snap several, just to make sure one of two come out okay.

I've got Dropbox installed, so the pictures I take on my phone automatically upload to my PC.  I still prefer to do what minimal photo editing I know how to do on the computer.  I get a little better control than with my fat thumbs on my phone.  Since I use the copies on the PC, all those photos have been kind of piling up on my phone, until I started to run out of space.

I ended up spending a few minutes here and there deleting things I had already used and had no reason to keep.  Do I really need that pic of a Little Tikes table that sold nearly a year ago?  Uhm, that would be a no.  Digital spring cleaning--gotta free up those megabytes!  When I was done, it struck me just how many pictures I had deleted.  It had never dawned on me just how often I grab my phone and snap away. 

I can remember when pictures were things you took at parties and on vacation, and not something you did willy nilly every time you saw a broken phone or some interesting graffiti.  (Which reminds there's a bit of "wall art" down the street I want to snap.)  I'm not being old curmudgeon dude here when I say this.  In fact, I love the freedom and flexibility this little gadget gives me, not to mention the blog content.  Hardly a day goes by that I don't use it.  I'm just surprised at how impermanent all those pics are now.  I use them and I toss them.  Done.

Junkers are used to dealing with what is called "ephemera."  Some specialize in it.  You see boxes of it at nearly every estate sale:  receipts, letter, bills, old brochures,  maps, old cards, notes, postcards, and, yes, even pictures.  Printed materials in other words.  Stuff on paper.  The term "ephemera" speaks to the fragility of paper, its impermanence.  It rips and tears.  It rots.  It burns.  Lots of it doesn't last.

Another definition for ephemera is this:  Things that are useful only for a very short time.  in that sense, all those photos clogging my phone (and probably lots and lots of other phones) are truly ephemeral.  That couch I just posted to Craigslist?  Don't need it any more.  That funny dog I just put on Facebook?  Done with it.  That plate of food I just Instagramed?  Burp.

I don't know that I have any kind of point to this at all.  It just struck me as interesting.  So does this image:  Forty years from now the junkers are pawing through a box of old cell phones and tablets at a yard sale, hoping to strike gold and find one that still has tons of pictures on it.  The box is labelled:  "ephemera."

It could happen.

Retro Y'all!

Se fue la luz...

Nice!



Kiss me because the lights went out?  Works for me, Juanes.  You sly dog, you!

Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day

I have to wonder if the pun in the title is intentional or not.  "Winsome."  Heh, heh.  "Win some." Get it?  Maybe you have to have been raised evangelical to see the potential joke.  Maybe I'm kind of doubly blessed (cursed?).  I'm a punster/wordsmith and I have an evangelical upbringing that follows me everywhere I go, even today.  Of course, I would see the joke, if there is one, and even if there isn't!

Why don't we use the word "winsome" any more?

The back artwork continues the fishing theme stated by the netting on the front.

Expressions

Is this my bemused face?

Or my skeptical face?

Maybe it's my sleepy face?

Actually, it's my "I just ate a whole mess of spring rolls face!"

Burp!

Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day

There's a real strength to this design that I just love--Greek elements in kind of an MCM style.  Really really cool.   A good one to open this little series.

More fun booklets to come!  See you Thursday!

Monday Rambles

This week finally begins the long-awaited (well, by me at least) "Your Vintage Religious Booklet Cover of the Day" series using the booklets I bought at a church sale in the beginning of February.  The reason it's taken so long to get to these is that I got really inspired with my blogging last month.  The whole month was planned out by Feb 5 and all written by Feb 10.  There just wasn't room for the booklets.  I didn't want to do double posting like I do with the vintage Christmas cards, because those are part of a special time of year.  Plus, I had that smattering of vintage Valentines going up as double posts, and I didn't want to overdo it.  I want to keep that specialness kind of reserved for the holidays and such.  I think it works better that way and doesn't look so much like I'm trying to pad my post total.

Since the booklets aren't tied to any particular time or season, I'm going to spread them throughout the month.  They'll be featured on Tuesdays and Thursdays in March as primary (solo) posts.  Hope you like them.  Look for the first one tomorrow.

I've gotten most of this month pre-written  and already uploaded, except for two posts and the Monday Rambles, which are always written on Sunday evening or Monday morning.  There's a lot of different stuff:  video posts, some image-based posts, and a couple of essays on various topics.  I'm trying to get a little bit ahead and build up a cushion for a couple of reasons.

First, I need some time to work on Top Secret Project Phase Two.  It's just about ready to debut, which should happen next week.  I need to make a few more tweaks first, however.

Second, my goal for the blog this month is to get all of the partially written drafts and posts that are just titles with (maybe) an outline finished and published.  Call it online spring cleaning, if you will.  Some of these have been hanging around for ages and ages and need to be done.  There are about enough that I can spread posts throughout the spring and summer.  We'll see.

Anyway, that's the plan.

As I write this on Sunday, we're battening down the hatches for a winter storm that's due in a few hours and which will snow us in again, according to the forecasts.  I am anticipating (but not hoping) not to work tomorrow.  The timing could not be worse.  I already have to miss one of my sessions on Tuesday to go to the cancer center for my six month follow up.  I always try to get my appointments scheduled early, so I can get in and out and not miss work.  This time, I was unable to get anything before mid-morning, and they're always backed up an hour or two by that point.  Rather than run the risk of missing work, I went ahead and made plans not to be there.  Interestingly (or ironically), I was supposed to pick up a few extra sessions this week, filling in for a colleague.

Speaking of the follow up, I got scanned on Friday in prep for that.  I always hate the scans, because they require an IV for the contrast, plus the yucky tasting oral contrast.  I'm so not into needles these days, thanks to the chemo.  This time around, it took two sticks to get it in, which for me is pretty good.  Would have been better if  the tech hadn't dug around with the first one to try and hit the vein.  Still, it's better than the alternative.  This time last year, I was finishing my radiation and scheduling the first chemo for later in the month.  Seems sort of like a distant, unpleasant memory.

Saturday was awesome, weather-wise.  It was the kind of day just made for going to sales.  Better yet, one of my most favorite church sales was going on.  They fill their gym with all kind of stuff--and I mean they fill it!  The last hour is half-price, so that's usually when we plan to show up.  I made two trips through, but didn't spend as much this year.  There wasn't as much stuff I was interested in this year.  I was more in furniture mode (last year I bought a bunch at this sale), and they just did not have a lot.

I did have one of those experiences/mad coincidences/total frustrations that only junking can provide.  At that sale, they had three vintage folding chairs that would have been only a dollar each at the half-price.  Thing is, I have several already at the booth, along with several other chairs, and they've all been there for a while.  I debated getting them and storing them, but the thought of doing that for an extended period of time did not appeal to me.  So, I took the "rational" course and left them behind.  What did I sell on Saturday?  THREE CHAIRS!  Sigh.

Even more interesting is the window that I took out of my storage at the Peddlers Mall on Saturday to take to the second booth.  I was also taking a shelf and some other stuff, so I ended up forgetting the window and leaving it in my PM booth.  I realized when I got home that I had left it at the Peddlers Mall and not taken it to the other booth and figured I would just grab it the next time I was in.  Guess what sold out of the wrong booth on Sunday?  A sale is a sale I guess.

I did get a couple of fun things during the rounds on Saturday:

The Egyptian image is a felt-like material that has been stretched and stapled to a board.  It was sitting behind a bunch of other pictures at an estate sale.  The lady running the sale said that she did not know where her mother got it, but she sat it in front of the opening of her fireplace for ages.  It's got a little bow in the wood from sitting propped up for so long, but I think I can set some books on it for a while and work that back out.  I do have a lot of books, you know.  That was the find of the day.  Every time I look at it, I start humming this.

The umbrella thing is like a party or bar decoration, rather than anything practical.  It's in three pieces that fit together, and the umbrella is a burlap type fabric.  I didn't have time to open the umbrella up for the pic, but when I was taking it inside the Peddlers Mall, the cart it was in hit a bump, and the damn thing popped open!  Scared me to death!

That's our "new" ride in the background.  We went the used car route this time.  It's a mini-van with plenty of room for junk hauling.  I put a shelf in it to take to the second booth, and the whole thing slid right in with room to spare!  This might be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Happy Birthday to Roger this week! 

Booth sales were solid last week at both sites.  I ended up with a banner week at the Peddlers Mall and that turned into a banner month.  It wasn't my record month, but it's in the top five.  I was very, very happy.  At the second site, it pushed me close, but did not quite make, rent.  Sigh!  Still rethinking that one.  What to do?  What to do?

A polite invitation deserves a polite answer

These two panels from last year's Free Comic Book Day edition of Pippi Longstockings made me giggle.  In fact, they make me giggle every time I've read them.  I know.  I know.  I have a low threshold for humor and am easily amused.  You're talking to the guy who just has to tell his math class the Little Mermaid joke* as soon as they get to a certain topic.

Indeed.

Waitaminute!  What's that about a Pippi Longstocking comic book? Does such a thing really exist?  Why, yes.  Yes, it does.

Probably a lot of folks my generation (and maybe those just a tad older) mostly know Pippi from the dubbed movies that made their way to this country.  When I was a kid, the TV station that is now the local Fox affiliate was just an independent station that showed syndicated shows and reruns of older TV shows, many in black and white.  This was in the days before dozens of cable networks did the same thing, so it felt like a change from what the network affiliates were doing. 

It was on this station that I watched Gilligan's Island every day, years after it went off the air.  I Love Lucy, The Addams Family, The Munsters, I watched them all, as if they were being aired for the first time.  I thought it was awesome.  They showed classic, uncensored, Warner Brothers cartoons in the afternoons.  Those early versions of Bugs, Daffy, etc were a raucous bunch!  I guess I was a little bit into vintage and retro stuff, even then.

On weekends, they used to do what they called "Movies Four."  They'd show old movies all day, each with a different theme.  They'd use the same themes for weeks, and when they'd shown all the movies for that theme, they'd change to a different one.  One of those themes was "Pippi Longstocking Theater."  I wasn't that wild about the Pippi movies, even as a kid the dubbing bothered me.  I was usually waiting through for the "Godzilla Theater" to come on, where the dubbing didn't bother me.  I've never been very consistent.

This is actually the second time in the last few weeks I've been pondering the whole Movies Four experience.  One of the other themes they used was "Shirley Temple Theater."  News of her passing the other day brought it all to mind, then I found this panel, while catching up on some comics.  Twice in a few weeks means I need to blog about it.

It is kind of sad that I'm just now getting around to reading last years FCBD books.  Free Comic Book Day 2014 is just around the corner!

*What did the Little Mermaid wear to her math class?  She wore her Algae-Bra!**

**Don't hurt yourself laughing.***

***I'll be here all week.  Don't forget to tip your waitress.

I don't get it

This was written in the front of one of the books I bought at a church sale last month.

I think it's supposed to be a joke.  Why would you write it in the front of a book?