Let's Get This Holiday Season Started!

We are back!  I'll have more to say about all that in tomorrow's ramble.  In the meantime, we've got to start rolling out the holiday cheer.  For this blog, there's only one way to do that.



If you've been around here for a while, you know that Hardrock and friends are the traditional Eddie-torial opening to the holiday season.  They've been featured in a post every year at this time for five or six years, at least.  I got so busy with the wedding and such last year that I actually forgot them, but Roger made up for my goof on Facebook.

Anyway, they're back!  Enjoy!

Of course, when those elves come passing by, Suzy is sure to follow.



I'm planning a lot of fun, musical surprises for December, so please stay tuned. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks for hanging with me 

through another year!  

Best wishes to you and your families!

Vintage Thanksgiving card from a box of greeting cards I found at an estate sale last year.

Some pics I forgot to share

I've had these kicking around for a while, since my last cancer treatment, in fact.  I just kept forgetting to put them in a post.  Being way off track in my blogging schedule lately threw off a lot of my content plans.  When I have to rush to get something (anything) up, it throws off my content plans.  Since I have another treatment tomorrow, it seems like a good time to put these out.

Getting my port accessed.  That's my favorite nurse at the center.  He is so laid back and mellow.  I'm letting my hair grow out right now, so it's always somewhat of a mess.

Lily also came by again for a visit.  She went right to me and laid on my feet for the longest time.  I'm hoping she might drop by again tomorrow.

What's In Mazda?

Believe it or not, I've managed to cross quite a few things of my pre-Thanksgiving list.  I'm not going to get it all done, of course.  I've already abandoned hope for most of the larger stuff, except for the booth.

I loaded up Mazda today with a huge mound of stuff from Sorrow Mountain, along with some comics and stuff from the house and headed across the river to the Peddlers Mall.

This is what it all looked like.

That's one of the biggest loads I've ever crammed in there.  No time this week to do a reveal shot later on, but you can imagine all the junkie goodness therein.  I am making some serious progress on Sorrow Mountain. 

After the first of the year, I am going on a total buying moratorium until yard sale season 2016 starts.  I'm going to spend the first part of next year burrowing deep into that mountain. 

Oh yeah.  I made some great comics scores at the Cavalcade of Comics.  I'll have much more on this later, but here's a pic.

Retro Y'all!

Wouldja believe Friday Rambles?

Let's begin with a thought from a classic:

 

That's kind of the way I'm feeling these days.  Too much to do and not enough time to do it.  Every time I get started on something, I find three things that need to be done first before I can do what I started on.  Aiiieeeeee!

We leave Tuesday for Arkansas to spend Thanksgiving with Keith's mother.  I'm looking forward to the visit, but it's a long drive.  I also have treatment on Tuesday.  Seems like we did it that way last year too.  I wanted to see about re-scheduling the treatment, so we could leave earlier, but she kind of insisted I stick to my schedule.  She's had kind of a rough year, so I'm looking forward to seeing her.

So what all do I still need to do?

LAUNDRY!!  I'm not sure about Arkansas, but Kentucky frowns on nude Thanksgiving visits.

SHOPPING!  I got some road snacks at the Peddlers Mall last night, but we still need a few more things.

PACKING!  I'm not sure where the suitcases went after we got back from San Francisco.  I'd hate to have to carry those clean clothes in grocery bags.  Keith already calls me a bag lady because I carry a reuseable grocery bag with a bunch of stuff in it wherever I go.  I need to pick out my trip reading and find the laptop.

BLOGGING!  (and commenting and answering emails)  This is going to have to do for this week's (late) ramble and next week's (early) ramble.  At least it will replace Bo Donaldson's face that's been hanging around a bit too long.  I'm hoping to get a few posts scheduled to carry us through the holiday and our trip.  Expect some long overdue posts for your reading pleasure.

CHIQUITO!  I need to get things ready for the person who'll be taking care of him while we're gone, so she knows the drill. We stocked up on cat treats last week and have enough food to get through until we get back.

WINTERIZING!  I still need to put away some yard things before the cold weather hits.  We've also got to take the A/C out of the window before we leave.

BOOTHING!  Sales have stunk most of the month.  Last night as the first good weekday report I've gotten since the first.  Weekends have been really good, but that all dries up come Monday.  People just ain't shopping.  Or if they are, they ain't buying much.  Interestingly, I am now selling some small furniture in dribs and drabs, but the smalls trade, which is my bread and butter, has dried up considerably.  Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth.  I am hoping that this is just the lull before Thanksgiving.

On the upside, that has made for an easy booth upkeep for the last couple of weeks.  I've got 90% of the Christmas out now.  Sunday and Monday, I'm going to spend the day there, doing a super-duper tidy and rearrange and stock, since it will be the last chance to get ready for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.  I'm pulling the last of the Thanksgiving stuff and putting the rest of the Christmas in its place.

I also need to finish the current tidy session on my junk room, which is about halfway done.  I want to have a load priced up to take when we get back.  I have an idea that should let me put four (!) new shelves in and a ton of new smalls, but that is going to have to wait until we're home.  Of course, putting in shelves means that the elevation of Sorrow Mountain drops a bit, which is always a good thing.  I am hoping to terraform the Mountain and the Hillock together by the end of the year.

CLEANING!  Week before last, I cleaned off my desk by dumping everything into a large tub, which has been sitting in front of my dresser ever since.  I want that to go away before we leave. Also, the fridge needs to be cleaned out before we go.

THIS AND THAT!  I need to get prescriptions refilled.  I need to pay the water bill.  I need to go see if the metal lawn chairs listed as freebies on Craigslist last night that are two streets over from us are still there.  (Probably not.)  I need to call my brother.  I need to cash in my change jar.  I need to clean all the tubs and boxes out of Mazda.  I need to do the dishes.  I need to ponder where the magic elves that are supposed to help with all this shit have hied themselves off to.  (That's the thing about magic elves that few people know.  You have to talk to them in Shakespearean, or at least King James, English.  They don't understand modern.  So they haven't run away.  They have hied themselves hither.)

COMIC BOOKS!  The second annual Cavalcade of Comics is tomorrow, and none of the list above is going to make me miss it.  It's a great show, not really a con, since there are no panels or costume contests.  There will probably be a few cosplayers though.  Everyone loves an excuse to dress up as Batman.  It's retail focused, so there will be lots for sale, which is why I'm going.  Last year, I got some great bargains on some great stuff.  I've been looking forward to this one all year.  It will be the last major shopping spurt for me until the New Year Big Flea.  Besides, how often do you get to use the word "cavalcade" in conversation??

So, yeah.  I got lots to do.  I guess I better get started.  But first, I've got to get another cup of coffee.  And pet the kitty.  He never gets any attention--to hear him tell it anyway.  You all, however, can enjoy some awesome super-hero Lego art.

Retro Y'all!

Bonus:

The UK version by Paper Lace

Midweek Rambles

Let's start off with the birthday 51sr revolution around the sun celebratory dinner fortune cookie wisdom.

Kind of sums up my life pretty well, I think.  Needless, to say, there was eating to celebrate the day.  Yay, eating!  We went to my favorite restaurant, which is where we have our special occasion meals.  We love it, and the food is incredible, but it's just a tad too pricey for regular eating.

On the way home, we found a junk pile on the curb, not far from the restaurant.

That window has a latch and hinges on it, so it must have swung open.  Finding that pile means that junk set out for that neighborhood was last weekend, but I had other plans.  (More on that later.)

The celebration is going well.  So far, I have been to three different Peddlers Malls, finding interesting stuff along the way.  I've also been to a non-Peddlers Mall vendor mall, with two more to go.  We have so many of those dang things here.

Thanks for the well wishes last week!  I love it when my friends celebrate with me!

Yard sale season is slowly petering out here, so getting some indoor shopping in is the way to go!  If you take your time at a vendor mall, you can find much good stuff at yard sale prices.  Most of the good finds are at (or are going) to the booth.  I'll try to get some pics.

Speaking of the booth, these are interesting times.  Indeed, they are.  Last week was just awful, sales-wise.  Every day was less than one half what I had been selling the month before.  Just nerve-wracking.  Saturday was a super day, which caught up most of the lag, but this week has not been setting any records.  It looks like November is determined to work my nerves.

All of the Halloween is out and safely stashed away for next year.  (Will someone please explain to me why almost none of the skulls sold this year?)  The Christmas is going out bit by bit.  I have some stuff to haul off Sorrow Mountain on Saturday, and that should wrap it up.  I'll take some pics when it's all done. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to get my Endcap Booth in order or die trying.  If I never posts again, you'll know what happen.  Of course, with my erratic posting schedule of late, you'll need to wait about three or so weeks before you make that call.

Can you believe that it's almost Thanksgiving?????  I have so much to do before we leave to see Keith's mom.  Ack!

I had the best time this weekend, hanging out with Lorraine's husband Chris at the Wizard World Louisville Convention.  Technically, I was helping at his booth (for his company, Black Flame Creations), but really I was just hanging out having a good time.  I'm not sure how much help I was, but I had a lot of fun and learned an awful lot about steam punk and the art of making steam punk attire and accessories.  You need to go to the BF web site and check out Chris' work.  He's very talented.  It's like sci-fi/fantasy geek-oriented repurposing/upscaling!  Thanks for letting me spend some time with you, Chris!

Image borrowed from Lorraine's Facebook

Chiquito and Keith are both extremely flattered by the attention and praise you all have given the calendar pics.  I told him that there was clamor for a sequel, but he thinks he doesn't have enough pictures for another one.  He usually doesn't start work on the calendars until we visit his mother and he gets new pics of her, so the question is still open.  I'll keep working on it.

The weather is getting fall levels of cool here, and I'm loving it.  It's so much fun to go for walks these days.  I hope you all are experiencing that as well.

Retro Y'all! Birthday Weekend Edition

In honor of my recently completing yet another revolution around the sun, I present, from one of my favorite movies, what is possibly the best musical scene ever:



The only thing that could possibly top it?  The finale from the same movie.



Thirty-five (!) years on and it still gives me goose bumps!  Now that's a classic.

Some thoughts about curb-diving

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post with some tips/hints for hunting junk curbside.  While wandering around this time, I had some new thoughts I wanted to share about the endeavor.  One of the things that struck me was how much I've changed as a curb-picker.  For one thing, I am no longer reticent to take stuff with the owners watching.  Sometimes, when I've gathered stuff while the home owners were still around, they offer me extra stuff.  One time, a lady asked me to help her carry a heavy-ass dresser to the curb.  She couldn't handle it by herself.  I didn't take that one.  I don't like to do heavy-ass.  I just make extra sure that I'm neat when I'm being watched.

Speaking of being watched, somewhere along the line, I lost my inhibitions about this.  Last set out, I ended up over by the building where Keith and I used to work.  He's transferred to another site now, but still sees people from this building all the time.  I called him and told him that his co-workers were likely to be telling him they saw his husband digging through the trash!  In fact, on that day, I ran into an old friend from that job!  I was covered in sweat and grime and carrying a bag of goodies.

This time around, an old man that lives down the street came by while we were setting our own junk out.  He said he had seen me carrying off all kinds of junk and wanted to know what I did with it, so I told him.  He kind of shook his head and walked off, but not before he took a flower arrangement off our pile.  I turned to Keith and said:  "How does it feel to be married to the neighborhood hobo?"

Nowadays, I go out several times all throughout the week, starting when the piles start showing up.  There are lots of early birds and also lots of late starters.  There can be new stuff to look at every day.  I've also started going out in light rains (no competition) and after a rainy day.  Not everything gets ruined by the rain.

In our neighborhood, I tend to go out on foot.  It's easier to spot stuff that way.  We live kind of in the middle of our set out zone, so I can go just a few blocks in any direction and find things, but I'm never too far away to do a drop off at the house.  It's good exercise too.  I just take a couple of bags and head out.  Of course, for the big stuff, there's always Mazda.

Setting limits is important, too.  I know some people only look for certain items, but I look for a little bit of everything, so I set some limits.  Looking everything over closely is important.  I tend to look for reasons to not take something, instead of reasons to take it.  Since I have a lot of large items right now and they don't seem to be selling, I pretty much by-passed most of the furniture finds.  I had a strict "no chairs" rule and a "no heavy shit" rule.

if I hadn't limited myself this time, I would have overwhelmed myself with reclaimed wood.  There was a ton of it out there, and I saw some folks who were going out just for that.  Not having the space for it kept me from going overboard.  I;m not sure how many reclaimed wood folks like to buy their supplies, as opposed to finding them.

Personally, I think it's a ton of fun to go out and search.  I kind of like that we have designated times to set stuff out.  I know there are places where you can just set your stuff out for any garbage pick up day.  I'm not sure I could handle going out and picking all the time like that.  With a few set outs a year, I kind of look forward to it as a special treat, like a holiday.

Mary Gauthier and Eliza Gilkyson

On Halloween night, instead of greeting Trick or Treaters, we went to a concert by two of my favorite singer-songwriters.  It was an early birthday present from Keith.  I've been fans of both for years, and we'd seen Mary Gauthier (pronounced "Go-shay."  She's Cajun.) several times over the years.  This was the first time we saw Eliza Gilkyson, however, and I was pretty excited about that.

It was an awesome show--just two women trading songs and jokes back and forth, taking the audience on a musical journey.  They each did some of their fan favorites, plus a few unexpected treasures along the way.  It was truly a Halloween treat.

These clips are not from the show, but they did both of these songs that night.  They both touched me in similar, yet different ways.  I always get a little wistful around my birthday, thinking about that would have beens and might have beens and what ifs.  These two stories about making your own way and following your own dreams fit into that vein for me, and I'd like to share that experience with you all.

Enjoy.

And today, I am 51

Or, as I have taken to saying, I have completed 51 revolutions around the sun.  I guess this could also be looked at as the start of my 52nd revolution around the sun.  Come with me.  It is your destiny.

Fifty-one is an odd number.  It's divisible by three, which is cool.  Numbers that divide by three are my favorites.  Yes, I said that.  Actually my real favorite numbers are ones with six or more digits when they are found in my checking account.  Since that never happens, I'll stick with numbers divisible by three.

Do you all know the easy way to tell if 3 will go into a given number?  Add the digits of the number up.  If the sum is divisible by three, then the original number is. 

5 + 1 = 6

Six is divisible by three, so 51 is divisible by three.

If you can't tell if the sum is divisible by three, keep adding the digits together until you come to a sun that you can tell.

578,424,372

5 + 7 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 7 + 2 = 42  

Not sure what you've got?  Keep going!

4 + 2 = 6

Six is divisible by three, so 578,424,372 is too.  And also 42!  Isn't it cool?

When I was a kid I used to entertain myself on car trips by seeing if the numbers on billboards, license plates, etc were divisible by three.  I still do it sometimes when I'm bored.  Once a nerd, always a nerd.

Finally, the source of my fascination with threes.  I was a kid in the 70's after all.  The part when they start counting by threes  gets me every time.



Happy Birthday to me!  (I don't think "51st Revolution Around the Sun Completion Day" works in the song.  Someone will have to do something about that.)

The rest of the curb finds

I had to wait for the rain to stop this week to get these pics.  It's still pretty overcast, so they're not great pics.  Also, most of this stuff needs at least a little cleaning.  Even still, I think there's at least one thing that you're gonna like.

More stuff from the place at the bottom of the hill where I found the weight bench.  I think I found something new there every day I went out.

I know I'm going to regret those two beer banners right up until they sell.  I can already hear myself cussing because they keep getting left unrolled all over the booth.  Still, I had to grab them.

 Oddball stuff is my forte.  The brown thing is a Styrofoam storage box that has been painted.  The case is for an old Smith-Corona typewriter.

This green shelf is my favorite find of the set out.  Just awesome.  I love small racks like this really nice one.  I use them to expand the display capacity of my large shelves.  My book booth has a built in pegboard wall.  I also hang them there and use them to display action figures and other nerd toys.  I have no earthly idea what that board with the holes is for, but it's cool.  Eddie stuff.

There are always little bits of odds and ends, like these plates and beads.  The jadeite colored plastic bowl will look cool at the booth with Christmas ornaments in it, I think.  The brown thing in the back is a vintage bed tray from a nursing home that's now defunct.

I found a skimmer board like this at the last junk set out and it sold quickly.  Maybe this one will too.  It's a little battered, but the other one was too.  I'm thinking it's a cool decor piece.  Large bowl from the place down the hill.  Such eclectic stuff there. The little gray thing is a vintage metal ashtray shaped like a horse shoe.  That's a popular motif here. Finally, the end of an old cement smoother and a wood shovel handle.  Why not?

I grabbed the Lowe's buckets for display purposes.  I need them for tools and implements.  Someone added a spout to one of the buckets.  Don't ask me why.

 These strange pottery things were a mystery until I found the switch plates with them.  Someone was trying to make some custom switch plates and plug faces out of clay.  I'm not sure it's the best medium for such a project, since the pressure from the screws that hold them to the wall would surely crack them.  That may be why the project was abandoned.  There were a lot of them in various stages of completion.   I think someone might want them for some other kind of project.

More odds and ends:  Gold-rimmed tea cups (Several of these), Corona bucket (quick sell), Small canning jar (Can't have too many of these).  The black thing is a plastic Coke crate.  I also found a stash of "collectible" Coke bottles from the 90's and 00's.  They have either NASCAR or UK logos on them.  More popular local themes.

Finally, a child-sized Adirondack chair.  I made a "no chairs" rule before I started out, because I have so many right now.  Kid chairs were the exception to that, since I do sell them frequently. I left the adult chairs that were at the same spot for someone else.

All in all, not a bad time out in the trenches.  I mean, on the curbs.  Thanks for taking the journey with me.

Monday Rambles

Well, I did it.

Despite all my freaking out and hand-wringing and stressing, I had a truly record month at the Peddlers Mall.  It was great.  I'll be getting my largest check ever for a regular month.  I am so stoked.

I got really worried the middle of the month, when things slowed down for me, particularly because some of my slow days were busy days for the mall.  The strength of my early October sales I knew could carry me over a few bumps, but when the bumps started piling up, I got a little (okay a lot) worried.

Not that anything bad would have happened, mind you.  I still would have had a usual month and gotten a usual check, which would have been okay, but I would have been so disappointed at starting the month so well and coming in just average.  This is why I try not to get my hopes up.

Now it's new month and we'll see what that has to offer.  My Endcap Booth is a total wreck and has been for a while,  I'm going today to fix it and see if I can make it so people will get in the darn thing.

Maybe one of these days, I'll figure out what I'm doing and then I'll be able to have months like this all the time.  Right after that, Chiquito will learn computer programming.

I saw my PCP on Friday.  We're working to try and adjust my meds so that the steroid effect on my blood sugar is lessened.  My great fear is that he would take me off them, but he didn't.  I just don't want to go back to the fatigue days.

Tomorrow, I go for my next treatment.  If I'm counting right, this is number 12, so I'll get another scan before the next one.  It's been one year since I started treatments again.  Last year at this time, I was starting the clinical trial with the belly shots (BLAM!) that didn't work out.  This also means that I've had my Purple Power Port (Engage!) for a year too.  Looking ahead while looking back, New Year's Eve will mark the third anniversary of my surgery that removed Nigel and Sixtus.  We've come a long way, baby.

Wednesday is my birthday, or as I'm calling it now, the marking of my 51st revolution around the sun.  I totally stole that from a Facebook friend.  It sounds so much more cosmic and spectacular than just being another year older.  It sounds more like a quest or something.  "Join me on my revolutions around the sun.  Let us see how many we can make.  It is your destiny."

Thursday, I'm doing my pet-sitting gig with a cute little orange tabby named Frodo.  I won't have access to WiFi  there, so I'll most likely be offline for a few days.  I'm taking a couple of cheesy movies with me to pass the time.  Also comic books.

I'm really excited for this weekend!  It's the Louisville Wizard World Comic Convention, and I am going to be helping Lorraine's husband at his booth.  He's an artisan specializing in steampunk gear, and his creations are amazing!  I am so psyched to be helping out.  It'll be loads of fun.  Back in the day, I helped out a comic book publisher with their booth at the big San Diego Comicon and had a ton of fun doing it.  This was back before it became the big media extravaganza it is now.

Somewhere in between things, I'll be slipping in some junking and a birthday meal.  I usually celebrate my birthday with a big junking fest across town, going to stores that I don't normally hit because they are out of the way or really only worth going to once in a while.  It's pretty normal for me to spread the birthday junkathon throughout the whole month, because one day is not enough to celebrate your 51st revolution around the sun, you know.

I'm going to try and have regular posts this week.  I miss getting comments and emails from some of you all.  I'll also be answering some emails from folks as well.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Your Chiquito of the Month for November

Happy November, everyone.  I hope that you all survived the ghouls and goblins last night, and that you got lots of goodies.  It's a new month, and that means a new Chiquito pic.  This time there seems to be some tomfoolery afoot.

I don't remember Chiquito being at the wedding, but I was a tad emotional, so maybe I didn't notice.  It would be just like him to hide away in a box like that.  He's got lots of hidey holes and cubbies around the house.  I'm not sure I even know them all.  That worries me sometimes.

This is the next to the last Chiquito of the Month pic.  I hope you've enjoyed your trip through the year with my little rascal.