Super Sexy-Pants Midweek Ramble!

I keep trying(and failing) to get an actual Monday Ramble out, but it doesn't seem to be working very well.  Let's go with this one for this week, at least.

First up a question:

Do these sunglasses make me look all, you know, celebrity and stuff?  (Probably not.  The scraggly-ass goatee is looking particularly scraggly-ass here.  Brad Pitt can pull that shit off.  Me?  not so much.)

Cold, windy and wet this week, but no freezing temps and no snow.  We've had too many days of that over the past couple of weeks.  I declared a little while ago that I wasn't leaving the house until the temp was above 20, then promptly spent several days drinking hot chocolate, eating pie, and watching cartoons.  I am so over this winter.

I have definitely come to understand why some large mammals hibernate during the cold months.  I'm wondering how I can sign up for that program myself, since I am also a large mammal.  I just need to find an electric blanket that will stay on for three months and teach the cat to feed himself and scoop the litter box.

I'm working on a major booth redo, but it's going painfully slow.  I'll have pics when I get done, if I get done.  It's been a good January, sales-wise.  I haven't really had a post-holiday dip, which usually happens after New Year's.  I've been on a bit of a roll since the week before Christmas, even with the store closing for a couple of days due to weather.  Small furniture and higher-priced items are really moving right now.

2017 was kind of average as far as booth sales went.  I set a huge record in March, then crashed hard in April.  Summer was better than usual.  Fall would have been, except that I took an extra booth during a rent special to try and move some furniture, then barely broke even.  I ditched it when the special was over.  November and December were super-good.

Tine for another pic.

That was my anniversary gift from Keith.  We decided not to do Christmas presents this year, just a small anniversary gift each.  My collection of Batman shirts keeps growing.

Tucker is starting his daily rampage through the house.  It's crazed kitty time!  (Or, as I like to call it: "Go, Speed Racer, Go!")  Life with kittens, I tell you.

I made a super-major comic score at an estate sale last week.  Nearly 100 issues of one of my primary comic obsessions.  I plan on sharing it soon.  I actually want to do an in-depth sort of look at the four kinds of comics that make me go "Squee!" when I find them.  One them you can already guess, vintage romance comics.  I'll go ahead and surprise you all by saying that none of the other three are Batman or Wonder Woman.

And with that, I'll leave you with some Midweek Music.

Monday Rambles

ALL HEED  THE WISDOM!

That actually explains a lot....

Here lately, this is definitely a necessity.

WEATHER REPORT

So we've gone through a week of freezing temps and snow and are getting ready to go into a week that is supposed to peak at around 70 later on.  Sigh.  Welcome to the Ohio Valley.  Still the warmer weather will give me a chance to do some stuff outside, which is nice.

We've already started making our junk pile for the Feb. set out by the back fence and it's getting a little untidy.  I would like to straighten it up a bit.  Some of the neighbors have already started throwing things on the curb, even though it's early.  We're a bunch of rebels in my 'hood, for sure.  I need a nice day to get out and scavenge.

I'd also like to spend an afternoon at storage making a load of furniture for the booth.  I'm starting to see I've got a good deal of room for some more big stuff.

SPEAKING OF THE BOOTH

I'm just about finished re-stocking.  Sales have been consistent, despite the weather.  I have heard that tat returns will be delayed this year until the end of February, which is worrying.  I really need that sales boost.  At least that gives me more time to prepare.

Today, I have to try and work another bookshelf into the book booth.  I think I have figured out how to do it.  Keith is getting ready to thin his books and has warned me to get ready for them.

I'm on a crusade right now to get the back log out of my house.  We want to swap out my junk room and the bedroom, as the junk room has more closet space.  The bedroom will be turned into a workroom/office.

Every morning before I go the mall and every evening after I get home, I try to get together a box or two of stuff, which goes to the booth the next day.  I'd rather be figuring out how and where to place it there, where it can make some money, than here, where it is just in the way.

AND NOW A WORD FROM MY MOTHER

I've also been going through old boxes of stuff to see if there's anything that I can sell, donate, or otherwise get rid of.  There's just too much crap around here.  In the course of doing that, I found a folder of jokes and clipping and stuff that my mother used to stick in with her letters (remember those?) when I was in college.  I have a briefcase full of those letters too.

Among them all was this gem, which she sent me while I was in seminary.  I promptly taped it to the door of my dorm room.

If you think that my sense of humor is crazy, you should have known my mother.  She was a nut!

JUST CALL ME DOPEY

I forgot to tell you all that I'm on Ritalin now to try and deal with my treatment-related fatigue.  Apparently my fat, old, tired ass has a lot in common with a sixth-grader who can't sit still.  It actually does help a lot, without the side effects I was having with the steroids.  It's not the same kind of manic energy boost, but more of a controlled, sustaining effect.  I do need to take more than one to keep going through the day.  If I miss my afternoon dose, I sure start feeling it!

DVD OF THE WEEK

In three words:  AMAZON SISTAHS HOLLA!

Sadly, there's no throwing wheel action here, but she kicks plenty of mythological ass!  I highly recommend this one and am now super-psyched for the movie this year.

New Year, New Ramble

Happy 2017, Everyone!  I hope you had your black eyed peas and cabbage and are looking forward to a prosperous and healthy new year.

I'm just going to a do a real quickie update here to talk about the holidays a bit and get back in the groove.  I have a lot of pics and stories to share, plus some finds, but I'll save those for another day.  I've gotten behind on my blog reading again, so I'm trying to carve out some time for that as well.

We're expecting snow tonight and tomorrow, so I plan on staying in if it happens.  I have some cartoons ready to watch, plus a couple of documentaries on YouTube.  I'll catch up on some reading, laundry, blogs, blogging, and pricing too.  Maybe a nap as well.  And hot chocolate.  And pie.  Maybe popcorn too.

Of course, now that I have all that planned, it'll be 76 tomorrow and brightly sunny.  Oh well.  If that happens, I guess I'll go to the booth.  I'm heading there as soon as I finish writing and posting this.  I haven't been over there since the Friday before Christmas.  I finished the bulk of my work and decided I wanted a holiday break.

I had a very good month in December, booth-wise, which was most welcome after a weak fall.  I had more $100+ days in December than I had in the months of September, October and November.  It seems to be holding for the first few days of January, but I'm going to work some magic to keep that going.  Mazda is packed to the gills with new stuff to go over.

One of the things I have to do today is pack up the Christmas, which will free up about five shelving units for new stuff.   I'll leave the vintage Christmas in the booth, but make a new section for it.  It will sell throughout the year.  I'll probably make a shelf for Christmas books and music too, just to keep from lugging that heavy stuff out.

I also need to make room for some more furniture.  I have a load ready to come off the Hillock, but just need a spot for it.  I've sold several larger items recently,  so I just need to reconfigure things to make the space.  Our next junk set out happens in a month, so I need to get ready for that by moving more large items.

Christmas sales always confound me.  After two years of low sales on wrapping paper and Christmas cards, I sold all I had this year.  Wreaths and small trees usually sell very well for me.  I sold one of each this time around.  Last year, I sold no ornament sets.  This year, I sold 3/4's of my stock.  It's always a riddle.  The only things I know I can count on are blow molds and vintage flocked deer.  I sold every blow mold I had except for one, and all the reindeer.  That was almost ten blow molds and about a dozen deer.

Speaking of Christmas, ours was really low key.  We decided not to get each other any gifts, in lieu of buying a new mattress, which we really needed.  We didn't even cook.  We had lunch at Waffle House and dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  In an odd way, that was, for us, kind of traditional.  Waffle House was a my father's favorite restaurant and the place where he would have his own holiday meals.  In the days before we bought the house, Keith and I would take a vacation over Christmas, usually to San Francisco or New York or Chicago.  That always meant we ended up eating out at either an Indian or Chinese place on Christmas Day, since they were the places most likely to be open.  When we got married in Chicago two years ago, we revived the tradition of the Chinese food Christmas meal.

By the way, we celebrated our anniversary Christmas Eve with Mexican food and then watched the wonderful Christmas concert recorded at Berea College (my alma mater) on CBS.  Like I said, it was low key, but wonderful.  I had been working at the booth practically every day all month long, so it was a nice to have a simple holiday.

New Years was celebrated with the traditional visit to the Big Flea.  More on that later.

And now the holidays are over.  Time to get back to work.  And blogging.

Here's to a good 2017 for all of us.  Big, wonderful, sloppy, happy hugs!

PS Don't forget to go to the thrifts this week!  They're still awash with year-end last minute donations!  And Christmas clearances should be up to 75% or even 90% off now.

Someday Rambles

IT'S BACK!

After a kind of moderate last week, the heat is back with a vengeance this week.  Ewww!  COME ON FALL!  Eddie's sweating and waiting!  (TMI?)

It's so hot right now that we went to a large outdoor sale on Saturday with dozens of vendors and I just flat gave up in the middle of it all and quit.  I ain't built for this any more.  I did make one super-fabulous find, though.  Check back tomorrow to see it.

Not only is it awesome, but it's a total keeper.

I put off starting my big booth redo for a couple of days to finish up some things here at the house.  Part of that work is outdoors, and I am dreading it.

Speaking of the booth, I think the summer sales slump is wrapping up.  I've had really good sales all last week, except for one day.  Lots of potatoes and bigger and bigger ladles of gravy.  Yum!  I'm going to come out of this month well ahead of where I've been the last three.  It's still not where I like it to be, but any improvement over recent history is welcome.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND THE OTHER DAY!

Just the table, not the junk on it.  It was sitting on the curb at the bottom of the hill the other day as I was rushing to catch the bus.  I figured it would be gone by the time I got home, but it was still there.  It was kind of hidden by some tree branches.  I wouldn't have seen it originally if I hadn't been walking down that side of the street, which is not something I usually do.

I got one of those looks from Keith when he saw it, so I told him that it was "perfectly primitive."  That's also what I put on the tag.

HEY PAM AT VIRGINIA RETRO!

I'll see you your painted turtle and ladybug rocks....

And raise you one painted barn rock!

Okay, so you really did paint yours, and I just found this one, but I thought it was cool and it did make me think of you.

Those that can, paint.  Those that can't, buy.

Check out Pam's blog, if you haven't already.

THE THINGS YOU LEARN WHILE DINING OUT

Pikachu likes Mexican food.

My last latte appointed me a professor.  Of what, I have no clue.

And the most recent fortune cookie wisdom.

DVD OF THE WEEK

This is an absolutely charming short animated film from 1966, directed by the wonderfully talented Gene Deitch.  The full title is Alice of Wonderland in Paris.  Alice meets a mouse named Francois, who takes her to Paris so she can fulfill her dream of meeting Madeline, of the children's book series.  Along the way they swap stories, which become the various segments of the movie.  Art for each story is provided by creators such as Ludwig Bemelmens (creator of Madeline), Crockett Johnson (creator of Harold and the Purple Crayon), and New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber.  There's not much else in the way of plot, but the whole thing is just too sweet and totally endearing.  (I'm also a great fan of both Thurber and Johnson, which adds to the film's appeal for me.)  Highly recommended, if you can find it. 

By the way, Crockett Johnson is going to pop up here again in a few weeks.

WRAPPING UP

Not a whole lot happening this week, it seems.  Let's make up for that with some music for Monday.



Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend.  I'll be heading to the Big Flea!  It's antique wing time.

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.

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!

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.

Quickie Rambles

Not much happening here at the moment, so just a short rundown. With incomplete sentences, yet.

It's junk set out in my neighborhood.  I've been prowling the alleys and curbs since Friday and dragging home the bounty.  Pics to come.

I have discovered that, if you wander the streets with your head stuck through a big picture frame, people will give you a wide berth.

We've had cold and snow storms for the past couple of days.  Nothing major.  Just an annoyance.  Been staying close to home and drinking hot chocolate.

Booth sales are very good so far this month.  Very strong.  It's too early to count any chickens, but the potential is strong for this month.

I got a new shirt at the Peddlers Mall the other day.

It's wrinkly because it sat in a pile of clothes after coming out of the dryer.

Snazzy, huh? 

Believe it or not, I have always wanted one of these tux t-shirts.  Another vendor found it for me while she was looking through some clothes in a booth.  She showed it to me and said "This looks like something you need."  She was right. 

One of my goals for this year is to replace my aging, tired wardrobe.  I'm off to a good start.

That's all the news from these parts.  What's up in your corner of the world?

2015-2016 Rambles

It is said that there are only two things in life that are certain.  Those would be death and taxes.  When it comes to this blog, however, there are at least three certainties.

1. At least half the photos will be crap.
2. The blogger will never be very good at his job.
3.  Whenever you read that posting will resume "tomorrow," then you can expect at least another two weeks (or more) before a post finally appears.

Is anyone even still out there?

If you look back over the last few years of this blog, you'll find that I inevitably seem to flake out right around the holidays and totally disappear.  Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, life just overwhelms me and the blog suffers.  Interestingly, I don't really do that much holiday celebrating any more.  The only gifts to get are for Keith, my brother and Keith's mom.  We haven't decorated or done any baking since my mother first got sick.  If anyone ever gets a Christmas card for me, guard it like a double-bag collector's item, because that sucker is a rarity for sure!  Yet, despite all of this, the end of the year seems to swallow me up like a black hole.

I know my prolonged absence made some of you worry, and I am sorry for that, but deeply touched at the same time.  You all are just so sweet and I am lucky to have each of you in my life.  I owe several of you emails, blog comments, and post catch ups.  I'll get to it, hopefully soon.  If I don't, know that I do think about you all a lot.  I had no idea that this little blog would bring so many great people into my life.

Speaking of being in touch, any of you that have my mailing address, please contact me by email.  After years of declining service, we finally did away with the PO Box.  If you want it, I'll be glad to give you the home address.

Okay, so where to begin?

Let's start with this. He always makes people smile.

Keith's mother gave him that quilt for Christmas.  One of his aunts made it for a fund-raiser at one of the churches that his mom attends and she ended up winning it.  It's really pretty, and Chiquito just loves it!  He's claimed it as his own.

In other Chiquito news, Keith relented and made me a 2016 Chiquito calendar.  I'll get the Jan and Feb pics up soon.  Well, before March, at least.  He told me to warn you all that this one might be the last one.  He thinks that you're going to find pic after pic of Chiquito to be "repetitive."  I told him he didn't know you all.

Speaking of Christmas, I also got this,which of course I love!  Two more pairs of socks came with it!

I get tons of compliments when I wear it!  He also made me a Kosh calendar, but it makes me kinda sad, so I keep it stashed on my desk.  I had asked him to make me a memory book of Kosh pics, like he did for our other kitties who have passed on, but he hasn't had a chance to track down all the pics yet.  The calendar was to hold me over until he could.

Something we did not realize about having a Christmas Eve anniversary is that it is awfully hard to find a place to go for dinner.  We finally got a corrected copy of our marriage license, so Keith is not the officiating judge any more.  He had a couple of our wedding pics blown up and printed out on canvas for me.  We're doing some rearranging at the house, so they'll probably go in the bedroom, when it's done.

The other day, while I was searching for a clean pair of jeans, I came across this:

That's the 70's Batman comic logo, by the way.  I had forgotten I had that one.  Finding made me remember that I also have a shirt with the TV show logo on it, which I now have to find.  I have a nerdrobe and didn't even know it!

Ignore my hair in that pic, please. I'm growing it out in hopes of finally having the ponytail I've always dreamed of.  I've tried it before, but always got frustrated when I got to this shaggy, unmanageable state.  The top and sides aren't long enough to pull back yet, and it's driving me nuts.  I'm determined to see it through this time.  I think it's a midlife crisis thing.  I'm also pondering bleaching it totally white and piercing my nose.

This happened a couple of weeks ago.

It was really the first bad weather of the winter for us and wasn't nearly as bad as it got in other places, but it was enough.  The streets in front of and behind our house are kind of major ones, and traffic was crawling along them for a couple of days afterwards.  The Peddlers Mall was closed for a day and a half.  Sales sucked all freaking week long.  Chiquito told me that the best thing to do was stay in, drink hot chocolate, eat popcorn and take naps, so I did.  He was right.

Speaking of the booth, some of you all want new pics, but it's going to be a while.  Things are a bit rough in all my spaces right now.  December was an excellent month for me, but January sucked.  My total sales were the lowest they've been in a long while.  Bad weather was part of it, but the rest of it was mainly my fault.  For some reason (winter blahs?), I just could not seem to pull it together, get the Christmas out, restock everything, and tidy it all up. 

Usually, I leave the Christmas in through the first week in January, then spend the next week clearing it all out and redoing everything.  Those first two weeks are usually a little slow anyway, and that gives me time to get the booth ready for the end of the month, when the early early birds have gotten their tax refunds.

I could not seem to get moving this year.  Part of it was that I decided to leave some bits of Christmas scattered around my spaces.  I marked everything that had been through more than two seasons down and shoved them on a couple of bottom shelves.  It's out of the way.  It fills shelves people don't access a lot, so the booth looks fuller.  It also gives the adventurous folks (and holiday lovers) some bargains to hunt for,

I also left all my holiday glasses and dishes on another bottom shelf.  I'm down to very few of them, and they've sold year round for me before.  The books and music I worked into the book booth.  None of that took very long.  The hold up came when I decided that I should make a year round vintage Christmas section. 

I had already pulled everything, and it was piled in carts.  All I needed to do was clear a shelf for it and sort through it.  That became the hold up.  Three different attempts to designate an existing shelf totally failed.  I ended up heading to Sorrow Mountain in hunt for a new shelf, rearranging things a bit, then making my vintage Christmas section.  It took forever, as the snow happened in the middle of all this.  The result was I had carts of stuff and empty boxes cluttering my booth and scaring off customers.

Sometimes, it's really obvious that I do not have a clue what I am doing.

Three days in, however, and February seems to be doing much better for me.  I'm thinking that tax money is trickling in, finally.  Thanks to taxes, February and March can be good months.

To switch to a better note, my scans are coming back clear!  The treatments continue, of course, but the docs (and me) are really pleased with the results.  I'm on the same drug that Jimmy Carter is getting, by the way.  I've been referring to it as "the presidential treatment."  I'll have what the President is having, please.  I'll be due for another scan in a month or so.

It's a bit of a busy week here.  I'm benignly neglecting the booth, because it's junk set out weekend in our neighborhood.  The winter set out is always a little iffy, but the weather is supposed to be mild all week, so the pickings might be pretty good.  I've got a bit of cabin fever, so I am raring to go hunting.
I've also got stuff that needs to go out to the curb.  I have two bookshelves that are seriously falling apart and need to go.  I have replacements on Sorrow Mountain, of course.  I've been putting off dealing with these for a while, partly because I'm convinced that it's only the weight of the stuff on them that is holding them together and upright.  Seriously, they're that far gone.  I'm afraid it's going to be like playing Jenga on a large scale. One wrong move and I'm buried in books.

At least this time, if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know what happened.

Let's close out with a backlog of fortune cookie wisdom.

I certainly try to do this one.

Well, thank you!

I was sure this meant I had the winning Power Ball ticket.  Alas!

I got all excited at the last one from Po!  I never got a fortune from a Teletubby before!  Po! Po! Po!  Then I realized that it was the Kung Fu Panda dude, which makes more sense from a fortune cookie perspective.  Personally, I think what the world needs right now is Teletubby fortune cookies.

Monday Rambles

So, I declared early on last week:

"I'm not going to any yard sales this weekend."

Very confidently, I stated:

"I have enough stuff for right now."

Then, I predicted:

"I'm going to spend Saturday working in the storage unit and pull stuff out of there to take over."

By Tuesday, I was remembering:

"Oh sheesh!  That one church sale where I got that awesome school desk last year is this weekend."

So, I decided:

"Maybe one won't hurt."

On Wednesday, I got an email from the comic shop:  Nerd Herd Sidewalk Sale on Saturday! 

And I thought:

"Really?  Right after Free Comic Book Day? C'mon!"

Thursday, I saw a sign for a fundraiser sale being held by the local funky puppet group.

So, I rationalized:

"Well, it's near the house.  And funky puppet groups = funky stuff for sale."

Finally, on Friday, I came to my senses made a total liar out of my self and checked Craigslist.

I am weak.

On the other hand, I have this to show for my moral failings:

So maybe it's not so bad being a total hypocrite.  I'm not even going to mention my declaration that it would be a short day out at the sales, so I could still work in the unit.  In reality, we left the house at 9, and I was walking out of the Peddlers Mall after dropping stuff of at 6.  I just ain't real good at these declarations.

There are smalls, of course, for tomorrow.  This haul doesn't include the two bikes we bought either or the TV I got off a curb in front of a church.  Or the shorts I bought at Goodwill.  I really needed those shorts.  It's already July hot here.  I think this summer is going to be a scorcher.  We've already put the AC unit in the window.

My brother arrives on Wednesday, so I am not sure what posting will be like after that.  I'll try, but no promises.  I want to take him junking, but he's only going to be here a couple of days, so I want to get him to the best spots in town.  He sells lots of clothes, purses, shoes and the like, which is so not my area.  He also does sports stuff.  We may go to the larger thrifts in the better parts of town.  The clothes are always better at those.  That's where I head when I need clothing anyway.  Fashion plate that I am.  (Ha!)

Booth sales have been in the toilet all week.  It is just so very weird that the best day I have had so far this month has been (of all days) Derby!  Somewhere pigs are flying and icicles are hanging in hell.

Yesterday really stunk, but it was Mother's Day, so it was kind of expected, I guess.  Just because I would (and did!) take my mom to the flea market on Mother's Day doesn't mean everyone else would.  Although they should.  I bet lots of moms secretly want to get taken to flea markets on their special day, but no one has ever asked them.  Maybe I need to start a movement.  

See ya!

What's in Mazda?

It rained all day yesterday, so the sale action was minimal, but there were three indoor sales, including two of the best church sales in town.  This shot doesn't include a brass mirror that I had to unload early on.   More on that later.  We also went to an out of town vendor mall where I found a few things.  More details and the smalls in a day or two.  In the meantime, take a gander and tell me what you see in Mazda.