It was a rainy day. Got up early-early. I mean I drug myself out of the bed hoping the rain would dampen the spirits of the shoppers, but not the sellers. I don’t know if that was the case or not, but here’s how the day went.

First sale. I walked up and the lady said everything had to go. She’d had a sale last week and all this was left. Don’t pay attention to the prices. “You see something, make me an offer. If it doesn’t sell today it’s going to GoodWill.” Oh, boy! When someone says that you hope that perhaps, maaay-be, she just might, if you’re lucky, give you a deal. She had some nice things. Antiques. Pretty stuff. High prices. But I took her at her word and started gathering. Making a pile. I said several times that I hoped it would be cheap. I couldn’t afford to spend much. “I’m cheap”, etc. She acted like  (pretended) it would be. I finished and she began adding. If something was $20 she said $15. I’d some back with $10 even though I’d have preferred $5. In the end I put all but these things back:

Two old paintings and some new, silver ball candle rings. No discount on the rings. Phooey. I’ll probably keep the paintings for myself and will use the rings in the shop. I know, I know. Selfish of me, isn’t it?

I left there grumbling to myself, offended, incredulous that she said one thing and did another and thinking how so many of those pretty things will end up in a thrift store if she does what she said. But she already has a history of not doing what she says, so I suspect we might see those things at a later sale.

Next sale. I’d been to it on Friday late in the day. A young lady was selling her boyfriend’s mother’s things. The boyfriend’s mother had passed away and, her words, not mine, she was a shop-a-holic. They were selling clothes for $1.00 each. Apparently, she bought what she liked regardless of size and had hundreds of pieces of clothing. I’d bought a couple of things on Friday and they said they were bringing more Saturday. So I was there bright rainy and early. Clothes? Enh. Not so much, but I found a plastic tub with what nots in it. No one had been there to go through it. I got to be first (although she said it had all been in a sale already). I pulled do-dads out for 15 minutes! I was absolutely having a ball! I’m not telling how much I paid. If you knew you’d gasp in wonder. Your mouth would fall open in astonishment. Your eyes would grow big in awe. They even threw in a tub to put them in. Here’s what my gleanings looked like piled in the tub:

And now, let’s break it down:

The Christmas things. Santa’s a nodder. There are several spaghetti pieces. Many of these had broken places on them. Awww. Guess the broken ones will come home with me.
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Toy type items. A wind up cat whose tail spins and his head sort of wags. The little, wind up boy on the trike is missing his arms and the handlebar is missing. The tall Dutch boy is also a wind up. He sorta shakes. The little doll on the right in the plastic case is a Kiddle Kologne. Perhaps the buy of the day.
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Salt and pepper shakers.
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More. The penguin is a nodder as is Lucy. The Canadian Mountie is a Toronto souvenir and is made of plastic.
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Doggie stuff. The one front and center has a good size chunk out of the bottom back.
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So on to the next sale. Turns out family is holding the estate sale. It was kinda so-so, but surprise! More nick nacks.

I think that’s a Lefton girl planter on the right. The NOEL sold for $1.00 originally. It’s hard to see the Siamese cats in the front, but they are sleek, mod and plastic. There’s a girl with her poodle and two old trolls. A furry one and a stone or resin or something with holographic eyes, done in 1974 by…. Well, I forget the name on it, but it was done and copyrighted by Donue! That’s it! Any idea who that is??

And I bought these purses at the sale with all the nick nacks. No, that’s not true. A couple of them were bought the day before at another sale. Why? Why did I buy these purses? What’s got into me? OK. Some of, no, doggoneit! They’re cool! They just don’t look it all piled up like this. I think the big one top left is a laptop bag. Lower right is shiny silver disco.

That’s it for me today. I’ll tell another time about Meth Girl selling me some costume jewelry.

Tiffany truly has a gift and even she, at one point, said she didn’t know what to do with it all. We were supposed to be doing it together, but I had a couple of items to pack and get out the door for the mail carrier, then we went to Lena’s for a few and went to lunch. Got back to the shop and a customer took up a good bit of time. And I’d told my sister-in-law that I’d ride with her out in the boonies where her job was taking her that day. Poor Tiff. I was of no help in my own shop. I felt bad about it. I really did! But she did a fantastic job. I wanted to share some pictures of the room she focused on that day. The room I call the garden room. It isn’t necessarily that, but the name seems to fit.

And here’s a picture of a primitive, pine cupboard that has been painted blue on the inside. Tiring of the blue and not wanting to paint, I lined it with sheet music and put black and cream things on the shelves. Sorry about the lighting.

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Lena’s memorial was yesterday. Several times last night I was so tempted to pick up the phone to call her and discuss who was there and how I liked her sister-in-law just like she said I would. Yes, I’m gonna miss her.

It’s time now to try to get back to normal — whatever that is.

Lena passed away Thursday morning. We’ll miss her, but life’s so short, before you know it, it will be our turn. Even 30 years will seem a short time.

Here’s the obit. And I lifted a the picture her family used on Facebook to announce her memorial service. Hope they don’t mind.

Published in The Daily Home on 9/13/2009

Hospice has been called in. She’s tired and is at peace and is ready to go home. Her fist grandchild is due to make her appearance in October and Lena so badly wants to be here when she’s is born. To see her and hold her. She told me last night that her biggest sadness is not getting to play with her granddaughter as she grows up.

We’re all still praying for the miracle of Divine, spontaneous healing, but she seems to have accepted her fate and her request is that we pray for God’s peace for her.

……….Wanda

Here’s a roll from the dumpster in the car:

And here’s the trunk:

Now, how did that look when I rolled it up? Like this:

That saved me $20-30.00. Yes, I’m happy. I felt truly blessed.

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I think I broke my little toe. Maybe just jammed. Or maybe it popped out of socket and back in. I dunno.

I was running to answer the phone. Oreo, our grandcat who is now our adopted child… I mean cat… thought it was a fine game and ran, too. She cut across in front of me. Right smack dab in front of me. I had to put on the brakes to keep from trampling her and when I did I stubbed that little toe. I heard it pop. Sounded like a knuckle cracking. In a split second my mind told me that this is really going to hurt, so I hopped around and said, “Ow, ow, ow” before I realized it didn’t hurt much at all. Strange. That’s when I thought “Uh, oh. This might be bad. ” You know, like the injury is so severe it’s numb? That was a day and a half ago and now it’s a little blue and doesn’t hurt at all. As long as I don’t move it or touch it. If I can keep from doing either of those things I’m just fine. And it’s surprising how protective you can be of a toe.

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Let’s see. They’re having an estate sale tomorrow of a local antique dealer. They were dealers of nice stuff back in the 1980′s. Now, we all know I’m not much interested in “nice” antiques. And I’m sure it will all be priced higher than the going rate these days. I just hope they haven’t thrown away the junk. Hmmm… I might ride by the house today and see if there’s anything like that out on the curb. And, ah, it being local, I can go, come home and research, go back, then go back again at half price! Gotta love the local sales like that. It’s tough traveling 50 miles one way once or twice a weekend just to find decent stuff. The regular yard sales here are generally a waste of time. If they’re my only choice I don’t usually bother. For one thing I’d have to be up – and OUT – before daybreak and I’m so not doing that!

Wanda

The throw. It’s a Betsy Johnson something. Wrap? Throw? I don’t know what it’s supposed to be, but it’s a throw over my chair now. It still has it’s $110 tag on it and I got it and a bunch of other stuff for $10.00! The colors are a little more muted, of both the chair and the throw, but I’m tellin’ ya. It couldn’t be more perfect for that chair.

The day before I found these. I was pretty excited about them, too. And I’m keepin’ ‘em.

I’ve never seen pumpkin head knee huggers before. But they’re going into my Halloween collection. They and the their witch friends.

Also, with them came this little Valentine girl – who will go into my Valentine collection.

I’ll try to share the few other things I bought tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next….

Wanda

Tracy at A Simple Country Life showed us pictures of her booth and in it she had a birdcage. And in that birdcage was a large cup, a something else sitting in the cup and a dolls head coming out of it. Take a look. Pretty cool.

This made me think. What do other people put in birdcages? I have one here at the shop that had candles in it. I burned said candles. They were on a slope and melted. Filled the bottom of the cage up with wax. Oh, I could get it out with a little scraping. Maybe even just a little “pop”, but I kinda like the effect. The picture isn’t so good, but that’s me and my lack of photo skills. It’s much more charming in person.

We could fill them with those little glass bird feeders/waterers. That’s a goal of mine, but I only have four or five. Got a long way to go. How about filling it with old letters? I have another at home, a tall, Victorian looking one that I don’t know what to do with. At Christmas I put lots of glass balls in it. I’m wondering if the bottom will come off and I can put a statue in it. I’ll let ya know.

So what do you put in your bird cage? Let’s see some pictures!

We were in Georgia for the weekend of the wedding and while going to town – to buy me a pair of pants because I spilled tea all over the only pair I brought for that day – passed an estate sale sign. Errrrrkkkkk! (That sudden turning of the car sound.) We had time. How can we resist an estate sale out of our usual territory?! Turns out, it was the second week of the sale. Things were half price, but there wasn’t much of interest. I picked up a creamer and a bunch of wooden hangers. They were charging $2 each for pants hangers and $1 each for neat-o, blue wooden hangers. Then half of that. The creamer was $3.50 at half price. So, I get up there, counted the hangers looked to see how much money I had and saw that it was just enough. The price they quoted was a bit more. I said, “Huh?” We counted again and I’m like, “That’s what I thought. I have just enough.” But they said no. They had to add tax. Who charges tax on estate sale crap??? We discussed that a little and they suggested I put the creamer back. What? I kept my mouth shut, but I was thinking, “They can’t give me a few crummy hangers?! That’s ridiculous!” I ended up putting it all back. The nerve. They said they couldn’t discount anything any more. That they had to account for everything. Bah! Like the family is going to get mad at them for letting a few hangers slide.

So, do you have to pay sales tax? I understand auctions charging tax. We write the check to them, not the hauler. But an estate sale, run by professionals…. Well, they’re a service. They shouldn’t have to pay tax for being the middle man. Should they? Isn’t it like hiring someone to price and watch your yard sale junk? What’s the difference? They said, “but we’re professionals.” But it’s not their stuff! Help me understand. Here in Bama, at estate sales, we write the check to the “estate of ___” or something similar. Maybe that’s how they get away with it? We don’t pay sales tax for services.

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The past two weekends, I was back in my own territory. How comforting. Even if it was, for the most part, unfruitful. Piddly. I did get some vintage jewelry this weekend, though. And I’ve been on the ball and got some of the pieces on the site! (You can click on the picture to see the full descriptions if you’d like.) Oooo! Those pics are BIG!

Two posts in two days! Maybe I’m getting back in the groove! Maybe.

Wanda

Ah, I’ve been so focused on selling crap. It’s that need for money. Plus the need for an excuse to go out and buy more crap. But right now I’m in the mood to stay at home and enjoy decorating and cleaning the house. Did I say “cleaning”??? Hmmm… Maybe I need to see a doctor. That’s not normal for me. The staying at home and puttering is, but cleaning is definitely not! Oh, wait. It’s got so dusty, cobwebby and messy that it’s getting on my nerves. That must be the reason. And I want to organize.

I’ve also got the creative bug. Haven’t had it in awhile. Focusing on the shop then the wedding, my creative juices seemed to have dried up. Erin was gung ho, enthusiastic, wanting to make things for the wedding, but I couldn’t even get fired up about that. But that’s all past and maybe, just maybe I’m feeling a season change in the air which always makes me want to create. Don’t get me wrong. I love summer and don’t want it to go away, but there’s just something about a change in seasons that gets me going.

Anyway, I want to be creative, but my creative spaces are a bit… erm…. disheveled. This brings on a huge frustation. Trying to make my creative spaces functional and inspiring. Oh, how I wishIwishIwishIwishIwish I had a large room especially for me. A room I don’t have to share with anyone or anything else. I’ve never had that. For years my sewing space was a corner in one of the family rooms. Any other projects were done on the dining room table and I’m not one to clean up after myself, so they stayed, unfinished for months. Then the kids moved out and now the sewing “room” is one of their bedrooms. But what’s worse is that room also became the I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-this-throw-it-in-Erin’s-room room. And the stuff has literally been thrown in. Actually, it would be carefully placed on her bed, but when she’d come home and spend the night the stuff on the bed was carefully placed on the floor – and left there. Then more stuff would be placed on the bed and later moved to the floor and the cycle repeated itself so many times that there is a mountain on her floor. Or should I say, “There’s a floor under there somewhere??” I think it would be so nice to have a room to sew in that didn’t have a bed taking up all the floor space. Or better still, a room big enough to sew and do other creative things in that not only had no bed, but had the wonderful things like we see in “Where Women Create”. But no. I have a 10′ x 12″ room with a bed in the middle and boxes and piles and just stuff. Fabric, button collections, sewing paraphanelia… I also have no time to work on it. Much. Maybe I can clean a couple of square feet a day. That shouldn’t be too intimidating.

I also have the back area of the shop. I’m cleaning it out to make room for some of Lisa’s overflow and so it won’t be quite so embarrassing now that I’m not the only person to have to look at it. Much of the junk is slated for a yard sale – to be had when that season change actually takes place. My vision for this area is another place to create. This would be the place I do all those projects I see in the Somerset magazines. I’ve got quite a collection of nifty things to create with. Just no time or place to do it. And for a long while, no motivation.

So what do I need? More time, more energy and functional spaces. Tomorrow, after I’ve been fully frustrated trying to organize an area, the mood might be totally gone.

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Things are working well with Lisa. I don’t find I have to chat with her customers – or not all of them – but do find it distracting that I’m trying to work with people talking just a few feet away from me. Not that they’re actually distracting to me, I’m distracted by the fact that I’m typing away while they’re over there talking. Kinda makes me feel weird. I do want to get the office arranged so I can work back there instead of right up front. ‘Course, then there’s the problem of having to get up every time I hear someone come in to see if they’re her customer or mine.

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I want to change the look of the blog again. I can’t get rid of that bold type. I’ve tried everything I can think of, but it’s persistent. And I have ideas of how I want it to look, but can’t quite form them into something I can do. Wish I had the money to hire someone, but if they charge over $10 I’m out. LOL

Time to get ready for work.

Wanda

I’ll start at the beginning. That goal of 30 items a week on eBay auctions? I managed about 24 the first week, maybe 14 the next, 10 the next…. You get the picture. But I did go to a true eBay seller’s dream estate sale a few weekends ago. Here are a few of the things I bought that I’ve already sold on eBay. You’ll need to be signed in to view them, being closed an’ all.

Sputnik Barometer

1973 Funfdecker Fokker Model Kit

1973 Lucky Pierre Model Kit

1981 Orbichron Clock (I was really excited about this one.)

There were more things that sold for the opening bid of $9.99, and a few things that didn’t sell, but I’ve still got several more things that have great potential. Just haven’t had the chance to list them.

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We had two bridal showers. Poor Erin. An hour before the first, and main, shower the bottom fell out of the sky. It was dark, dark and stormy. Wind blowing, lightening flashing and thunder booming. Power was out all over town. We didn’t invite so very many people to begin with and the weather kept many away. But she still racked up.

Just some of the gifts received.

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Just before the 4th, we received the shocking news that Ricky’s brother had died. It was a time of much sadness, healing and reconnecting. The picture above is from the 1960′s, but one of my favorites of him.

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Last weekend was The Wedding. It was to be outside, overlooking the beach on St. Simon’s Island at The King and Prince. The weather was wonderful — until a couple of hours before the wedding. Poor Erin. It poured. Stormed. The ceremony was moved inside. But beautiful still. This is the only picture of both the bride and groom that I have access to at the moment. Sharon, I hope you don’t mind that I lifted it from your Facebook page! Chris doesn’t look like himself in this picture. He’s handsome here, but much more so in person. I’ll post more when I get them.

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And the big shop news? My sister-in-law, Lisa, is moving her thriving monogramming business into the shop! How perfect is that? I’m moving and shifting stuff around. Putting her right in the front. Hey. She gets 10 times the traffic that I do.  It’s a major undertaking to condense my junk, but I can do it. She doesn’t take up all that much room. Just a corner in the front then whatever items she has for sale we can work in throughout the shop. I’m excited about this. A little concerned that I’ll be more interested in talking to her customers than working on the internet, though. I’m afraid I’ll be too distracted, but that’s just something I’ll have to work out.

That pretty much covers the major stuff that’s going on. Not mentioning all the little things, summer things, friends and family, and all those going ons.

I hunted my camera cable for three days and finally found it plugged into the shop computer. Now I can’t find the camera.

Until next time….

Wanda