You Can't Be Serious

7 month update

2012-01-14T08:52:00.002-06:00

My....how time flies.

I survived x-mas at the store. It was pretty good and I sold some items that have been hanging around for a long time. I'm always pleased when I get rid of old stuff.
The college students in town have a month off from the beginning of Dec to the beginning of Jan. So they are back now. The shop should be busy until about the middle of March. For some reason sales drop off some then.

I'm doing inventory now. Yikes. There is a lot of stuff in the store. It is possible that I will get it done today. All I have left is the stuff in the back storage room. If it's not too busy maybe I can get it done. If not I'll probably go back tomorrow when I'm closed and finish it up.

A few days ago I made my last payment on the house I bought last year. Around April or May I plan to buy another one. I'll see what I can find. I'm not really looking yet...but I get new properties emailed to me as they are listed. Doesn't hurt to keep my eyes open.

Last September I set up a couple fish tanks. Now they are both community with Platies and Mollies in one and Platies, Guppies and Catfish in the other. I had some fiddler crabs...but they died. I've had 3 sets of babies. I like them.

The other day I ordered a Sleep-Number bed. My back as been a little flaky after I've been in bed a while. So maybe the new bed will take care of that. I guess I'll also do a serious deep cleaning in the bedroom before I set it up. YIKES.

I've been getting seed catalogs. That's bad. I don't expect to do any crazy gardening this year. Last year I set up a raised bed and I think I'll do another one this year. The original one will be all strawberries. I have SB in the ground, this is their 3rd year. Half the raised bed has SB, this is their 2nd year.
I'll plant tomatoes in pots probably two. And I guess I'll plant a bell pepper for my dad. He has a black thumb. He has a very hard time growing anything.
Last year was so hot here I didn't get much....but this year will probably be better.
I'll put in some green beans and maybe some early salad stuff.

I don't think much else is going on.
I lead a very exciting life.

Today was weird

2011-06-25T18:53:00.002-05:00

For some time now I have been considering putting several new product lines in my store. I go back and forth. Some of the things are kind of expensive for my people...but they are neat. (the things not the people).
So I finally made up my mind and decided to get the stuff.
Well.....it all came in yesterday. Yikes.

What I dealt with yesterday was jewelry. Lots and lots of necklaces and bracelets. I moved a shelf and everything on it and put up a metal grid and I used mostly binder clips and a few grid pegs to hang all the stuff.
I've had some necklaces before and had some problem with theft...but I think the binder clips will cut that down.
**I don't have a very high opinion of my clientele's intelligents....I know it's not terribly difficult to work a binder clip.....but I do think they will cut down on theft** **it is what it is** HA

So today I started with stash boxes and incense burners. I had to clear off a shelf but all of that wasn't too bad.
I had gotten 2 stash boxes that had a piece on the front that you slid to the side to unlock and open the box. There were at least 6 people that looked at it and couldn't figure it out. OH...did I mention there was a paper band around the box that told you how to do it. (refer back to ***** above)
Near the end of the day a guy bought one of the boxes.

This always makes me a little sad. I mean....I just got it in! Hardly anyone has seen it, even. :(
But of course there is the other thing about....buying things to sell things and it sold.....in like....a couple hours. Yeah. :)

This box was even one of the things that I thought was a little expensive that I questioned before. Whatever.

I had also gotten in some pipes and I started pricing those and getting them out....but I ran out of time and regular brain function.....so the rest will have to wait till Tuesday.

I also got in a bunch of posters. Another new product line that I got in are door beads, bamboo curtains, and rolling shade-thingys. For those I will move 2 shelves and have to rearrange stuff on about 4 shelves. eeeepppp. Then hang those suckers. It should be interesting.

Then there's another box of glass smoking related stuff that I have to go through and price.

So that's not the weird stuff that I mentioned in the title of this post.....it was just what was going on.

I guess I'll start with yesterday.
This guy at least 70yo came in and seriously hit on me. I'm 41. Ain't happenin' mister. But he does have stable income--disability from the Army where he had a head injury. Hmmmm that might explain.....

So early today a guy comes in and asks if we have a certain kind of pipe. Yes we do. He looked for a second and then says "Can I ask you a question?" "my daughter just bought the convenience store down the road...and she wants to sell K2....will you tell me your supplier?"

HAAAA....NO I WILL NOT!

I don't know if he's an idiot or if he thinks I am....but either way, he won't be getting that information.

I sell air soft guns. To be more exact, I used to sell air soft guns and now I have air soft guns for sale. I've sold maybe one or so in the last 6 months.....until today when I moved the guns off the shelf to put new stuff there....then I sold 2. And one was a large one.

There were these two gals that came in. I don't know....they were both...ummmm....interesting.....the one....I think burned my retinas. She was really really ugly. NO I mean REALLY. And you were able to see a lot of her....because she was wearing clothes that were WAY too small. NO I mean REALLY....SMALL. Like WAY too small.
And the other gal....she comes in often. She's more normal....like....I know she doesn't have many teeth and she wear A LOT of black eyeliner....but that just covers (HA) the black circles under her eyes. You know.....she's real thin.

But today they had this smell to them....both of them. I hadn't smelled it before. It was a real weird chemical type smell.

What could it all mean? HA.....*cough*meth*cough*
I happens all the time....but sometimes.....it all just comes together and makes me want to shower.

Well....anyway....that was most of the weird, I guess.....for today.

General Update

2011-05-28T09:29:00.002-05:00

I always think I will post more.....and I never do. So it is...

On the rental house front... My semi-loser renters should be out by the end of June and I've got it rented to 4 college guys. They will move in the 5th of July. WooHoo. I was a little hesitant about renting to them because they don't have any rental experience....but they wanted to meet me and sway me. I met with them and agreed to the arrangement.
That's awesome because I won't loose any rent in the transition.

In garden news....I did indeed construct a raised bed. I've got strawberries, peppers, tomatoes and an eggplant planted in there. I also have one tomato and one pepper in pots. OH...also green beans in pots.
I picked my first 3 strawberries the other day. My tomato has blossoms. My blackberry has a bunch of baby blackberries and my peach tree has a bunch of baby peaches. mmmmmm

I've hung a hummingbird feeder and mostly have ants...but I've seen a bird or two.

It's been crazy rainy around here lately. and tornado-y.

My washing machine has been slowly dying. Several months ago it stopped spinning....so I've just been wringing out things and/or hanging them outside for a while then throwing them in the dryer. Last week it started making a new funny noise....for it will surely die soon.
So I went out and ordered a new fancy washer. It should be here by Wed or Thurs. I am more excited about this that I should be.

My computer that I use to do Amazon books has died. I'll have to buy a new computer but I'm putting that off for just a bit. Although....places are having Memorial Day sales....so maybe I should visit that a bit sooner.

I've started baking my own bread. mmmm. The plot was for me to bake all my bread. But I'm having a real problem....I can't use this "good" bread for sandwiches. I just can not seem to put ham on it. I just butter it and stick it in the microwave. mmmmmm. Maybe as I do it more, it won't feel so special and I can put something on top. We'll see.

I bought some cheap concentrated lime-ade.....sour! I took the last 1/2 glass full and added a can of code-red mt dew. Much better.

Several years ago at our local grocery store they had Snyders of Hanover Ranch Pretzel Pieces. But they only had them sometimes and only a couple months out of the year.
LOVE THESE.
But then they didn't have them.....and I hate to say it....but....I forgot about them. Then a bit ago.....I remembered them. So I went on a town-wide search for them....Nothin'
So I went on-line. Back in the day I would order a number of my groceries from this on-line grocer. So I checked there and they had them. So I ordered 3 bags. I gave one bag to my mom and I snarfed the other 2.
Plan B.
In my previous travels I saw they had them on Amazon but you had to buy 12 bags.
So I went to Amazon and bought 12 bags.
OH GLORY BE!!!
I'll be ordering again soon. mmmmmm

Hi, I'm Hound Doggy, and I'm a pretzel addict.

Rental house update update

2011-04-21T09:54:00.002-05:00

It turns out the damage to the air conditioner was not caused by the renters and was covered under warranty after-all. Yeah.

If they wanted to extend their lease past the original 6 months they should give 3 months notice. And....they haven't. So that means they haven't read the lease or they are planning to leave June 30th.
On May 1st, we can get going again with the rental agency and try to get it rented for July 1st or somewhere around there, hopefully.
We'll need to clean the carpet and I'd like to get the deck sealed....but other than that there shouldn't be too much to do.

I'm trying very hard to get this house paid off. The shop has been slower since the middle of March so my payments have been a little smaller. It seems like I'm running behind.

It has been kind of cold and gloomy here most of the spring. That is wearing me. I'd like about 60 or 70 degrees and sunny.

I've got wood and various kinds of dirt in my van. Soon I'll turn that into a raised garden bed. Then into May I'll get some new strawberries to plant. I've got several from last year that are planted in the ground. They are big and are starting to get blossoms.
My blackberry has got a bunch of buds.

But yesterday I made a pot of chicken soup (cold weather food) blah.

It seems like I've been tired for weeks....just kind of going through the days...

SUN.

Rental House Update

2011-04-17T08:55:00.003-05:00

Since I always whine on here....I thought I hadn't whined about my rental house lately.
So here goes....

The renters I have are basically a pain in the ass.

All of the real pain assery started on April 4th.
I looked at my online bank account and they had not paid their rent.
Rent is due on the 1st, if it is not paid by the 3rd you get a late fee of $100. If I have to write you a nasty-gram?...that's another $25.

Oh I should mention that she takes the money directly to my bank and deposits it.

I watched the progression on-line.
Nothing as of the 4th (mon) at about 3:30pm.
On the 5th, late, money was taken in and it showed as pending.
On the 6th, early, nasty-gram received, I get a phone call from Jan.elle. At that point the money had gone through and was available through the bank.

So long story short....she said she took in the money on the 2nd (Sat.) and what?? I don't know?....the bank held it until Tuesday to run it through.
Another inconvenience for her was that the bank posts the images of the receipt and such. Those clearly showed the 4th.
I suggested that the late fees would be waived if, for instance, she had or could get from the bank a copy of the receipt that showed the 2nd. Or maybe even a copy of the check that showed the 2nd as the correct date.

Apparently that didn't work for her. Maybe because she is a full-of-shit liar.

After a 20 minute conversation where she tried every trick in the book for me to waive the fee and I wouldn't....she hung up on me.

So then in a couple of days....she called and said the air conditioner wasn't working.
This is interesting because the unit was put in new a year and a half ago....and it was working fine when they moved in.

So....there was this real strong odor of Rat.

The unit was under warranty so I called the people and they went out and looked at it.
I got the invoice. It was not covered under warranty. A "damaged" coolant line was repaired. To the tune of $524.00.

I have a call into the fix-it people. I need a very clear picture of the damage and what could have caused it.
I think I have an idea.

Yesterday I get another call (message) that the lawnmower battery needs to be replaced.

It seems as though everything was working fine before them moved in and now....everything has some problem.

Luckily they only signed a 6 month lease. The lease can be continued month to month if they want (and if I want). It's up in July.

They are a young military couple....those were the type of people that I was wanting to rent to. Trouble from the very beginning.

I see lawyers in my future.

growing

2011-03-30T12:32:00.001-05:00

I've got two baby cats that have got their eyes open. Two others that will by tomorrow.
I like baby cats.

March 26, 2011

2011-03-26T09:44:00.004-05:00

It's snowing again!!!
Big wet flakes. We could get 4 inches. In Missouri. At the end of March. Gack.

I've got cats that had kittens. Wiley had four. Roo had six (she's crazy). White-Tip (don't judge the name) has had some???
Yesterday she was talking to Wiley and Wiley said "OH Hell NO...HISS". Then right away White-tip talked to Roo. Within a few minutes they were both laying down together with the six babies in the closet. This morning there are a whole large pile of cats and kittens. I tried to count but it got crazy pretty quick. White-tip didn't let me down....there is a black one in the mix. I like the black ones....there...um....different.

Even though this was White-tips' idea....I think Roo got the better end of this stick.

Random....meaningless rant

2011-03-10T08:55:00.002-06:00

I read this blog. I don't like this woman. Her life is a trainwreck. I guess that's why I read it....for the blood and gore.

The most current trauma involves her divorce.

She and her husband and 3 kids move from one city to another so she can be closer to her friends. Her husband has a professional career. He moves to "new city" a few months before her and starts his new job.
(she complains about being a single mom for the few months it takes for her to finish her job and move)
He is sleeping on a friends couch for that period.

Things move along.

She complains about all sorts of stuff. Like that he doesn't get home until 6pm...so they have trouble eating dinner together. He was a trial lawyer.

He tells her at some point that he has had an affair. Then he says he had another affair with her friend.
*Trauma happens*

They were divorced quickly with very little trouble. That's been like 3 months ago. 6 months ago she started dating a co-worker.

Her now ex is still with the friend.

So I guess they got into a fight over the phone...this is what she said:

***The impetus? He is supposed to take Friday off of work to watch B and L while their district has a professional day, given that it is the day before spring break (the spring break that he doesn’t have to worry about because I am home with them) and it is extraordinarily difficult for teachers to take a day off before a weeklong vacation. Only instead of taking the day off, he is getting a babysitter. Or rather, she helped arrange for the babysitter. For my children. That he is supposed to be parenting.***

I forgot to mention...a couple months ago he was fired from his job (I'm not sure why). So this is a brand-new job that she is wanting him to take a day off from.

Is it just me....or is this ridiculous?

I certainly don't condone him having an affair but I sure understand why.

I've read this blog for years and there is always something going on. I think she causes most of these problems herself.
One time, a long time ago, I disagreed with one of her opinions and I left a comment. I'll never do that again.....there were a bunch of her minions that attacked.
If I suggested anything negative at all....she'd block me.

Oh well....enough of that.

(If you would like to psychoanalyze my need to continue to read that blog....feel free to in the comments) :}

Math?

2011-03-06T08:21:00.002-06:00

**I hate math**

I'm about to the point of making a decision.

I bought a house last October. I had a very large down payment and I've been making mega-payments since. At my current rate I'll have it paid off in about 6 months.

My plan was to pay it off, wait a few months and save up a down payment and get another smaller house.

The monkey wrench is that there is this house close to where I live (on the same street) that is for sale. But it is a big/medium house like the one I have already. I like it. I haven't looked inside but if all things are like they should be...I like it.

So, financially, I'm not sure of the best way to go.

PRO of big/med. house.
1. good location
2. more rent
3. more house
4. more interest for deduction on taxes
5. better chance of getting the rent from tenants

Con of big/med house.
1. may take longer to rent
1a. more time of no rent/income
2. larger down payment
3. longer to pay off
4. more interest to pay

Pro of small house
1. would appeal to larger audience
2. smaller payments
3. quicker to pay off
3a. less interest paid
4. would likely be rented (easier to rent)

Con of small house
1. not as much rent
2. more trouble *maybe* of getting rent from tenants
3.

And probably other things I'm not thinking of now.

Something else I can do is stop making my mega-payments and start saving the down payment now.
This all builds on itself. You take the $ from house 1 and add it to house 2. Then $ from 1 & 2 and add it to 3. And so on and so on. The more you have, the more income you have and the quicker they all get paid off.

Time isn't really an issue for me. There are tons of places in town that are for sale. The market is still dead. Which is good for me.
I'm just not sure if it's better to pay off one and then go to another or have two going at one time.

Perhaps it's better to just do something and work with it as it is.

I'll also put in another side goal.....I'd like to buy some land in this mix. The future goal is to build a log cabin. But if I got some land first...I could work on getting that paid off.

2011-03-03T10:54:00.003-06:00

The banjo playing continues. I'm still having trouble with the blasted C chord. I must be missing something.
I went to our local book store and they had nothing in the way of instruction manuals. So I put in a small order from Amazon. Hopefully that will give me some more to work on.

Work has been busy. I've been ordering new stuff with a vengeance. This has caused me to be lost and confused. I've forgotten what I've ordered, what I need, and when it's coming. My companies have not been helpful. Once place held my order for a week before they shipped it. It usually goes out the next day. Before I got the first order, I ordered again from them and then when the first order came in I thought it was the second and I thought that I hadn't ordered the stuff they sent me. But one thing that came in was a display case that I've been trying to get for two months.

Another company was moving it's warehouse. So there has been a delay there. That was okay though...because I knew about that. I have since ordered from them a second time. It's possible that I'll get both orders at the same time.
Some places send a tracking number and others don't. I should have at least 3 packages coming today. 2 Fedex which I should get before I leave for work and 1 UPS that should come later this afternoon.

I've been trying to get larger hookahs, 3 or 4 hose. Everybody seems to be out of them. This is a pain.... Many of the places that I get stuff will list things that are out of stock on the web site. So I tend to think they have the things they say they do. Then when the order comes...it turns out I don't get them. If I know somebody doesn't have something....I'll get it from someone else.
In this particular case I've got a guy that wants a larger hookah....and I have to keep putting him off. I haven't seen him in a while....he probably went somewhere else to get it. :(

I've got this room...in my house....It's suppose to be a bedroom...but it has been a storage room for about 8 years or so. I'd put things from the funeral home in there mostly. This is an animal free zone so the things that I didn't want to get torn up are in there. Last fall I started digging around in there and moving things out and throwing away things and what not.....and then I stopped.
This morning I went back in and went through a few things and found more stuff to throw away.

One of these days I'll get things back under control. I've had emotional problems with getting rid of things in the past....but I think I'm over most of that now. So away it goes.

I had thought in the past that I would get back into the funeral business and I would need those things. Or I had emotional connection to some of the stuff and I just couldn't let it go.

Last spring and fall I went through the garage....there was stuff there too. I got rid of a bunch of stuff. There is still major organization to do...but most of the extra stuff is gone.

I have way....WAY...too much stuff for this house.
When I get that part of it under control....I want to redo much of the house.
Paint, carpet, new kitchen (cabinets, flooring, paint, built-in dishwasher etc), new bathroom (everything....tub, toilet, sink, flooring, paint).

I keep working on these things....slowly....it all goes very very slowly.
I'll be happier when spring springs. This has been a long winter.

ABC

2011-02-28T08:03:00.002-06:00

I found this ABC of me on a blog I read. So here goes... Play along if you'd like.

A: Age: 40

B: Bed size: Full

C. Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathtub

D. Dogs: Fritz is a mini-dachshund, Comet is a beagle

E. Essential start to your day: Catch the news and read a few blogs.

F. Favorite color: Purple

G. Gold or silver: Gold

H: Height: 5’ 9"

I: Instruments that you can play: Clarinet, piano and I'm working on banjo. I've fiddled with a bunch of others.

J: Job title: Self-employed. Owner/Operator

K: Kids: none.

L: Live: Missouri

M: Mom’s name: Laura

N: Nicknames: Bear

O: Overnight hospital stays: None

P: Pet peeve: Stupid people

Q: Quote from a movie: Not much up on movies...

R: Righty or lefty: Right

S: Sibling: Two older brothers, I had a younger sister who died when I was 16.

T: Time you wake up: 7:00-8:30am

U: Underwear: yes

V: Vegetables you dislike: brussel sprouts, asparagus

W: What makes you run late: I am never late. Always 5 mins. early.

X: X-rays: Left thumb, left wrist, right toe

Y: Yummy food you make: I'm a pretty good cook & baker. I'm fond of cheesey potatoes.

Z: Zoo favorite animal: Tigers

2011-02-25T11:18:00.002-06:00

I got my banjo and started pickin'.
Then my hand hurt.
Then it didn't hurt so bad.
So I started practicing again.
I'm learning things.
I'm not learning things.
It's a grand time. :)

I'm having trouble with the C chord. It feels awkward and I can't stay on the proper stings. ....and it makes my hand hurt. I'll keep working on it.
But I'm expert with the G chord. That is an open or unfretted chord. You don't have to touch any string.

I've learned that it's better to play in the morning. After work I guess I'm too tired and foggy.

I've learned that the picking is quite subtle. There isn't a whole lot of movement required.

This is interesting....I think I like it.

In other news.....

My thievin' customers at my store....stole my phone. It's one of those with 2 handsets. The main base and 1 handset was in the back of the store and the charging base and 1 handset was up front on my desk.
I tried to call out yesterday and the phone said "power outage". Huh? So I went to the back to see what was going on and the whole freakin thing was gone.

I have no idea when it happened...but certainly more than a week ago.
When my friend came last Saturday...she said she tried to call and it just rang and rang. I didn't get any calls that day.
I don't get many phone calls there....so I didn't notice.

I was also mad yesterday because I've got this disabled guy that comes in. Mikey. About 2 weeks ago he found a musical keyboard that he wanted. I have layaway and we set it up like that....except he didn't have any money to put down on it. I'm not sure of his exact situation but he has a job and he has "keepers" that come in with him.
He figured he'd have to work 2 weeks to have the money for it. He makes $3.50 a day. So every day (EVERY DAY)...he has come in to visit his keyboard. Sometimes he brings in an adapter so he can play it...sometimes he just plays it "dry".
I'm not too disturbed by all of this....although he is very very very high maintenance. You have to stay right there with him....if you wander off...he'll call you back over. There were several times that I had other customers and he was not very patient.
But all in all....It was a pretty good deal. He was so excited about it. He would laugh and clap and carry on. It was also good that he had all the money figured out. He knew how long it would take and....well...it was all good.

Until yesterday. Today he would have enough money. So tomorrow he could have taken it home.
But yesterday he came in like usual and had the adapter and we plugged it in and he played like normal....Then he said "I don't want it anymore". "You can put it back".
And that was it. He said he'll get another one....at another store.

So that's fine. But I'm done with him. No more favors.
He wore me out.
If he says something later...I'll just tell him that he promised me that he'd buy it and then he didn't....So I won't do it again.

Not to mention that it was off the floor for two weeks so someone else couldn't buy it.
That's about what happens when I try to be nice to someone and do them a favor.

98% of the time people don't do what they say they will.

I always (always) have people asking me to hold something back for them. For one reason or another. And they never come back for it. I will usually do that with a pipe, because I have so many others that it doesn't matter if one isn't there. Very very rarely does someone come back to get it when they say they will.
Pisses me off.

2011-02-22T09:19:00.000-06:00

I should be getting my banjo tomorrow. Yip Yip.

2011-02-20T12:21:00.002-06:00

A couple of things are going on.

Yesterday, two friends of mine from a different life came to visit me. Kathy and Jim worked with me at a funeral home 11-12 years ago.
It was like old times....but with fewer dead people. HA.

We met up and had some food and good chit chat. I'm sorry it's been so long since we've seen each other. Maybe we can change that in the future.

In other news.... (I guess I'll start at the beginning).... I read this blog. Coldantlerfarm.blogger This gal is living in New York on her newly purchased land and is doing the farm thing. There are many wonderful things about her and her writing. (I recommend checking her out).
Anyway....one of the things that she is interested in is old time mountain music.

So I was just minding my own business...reading along....and I got snagged by the banjo.

I have been aware of it before...but have never really got searching. But sometimes I would see something or someone and STOP. (like Steve Martin....have you heard him play???....crazy).

So it's been on my mind.

Today I've done my serious research and ordered one of those bad boys.

HEE heee Heeee....I'm gonna git a banjo...*laa laa..skip skip...hee hee*
I'm excited.

So perhaps in a week or so I'll be annoying the mammals around here...and maybe the neighbors....(I'd love sitting in the sun on my back step, pickin' away) ((we don't have sun yet...but maybe spring will spring))

I have had some music experience before. I played piano, clarinet, fiddled with sax, marimba, dulcimer, and accordion. I've played harpsichord and probably things I don't remember.
You will notice in the mix is not a string. I'd love to play cello...but that is large and a commitment.

There are a few things that I'm a little worried about....like coordination...but I'll get over that with some practice.
Another is the trend to be all excited and play for 5 hours the first day and by the end of the first week...not picking it up again.
But I have already justified that by....1) It's not that expensive and 2) I'm sure my brother would be interested in playing a little with it (for the first week until he puts it down).....I dunno...if we spread it around the family enough it will pay for itself quickly.

Maybe if I can manage it....I'll update my progress here.

(hee heee....skip...skip....skip...) *smile*

GET OUT!!!!!!!

2011-02-13T09:01:00.002-06:00

On Friday I got the privilege of kicking someone out of my store. This woman and her mother came in. She was probably 60 or 65. Her mother was good 80..and caused no trouble.
So the woman came up with one of those iron garden crooks and a large metal basket thing and an old shoe last. She asked what was the lowest price I would take on the crook. It was marked $10 but I told her $8. Then she asked the same about the other things. The basket was marked $8 and the last was $7. I told her that I wouldn't come down on those. And I guess that pissed her off.
She asked if all the stuff in the store was mine...then she asked if those items were mine. Then she told me to call the people that the stuff belonged to and find out the low price. I told her I wouldn't do that, that those were the prices. So then she goes on about how if a price is firm it says "firm" on the tag. I told her again that those were the prices. At some point I also told her twice that the basket had just come in and the price would not be lower. She walked off saying that I was loosing a sale. I told her I didn't think so.
She left the things on the counter right in the way. They took up about the whole thing.
In a little bit she came back up with another thing she wanted.

So I asked her if she would take those things she didn't want and put them back.
She said "No", "That is your job".
I told her she was rude. She said in other stores.....blah blah blah.
I told her to leave and not come back.
She called the stuff junk.
I told her it was junk that she wanted.
(I guess there was other conversation in there...I don't quite remember everything..I was getting madder as it all progressed)

****I also want to interject here that the one thing about me that I would say is a problem, that I've never really been able to get a handle on is assertiveness. I don't have it. I will do about anything to not confront someone. Even if they really really need to be confronted. I get all tingly inside and hot and funny. So this whole interaction was bad for me. I wish I could do this more easily...but it is what it is, I guess.****

Unbelievable. I can't get over at how rude she was. And of course I've been mad for 2 days....because that's how I am. :)

It's interesting to me that people think that they are doing me a favor by coming in and buying something (for less than it's marked). I actually think that I am doing them the favor by having the store and sitting there all day providing things for them to buy.
Most of the things in my store you can't find in my town. You have to drive an hour or so to get it.

After thinking about it, and my mom suggested too (she was also there at the time)....this woman probably has a booth herself in a flea market....and she was trying to buy stuff to put in her booth. This has been very difficult around here lately. There are very few consignment auctions going on. In the winter there are fewer auctions in general and no garage sales. I'd say for the last couple years, it has been very hard to find stuff to stock booths.
I've talked to other shop owners and they are really struggling and many shops have closed.

Also when this woman left...it happened that my friend Martha was coming into the shop. This woman stopped her on the parking lot and asked if there were any other places in town. Turns out she's from a town south of here. Martha thought she was on something.... Hee.

It's too bad that the bad people make such an impression.
I've only had a few of these the 8 years I've been in business but I can tell you about all of them.

But every day (really....every day) I have people telling me how nice my place is. I get new people coming all the time and they go on and on about the stuff I have. I've had several people actually thank me for having my store and the stuff in it. I don't know if this happens in other stores but it's really awesome. It lets me know that I'm on the right track....and it's a nice ego boost.

So the bottom line is that I shouldn't let these losers get under my skin....but they still do. It makes me want to punch them in the face.

Super Bowl!!!

2011-02-06T12:54:00.001-06:00

ehhh.. Who cares?

2011-02-02T14:55:00.002-06:00

My neighbor took pity on me and cleared off my driveway with his snow-blower. So I made him brownies.
A win win for everyone involved.

The plow just went through. That's the first time today. 3pm.

I didn't get my mail yesterday and it hasn't shown up yet today.

Tomorrow....life starts again.

one more for today

2011-02-01T20:41:00.002-06:00

The snow won. At about 6pm I heard we got 21 inches of snow. At 3pm I saw my neighbor shoveling his driveway. That inspired me to stay inside and declare:
Snow--1, Lesley--0

So I won't go to work tomorrow.

It's suppose to be really cold and I think windy. I may get out and rout around...we'll see.

There is a large long drift in front of my house and around my van. At least 3 foot I imagine.

Boo Hiss

I didn't get my mail today. So much for sleet, snow, whatever.
It was trash day in the 'hood. No trash pick up.
I saw a few cars go by. The people that live on the other side of my neighbor when shopping. I saw them come back with bags. Stupid.
I only saw the snow plow twice.

I don't know why people can't stay at home when the weather is so bad.

In Kansas City, there was a 15 car pile up. The airport was closed. The main highway I-70 was closed between Kansas City and St. Louis.
The Highway Patrol guy said there was a couple that got stuck and they were going to the movie. Movie???
Idiots.

lot o' snow

2011-02-01T11:02:00.002-06:00

So I did go to the book barn to mail books. My partner in crime called and asked if she had sold any books, would I mail them. She is an older lady (although, a lot scrappier than I) and she wasn't planning on getting out.

She had 2 books and I had 1. So at about 8am I ventured out. The roads were slick but I drove about 3 MPH so I was okay.
When I got home there was about an inch or two on the drive way....so I shoveled that off. I just got back from outside where I shoveled off some more. Two of my neighbors were doing the same. It's only 11am and the snow is still coming down heavy.
I see more shoveling in my future.

The last storm about a week ago, my neighbor came over with his new snow-blower. That was awesome. I don't know if he'll come this time or not....so I'd like to keep up with it.

After the snow it's suppose to be bitter cold.

eeekkkkk snow

2011-02-01T07:06:00.002-06:00

It's started snowing here. They are calling for a foot to 14". I had some business that I had to attend to yesterday. They were talking about freezing rain and ice for yesterday but it wasn't bad and I got everything done in the morning.
I mailed all my sold Amazon books but another one sold last night. It doesn't have to be mailed until Wed....but with all the snow...I wanted to get it out. I woke up early this morning with the hopes of beating the storm. But I fiddled around and was undecided about going.

The book "barn" is outside of town and a short distance down a black-top road. The driveway is down a little hill. I wasn't real excited about going in the dark and I just waited too long. It started to snow. And its piled up pretty quickly.
All of it is not worth a $5.00 book.
If I can't get out by Wed., I'll just cancel it.

I don't mind hunkerin' down. I won't go to work today....and that doesn't bother me. I don't figure I loose any business. If they don't buy it today....they'll buy it tomorrow (or the next day).
The shop is also outside of town. It's about 2 miles down the road. It's not worth the risk of sliding off the road to open and have other people risk sliding off the road.

In other news....my washing machine is dying. Actually this is good news. For the last 10 years or so I've wanted a front-loader.
Mine works...sort of....it doesn't spin.....so I'll keep using it for a while and just wring out the water. I'm funny like that.

I have a problem spending money because I want to put as much as I can on my house. If I keep on the same track I'll have it paid off in less than a year. woohoo.

I'm already thinking about buying another one. I think the next one will be a little smaller (cheaper). Diversify.

I've also discovered a medical problem. I went last week and saw about getting health insurance. I haven't had it for about 8 years. I had it when I had the funeral home...but when I lost that, I had no money and I let it go. I have been a healthy sort. I've never had any problems. I've never even had the flu.
But I've been drinking a lot of water and have had another symptom or two. And I've got a family history. And I'm 40 and overweight.
So I tested my blood sugar. Yup. High. Too high. So I've acquired some insulin and started taking that. I'm still trying to figure everything out. It appears as though everything I eat is carbs. And Mt. Dew.
I've cut back on everything.....and now I'm just HUNGRY.

I'll get it figured out...I suppose.

At some point when I get the insurance, I'll see a doctor. I'm generally opposed to doctors, but sometimes you need one.

This is a dumb post.....just sayin'

2011-01-12T08:56:00.003-06:00

I feel like I've won some kind of weird lottery. Not as weird as Jackson's The Lottery but still.....

There is this blog that I read. I don't like this gal. But the whole thing is like watching a train wreck and I just can't look away. I have always admired her husband for staying with her. And I have wondered about her friends and why they were her friends. I also read a number of her friends' blogs. The seem like great people.

**Why do I read this blog of the woman that I really don't like....I don't know? Certainly some deep psychological flaw on my part.....whatever!**

Anyway....her husband has cheated on her and they are getting divorced. There has been a fair amount of drama with this, of course.
So there have been some people that have been reading her blog that she doesn't want to so she has changed some things....made it invite only and so forth.

So I requested an invite and I was accepted. Apparently there were several thousand people that were invited.

So perhaps she has changed everything and spent hours and hours going through emails and sending invites, to have her husband not read her blog.

Except he probably set up another account under another name and is reading it anyway.

She seems to have this blog to get pats on the back. No matter what she writes there are about 20 people that go on and on about how wonderful she is and how strong she is. If someone dares to write anything but glowing there are about 5 people that attack and the person usually gets blocked.

Several years ago I posted once and offered a different opinion about an educational issue that she was talking about. I was attacked but not blocked. My opinion was just different than hers. It didn't involve any personal...anything...against her. And the whole thing was theoretical.

So...I learned my lesson and kept my mouth shut.

owwww

2011-01-08T08:53:00.002-06:00

Yesterday when I was scooping ice cream for breakfast (don't judge) (and it was strawberry---fruit!) I hurt my neck. This has happened before...and worse. The end result is that I can't look to the right. I was hoping that today I would be all better. I guess I'm getting there.

It's always something.

Yesterday was really really windy here and it blew my tv dish out of alignment. Now I only get a few channels. So I'll need to climb a ladder and re-adjust.
The whole ladder thing.....yeah....irrational fear. Over the last year I've been practicing exposure therapy. I can go the 4 steps up to fix my blasted dish.

10 years ago my dish was installed "poorly" on the shingles of my roof. It had a good 4-6 inches of play. Not good when you are trying to find a satellite deep in space. So then a dish guy came for another reason and was persuaded to move that little sucker to a more secure location. So he installed it on the house-type-area below the gutter.
Now, however, the bolts going in are loose and the whole apparatus "falls" or "dips" a bit. So I've got a belt wrapped around a cross piece in the gutter and around the bar that holds the dish.
I really need to go up 5 steps on the ladder to really fix it properly....but I'm not there yet with my therapy.

So today perhaps....in the cold.....I will climb the 4 steps and move the belt back up to the proper position.....for tomorrow there will be snow.

Not off the edge

2011-01-06T08:46:00.003-06:00

It appears as though I have not fallen off the edge of the earth. Woop!

I guess I'll go through and hit the highlights.

Several months ago my mom had a stroke. It was pretty minor as far as strokes go. She has lost her peripheral vision on her right side. A problem but not completely debilitating. She is not driving though. She could...she's legal...but she's not comfortable with the idea.

My dad has had knee replacement surgery. He's a wimp....and a pain. He has never had surgery before and thinks he's dying when in reality he is doing very well. So he has not been driving....

That means I've been driving. I have no problem helping and doing anything that needs to be done....but we are getting to the point (or past it) where he needs to start getting out and doing things. There is no physical reason that he can't start to do more things.
He made a comment the other day that suggested he would have rather been in a wheelchair than to have this surgery.

I have very little sympathy for him. He would rather sit in a chair or lay in bed and let the rest of us take care of him. This gets very old.

Xmas came and went at the shop. It did about the same as last year. I can live with that. I kept things pretty well stocked throughout so I don't have any post xmas trauma.
I've done inventory and that was as okay as inventory can be.

When I was in high school (50 million years ago) there was this guy that I was friends with. We even went to prom together. I don't really thing we dated...but we spent some time together.
Anyway....I have wondered from time to time about him. Last year we had our class reunion and he wasn't there but we all got an update about him.
(I should mention I had 20 people in my class) It turns out he is back in the area and living where he had lived in high school.
So at some point my tech brain clicked and I thought...."hmmmm I wonder if he's on facebook". So I checked and he was and we started chatting.

The thing with me is....that (at the risk of sounding like a zombie) I like brains.
The thing about him is that he had some. There were about 3 of us in the class that were "smart". He was witty and a little goofy but smart. The problem at the time was were were 17-18 and the full potential of conversation was not explored.

Okay...so we started chatting. And I will say I am very disappointed. He completely has no life. None. Work, sleep. That's it. No hobbies, no interests, no nothing.
I've asked him questions and many times he won't even answer them. Nothing personal, really...just stuff.
He seems okay to talk to me...if it's been a couple days he'll email me...
He is single so there is no problem with that.
I don't know...I guess I just have high expectations for people.

In other news....
I was sitting here the other day and looked out into my back yard and I believe I saw a bobcat. I didn't get a super long look at him...but I saw his tail very well.
My back yard goes up into a steep hill and at the fence line there are trees and beyond that is a field. He was walking along the fence line.
The next day I was driving down the road and looked over into that field from the end and saw 3 turkeys. I've seen more wildlife here in town that I did when I lived in the country (almost). Crazy.
I had never seen a bobcat before...but we heard them in the country.
Now I glance in the yard about 4 million times a day....hoping to see him again.

I don't know if anything else earthshattering has happened. I always think I'll post more here....but...well....I may. We'll see. :)

Here we go again

2010-11-13T22:35:00.002-06:00

I've written before about selling the Herbal Smoking Incense in my store. I sold it $$$...it became illegal :( and I stopped selling it. People immediately came up with other kinds of this stuff that was legal....and customer people have been non-stop asking me if I was going to get this other stuff. I've always said "NO". But they have worn me down.

I just ordered some. *sigh*

As far as I know no one else in town is selling anything. So perhaps I will do well with this again.

I have also just put the shop on Facebook. I don't have any "friends" yet...but maybe people are looking at it anyway. I'm not terribly proficient at FB, but maybe I'll learn. I am a mean Farmville player, however.

The shop is getting into to gift giving season :) Today I had several people buying gifts.

I know this is trivial.....

2010-10-26T18:22:00.002-05:00

but still.....

IF PEOPLE IN MY STORE, THAT USE THE RESTROOM, DON'T STOP LEAVING THE LIGHT ON....I'M GOING TO START KILLING PEOPLE....(slowly with toothpicks).

I try to be nice and reasonable about this....but it's completely driving me crazy. 97% of the people, at least, leave the light on. Several don't flush the toliet. Today a guy didn't turn off the light and he left the water running. I've had whole rolls of toilet paper ruined by water and the toilet cleaner tablets stolen.
Although yesterday...a gal left the light on....but she did clean the toilet....weird.

Let me also just say for the record....that this is not a public bathroom. It's not all fancy and everything like you might find in a restaurant.
In general my feeling is that it should be available for my customers.
I've always let pregnant women or kids use it.
I have let it go into disrepair so people wouldn't get the idea that it was really for customers. The overhead light is very dim. Although there is a better one on the wall. I turn off the cold water..because it leaks.
If customers bother to ask me to use it, I tell them about the light. But in most cases they aren't smart enough to figure it out. So they just use the dim one.

And also for the record....I am aware that there are starving children in the world and people are dying and all of that and that this is REALLY a very small annoyance in my otherwise okay life.

Maybe if someone wants to use it I could have them sign an agreement of conduct and have them put down a deposit.
hmmm?

Benificiary Deed

2010-10-06T08:18:00.002-05:00

This is an info post and what I see as a scam at least.

My parents own four houses. They would like to leave them to me upon their death. There is a thing called a Beneficiary Deed or Transfer on Death. I believe you can also transfer cars in this way.

So my mom asked at the bank if they could do this. She was told to go to the County Recorders (of Deeds) office. She went there. They said you need to go to a lawyer. She said she had understood that you didn't need a lawyer. They said you really should go to a lawyer to make sure everything is done properly......Or you can go to the Title Company.
She went to a lawyer and asked the secretary for the forms for the Beneficiary Deed. "We don't give those to the public but we can write one up for you", she was told.
She went to another lawyer.....same story.

At one of the banks in our small town, there is a man. He is known for helping older people.....and he's a generally nice guy who knows things.
So my mom talked to him. He made a phone call to the local library. They have a book of forms and maybe it was there. They didn't find it but he told my mom to go there anyway. She did. And a woman tap tapped on the computer and found the form. She printed it out.

One page, simple. The only "odd" thing you need is the legal description of the property. This can be found easily on any house type paperwork.

So she fills out the form, gets it notarized, and takes it to the County Recorder of Deeds.
And they give her trouble about it. It needs to have three inches of blank space at the top they tell her.?? Finally they pull out the form with the 3" of space at the top and staple their form to hers and say that they guess this will work.

Now this may just be corruption in our little town. It lives strong and thick here. But here are interesting things that were told:
A lawyer would cost between $800.00 to $600.00 to complete a simple form that has the grantor name, the grantee name, and the legal description of the property.

The Title Company that my mom was told to go to is owned by one of the recommended lawyers.

It was all a pass the buck game. go here...now go here...go here...pay money....go here.

The Recorder did have the form but lied.

I found these forms online for $25.00 or so.

They ended up being free at the library (online).
They were found under Real Estate Forms.

They are different state by state but you don't have to pay $800 to get it.

As a side note we are passing these forms out like water to everybody we know.

Busy busy busy

2010-09-11T07:31:00.002-05:00

First, I've got to give my usual rant.
The losers have learned a new trick. I've had two people in two days switch the tags on items in the store. This actually isn't a "new" trick....but I haven't had much of it at my store.
One item was a carnival glass bowl. The tag came across at $2.00. Like I wouldn't notice that. It should have been $15 or $20. Also the tag said Leaf Dish.

This is another case of people not knowing what I know. Most of the stuff in the store is mine so I have a rough idea of what is going on. Things are worth and are priced generally in the same way. For example...those wooden baby gates. $8.00. They will sell for $8.00. I will not price one at $2.00 because they will sell for $8.00. Simple really. Carnival bowls....not $2.00.

Okay....moving on.
Yesterday I closed on my new house. My parents (dad) went over yesterday after the meeting to pick tomatoes and peppers that were hanging on the vine. It was like he'd never seen a tomato before. I had just given him some from my plant the day before....whatever.

We had all gone over on Thursday for the final look-around. They are leaving several items. There was a bunch of stuff still left that day. I'll go over this morning to see what was really left. I know they are leaving a hide-a-bed and another bed. There were shelves that are questionable. My dad wants those if they are left. As part of the deal, a riding lawn mower and garden tools were to be left. The shed was locked so I have never seen those. There is also a rumor that there is a push mower in there too.

There are some apples to pick and in the front there are two English walnut trees. We have a lot of black walnut trees around but not so many English. Awesome.

The house looks great. I don't have to clean or replace anything before I get it rented. I'll go talk to the rental agency on Monday. Hopefully it will rent soon.

I bought a new camera yesterday so tomorrow I will take a bunch of "before" pictures.

In other news....today is the 9th anniversary of the opening of my funeral home. I was getting ready for the first day open when the planes hit the twin towers. At the funeral home we hooked up a t.v. and moved it by the back door so we could get reception and watch all that was going on.
A couple weeks before I had been at a thing....where the speaker talked about how in every generation there was an event that changed things. An event that everyone would remember where they were and what they were doing.
Interesting.
I spoke to that speaker later....about his timing.

Now that I have a new camera...maybe I'll post some pictures here. My other camera is very old and I never did like it. I went a while ago to get a power cord for it and the sales girl looked at me with pity. She said that cell phones have better cameras than that one. *sigh* indeed.

I guess I'm off to the new house. I'll see what kind of bonuses I can find.

P.S. On the news "we are going to listen in on the moment of silence"
can you do that?

A Tribute on 9-11

2010-09-11T07:20:00.003-05:00

This is a tribute to all the "other" people that died nine years ago today.

I honor the car accident victims. Those that died of a heart attack. Babies that were still born. Those that slipped away during the night. And all the others.

On the one day that everyone's eyes are focused to New York, Washington, and Pennsilvania.....my thoughts are with the families and friends of the others.

The others are just as important. They were loved just as much. Their children have grown up without. Their spouses were just as lost.

So take a minute out of your day and remember those that didn't get the attention or the money.

Check this out.

2010-09-06T16:10:00.001-05:00

http://www.stillmeadowsfarm.com/

This is a blog I read. Check out the store. Yummy sounding dips and things. Primitives, candles and neat stuff.

K2

2010-08-30T21:51:00.002-05:00

Saturday I sold all of my K2. A guy came in at about 2pm and was asking questions. Then he said "what are you going to do with the packs you have left?" I told him I was sure I would sell out and it wouldn't be a problem.

So he said he'd take them all. I think I had 8 at that point.

In a way I'm glad it's all over. There was a certain amount of stress involved....

I've got a baby cat that started eating solid food today. Trouble.

My cash cow is dying :(

2010-08-27T19:15:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is the last day that K2 smoking (incense? ha) will be legal in my dear state of Missouri. I've got 10 more packs that I need to get rid of. I do believe that I can do that. I've discounted the price all this week. I've normally been selling a 3 gram pack for $35.00. Today one pack was $20.00 and two or more were $15.00 each. I had a couple people buy 4.

This has been the most interesting experience....this K2 thing.

It started last December. This guy came into my shop and said "you need to sell this". I had never heard of it and was not particularly interested. But he persisted and persisted....and bothered....and bugged.

Then a customer of mine asked me about it.....so I gave him the third degree and he said "BUY IT......SELL IT!!!!"
So I ordered 3 packs. (I'm adventurous....HA)

And I sold those 3 packs. Quickly.

So I ordered, I think, 10 packs.....then more....then more. By the third week in January....I was ordering 100 packs at a time.

I beat my store $$$ record. Then the next day I beat that record. And the next day I beat that record.

I was regularly selling 30-35 packs a day.

The shop was so busy that I couldn't handle it by myself....so I called in reinforcements.

We were all in shock.

The end of March came....Spring Break happened......then....things were different.

It appeared that others in town were selling it too.

Then there were other kinds floating around....some at another shop was bad and didn't have the same effect.

The fad was fading.

Some of my regulars got burned out....it wasn't as special any more.

Oh....I was still selling some.....but nothing like before.

Then there was talk about making it illegal. Some counties banned it. The county next-door banned it in two days. Some people thought it was illegal here.

I was afraid that my county would ban it and I would be stuck with a lot of it.

I discounted my prices and did quantity discounts to try to get rid of it. I did.

They didn't ban it.....they didn't make it illegal.

I think in May they announced it would be illegal.....and the last day was August 28th.

So I ordered some more. (but not very much)

I've been selling a few packs a week since then.

So...like I said...I've got 10 packs and one day.

K2 has been very controversial. A lot of people up in arms for a variety of reasons. I won't go into all of those.
At this point I will discuss briefly my personal opinion.

1. I have never smoked any.
2. I could care less.
3. I don't care what adults decide to do as long as it doesn't directly effect anyone else.
4. There are a lot of stupid people out there.
5. If somebody wants to pay me $35 every other day to fill their lungs with black gick...that is okay. (too bad I'm not still a funeral director...I could make $$$ on both ends)....(HA...kidding......sort of----)
6. people need to gather information and take responsibility for their actions.

All of that being said. I've talked to a lot of people that were smoking this stuff. I never had one person.....not one.....that had any bad experience. Some didn't like the taste....but that's it. Not ONE problem.

I had no children...none....want it, get it...whatever. None.

Generally....I wish that the government would stop trying to protect us from ourselves. And just leave it alone. (ut oh...I feel a tangent coming on....) (I'll stop).

So...I'm glad that guy bugged and bothered and tormented me. I have thanked him.

I'm glad that I have had this experience...just to know it can happen.

I'm also glad that I made the money I made......for you see....this has changed my life. Because of the K2 sales and because I put it all in the bank....I am able to buy a house. A house that will create income itself (rent)....and provide a source of income for years to come. The K2 sales have given me security and retirement.

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.....I have lost big before. So it's nice to have a win.

Students

2010-08-23T08:23:00.002-05:00

The University in my town is back in session. woo. People are starting to trickle in to buy pipes and such. I would say the majority are people from last year...but there is some increase in new people, too.

I expect a steady increase as the weeks go on.

I've started a minor re-arrangement in the shop. I'm increasing the pipe/glass area by a shelf. I've moved some knifes/swords around and have freed up another shelf. I am also going to reorganize my back storage room. I've been buying a number of pipes in bulk so right at the moment I have quite a few. I need to get more little boxes so I can sort them into some logical order....so I know what I have.

I've found a cheap wireless security camera. I haven't gotten it yet but I'm trying to figure out where I can put it so I can maybe deter some of the stealing.

I caught a cute little blonde girl trying to lift a pipe.

The camera is a little touchy. If I put up so it is obvious...people that are buying pipes might be a little nervous. If I hide it...people might continue to steal and that will be more inconvenient for me.
I wish I could hand everyone a sheet that explains in more detail my position.

Stealing:
If you steal a pipe, I will give your image to the police. If you happen to be doing something illegal with that pipe...that could be a bad situation for you.

If you and all your friends steal enough of something...I will just get mad and not have those items for sale any more. You are ruining availability for you and everyone else.

The standard....when things are stolen....I will not lose money....I will up the price of other things.

I will add rules and make your shopping experience more inconvenient. I will only let one person look at one pipe at a time.

Public Bathroom:
I do not have a public bathroom. These are some of the reasons why:
97% of the people that use it will not turn off the light.
People do not flush the toilet.
Someone has stolen the toilet bowl cleaner. (I know.....really?)
Someone has stolen the switch plate. (ditto)
Someone has stolen parts out of a mounting kit for something that I don't even know.
Someone has put a whole roll of toilet paper on the wet floor and ruined it all.
I don't want to clean up after all you people that have no respect for anything.
I don't want to buy toilet paper for all of you.

Oh....well......it all just continues to lower my opinion of people. It's pretty low.

fail + growl = sigh

2010-08-10T15:28:00.002-05:00

There are just some things that I am not good at. I do these things again and again and I never seem to learn. This causes me great annoyance.

So Saturday at the shop this kid comes in for the second time and wants to buy a butterfly knife. He chooses a nice heavy one. $22.00. He comes back in, in an hour or so and wants to know if the way it is, is the way it should be. It is.

So today he comes back in and says a screw fell out of the handle and he wants his money back. So I give it to him.
The policy in the shop is no returns or refunds. I have a big sign. Although I don't always stick to this. It kind of depends on the situation.
But I certainly should have offered that he exchange it. He could have picked out something else and I could have kept the sale.

But I didn't. FAIL.
(of course this is not the first time that this has happened....why, because I'm an idiot)

So then....an hour or so later this guy comes in with a digital scale and says it doesn't work.
I'm not done kicking myself from the first transaction so I say he can exchange it. So I start looking for the tag in my book...and can't find it.
Issues with this:
1) It was just the scale...no box, no paperwork, no batteries.
2) He bought it A MONTH AGO. By is own admission. That's why I couldn't find the tag.
3) He didn't want an exchange because he bought another one somewhere else.
4) I told him if he still had the paperwork..it had a warranty and he could replace it.....he wasn't impressed by this.
5) He kept going on and on about how he was a good customer and he thought I would work with him.

Pah..leeese.

grrrrrrrrrr.

I know I should let these things roll off my back....but I just can't seem to. I think what makes me so mad is that these people (the second guy) are trying to take advantage of me.
I try to serve my customers...the stuff I have, you have to drive at least 50 miles to get. If someone wants something...I try and get it. I keep my prices low. etc etc etc. But of course people just look out for themselves and don't give a crap about me. Very frustrating.

House

2010-08-03T18:37:00.002-05:00

The sellers of the house that I'm interested in made a counter offer for the price and I accepted.
They want to close September 10th. That's fine by me.

Talked with the banker today and need to fill out the credit application. I need to do a couple of other money things but those should be done in a few days.

So far so good.

Now I just need to make a bunch of money so I can get this sucker paid off quick. I have a feeling this might be the hard part. :)

Update...

2010-08-02T18:44:00.002-05:00

The lawn mower is fixed....I've straightened out all the wonky lengths of grass.

One of the baby cats died. The tiger one.

I was planning on doing a whole series of posts about the trials and tribs of house buying.
So today I went out and looked at 3 and decided on one that I wanted. It was a no-brainer.
I will say that I had done some previous research online and the one I picked was the top one on my list. It met all of my expectations. It also has a large, mature, nice apple tree in the back. If I close on Sept 1st or so....they should be ready to pick. Bonus.
I've put in an offer so there should be news about that soon.
Tomorrow morning I'll talk to my banker. That, too, should be a no-brainer.

Things are just rolling right along....and I feel very good about it.

There will probably be better blog fodder when I rent it out.

Babies

2010-07-25T19:10:00.002-05:00

I've gotten 3 baby cats. Wiley is the mom. One is all black (awesome). One is dark tiger striped (cool). One is white with a striped tail and dark gray spots here and there. They were born yesterday.

I tried to take pictures and it didn't really work out. Maybe later.

I really like baby cats.

I had a mass exodus awhile ago....so I'm down on my number of cats. I've got a dog door...so everybody just kind of comes and goes. I'm not sure how many cats have me. Some were born here but just come inside to eat. I don't know if those count as mine. Like Blue...he hates me. I love to harass him. If I see him come in, I'll say "HI BLUE" and he runs back outside. hee hee He's weird.

I use to have 3 black cats. Now I'm down to 1. All three were my buddies. Blackie was long haired...I was real surprised that he left. I think he and Max were squaring off as Toms. Max is still here. Spawn my favorite kit left at the same time Blackie did. They were buddies. I miss them both.

I don't know where they go. I don't think my neighbors are doing anything to them. My property backs up to a field and farm. That is usually the direction that everyone heads. Hopefully they are living there.

I know the mommas take their babies up there in the field to hunt. I've seen them all trekking together going out and coming back.

The moms are good hunters and they teach their babies well. A couple of times the moms have brought in mice, live, for the babies.

mow mow mow your boat.....wait .....what?

2010-07-25T19:04:00.002-05:00

So like I said last time...it's been crazy hot and I needed to mow the grass. I got half of my front yard mowed and my mower got hot and I got hot so I took a break.

I went back and the mower wouldn't start. To make a long story shorter...I still haven't gotten the stupid thing started. It's been several days. So the outside edges of my lawn are short and middle is long. Cute huh?

So I had an electric mower laying around in stuff for my shop....so I went and got that. I was able to mow some of the taller grass before the blades stopped turning on that.

Now I have medium length grass around the outside edges of my yard...then I have short grass in a ring around tall grass in the middle. Cuter huh?

I figure if it bothers the neighbors too much....they can jolly well come over and take care of it themselves.

Tommorrow I'll call the lawnmower fix-it man.

2010-07-22T19:43:00.003-05:00

Not much happening. It's crazy hot and I need to mow my yard.

I've been having problems with the amount of stupidity lately.
I know.....what else is new.

It seems like everywhere I turn....there is stupid. It makes me want to live in a hole in the back yard.

In other (equally exciting)*sarcasm* news...
Have you had that flavored mayo...Kraft I believe. Garlic.....YUM.

Also I've just had the smoothies at Mcy D's.....YUM. I didn't think I'd like them...I'm not a big fan of milk (unless it's in the form of cheese) and I thought the smoothies were mixed with milk.....but as I learned they are fruity and not milky.....YUM. (did I mention that?)

Isn't my life exciting?

Don't answer that.....

New neighbor

2010-07-15T20:53:00.002-05:00

The building that my shop is in has 3 suites. I'm in the center. The losers at the free store are in 3 and there was a church (small) in 1. So a few months ago the church left.

Yesterday I met my new neighbor.

He is the son of a regular and favorite customer of mine. This gals' daughter and son-in-law live in a house directly behind the shop. Most of the people in the family like dragons....and I have dragons. But anyway.....this fellow has a tattoo shop and has rented the place next door.

He had a shop at another location (that was really bad....the location not the shop) and I had his fliers in my shop to try to let people know about him.

So basically....I'm happy.

I think his customers will like the items in my shop. Perhaps this will help business a bit.

And I think it will also help his business.

I think he's going to do some work before he opens. I know he has to install some extra sinks.
But maybe by Aug 1st he'll be open.

yip.

books and death

2010-07-15T20:22:00.002-05:00

I mentioned that I was thinking of buying a house. Indeed. So I've started to get a little.....ummm....freaky?..obsessed? about money.

As the regulars know I sell books on Amazon. Well..I've been slacking for a good year or so. I have been very thin on listing books. My sales have dropped by half at least. I haven't really cared because the sales at the shop have increased and I can generally eat and things. But my main goal right now is to pay as little interest as possible on the future house. So I need to come up with some more money. So for the last week I've been listing books....

I've also been bucking boxes. (that's kind of like bucking bales of hay....like grabbing a box of books and heaving it to the top of a big stack). So now I do believe I will die....or at least my back is going to fall off.

I think tomorrow I'm going to take a break.

The boxes that I'm bucking are things that won't list. I've got the "trash" in a very large stack. Sometimes I take that "trash" and have a book sale.

There are several reasons that a book won't list. Most of the time the book is too popular. There are a bunch of like copies listed and the price is often times .01 The weight of the book is also a factor. I had a book today that weighed 3+ pounds and the low selling price was $2.00. With Amazon's fees and the cost of shipping, I would loose money for selling it at that price. So into the "trash" pile.

Selling books is very interesting.

I have more than 13,000 books listed.

I have at least that many that need to be listed. I don't usually have a problem with inventory. It seems as though books just happen.

I have many different types of books. I've been working on some I got from a "friend" of mine. They are mostly old and kind of crappy. In 1970 books started having ISBNs. Most of these books are older than that. That means I have to type in the author and title and find the publication date in the list that Amazon has. That means it takes longer to list a book. These books have also been stored for a long time and they are dusty. Ahhhhhh Chooooo

Also older books like these usually take longer to sell once they are listed. They do sell...but pretty slow.

What I list usually depends on what is on top or what I'm tripping over. These have been hanging around for a while and it's time to go through them.

I have another stack that is sort of in the same category. I got those from a guy that got them from a small local library. They to are old (no ISBN) and dusty and musty.

Sometimes, though, you run into books that are rare and worth quite a bit. You never know.

Of course that's part of the fun.

Another unpopular opinion

2010-07-11T09:08:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago this gal comes into the shop and says there is a family in town who has a young daughter that has cancer and she is going around taking donations for the family.

I respectfully declined.

So now I have more information. The girl is 18 months old. Her family is military at the nearby base. Her mother quit her job....or maybe took leave...she's a nurse. Her father was given leave. She has a type of leukemia that is not responding to chemo. They have given her 6 months to live. She will not receive any other treatment.

Sad....indeed.

But.....

Now, why do they need "donation" money?
Military=good insurance. They have even talked about how good their insurance is. There is no ongoing treatment.
If she lives 6 months...her parents don't need to be off work for an extended period of time. The dad might even still be receiving pay.
I suppose there will be funeral charges.

But wait.....there was a big write up in the local paper. The little girl (remember 18 months old) wants to go on a boat. She also wants to ride a school bus. (hmm?). The Dream Factory that provides "wishes" for sick kids doesn't deal with kids so young.
So what's going to happen.....A Bahama cruise (check--boat) and a trip to Disney World. The VFW is paying. Somebody local put her on a school bus last Tuesday (check bus).

18 months????? Really?????

I'm sure her 7 year old sister is stoked.

My reaction.....Good God!
So people's "donation" money will pay for sunscreen and funny hats. A very worthwhile cause (sarcasm) A great way to spend your money. arrrrrgggggg.

I don't understand that when anybody is sick or is going to die, everybody gets all freaky. It happens all the time.
I'm not saying that family and close friends aren't upset or shouldn't be.
Remember..I was a funeral director...I get grief...I do....I'm all for it...it's necessary...

But...when you have somebody like Michael Jackson die...everybody gets all freaky. We don't know him. We have no personal connection to him. We can listen to his music just like we did before. Our lives don't change. But people act as though they are grieving? They leave teddy bears at gates?
It's a very curious social phenomenon.

I still have issues with the events of 9-11. Why don't we care about the guy that was killed in a car accident in Iowa on that same day? Why didn't people give millions of dollars to that widow? Why didn't his kids get teddy bears?

well....I won't get started on that.....maybe another time.

What was old is new again...

2010-07-09T19:50:00.002-05:00

I'm back in the K2 business again. The Gov. of my fair state has signed the bill to make it illegal but now there is a date. I've got until August 28th to make my fortune. I've also got a different distributor...so that is a good thing.

I've got a wedding to go to this Sunday. We are to bring a covered dish. I can deal with that.

Also.....drum roll......
I think I am ready to buy a house. I'm in the very first looking stage at this point. The plan is for this to be a rental house. It's hard to know if I should spend a little more money and get more house which in turn is more monthly rent.....or should I spend a little less and pay it off sooner and get less monthly rent.
I guess I'm leaning for more house. I think I can get it paid off in about 3 years or so. That is also the plan.

I'm looking on Zillow.com and have found a bunch of keepers. I guess the next step is to talk to an agent and see what she knows.
It is very different when you're looking for something that you are not going to live in.

Misc. stuff

2010-06-28T12:44:00.002-05:00

The air conditioner at the shop was fixed....yeah.

I've been cleaning the house this weekend. Boo.
I've scraped all sorts of scum...

I made some really yummy oatmeal/chocolate gooey, rich bar cookie things.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/fudge-revel-bars/

I'm also in the process of roasting a pork loin and some herby potatoes. YUM.

Over the past, whenever, I've purchased various types of necklaces/pendants to sell in my shop. I have never really had a good place or way to display these things. I have them hanging on hooks near the check-out. People steal these. And I get angry.
So I have ordered more necklaces to sell.
I was discussing with my mom various ways and places to put these darn things so people could handle them but not steal them. After much discussion she suggested an attitude adjustment on my part.
Many of this necklaces I have purchased on close-out. I am paying very little but I still keep the prices up.
Perhaps it doesn't matter if a few get stolen....because I'm still making a respectable profit.

An attitude adjustment would certainly be a lot easier than building something.

The garden is coming along. I've got a bunch of green tomatoes on the vine. I'm still picking strawberries. I've picked a couple blueberries off the new plant. The year old plant is still coming along. I've picked 2 blackberries (the crop for this year). The watermelon vine is growing. The green beans are doing their thing.

I seem to have had a reduction of pussy cats. Two of my favorite black cats have gone away. I only have um....1 or 1 1/2 cats inside for any length of time. (that's 1 cat inside quite a bit and another cat in sometimes......not 1/2 a cat ).

I have a dog door so everybody just comes and goes as they please. I think it's weird that they choose to be outside where it's hot rather inside in the air conditioning.

Everything else is rollin' along.

what the....?

2010-06-24T08:54:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago we got new kinds of Mt Dew in our stores. I have just tried all three kinds and went to the web site to vote on my favorite.

It's all over. A winner has been chosen. I guess they didn't care what we Midwesterners thought.

White Out is the winner. I do like it and that is the one I probably would have voted for.

BUT....the Lime one Distortion. It is very different. There is not another lime pop out there, that I know of. Also, if you mix it with Code Red...you have a lovely Cherry-Limeade. So I guess I need to start buying truck loads of Lime before it goes away.
Then maybe when so much sells they will keep it around.

Crunch

2010-06-24T08:28:00.002-05:00

Friday afternoon I'm sitting in my shop. A guy comes in and says "I just hit your van".

Great.

Scene** Empty parking lot. Little pick-up truck....smashed back corner of van.

I didn't call the cops. He just had to be on something..... (although I didn't notice anything on him but stupid)

So I went yesterday to get an estimate for the insurance (yeah...at least he had insurance) $2400.00 and some change. I probably won't get it fixed it is just cosmetic and the van is 10 years old.

Tuesday I was in the shop and at some point realized the air conditioning went out. The heat index has been over 100F for the last several days. So the repair guy came yesterday. There's a leak in the coil...irrepairable. Also very old and crusty. He went to see if he could find the part. He could....YEAH. Only $900.00 HA. But that's better than the $4000.00 for a whole new unit, which was plan B.

I'm renting from a "business man". That means I count my fingers after I shake hands with him.
In the lease (yes I signed it) I am responsible for pretty much everything that breaks...including the air conditioner. I think this is a real slimy deal when I'm having to replace something so permanent. But in my town there are really about 2 guys that own everything. So they can get away with whatever they want. The other guy as a deal on some of his properties that he gets part of your profit. Crazy man.

In other news (this really deserves it's own post....maybe later).
I have been in contact with my brother. I haven't talked to him in 3 years. I feel very shaky about the whole thing. We used to be very close. Then he started being a jerk. I have a problem dealing with jerks....I guess I want my old brother back..but I'm pretty sure that won't happen. But I'm giving it a shot. We've got 4 emails between us...we'll see how it goes.

People

2010-06-16T16:19:00.003-05:00

This guy came into the store today...I get this type sometimes...he acts like he knows about everything. These people watch all the shows on TEEVEE like American Pickers, Cash in the Attic, Pawn Stars...and they think that they can go into a flea market and find the Van Goeh behind the velvet Elvis. The problem with these people is--they don't know anything about anything.

Now granted I don't know a lot about a lot....but I can generally tell if something is something. Then I can look it up.

But this guy was looking at green glass...you know..the kind that flower arrangements come in from flower shops....
He was saying things like "WOW, this is only $1" "just look at the pattern on this" "this has got to be worth more than that"

I mentioned Fenton to him and he had never heard of it. hmmm
He did throw out the name Roseville.
Yes...that's pottery, not glass...but that is a name to pay attention to.

Usually this type of person enjoys telling me how things are so underpriced. "Wow this thing is only marked $2.00.....you can sell this for $600 on ebay"

The interesting thing is, though, the person never buys it. I would think if this is such a good deal....they might take advantage of it.

It's amazing how many people need to feed their ego. I see it all the time. People trying to act as though they are something....or trying to impress me.

I play along....but I know the truth.

Theives

2010-06-15T13:55:00.003-05:00

Both Friday and today I caught two different losers stealing. They both used the same excuse when caught. "I accidentally put it in my pocket."

Liars and thieves.

Both of the items were pipes that are in a showcase. I have to get them out and show them. The problem is that there are several people and everybody is looking and thinking and taking a long time. They move it off to the side....time passes and they steal it...."put it in their pocket".

There are things that I could do....like only allow one pipe out at a time. However, the pipes are in two large trays and it is easier to just bring out the whole tray. Also, I think it increases the price of the sale. People look at a $13 one but if they handle a $25 one, they see it is much thicker and better so they are more likely to buy the better one.

I also don't quite know what to do when I catch someone. Logically, I should kick them out and not let them come back. Because they are capable of stealing and maybe next time I won't catch them and I will lose more stuff.

But...in both of these cases...they have been in before and have purchased things. So if they buy things..this offsets the money lost.
And the guy on Friday ended up buying what he was trying to steal.
And if I keep catching them...maybe they will think that they can't get away with it so they will stop trying?

Kicking them out, though, would be like a punishment...cause people like to come in here.

gah...I don't know. And it makes me wonder how much stuff I don't notice...

Nephews

2010-06-12T08:40:00.002-05:00

My nephews, R is 15 and D is almost 12, came for a visit. This was a working vacation for them. There are things around my parents house and my house that we just can't do easily so the boys took care of a lot of things. I got them Thursday morning. They cleaned out my gutters, cut limbs that were hanging on the roof, and got under my house in the crawl space and fixed a leaky pipe-so my water spigot can work again for the back yard.

I was going to hire a man to do that work...but I would rather give the money to the boys.

A couple of years ago R was doing a badge for boy scouts and I set him up with selling knives. He got a loan from my mom and we went to a wholesale house and he picked what he thought he could sell. Any left over things that didn't sell could come back to me. This way he would have almost no risk and he could learn how the whole retail process worked. He did pretty well but he sort of lost interest at some point.
So now, he's a little bit older and probably is a little more interested in the $$$$. I got him set up again. I think he's going to put pictures on Facebook and try to sell his wares. If he plays his cards right....he could really make some money. At least he's excited about it.....for now.

Last Saturday I got a whole trailer load of donations for the shop. I'm still working on pricing all of that. I haven't been ordering as much new stuff so I do have some time to work on "old" stuff. I live in a college town so the kids are gone now and business has dropped somewhat. Also, summer is generally slower. I've got garage sales as competition and people are out doing other things.

I need to get up the motivation to get more stuff in the shop. It's not that it's empty or anything....but it needs to be reworked. It's difficult for me to be motivated because stuff still sells, even if it's been there for years. Also the "old" stuff makes up a fairly small percentage of what I sell. So it's hard to spend a bunch of time on it.

If I was doing it like I should....I would take out a whole section and replace it with new (old) stuff.....um different stuff....whatever....

I really sort of irritate myself...I've got so much stuff I need to do...like the above mentioned stuff shuffle. I really really also need to list more books on Amazon. I've got thousands of books sitting around in my "barn" (storage building/office) and I've got a bunch even in my parents garage because I don't have room. I haven't really listed in a long time. Every now and then I'll list a box or two....but then other things come up or I just stop.....bad.....bad.

Well....maybe some day.

This is getting to be a long post.....
(just an observation)

I caught a loser trying to steal something from me on Thursday. I was really pretty impressed with myself. I could have missed it. He returned it with a lame excuse (lie) and an apology. He also bought the thing in a different color. He had tried to nab a green one and he bought a pink one.
He should have just said "yeah I'm buying this...I just put it in my pocket"....that would have been a lot smoother. Still....loser.

Okay...I'm done.....for now.

nom nom nom

2010-06-03T13:56:00.003-05:00

mmmmm crow.

One of my interests is true crime. I don't often talk about it here. But anyway...when Natalie (sp?) Holloway (sp?) went missing in Aruba, I really thought Joran Van Der Sloot did not kill her. I thought he knew about what happened but I did not think that he did the deed.

In light of the recent goings on in Peru...I believe I need to change my opinion. I'm not really going to deal with all of that "Innocent until proven guilty" thing. Unless he's got a good story....he's toast.

I heard a somebody say today on the TV that there will be no one there to save him this time. It does look...um....bad. Very bad.

I know you aren't suppose to blame the victim....BUT....I think these girls and I'll expand that to anybody...needs to watch themselves.
Like in Aruba. Here is this young girl, drinking and drugging and leaving from a bar, by herself, with these guys that she didn't know. Then she goes to this beach, ALONE.

I'm not saying that she deserved to die because of these very bad decisions. But there are consequences for your actions. Any number of bad things could have happened...and a very bad thing did happen.

I'm sure we will hear more about the gal in Peru. But they were seen in a casino together and also going into his room at the hotel. Of course I don't know if she knew him before or they just met?

I had a friend in college who would get drunk and end up going off with some guy. I tried to babysit as best I could but I wasn't always there. I just knew that she was going to get hurt. She didn't. whew.
She did end up with an abusive boyfriend or two. And she married a guy that I used to work with. (he was no prize either). I voiced an opinion or two and she stopped talking to me. I don't know what happened with her.

Anyway...all I'm saying is that there are dangerous situations that people put themselves into, and sometimes things happen. To lessen the chance of these things happening one must use a little common sense.

Hee

2010-06-03T13:18:00.002-05:00

It could be the start of a good work day.....

I was licked by a raccoon!

Awesome. ;-)

People annoy me...

2010-05-29T12:37:00.002-05:00

This woman and her daughter come into the store a while ago. They were interested in 2 dressers and a recliner. They asked if I could hold them for a few days because they had to measure something and the daughter wanted her husband to come and look at the chair to see if he liked it. I said I would. The husband did come in...I think the next day.

Then the daughter called me...I think the next day and said they would like one of the dressers and the chair. Her mother would try and come in and put them on layaway. So the next day the daughter called and said she stopped by in the morning but I wasn't open. (yeah...I open at 1pm on weekdays). They each had my card from the first day, so they should have known that. So she said she would come in the next day on her lunch break. OKAY.
Then she didn't.

So the next day...(are you keeping track?? I think this is 5 days now) the daughter calls again and says her mom works close to me and could she leave work right at 5pm and could I wait for her...cause I close at 5pm. I said I would.

At 5:20pm my phone rings...I'm pissed. This is the mom saying that she is just leaving work and she'll be here in 10 mins or so. Or she said if I didn't want to wait (??) she could come in the next day.

I've already waited....

Come in now.

So she did.

She paid $25.00 down on a $40 dresser and a $45 chair.
Signed the layaway form and we all moved on.
That was April 21st.

time passes.....people grow older....

I hold things on layaway for 30 days unless other arrangements have been made. The 21st of May comes....but the people don't. I waited until the 26th and took the "layaway" signs off the dresser and recliner. Because I'm a generous person. No people.

So today, 5-29-10, 8 full days past the agreement...the mom comes in.
She wants me to hold them longer because her daughter is moving. I told her the deal...she can put them back on layaway for me to hold them...start over. And she gets all kinds of pissy because she's going to loose her money.
I told her about 3 times...that is what layaway is.
So she's had layaway at different stores and she has never lost her money. I'm sorry...I am not those other stores. Then she goes into saying that she didn't understand that I would only hold it for 30 days. Even though Right below where she signed it says in Bold. "Will hold for 30 days".
But I should have explained it.

Whatever....it's all bullshit.

She screwed up....they took advantage and took advantage and was pissed when she didn't get me to roll over on that too.

So she ended up giving me another $20 to hold the recliner. "but she's never shopping here again".

You know...people threaten that...and I'm usually real glad. I don't want to deal with you again anyway. Not to mention she and her daughter had never been here before. I doubt my business will crumble because of her.

What people don't stop and think about is that when they put something on layaway, it sits here taking up space and it doesn't have the opportunity to go to anyone else. I don't charge for layaway...so it really is not a benefit for me to do this....but I do because sometimes people don't have the money all at once. It is a service for them to be able to make interest free payments for a month.

But if they break the contract by not coming back to get it...I get to keep their money.

Also people don't understand that when that dresser is sitting there...something else can't come in for sale. So not only do I lose the money on that sale...but I lose money on potential sales of things that I can't bring in because I don't have the space.

There are other situations too, regarding layaway that happen. I had one guy who really wanted his stuff to move. He needed money coming in...he didn't want to wait for 30 days for money off one thing. He did not participate in the layaway. Usually someone else would come in within that time and just buy it. I respected his technique...although I am more patient.
He would buy something for $10 and would rather sell it for $15 tomorrow than $30 next month. I'm not like that.

Anywho....in other news. The girl that brought the baby raccoon in last week, was back in this week with it. CUTE. He's getting bigger. Still little though.

Yesterday morning I got up and heard meowing. I investigated...someone threw away a perfectly good kitteh. I had taken the bag of trash out of the can the night before and didn't put in a new bag. The kitteh had fallen in and was too short to get out again...and too light to push the can over. heh heh

Kittehs is funny.

Auctions

2010-05-24T08:43:00.002-05:00

I went to two auctions yesterday. The first started at noon. The couple had sold their farm and next week they are moving to the city. I sat for a time under the gazebo with the man of the couple. There was nothing of particular interest for me there. I ended up with a duck platter and pitcher. After about 1/2 hour I left for the second sale that started at 2pm.
This was a lot more promising. Several of my sale buddies that were at the first also came to the second. This usually works out. Most of the time everybody is interested in different stuff and I am not wrapped up in getting anything in particular. And bidding against each other is not a big deal to most.

There are many games that some people like to play at auctions...I do not join. And in my experience the most obnoxious of the batch are the women. Snatchy, grabby, bitches who have to win no matter the cost and if for some reason they don't win they act like you have stolen it from them. OH..and a piece of advice....take the item to your car and lock it up or they will steal it from.. you.

But none of that yesterday.....

The day was warm and sunny (and I was slathered in sunblock) the wind was blowing just enough...it was really nice.

I ended up with quite a few things. I got a bakers rack...usually I can't come close to those. And I got a bird yard ornament that is made from old scrap. That is another thing that usually goes so high I don't come close. It's kind of cute though.
The van wasn't full but I got a respectable haul.
Tomorrow I'll start dragging it out, pricing and getting it in the shop.

I got several gas cans, a large HEAVY wooden box, a soaker hose, axe, posthole digger, shovel, bolt cutters, bakers rake, shorter metal rack that matches the bakers, end table, wooden wall shelf, box of roosters and dolphins, box of video games and vhs, old curry comb and stirrup, old rolling pin and other old stuff in an old toy wooden wagon, my scrap bird and a fountain, a couple jugs of oil and some carb cleaner.

All for $41.00

When I got home I felt like I'd been hit by a very large heavy truck.
I peeled off my sweaty clothes and took a cold shower...better but still exhausted.

Buying and standing and loading is hard work.

:)

I like my store sometimes

2010-05-22T18:26:00.003-05:00

A couple gals came in to look around. They are semi-regulars. One says, while reaching in her bag, "want to see a baby raccoon?".

I'm all over that...

It was maybe 4-6 weeks old. It purred as I scritched its head.

She and a friend were cleaning out a vacant apartment and found 2 babes and a mamma. The mom ran away and they had to get the kits out.

I doubt that she will be able to keep it for too long......they have mighty incisors.

The season of the K2 is over.

K2...the smoking stuff will be illegal here in Missouri as soon as the Gov. signs the bill.
I still have a little bit of some other stuff left...but I am out of the K2. I started selling it in the middle of January. It was a good ride. I sold tons of it and let's just say that I'm not as concerned about my retirement as I once was.

Tonight, I planted watermelon seeds.....finally. Perhaps I shall have xmas melons. It was weeks ago when I was going to plant them...but...really I just forgot about them. And then I had a leg issue, an infection, and I was kind of "off" for a few days. And then it rained, and rained, and rained.

I have not planted green beans yet either. Those can go in almost any time though...

I've been getting a few strawberries. I mean a few. Like I've had 4, I think. But I've still got some green ones coming along.
I have had strawberry issues though. I had many plants from last year that were mowed by a stupid-crazed lawnmowin man. I only had one survive that. I bought some more plants this year but it takes a year or so for them to really get going.

I put in a peach tree this year and it has 9 or 10 peaches on it.
I've got 2 blueberry bushes. One a year old and one I put in this year.
I've got a blackberry I put in this year. It is flowering and looks promising.
I should have gotten a raspberry or two....stupid....I will next year.

I had blackberries and raspberries but those, too got mowed last year.

I've got tomatoes growing.....mmmm BLT. That is really about the only reason I grow tomatoes.

I don't really enjoy gardening....but I really like the above mentioned fruit....and I never buy those things...they are too expensive. Oh...sometimes I will get some strawberries they aren't too much $$$$$...but store strawberries are not the same.

And store tomatoes.....aren't really tomatoes. ya'know?

Tomorrow it looks like I'm headin out to an auction. I've got three that look interesting. I'll have to decide.
I don't think I went to any sales last year. They all seemed kind of lame and they were all on Saturday...when I was at the shop.
I kind of like auctions. And even if I only end up with a few things...it brightens up the shop some.

Well....enough of this....
later gator

Shortcake

2010-05-09T19:01:00.002-05:00

I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to strawberry shortcake.
Shortcake is shortcake. It is not biscuits. It is not spongecake. It is not anglefood cake.

My story of shortcake is as follows.

First a bit of background. My grandparents had a produce farm in Ohio. One of the things that they grew was strawberries. I never met my grandparents...they both died before I was born.

My mom's mom made a shortcake every night for supper. Covered with squished up strawberries, everyone ate their piece. But there was always some left over. My mom got to eat the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. All the juice had soaked up into the cake and it was all gushy and gooey and yummy.

So every year around this time my mom starts making shortcakes. Yum. It is all a bit sacred.

This year I made my first shortcake.
In a way it's a bit sad....and even my mom said "ahh you don't need me anymore" **in jest**
But indeed the torch has been pasted.

It's quite easy. And yummy.

¼ C butter
2/3 C sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 ¼ C milk
1 ¾ C flour
3 t baking powder
½ t salt

375F 20-25 mins

one layer
9” round pan

cream butter and sugar.
Add egg.
Alternate milk and flour while mixing

Mix for several mins. until light.

As Heard...

2010-05-09T18:56:00.003-05:00

guy to other guy: Switchblades are legal if you're a cop.....or if you've got one arm.

Levels

2010-05-06T17:53:00.002-05:00

There are a number of levels of weird. I think I have experienced most of them.

Today at my shop this gal came in. She says that she bought a table and would like to return it. She says the legs weren't on it when she bought it and they don't fit right. She says the guy that works here helped her but didn't give her a receipt.

Problem #1: We don't take returns. NO returns, NO exchanges.

Problem #2: I don't have a guy working here. The last guy that worked for me quit over a year ago. And the guy that I think she is talking about quit..um..I think about 2 years ago.

Problem #3: I have no idea what she is talking about.

Oh.... she said it was awhile ago. Of course I told her all of these issues....
She said she would just talk to the guy that sold it to her.
I told her he didn't work here anymore.....that didn't seem to really matter to her.
She was going to come back and talk to him. (good luck)

She just wanted to return the table.

So....maybe it's just me....?

She buys a table....two years ago....at a flea market. It takes her that long to figure out that the legs aren't right?? And then she wants to return it.....to a place that doesn't take returns anyway. And doesn't have a receipt....like that matters.

This isn't the first from this level of weird.

I bought some stuff from this woman. It was all in this garage type building and I had to pack it all up. So I did. There was a lot of stuff. There were actually 4 of us wrapping glass and loading everything up. It took us 2 days. I paid her well for a bunch of crap....but that was my problem, really.
So time passes....children grow, old people die.....
and then I get a phone call.
The crazy drunk woman said that when I was packing stuff up...I stole her purse that had money in it.
Huh?....who is this?
OH....lady with the stuff.
Um....I was there 9 months ago.
And I didn't see any purse and I certainly didn't steal one...with or without money in it.

So she was going to call the local news..problem buster thing.
I told her to be my guest.
Maybe they can get her the help she needs.

Problem #1: old drunk lady
Problem #2: 9 months before
Problem #3: Not a good place to keep a purse in the first place. of course I don't think it was there anyway.
It would have been interesting to hear the train of thought that led her to me...

I'll just relay one more story....I really have several hard core weird.

This gal came in and said that we had and were selling her books that had been stolen from her apartment 7 years before. SHE HAD A POLICE REPORT. (congratulations).

Actually she came in several times with this story. And Irate and yelling.

Problem #1: were the books marked...like with her name or anything? NO.
Problem #2: like I'm going to just hand over books because she thinks they are hers
Problem #3: 7 years before.
Problem #4: Books.
Problem #5: They weren't her books.

She threaten to call the police....I offered her the phone. She didn't. I should have.

**this happened years ago....if it happened today, I probably would call**

There were other weird things with this girl....she finally went away.
The last time I saw her she said "well....I'll never come back here again"....and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Trouble

2010-04-27T11:38:00.003-05:00

Update

2010-03-06T18:24:00.002-06:00

A lot has happened in the last couple months.

In January, my store was broken into 3 times in 3 weeks. The first time was the biggest loss.

I'm one of those people selling the "evil" K2 smoking blend.

I lost about 12 packs of that and about 5-6 large water pipes(they might have gotten away clean with one....the others were broken. Broken glass inside and out in the parking lot) in the first break in.

The second time they took my cash box that had less than $15.00 in change.

The third time they took part of one hookah (no hoses) and one water pipe.

But they broke out the glass in my doors each time. That was expensive. The one side had safety glass. The detective said they hit it probably 30-40 times to break through it.

So then.....I've put bars on the windows and doors. There is no store anywhere near my town that has bars. Even the bars don't have bars....

*sigh*

In other news....I've got internet at my house.
LOVE IT.
I've been going back and forth with wanting it for a long time now and finally decided to go ahead and get it.

I'm already paying for it at my store and at my office where I do my books...I really don't NEED it but.....

This K2 thing is really something. The county next to mine has banned it. They had an emergency meeting and banned it in one day. I can't believe that there are 3 county commissioners that can ban something just like that. No vote, no public meeting...no nothin'. I wonder about the stores that were selling it....and their inventory. I have thousands of $$$ of inventory at any given time. If I had a day to get rid of it, I'd have a problem.
I don't think my county will follow suit.
There is legislation in Missouri though to ban it. The effective date is the end of August, if the bill passes.
I will sell it as long as I can.
It makes me happy... :) $$ :)

Those are the big things that are going on.

Monday is my 40th birthday. I've never been that big on birthdays. It is mostly just another day. But tomorrow I'm going to my parent's house and will eat food. mmmmm....food. And then Monday my friend Kay is coming and we are going to a place that we frequented when we were in collge. They've got these yummy drinks that they sell by the liter. We used to drink 2 or 3 liters. I don't think we will be doing that....maybe one. I can't believe it was 20 years ago that we did that.

20 years.

crazy man.

crazy.

But it should be fun anyway. I'm sure I'll be staggering after the second drink. We used to live a block away...so we would just stagger home. Now she's about 40 miles away and I live across town. We'll have to drink fast so we have time to sober up. That's always what we did anyway.....old times.

That's all for now.
Now with internet near me....I will probaly post more often.....for better or worse.

New Year

2010-01-09T09:41:00.002-06:00

Well, my holiday-type season went okay. But I'm glad it's over. It seems like between thanksgiving and umm about now, everybody is too busy to do anything and nothing is routine and things are just crazy.
Things around here are still a bit crazy because we've got snow on the ground and freezy temperatures. Tomorrow is suppose to be 20F. yeah....heat wave. The high is to be Zero F. today. brrrr.
The public schools have been out all week and the University is to start Wed.

I've gotten a new product in the shop. It is very popular and I'm having a hard time getting the right quantity in.
Dec 29th Tues I got 4 packs in. The 29th and 30th were very slow. By the 31st word was out I had this and I sold 2 packs. Then I was closed for the new year et. al. I came back on the 5th and sold the other 2 packs I had. Then that day I had 7 people in asking for some. Then on the 6th I had 7 more people asking for some. I got more in the 7th an hour before closing. I sold 6 packs in that hour. I got home and ordered more. Yesterday I sold 6 packs. I imagine I will run out again today. I've got more coming in on Monday. I'm ordering 20 at a time because it's a little expensive and I don't want to get caught with a bunch that won't sell. But I also don't want to not have any to sell.

Holy-Moly Man. crazy.

In other news before xmas I bought myself a Wii. It's fun. Then I bought myself the Wii Fit Plus.......ummm....yeah it's fun too. This is my 11th day. I've been on it EVERY day. weird. I'm not very good at keeping up with things like this....but this tricks you and sneaks exercise in. That's what you have to do with me...be sneaky.

Also...it seems.....that I am a slow learner. The losers that are next door to me at work came over to borrow my snow shovel. I said okay.
In the past they have borrowed things and I don't get them back. I've lost a screwdriver and a hammer.
So a guy brings back the shovel and says..."uhh one of the screws came out of the top" I said "well, I guess you didn't find it"
NO OF COURSE NOT.
And I'm such a stupid wimp that I don't even say anything. I hate it when I wimp....and I do it allllll the timmmme. gah.
Then I spend the rest of the day thinking about what I should have said. grrr

Okay....in a fit of backbone....I just went over there. The lead bitch says I can go ahead and just take theirs because she's going to get a new one anyway. I took it. Mine was metal and this one is plastic. But now I have to wonder why they borrowed mine in the first place. They had one.
Stupid Ass people. Maybe I can find a bolt around here that will fit mine.

It looks like today is going to be a long day.

Tis' the season

2009-11-17T10:00:00.002-06:00

It's coming up on Xmas and this time of year makes me feel........prickly and angry.

A church in my community, every year, asks for donations from people to buy the poor and needy a nice holiday dinner. I haven't seen the ad this year but I think for a family of 4 the suggested donation is about $60.
HOLY MOLY what are these people going to eat????
I'm sorry but a traditional Thanksgiving meal does not have to cost that much. Turkey is one of the cheapest meats you can eat. A good size turkey can feed that family of 4 for quite some time. Potatoes are cheap. Gravy (make it) is pennies. Green beans... .50 at Aldi's.

Point two on this meal thing...... I do not necessarily think that everyone deserves everything. If you do not make enough money or handle it poorly and can't afford to have a big huge meal....so be it. Big deal if you can't have pie.
I will also say that if this is some big deal to you and your family...you could perhaps plan and *shock* save some extra money so you can afford it. It comes around every year....it does....really.

If you took $5.00 from every monthly pay check and saved it. You'd have $60.00

I feel the same way about the Angel Tree that they have every year. These are kids in foster homes. If the foster family can't afford to give the kid a xmas present...what are they doing taking on another kid in their family? And they get extra money to foster don't they?

It just drives me nuts that people are so quick to be needy. What happened to pride? What happened to work ethic? What happened to shame?
People need more of all three.

I'm sure there is a small group of people that are truely needy. But I would venture to say that the large majority are in a needy situation because it is easier, people do indeed give them things, the government gives them things, they get along better (in their mind) than the other people that have to go to work all the time.

For me, I want extra money in the bank. I want the security. I don't want to have to worry about if I can pay my electric bill. I don't want to go into a store and see something I want and can't get it because I don't have the money. If I want pork chops, I want to be able to buy them.
I don't want this worry in my life.

I hear so many people come into the store and want this or want that and say "oh...I'll be back when I get paid". I hear it every single day...."I get paid on Friday....I'll see you then"

Beggars and Choosers

2009-11-17T09:16:00.002-06:00

A gal comes into the store Saturday and says her good friend in Tennessee had a fire and lost everything. She is looking for some things to take to her in a few weeks. She was asking about some dishes and wanted to know if they were indeed $1 a piece. I went back and looked at them. Each item was plainly marked. These were fairly nice dishes and some of the pieces, like the saucers, were $1 but the plates and bowls were more. So she laid on the sob story and wanted me to come down on them. So I point out some other plates and things that were near that were .50 each. She didn't think her friend would like those. She liked the others because they were a solid color.

Come on people!!!

This is another phenomenon that I see fairly often. If you are so terribly desperate and you want me to take pity on you and give you special deals.....you shouldn't be so picky.

I think if I had "lost everything"....I would take what people gave me and be grateful. But apparently I am weird.

Just a vent

2009-11-11T15:33:00.003-06:00

I've got this wholesaler that I order from....And they drive me crazy. I swear every single time I order from them, and that's like once every week or week 1/2, they screw up my order.

It use to be that 2/3 of the stuff would be back ordered. So I would order a ton more than I needed to take up the slack.
Now, it's not quite that bad but they will substitute things for things. You order a 5821 and you get a 942.
My last invoice I ordered 12 different things.
1 was back ordered
1 was wrong (the description on the invoice said 4" and I got 3")
5 were replaced with something else
1 was a replacement for a broken thing on my last order and it is completely different
4 were what I ordered
and on this invoice I was credited for items on my last invoice that they overcharged me for.

I also figured out that one of the things that I was overcharged for....I have two more that I have gotten at other times that I was overcharged for too...but I didn't notice. I should be selling them for $32.00 and they are marked $52.00 because of the overcharge. Today I marked them down to $32.00...what they should be.

And because of all the replacements and what not...it's very difficult to figure out the invoice and what my order should be.

I basically have to order a model number and hope that I get something similar.
The replacement of the broken item is completely screwed up. The broken thing was a single blown pipe that would sell for $13.00. What I got was a kind-of unusual bubbler that I marked $29.00.
This was certainly to my advantage.....this time.

So some might say "with such bad service and general screwed-up-id-ness....why dear Hound Doggy do you still order from them???"
And I would reply "because they got cool shit" "and the coolness of said shit is worth the general hassle"

I wonder if they will be in business for long. I'm pretty laid back about things. I'm sure they have many customers that aren't so laid back.
But if they overcharge for so many things like they do...maybe it all works out.

awwww my poor goat

2009-11-11T14:30:00.002-06:00

Another thing that gets my goat.

This guy comes into the store and is looking at pipes and such. And he says "wow..your prices have sure gone up" I say " no.. not really" He says "oh yeah they have...since a couple months ago"

Okay...I'm the only one that gets this stuff in and prices it. Prices have NOT gone up. Everything has been the same for the last year.

Of course I won't argue with people about it...but it's just weird.

I don't know why people have to even talk about things....I don't if I go into a store.
I used to go to a store where there were things like overstocks and such. I use to be able to get things very cheap. So cheap in fact that I would buy things there and resell them at my store. So I go in at one point and things were not like they used to be. There were no super steals. I couldn't buy and resell. But that's okay. I don't go there anymore. No big deal.

And what makes the guy of today dumb is that first off he doesn't know what he's talking about and also, I have people every day telling me how cheap my stuff is compared to other places. And of course I (mostly) know that this is true. The other thing with the pipes is that I'm the only game in town. You have to drive like 50 miles to get to the next place that sells stuff.

I have a very unique store. I can't think of another store like mine anywhere. If you want the stuff I have, buy it....if you don't...don't. Whatever. Someone else will.

It's interesting....and often times annoying...what people think and the assumptions that are made.

In one since they think that I'm walmart. That I will have whatever I have forever. But at the same time....they think that I only have one of whatever. For instance....I have these machetes. They are good sellers (for whatever reason). They go for $6.00 I have sold a gazillion of them. But I get people that say...Oh..that machete is still here. That is just an example...it happens all the time.
I've had people come in and say "a while ago my buddy bought this knife...Do you have any others?" And it turns out it was 2 years ago the buddy came in.

Or 5 years ago I got a picture frame here and there was another one that I didn't get...do you still have it?
**you think I exaggerate....this actually happened**

I don't expect people to know all the inner workings of my store. But again..I don't know why people have to talk.
I mean...would you go to a store, a flea market, after 5 years and expect to find a particular picture frame??

who do I hate more?

2009-10-21T10:15:00.003-05:00

I've been having some problems with my bank.
There is this one bitch there that has been telling me my money smells.

It happened first a few months ago. She turns up her pointy little witch nose and says "this money has an odor".
I shrug and tell her that I didn't notice a smell.
It happened again about a week after that.
The next day one of the vice-pres. (also my landlord for one of my buildings) shows up at my store. We chit-chat and he gives me a new money bag.

She tells me that I need to launder my money. **I thought that was illegal**
Anyway...she has rejected my deposit once.

Now every time I go in she "sniffs" my money. She isn't even the one helping me sometimes but will come over and sniff my money. PISSES ME OFF.

So I had a deposit that needed to go in on Monday or the check for my new furnace wouldn't clear. And I washed my money. With strawberry soap. I take it in. She sniffs it and says "we can't accept this".
I say "WHY NOT".
It has an odor.
I washed it.
what did you use?
Soap and water.
Well....I'd use a deodorizing soap.....or Lysol.....

So I drove to another branch and deposited my goddamned stinky cash....with no problem.

Because I am so pissed at my bank, I decided to go to another bank and get some change for my store. A while ago the tax rate changed to about 6% so on a $1 sale it is $1.06 instead of $1.05 like it has been.
This causes me to go through pennies like crazy. So instead of getting a roll or two of pennies at a time all the time.... I thought I'd stock up.
So I handed the gal a $20 and I wanted a roll of nickles, a roll of dimes and the rest in pennies.
You would have though I'd asked her to climb mt Olympia in her bare feet.
$13.00 in pennies.
Yes, Please.
It took two women a key and paperwork to bring out two little trays of pennies.
Then she asked if I had a bag.
No...sorry.
(sigh)...I'll go get one.
so she bagged up all the rolls and passed then through the drawer thingy.
Then she says "do you have an account with us?"
No, I don't.
OH...well we usually don't give change to people without an account with us......I will this time....but in the future....

OH...good god.

I'm hollowing out a space in my mattress....I think that will be the best solution.

While I'm growlly....I'll growl about something else.

Background...in a nutshell.
I've got this friend...we've been best friends since we were 5. Last year she had a baby and she was showing sides of herself that were nasty and stupid. She was very snatchy and grabby about presents and things she was getting. She was mad because people weren't getting things off the registry.

She was mad because someone got her a large basket full of soap and lotions and whatnot...and they were Johnson/Johnson brand and not some expensive kind that she wanted to use. She had organic socks and wash cloths on her registry. You can be certain that I will not spend $10.00 for 3 baby wash cloths.

Oh...and let me mention that she would not and did not buy these for herself....she doesn't have that much money....actually they have very bad money problems and will be going through a bankruptcy.

I got the baby a silver coin proof set. I don't even think she, my friend, knew what it was. In the thank you note I got months later she says that she guesses she'll save those for the baby and not spend them herself. NICE.

She was also mad around that time because a friend of her's (an acquaintance of mine) was dying from cancer and a group of friends was arranging fund raisers for her husband and year old baby.
"Why does she need the money, they've got enough money"
I guess she wanted fund raisers for her because her husband is an idiot with money.

So I started to get mad in May when I emailed her and told her that I had really hurt myself. 3 weeks later she managed a phone call to see what had happened. Since then she has called I think twice and sent a couple emails.....very few and far between.

And why did I not call her.....because her dear husband left a message on my phone saying not to call. That's why. She said that she didn't tell him to call...but it doesn't matter...I stopped calling and and told her it was up to her.

So anyway.....the other day I get an invitation to her daughter's first year birthday party. Size 18T and any toys or books.

Yeah....I think I'll pass.

More of the same....I'll invite a bunch of people and see how much loot I can get. I'm surprised she's not registering for this.

I got the invite as a mass email. I'm not impressed.

Do people even throw parties for their one year old?

I've just heard of family things...grandparents and such.

I'll see if she even responds to my non-response.

Such a waste...we've been friends for 35 years.

I blame it first on her husband....and then on her for not standing up for herself.

oh well......enough growl for now.
;)

Yet another example

2009-10-17T09:51:00.002-05:00

This guy comes into my store this morning and says "Oh....you're open today?"

I'm open 5 days a week and I have always been open on Saturday...for the 6+ years I've been in business.

So he does actually buy something and says "well...that will at least give you a sale today"

WTF

It's 9:30 in the morning.

I really don't know what people think....I really don't.
And why do they need to be so assholeish.

This other gal came in and wanted to know if I would take less on a toddler bed. It's marked $40. She just needed the frame and not the mattress. Then another woman came up and she needs a mattress but not the frame. Then the first woman says that she doesn't have $20.
Just for the record....I get angry when someone wants me to discount something by half.
She said that she was in the woman's shelter.
Also for the record....sob stories don't work on me anymore.

It would be one thing if I got these stupid comments all the time...but mostly people talk about how cool my store is.
Yesterday some folks came in with someone new. She has just moved here and they said they were showing her the coolest store around.

So, yeah, those comments are good....it's just that the stupid things stand out more. I just don't know what would possess anyone to say things that they know nothing about.

There was a girl that came in a few weeks ago and she asked if I was selling any pipes.
Indeed I am.
Apparently this is all because of her. She's told a couple people about my store.
I think there is a flaw in her theory however. I've been selling them without her for over a year now. *sigh*

All of this is just an ego thing...I know.
I really don't want people to know what kind of business I do here.
People are happier when you can pay your bills but you aren't really making any money. It's better if people think that I'm just getting by.

People interest me

2009-10-16T16:17:00.002-05:00

I think it's odd...

I've gotten a new type of smoking apparatus in my store to sell. It is a double peculator with an ice catcher, glass on glass with a diffuser. Fancy.... I guess.

You see I don't smoke...so there is a bit of a learning curve when I get new things. Another thing about me is I am very conservative in my purchases and this baby is the most expensive thing that I have gotten.

So....I think it is odd when a customer says to me..."are you getting any more of those?"
So I say "probably....when I sell this one."
He says "oh good, I'll buy it when you get the other one"

Huh? You can buy this one? no? huh?
Maybe he doesn't have any money now and he thinks he will in the future. I dunno.

There has been a lot of interest in this....but nobody has snapped it up yet. I've had it in for a little less than a week and I've probably shown it to....like....everybody.

In other news.....

Theoretically I have a new furnace and it works. I haven't been home to actually test it out...but the guy said he was done and I paid him a bunch of money.

I've been frosty for a week now. I'm VERY happy that I will have heat again.
Yeah...and Sunday...it's suppose to be 69F grrrrrrrrrrr

Monday is the citywide trash pick up....It is my intention on Sunday to take out the carpet in at least the family room...and maybe the dining room and haul it to the curb.
I have almost all the stuff taken out of the entertainment center and I have the new TV stand in the van.....so the ET center is history.

Yesterday I went couch shopping. I think what I will get is a reclining love seat. Then my couch will also be history.

All of this is making me a nervous wreck. The timing has to be perfect. ET center out.....carpet under that out...new tv stand in....more carpet out....old couch out...more carpet out....new love seat in.....
I have new carpet to put in too....but that is just too much for now.....maybe some day.

Also in this mix...is the state of my van. It has been full of stuff. Some stuff had to come to the store. Other stuff went to storage. Some stuff has to go to my house for the clean up. The TV stand is in there now....it has to go in the house. Then soon it has to be empty so I can pick up the love seat.
It's all like a giant game of Twister.

I need a cupcake. mmmmmm cupcake

Hoarding and my stuff

2009-10-13T10:32:00.002-05:00

I seem to have hoarding issues. I like to watch the new hoarding shows on A&E because I'm not nearly that bad.

My problems really started with the ending of the funeral home because I had to move everything out of there and put it someplace. The someplace ended up being my house. So for many years now I have had all this extra stuff. For the first few years I thought I would go back into funeral service so I wanted to keep everything. Also I had a pretty strong attachment to everything. I also knew very well what it had all cost....and it was expensive.

So the years have drug on and I think I am to the point that I can get rid of a lot of things.

To compound the problem, there was one year that I was buying a bunch of baby stuff for the store at garage sales but I didn't have room there....so I stored it in my garage. In the process stuff has gotten dirty, cats have slept in some of the boxes and it's just generally a mess.

Next week is the city wide clean-up in my town. You can drag junk out to the curb and it will be picked up.
I'm going to try to be very heavy handed and get rid of a lot of stuff.

Last night on a hoarding show the organizer said something that might work for me. She said you need a goal and if a particular thing doesn't go toward that goal....get rid of it.

My goal for my garage is to have enough space so I can use it well for storage. I want things stored in totes or gone.

Of course the garage is only one of my problems. I've got two bedrooms that have the same problem. I just have way too much stuff for the room I have. But one thing at a time.

I had to dig through the garage yesterday. The man came and said that my furnace is dead. It is old. It had lived in the crawlspace under my house.
The new one will be smaller and it will live in my garage.

I say garage.....but the folks that had the house before I did, converted the garage to a room. At the back of this room there is a wall and a small storage area. It is in that area that the new furnace shall live.
This will be wondermus because I won't have to crawl under my house to light the blasted thing.

I just talked to the heat guy and he will go out today and work up an estimate. I hope all of this can happen very quickly...I getting a little tired of being cold. It's been in the mid 30'S-mid 40's lately. It's not terrible...but it's not great.

Along with all of the other junk I want to get done....I also want to tear out the carpet in the family room and dining room and put that at the curb and I also want to tear down my entertainment center and throw that away too. I want to get rid of my couch and get a new one too.
Somehow I don't think all of this can happen before next Monday.

I need to go to the couch store and see what they have. Hopefully I can get something off the floor and not have to order it. If the timing is right the carpet will be out and the couch can come in.

Oh well, whatever will happen will happen.

Again

2009-10-09T16:04:00.004-05:00

I had another raccoon in my house the other night. He was behind the fridge. Long story short.....he's not there anymore. The beagle has a scratched nose and I'm sleepy....and I'm sure the coon is a little freaked out. I hope he tells all his friends.

So the news this morning was talking about things like Arctic Chill, and Cold and Brrrrrr and so forth....so I thought this might be a lovely time to see if my furnace will heat.
And of course it didn't.
*that would just be too easy*
So I called a handyman type guy and told him to crawl into the cold, dark and muddy crawl space under my house and relight that bad-boy.
And he said he would.......HA.....SUCKER.......for $20 bucks. hmmmm maybe the sucker is I.....

Anyway he came over right away and couldn't get it lit.

CRAP

So I called an actual furnace guy and he will come over on Monday afternoon. I hope he is able to pull my frozen lifeless corpse off my couch. We'll see.

It is my fear that my furnace has kicked upped its vents and died. I'm not sure how old it is....but it's pretty old I think.
Now if that happens all sorts of other fun can happen too. Because I don't want the new one under there. I want it either in my garage or in my laundry room. I want to be able to light it myself...easily. I am too old to be crawling under my house every year. It's just not what I enjoy doing. And right now.....sometimes my foot is still a little flaky (from my May injury) and I'm not certain that I could get out from the crawl space. You have to sit and put your arms up, rest your elbows and arms on the ground and push with your arms and feet to get out. And the pushing with that foot just might not work. I'd hate to be stuck half under my house for all of eternity.

If I'm not a frozen corpse by Monday...we'll see what happens.

2009-10-09T15:27:00.002-05:00

I just had an interesting experience.

A bit of background....
There's this guy that shops at my store. He is in his early 20s...a nice looking guy. He always spends a bunch of money and seems to have a bunch more. He's always flashing around $100s. I kind of like him for that....
He use to come in every couple weeks or so and then for a time I didn't see him for several months, but now he's back.

I only knew his first name and where he was from.
I saw a name in the police report in our local paper once and wondered if it was him. (probably). He talked about the cops not leaving him alone.

He bought a lot of smoking equipment from me. Once even in bulk at a reduced rate.

So...IMO....I believed he is a dealer. And I don't think it's cards. But again...this is just an opinion.

Okay.....so a while ago I was talking to another upstanding young citizen and he suggested that I get some bubble roses in the shop to sell. There had been a place or two selling these but now they don't. I didn't know anything about them but I found some and ordered them. My young "friend" assured me that I would sell a bunch of them.

So today, Mr. first guy comes in and buys a few things and then sees the roses. And pretty much goes ape-shit.
He wasn't going to be around any methheads.
Those guys "manufacture"!
They blow up houses!
They tie their kids to the bed!
etc etc etc

I'm like....okay.

He says he doesn't think he will shop here anymore.

I'm like ......okay.

He also tells me "his" drug is legal.
OH??
Well....he's from South Dakota....and it's legal there.
OH?? Really?? Of course he's not in SD and judging by his run-ins with the PO-PO....I don't think he has the proper attitude. Anyway......

So here's the thing....
I sell a glass pipe. It is not my concern what you do with it. If you choose to smoke something illegal out of it...that is up to you.

I sell a steak knife. It is not my concern what you do with it. If you choose to stab and kill your neighbor...that is up to you.

I sell a bubble rose. It is not my concern what you do with it. If you choose to smoke something illegal out of it....that is up to you.

My point is that I am not doing anything wrong by selling anything that is legal. If someone chooses to do something illegal with it....I can't help that.
I am not making that choice.

And who exactly is he.....mr morality? Is it better to deal drugs? Or is one better than another? (eww don't answer that one......I would most certainly say that meth is worse than pot] but you get my point.

And another thing.... he can certainly chose to not shop here anymore....that's fine. But I would never even consider taking out something for sale because someone found it offensive.

If these become a problem for me....I'll deal with that. But until that happens...they will be here for sale.

It's also a little interesting because I put these behind the counter away from the other things...because I knew that the "regular" pipe people wouldn't like them.
I've only had them in for 2 days and I've had a couple people try to figure out what they were....and they did.
As far as I'm concerned they are what they are. It is not up to me what people do with them.

Another interesting side note.....LA

(heh)

I ordered these from a noveltee company. I also ordered....Googleeyes, eyeball yo-yo balls, and playing cards.

I'd be interested to hear others comments about this.

What do YOU think?

I've Got A Problem....

2009-09-19T15:05:00.002-05:00

I know....yeah...what else is new...

There has been a news story the last couple of days from a neighboring town.
http://www.kmbc.com/news/20989743/detail.html

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1452971.html

My summary is this:
A 15 year old freshman with downs syndrome is on the football team. His doctor advised his parents that having him play football was not a good idea. But they and apparently the coach and school officials saw fit to have him on the team anyway.
So he's on the bench saying "I'm ready, I'm ready" and since the team was losing 46 to 0, the coach decided to put him in.

The coach goes to the other team's coach and explains the situation and asks if he can put this kid in to run the field and score a touchdown. He doesn't want any physical contact but wants the play to seem "real". Everyone agrees.

So Matt is put in and handed the ball and takes out running. The coach even runs beside him, telling him to keep going that the other team is gaining on him.

Matt scores the touchdown.

Everyone goes wild.
News coverage...pictures....video...sappy statements from everyone......yada yada yada.

Now comes my problem.

1)IT'S ALL A LIE!!!!!!!!!!!

2)How is he even allowed on the team. His doctor said he shouldn't play. All kids have to have a physical. How is it that he gets to play? How would the school accept that kind of liability? If he so much as stubbed his toe, his parents could have a lawsuit of biblical proportions...and win.
And what's up with his parents? The doctor says no but you...what?....think you know better? Do you think...well, he's already damaged...what worse can happen? Really?
This also sets a precedent. So maybe my kid has a heart problem and his doctor says he shouldn't play football. But you let Matt play. Why can't my son play?

3)Let's say that he LOVES football. LOVES. He sleeps with a football, wears a football helmet to the dinner table...it's all football all the time.
Okay...I get that. But there are many many many other ways that he could be involved but not actually be on the team. He could be the mascot, he could carry the clipboard for the coach, he could be the one that dumps the cooler of water on the guys when they win.....whatever...etc..etc..etc.
He could do a hundred different things that would be much much better.

4)okay...so he's on the team. I'm sure it is the coaches intention to not have him play....ever. Does Matt know that? NO he doesn't...because he keeps telling the coach that he's ready. So imagine this kid sitting there on the bench ALL THE TIME and seeing his friends get up and go play...and everybody gets to play, EXCEPT HIM.
Awful.

5)So here's a game where...um....it can't get much worse, so the coach decides to put him in. Refer to #1 above.

6)This is not a wonderful show of sportsmanship....it is a cheat. Forget all the rules of the game and put on a show that everyone knows is fake except the poor kid that is the center of it all.

7)How does (will) he feel when he finds out?
How would YOU feel?
I'll tell you how I'd feel.....hurt, embarrassed, cheated, fooled, and then angry.

8)Talk about exploitation. That's all this is.

9)If this coach's team is losing 64-0 perhaps he should focus on his coaching skills and leave the crap that he doesn't know about to someone who does.

10)Just because you have Down's doesn't mean you're stupid.

I just think that this whole thing is awful and what is almost more awful is the comments that are left by people on those links at the top. People just think this is wonderful and sit and cry because it's so beautiful.

I want to hear what happened when he learned it was all a set up.

gah.

2009-09-09T09:24:00.002-05:00

But....you see.....my life is not total crap.

I just got this email from a book buyer:

Hello...
The book arrived several days ago. Thanks for packaging well...it traveled safely. I have left positive feedback for you. Thanks again...NJ

I do get good feedback from people. Most people are happy. And sometimes I do screw up....and I take full responsibility for that. And I say I'm sorry and I give people their money back.

But it's the stupid people that stand out. That make my blood travel faster than it should.
And I do get angry....because I think I'm fair and when people try and say that I'm not...I get angry. And when I see so many people lie and steal and cheat....I don't trust that people are good and have the best intentions. I just don't.
The woman in the previous post....has found a "flaw" and wants the book cheaper. I looked at the site and there is one listed for .99 She could have chosen that one....but she didn't....she chose mine for $7.00 Because she probably wanted a Like New book instead of a Good one.
And she gripes through the email because it's easy....and she'll probably give me bad feedback on the site....because it's easy. A "screw you" to me....who has done nothing but list a book to sell.

*sigh*

screwed up mess...we all are.

Just venting....

2009-09-09T08:30:00.005-05:00

As some of you know....I sell books on Amazon. I got this email this morning. Things like this just hack me off.

"i received the book today in the condition you described. i have one problem -- there was a sticker on the back cover with the price of $.99!!! why did you charge me $7.00??!!

i am definitely NOT happy.......... "

OMG....a sticker on the back.....for LESS money.

The only little problem with me being a book predator is that SHE CHOSE THAT BOOK AT THAT PRICE. I didn't crawl into her computer and use my book/business savey to coerce her to buy the CRAZY EXPENSIVE book.
And just for the record....this was a Like New book that would cost probably $20 if you went to the bookstore and she got it for the bargain price of $7.00.

I hate people like this anyway...from prior experience....that think if you got it for $1 you should give it to them for $1.
This is how I make my living. This is how I put food in my babies (dogs) mouths.
You want to pay for me to be on the public dole, lady?......no?....than pay the freakin' $7.00 and shut your trap.

Rant concluded......

Edited:
Rant recluded (is that a word....it should be).......

I sent this:

That is not necessarily the price that I paid for the book. I have no idea
who or when that sticker was put on the book and I don't know why. I get
books for a large variety of sources. But regardless, you agreed to purchase
the book for $7. I usually list my books for the lowest price that is
listed on Amazon for the condition. I certainly don't feel that I mislead
you or did anything wrong.
Ultimately you chose that book at that price.

I received this:

regardless of whether or not you know who or when the sticker was put on the book, it WAS there. i doubt very much that, with that in mind, you paid much more than that for the book. and yes, i did buy it for the asking price, but under the circumstance, i feel there should be a little bit of fairness here. how would you feel if you were in my place? i think there should be a bit of a price adjustment.

I sent this:

I’m sorry that you are upset. But there will be no price adjustment. I listed a book for $7.00. You read the description and knew the asking price and chose to pay it. The book was listed properly. I have done nothing wrong here. You have received a book that lists for $14.95 for $7.00.

But I really wanted to add the following (but didn't):
1) I never said that I paid less for the book or more....I just said that I didn't pay that amount. Actually that came in a huge number of books that I paid $2600.00 for....so really I have no idea how much I paid for it.

2) You stupid bitch.....this is the way the whole of commerce works. Do you think that when you buy...um....anything...that that is the price the store person paid for it. How many people have to make money in the deal?

3) If I get a book for .50 and I go to list it on Amazon and it is $65.00.....do you think I (or anyone) would list it for $1.00 and double my money (woo hoo) or do you think that I might just succumb to peer pressure and list it for $65.00 too.

4) It's how I make a living......and by selling a $7.00 book (again woo hoo) I'm not necessarily getting rich here. and take out Amazon fees, rent on my building, electricity, mailers, tape, time, and general hassles.........I should have charged twice that.

5) grrrrrr grrrrrrr grrrrrrr grrrrrr grrr grrrrr grrrr grrrrr

Okay....I'm done.....moving on.

Rant again concluded.....

Edited: 9-10-09

I got, hopefully, a final email from this woman:

yada, yada, yada --- not good business sense at all-------will definitely cross you off my list.
do you see any other colors besides black and white?! i'll pass your name along to my family and friends -- as if you'd care!

What I would like to write back that I won't:

Actually, I think I have good business sense...I get a book for .99 and I sell it to someone for $7.00. That's not bad profit. I am very pleased that you will be crossing me off your list. Because I surely don't want to be dealing with you again. Actually, you are quite correct....I don't care if you pass my name to your friends and family....because if they are friends of yours I don't want to deal with them either.
Another reason that I do not care is that you have never bought anything from me in the past and I could be pretty certain that our paths would not cross again anyway. So you can just be mad that you chose a book that someone paid less for and then made a profit off of you.
Let me just suggest though that you might want to keep your head in the sand because this is how the world works, baby. I will venture a broad generalization and say that nearly everything you buy...you are paying more for it than the person selling it to you.
I also wanted to suggest that you could come to Missouri if you would like to get better deals on some books maybe you will be wanting to purchase. Let's see your zip is 07628....ahhhh New Jersey. I should have known.
OH...but that's right....you just jumped on the Internet at your own convenience and went tap tap tap and chose the book that you were wanting.....indeed that is much much easier...oh and cheaper than flying. And all you had to do was pay $7.00........

uuggg....okay...I'm done...again.

disclaimer: If I have offended anyone in NJ....I apologize. :)

Un-pc...racist or whatever......I don't care

2009-09-05T10:57:00.002-05:00

Looks like today is brat kid day.

Here comes the racist part.......(be warned)

A whole pack of Mexican came in. 3 adults and 8 kids. Like usual the adults had nothing to do when the kids were running wild. One little one hops on a horse with wheels and starts out to ride around the store. Parents nowhere to be seen.
Also of course the little one didn't speak any English apparently and I really fought the urge to yank his little hide off the thing. A man came to the rescue speaking in Spanish until the kid got off.
Another kid was out the door with a toy while I yelled no no no no. And somebody got it back from him and set it right inside the door.

I wish I could put up a sign that said "NO Mexicans". (see that's the racist part)

But you see...in my personal experience I have had more trouble with Mexicans than any other group. And about all of them that have come in I have had trouble with. Some have outright stolen. One woman "had a question" about something in the back while her counterparts stole some large speaker stands from the front.
There are two woman who like to switch tags or just remove tags. Once they switched a tag on two stereos. $10 and $35. Stealing. plain and simple.
Often they will come in like they did today. A couple adults and a million kids. And the kids run wild. It is a distraction...while I'm pulling the kid off the horse his mommy is stealing tools....or dvds...or whatever.

It's bad for several reasons. I practically ignore my other customers when they come in because I have to watch them. They tear up my store...leave things in the walkways...more everything from here to there. They very rarely buy anything. And I always wonder when they leave how much stuff they've stolen.

****I might as well do a disclaimer*****
I don't hate all Mexicans.
I realize that not all Mexicans are thieves and liars.
It is possible that even the Mexicans that come into my store are not all thieves and liars.

But as a store owner if you realize that a certain group of people are causing most of the problems, you are going to try and cut your losses.

2009-09-05T09:59:00.002-05:00

I know I gripe a lot about people that come into my store.

But you see....I am losing or have lost faith in humanity. People just don't understand the level of ARRRGGGGG that goes on.

Yet another case in point.

Today is the Saturday starting Labor Day weekend. The un-official end of summer....

The losers next door at the free store are gone. Store is closed...but people still come and ask me what's going on because they apparently cannot read the large pink sign on the door.

I had about 6 people in here with about 50 kids....and not just kids but raving, crazy, undisciplined, ill mannered, heathen, brat kids. (good god...I'd take goats anyday).
One boy was running with a small sword with his mother chasing him telling him to put it down. She said it about 20 times. And if I were his mother things would have gone differently. And he kept running. At some point he took it out of the sheath and ran the blade across his hand. And he says "it's not even sharp".

Oh how I wished it had been sharp.

She goes to her husband at one point and tells him to watch the boys because they were getting into the knives. He could care less apparently. Because he did nothing.

That was the highlight but everybody was getting into everything and the parents were yelling and everything was out of control. I need an airhorn in cases like this.

There was a woman that came in and saw a blanket that had just come in. She asked the price. It was $5.00. Another lady said "oh..that's a good price". The first lady says will you take $3.50 for it I just really don't have a lot of money. I tell her no that I need $5.00.
Later she buys a fold-up chair for $8.00.
$3.50 for a full sized comforter....grrrrr.

I get so sick of people lying and being stupid and well....being stupid.

I love it too when people make some grand statement that everyone should take as fact...and a lot of the time they do.
This guy says loudly....look they've got drug paraphenalia....when was the last time anybody saw a glass tobacco pipe.....that' why (another store) got shut down!!!!

First of all the other store got shut down because they were selling drugs out the back door.
Second of all none of this is his business.
Third of all he's an idiot.

I just get irritated because people smoke dope out of a pop can...or anything so I don't see that I'm contributing to the down fall of American society. It's the same thing with knives or anything else. I sell pencils too. And let me tell you death by pencil would be a nasty way to die.
I saw the result of a guy stabbing a woman to death with a screwdriver...should we make those illegal too.
(Sorry mini-rant) I'm just sayin....

I've got to go now...I've got a crop of others....at least no kids.

2009-08-29T12:15:00.002-05:00

There is a stupid weather girl-person on a local channel I watch. She is always saying something that makes me look up and go "Huh?".

This morning she said (twice) Today's weather isn't like late August but more like early September.

Huh?

How much can weather trends change in, like, 3 days?

2009-08-14T16:45:00.003-05:00

I wonder about people.

So a guy and girl come into the store and he says he just bought this pipe and he wonders if he can exchange it.

He did just buy it yesterday.

I said.....umm...well....alright.
Provided it hasn't been used.......you didn't use it...right?

So he says no and unwraps it from my packing and hands it to me. So I take it to find the tag and price it was and I look at it.

It has certainly been used. Black specks all over the place.

So I say....it's been used...of course I can't take this back.

So he says...oh...okay and they leave.

How can someone expect to return a PIPE that they have smoked out of? There are so many problems with that....I just don't understand.

And I really really really don't like the lying...really. People lie to me so much...grrrrrr. And all for stupid.

Like this guy...who knows what he didn't like about it. But whatever..he made his decision to buy it...so take responsibility and deal with it. Sell it to somebody else or just deal. gah.

It's always something

2009-08-13T14:00:00.002-05:00

It IS always something with me. Usually not big somethings...but somethings none-the-less.

I came home the other day and my house was hot. I hate that. I replaced the filter and hosed off the main unit outside and crossed my fingers...but alas....it didn't work. So I just let it be hot for a couple of days. Then this morning I called the man. About 2 mins, a new capacitor, and $100 later my house was on the downward climb to cool.
Perhaps when I get home from work it will be frosty.

Several weeks ago another something happened. My gate going to my back yard broke. The board that the hinge is attached to split in half. So I propped it back up and the beagle only got out twice.... Anyway, this morning I fixed that too.
Really the whole gate needs to be redone. There are several (read...all) boards that are rotting/en and need to be replaced. I think I can do this by myself...but not when it's 115F.....perhaps in October.

I've got all sorts of little projects like that that need to be done. Most are little things that will probably end up being huge.

Right now I'm working on pulling up the carpet in the kitchen and laying down those sticky vinyl tiles. I guess I'm about 1/2 done. I only really have Sundays to work on it and I don't do large projects well. I hear a lot of people say things like "oh..yesterday I painted the living room and my bedroom...tomorrow I finish the rest on the house"

Are you kidding me? I started painting my bedroom....like years ago....and I still haven't finished. (although I will admit that is extreme)...I'm still not good at big projects....I guess I get bored in the middle and I don't really care anyway.
Whatever.

Maybe someday I will hire a man....and he can spend 3 months at my house, just doing things that need to be done.

In other news, I ordered some more new stuff for my store. I put some of it out today....I might work on the rest of it today...but more likely tomorrow.

You see....I live in a college town. And school starts on the 18th. So that means I will be getting a whole new crop of pipe buyers. YEAH. I've had some come in already. Since leases usually run from the 1st of the month...a lot of people moved in Aug. 1st.
I don't know how long it will take for people to really start coming but I don't think it will be very long.

Another thing in shop news is that I hooked up with a company to take credit/debit cards.
I have looked into this before but it has always been too expensive. This company is not. I'm not sure how much this will help the business...but it certainly will make the customers happy.
I've trained the regulars...and they bring cash. But others have to go get cash.
I have lost a few sales, I know but I don't thing that many.
I do think people will spend more money if they can put it on a card.
It will be more secure for me...rather than taking checks....although...1)people don't write many checks 2)I don't get too many bad ones. There have been 2 guys recently that didn't even really know how to write a check...each of them asked me along the way if they were doing it right.

Another thing I'm batting around is to have gift cards. I've thought about it the last 2 years (for xmas) and it was always too late to start. But I think there are several advantages and few disadvantages.

One advantage is that people have a tendency to lose them or not use them. So that equals free money from me.
Another advantage is that it does make it easier for people to shop for other people.

I suppose a disadvantage is that it's just something else I have to mess with....but it should be no big deal.
I think I will have them professionally printed, that will make it harder to duplicate them....but I have sneaky ways to know if they are authentic.

I guess I need to decide if I want to do that and then get working on it.

I have no idea what xmas will bring this year. The last two years it's been down....I just don't know.

????

2009-08-13T13:59:00.000-05:00

Are all dog's teeth canines?

2009-08-08T08:42:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was getting ready to leave work and I had just decided that Chinese food would be lovely for supper. I get in my van and my phone dings at me, telling me that I have a message.

So I listen to the message. It's from Jeff. He's in town and would like to get together. YIP!

Jeff is an old friend. We started dating in high school and then stopped for some reason.....I can't remember. But we always remained good friends. Then after college we lost touch. :(

As it turns out we both wanted to find each other but didn't/couldn't.

Then last summer it dawned on me to look on MySpace. And there he was....just sittin' there.

So I emailed and we talked and we emailed.

He lives several states away now. We've never really gotten into the groove of regular communication. I guess I don't want to intrude on his life and I don't know how busy he is or when is the best time to call or whatever. I guess I need to work on that.

Anyway. So I ended up going to a restaurant here in town to catch up with him. I met his wife and son and nephew and brother and re-met his mom. It was great but way way too short.

They have been running around seeing all the family and such and the schedule sounded ridiculous....they have left this morning to go back home.

I'd like about a week to talk to him and to get to know his wife. I'm sure I'll like her.

I left just feeling a little sad. He's great....and smart. I think that was something that struck me even back in high school...he's smart. I like that.
It's been years since we've seen each other...it was just great.

*sigh*

In other news, today is my brother's birthday. This is the brother though that is being a jerk right now. So...whatever.

In other news, today is my other brother's anniversary.

There was this girl in my store the other day. She and her friends were looking at pipes. She says "okay...I have a question for you. Do you smoke?"
She was all serious.
I told her I didn't....um because I don't.

But....why the BIG question? and why would I tell somebody that I don't know from nothing that I engaged in an illegal activity?
But I will also say that there are tons of people that come in here and say all sorts of things that I wouldn't say.
I don't know why people think I'm "safe"? They don't know anything about me.

maybe I'm just sleepy....

2009-08-04T15:41:00.002-05:00

Are people still talking about Michael Jackson???? Really???? OMG!!!! Just S.T.O.P. Please....just.....stop.

People want to get rid of Cookie Monster because it projects poor eating habits for the young uns'......Really????.....stop....just stop.
If you can't stop your 3 or 4 year old from snarfing cookies....there are worse problems you need to deal with.
Just because your kids want cookies 24 hrs a day..doesn't mean that you have to give them to them. Cookies can be consumed in moderation without any unwanted side effects.

Why are parents so stupid? Control your kids. Take responsibility. It's not everyone elses' fault your kids are screwed up....IT'S YOURS.

By the way....your son doesn't have ADHD or ADD or QPT or STP.....he's just a boy...boys climb things and fall off and go running around aimlessly screaming...it's a boy-thing....it's what they do.

Stop drugging your children.

I know it's easier to have them zoned out so you don't have to deal with them...but it's just not cool.
You decided to have them in the first place....now grow up and Take Responsibility.

I'm done.....I think I'll go to the corner and whimper.
Maybe tomorrow will be less growlly

2009-07-31T14:36:00.002-05:00

An older gentleman upon entering the store..."Do you allow browsing?"

ummm....yeah...

Are there stores out there that do not allow browsing?

There were also a herd of people. I think there were 14,000 kids. Maybe there were only 5...but it seemed like 14,000.

PARENTS....CONTROL YOUR KIDS!!!

I hate kids.

mini rant

2009-07-25T11:26:00.004-05:00

This is to go along with the last mini post....and beyond.

From the time that people are small they go to stores and buy things and even before that they are with people that buy things.
People spend a large part of their lives buying things.....yet they have no idea how the whole process works. I mean, like, NO idea.

Okay here's the deal.......
Someone starts a store...like me.
I have expenses. I have to pay rent. I have to pay electricity. I have to pay gas, water, trash, phone, internet.
When I started I had to buy shelves and showcases.
I have to buy tape and paper and pens and other supplies.

Every month I pay other people $$$$$$$$.

Now...the reason that I started a store was so that I could make money. I need money to pay all of the above mentioned things and I also need money to pay for things at my house and in my life. I would also like money to retire on someday. This generally is why people start stores and want to sell things.

**I know some people think that people have stores to just provide them with things that they want to buy.....but really.....people do it to make money**

Okay...moving on...so I have suppliers that I buy stuff from. Now I'm talking about new stuff here. These suppliers are called Wholesalers.....can you say it along with me W.H.O.L.E.S.A.L.E.R.S.
The deal with the WS is that you have to be a business ie have a sales tax # to buy from them. You also usually have to buy a large quantity of stuff at one time. This is why any yayhoo can't just get stuff cheap.

OH and I do get things cheap. Then I mark up the price. I use a standard mark up. That is..I mark up things the same percentage most of the time.

So when people say things like "why is this $8 and that is $10" I think it is stupid...I mean it's the price of something. It costs something to make it, and for it to travel by boat to the US, and everybody along the way has to make money....it's just the price. Like everything in the world has a price.....It's just what it is.

Another thing I think is stupid is if something is $10 and somebody says "will you take $5"......ummm yeah....NO. Why because that thing costs me money. Also I don't mark things up 8000% (usually). ;)
But people don't look at it that way. People think that I am taking their $10 so I have $10. They don't realize that at least $8 is going to other people.

I think also people will look at all the stuff in the store and think "man you're rich...you've got all this stuff".
First of all....I have stuff...stuff is not $$$. It is potential money but it is negative money if it gets stolen or broken or shelf worn.

I mentioned the necklaces that were stolen in another post. Let's say I spent $150 on necklaces. Those cost me $8. So I'm out $8 bucks...big deal right. Except I would have gotten $40 if I had sold them. I haven't sold any others yet, but I will have to sell many more to even break even instead of making a profit on the first one that sells.

And of course it's not just $8 on necklaces. I can't even count the number of things that have been stolen. Today I found a part of an airsoft gun was taken. So now it's not complete...but it still will work....so I lower the price on that. And of course there is the thousands of $$$$ that I lost because of the break-ins.

Another thing I just need to mention. I got several comments from people after the break-ins about how my insurance will just pay for it and I'm not out anything anyway.
NEWS FLASH....I don't have insurance. You can't get insurance on a flea market..which is what my store is classified as. So I am out. And not only am I out on the stuff that was stolen...but I also had to spend a bunch to replace it....because I have to sell more to make up for the money that I lost.
And if you think the new stuff is as cheap as the other stuff that was stolen....you need to think again.

Because...like I said...I am doing this to make money....not to just supply dragon figurines to all the kind folks in my town.

Now...I also have used stuff in my store. I go to garage sales, auctions, sometimes people will give me stuff they want to get rid of.
Most of the time people say I have good prices. Sometimes someone will get all huffy because they don't think I do.

To the huffy people.
1)Of course things are going to be higher priced than a garage sale. (see above expenses). A garage sale is hit or miss. If you want a stroller you can come to my store any time, rain or shine and choose from a variety of strollers. A garage sale probably only has one or you have to run around to 20 to find what you want. You pay for convenience.

2)I am not Wal-mart. I don't buy 59 million of whatever to get it for pennies. If you want Wal-mart merchandise at Wal-mart prices....go to Wal-mart.

3)You may be able to get sheets at the Dollar Store for less than what they are marked here....but I can guarantee you they are not the same type/quality sheets.

4) **here's the biggy**......YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY IT!!!! I don't care that you are outraged by the price of something. Don't buy it. You don't have to....I won't make you. Along the same line...if you don't like the stuff in my store...just shut up and go away. You don't have to tell me how awful things are. Just because YOU don't want it doesn't mean that somebody else won't want it.
I'm working on my 7th year. Something must be right.

Here is another "deal".....the price is marked on the thing....if you want it at that price, buy it. If you don't just leave it on the shelf. If I want to mark things down, I will. But usually I don't. Why? Because things sell anyway. I routinely sell things from 2004 or earlier...I don't care. I'm patient.

Although...I will say that there are things in my store that are priced wrong. If I happen to notice something like that...I will probably change it. There are several reasons for things being priced wonkey.

1) I bought it wrong. Meaning I paid too much for it at the time.

2) I've had several vendors that had stuff in here move out and leave me their stuff. I've just left it or moved it around and didn't pay much attention to the prices. That guy that worked here, Gary, did that. He was real inconsistent in pricing. Some stuff is way too cheap. Some stuff is way too expensive. And some stuff is just trash that needs to be thrown away.

3)I like it. If I like it and I don't really care if it sells...the price is high.

4)The item is good quality. Most of the stuff I have is not so great quality...but my people don't really care. They want a cheap dresser. $35-$40. They don't want a nice dresser $150-$300. My people don't do antiques. Cheap and usable is the way to go.
I had a very nice, very big, jade dragon/tiger thing. I got it from a storage unit that someone from the local AFB abandoned. I got tired of everyone telling me that it wasn't jade so I took it home. I don't know what it should actually sell for. It is nice.
I have several other pieces that I have found in my travels but I won't bring them to my store. They are too nice and I don't want them to get broken. The people that come to my store, don't know and won't buy quality.

5) and finally....I just priced it stupid. It happens.

So that's how it goes.

1. I run my store to make money.
2. I get stuff cheap and mark the price higher.
3. I have expenses that have to figure into the price of things.
4. If you steal something...the price is going to go up.
5. You don't have to buy something if you don't want to pay the price.

P.S. Of course I gripe about the stupid people and the losers...but I guess that's what makes my world go round. So I will continue to complain...but in the back of my mind....I'll be glad that some people decorate their bathrooms in dragons.

mini post

2009-07-25T11:18:00.002-05:00

I sell glass pipes and other tobacco smoking things.

Girl: Do you blow these yourself?

Me (in my mind): yeah I furnace in the back.......IDIOT

I also sell incense.

Same Girl: Do you hand dip these yourself?

Me (in my mind): IDIOT......GET OUT.

Why are people so stupid?

2009-07-24T15:27:00.002-05:00

The guy that gave me the name of the person that burglared me is changing his story. I asked him for his name and he didn't want to give it to me. I asked if he would call and talk to the detective that's working the case and he said he would. But I doubt that.
So I'm trying to figure him out. It's interesting....he dropped a piece of paper in here and didn't notice. I picked it up and saw it has his signature at the bottom. Heh. It was a bank receipt.
I can't quite read the last name but it's only 3 letters so I think I can figure it out.
He was driving a different vehicle but I got the plate number of that and I know when and where he works so it shouldn't be too hard to track him down.

The Detective wants to know who he is and was kind of pissy with me that I didn't know.

HE'S JUST A CUSTOMER! but I'm working on it.

At this point all the stuff is probably gone anyway. My customer thinks he still has it. Could be the customer is involved (he has a record for this type of thing) and is just wanting the cash reward. Although he has never said anything about the reward.
He made a comment about the cops thinking that he was involved because of his record.

The mystery continues......

Not much else going on. I stayed up too late last night playing Sims....and today I pay. zzzzzzzzzzz

The shop is sssslllllloooooowwwwww.

Heh..I put in an order for some stuff today. They have a big sale going on and I bought some before and got it in yesterday and it looks good. So I bought some more. The minimum purchase is $200 and the stuff I wanted is mostly under $1 so I was really trying to push to get to that amount. After I placed my order I was scrolling down the confirmation page and see that the minimum is only $100. CRAP. I guess the other stuff will sell anyway.

Wednesday when I got home from work I was putting a box in my vehicle and felt something bad on my finger/hand. I was stung by a wasp. Only the second time ever. OWWWWWWWCH Of course it swelled and hurt. It got me just below the nail on my right pointer. Mangy thing. Yesterday it still hurt a little and making change was a little funny. But today it's fine. I just have a little red spot.

The other time I was stung....I leaned against it going out my screen door. Brilliant right?

This woman came into the store. She is a pretty regular customer. She is ummm....interesting. Anyway she was sitting and we were just chit chatting. Then she starts with the Lord As Saviour bit. She's usually not too bad with this but sometimes she is. I usually just don't say anything and let her go on....but this time she asked me if I was a xtian. I hummed and hawed and she didn't let it go. So.....she's going to pray for me and she wants me to think real hard about it. Cause it would just be a shame if I had to go to hell and everything.

Although I guess if I were her I would need to believe. She has had a real hard life, so it seems.

Apart from all of that though.....for some reason...I kind of like her. Maybe it is just in a "hmmmmm interesting" kind of way. Because I am very interested in people who have had a very different life than me. Maybe it's that psychiatrist buried deep inside. (actually not buried that deep...so it seems).

There are a lot of "hmmmmm interesting" kind of people around here.

oh well....all for now.

Funeral Director thing....Part VI

2009-07-23T15:19:00.004-05:00

It seems as though I forgot about my series of Funeral Director stories. Although, I guess nobody was very interested because nobody has ever said "Hey...Why did you leave us hangin'" But I should finish up I suppose....just because.
To see the other installments you can just search the blog for Funeral Director...that should do it.

I believe I left off at my funeral home that I owned. I'm going to give the Reader's Digest version because it was relatively complicated and involved and unpleasant.

Because, as I mentioned before, the bank changed the rules. We found ourselves short of cash. There were other reasons too.
1. the building project ran a year behind.
2. a large number of cremations
3. one early full service that the family didn't pay for.
4. my supporters continuing to live
5. just the general time it takes for a business to pick up speed.
6. the stock market dipped

Because of these and other factors we were pretty tight on the $10,000 a month payment to the bank. At some point we were 2 months behind on the payment but I was working with a supporter to get a loan. But it didn't matter. The bank foreclosed.

Knowing now what I didn't then....this was all pre-conceived. There were several players involved but mostly the dick-weed competitor funeral director and some of the bank people. There were clues along the way...but we just didn't see them.
Were we to do it again. Many many things would be different.

So in the midst of all of this trauma....I was going to start another place. The idea was that I would go to people's homes and make arrangements. I could do memorial services or funerals at any location other than a funeral home. I had a buddy in another town who would do the embalming and such. This was a lower cost/more personal type service.

I rented a building and had the inspector come out (all of this state law). The inspector gave me a clean bill...he would turn in his report and all I would need to do is wait for the formal letter giving me the go-ahead.
I got a letter alright....saying that I was not approved. It gave reasons that made no sense....like I needed a bathroom. I certainly had a bathroom. Other things like that.

***I'd like to interrupt this post to talk a little about my mental state at the time. The building that I had designed and built had just been taken away from me. I was unemployed and had to declare bankruptcy. My parents lost their house that they built and loved and lived in for more than 30 years, (my whole life). I lost my house. My parents had to move from the country into town and they had an auction and had to sell many many things. There was an arson at their house that caused additional trauma. I was angry and depressed but had to be strong to deal with these things. At this time, a funeral client made a complaint against me so I had to appear in front of the state board. (scary) (I won the complaint--I did no wrong).
I didn't know what I was going to do. Then I did know what I was going to do and that was start a flea market. That was a way I could start making money fast...so I could, like, eat and stuff. So then I was starting another business.
You see all of this happened in a very short period of time and I didn't really know it then but I was a mental messed up chick. I didn't realize until years later that I was coming out of "it".****

Moving on....so I realized that the local politics reached further than local, that dick-weed had pull at the state level too. And they would not let me be a funeral director.
I was too battered to fight it. (see mental state above)

So I used my rented building to open a flea market.

I thought at the time that I'd let it rest for a few years and get back into the directing business. Now I don't think that. The store was always suppose to be temporary but its been open for 6 1/2 years. I'm not sure where temporary ends....but I think I've passed it.

As time goes on...I guess the wounds heal. I am to the point now that I can get rid of some of the funeral home things. That has been hard for me. I still have just about everything. I will keep my embalming instruments but I think everything else could go. I even still have 2 caskets. Those are just a little difficult to get rid of. I don't quite want to put an ad in the paper...although I guess I could on Craig's list or something. They are just sitting in my garage. One of these days. At least I'm mentally fit enough for them to go.

So that's it.
An interesting blip on my resume.

Perhaps I should start the series "Why I Became A Store Owner"......it could happen...

theft again

2009-07-22T15:50:00.002-05:00

I'm really getting tired of people stealing things.

I got in some necklaces yesterday and 4 of one kind are gone. These mostly have hemp "chain" and glass pendant. At least they were the cheapest kind.
There were two guys in right before 5 and after yesterday that were looking at pipes and one branched off to where the necklaces were. I'm sure he took them. He was being a real jerk anyway.

I have rearranged my store so all the new things are in line of sight. All the pipes and knives are in cases. But I can't put everything in cases. And some things people need to handle them or they won't buy them.

The other issue is the money. To put in a very secure system it would cost mega bucks. The necklaces cost me $1.99 each. So it is not great to spend even $500 on a system.

It makes me want to get cameras or something so I could identify the person. But even if I have their picture...I still don't know who they are. I would almost need another camera pointed out to the parking lot to get their car too.
But to even do something simple like that it would be $$$$$.

When I'm here by myself and there is more than one customer I'm just out of luck. I don't want people to get the idea that it is easy to steal in here. But apparently it is. uggg

The necklaces are hanging right in front of the counter. If I'm standing there it would be very very hard to take them...but I was showing his buddy stuff in the showcase. There just isn't any way around it, I guess.

So maybe I just need to work on my anger issues when it happens.

The next line of defense is to start marking the price up on everything.

Brief

2009-07-21T12:26:00.002-05:00

I just witnessed reality.

A guy, a girl and a baby.

guy and girl picked out incense to buy. guy picked out a pipe to buy. at the counter ready to pay. girl says "we don't have enough money for you to buy a pipe, we need things for the baby" guy gives her a look. girl says "I would strongly recommend that you don't buy that" guy only buys incense.

guy is smart.

although I bet he comes back when she's not around.

Out in the world

2009-07-21T10:36:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I went out into the world. I made a trek to the big city. I've been having plumbing issues for many months now. A lot of the time I just don't care about things. There is a part of my shower that is broken and when the water is turned on in the house, hot water pours out the shower head. So I keep the water turned off unless I'm using it. It really is not a huge deal....but at times it can be a little annoying. So this has been going on for many many months.

The other day I went to our local Lowe's with the broken part and they were like DUH. The guy said they could order this part but he didn't think it was the right one and it would cost around $50. I didn't think that I wanted to pay $50 for the wrong part so I told him I would evaluate my options. IDIOT.

So yesterday I made the trip to the city to visit the Plumber's Friend. I'm not even a plumber and they are my friend.

I said I need one of these...but not broken. He went to the back and got one of those....actually he got two because they were small. I told him the level of awesomeness that was happening at that moment and he was pleased. So was I.

Then I went to Winsteads and had among other things a cherry soda. Oh sweet baby jesus...those are good. I miss Winsteads. I really really do.

You see I used to live in the big city and now I don't.

Then I went to Ward Parkway and to Mr Bulky and bought some jelly bellys for my mom and for me. Those too are good.

Then I went back to Independence and went to Sam's and bought my dad some cheese and I bought myself some stuff too. None of that was terribly exciting though.

Then I came back home....well sort of home. I stopped at my parent's house to deliver the presents. When I was ready to go home my van was dead. I tried to jump start it and it didn't.
So my mom took me home and my dad picked me up and brought me to work this morning and I trust that someone will come at five and take me back to my van......because....

This morning my dad went and got me a new battery and then my van started. I hope that it was indeed the battery that was the problem and that something else isn't draining the battery.

Wouldn't that have really sucked if it would have died in the big city?

When I got home I put the new part in my shower and it worked. HA HA

Yesterday was a really good day. (except for the van) (except the van waited till I was homeish).

Soon I am going to take a tall glass and put vanilla ice cream in it and then I'm going to pour a code red mt dew in it and that should be very similar to a cherry soda. If it is....I'm going to be gaining about 20lbs.

As heard.....

2009-07-18T15:22:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, (often) people say weird things in my store.

A chick comes in and says "it smells weird in here"
(my thought is it didn't until you came in) (my other thought is it is probably the huge display of incense we have right inside the door)

She also says "does anyone actually come in here and buy anything?"
I said "well...I've been here for 7 years....so....yeah"
(that one actually pissed me off. GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

A woman says "I'm really glad you're closed on Sunday...that's good)
(religious reference I'm sure)

A guy "you know people smoke pot out of those pipes"
I responded "hmmmm, I wouldn't know about that"
he responded "oh...come on....they do"
I shrugged.
(IDIOT......GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!)

A guy "OH...you have brass knuckles"
I responded "oh these?...they are belt buckles"
"Huh?"
"Belt buckles"
"HUH??"
Me--"brass knuckles are illegal....these are belt buckles"
"huh?"

And of course an oldie but goodie

In reference to dream catchers...."oooooooo those are EVIL....I'm not going over there they have curses put in 'em"
(my thought...yeah...all those little Chinese dream catcher maker people are busy busy busy puttin' curses in all the dream catchers. OIY)

I'm amazed at really how stupid people are. I mean they really are stupid....I mean really.
Where's Bill Engvall when you need him?

New Project

2009-07-07T09:07:00.002-05:00

I've started a new project.
Like most projects go, it has gotten bigger and stronger and it will probably win.

Let me start by saying that my house is old.....not interesting old....but just kind of old. When I first moved in, my first words were "I need to redo the bathroom". So I have lived there for 9 years and I need to redo the bathroom. Actually now...I really really need to redo the bathroom because my faucet on my bathtub is screwed up/broken and if I have the water turned on in the house it pours water out the faucet. So I keep my water turned off most of the time. It's kind of a pain.

So most people would call the man and have it fixed. The problem is I live with 14,000 cats and 2 hounds and it's really kind of gross in there.

Another thing is that I have lived in my house for 9 years and my carpet was cheap builders grade to begin with and I have worn the fuzz off of it. And the cats have put their fur on it. yuck.

So I decided to pull up the carpet in the hallway and put new carpet down and I want to pull the carpet out of the kitchen and put down those sticky vinyl tiles....because no one should really have carpet in the kitchen anyway.....I mean what happens if you drop an egg. ewwwww (of course in 9 years I have not dropped an egg...but I could).

So I went to Lowes and bought some tiles and some carpet. Then I pulled up the carpet in the hall. There is hardwood under there folks.
It is stained and has paint dripped over it and staples every 2 inches from the padding being tacked down.....but maybe I could work with it.

The carpet I got was clearance (cheap) but it is a 10x12' chunck. My hall is 3'wide and one section is 7' and the other is 10'. That means if I hack up the carpet and put it in the hall I will have over 1/2 of it left. If I don't put it down in the hall I could lay it down in my family room which is 12x12'.

This is where the project gets bigger.....
Now I need to clean out my family room so I can lay the new carpet down in there. I've got two big bookcases that are filled with stuff and I have a very large entertainment center that is evil and I want it to die. I have found a thing at my store that will house my TV and other components nicely....so I have to tear apart my e-center and dispose of it. Then I have to move all my heavy furniture tear up the carpet and pad and pull out all the staples and clean it within an inch of it's life and lay down the new carpet.

I'm tired just typing it.

Of course I also have to work and things, so I don't have a good big amount of time to do all of this.
And......I can't find my pliers to pull the staples out. I know they are somewhere????

Well....anyway when all of this happens then I can have the man come in and redo my bathroom.
I want the whole thing gutted. tub, sink, toilet...out. wall covering..off I want paint. flooring....out. new new new new. There is even a board or two by the tub that needs to be replaced.

My kitchen also needs the same treatment but I'll wait awhile (9yrs?) to do that.

2009-07-04T09:46:00.002-05:00

A guy came in the other day and gave me the name of a guy that was involved in the break-ins at the store. He's got the stuff at his house. Of course I gave the information to the cops. I hope they do something about it.
I don't know much about the kid. I hear he's like a senior in high school and he was bragging about the burlary.

I'm trying to learn more about him. He has an unusual last name...but familiar. It is a well known name in town. Loser.

I went out to eat with a friend last night....ugggg I'm still full. Chinese Buffet....mmmmmmm uhhhhhhh blaaaaaa

I decided to work today...July 4. Yesterday afternoon was pretty busy. I've been here for less than an hour and have already had 2 sales. It might turn out alright....you never know. Those might be the only people I see today.
The druggies usually crawl out of their holes around 3pm.

I found a new place to get some things. I'm very excited. I found some gothic fairies. They are really neat. I think people will like them. Usually fairies are pastel colored...these are brighter colors and black. There are a couple fairies riding black unicorns. Interesting. This place also has some different dragons and really a lot of neat stuff. The figurines aren't really selling that well now. I think the economy has slowed that down....but it will pick up again. I'm thinking this xmas will be better than the last two. I think people will only hold back for so long and then they start feeling guilty and will spend more again.

It seems like I'm always having to order new stuff (this is a good thing). I'm really low of certain kinds of knives. I need daggers and hunting knives....I get caught up in one area and then behind in another area.

I will say that this all takes a fair amount of time....people don't realize what all is involved. And I have so many categories of stuff...it takes something to keep them all rolling. Even within the categories you have to keep up.
Like the figurines....there are dragons, fairies, skulls, angels, dolphins, indian---and dreamcatcher, apples, religious, white tigers, elephants, deer, cast iron, frogs, chickens, pigs, and misc. (dog, cat, fish, duck, farm,...)
Like over the last 2 weeks people have been hitting on elephants (for whatever reason)...so all of a sudden I need more elephants. I don't keep tons of each thing so a few people buying one thing can wipe it out.

I do have a lot of indian stuff and dreamcatchers and dragons...those are the most popular right now.

But the other big categories I have are tools, dolls, knives and swords, pipes and related smoking things, air soft guns, incense, lighters, ashtrays, flags, hats and then a bunch of misc stuff. Each of those categories have sub-categories. OIY....no wonder I'm busy.
Of course that's just the new stuff....I also have to keep up with the old "flea market" stuff.

Oh well...just a glimps...

IMO--The Goodness of People

2009-07-01T15:37:00.003-05:00

In my opinion people are generally not good.

I suppose in this climate of "words" we should talk about what "good" is. I would say that good is a lack of selfishness. I would say good is considering how your actions or words would make someone else feel and then doing the fuzzy thing....not the spikey thing. I would say that good brings warm smileys to those around you.

I would not say religion in and of itself is good.(although it could be).

I'd like to talk a little about stealing (since I seem to be a victim of it on a regular basis).
I think that most people will steal if they have the chance and they think that they won't get caught.

I think it is societial pressure that stops most people from stealing.

In my little town, the police report is listed in the paper every day. If you get caught stealing something, your name will be in the paper. That alone would stop a bunch of people.

I had a gal steal a flashlight from me. I kind of knew but didn't really know until she was out of the store. Months later she came in and I told her that she has to pay for things she wants here. She looked at me all confused and I explained the situation. She denied it....I told her I had her on camera (I didn't) and I told her how disappointed I was in her (she had been kind of a regular and we had chit chatted some). I also told her that I had to pay for it out of my pocket....she went to her car and came back and gave me $5.00, about 1/2 of the price but it was more than I had before.

When things become personal, I think people are less likely to steal.....and when they get caught.

There is a pizza place in town. The manager is a nice guy...everybody likes him and he's good to his customers. They have a buffet and when you are done eating you go to the register and pay. This is also a place that the little old ladies go and play cards. Sometimes someone will forget to pay....but they always make it up next time....or go back in and make sure it's paid. Once I heard someone forgot to leave a tip and made sure to pay double next time.
How many people do you know that, when traveling to a different state..let's say, and forgot to pay, would mail the money back. Very Few.

How many people if a store was open and there was no one there...and maybe a sign on the door saying when someone would be back....would take what they could carry?
***this is assuming that you don't have the personal relationship*** In my store, there would be a bunch of people that would watch over it for me and thump someone trying to steal. But if you didn't know the person running it....or had no personal relationship....I think, most people would take what they wanted. I think especially if others were taking things too.

In the business and maybe other places too...things are done to keep honest people, honest.
I think that is a valid thought.

If I put a $20 bill under the windshield wiper of my van....how long do you think it would stay there?

And all you pansy-asses that say "well....they probably need it more that I do" go suck eggs.
It's those kind of people that make it easier for the "bad-guys" to do what they do.

They do not need it more than I do.....I would venture to say that .023% of the stealing that goes on is for $$ to buy bread or milk. Or maybe they buy bread after they buy the new TV or the carton of cigs or the bag of ....

I think there are many factors that influence these sorts of things. I've already mentioned the Personal Relationship, The Public Outing, of course the Probablity of Getting Caught.

I think cultural/upbringing, age, thrill-seekingness, pack mentality and possibly stupidity all can play a part.

I had another situation just the other day in my store. A gal is looking around and brings a small trash can and a hand mixer up to the counter. She asks if I can come down on the price. I say no and she leaves the things on the floor in front of the counter. She then goes back to her business of looking around. When she's done she comes to the front and starts digging through some pencils I have here to buy. Dig dig dig....it takes a long time and she's trying to find the "best" ones. She had found a few things she wanted and laid them on the counter...she also put the trash can lid that was on the floor up on the counter...the lid had the price tag. At some point she asked where she was money-wise with her stuff...so I added it up and gave her a total. She found a few more pencils that she wanted and laid those on the counter and said she needed to go to her car to get her money.

I had thought about it before but with her gone a peered over the counter and yup...in the bottom of the trash can sat the mixer she had brought up in the very beginning.
So she came back in and I asked if she wanted the mixer too. "oh...yeah" she says.
Caught.

And before you people start saying.."well, she probably just forgot" or "she probably would have mentioned it". Again Suck Eggs.

She would have stolen it.

Why?.....because people are losers.

2009-06-27T09:21:00.002-05:00

First.....Man, it's hot. It was 87F at 9am. I don't do hot well. My temperature guage is all messed up. It's a thing with several in my family. I can't do anything without my earlobes sweating.....I hate that.

I've been buzzing around doing a few things at the shop....and I'm sweating like crazy. Very annoying.

Second.....This MJ death thing....Cardiac Arrest is not a heart attack people. Arrest means stop. So Cardiac arrest is heart stopage. Also have you heard the 911 call. He was dead then. I should also say that generally a heart attack would be found at autopsy.
I don't know what it is with people in this country...but everybody acts like their little brother just died. YOU DON'T KNOW HIM!!! How can you be in tears? How can it affect you so deeply? Why do you care? Why do you care enough to watch 48 solid hours of the same crap when all of the information can be put into one sentence?
Why is so much importance put on a singer?
People die everyday.....get over it!! (unless it is someone you truely know...then by all means, grieve) :)

Third.....I have to say that as a result of my burgary, I have seen caring and compassion. Many of my regulars seem to be truly sorry for what has happened. Perhaps they are truely worried that I will stop selling them pipes and such. One fellow left with a passion to find the bad guys.....he was angry that someone would mess up a good thing. I'm the only place for 50 miles that sells this stuff now. I do believe that he will hear something. I think that street justice in this case will be better than the cops taking care of it.
I have witnessed honor among thieves. You can steal from some people but you better not steal from the gal that sells pipes.

Fourth....tomorrow I need to go to the next town over and pick up some big-heavy shelves. I was suppose to get them the beginning of May the day after I hurt my foot so I had to cancel getting them. My friend M bought these and gave them to J to use for her book selling endevor. She has stopped selling books and she is going to be moving. So I need to get the shelves. It is suppose to be a little cooler tomorrow 86f instead of 97f. Uuggg. I am hoping that I can get them in one trip...I also hope that M goes with me so maybe the 3 of us can load them and I won't have to do it by myself.

Fifth.....Tomorrow I have plans to make ice cream. I bought a mix but I don't know how that will be....we'll see.

Yesterday a gal came in and was buying a pipe related thing...as she was paying for it she says to her friend that she and I went to school together. Her friend acted surprised and then they left.
I have NO idea who she is. Our school was very small. My class had 20 people. I know she wasn't in my class....but I really don't have a clue.

Last week a fellow that I went to school with came to see me. I did know who he was. He had come in a couple months ago or so and I wasn't here but I talked to him on the phone. I was good to see him and I would like to talk to him again. I have questions. Either my memory has faded or I never knew things in the first place. He seems interesting.....and not many people from our school are interesting.

that's all i got for now.

And again....and then again

2009-06-17T14:23:00.002-05:00

So....My store was broken into again. I'm closed on Monday but I went up to do some work on my rearranging and found I'd be burglarized again. So I called the Sheriff and went through all of that. Then I called the maintance guy and he worked on the door and secured it...more. This is an overhead door in the back and the...um....people..pried it up at the bottom. There was a 7" gap for someone to get through. My head wouldn't fit through a 7" gap....so it was probably a kid or a meth-head.
Quite a bit of stuff was stolen....mostly pipes and related items.

I got home and my grass mowin' guy was just finishing up...so I got him paid. In a few hours I was on the phone with my mom and I looked out into the back yard. The grass guy had chopped down everything in my garden.
My raspberries...my blackberries....my strawberries....everything.....gone.....

Needless to say I was very very disappointed.

I have no idea why it happened. The garden is a little weedy but the rasps and blacks were about 2 ft tall and in rows.
This is the 3rd time he mowed...and he didn't chop them the first 2 times....I don't know.

So I go back into the shop on Tuesday.....they broke in again. I didn't want to touch anything or mess with anything until the detective got here and I couldn't tell how they got in. But there were muddy footprints by the back overhead door...so it had to be there. But it looked intact.
When the Det. got here and nosed around he found that the track of the door was broken....so they just pushed the bottom of the door inside.
They took more pipes and such and a few dragon figurines and some incense burners and incense. The stuff they took this time was more expensive stuff...I haven't added up the total taken....I don't really want to know......know what I mean?

I'm back here today, Wednesday, and nobody got in again.
I'm offering a cash reward if anyone is willing to rat anyone out.
I've ordered an alarm system.

Yesterday, I was pretty gloomy. That doesn't happen to me much. This morning I was sick....I'm sure the mental led to the physical...(I do that).
But now I'm feeling better. We've had a pretty good day at the shop, considering.
People have been supportive.
And it's almost time for me to go home.

I'm going to have to order a bunch of new stuff again to replace things that were taken. I think I'll wait a few days and have the alarm up and working before I put in a bunch more stuff. But you can't sell it (and make up the $$ lost) if you don't have it.

I need to go for now.....I might continue the saga tomorrow.

more stupid comments

2009-06-13T09:52:00.002-05:00

On the local news this morning, they were interviewing a father and son that had been struck by lightning. They were a little crispy but are going to be okay.

When the lightning hit there was a guy on a boat that came over and helped them....he was interviewed too.

So at the end....one of them (I think the son) said "god put everyone at the right place at the right time"

ummm....okay. zzzzzzzzzzapppppp

2009-06-11T14:32:00.002-05:00

I've actually been working a little bit in my store.

I've got new stuff and other stuff. Some of my new stuff, like figurines are on one side of the store and other new stuff, like knives/swords and pipes are on the other side.
I am going to combine. I'm going to take all the figurine type things and move them to the other side.

But that means all the other stuff that is on the other side....has to be moved to the other side......but there is still stuff on the other side....so I have to move the first stuff somewhere else before it goes to the other side.....but when I move it to the somewhere else....I sure as heck am not going to move it again. So it must stay in the somewhere else.

Soon when I move the figurines....I will have a large gaping hole of anti-stuff....and that's bad because it causes people to say.."oh....are you closing?" and then I have to say.."no I'm just moving stuff around".

It's also bad because right at the time I hurt my foot...my worker guy left. And he had a lot of stuff in here and because I was gimpy, I was not able to refill at a rate that is common of me (fast). So for the last month and 1/2 I've had other gaping holes of anti-stuff.

It's all very worrisome.

But I have almost all of the other (old) stuff moved and now I can start moving some empty shelves out of the way and then I will be ready to start moving new stuff into place. I also have 4 units of slate wall that I need to move. But each section is only 4' so I think it will be okay.
If I were smart I would do this when the store is closed....but I'm not sure that I'm smart.

I think tomorrow I'll hit some garage sales and try to bulk up my inventory. Usually I'll go to some auctions but I haven't seen anything decent that is on a Sunday. **as I have to work of Saturday**
I'm a little picky about my auctions.
The stuff can't be too nice. The people that come to my shop won't pay much for anything....they don't want "nice" stuff....they want cheap usable stuff.
Therefore, I need to buy cheap things....and if they are too nice, they are not cheap.

An interesting thing about my town is that there is no place that sells inexpensive used furniture. And it's a college town. I try to get dressers and small tables and other small items....they seem to sell better than some other things. Also, my store isn't really that big....so it's hard to have couches and such. Although I do sometimes.

At an auction I'm liable to buy anything if the price is right.

Another thing about auctions...I don't want to go if there are a lot of antiques or a lot of good farm equipment. Those sales draw the wrong kind of people for me.
The antique crowd is too pushy. And the farm men bring their wives and women make auctions different....but that's a whole nother post. **I know I'm female...but I'm not like "them"**

I like just your run of the mill estate auction or if someone is moving. Just general things out of the house. That's for me. Nothing too interesting... ;)

I'm not a huge fan of the garage sale, but I need to go sometimes.
I've got a whole bunch of stuff in storage that I have gotten at other times and if things get serious I'll have to go through some of that.
Several years ago I would get stuff that was left over from garage sales or people would just give me a bunch of stuff or whatever and I had a habit of just stacking it...so I have a lot of trash, things that should just be thrown out....so to get things from storage is kind of a pain. I have a dumpster and everything there but it's just doing it....sigh.

The other thing right at the moment that is holding me back is that I got the new SIMS3......and it's awesome.....and I'm addicted. It's only been a few days and when I'm home I do nothing else.
And in only 2 more hours I get to go home and play some more. hehh

That's one good thing about being an adult....you can play games for hours and hours and it doesn't matter.
Sometimes I also eat popcorn for supper and ice cream for breakfast.

mmmmm popcorn.

Anyway...that's about all that's happening now.

More later....

weird things

2009-06-04T16:00:00.003-05:00

There are weird things that happen at my store. They actually happen frequently but I don't really remember to document them....hmmmm...maybe I should start....

Anyway this guy I know, Joe, was in this morning and we were talking about all sorts of things and he started looking at the pipes. He is well versed in the art of pipes....
So he is looking and I am showing and he picks out 3 that he likes and he is trying to decide. He later leaves, buying nothing.

Several hours later a guy comes in and is looking at pipes. The exact same 3....and he buys the one that Joe was most interested in.

**I should mention that I probably have 100 or so pipes....so it's not like I have 5**

Also in conversation with Joe I said that I thought that almost everything would sell here eventually...I said that some things come through that have been here since the very beginning...more than 6 years. He thought that was weird.

This afternoon....I sold 5 packages of wallpaper boarder....been here since the beginning.

These kinds of things happen all the time. I'll be talking to someone about something that's been here forever and in the next couple days it will sell.

That kind of happened with one of his things too...(he's got some stuff here for sale)...he has a butter churn that has been here for months and recently the price disappeared from it....and I couldn't remember what it was...so today we got a price back on.....and it sold.

In other news.......foot news.....
Today I wore a shoe for the whole day.....wooott.

You know several weeks ago a woman asked what happened to my foot and I told her the Reader's Digest version...and she says "You want me to pray for you?" and I said...If you'd like...
So she like laid her hands on me and prayed.....oh and how it burned.....

But my foot is getting better.......

Maybe I should trade in my heathen ways..........nah.

One great benni of my foot being dead is that I've had to get a grass guy (not that kind...the other kind).
He comes every 10 days or so and mows my lawn. I do believe I may just keep him.
Mowing....not my favorite activity. He even weed-eats....what more can I ask.

Have I mentioned that I have raccoons in my fireplace? I was sitting there and I heard a noise and because I am at one with nature...I knew the noise to be a raccoon. Indeed a smallish coon had come down/fallen down into the fireplace. Luckily I have glass doors that cover the opening. So I'm sitting there looking at it and I kind of have my hand on the doors and then momma comes down too to get her baby and she pushes on the doors...pretty hard. I am pleased that I was there also pushing on them....or I would have had two more raccoons in my house....not cool.
But after a little pushing from both sides, she and the baby went back up the chimney......Yeaaahhhh I won. I moved a heavy stereo speaker in front of the doors so they can't open.
I like nature....I really do.....but I really would prefer if it all stayed outside...

So far the count is:
1 small opossum
3 raccoons
1 snake (small)
1 bird (alive)
Many birds (dead) (thanks cats)
Various rodents (dead--mostly) (thanks again cats)
2 raccoons--fireplace bound
1 really angry stray cat (trapped for 2 days....I thought he'd go out when everyone was sleeping...but he didn't) (I've never seen a cat run as fast as him...when I got him and let him go outside)

Getting back

2009-05-26T09:42:00.003-05:00

Things are starting to get back to normal.

My foot is getting better every day. Yesterday I wore a shoe for a few hours....and then wish I hadn't.
I went to the grocery store for the second time.

Today I am sans shoe....it needs a few more days....or a week.

I have been getting a lot of donations at the store. People who want to get rid of stuff drop it off. Many times it is left over garage sale stuff. Some of it is junk but other stuff is really good. Maybe they had it priced too high or maybe the right person didn't grab it....either way, I have pretty good luck getting rid of it....and the price is right(free).

There has been a lot of stuff piling up though because my foot can't deal with it. There is quite a bit of walking to price things and put them out. I've done a little bit of it this morning but I need to take a break for a while.

I haven't had any other break-in attempts. Any time someone wants to look at throwing knives I wonder.."is that him".

My "friend" call the other day while I was at work and left a message. She said she forgot to call me before. ((that's nice...at least I know where I stand)). She was on her way to a salon appt....so I should call on her cell.
((I mentioned before that she had traumas in her life....one of the biggest is that her stupid husband is unemployed and they are filing bankrupcy and they don't have any money for anything....except I guess $$ to get her nails done)))
Needless to say...I didn't get the message in time and I didn't call her back. I think the dumb husband is giving her trouble about calling me from home. But that is her decision to let him do that. so whatever.

I figure that one of these days....she's going to need me for something and I'm not sure if I'll be there.

The grass man came the other day and mowed my grass.....I could really get used to that. Mowing is not my favorite activity. That's about the only time that I think about getting married. ****I need a man to mow this****
But I pay the grass guy $25.........a lot cheaper than a husband I suspect.

Tomorrow I'm getting a bunch of new stuff into the store....so it will take all day and maybe two to get that all priced and put out. I am really low on pipes and such...but people keep buying what I have...so that's good.

I guess that's all that's going on now.
If something exciting happens I'll check back in.

ttfn

Trauma.....Part III........the store

2009-05-21T14:51:00.002-05:00

So because I really really hurt my foot...I was unable to work at my store by myself. So I called Jim and asked him to work for me on Saturday...which he agreed to.
Saturday morning at about 8:30 I got a call from him and he said it looked like someone had tried to break in and he was unable to open the front door.

GREAT!!!!!!!!

I said we would need to call the Sheriff...to make a really long story a little shorter...he noticed that the fuzz was already here...with the people next door. The upshot was that the little losers tried to break into the Clothing Pantry (they give stuff away for free) ((idiots))....but they did not gain entry there and then they broke down the door at the other place on the other side of me....a church. They gained entry but nothing was taken....and then they did gain entry into my store and they stole some things.

Things they took:
throwing knives
throwing stars
one big sword
cool dragon pipe
cool snake pipe
machete
2 pocket knives
$20 bills

Things they did not take:
$70 sword hanging right next to the $40 one they took
lots of other swords, daggers, knives etc etc
$50 dragon knife set
many various larger water pipes/bongs
many many many pipes....lots of which were in flats that could just be carried out
$1, $5, $10 bills ****yup that's right they just took the $20s none of the other cash***

These are apparently kids or someones of great stupidity.

Then the yahoos tried to break in again.....and then again.

They didn't make entry the other 2 times.

All of this is added trauma on trauma because of my foot. I couldn't even walk to the back of my store to see the damage they did to the door.

But I think things are calming down in all of those areas.

UPDATE on the foot: Here we are 2 weeks out from the "fall of foot". I am still not able to wear a shoe. In the morning it's not too bad but by afternoon it is swollen and I have no ankle. I'm hoping within a few more days I can be shoed...or shod or whatever. It doesn't hurt anymore and yesterday I was able to wiggle my toes....whoo hooo
It is still very bruised....everywhere...top bottom sides...everywhere....Pretty.

In other news...kind of....I am very very angry at my "friend". I emailed her and told her briefly about traumas II and III and told her to call me and I would fill her in on the details. It has been 2 weeks, less a few days....no call.
I'm getting very tired of this friendship going one way.
The rub on this is that we have been best friends since we were 5. That's 34 years to you and me.
So I can't quite just say F off. But it has occurred to me.
I am aware that she has a dick for a husband and a fair number of traumas of her own....but I am entitled to a trauma here and there....and really I don't have very many. The least she can do is call and see how things are going.
I should also add that I have gotten no email or anything else from her. grrrrrr

I think those are all of my traumas.....for now.

I just want to get back to my normal routine....

Trauma......Part II........the foot

2009-05-19T14:32:00.002-05:00

Coming off the book sale was good....I was sleepy but geared up to have Jim leave the shop on Friday the 8th of May.

I had an appointment with a friend of a friend to pick up some book shelves in the next town over. This had been weighing on me...but finally I had time and a cleaned out van. Friday was the day.

But first......Thursday.
I went about my business in the morning then I went home for lunch. The cats had knocked a plastic pitcher off the counter onto the floor....nothing unusual there..(I can't ever keep anything on the counters). I went to step over it and didn't.

I'm not exactly sure what happened. I think I sort of kicked it and my foot ended up inside and I went down....Hard. My kitchen isn't very big and there is hardly a clear space to fall...but I found it. A few inches over and I would have landed on the metal dog food dish.

So I lay on the floor....hurt.....and wet (I was carrying a cup of water at the time of the fall). I laid there for a while to see if I was going to die or if I should bother trying to get up. I decided that I was not in fact going to die...so I should get up and at least try to get to the couch......it would be more dignified to die on the couch.

Somehow...I got to the couch...which is a fair distance away.

For the next hour or so I writhed in pain. I have never been so hurt.
After the hour the pain subsided a bit and I stopped writhing and just sat and muttered oww oww oww oooo owww for a while.

At some point I called my mommy and told her oww oww owww. I had really really hurt my paw. My left foot paw. oww oww owwww

I managed to crawl into my bedroom (also a fair distance away) and get some crutches that I had stashed there.

I have never been on crutches before and it was all a learning experience...I'll tell ya.

I was basicly couch-bound for several days. When I went to the kitchen I'd pile a bunch of food into a plastic bag and drag it back to the couch. By the time I got back from my round trip, I was exhausted.

I won't talk about the bathroom. I tried to drink very little so I wouldn't have to go. The toilet was by far the hardest part. It was so low...I could hardly get up.

My foot hurt so bad that I couldn't even rest it on the floor.

Needless to say, I wasn't able to get those shelves....or go to work. I called Jim and he offered to work for me Saturday. At least, then, I could heal for a few more days.

Need to hear more of my trauma.....oh yes there is more....

Stay tuned for Trauma #3