Goooood morning!

Art Nouveau Cast Iron Frame - Daydreaming Woman

It's 10:45am, and I'm just starting to feel awake. All my life, I have forced myself to be an early-riser, and now as an adult, I'm finding that that may not actually be who I am. I've just started watching this eBay shop for what they're selling, and have been enjoying looking over the art that they sell. I need to get a bunch of things together to ship this morning, and then I'm going to do some thrifting, see my Salvation Army pals.

I left pancake batter out for a couple days after I didn't use it all. After one day, it made good pancakes. After two days (i.e. just now, this morning), it was disgusting. Lesson learned. I may eat a lot of pancakes for a normal person who does not live in a diner. I'm okay with that. I decided a long time ago that if I want to eat pancakes, I will make them whole wheat/buckwheat, and I won't feel guilty. I will feel awesome for taking care of myself so well.

Someone confronted me about reselling over the weekend, and I responded without ire (very proud of myself for this). "Is that even legitimate?" "Yup", I responded, "without question". This is, at its essence, what all wholesalers do. Office Depot does not make all of its products. Junk warehouses make money from people digging through their wares. This is part of the economy. If you pay attention, it's happening all around you. Farmers sell their produce through stores. I'm all about buying direct, giving business to the little guy, and I'd like to remain in that role. I'd like to be the little guy who collects cool stuff to offer to people who happen to be looking for it, but don't have the time and energy to thrift constantly. I'd like to offer a service to people who love the hunt, but want to hunt on a larger scale (not everyone has thrift stores on every corner). Anyhoo, I was reinvigorated for my task at hand, and will enjoy the hunt that much more today (when I get off my butt and get down to it, of course).

I attend an amazing church that talks about refugees, and yesterday we talked about the Old Testament, the book of Jeremiah, and the realities of war refugees then and now. Please take a moment to read the most recent news about Syria, and consider making a donation to MCC, currently providing direct aid to Syrian refugees.

Rambling.

Vintage Wood Plaque - De Grazia - A Happy Day

So I think my new Friday afternoon activity will be spent combing through a humongous warehouse of old yard sale lots, cobbled together by a brilliant thrifter and vintage shop owner. I went in yesterday. They said they hadn't seen me in a while (I love it when this happens). I don't even think there's a ton of turnover in the areas I'm looking in, so it may not be worth my time to do this weekly, but it's soothing and therapeutic. There was an oldies station on, and I sang and danced my way through dirt-soaked aisles of junk. Ah, bliss.

I ended up not buying anything, because I only had a couple dollars worth of stuff, and I've been feeling a bit sick to my stomach for the past few days, and haven't been motivated to buy anything. Also, I got yelled at whilst purchasing a bottle of water and banana pre-warehouse digging that made me laugh, but also made me feel icky. "Rich white lady in your fancy car!"

Last day of the month for eBay sales! It's been a good month. At this moment, I've grossed $1165, and for me, that's a good month. I've been focusing on eBay time-wise and I'm glad that it's been paying off.

I turned on NPR this morning to listen to Car Talk, and ended up listening to an hour of pre- and post- coverage of Obama's speech on Syria (along with the speech, of course). Please take a moment to read the most recent news about Syria, and consider making a donation to MCC, currently providing direct aid to Syrian refugees.

Goodwill outlet!!!!

Painted fabric - Someday a quilted wall hanging

Last week I traveled to the coast with a friend. My friend had a conference to attend, and I had an ocean to look at from our hotel room. I've been so worn down that I had trouble figuring out what to do with myself with all kinds of free time, so I did a lot of puzzles in the newspaper, and walked on the beach. I'm finding lots of enjoyment lately in crosswords and sudokus. I'm a simple gal.

The first night, I wandered around a super cool vegan-friendly grocery store, looking for dinner, only to realize that our hotel room's sole cooking device was a microwave, so I got some tacos nearby instead. I'd never had vegan tacos before (with grilled veggies). They were just okay.

Vera Marai Nightgown

The next day, I woke up to a wonderfully bright sunny day with the ocean steadily crashing on the beach far down below us. There were a lot of gulls of various sizes near the hotel. I imagine they were flying around. Some of them made crazy weird noises around sundown. I lived with howling monkeys. If there were a contest between groups of animals for weird nighttime noises, the gulls definitely wouldn't win, but they'd have a decent showing.

Anyhow, after I did some newspaper puzzles (all whilst watching Law & Order), I decided that the thing that I would actually enjoy doing would be to go thrifting. So I got out the phone book and made a plan. Obviously there weren't descriptions, so I just had to go off names. I really wanted to dig, so I looked for really dirty places. I don't know what sounds especially dig-worthy in a thrift store moniker, but I suppose I knew it when I saw it.

Pflatzgraff Norway - Cruiseline pottery

The first store I went to was a fund-raising store for the Catholic school in town, staffed with who appeared to be mothers of students. It was trying to be boutiquey, but it didn't have the je ne sais quoi that I'm always looking for. I like people who just go for it. If they're a place for digging, they own it. If it's a place that's trying to be antiquey and appeal to a higher class of customer, they own it. Anything in between is unappealing to me. I'm picky that way. I know when someone is being authentic. I'm brilliant that way.

I don't know why I picked a Goodwill store to put on my list of three (the maximum number I was willing to travel to in a strange city before needing to return to home base and eat lunch). But after the first store, I wasn't feeling hopeful. All of the Goodwills in my city are whitewashed and boring. I go when I need a fix, perhaps like Diet Coke addicts with a generic brand. But I've heard, in online thrifting lore, that not all Goodwills are like this, that there may be different ones out there, so I was willing to look.

Old football trophy - Sadly unmarked :(

It was a strange "suite" address, so I wasn't sure what I would be looking for. I drove around a large shopping area looking for it, only to drive away after a single lap. Even though it didn't look like any retail stores were beyond that particular area, I trusted my trusty address/map discernment earlier in the morning, and turned towards the questionable industrial section.

After a quarter mile or so, there were a bunch of people milling about a particular parking lot. There were some construction workers, yes, but there also appeared to be some non-working folk. Suddenly, I saw it. The Goodwill Outlet sign. I may have screamed or cried out some version of "Hooray!"

For the hydroponic gardener in us all...

After parking, I was cautious. What does one do at a thrift outlet? Are there cultural norms? Should I have a box with me? Gloves? Hand sanitizer? What if there are no helpful signs? What will I do?!

Old Speed Ball Font Book from 1952

Well, as all carbon-based life forms have found (I think), I looked around to see what other people were doing, and I did likewise. It didn't feel like what I expected it to feel like. It was smaller than I had imagined. But as I began looking, and digging, it hit me that I could find any number of things, that I would really get to "find" things. It was a fun hour.

There were clearly regulars. Who knows what people do with all of the things they buy there. The woman in front of me at the cash register bought $180 worth of stuff. I paid $8. The load was as much as I could carry, and food needed to be in my near future. The guy at the register (totally cute), weighed the clothing that I had, but charged me for the other items individually.

It was a dirty venture. If I'd known where I'd end up, I'd have better tools in my car. I don't like to use "antibacterial" products in general, but I appreciate water-free-hands-cleaning post-thrifting. I need to get on that. Maybe I need a car toolbox. I know. I know. This is old hat for most people, but I'm a bit bad on the planning side, so I'm slow to plan ahead. But after it was all over, I was so happy and warm and fuzzy. I felt like I'd gotten a cosmic gift, just for me. And now I want more outlet adventures! I'll let you know...