My New Toy/Job

Boy do I have a tirade in me about how school should not start on the 15th of AUGUST and about how school should be contained to September through May and about how much money the schools could save if they did it MY way!  And about the audacity of closing the swimming pool on August 14th when it will be hot until October around here!  But I'll spare you.

The girls went back to school on Monday.  They had better attitudes about it than I did. 

School means that I drive two hours a day to take and pick up.  It means that we have to answer to the school system.  It means we're in trouble if we get sick too much.  I means we have to get a doctor's note for illnesses that don't need a doctor visit.  And then there are the homework meltdowns.  And projects that require me to do what my tax dollars pay the teachers to do.  And fees. And the $88 calculator that is REQUIRED!  Yep!  I have an attitude. 

But we'll survive.

This year is pretty much a continuation of last year for us because everyone went back to the same school they attended last year so our routines are all the same.  The primary difference is that this year all three of my girls are at the top of the food chain in their schools.  Emily is a senior.  Tessa is a 9th grader.  And Sara-Grace is a 5th grader.  Hopefully that situation makes for a good year!

Sisters sitting for obligatory first-day-of-school photo.
(Emily does not allow me to photograph her.)

Tessa had a great first day getting a million compliments of her ruffles!

Sara-Grace was NOT happy that everyone had to wear the same t-shirt on the first day. 
But I'm glad the school is using the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People this year
(printed on the back of the shirt)
and I'm looking forward to learning about it through S-G.

Having the girls back in school does not mean that I have more time.  Actually, I have less time and a more rigid (read: "strangling") structure.  So, the new school year is not the reason for my new venture.  It's just coincidental timing.

Here is my new flea market booth (with the current vendor's stuff in it):

My future flea market booth in the first room.

The built-in shelves are both a blessing and a curse.  I need the shelf space but I also need some wall space.  I plan to try to negotiate the removal of the shelves on the left side.  Or maybe I'll relocate to a different booth at some point.  I'm trying not to think there's a second booth in my future.  Like the one below that I rejected in favor of the one above.  

The booth I rejected that's in the second room.

I was happy to learn that there is a common area for large items so I won't have to try to fit them in my little booth.  I plan to abuse the privilege of the common area.

Common area.

Don't tell my customers but 95+% of what's going to be for sale in my booth comes to me for free.  And I'll be fixing things up with free paint too (Fayetteville offers for free any useable paint or other chemicals that come into it's hazardous waste drop-off facility).  I gather fun junk and fix it up anyway.  Might as well have a paying outlet for all of it (ok, MOST of it).  Maybe this will help the bottleneck in my life that is my garage?  Or maybe it will just make it worse.  We'll see!

For example:

Gold plastic (yes, plastic!) sconce that was not my style (but that photographed so well that it's undermining my point!).

That is now a hot pink sconce.  Still not my style but much more fun! 
Stay tuned for a photo of what I do with it and the coordinating pieces that aren't pink yet but will be soon!

I have lots more free paint and there's always more where that came from! 
And I have lots more junk.  Of course.  You know me!

You  may have seen this utility cart transformation when I posted it on Facebook but I couldn't resist adding it here because it really captures what I like to do:

Before.  Free from a trash pile.

After. $4 worth of spray paint (because there was not free turquoise at the moment) and about 20 minutes of my time.

I saw this ugly version in the flea market priced at $28.  You can bet mine will be priced higher!

Guess what I wanted to do when I woke up this morning!  Yes, spray paint was involved!

Tyler Archer Moran -- This is all because of you and those darned velvet roadrunner paintings!  Thanks!

Dumpster Rejects

You might imagine that proper dumpster diving attire would involve old clothes or, perhaps, a sanitary hazmat jumpsuit complete with goggles and gloves.  Not us!

Mark always seems to end up dumpster diving in his chuch clothes.  Before church.  And then we do go to church afterward.  And it's never been a problem. 

For me, I like to be well-dressed in thrift store clothes for dumpster diving.  Here I am wearing a $4 dress and $3 shoes.  When they say "the little black dress you can wear anywhere", they mean ANYWHERE!

I usually post a report on the dumpster loot I've found -- the good stuff that I've kept.  However, there are some things I am quite happy to leave in dumpsters.  Here's a typical sample:


Tacky Decor.  Like velvet roadrunner paintings.

Geese.  We find  lots of outdated, country-style, geese-themed items.  Like this napkin ring.

Holiday Decorations.  Dumpster divers never have to buy holiday decor because there is always LOTS of it to be found.  We once found a beautiful, fully lighted (working lights) six foot artificial tree that would have cost $200+ new.

Hats.  And things that can be used as hats if one gets carried away!  (I'm seriously wishing I'd worn makeup to go dumpster diving but it's more important to me at the moment to show the photos than to fret about looking hideous!)  The fun of it was that, everytime Mark looked up, I was wearing a different hat!

Purple Cowboy Hat

Straw visor

Knit beanie

Easter basket

Bowl

Items with Someone Else's Name On It.  Kind of a fun letter jacket but the leather was discolored in an very ugly way.  And it was too small.  And it had someone else's name on it.

Underwear.  Just kinda creepy -- even though I'm fine with washing and wearing other dumpster clothes. Though I do have some panties that I found new in a sealed package.

Oija Board.  This was hard for me to leave.  Because it was new in the box.  And glows in the dark.

And has really cool vintage stying and graphics.  But Mark was worried that it would invite evil spirits to hang around.  We just got rid of a particularly nasty evil spirit.  When I have the courage (and maybe after I get my head examined), I'll write a post about it. 

Even if I never used it to conjure up spirits, we decided we don't want it (and any paranormal baggage that might come with it) around.  So, good-bye to the Oija board.  See?  It's saying "Good-Bye" back!