Wednesday, April 30, 2008

So, I know that this blog is named after a flea market, and I do actually own a flea market booth... been awful today though. I'm changing from the front two booths in the window, to two other booths in the middle of the store, so I spent all day moving and rearranging and basically driving myself batty.



reasons to do this... (as I have to keep reminding myself)


  • cheaper rent

  • all those windows are wasted space

  • This booth will look much better

  • change creates positive energy

  • cheaper rent

  • I need to downsize

  • I need to send a bunch of carp to goodwill

  • cheaper rent

Notice that I keep going on and on about cheaper rent... I'm sorry, but in this economy, that's a major motivator.


Now, my real job, being a courier driver, is also starting to cost too much... Have you seen the price of gas out there? Yikes! But, since I took this week off to move the booth... (I'm an independant contractor, so I can take off any time I want.... despite silly dispatcher attempts to say otherwise...) I also went ahead and dropped 400 dollars on a new AC system. That's right, a rebuilt compressor, a dryer, freon and compressor oil, all for 425. That's a deal, as all the other mechanics I talked to estimated over 1000 and then gave me a list of a hundred other things that needed done. Now, my AC went out in the middle of a highway in Ft Worth TX last August, when I'd barely had this job for a month and there's no way in hell I could afford to get anything fixed. Then, whenever I saved enough money to consider it, I had to get tires, or I had to get a new clutch, or whatever... But now I found a good, honest mechanic who works at a very reasonable rate... (I had him do some other stuff first, so I know he's good... )

Anyway, I go back tomorrow, and I finish the booth move, come hell or high water.

Other attempts to save money:

  • I take my lunch to work... Fast food is too expensive and it's bad for me.

  • I have started hanging my washed clothes on the line outside. During the summer months in Texas, they actually dry quicker out there than in the dryer!

  • I don't buy bottled water. Water is free from the tap, and all those blasted plastic bottles are filling the land-fill... I take water to work by refilling plastic bottles I already have.
  • I don't buy coffee every morning. I now make coffee at home and take it with me.
  • I buy the jeans for work at goodwill. Or I used to... Goodwill is getting a little pricey. Sometime a pair of jeans will be 9 or 10 bucks. Now, one of the other chain charity shops has opened an outlet... Any clothing items that are in their stores for over 6 weeks are sent to this place and sold on Wendesday for 1.75 a piece, then thursday for 1.50, then on Friday for 1.25, Saturday 1.00, Sunday .75 and Monday .50 After that, it gets shipped off somewhere, and Tuesday, they are closed to restock. For jeans that are going to get ruined in every factory and warehouse in DFW, it works just fine.
  • I shop at the asian stores... The ones local aren't pretty, and there's some strange stuff in the deli, but the veggies are about half price. Some of my friends get snippy that they aren't clean... but you know what? I'm going to wash it before I eat it anyway...
  • I don't run a dishwasher that isn't full.
  • I don't buy silly products to clean with. Yes, they're convienent. Yes, they kill all the evil germs that are lurking to attack us... but so does Comet that I can get at the dollar store, 2 cans for a buck. Off brand bleach works just as good as the expensive stuff too...
  • I have condensed my storage space from two store rooms to one, and I also put moms stuff in my store room. Since I haven't used any of that stuff for years, I'll be selling it at the flea market, as soon as I can get it in there...

That's just a few of my petty economies...

I am sure that I could make a list of more. But I won't bother you...

Purpose of this post... to clear my head. I just needed to vent a little. Thanks for listening... I don't know why you'd bother though...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Well, It looks like I kinda know what I'm growing now...

The unidentified Mammillaria has been identified as Mammillaria sonorensis v. craigii


The problem is that the darn thing isn't supposed to be winter hardy here... I'm in zone 7b and it's not supposed to be hardy above zone 9. Now it did survive outside last year, but it was an extremely mild winter... but, hopefully I'll get some seed and I'll be able to test the hardiness with seedlings... I'll be digging this guy up and taking it in over the winter...







The Opuntia gossliniana is doing good... these bright purple pads fade to blue gray after they grow up. When I bought this, I thought I was getting a Santa Rita... a plant that is purple, the new pads being green... I wasn't too happy with this, but it is growing on me. Unfortunately, it's a rather slow grower, only putting out new growth in the spring, unlike most Opuntias which will put up a new pad whenever the urge hits them...

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Cactus Update...

Well folks, that Mammilaria is looking less like a meiacantha... it's definitely showing buds, and the buds are definitely purplish pink... strange since every pic on the web is white... but the references do say that the flowers can and often do have a pink or purple stripe down each petal... we'll see.

The Echinocereus reichenbachii v. baileyii has two huge blooms coming out, one on each 'head'... probably the end of the week before I see anything out of them. And the other big echinocereus, the unidentified one, is definitely setting a bud.

Should be interesting to see what happens when it does bloom, and we'll see if I'm able to pin down the species...

Sunday, April 06, 2008

busy, busy, busy day...

Well, I went to the flea market today, and found skanky clothes on the floor where somebody had stolen clothes and changed them in the middle of my booth. Now I should probably explain, that my booth includes floor to cieling windows on the street. So somebody stripped in front of a window, and switched their clothes, and left these seriously skanky clothes, I'm talking sweat pants with skid marks... eyuk...

so anyway, I finally got home, mowed the lawn and worked with my plants. Managed to calm down a little... it's just that sometimes people disgust you...

put together a new planter with a variagated agave I found, and did a flowerpot tree for encheverias ... but by the time I was finished, the sun was setting and I couldn't get a picture. And just as I was picking up all my tools... somebody driving by stoped to ask me about all my plants... and consequently restore my faith in humanity.

Anyway, I'll post a few pics later this week...