Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Nothing much...

Well, nothing much garden related at least.  Halloween is pending, which will be a relief at the flea, but also signals the beginning of the Christmas sales.  I am, as I type, taking a wee break from spray painting.  A friend, a couple of years ago, bought at auction, bought 100 pieces of cast iron Christmas lawn art.  These vary from 1 foot wire gift boxes to six foot tall wire angels blowing trumpets.  There's even a six foot wire Mary, Joseph, and a tiny little Jesus.  And, even though 'cast iron baby Jesus' sounds like a punk rock hit, they're nice enough.  They came from a nursery which had closed down, and we are not talking the cheap wire things you buy at a bargain store.  These are substantial snowmen, sleighs, and such.

Unfortunately, they weren't stored well, and there's rust issues.  So they bought them, I'm spray painting them, and then we're selling them.  And I need to get them done soon, because people like to get the yard decorated at thanksgiving.

Other developments...  I've signed up for square registry, which is a credit card service through my phone,  cheap rates + quick money turnover to my account.  Good deal for flea market people, or anybody really.  Even the lawn guy can take credit cards with this.   Better than PayPal which holds your money for 7 days, them takes another 3 to transfer it.
Will still have to use PayPal online, which is an issue as I've finally decided to open an Etsy store.  I should have done it years ago, but there we are.  EBay is no longer a really viable option for me and I think I was a little disgusted with online sales in general, but I'm getting over it.
I am also now an official member of the Freelancers Union.  Which has no union dues, but it's a loose coalition of independent contractors, freelancers, etc... right now about 250,000  members and growing, advantages - networking and affordable insurance.  Besides, since companies are not hiring permanent employee's anymore, about 1 in 3 people are now independent contractors working without benefits or job security, (which is ok for a single guy like me, but for a parent with kids... not cool) grouping together is a viable option.

What else?   I think that's about it... we'll see...

After I get a bit more painting done, I'll take a few pics of these things.

UPDATE... I was gonna do another post... but what the heck.   I decided type just update this...

Here's before...


And here's after...


Amazing what a coat af paint will do, aint it?  Now, these candy canes were the worst off, but, heres some more pics...

2 comments:

  1. very nice Christmas pieces, there!!!!! that union sounds good. glad you found thatvway for people to pay on tYour cell phone! very cool and so easy!!!!! let us know when your Etsy shop is up!!!

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  2. I think those are smart decisions, Claude. Definitely let us know when your Etsy shop is up and running!

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