Tire trouble update...

so... if you read the last post... you know about the tire trouble... and the lack of spare tire and whathaveyou...

I figured the best thing to do was pull off the blown out tire, take the danged thing, with a ride from a friendly neighbor, to the used tire store, and get a replacement, then put the tire on the truck... unfortunately, what I wasn't aware of at the time, is that the last time I'd had the tires changed, the lug nuts had somehow gotten stripped.  Which means the blasted things aren't moving. 

I got the lug wrench on there... tried to turn it... and the lug wrench snapped... Now, I've heard of lug wrenches snapping before.  But I'd never actually known it to happen... but this one did... and unfortunately in the process, my hand rammed into the pavement, and I now have bleeding fingers... one of them actually took a hit right in the cuticle of my nail which is the most esquisitely painful place to get a cut... and it didn't want to stop bleeding. 

Fortunately, I grew up on an Army base, and I knew exactly what to do... which is to sit on the curb screaming every curse word you know for the next 15 minutes.  Much to the amusement of my neighbors, I assure you.  

Finally, cold, frustrated, bleeding and thoroughly pissed off... I called a tow truck and had the thing towed to a used tire place.  Fortunately the Corpus Christi job 2 weeks ago paid well and I had the money.  I would have infinitely preffered to buy something else with the money... something silly like food or maybe pay a bill or two... but there we are. 

so... a few weeks ago... maybe almost a month ago... someone stole the spare tire on my truck.  I don't know why, I'm not aware of a huge black market for spare tires, but they evidently crawled under my truck, cut the cable that holds the spare on with a pair of chain cutters or something and made off with the spare. 

I put the word out for another spare, but never heard back and then yesterday, I had a blowout in the middle of the freeway in Dallas.  And NO SPARE.  Dammit all to hell...

Ended up having to get towed home.   Which means the account for my gas is now empty, and since I had my gas money, the other account was used for bills so no help there and I'm waiting to hear from work to see when an advance on my paycheck will come through. 

I used to hope for an uneventful week... lately I've been hoping for a single uneventful day... Oh well... 

Ok folks, it's Christmas at the flea market... and here's some of the things in my stall that we have for the holiday shoppers.  I wouldn't bother y'all with this sort of thing, except some of you seem to enjoy seeing what I have... I apologize for picture quality.  I'm stuck with a mobile phone at the moment... and the red background doesn't seem to condone pics for some reason.

First... there's a set of 8 of these powder horn beer glasses that would make somebody a wonderful present.  These are TIARA glass.  Tiara / Indiana Glass closed in 2002, and many of their pieces are coming into their own as collectables now... I'm pretty sure these date to the late seventies or early eighties. 

 Next on the flea market tour is this teapot from Fitz and Floyd.  It's a nice majolica piece that is in absolutely excellent condition.  No cracks, chips or even the tiny glaze flea bites that are the bane of majolica.  It's made to look like a Christmas cottage.  More a display piece than anything else... dating to the mid-eighties. 

And heres a pair of Fitz and Floyd salt and pepper shakers... I like these because the S and P's are actually usable pieces. 

More Tiara glass... this pair of beer steins are marked on the bottom and are in Tiara's 'black onyx'.  Definitely mid seventies here...

This pair of Salt and Pepper shakers in the Fitz and Floyd 'Damask Christmas' pattern are in their origional box... which is very important to collectors.  Early eighties. 

And I actually really really like these... dating to the late seventies, the tumbling reindeer are one of the earliest Christmas sets that Fitz and Floyd put out... there's a pair of candle holders, made to be centered on the table with the five cavorting reindeer surrounding them.  I once saw them in someones house worked into a table center with holly and pine, and it was quite striking.  These are in excellent condition. 

And that's a few of the pieces that we have in the Flea Market this week. 

On Friday, I officially spent 17 hours on the road.  The highlight of my day was a 400+ mile 'emergency' run to Corpus Christi.  Actually, I would have liked to have just found a cheap hotel room and stayed the night when I got there, but a quick check on my accounts showed that I couldn't really afford the room plus the gas back, so I turned around and came home, ariving about 2 am. 

That's one of the frustrating things about this job... yeah I go places, but all I see of them is the warehouse district.  True, this warehouse district had an interesting palm tree... but that doesn't really seem worth the trip. 

I spent all day Saturday dragging and nursing my knee.  Turns out my left knee doesn't particularly appreciate being asked to work a clutch for 17 hours straight.  When I woke up, it had stiffened up and didn't particularly want to bend.  A heating pad, elastic bandage and a certain amount of cussing seem to have finally convinced it, but today, Sunday, I won't be going to church.  I'm just too old to spring back from these things the way I used to.  I will however be listing some more on Craigs list... gonna sell off some Fitz & Floyd china that I have around here, and I have no use for.  Good thing about working in a flea market... I get tired of something, I have a place to get rid of it fairly easily. 

Speaking of Flea Market... There is a new one opening next year, and I've been approached about managing it.  Definitely interested. 

I'll attach links to the CL listings, or maybe just post some pics, later today...

well, everybody out there will be glad to know that the elephants in the last post... are sold... so, here's the whole story...  I bought that pair for 10 bucks.  Because they didn't have tusks. 

Believe it or not, I just happened to have tusks at home.  Actually, I think they started out as cow horns, but they were in my bit's n pieces box... so I glued them in, and resold the elephants for 25 bucks each.  

Well, that's what I do for money.  Oh well... if you people had enough sense to save your own elephant tusks, you could have saved a few bucks, right? 

Howdy folks... I've been listing on Craigs List, so I thought I'd drop by and see what everybody was up to. 

We list a few items a week on CL for the flea market, so that we can get out of town customers in... Not only from Dallas, but we've had people come in from Louisiana... It's good PR for the stores, and people like CL for some reason. 

Here's what's in my stall that is listed...

Well, I like to have funky things in my booth.  And elephants are really popular...

note... pic was added on December 9th, because I realized the craigs list link was now dead and I really really really hate posts that are talking about pics & links and things that aren't there anymore...

Black Friday

I don't take part in Black Friday. 

I find the whole concept appalling. 

Probably because of things like THIS.

Now, before I continue... this video is a Wal-mart riot depicting people risking life and limb for the right to spend $2 on a waffle iron.  And, to be quite blunt, most of the people in that video would do well to lay off the waffles... there aren't many that I'd exactly call slender.  But that's beside the point I suppose.

You see, I was raised to believe that Christmas was a celebration of the birth of Christ.  Unfortunately, it seems to have devolved into some sort of Capitalist Pig-out.  (Don't worry... I'm not going to go off on a Jesus is the Reason for the season rant.)

Now, I'll always admit that there was a certain desperation about gifts.  Especially for children.  But I don't recall anybody risking injury to get any gifts.  This year I have, through facebook, read stories and seen videos of people getting maced, trampled and even a few stories about gun-fire. 

Come on people.

So... I'm going to announce now... DON'T BUY ME ANY PRESENTS.  The mere thought of somebody risking serious bodily injury for the sake of purchasing somthing for me makes me cringe.

I don't want anything.  If you absolutely have to get me something, then make it, or bake cookies or something.  There are a few gifts that I have to give, and I'm making them. 

You see, when I was a youngster, I developed a case of mononucleosis.  This was back in the day when the treatment for mono demanded complete bed rest.  I think it was 6 weeks... but to a 8 year old it felt like half a life time.  As I lay there, perishing of sheer unadulterated boredom, my Grandmother took it upon herself to sit with me.  Consequently, I learned how to knit, crochet and tat.  My close friends are recieving hand made scarves.  I may send out a few cards.  That's gonna be about it.

Now, kids probably need something storebought.  Fortunately, I don't have any kids to buy for.  If you do, you have my pity.  But the rest of you people are full grown adults and if you're one of those people who have an internal calculator that keeps tally of the cost of every present you recieve... grow up or get the hell out of my house, because you're gonna be bitterly disapointed.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Howdy folks... and Happy Thanksgiving. 

Just a quick note before I head out... I'm on my way to a friends house to have a Thanksgiving lunch and then on my way to my nieces to have a Thanksgiving dinner.  I'm going to get really really fat today. 

But of course, it's difficult to get really really fat all at once, so I'm taking my own tupperware. 

Silent Auction Update

Howdy! 

First, I said I would update ya'all on the benefit where I provided a vase for the silent auction.  I dropped by event thinking I would have a couple of drinks, maybe bid on a few things... little did I know...

The organizer of the event saw me and said... "Good!  You're here!"  and set me to work... I spent most of the evening working the room selling raffle tickets.  I personally raised about 140 bucks before I had to leave to get sleep... it was a Thursday and I have to work on Friday morning.   So, being slightly obnoxious and having some PR experience does come in handy.

 Also featured at the event were a few of the local Drag Performers who were also working the room.  If you've never been to a drag show, generally the 'girls' get up, talk, fling some tude around, then lip sych a song while collecting tips from the crowd... on the night in question, all the tips went into a bucket and were donated to the cause. 

I don't know exactly how much my vase brought in... but the total for the event was $2040 towards the food pantry.  And the food pantry people are very good and ensuring that each and every dollar donated is stretched to the max.  They'll be repeating this event quarterly, and they've asked if I can help do some PR for it.  I have every intention of doing so...

Started work yesterday with a drive out job... here's the difference.  A direct job is when I pick something up here and deliver it 130 miles.  A drive out is when I drive 130 miles to pick up something and then drive it back... so, yesterday morning I drove to Wichita Falls to get something that was terribly important and bring it back. 

Now, as a courier, I don't always know exactly what's in those boxes.  There's very good reason for this... unless it's haz mat or dangerous, it really doesn't matter.  I get the box, I take it where it goes.  No big deal.  Also... there's security reasons... for instance, if I'm picking up a lockbox full of cash, jewelry, etc... and they're only paying me 25 bucks to deliver it... well... they'd just rather not let me know about it for some reason...  Eyeballs they'll tell me about, simply because there's very little chance a driver is going to disappear with them.  And I'm sure they like to watch some drivers turn green. 

So I ran up to Wichita Falls, get to the pick up and watched them pack the box.  Two cans of paint thinner.  Which prompts the response... "REALLY?"  I mean... are they honestly going to tell me there's no paint thinner in Dallas/ Fort Worth?  Did anybody think to check with the local Home Depot?  Lowes?  Wal-Mart for Christ's sake?  I mean, for the amount your paying me... I'd be perfectly willing to drop by any of those places, buy the blasted paint thinner and you can pay me back when I get there.

On the other hand... if you wanna pay me a decent sum of cash to drive your paint thinner all over the state of Texas, I guess I can do it... I've certainly done sillier things in my life. 

Regardless... I used enough gas that I had to call dispatch and arrange for an advance on the paycheck, since I used up my gas budget for the next two days... 

And as grateful as I am that I have a job... I soooooo want a new one...