Well, I did it and I'm not gonna apologize for it...

Anyway, I had a seriously bad day yesterday. It was one of those bright, sunshiney beautiful days, the temperature was good, and I was in such a foul mood that I couldn't bring myself to enjoy any of it. I don't know exactly what put me in a mood, but I was just driving around, wanting it to be as hideous outside as I felt inside.

This morning I woke up, and I felt a lot better.

But my last delivery was to Dallas Love Field Airport, at 5:15 pm and I was not, under any circumstances, going to drive home in the middle of rush hour. Fortunately, I was close to one of the bars I used to work in, so I stopped by to see some old friends and relax until I could make it home. Well, next door, there is this store. They had a whole bunch of stuff on 75% of the lowest price. I am now the proud owner of a 3 foot tall gargoyle and a larger than life size vulture. Why? They appealed to the used-to-be-gothic me.

Besides. I wanted them. I tried to get the people in the bar to talk me out of it... but they were no help what-so-ever, so blame them. I've had a bad couple of weeks, and next week is my birthday, and I deserve them.

Now, I just have to talk myself out of the guilt I get every time I spend money on myself.

I'll get pics soon... maybe we'll have a name the vulture contest.

And to top it all off... remember the house I was talking about back in this post... http://lpfleamarket.blogspot.com/2008/08/meandering-around.html
well, I drove by it again today, and it's for rent. I'm dying to find out how much. I don't think I'd actually move in, but the possibilites... there's absolutely no garden there now, think what I could do with agave's and those purple black sweet potato vines...

anyway, I'll talk to you later...

new blog title...

I mentioned that I was thinking about changing the title of the blog a while ago. Primarily, because it was named after a store that I used to own, but is now closed down... however, since I still have the Tax ID number, the store name is still valid and I was kinda thinking about using blogspot to set up a site to sell some stuff online. Ebay no longer being a viable option for the collectables market, I do see that many people are using blogger to sell things, and I don't see why not... I'd just have to put paypal tabs and adwords. And I'm not neccesarily trying to get rich or turn things over super quick...

Really I'm just talking about selling things that are hard to sell at the flea market, or are going to be stolen there... (see the last 2 posts. Grrrrrrr... no, I'm gonna get over it. Honest...)

How about:

Random Rants and Prickly Plants

That kind of gets my point across...

Really, I'm open to suggestions. And I'm just kinda thinking on the keyboard anyway...

Thanks to all for the sympathy on the theft.

I talked it over with my animals, and Charcoal Briquette Cat says that if I find out who the thief is, she will gleefully scratch his eyes out. The other cat, Phennig, will concentrate on ripping his ankles to shreds (ankles are, after all, his specialty.) Then, blinded and lame, Moonpiepug will move in and do his absolute best to drown him with Pug-dog drool (he want's to help but he's not good with enemies who can actually run away.) They then all trooped into the back yard and proceeded to practice their attack strategies on each other. The neighbors thought they were just playing... if they only knew...

I know none of this is likely to happen, but it's nice to see them cooperating for a change.

meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I'm taking a day off of work, which I have to do periodically just to get some regular stuff done. There really isn't enough time in the day. Besides, I've found that driving a truck when you're in a generally foul mood isn't usually productive. And it's raining.

Feeling a little hacked off...

But then, that seems to be a semi-permanent condition around here... but what set me off this time is the Flea Market...

So I go in to take in some pocket knives. Really nice ones, if you're into them... but in a flea market situation they absolutely, positively have to be locked up. They'll walk away or someone will let a four year old play with them. So I get to my showcase and it has been broken into. And someone managed to shoplift a $100 Hull vase. I had it marked a hundred, actually it's worth a little bit more, but this is a flea market.

Now, how somebody managed to get a 15 inch tall piece of pottery out the front door after splitting the wood on a showcase without attracting any attention is beyond me... actually, I have a pretty good idea, but we'll get to that later.

The point is, that I cannot take 100 dollar losses. I will not tolerate them.

Now, the really interesting thing about all this is, that in that showcase, there are turquoise and sterling rings, several really nice sterling and silver plate pieces, and a couple of good watches. In other words, several things that are much more likely to tempt the average drug addict who's looking for something to hock than Hull pottery. Hull is a rather specialized collectible, and not readily hock-able. Which means there was a really really avid collector with a really really large purse, or there is another dealer in there who was packing something extra in their "empty" boxes when they left after restocking their boothl. I'm afraid the latter is more likely.

I have informed the owners that they either need to get security cameras, or they can put me in a new booth by the cash register where they can keep an eye on it. Either that, or I'm going to have to move out. They don't want that, as I have some of the best stuff in there. My eye for the unique and unusual keeps that booth full of fun stuff.

But anyway, I've spent the day wanting to rip somebodies throat out with my teeth...

Thanks for letting me get it off my chest. I feel much better now...

I'm BACK

That's right, I'm back to terrify the online community.

Hide your children.

The computer is up and running, and I've still got to re-install a few things, but here we are and aren't you lucky... I really missed keeping up with what everybody was doing out there.

See y'all later...

howdy folks... just a quick post. I'm at a friends house, as my computer is seriously messed up. Actually, so messed up, that it got wiped... I'd sit around and reload carp tonight, but I have to sleep early because I have to drive to Oklahoma tomorrow.

Really, Just checking in, so that everybody will know that I'm not ignoring you!

Later.

Stapeliad finally blooming...

well, the darned thing finally bloomed, and I have to say it's about darned time.



And just for the record, it does smell like a pound of hamburger that's been left out in the sun, but only if you get close to it. Now, the thing is in a hanging basket, so I had to shoot the pic from underneath, but here it is...

It is attracting flies, and there was also one of those little fuzzy jumping spiders that look like miniature tarantulas there, I'm assuming that the spider was going after the fly... as you can see, there are quite a few more buds forming. It'll be interesting to see how many blooms I get, before I lose patience with the smell and just start pulling buds off... Right now, I think I should celebrate the bloom with a nice dinner, but after smelling the thing I think I'll opt for vegetarian tonight...

I've had an extremely buzy week... but that should, hopefully, translate into cash with the next Paycheck.

I was supposed to go into the Flea Market today, to straighten out my booth and see how sales were going. But I was just too tired to bother. They'll have to get along without me today. It's one of those stores where you set it up, and their employees take care of the money and sales tax and all that, the write me a check once a week.

Did finally venture out of the house take care of some errands, and ended up stopping at a whole bunch of yard sales on the way back... managed to find a few good buys. The disadvantage to getting out there late is that a lot of the stuff has been picked over. The advantage is that after about 11, those people are starting to get tired and they don't want to repack all that stuff up... they're willing to deal!

So, I came home with a few pieces of vintage jewelry, some snuffboxes, some tools, cowboy hats, cowboy boots and a set of margarita glasses, all of which I should be able to resell after I've done a little cleaning and such... Not bad.

My niece is moving back to Texas this weekend with her fiance', flying in tomorrow. Coming by plane because she sold everything. She said she had no interest in dragging all that crap halfway across the country, except for a few things which she packed up in a box to ship. Smart kid.

No pics today.

howdy.

Well, it's been a trying day.

Screwed up orders, orders that no one was willing to sign for, and the cherry on the cake of the day.... 4 gallons of paint dropped...

And then, when I get home, somebody had been downloading free games of the internet, and they're full of spyware.

And now the pop-up blocker is not working right...

I hate pop-ups.

So I spent a few hours updating everything and running spyware removers and I think everythings back but it was not a good day.

regardless, nothing really to say, just checking in more than anything else.



Oh, and as for the funky mushroom on the previous post... still can't find out what it was, and the wonderful gentleman at http://www.mushroomexpert.com/ couldn't figure out what it was from the pic except that it's probably some sort of bolette... anyway, I'll be adding the link to the right hand side of the screen, as it's an excellent site and a great resource if you're trying to find out what that thing in your yard is...

later folks.

well, mushrooms are coming up again...

well, look what I found in the parking lot of one of the local shopping centers... I have absolutely no idea what kind of mushroom this is, but it's kind of fun. And there's plenty more coming up, thanks to the recent rain... I like the woody, textured look of these. I picked the big one, as it appeared to be pretty much dried out already, and I'm going to see if I can dry it for a floral arrangement. Some you can, some you can't, but the only way to find out is to try...
tonight, I have to get the batteries charged on the old digital camera, as the stapeliad will be blooming tomorrow or the day after. Or it should be, I can't imaging that bud balloning up much bigger...

No real news today, It was a beautiful day to drive, got to the 70's today, which is so unusual in Texas, you started seeing long sleeves! We're acclimatized to 90 and above here...

later folks.