Tommorrow I'm opening a new shop in an antique mall in albuquerque. This involves scouting out items laying in the yard, stacked in the storage space, and attending to the "fix it someday" pile. I want to make a great impresssion, make money and create a buzz. Wondering if i should start off with the rusty porch glider or the mohair sofa from "Passion Play". Business is down all over, it feels like to me, and price point is more important than ever.
I,m holding a big sale in my old booth, hoping to raise a little cash and reduce the amount of stock i have. I pulled my treasures, don't want to give them away, and have said a mental good bye to the rest.
Now is the time to heave items into the truck, this is when i wish i had been born a "teacup" dealer instead of a large rusty furniture seller. Loading alone is a learned skill, i've had lots of practice, but it doesn't get easier with age and loss of waistline. I'll employ a furniture dolly to move one end of the glider, or sofa, and rest my carried end on the tailgate. Kicking the dolly out of the way, i heave the other end in and pray it doesn't get stuck in the tailgate groove. Thorw a blanket over that piece and get the next. And on and on.
I'll try a little of this and a little of that to see what the audience at the new place responds to. It's tricky and i feel a little unsure of myself after my less than stellar Etsy opening. Sometimes the learning curve becomes very steep and my footing slips.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Bring It.....wind
wondering why i'm surprised that it's windy everyday on the prairie. Duh. Another stella windy day and another attempt to stay centered while leaning eastward.
A great day yesterday at the recycling bins, got to one just as a restaurant busboy was unloading his employer's bottles. he nicely sorted out the ones he believed I wanted, as he was afraid I'd get cut. I hardly ever do, a weird phenomenon as I always sticking my arm in a huge container of broken glass. I measure my bottle picking success by how many Bombay saphirres I score. 4, that's a great day!
Got some cans, though ran into another can picker at one bin and we seemed to be following the same route. I try and share, it's tough as I try and gauge how needy they are. I guess I look needy with my shaved head, dirty truck and makeshift collection containers. I try and give older women first dibs, respect for my elders and you'd be shocked how many grey haired ladies are supplementing their social security with aluminum. a couple have minivans stocked with plastic bins that they fill from net bags. I often wonder,"are they crazy or just poor?"
I also scored a wonderful folk art dresser at the Goodwill. an unknown artist painted a waterfall dresser white and glued old book photos of horses, maps and women in aprons to it. It seems to be custom made for me and I'll keep it and be inspired.
I attended the monthly permaculture meeting. always fun and great wisdom shared. We talk about our current projects and plans for our next projects. I love learning from other's mistakes, saves me from making them myself. More learning to live from the heart!
I'm watching the hummingbird try to land on the gusting feeder. I wonder if hummingbirds curse?
A great day yesterday at the recycling bins, got to one just as a restaurant busboy was unloading his employer's bottles. he nicely sorted out the ones he believed I wanted, as he was afraid I'd get cut. I hardly ever do, a weird phenomenon as I always sticking my arm in a huge container of broken glass. I measure my bottle picking success by how many Bombay saphirres I score. 4, that's a great day!
Got some cans, though ran into another can picker at one bin and we seemed to be following the same route. I try and share, it's tough as I try and gauge how needy they are. I guess I look needy with my shaved head, dirty truck and makeshift collection containers. I try and give older women first dibs, respect for my elders and you'd be shocked how many grey haired ladies are supplementing their social security with aluminum. a couple have minivans stocked with plastic bins that they fill from net bags. I often wonder,"are they crazy or just poor?"
I also scored a wonderful folk art dresser at the Goodwill. an unknown artist painted a waterfall dresser white and glued old book photos of horses, maps and women in aprons to it. It seems to be custom made for me and I'll keep it and be inspired.
I attended the monthly permaculture meeting. always fun and great wisdom shared. We talk about our current projects and plans for our next projects. I love learning from other's mistakes, saves me from making them myself. More learning to live from the heart!
I'm watching the hummingbird try to land on the gusting feeder. I wonder if hummingbirds curse?
Monday, May 9, 2011
recycling on Mother's day.
Ran into a fellow recycler at the bins. She's got an update on Albuquerque,s recycling program. She's heard that the city has finally found a company that will truly recycle. up until this pint most of all bin content ha sgone to the landfill. Good for the landfill, bad for the community of people that have been making money truly recycling. th eprices of metal are at all time highs so I see many regulars picking through the mixed content bin. there are few glass recyclers, i think I've met them, we're all using the bottles for building, one woman sells some bottles to brewers. Albuquerque is trying to pass an ordinace to prevent people from scavenging the recycling bins.
By evening on a Sunday, most of the mixed content bins are overflowing. one woman picked up a big box of children's clothes. I was able to get a partial roll of chicken wire, a wooden bed, a few bags of cans, and 3 bonbay sapphire bottles. I passed up a pile of cardboard swamp cooler filters. Sometimes I'm slow on the ideas, they would be perfect for "sponges" for trees. If you dig a good size hole near the newly planted tree and fill the holes with paper, cloth, leaves, straw, and any organic materals, the sponge will hold any water and the tree will send roots into the sponge. it eventually breaks down into compost and you hacve to refill but it's a great use of junk mail and old paper.
I purhcased 9 fence posts from an ad on craig's list. these will help to finish the pallet fence around the perimeter of the property. He also had a few t posts, they were more money than the yshould have been but he gave us a small discount. everything can't always be free and I see it as supporting fellow recyclers. we could all use cash sometimes and it encourages us to keep it up!
By evening on a Sunday, most of the mixed content bins are overflowing. one woman picked up a big box of children's clothes. I was able to get a partial roll of chicken wire, a wooden bed, a few bags of cans, and 3 bonbay sapphire bottles. I passed up a pile of cardboard swamp cooler filters. Sometimes I'm slow on the ideas, they would be perfect for "sponges" for trees. If you dig a good size hole near the newly planted tree and fill the holes with paper, cloth, leaves, straw, and any organic materals, the sponge will hold any water and the tree will send roots into the sponge. it eventually breaks down into compost and you hacve to refill but it's a great use of junk mail and old paper.
I purhcased 9 fence posts from an ad on craig's list. these will help to finish the pallet fence around the perimeter of the property. He also had a few t posts, they were more money than the yshould have been but he gave us a small discount. everything can't always be free and I see it as supporting fellow recyclers. we could all use cash sometimes and it encourages us to keep it up!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
another friday, another trip to the recycling bins
This brings me to my fear and second thoughts about quitting my job and just living my life. I hate the way i feel at work, I don't like who I am whan i'm at work and I love who I am at home. I love how I feel building a wall from trash or massaging a horse or selling a treasure I found. I had an interesting train of events happen Thursday and Friday. Thursday the set designer came over to Broken Shovel, ooooded and ahhed over every thing, rente da truck full of stuff and it felt great. Besides really needing the money to buy hay for the horses. Friday i got an email from a friend regarding a position on the Avengers. It was for an assistant to the travel coordinator, no sweat for me, not much money for me, but 2 1/2 months away from my new life. I agonized over the decision and turned the job down.
Not to get too Spiritual, but i think this is the time that i really need to trust the universe to send me what I need. My part of the bargain is to see the beauty in nature and the creatures i spend my life with. Call it the universe, jesus crist, god ( or I like to refer to god as dog now),mother nature, karma, whatever, Trusting and letting go is the hardest but the rewards are more than you could ever plan for. Living from the heart feels extremely important right about now and I'm going for it.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
bottle fence
struggling to get these fences built, i start and then peter out. it's so much easier to play spider and muddle away the time.
Trying a sand,clay, and mortar mix. I'm adding the mortar because these walls will be exposed to the weather and moisture will run down the wooden slats and hit the bottles.
I plan on interspirsing bottle designs and the wooden slats.I'm starting on these simpler walls to ready myself before starting on my "ocean waves". The ideas of trying to draw with bottles seems easier in thought than practise.
Made another small Etsy sale today. It's encouraging until i look at my Paypal balance,sigh. As I say to my children, one foot in front of the other. I must repeat that to myself.
Yesterday's thrift store haul was pretty good. got quite a few nice pieces of vintage, both men's and women's. Found a lovely cild's slip with crinoline. Reminds me of my daughter Natalie, she always wanted to wear them out and it would be a struggle to get her to wear underwear. Little girls love to dress like princesses and I'm hoping this will go to one of those little girls. I come home and make two piles, one for Etsy, one for Rusty Cowgirl. Still trying to figure this all out.
Trying a sand,clay, and mortar mix. I'm adding the mortar because these walls will be exposed to the weather and moisture will run down the wooden slats and hit the bottles.
Made another small Etsy sale today. It's encouraging until i look at my Paypal balance,sigh. As I say to my children, one foot in front of the other. I must repeat that to myself.
Yesterday's thrift store haul was pretty good. got quite a few nice pieces of vintage, both men's and women's. Found a lovely cild's slip with crinoline. Reminds me of my daughter Natalie, she always wanted to wear them out and it would be a struggle to get her to wear underwear. Little girls love to dress like princesses and I'm hoping this will go to one of those little girls. I come home and make two piles, one for Etsy, one for Rusty Cowgirl. Still trying to figure this all out.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
friday's haul
having to drive into Albuquerque anyway to pickup my son from work, i hit the recycling bins. if you go to the website for ABQ there's a list of all recycling bins in town, i have my own route i follow and just get lucky.
the biggest find was 9 blue glass bottles, 2 bombay saphire, one of big stupid costco vodka bottles and assorted others. they are all put away by this moring in their special bins. i also picked up close to 15 pounds of aluminum cans, a piece of copper tubing, a pair of italian leather shoes and a steamer. i'll donate the shoes to the local thrift, use the steamer, cans are 70 cents a pound, and the copper wil go into the growing copper pile. Almost forgot the two burlap bags of corn cobs and husks. making a berm in the front yard to collect water with trhose. Blaze the dog sneaks out and eats some and probally the gophers steal a couple. that's great!
My son scrounged a fabulous kitchen sink, though there wasn't room inthe truck and i'll haul that home on Sunday.
getting the energy to start a bottle wall. it's easier to put it off.
the biggest find was 9 blue glass bottles, 2 bombay saphire, one of big stupid costco vodka bottles and assorted others. they are all put away by this moring in their special bins. i also picked up close to 15 pounds of aluminum cans, a piece of copper tubing, a pair of italian leather shoes and a steamer. i'll donate the shoes to the local thrift, use the steamer, cans are 70 cents a pound, and the copper wil go into the growing copper pile. Almost forgot the two burlap bags of corn cobs and husks. making a berm in the front yard to collect water with trhose. Blaze the dog sneaks out and eats some and probally the gophers steal a couple. that's great!
My son scrounged a fabulous kitchen sink, though there wasn't room inthe truck and i'll haul that home on Sunday.
getting the energy to start a bottle wall. it's easier to put it off.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
stuff i got yesterday and how i'm using stuff today
things I got yesterday; one pair vintage croc cowboy boots(great find),one 1962 home ec text book, 2 necklaces to tear apart,one small mirror with crusty backing, one 1970's "Careers" game(complete), two boxes poker chips and one pair of white babies shoes from the 60's.
today I built tomato planters using scrap wire, black plastic bags and some of the leaves I dug out of the recycling bins in Albuquerque. They are pretty deep and the leaves will break down over time and form leaf mold, that's a great compost. It will add much needed acid to my alkaline desert soil. The black plastic bags will condense water at night when there's a great tewmperature change and help to water the tomatoes. I'll transplant the tomatos in a week or two as we're still frost prone.
today I built tomato planters using scrap wire, black plastic bags and some of the leaves I dug out of the recycling bins in Albuquerque. They are pretty deep and the leaves will break down over time and form leaf mold, that's a great compost. It will add much needed acid to my alkaline desert soil. The black plastic bags will condense water at night when there's a great tewmperature change and help to water the tomatoes. I'll transplant the tomatos in a week or two as we're still frost prone.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
too much stuff
Stuff, other people's, mine, yours. My life seems to revolve around stuff. good stuff, junk, old stuff, valuable stuff, trash, collectible stuff, stores full of stuff, land fills full of stuff, dead peoples stuff, george carlin's stuff.
I'm currently rebuilding my house from other people's thrown away stuff. Recycled, up cycled, scavenged, used stuff. I stop people on the way to the landfill, pick through garbage and answer ads on Craig's list. sometimes it's free sometimes i purchase it from thrift stores and once in while followed by a rush of guilt, i buy from a box store. I store it all in giant piles in my yard. I'm lucky to live in a part of the country where I can do that. I recently heard on the local public radio station that helicopters would be patrolling a local counties backyards for piles of "junk". Who decides what's junk or perfectly good stuff to be reused? Do they give a class on that, can you be certified? That might make a good career choice for someone like myself if it was trash, maybe I could bring some to my house and store it where the helicopters haven't patrolled yet.
I've tried over the years to sell stuff. mostly stuff that pleases my eye and a few others,too. I've made large sums of money reselling stuff but I've never been able to control when or where i get the money. it never seems to come when i need it and when i take a good look at my merchandise, all i seem to have is a pile of eye pleasing stuff.
I recently become obsessed with the nuclear accident in Japan and it makes me wonder what will happen to their stuff. Friends told me the weekend after 9/11 the 26th st flea market in Manhattan did record sales. is this an example of the bumper sticker, who ever dies with the most toys wins? Or were the survivors so elated to survive, they had to reward themselves with more stuff? Can stuff really make your live happier, more satisfying? Will we be well dressed victims of radiation poisoning?
I'm currently rebuilding my house from other people's thrown away stuff. Recycled, up cycled, scavenged, used stuff. I stop people on the way to the landfill, pick through garbage and answer ads on Craig's list. sometimes it's free sometimes i purchase it from thrift stores and once in while followed by a rush of guilt, i buy from a box store. I store it all in giant piles in my yard. I'm lucky to live in a part of the country where I can do that. I recently heard on the local public radio station that helicopters would be patrolling a local counties backyards for piles of "junk". Who decides what's junk or perfectly good stuff to be reused? Do they give a class on that, can you be certified? That might make a good career choice for someone like myself if it was trash, maybe I could bring some to my house and store it where the helicopters haven't patrolled yet.
I've tried over the years to sell stuff. mostly stuff that pleases my eye and a few others,too. I've made large sums of money reselling stuff but I've never been able to control when or where i get the money. it never seems to come when i need it and when i take a good look at my merchandise, all i seem to have is a pile of eye pleasing stuff.
I recently become obsessed with the nuclear accident in Japan and it makes me wonder what will happen to their stuff. Friends told me the weekend after 9/11 the 26th st flea market in Manhattan did record sales. is this an example of the bumper sticker, who ever dies with the most toys wins? Or were the survivors so elated to survive, they had to reward themselves with more stuff? Can stuff really make your live happier, more satisfying? Will we be well dressed victims of radiation poisoning?
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