I wear my own homemade gear to make the early chilly Sunday mornings a bit more tolerable:
I go to the Market 3 - 4 times a year. On many occasions, I have spent not a single dollar, but on several visits, I spent $100, but I rarely exceed that limit. Through the years, I have found many items that I have been wanting to buy, but I waited for a good deal.
On in the case of shopping do I have 'patience'. I taught myself, note-by-note, how to read music above the age of 40. I play at least 6 heavy-handed Scott Joplin tunes every day, along with probably 20 other songs that bring something else to the table, as so to speak. I play the other songs 1) Because I like them and 2) since I am my own music teacher, these songs teach me various things that I want to learn.
I also taught myself how to knit.
I grow very-non-local tropical fruits and other plants from seed that I have taken from fruit that I get at a local Global Market.
When unsuspecting folk tell me, "Oh, I don't have the patience to do those things!", in doing so, they subconsciously are giving themselves this 'wild and wooly' power AND making a lousy excuse to be lazy.
I respond, "I am the most impatient Son-of-a-Bitch that you will ever meet. I have no patience AT ALL. 'Patience' are for lazy people that sit around and wait for something to happen. 'PERSEVERANCE' is for those of us who cuss a lot - then, we get the job done!"
ANYWHO.....
From the same man that I bought my original 20 control panel glass light covers, I the same found a small bucket full of these glass control panel light indicator covers (??). I bought a total of 35 of these little gems - for 10 cents a piece. I paid $3, because he gave me 5 free. They are in red, green, white and yellow.
I have a friend that is turning the original 20 pieces into a choker similar to the one that I wear in all of my profile pics.
I don't know what I'll do with these 35, but I'm sure they'll get a new life as a piece of fabulous jewelry or a sculpture, etc.
I also bought a "ChromAharP" (that's the way it's spelled on the 1968 insruction manual!) instrument.
Yep. That's just what I need - another musical instrument! Even though the same company is still in business today, these little beauties are still being made and sold today. We paid $40 for this one, which is a very good price when compared to eBay prices. I do need to replace a couple strings, but that's not a major issue.
I play my xylophone and now this 'ChromAharP' to make me think about the music that I'm playing, rather than just to play a keyboard off the top of my head. In this manner, I teach myself MORE about music - and more about myself. These two instruments make me stop and THINK. Doing things that make you REALLY think builds physical brain. Really. It does. (No, not those little tidbits of information that make you say, "Oh, I learned something today!" That's a cheap cop-out, folks, and it does little to nothing to actually make new neurons connect in your head. Doing things that force you to exercise your brain will, in fact, build new and better brain matter - and it will make more efficient use of the brain matter that you already have.
We got three pair of nice, wooly winter socks from the famed 'Sock Lady' for a total of $6. #2 for a pair of sock isn't a bad investment.
I know.... I know... Another thing that I need to take up space in our home is another hat, right?
I couldn't resist this one. The other 3 hats are worth somewhere around $1,000.
I paid $10 for this 'Resistool Beaver 4X' cowboy hat. This one will be my "I really want to wear a hat today, but it's too damned hot' OR 'I'm just going out of the house for a few minutes, and I don't want to go as "full Michael" today - type of hat. The same hat is running from $45 - $150 on eBay.
We got a bit of decor to add to "That 1960's House" that we live in.
This piece is easily 4' x 4'. The guy that sold it to us said he had 20 - 30 more like it in his garage. I can't help wonder in which manner were they originally used, but, it does add a focal point to our great room. Our price: $10
We live on a 1 acre plot. I do have a standard push lawn mower, but there are several occasions through the mowing season that I have a small strip of grass that needs to be cut - but the rest of the huge lawn does not.
This is particularly true of the space around my two small raised beds, and the grass around my potted plants, such as my 4 Pumelo (huge citrus) trees and my fig tree. The grass in the vicinity of these pots gets overspray from when I water the pots, and it grows more than the grass in the rest of our front / back lawns.
This new, 'old-fashioned' reel lawn mower does the trick! The guy that sold me this mower said his sister bought it,and used it once. These things are - new - at Home Depot, for example, for $89. The sharpening kit is an additional $15. I got $104 worth of merchandise for $30. "That's a deal!", considering that I would have happily paid the full price at the store - because I really wanted one of these mowers.
I love my little flea market finds! We live 35 miles from this flea market. I get my bod out of bed at 5:00 AM on days that I want to go to the flea market, and I am headed on down the road by 5:45 AM, so I can get a parking spot in the parking lot, rather than "parking way out". I get to the flea market at exactly 6:30 AM.
I believe the vendors can start selling by 6:00 AM, but, depending on the time of year / season, you can be shopping in the dark at 6:00 AM. 6:30 AM is early enough for me, and even so, I see lots of people pouring over tables of goodies with a flashlight at that time of the morning.
When we pull into the parking lot at 6:30 AM, it's 1/4 full. (This is a big parking lot!). If you wait until 6:45 AM - 7:00 AM to arrive, you won't find a single available parking space in the entire lot. AND... if you don't shop early, you will see the smart 'early birds' carrying the stuff that you REALLY wanted to buy past you as they're taking their goodies to their cars, to return to the Market to continue shopping.
So - there I am. At 6:30 AM.... in 'full form' (hair on the face washed, moussed, hairsprayed and blow dried into place... eyeliner on... great fashionable clothes - hat on the head, pushing my granny cart! (And... I have to feed and potty 3 picky dogs and one very mouthy parrot before I can leave the house!)
You will never regret buying a good quality hand cart. Within one or two shopping seasons, you will regret buying a $20 cart when one of the wheels falls off in the middle of a flea market shopping spree!
"The sweetness of a good deal is long forgotten while the bitterness of poor quality remains."
I bought this cart for $79 at The Container Store - after the wheels fell off my $20 cart. I hand-made the bag that fits perfectly inside to keep stuff from falling out! (a lot of people use an appropriately-sized cardboard box in the bottom of the cart for the same reason.)
- Happy shopping!
Michael
No comments:
Post a Comment