Music Saturday. Getting back into the music. Gotta love it. Returning to my roots. Deep roots. My sister sent over some music to sell at the garage sale. Books, too. Spouse and Son dumped some of his preschool books. The only book of mine which went was one my brother gave me a few years ago: The South Beach Diet. Did me a lot of good. Must have gained about twenty pounds since putting it on the shelf. Of course, I'm losing weight now. No. Really. Here's the link to prove it.
No. I could not bring myself into releasing any of my music - or books. But especially music.
God gave us our physical senses, of which we name five: speech, smell, touch, sight, hearing. I've had more than one person tell me the world would be a better place should I lose my ability to speak. And of course I've been told I smell far too much. But don't you just love the smell of fresh cut grass? Of rain and waterfalls? Blooming lilacs? Green peppers (smell, not eat)?
My feet have gone numb and I can strongly attest that that is annoying. I used to like walking barefoot in soft grass. Now it's like wearing shoes. Only I have to wear shoes because I don't even know it when I cut my feet. What a nuisance.
Going blind is scary. I thought I had once. Wore contacts in those days. Didn't keep them cleaned properly. One day I woke up and found I couldn't open my left eye much or my right eye at all. Terrifying. Really. I worked my way to the telephone and called the clinic. They set up an appointment and Spouse brought me in. They poured some stinging solution into my eyes and I was able to see again. Had to repeat the procedure daily for a week. Haven't worn contacts since. Too lazy to keep them cleaned properly. Slept with them in, too. That was great when I woke one day and couldn't get them out. Use up an entire bottle of eye drops before the seal released. When they came out it was like my eyes could breathe again. I suppose they could. I don't wear contacts anymore. Turns out my eyes are physically suited for them anyway. Really convenient though.
Losing my hearing, too. It's really annoying to Spouse and Son. They will tell me things and I sit pleasantly going on about my business like they're not there. Not being rude. I just can't hear them well enough to even know they're talking to me. I'm surprised they still do. But let me sit at the computer and they can't seem to find anything better to do. I try to instigate a conversation and they have no time. But I'm not deaf. Not yet. I still get to listen to my music - albeit loudly. Of course, that is how I am losing my hearing in the first place - loud music. Loud music with headphones. Music fills my soul like water through a sponge. Whenever I'm feeling dry I return to music and let it moisten my soul - sometimes with tears. Those are the best songs. They draw up from the very depths and remind me I still live.
Nothing special going on today. Just listening to a variety of music. Here's a short list.
Only the Strong Survive: Jerry Butler
Pied Piper: Crispian St Peters
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans: Freddie (boom boom) Cannon
Action: Freddie (boom boom) Cannon
How Do You Do: Mouth and McNeal
Sailors on the Sea
Showing posts with label Garage Sale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garage Sale. Show all posts
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Time to Get Crackin'
With the garage sale over I am not freeing up to return to some writing. Today will be a bad day because I'll be spending a few hours at the doctor's office. Fun, fun, fun. Right?
I'm resolving to myself (no promises to anyone else) to write the 'final' query for Swords of Fire: Traitor this week. Got a couple of questions to get resolved, and then I'll send the query out to an agent. There is at least one agent who will represent me. I just have to find them. Well, that and hope they're reputable.
Swords of Fire: Traitor is a good story. Very good, in fact. I don't delude myself into believing it's the best story. I've read too many good works by other Authors to convince myself of that. But it's a good story, and well worth reading. Well worth whatever price gets put on it.
We sold a lot of books at the garage sale. Not mine. I can't bring myself to part with my books. Books, movies, and music. I buy them and I keep them. They are important to me. Oh, I sold a couple. Sold The South Beach Diet. My brother gave that to me. I tried it, but the problem with diets is that they restrict me from the foods I like best, and encourage me to eat foods I wouldn't serve the dog. (When I had one.) I'm a picky eater. Which is one of the several reasons I am so horribly fat. When I played tennis and baseball I was thin as a rail. Well, that's an exaggeration. Even thin I am a very large person. But I lost my interest in athletics in the 1980s and I took a desk job. That was the primary cause for my weight gain. It has stayed with me these past twenty years due to emotional issues. Now I'm losing the fat. Lost twelve pounds since early April. Slow and steady. But I miss my big pasta meals. Miss my Burger King Whoppers and Dairy Queen cheeseburgers. Miss my pop and chips. Oh, well. Ceste la vie. Right?
Been having computer problems. The machine seems to have something against rebooting. I'm able to get it going, but it takes time and effort. Hope it's not dying. Can't afford to replace it. Well, I could if I drop my health insurance, which is a thought. I'm going to lose it in a couple of months anyway, so what difference does it make? Spouse and I have a basic disagreement about it. I could drop it today and not care. Spouse insists I keep it. But it's expensive. Very expensive. And when it runs out in a couple of months that will be money we can use for rent and food - and maybe a computer, if we need one.
Meanwhile, I have to get that query written. I have until Friday evening to fulfill my self-made vow. Wish me luck. I'll need it.
I'm resolving to myself (no promises to anyone else) to write the 'final' query for Swords of Fire: Traitor this week. Got a couple of questions to get resolved, and then I'll send the query out to an agent. There is at least one agent who will represent me. I just have to find them. Well, that and hope they're reputable.
Swords of Fire: Traitor is a good story. Very good, in fact. I don't delude myself into believing it's the best story. I've read too many good works by other Authors to convince myself of that. But it's a good story, and well worth reading. Well worth whatever price gets put on it.
We sold a lot of books at the garage sale. Not mine. I can't bring myself to part with my books. Books, movies, and music. I buy them and I keep them. They are important to me. Oh, I sold a couple. Sold The South Beach Diet. My brother gave that to me. I tried it, but the problem with diets is that they restrict me from the foods I like best, and encourage me to eat foods I wouldn't serve the dog. (When I had one.) I'm a picky eater. Which is one of the several reasons I am so horribly fat. When I played tennis and baseball I was thin as a rail. Well, that's an exaggeration. Even thin I am a very large person. But I lost my interest in athletics in the 1980s and I took a desk job. That was the primary cause for my weight gain. It has stayed with me these past twenty years due to emotional issues. Now I'm losing the fat. Lost twelve pounds since early April. Slow and steady. But I miss my big pasta meals. Miss my Burger King Whoppers and Dairy Queen cheeseburgers. Miss my pop and chips. Oh, well. Ceste la vie. Right?
Been having computer problems. The machine seems to have something against rebooting. I'm able to get it going, but it takes time and effort. Hope it's not dying. Can't afford to replace it. Well, I could if I drop my health insurance, which is a thought. I'm going to lose it in a couple of months anyway, so what difference does it make? Spouse and I have a basic disagreement about it. I could drop it today and not care. Spouse insists I keep it. But it's expensive. Very expensive. And when it runs out in a couple of months that will be money we can use for rent and food - and maybe a computer, if we need one.
Meanwhile, I have to get that query written. I have until Friday evening to fulfill my self-made vow. Wish me luck. I'll need it.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Filling Up My Time
Don't know how much writing I'm going be getting done now. We've started the garage sale and that is taxing. At least, it was yesterday.
I suppose this post really belongs on A Voice in the Wind, but I've already made a post there today. Wrote about the last day of school when I was a Freshman in high school.
Have mixed feelings about yesterday's sales. We got rid of a lot of stuff and made a fair amount of money. Most of what we sold was from our BNB Gifts inventory. Had we sold the items at retail prices we would have made several hundred dollars. But I had priced them below cost, just to get rid of them. Had we even been able to sell them at the prices I had given them we would have made more than one hundred dollars. But two missionary ladies showed up and kept arguing down prices, so instead of taking 60% losses I wound up taking 90% losses. Items we paid $8 for I had priced at $5. They only wanted to pay $1. And good ole me, wanting to be nice, ultimately agreed. So they're happy and I'm not. But they did buy some things I had not been able to sell at any other cost, so perhaps I should feel good about it after all. We don't have to move it anyway.
At the same time, we had a man come and pay $3 for one item in a box marked $3 for the entire box. His feeling was that I wasn't asking nearly enough for the items and was willing to pay what they were worth to him. Another woman gave Spouse $20 and said we should go to Dairy Queen after Son's band concert. (That went exceedingly well, by the way.) Another woman keeps bringing others to the sale. She also bought one of our plants from our shrub garden.
I was sitting in my chair and looking around the yard when it occurred to me we could sell our shrubs. At the local nursery they are going for $20-30 each. So I told people they could have them for $5 - with the understanding they would bring their own shovel and dig them up themselves. We have lilacs, vibernum, wiegela, spirea, and potentilla. We also have some silvermound, dragon's blood, and a couple I don't remember the names of. I even told someone they can have the apple trees. As far as I'm concerned these things do not belong to the house. I won't take cupboards out (like one neighbor wants), or things like that, but if we paid for it separately, then it's separate and we can sell it. Or try to. The landscaping is all going to be torn up by whoever takes over anyway.
Seeing some of these things go makes me feel better, even if we're not getting thousands of dollars. We won't have to move them, and that's what's important now. Most people are nice and are not inclined to haggle over pricing. I'm just hoping the missionary ladies don't come back. I talk big when they're away, but face-to-face I'm just a doormat.
So, writing is going to be a problem. As long as I manage to wake early I will get a blog post in, but even visiting other blogs is going to be hard. I'm almost out of time this morning and I haven't begun my visits. May not get many in. Sorry if I miss yours.
Day two is about to begin. Got to get our musical motion dolls out, our yard things, and the food and drink. Heck of a day. Right?
I suppose this post really belongs on A Voice in the Wind, but I've already made a post there today. Wrote about the last day of school when I was a Freshman in high school.
Have mixed feelings about yesterday's sales. We got rid of a lot of stuff and made a fair amount of money. Most of what we sold was from our BNB Gifts inventory. Had we sold the items at retail prices we would have made several hundred dollars. But I had priced them below cost, just to get rid of them. Had we even been able to sell them at the prices I had given them we would have made more than one hundred dollars. But two missionary ladies showed up and kept arguing down prices, so instead of taking 60% losses I wound up taking 90% losses. Items we paid $8 for I had priced at $5. They only wanted to pay $1. And good ole me, wanting to be nice, ultimately agreed. So they're happy and I'm not. But they did buy some things I had not been able to sell at any other cost, so perhaps I should feel good about it after all. We don't have to move it anyway.
At the same time, we had a man come and pay $3 for one item in a box marked $3 for the entire box. His feeling was that I wasn't asking nearly enough for the items and was willing to pay what they were worth to him. Another woman gave Spouse $20 and said we should go to Dairy Queen after Son's band concert. (That went exceedingly well, by the way.) Another woman keeps bringing others to the sale. She also bought one of our plants from our shrub garden.
I was sitting in my chair and looking around the yard when it occurred to me we could sell our shrubs. At the local nursery they are going for $20-30 each. So I told people they could have them for $5 - with the understanding they would bring their own shovel and dig them up themselves. We have lilacs, vibernum, wiegela, spirea, and potentilla. We also have some silvermound, dragon's blood, and a couple I don't remember the names of. I even told someone they can have the apple trees. As far as I'm concerned these things do not belong to the house. I won't take cupboards out (like one neighbor wants), or things like that, but if we paid for it separately, then it's separate and we can sell it. Or try to. The landscaping is all going to be torn up by whoever takes over anyway.
Seeing some of these things go makes me feel better, even if we're not getting thousands of dollars. We won't have to move them, and that's what's important now. Most people are nice and are not inclined to haggle over pricing. I'm just hoping the missionary ladies don't come back. I talk big when they're away, but face-to-face I'm just a doormat.
So, writing is going to be a problem. As long as I manage to wake early I will get a blog post in, but even visiting other blogs is going to be hard. I'm almost out of time this morning and I haven't begun my visits. May not get many in. Sorry if I miss yours.
Day two is about to begin. Got to get our musical motion dolls out, our yard things, and the food and drink. Heck of a day. Right?
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