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Woe is me

Woe is me! I’ve had a bit of a sore throat all week, but last night it developed into full blown……. something. Flu, bronchitis, really bad cold……….. I had a rough night last night, running a fever rocking between 100 and 101, but still got up this morning hoping I felt good enough to hit the sales. Uh, no. I went back to bed and didn’t get up until 12:00 and have been in and out of sleep ever since. Still with that little fever. It’s now a little after 5 pm.

There are two types of people in the world when it comes to running a fever. Three, really. The group who begins taking a fever reducer immediately, the group who lets the fever do it’s thing fighting infection and those who don’t fool with any of that, but head straight to the doctor. It’s no surprise I’m in the stubborn group. As long as the fever doesn’t get too high and I’m not too miserable, I let it do it’s thing. So I feel pretty crummy.

This is another reason I don’t want a store that has a regular, several days a week open schedule. What if I was supposed to be open today? I’d be up he creek without a paddle. No one to take over for me. But, since I’m not scheduled to be open today, I have the luxury of nursing my whatever-it-is-I-have.

I’m lying down as I type this which isn’t easy, even with the laptop, so I’ll end this post. Just wanted to moan and groan a little. I try not to do that for real. I’m waiting for Mr. I’m Working Midnights to get up and go get the DQ Blizzard I requested several hours ago when he was up briefly. He didn’t seem to understand the urgency of it. He’d better hurry and that’s all I’ve got to say about that!

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Mmmmm…….candles

candles

I don’t plan to carry any new merchandise, but needed something for a pity purchase if people come in and find nothing to their liking. Capri Blue candles are my choice. These are some of the best candles I’ve ever sniffed. I first found them at Anthropologie, did some investigation and found that no one locally carries them, so an order was made. So far, we have Aloha Orchid, Volcano, Peeled Naval Orange and Paris. I’d actually smelled the first three and knew they were wonderful, but took a chance on Paris. I liked the name and it turned out to be a good bet. It’s very different from the others. Has almost a powdery scent. We had Aloha Orchid burning Saturday so that’s the one everyone wanted. All the small jars of that “flavor” are gone now. For the grand opening, we’ll have a sample of each burning. Hope nobody’s allergic!

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I’ve gone to officialdom kicking and screaming. Each step is very difficult for me to make. The business license, the sign on the window and now a business bank account. Why should I have to think about that? Why is it so hard? Next will be a telephone and then a credit card merchant account. This is all expensive, too! I just want to buy and sell. Hunt the stuff. Sell so I can buy more stuff. Keep records? Yuck! That kind of thing makes me wish I’d just kept all this a hobby. But I’ll survive.

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It’s so nice not to feel like I’ve got to work constantly at the shop. I do work there a lot, but I’m not so pushed. I’m beginning to spend more time on the new web site. Figured since the site address is on the window of the shop the site probably needs to be presentable.

I’ll eventually move the blog to the site and change the look just a little. That’s something I dread. It means I’ll have to think. Thinking’s harrrrddddd! It hurts! The web site is hard enough, but the layout of it is almost done. Next will be taking pictures of all those things, writing descriptions and putting them on the site. That promises to only take for-e-ver.

So that’s what’s going on right now. Exciting, huh? Sigh.

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It’s official!

It’s official! The window has been lettered. There’s no denying this is really a shop now. That line going across is a shelf that was there when I moved in. I’ve always wanted to remove it, but that was more complicated than it looked, so it’s still there. There are a lot of reflections in the window and I’m still unhappy with that old, green paint. I just can’t figure out what color to use instead. It needs to be something that’s historical, not a trendy color. I think we’re going to see about maybe getting the buildings put on the historical register.

window

I did tell a few people and was open officially on Saturday. Not everything was priced, still isn’t, but we had it looking decent. A few friends dropped by and a few curious wanderer-ins. Or would that be wanderers-in? Made a few sales, enough to help me get a feel for the process. Easing into things is much more my style than jumping in with both feet.

Here are pictures of some of the areas:

courthousespindles
Spindles from the old Birmingham courthouse, iron bracket and a stack of Southern agricultural books.
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grass
That iron stand looked nekkid on the bare, cement floor, so we gave it a “grass” rug. It looks better in person than in the picture.
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cart
Old shopping cart in the front window.
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blueshelves
The “Blue” shelves. My handy dandy hubby made those shelves. Am I a lucky girl or what?
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backwindow
The back window. Sorry the picture is so dark.
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I feel like I can relax a little now. Maybe stay home and clean the house. I might actually cook a meal! And who knows? Maybe I can get back into the blogging habit. I sure hope so. I miss it. Miss seeing what all of you are doing.

There’s still a lot to do before the grand opening next month, but I can see daylight now. Whew!

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Latest Finds…….and It’s Getting Closer

Again, I only attended two sales this week. A large estate sale and a yard sale at an antique mall. I really wish I’d had my camera with me. There were about 50 boxes on the ground at the estate sale, all full to overflowing. My thought was that I’d better not hear anyone say “this ain’t work”! The boxes were mostly full of just stuff. Stuff, stuff, stuff, but looking through each box netted a few cool things. The house had very good things with prices a bit higher than I wanted to pay, but I did come out with some neat items, I think. I thought about going back today for half price, but it was an hour’s drive and there was no way of knowing if anything decent was left, so I stayed around here.

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Cement planter/bird bath thing.
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More Christmas. Most, not very old, but will work well for decorations next year at the shop.
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A Tuck Valentine on the left. The little card opens and it’s all on padded, fringed silk. The New Year’s card on the right is two sided. The other side shows the child chasing the goose.
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Number 2 wash tub.
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Tin chocolate display. It’s about 3-1/2′ long and has doors on the back for storage.
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Glove box? Looks Christmassey to me.
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Apgar’s Plant Analysis book, daisies tray, rooster napkin holder, old bow tie, aqua Christmas coasters, McCoy frog planter, Air Express coasters, old birthday candles and a woven, tapestry lid watch box.

I also got an Italian Creche and a 1960s mushroom footstool. Something else?? It seems like there was something else that didn’t get in a picture.
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The shop is sooooooooo close to opening!! I’m trying to get the storage area straightened up for the building inspector to come by and declare me fit for a business license. Got to clean a few areas for that, too. Other than that, I’ve been pricing and arranging. That’s it. No, that’s not quite true. I’ll have to get the sign man out there (My cousin’s husband. Small town, ya know). He has all the information already. I just couldn’t decide on the font for the name. I still can’t really decide, but will just go with a normal, only slightly fancy font. Got to clean the windows, too. It looks like I’ll have a soft opening this coming weekend! I’ll just pass the word around instead of sending out mailings this time. That will give me a chance to work out the kinks before the grand opening. I’m getting excited! Can’t wait to take pictures to share!