Thursday, September 22, 2016

The JUNK of LIfe

It is no secret that I like my junk. Like Violet Crawley here.....

I have had a life long love of junk, antiques, sentimental pieces of paper. Did you know I have an entire pile of handwritten (yes handwritten in ink) on white lined note book paper of notes written back and forth from my high school best friend Shari? It is a hoot. You can still see the creases of how we folded those notes and hand them off to one another in between classes or maybe even during the classes we shared together! LOL I am telling ya folks this is the stuff life is made of. Why do I still have this pile of slightly faded yellowing aging paper? Well it represents one of the few positive spots of my high school life. Shari was a light in a dark time of my life and I don't think she ever knew it until now. Some day with her permission I may share some highlights of the importance of high school life in the 1980's!

Then there is the big junk! Recently in preparation for moving and downsizing, I have spent many hours and days and night sorting through boxes of junk or crap as some may call it! I have made countless trips to the closest donation store getting rid of old clothes, games I will never play again, stupid ugly plates I once thought were funky, excess items from my Coke collection, excess items from my Scottie Collection, excess items from my comic book collection, excess items from my trading card collection, excess items from my mission style furniture collection, excess items from my hoarded office supplies and school supplies, and oh my! I have 14 boxes of stuff to drop off at my church next week for their annual Fall Give Away. I have taken full van load of things related to building houses and etc to Habitat for Humanity. I have donated stuff to the kids school. I have been busy sorting and dividing and donating and it has been liberating. Yet when someone looks in my basement (before yesterday) and they say wow you have a lot of stuff....I have to remind them of this!


I have a collection of collections! At one point I had a collection of unique pens from various places and stores and tourists traps and etc. Thanks to my kids help that collection has now been depleted and disposed of! Why do I have this incessant need to collect and gather and keep and border line hoard. I have an extensive collection of Santa Clauses that I like to display at Christmas. I am thinking probably 5 plastic bins of neatly wrapped Santas and such. I even have a dedicated tree just for Jolly old St. Nick. Why? Because I like him. I know and firmly believe in the fact that Christmas is about the birth of savior! Yet the whimsy and joy that the myth of Santa brings is fun and I am a child at heart. Back to the point! JUNK - I have told myself several times that my Santa collection needs to be reduced. I have so many I don't even have room to set them all out each year and that is here in the big house at Ballard on the Green. So I may be having a Santa sale soon. I swear I just had a chest pain when I typed that last sentence. IT IS JUST JUNK! I have to keep reminding myself of that. Stay tuned for details on the Santa Sale....tear, sniff, sigh!

In January, I started selling some of my crap out of a booth in a Flea Market/ Vintage Resale shop here in Jefferson City. This place where I have found other lover of JUNK has become such a joy for me! Almost like a place of majestic wonder.

Not only do I have the ability to off load my junk and continue the hunt for more junk to sell, but I have found others who have this incessant need to hunt and gather. My friend, Joe Bocklage, he is a man among men of hunter sand gatherers in the land of junk, When I first met him, he took me to the bowels of his family kingdom where he kept his collections beneath the bright colors of JStreet Vintage and wow was I overjoyed to see there was a Junkster more enthralled than I.

Yesterday I embarked on an journey I had never taken before! I went to a Surplus Auction at Mizzou in Columbia! I have to tell ya there are several observation I want to share with you.
1) I takes all kinds to make the world go around.
2) Why do so many college kids leave their bikes behind (there must have been 75 bikes that they auctioned off - and the majority of them sold for five dollars or less. One guy bought 7 bikes for 10 dollars. Maybe a couple of flat tires here and there, but these bikes were in near mint condition. If I had more room I would have bought some myself.
3) A 2004 Honda Element Green - one of my dream cars sold AS IS for $1700, It drove and had a few nicks and dents and maybe some transmission issues, but even spending some money on repairs this thing was a deal. Not to mention the three minivan which all sold for under $1000 each and were driveable.
4) Be careful when  the auctioneer starts lumping everything into lots towards the end of the day! Ooopppss! Can we say 27 computer monitors for $11 or what about 17 computer bags for $7.
5) The prices overall were unbelievable.
6) I am sure most normal people out there would not understand the Auction environment and what makes people buy what they buy. But hey...I have the t-shirt....

7) Most of those buyers are there looking to make money off their purchases. Some take the items and recycle and make money off the scraps during recycling. Some are looking to resell in their own shops (that would be me!) and others are there looking how to fill up the bowels of their kingdoms very inexpensively!
8) I should never go to an auction along again - I have no reasoning power. If we are ever in a situation that involves junk and you here me being reasonable - you know we are in trouble

9) Never buy more than will fit in your vehicle.
Nope thats not my vehicle! Thanks to the nice folks at Uhaul I was able to accomodate my purchases and get them home.
10) Oh dawg I was tired by the end of the day and can barely move today!
So all this JUNK talk to say - that as I indicated above, I love junk! Junk loves me. We have had a life long love affair - here lately it has transitioned into a love/hate relationship. My garage is far from full. All my newly acquired junk is in their neatly and nicely! Life is good. Now to sell it all and double my money!

Yesterday was a good day! It was fun, entertaining, educational, tiring, and thrilling in an odd sort of weird Brock loves his junk way! Yet if I were Lucy Ricardo and if I had a Ricky Ricardo person in my life this is what would have happened when I arrived home last night with my Uhaul!

Unless my Ricky is my father or my real estate agent then I am good! 
Babaloo for now!