Back in the Swing of Things

I’ve come out the other side of that week-long sales drought and what a relief! Things are selling again. I feel like I can start sourcing–a little–while still plugging away at older piles.

But my task for today was to tackle the horrendous mess in my office area of our family room. My desk was piled with papers and items and there was barely any visible floor space. I am so annoyed with myself with letting it get this bad, but several hours later I saw progress. I ended up recycling tons of obsolete documents and mail. (Even in our more paperless society I drown in paper!) I moved listed items into my garage storage and consolidated still-to-be-listed items. I cleaned and organized and now I have a functional space again. Phew!

But here’s the good stuff….

I popped into my neighborhood thrift store the other day and picked up this adorable, mod timer and discovered it’s a 1999 Alessi piece in Alessandro Mendini’s iconic Anna G line. Bingo! Missing one little rubber foot and needs cleaning up, but otherwise it’s fantastic and a difficult find these days.

All cleaned up and ready to go.

I don’t gravitate towards figurines but I picked up this sweet little guy.

Flipped it over and well hello…a little piece of Lladro just sitting there on the Goodwill shelf. Doesn’t happen too often. And for $3.69…yes, please!

I shouldn’t bother with books like this but being a bibliophile I can’t help myself. Found this 1965 paperback compilation of Sci-Fi novels in my library sale room. Had to buy it!

Passed on these!

I considered buying these vintage made-in-Japan choir boy ceramic figurines but they were priced at $8 each. Oh dear. That was a no.

These large hand-made plaster head (likely a student piece) was intriguing and deliciously weird, but $16 and extremely heavy. Decided against it. Though I’ll kick myself if this is some rare piece by some renown artist.

The lacquer and shell box from the Philippines was kinda neat, but also $16 and not the best quality. The wood monk next to it is actually a bookend and there was just one (I’ve sold similar ones before). So it was no to both of these.

Caught up with a thrifting friend

Spotted my friend Diane at the thrift store and we had a good natter. She recently had the chance to set up tables in a friend’s spot at the huge, famed Alameda Flea Market. She hadn’t calculated her final profit yet but she did sell a fewer bigger more valuable pieces along with lots of smalls. She mentioned that she and her husband recently inherited quite a bit from his recently deceased mother and their house and garage are jam packed!

And that got me thinking…it’s so easy later in life to find yourself with too much stuff. Kids move out and leave things behind. You inherit things. You hang onto things because “you might need it someday.” You save clothing in sizes you no longer wear. You collect things of interest and then start another collection and another. Dealing with all of it is exhausting!

Diane is hoping to keep downsizing, though she hasn’t stopped thrifting! But she is inspiring me to keep up my downsizing efforts.

Hoping you are in the swing of things too!

Karen