Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
Happy New Year

Monday, December 31, 2012

A BLESSED MESS

Question Of The Week 12-31-12

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

When have you worked hard and loved every minute of it?

I have never worked as hard as I did sifting through at least four feet of debris in one room of an old Kansas house Ron had purchased.  I had to wear a mask and gloves and dig through toxic waste to clear the room while uncovering small vintage treasures along the way.  Being able to sweep the cleared floor after hours and hours of work was a rewarding event.  After cleaning the found items I wondered what to do with them.  Thus began my seven year venture of being an eBay seller and a M.S.O.D. (Master Sifter of Debris or Miss Odd).


HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 
  

26 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:45 AM

    Hello Annie
    Thanks for the welcome home - I'll write about the trip soon
    When have I worked hard and enjoyed it - most of my life I suppose particularly when the children were young and didn't know too much.
    Then there came the time when they began to think they knew more than we did (or is it we didn't know as much as they did lol) and some days the hard work was just that!!
    Take care
    Cathy

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  2. And it's amazing the crap you can sell on ebay too!

    Happy New Year!!

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  3. cranethie -- Yes I guess I have worked hard all my life too. My kids are in their 40s and are still sure they know more than we do.

    LL Cool Joe -- "Crap?" What are you talking about? These were TREASURES! And we never say "junk" we say "commodities".

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  4. Wish you and your family a very blessed 2013!
    Ashok

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  5. ashok -- Wishing you the same. What profound and beautiful things will you say in the new year? Cannot wait to find out.

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  6. First have a Happy New Year's Eve and Happy New Year. Second, my grandchildren make me work very hard and I am always happy whiole I work.

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  7. isnt it amazing how one thing leads to a career:) even if it doesnt last forever.
    I was always shocked to see all the amazing treasures folks left in the homes we bought to refurbish for rentals. Things no one would imagine.. I think the things that bothered me most were the photo albums, cards and letters. I used to spend many hours trying to track down other family members who might be interested in having those items- usually to no avail. on a good note though- I once found a Great Neice//by marraige even// who came all the way to NC from montana to collect the personal items. She was young and yet an old soul:) she said she'd save them and put out offical letters in the various newspapers where her family lived to see if anyone would contact her. That one experience made all my efforts thru those 11 years worthwhile.
    Happy New Year Annie and Ron.

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  8. Happy New Year - that house looked like a lot of work. Why did Ron by that house? I feel I have worked hard all my life - but I can't think of any one time! lol I am sure there was.
    sandie

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  9. Wow - that was a blessed mess. I wonder what treasures you found?

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  10. Great story! I've never worked harder than when I moved into our home almost 16 years ago while 8 months pregnant. It was cheap but a fixer upper and it needed A LOT of work...so we took out the kitchen and bathroom and redid most of it ourselves (and I was pressed for time!). :)

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  11. Weeding my parents' yard. You get to be destructive in a very creative way :)

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  12. I wish I had learned how to sell on ebay. I have enough stuff to keep me busy for months!!

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  13. I often work hard, but seldom enjoy it. Practicing music for days on end until you're bored to tears, n then having a great performance always is worth it.
    Or agonizing over a painting of color descisions, then having it be wonderful to see more than you'd even imagined- the Happy accidents" of artwork- Bending wood for sculptures comes to mind- weeks of soggy work in hot water...
    then there's the garden. 4 months of setting up the soil, n watering, de-pesting, n watching until finally you have flowers on the table every day n a very tasty produce meal that only cost your labor n persistance... n so much patience!

    Happy New Year for you n your family!

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  14. Tabor -- My sister has 8 small grandchildren under the age of 7 with a 9th on the way. She wears herself out with that bunch. I worked outside the home when my grandchildren were very young and missed a great deal of that stress. Would have loved it though,

    Sonny -- It was perfect to sell on eBay for seven years and then it was perfect to stop. In our years searching through garage and yard sales and auctions it has amazed us also to come across photo albums plus lots and lots of family Bibles. I have to pass them up because it causes me stress to see those genealogy pages being thrown away. So sad. You did a wonderful thing in finding someone who actually wanted their heritage.

    Chatty Crone -- I really never did a lot of physical labor until I met Ron. At first I shied away from the experiences and then, after cleaning the room in the house, I was read to dive into anything. There is a story behind the house but it is way too long for a blog post. We still own it by the way. It is the only piece of property we still own in Kansas.

    Lynn -- I found lots of ceramic figurines, papers, pictures, lamps, etc. One of the funniest things I found and sold on eBay was a dog toy. It was some kind of rubber hotdog and it sold on eBay in a bidding war finally going for $27.00.

    Ileana -- So did you finish the fixing up before that daughter arrived? We got a fixer upper too in this place and we are surrounded by unfinished projects. That is a good thing because Ron says when you finish all your projects, then you die.

    Riot Kitty -- I helped my parents with a lot of things but never with their garden or their yard. They knew the havoc I could create with my black thumb.

    Snaggle Tooth -- Tell me more about your piano performances? Every comment you post invites more questions about you. You are intriguing.

    HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  15. Happy New Year Annie! I hope and wish for more best for you!

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  16. I love a busy day of working on my scrap booking, or minding my grand kids. Usually though work just makes me cranky.

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  17. There have been a lot of times. One was when was basement was being finished and we move all sorts of "stuff" to the garage. It stayed there for almost a year. One weekend I got motivated to clean out the garage - suddenly we had room in there to park two cars!
    Ralph

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  18. Happy New Year, Annie.

    I love sifting through old houses or boxes of goodies at auctions. I have been selling on Etsy for almost 3 years. Before that I sold on ebay. Love every minute of searching for treasures.

    Love the picture of that sweet dog.

    Blessings,
    Mary

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  19. As a teacher I put in lots of hours, but I loved almost all of them. I was an English teacher, but a little math is in order. If you have 120 students, and you assign an essay a week, and you spend only 10 minutes reading and grading each student's essay, you have just added 20 hours to your work week. That's not to mention making lesson plans, grading all the other work that your students have done and reading that novel that you're supposed to teach next week. Teaching the way it should be done is incredibly hard, but it is also unbelievably rewarding. Happy New Year!

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  20. Jutta Richter -- Love your artwork and your blog!

    Whitemist -- Hope your guests enjoyed your wonderful food.

    Pat MacKenzie -- I can certainly see how scrap-booking results in a lot of satisfaction.

    Ralph -- That is a great feeling to make room for using a space for what it was intended.

    Mary -- I hear a lot about Etsy. Is it cheaper than eBay? We still love searching for treasures. Glad you like the picture of Slim. She is my best friend.

    Susan Adcox -- I used to make banking presentations in classrooms. It was a major project to try and think of ways to challenge and interest these kids. How a teacher manages to do this on a daily basis truly amazes me and that is a job you can feel proud of doing,

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  21. I like Ron's way of thinking...maybe we should slow things down around here! LOL

    Happy 2013, Annie! :)

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  22. In the summer holidays when I had my shop and it was full of families buying all their stuff for next term. Exhausting but I loved the ting of the till everytime there was a purchase.
    A Happy Healthy 2013 to you and all your loved ones.

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  23. Ileane -- Ron has a pretty good way of thinking about everything.

    Pat -- That "ting of the till" makes all of us happy:)

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  24. Happy New Year! I've never sold anything on eBay. It sounds like such fun. I'm so happy to have a little time to check out what you're up to. Our lives are a little crazy this January. Sheesh! I'm barely able to get my post up every day.

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  25. Kay -- Love you daily posts. I no longer sell on eBay but it was fun and lucrative while it lasted. I recently sold my goats on Craig's List and thought that was great but it is a bit scary when you connect with the unknown buyer.

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