a disappointing row of campers

It was quite an adventure the weekend of the 11th, especially with my car breaking down Friday on the Carlisle Army Barracks when my mom took it for a doctors appointment.   The car spent several days there after trying to have it towed with USAA, but the towing company they chose didn't have updated insurance papers with them so the guards, due to protocol, couldn't allow him on the base.  It was pretty disappointing since we waited over 2 hours for the truck to get there, but the guard was very nice about it and suggested that we head over to the main office to inform them that the car would be at the clinic parking lot for a few more days so they don't tow it. 

We had to use USAA since I had just added towing on my insurance the day prior.  We both thought I had it on the Mazda, but turns out I didn't follow through.  I couldn't call my insurance company after only requesting the insurance the day prior so we called my mom's insurance.  It still made sense since she was the one driving the car and in the end it did end up in our favor and we didn't have to pay the additional mileage after the 13 free miles.  You know you have a good insurance company when they cover the additional mileage, because the same company who came out Saturday tells you Monday that they don't go on military bases and a whole new company came out without any issues.  We know that either a) none of their trucks papers were updated or b) they didn't like when my mom told them that she refused to pay the additional mileage because now she had to drive back out to Carlisle, which is a 30 minute drive all because they weren't prepared to go on a military base and the insurance company agreed with us.  

With all of this happening Saturday it killed most of my day and I didn't make it out to the fabric store until about 7pm, and so it was sometime after 9pm until we managed to make our way to the basement to add more items to sell at the flea market.  I had planned on going to bed early, but finally shut off the lights sometime after midnight.  Mom had headed to be a little before me, but when the alarm went off we were both at a slow crawl and didn't manage to leave the house until 8am, an hour later than our start last week.   We did also load my car before heading out since the van was pretty full and we wanted to add a few more items to our inventory this week and again hoping to leave with a few less items then what we came with a few extra dollars in our pockets.

When we drove up the hill and around the first lot of campers we had anticipated seeing another vendors already set up, but instead saw more campers.  Yep, the RV show that was just supposed to be next weekend was also showing this weekend and taking up the back lot for more campers.  It was bad enough that we were starting our home purge at the tale end of the Harrisburg's flea market season and then to lose another week it was a bit of a blow to our progress.

There was however a single vendor who had set up along the main roadside to the market and according to the RV entrance guard was doing well with stopping traffic since everyone was under the impression the flea market was happening this weekend.   We were up a creek and trying to figure out what our best option was a) stay here and set up like the guard suggested or b) drive to our potential option where guaranteed traffic would be and other vendors.   Luckily my mom suggested that we look up to make sure we could just show up and set up like we could here, because they wasn't the case.  had we of driven there we would have been turned away due to not preregistering with them and not having a tax id number. 

In the end we were pretty satisfied with our decision to stay, because we left with what we made last week and a few less toys and home items. 

shock and aw at the market

I'm sure you'll drop over in shock when I tell you that my mom and I went to our local Flea Market this morning to sell.  Yep, I know what a huge shock and it wasn't even my idea.  Willing without prodding my mom started going through things in the hallway yesterday sorting, and pricing while I worked on our 3rd floor.  It was amazing how much stuff we really had just lying around.  Our neighbor Ty, about 15, came over to help take things down to the main floor and gathered a few of the mega block toys and some other items from the basement.  

It really helped pricing things before hand and really it took no time at all to get things ready.   I was really expecting it to be more be more pain stacking then it was.  Our new neighbors, who had just moved in this week, even came over and bought a few things before we packed up the van.

So on our first day of gathering we already sold an  4 IKEA coffee mugs, a 6pc blue decorative plate set from TJ MAXX, jeanette rose plates, vinttage Jeannette china Desert Rose pattern, vinage canister set and an IKEA Knife block,

It wasn't long after they headed back next door that we started to load up the van.  For as bad as everything looked in our living room once we packed everything in the van it didn't look like much; however after gathering a few more items before we headed to bed and in the morning the van was jammed packed with money making potentials. 

My alarm sounded around 6 this morning and I was a bit nervous since there was no sign of movement from my mom.  However, by the time I finished my shower my mom was already downstairs gathering the items from the living room and loading them in the van.

Once everything was loaded and our snacks packed we made our way a few miles down the road.  We were unsure we were even in the right placed since there were no signs except for a camper show, but once we round the corner and felt a litter better until we had a short moment of did we miss a cut off time to pay to enter since there was no one at the toll houses; however once we passed through and asked a seller he directed us to the man in charge of lot assignments and after paying $15 for 2 spaces we rounded the market to find the best spot and ended up at the same spot we originally thought about taking.

Before we started setting up a few early birds came over asking up questions who were looking for jewelry and other trinket items; however we had none of the asking.  We mainly brought mega block toys, doggy accessories and walking items, some vintage items, a small amount of baby clothes, and some other miscellaneous items. 

We filled up a both parking spaces, which also included our van taking up the back half of the two spaces.  We sold a good bit in the beginning and towards 10am, but it was mostly dead and even the people we saw walking along didn't have much in purchases.  Oh, yes and I can't forget to mention that I had two guys make a move.  Yep, totally not lying.  I was just wearing my daily yoga pants and a modern large floral top and some makeup; nothing fancy.  The first gentleman was older about my grandfather's age who bought a truck with mega blocks for a neighbor kid and an adjustable dog bowl set for the stray cats near his house.  I had walked over to his van carrying some of the items he bought to be helpful.  Plus he was walking with a cane so he didn't have much in free hands to make this in one trip.   Before heading back to the van he asked me when would be the next time I would run into him and mentioned about getting my number and I chucked.  I mentioned that I enjoyed his conversation and we could talk again the next time we are both set up at the market, but politely mentioned that getting my number  wasn't going to happen.  I chucked the whole way back to our set up and mentioned it to my mom.  He seems safe, but it never hurts to inform those around you about men making moves that you've turned down especially just in case.

Oh, yes and a few hours later a man in his 30s came over to me and handed me a note and said it was from his friend at the set up a few lots down.  He also said that he waiting until I was away from my mom to hand me to the note so he didn't offend my mom.  It was a bit odd and felt a little like 2nd grade so it caught me off guard, but I opened up the letter and read it. 

If your curious, here's what it read:

If you didn't guess from my note above I did mention it to my mom, as again, you never know what type of people are out there so it's good to share situations like this.

I also had my mom not to long after our conversation walk around the market and see who my potential admirer was.  She didn't approve.  Although, my curious nature wasn't satisfied with her opinion and wanted to see for myself, so I wondered around the market again and ended up heading over there when being flagged by the young man who gave me the note.  I talked with the two of them and they seemed very nice, however, I did tell them a small white lie and mentioned that I was married.  The gentled seemed like a nice guy, but still a bit older then I would go for and not my type so it just seemed easier that way.  I'm sure God will forgive me of my lie this time and not judge me to harshly.

I didn't leave the market unscaled and brought home 2 small vintage finds that only stole $3.25 from our profits.  One of the items is a brass cottage house and picket fence key holder that will work beautifully for our spare keys.  The second item is a daisy kitchen timer by Mark Time that I've actually been eying on etsy for the last year.  My preference is the mustard color, but for $3 I will enjoy having the beige and brown option and using it when it times for our 15 minutes of declutting.  

Throughout the morning I jotted down a list of the items we were selling so at the end we could talley up our earnings have an exact account of what we made instead of estimating what we think we sold and made.

This was about 1/3 of what we had brought with us so overall I'm very happy with our results and we plan to attend next Sunday and the last market on the 25th and hopefully we can eliminate more items from our vast array of clutter and earn enough money to repoint our basement brick foundation.  We did eliminate a few awkward items and giving new life to our unused items.  Now someone else can enjoy some second hand love.  

What are some of your favorite finds from flea markets?

{Weekend Organizer}: A White Picket Fence

instagram sneak peak 06/16/13

It's been very hard being in the middle townhouse and keeping our dog from wondering into our neighbors yard for which some reason he likes to poo.  Typically right behind our stair rail, not really in their walking path, so it's not really been a huge deal since we do keep it cleaned up as much as we can.  We have shortened his lead several times, but it leaves him leaves him a very restricted space even in our own yard to wonder around.  Our neighbors on the left have a double-sided privacy fence so that's been a benefit for us as well since we don't have to worry about that 8' stretch.    

I had initially been hoping to find a home with a fence, but with this house we had so many of my wish list items that not having a fence didn't seem like a deal breaker so we figured we would install one shortly after moving in.  However, after doing a bit of research on the cost of vinyl and wrought iron fences that idea became more of a distant future happening when the materials list had been calculated at over $200 even for my tiny 10'x8' yard.  Plus, I had hoped to find a wrought iron design that had a 20s feel to it, but that has proven to be more difficult then anticipated. 

We had actually forgotten about the fence for a while, until recently we had a one of our lighter vintage push mowers was stolen off the back deck and my mom took charge and began the search without telling me.  Though, being the item it was we have an inclination of who it was, especially since none of the more valuable items were taken.  It's just really irks me that some people feel that they have the right to take something off of someone's property that they neither own or paid for and feel that that's acceptable behavior. 

Within a day or two of our incident my mom had found a someone nearby who was selling a white vinyl fence they had been using as a dog run, and for only $40.  Although, I was a bit hesitant until I saw the fence (really after my mom called the guy and he delivered it) that it was going to be a size appropriate fence for my miniature backyard. 

The fencing was left on our deck for a few days until a friend of my moms could come over and install it for us, which ended up giving us a few surprises and costing us more to have the fence installed then the actual cost of the fence.

On day 1, we talked about the layout of the fence and then began the initial install of the largest 8' run, but that took several hours since there ended up being concrete and all kinds of debris under the ground to help support the walkway to the parking lot steps. This then directed us to purchasing another pole hole digger since the initial one was a very cheap model, and also a large piece of rebar to help break down some of the concrete.

My mom's friend kept working trying to break down the concrete, but I really wished he would have stopped, because we were one paying him by the hour and two he was working harder then he needed to and it would have made more sense to wait for the proper equipment so the job could have been done efficiently.

Saturday evening we made sure to head to home depot to pick up the appropirate supplies, like an Ames 48" post hole digger (an upgrade from the basic warped model my mom purchased from Lowes), and a Ludell 70 in. 17 lb. Tamper Head Digging Bar that was used to break up the concrete mess under the pavers.

On day 2, now that we had a better post hole digger, and the digging bar the process took half the time.  It took some time to settle in, but once things got started I had been called out to discuss the gate.  What I didn't understand was why we were discussing this again, since we had already talked about this yesterday and agreed that the gate would not open into the neighbors yard, but stay on the stone pavers.  I really don't want to be walking on the neighbors property, especially with it being a rental and we will have new neighbors soon who may not like us walking in their yard.  Once that was settled, again, the digging bar and post hole was used to make the way for the gate posts to be installed and then had to be leveled again so that they gate would be level.

It took a few hours, but what pieces we had for the fence was finally installed and only being 30" shy of finishing the entire project I think we did a great job at scoring a vinyl fence for only $40, which is the price of either an 8' section or the gate kit.  By the time everything was done we paid with installation and the fence what we would have for the entire fence so overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I am filled with jubilation that yes, I finally have a fence!  

Once everything was installed we realized that we were just shy of finishing the area by only 30" so for now we put up a doggy gate and used a brick to keep it from falling over.  So far it is doing the trick, but at some point I plan to use some garden post and shims to make a trellis and then rotate the rose bush so that way it can grow up the trellis and look as if we planned to leave that amount of space. 

Total Cost:

$32 Post Hole Digger (a friend is buying this off of me for $25)

$32 Digger

$40 Fence + gate kit (estimated cost of new $120-280)

$160 Installation

$239 Total 

Saying Goodbye is hard to do

In Loving Memory of Grandpa Jack

Also, on the 11th my grandfather Jack passed away, after a year of battling with lung cancer and chemo.  He had been bed ridden these past few months, and it's been very hard on my grandmother so it's a relief to know that he will be celebrating in heaven now and wont be stuck in bed all day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack W. Uhl Sr.
April 13, 2013
Parkersburg News and Sentinel  Obituary

Jack W. Uhl Sr., 80, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., formerly of Parkersburg, died April 11, 2013, at the VA Center at Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation, Carlisle, Pa.

He was born April 24, 1932, in Lubeck, W.Va., a son of the late Frank W. and Euvana Powell Uhl. He was retired from Central Storage and Transfer Co. of Harrisburg, Pa., and Shaffer Trucking of New Kingstown, Pa. He also was a U.S. Army veteran serving in the Korean War. He enjoyed watching NASCAR racing and Philadelphia Eagles football.

 

Korea Vet hat that he was very proud of.  

He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Ellen Uhl of Mechanicsburg, Pa.; one son, Clarence Uhl and his wife Susan of Enola, Pa.; two daughters, Sondra Kleiber and her husband Jeffrey of Cottage Grove, Minn., and Wanda King and her husband Alan of Carlisle, Pa.; five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; brother, Neil Uhl of Williamstown, W.Va.; three step-sons, Kenney, Larry and Steve George; three step-grandchildren; and one step-great-grandchild. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by one son, Jack W. Uhl Jr.; one brother, Vaughn Uhl; and one sister, Anna Montgomery.

Services will be 1 p.m. Monday at the Leavitt Funeral Home, Parkersburg, with Rev. Edward Gamble officiating. Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery South. Visitation will be noon-1 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. 

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Sunday, the 14th I drove to my dad's place as the plan was to leave for Parkersburg, WV around 2am so we could arrive on time for the 11am viewing and funeral.

Up at 2:24am, showered and packed for the 5 hour trip to WV this morning w my dad, his wife Jani & her son for my grandfathers funeral. We made a pitt stop at Sheetz so my dad could get stronger coffee & I grabbed a fruit bowl & a muscle milk for breakfast. It's now 3:46am and were finally heading out.

We had the breakfast buffet at Shoney's once we arrived in Parkersburg then afterwards, my dad drove us around to show us his old stomping grounds.  One of our stops included a short visit to my uncle Larry's before heading over to my grandmother's sisters place to change.

There was a bit of drama in the beginning with my 2nd step mother showing up, but I was glad to see her pay her respects.  She was with my dad for 10 years and did spend time with my grandparents.  The casket was beautifully chosen, even though this wasn't the casket my grandmother had chosen originally.  The interior fabric was a lovely baby blue.

It was very hard to keep my composure, especially when is saw him in the casket.  It just wasn't him and it was hard not to cry.  I pretty much teared away all of my makeup.  

The service was a beautiful service and they had other veteran's there to do his sound-off before the folding of the flag.  My dad also gathered all the shells and handed them out to family as a momenta and two for my grandmother to keep in the flag. 

We were also able to capture my grandmother with all of her boys

From Right to Left: Uncle Kenny, Larry and my dad Steve.

For the Love of San Diego

I just felt like reminiscing on a happy a time in my life and adding a few photos to remember being with my best friend in San Diego and dreaming of when I'll be able to go back. 
 
September 12 to 26, 2012 Trip to San Diego to visit my best friend.

My best friend and I getting ready for an evening out.

Her quaint apartment complex

Week 1:

Breakfast, egg scramble with sundried tomatoes, crushed red peppers, and cumin.

* 13th Beach Day + 4 mile run along the beach
* 13th Walk to Sprouts
* 14-16 SFLX - San Francisco Lindy Exchange

pre-dance primping

* 15th Castro Coffee Company {delicious coffee & good humored service}
* 16th Shopping day in San Francisco

We saw this shirt at a consignment shop and both tried it on as you can see I ended up with up and am so thankful, I LOVE this shirt!  Its become my most favorite shirt and I wish I had a few more like it for dancing.

A art print that I was interested in at a local shop.  

A Ferris Wheel at a shopping mall in LA.

* 16th Dinner with Angela at a Thai Restaurant
* 17th Brunch and Coffee with Michelle's Uncle
* 17th Danced at the Madonna Inn in S.L.O.
* 18th Alma Rosa Vineyard - Winery

These were my two of my preferred wines at Alma Rosa.

* 18th Solvang town & Brewing Company

The whole town looked just like these buildings.  Very quaint and very touristy.

I very much wanted to take this purse home, but even at 50% off it was still a $60 purse in a touristy town, which meant I knew it was overpriced anyways.  Though i still think about this purse and the beautiful Kelly green.

Their sampling mat.  We each chose 3 samples; my first choice, Seasonal Fruit Harvest, was a favorite among the group.

Week 2:

Old Fashioned Organic Oatmeal w strawberries, cinnamon, brown sugar, & apples.

* 19th Danced at the Firehouse, San Diego
* 19th Walked to Sprouts
* 20th Carl took me out dancing at 2 venues
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* 21 - 23rd Ultimate Blues Dance Weekend - Festival
* 21st 4 mile run downtown Hillcrest
* 21st dinner at Fig Tree Cafe
* 21st dinner after the dance {Japanese Restaurant}
* 22nd PB Farmers market & Blue's Festival

Really delicious avocado honey at Pacific Beach Farmers Market

* 23rd Yoga on the Beach + movie night
* 24th 4 mile run downtown Hillcrest
* 24th Movie {Lucky One} & Dinner with Telly & Turquoise
* 24th CD release party
* 25th Lunch with Michelle & Telly. Walk to Balboa park with Telly

Dinner at Philly Cheese Steak restaurant.
* Danced at Henry's Pub to the Stilettos