Author: peterb51

21st February 2019

There was someone on the tall pine unit almost the moment Kelli released her finger on the Marketplace post. Then this morning it was a mad dash to clean up the shelves and buy some shelf supports that were missing. The closest hardware store is near to the Design Yard called Graafschap Hardware. It sells just about everything you need to start a small war. Racks of guns and ammunition makes it a scary place, including the guy behind the counter. He looks like he was the result of a mating experiment between a bear and the whole of ZZ Top. Needless to say he wasn’t inpressed with my purchase of eight shelf supports. I expected him to say “ Hey buddy, you won’t kill anyone with those” to which I would have replied “ Depends where you shove em’ punk” now that would have been the last words I ever spoke, and, it was just as well I just smiled and left the store. He didn’t know just how close to death he was.

The lady eventually came to pick up the furniture, after a bit of confusion, so that was a good sale.

We then drove up to Hudsonville with some new bits and to collect the big white mother chest that had been there too long, and anyway we think we have sold that beast, for collection on Sunday.

We are trying a tactic of offering a weekend sale to a couple of selected items to see if we can move them. We will be the same thing on Marketplace.

On the way back we had a minor altercation with a parked car that spoiled the evening. It happened when Kelli reversed the truck out of a parking space, and walloped a Honda parked in a non-designated area. Our Toyota was unmarked, but the Honda came off worse with a dented front wing.

20th February 2019

We had a house viewing this morning, and the one thing I have learned is that light grey is the new neutral. It was pleasant enough, although you had to be a limbo dancer to get into the basement past the hot air conduit. The place was obviously bought and quickly painted to sell on, but without a garage and small back garden it might take time to sell.

I can’t believe I have been here all this time and not had a fire to burn up all the offcuts of timber I have accumulated. Well today was the day, I was fed up of stepping over/around the pile, so I gave the box a swift kick sending wood scraps everywhere. This I regretted a second later, but that was the excuse I needed to get the stove lit. It was a satisfying feeling to see the smoke rising into the drizzling rain.

Kelli finished painting the pine unit we pick up recently, and in its new colours looked pretty neat.

19th February 2019

So it’s Tuesday, and Kelli has some painting to do. She had picked up a cute shelf with small drawers, and had done a neat paint job on it.

I had some pictures to take, and some worktops to prepare. The top for the island is all glued up, and just needs cutting to size. I would have been in the garage longer, but it was cold, and I was feeling it more today.

Kelli has to help her mother, so I tagged along to cut a panel to size for a small table I am building,and experiment a bit with the book letters.

This is proving to be more difficult than I thought. Cutting straight lines is easy, but the depth of the blade that Dave has on the bandsaw does not permit really tight curves.

I have tried tank cutters, but that just grinds its way through. I guess the next thing to try is a thinner bandsaw blade.

18th February 2019

Last week I issued Kelli a challenge to take some of the odd items she had picked up at the various thrift shops, post them on Marketplace and sell them. Then take ten percent of the money, buy some more items and sell those, and then take ten percent of those, and so on. So far she has exceeded my expectations, by getting things that sell. I have lost count of the number of high fives we’ve had, but every dollar she gets helps the business.

This morning a number of people turned up to pick up things they had bought, I even cleared the path to allow them safe and easy entry to get their goods.

We unloaded the large dresser that we got free yesterday, it was bloody heavy and nicknamed “Megadeath” because if it fell on me I would be dead.

We trawled the usual places for new stock coming up with a big fat zero. In desperation we tried a place on the north side where we’d been before, and luckily found a tall pine cabinet at a good price. Kelli scurried around and found a few other things. When she went up to the register to pay, there was a sign stating that senior citizens got ten per cent off. I pointed it out to Kelli in jest, but she inquired, and got the discount.

God knows was the assistant was thinking, after kelli had already negotiated a price a price for a large glass jar. There must have been the thought “what else does she want money off from?”

“We must try that again” I said, “ there sure are advantages in being retired”

We carried the piece straight into the kitchen so Kelli could start on it. This should be an easy project.

The activity at Farmgirl has been a little erratic, furniture has been put on hold but have not been bought. Sometimes it’s the size, other times it’s the colour, we try to have a neutral pallet, much to our frustration, but it’s the way things play out.

17th February 2019

More snow fell today, I had to drive up to the in-laws to cut up my timber.

Kelli has found a dresser in Zeeland and had arranged a collection time. From the pictures I asked if it was wood, and was assured it was.

So out in the whiteness we went. Thanks to GPS we found the place. Kelli then reversed into their drive making sure she avoided hitting the parked vehicles, in so doing she drove on to the snow bank. Not a problem for her getting out, but for me as soon as I climbed out the truck I sank into the snow up to my knees.

The dresser was as I expected, it was not wood, not veneer, but melamine. Kelli had the thirty bucks in her pocket, but I inspected the piece and said out loud that it was not what I thought it was, and basically wanted to walk away. The lady selling it must have sensed that there was no sale coming from us, she then said we could have it for free. They didn’t need to tell us twice, in the blink of an eye it was in the back of the truck and we were away down the road. I still didn’t have much interest in the piece, it was large and heavy and had some damage, but Kelli was confident she could turn it into something wonderful, so it’s over to her.

This meant we could spend the money on some new paint ready for the transformation.

As February was tax time, Kelli needed help with hers. Luckily she has a friend who is an accountant, so we stopped there on the way back. Kelli, who is alway unsure of her footing, and frightened of slipping, did just that on the driveway. Splat! right on her arse. I blame her extraordinarily small feet, as she can fall anywhere, I am surprised that she was able to walk down the isle at our wedding.

So there she was wallowing in the drift, whilst Kevin, the accountant, was desperately trying to open the front door, and control his large black dog at the same time. I helped Kelli get to her feet, brushing the snow off her back, as she clutched her now slightly damp paperwork. We entered the house, the large black dog straining at the leash barking loudly about six inches from my face. “ Oh he doesn’t bite” Kevin said, his knuckles white with the strain. All I was thinking was that my head would fit in that dog’s mouth. In a relatively short time Kevin had most of the information he required to finish Kelli’s tax returns, so as the black dog shot out of the door in front of us we made escape to the truck.

After the trauma of a damp bottom, and avoiding becoming a dog’s breakfast, We decided to have dinner at the Curragh Irish pub, in downtown Holland.

16th February 2019

Kelli served me hash browns made by her loving hands. That always puts me in a good place. With a fresh cup of coffee I sit and listen to last nights network shows. They all feature Trump and his latest actions. Most of the people I have contact with (with the exception of Kelli’s mum and dad) are embarrassed that the country has that man in charge. I have to respect the rest of the families political positions even though I doubt they really understand what is happening to the Republican Party they remember.

Today was wood gluing day, I have a number of jobs I want to get finished.

Kelli went out leaving me to my jobs, mainly making things out of the mountain of material I have accumulated in the garage. I was trying to finish a solid top that was three inches short of what it needed. I started breaking up a pallet, hoping to utilise the bearers. So after levering the floor pieces and removing the nails I thought I was finished. When I looked closer I saw other nails that had been cut off meaning the bearers had been used before. I don’t think Dave would have been pleased if I ran them through his saw. Fortunately I did find a piece of timber hidden in the pile, so I was able to use that.

15th February 2019

We were up at Hudsonville early taking the two new pieces to replace the one we sold. So now my backlog has gone, so back to square one.

Kelli had to take her mum to the doctors for some tests, so I stayed with Dave to work in his workshop.

On her return, we set off to look for more furniture. We visited all the usual suspects but nothing was out there. Even the ropey dresser at the thrift store had gone. Kelli managed to find some odd stuff to buy, like most of the time she sees potential in things I think are crap.

Somehow she saw this wall mounted bicycle style flower basket, personally I was not that supportive, but she bought it anyway.

There was also a mystery. Two miniature wire candle holders shaped as a chair, were placed in the truck, by the time we got home, one had disappeared. The only other place we had visited was Aldi. Could it have dropped out?

I got back in the truck and drove back to see if I could find the elusive piece. Needless I came up zero. Kelli was disappointed because as a pair it might have been easier to sell. Regardless she spent the evening taking pictures and posting them on Marketplace.

That paid off amazingly. At about 10.30pm the bicycle was sold, and the person came straight over to pick it up.

Then a wooden “Hello” sign sold to be picked up tomorrow morning.

This is how it goes, all over the place people are always looking for something to buy, for us that is great. I always underestimate my wife’s ability to find unique things, and earn a buck.

I always smile when she reads my blog and finds my grammar, and spelling mistakes that I correct hopefully before my two readers find them.

14th February 2019

Kelli is a bit of a slave driver. She had to work at the florist again, leaving me to stain and prime a small sofa table. I was happily painting away when Kelli sent me a message to tell me that our multi drawer dresser had sold, so we needed to take the piece that I was working on to Hudsonville tomorrow.

In addition she also wanted to take the oak dresser I worked on yesterday.

I plodded on and waited for my wife to return.

When the door burst open it was as if Wonder Woman had just landed. There were swirls of wind and paper everywhere. (I think I provided the wind) I had stained the top and shelf, and primed the carcass, so I was quite pleased with myself. “We need to paint the oak dresser” I was relieved when she changed it to “I”. I explained that it needed an upstanding at the back, that I hadn’t made yet.

“Well you get on with that while I paint” ordered Kelli,

“Do you think I have a piece of oak up my arse?” I responded.

“You might have” she said mockingly.

“ Well for your information I don’t have any oak up there, but I might have some poplar, I will see what I can pull out”. Which is exactly what I did.

Like a well oiled machine we rolled those babies out, ready for transportation tomorrow.

This left us with just enough time to get ready for our Valentines day romantic meal, and the first anniversary of my proposal of marriage to Kelli. This was the first time I could give her a card with “Wife” on it, and it made me smile choosing it.

13th February 2019

Kelli drove to Saugatuck to help out in florist for a couple of days.

I was looking forward to tackling the oak dresser, so I carried it indoors and started work on it.

The bearers were just friction fits into slots, so they just had to knocked back into the correct position. Once these were in place, I added some small blocks so they would not drop again.

After a couple hours work the dresser looked great, all the gaps between the drawers were consistent.

Kelli returned from her flowery stint, and immediately took some of the returned stuff from Farmgirl and put them on Marketplace. There were a pair of Pottery Barn cushions that now hold the record for the fastest sale and collection. It was so quick that the creases hadn’t come out of the covers.

A fruit rack was the next to be snapped up.

Late into the evening Kelli received a message that a small vendor dreads. The lady who was due to pick up the table and chairs on Saturday suddenly decided that she didn’t want them, and as she had already paid, wanted her money back. She offered a plausible excuse of an aged mother having to go into care, and she needed the money more than the furniture.

These are times when the “no returns” policy gives you a level of protection, but we don’t have that clause when we sell direct. So we must grin and bare it.

12th February 2019

Frozen rain hit us last night, so there was a long time required to de-ice the windscreen.

Today we were heading up to Hudsonville to take the new dresser, re-arrange everything and bring the table and chairs back with us.

By the time we had finished, it had started snowing, but before we could drive back we had to go to Grandville. Kelli needed to return things she had bought at a store before, so that meant dumping me at Starbucks for a coffee and a handful of wooden sticks.

The drive back was precarious, but Kelli was in total control.

The lady who wanted the table and chairs also wanted other things, so there were texts going back and forth.

I checked out the dresser we purchased yesterday, and discovered all was not well. The bearers had dropped so none of the drawers fitted properly. Also some of the drawer floor panels had split or had slipped, fortunately I could see how to correct it all, but that’s tomorrow’s job.