The Legs Fall Off If You Move It

OK, folks.  Let’s just assume going forward that I’ll start every post with an apology about not posting for so long.   So, assume please.

LOTS going on.  Signed a lease for 1230 Houston Avenue, which is just north of Washington Ave and conveniently reached (defined by me as no more than three turns off the big road) from I-10 and 45.  Signing the lease started the giant ball rolling on the facility-related stuff — demo, lighting, paint, store fixtures, moving, packing, utilities (AT&T and Green Mountain), and changing the business address and phone number on everything — so, it’s a lot, on top of what already felt like a lot. 

What I’m trying to do is get everything that is not related to one of those things listed above checked off the list and behind me by tomorrow, and then I’ll be able to focus 100% on the move and then the giant UNPACKING to follow next month.  But, as I have discovered over the past few months, I really like buying the materials and organizing the materials just about exactly as much as I like actually using the materials, so this should be a really fun phase for me. 

So, what else am I doing?  Working on marketing and advertising, working on licenses and forms, making lists, and moving money around by the bag full.  I’m good for the economy.  What else?  Lots of little learning steps along the way.  An overnight soak in vinegar will un-rust the rustiest nuts and bolts from each other.  This amazed me.  Oh, also?  Mothballs are THE DEVIL.  I got two old wool blankets, forewarned that there was a moth ball odor.  Once my allergies cleared out a little, I could smell the mothballs an entire room away from the shipping box that still had the blankets taped up inside.  Since I bought them to felt anyway, I unpacked them and threw them in the washer.  And then we practically had to move out of the house for a week.  Seriously.  There was a trail of odor from where I opened the box all the way to the laundry room.  And the smell in the washer, in the words of my friend, Micky, would knock a buzzard off a gut wagon.  And, soaking and washing them over and over, even with vinegar and oxyclean, didn’t do anything but make the smell laugh at me.  The only thing that did work was putting them outside and letting the air and sunlight do their work.  But, even there, we had intermediate stages of gross — at one point smelling like a wet dog bed (the blankets, not me) –  and the colors faded.  The washer still has a faint odor when I open it, despite busting open a can of whup-ass on it.  So, my advice to you, Internet, is this — just say no to the mothballs.  

Quick inventory update — really cool old furniture hardware, some old lamp finials and other parts, and a ton of horse show rosette ribbons in a rainbow of colors. 

Here’s a picture of part of what the checkout counter will look like.  These are the formerly black beauty shop cabinets.  Came out nice, I think.  That light blue is going to be the ceiling color, and the base color of the cabinet will be the wall color.   Hope you will all come visit it in person next month.

One other thing — lots of people have been asking what they can do to help.  Starting this very weekend, The Center for Recycled Art is going to have a TON of donated materials that need to get sorted, cleaned, packed, unpacked, priced, ooh’ed and aah’ed over, and otherwise treated like the treasures they are.  If you feel so inclined, let me know and we’ll make a plan to make good use of your good intentions.  Eventually, the website will have volunteer information on it, but that’s a to-do item on one of the lists mentioned above.  So, anywho, if you’d like to help, lemme know.  Earth Day is upon us, you know.  No pressure …

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 11:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.