Elvis has left the building - Twice!

As expected November has been a super crazy month with our business.  We have signed a lot of contracts and this year will be a much better year fiscally than last with 2017 looking even better with all the business that we have already secured.  Hubby gets back today from a four day business trip and Buddy and I are missing him.  We just have to survive the next three weeks then we have two weeks of downtime as we always keep the last two weeks of December clear of appointments for a break and visiting with family.  That doesn't mean no business will occur, only that it will occur at a much slower pace.

November also means my annual hunt for vintage Christmas goodies to add to my collection, and this year it meant also buying items for resale.  In my next post I will share my personal collection finds (some really great ones!) as I have to photograph them.  So far I have made $50 after expenses on my "money on the side" venture buying and selling vintage Christmas stuff.  I expanded it from just ornaments to include records.  Last year I bough this Elvis Christmas album for $1 and sold it this week for $5, bought another for $2 and sold it for $6.50.  Not a ton of money but it takes about 30 seconds for me to list and the buyer picks it up so no packaging, way easier than buying and selling on Ebay or Etsy.  People are nostalgic at Christmas so I am going to start collecting Christmas records year round to sell.  This week I also found a 1963 Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas Album for $1 and sold it for $5.  Records are easy to store and usually much easier to find than vintage ornaments.  I have to say I love this little side business, so fun to hunt for vintage Christmas even if it is not exactly to my taste, I can now buy for others.

Every single piece of Christmas vintage I have put up for sale on the 24 hour bidding site has sold with vintage glass ornaments being the most popular.  One lady who bought some of them told me a horror story of her tree full of vintage Christmas ornaments crashing over last year and she lost most of her collection.  These funky 1960s vintage blue ornaments I found for $1 and sold them to her for $10.50.  I listed at them for $8 and the price got pushed up by several collectors.  The original boxes help even if not all the ornaments are there.  If I didn't already have so many great ornaments I would have kept these.

I have decided that any monies from this little business venture are going to our one night stopover at London Heathrow.  The hotel has been paid for by points, I just need money for shuttles and a meal out in a 17th Century pub within 10 minutes walking distance of our hotel.  We land at 2pm and take off the next day at 6am so after flying for 15 hours (2 flights) I think that is about all we will be good for.  We could take a cab to Windsor and see the exterior of the Palace (I love castles, could care less about the Royal part) but unfortunately the last admission to the interior is 4pm and we just won't make it in time after dropping our luggage off at the hotel so I don't think it is worth paying all that money to get there, best left for a future trip to England.  Public transportation would take much longer and is not that close to our hotel so likely we will stick to venturing out by foot. Still doing research on things close to Heathrow though as would like to see more than just a pub if we can.

I continue saving for our trip to Greece and last week got one more component booked, a flight from Athens to Santorini.  We could have taken ferries at half the price but that would have meant spending a pre-ferry overnight in the not so picturesque port of Piraeus and I would rather spend a full 3 nights on Santorini so bit the bullet and bought the ticket.  Our trip has been firmed up - 3 nights Santorini, 3 nights on the smaller quieter island of Naxos and 3 nights at the end in Athens.  I am so glad I get to return to Greece and share the experience with hubby but June is still so bloody far away!


While hubby was away I managed to clean the house from top to bottom in preparation for the decorating to begin next weekend.  I do a massive clean now and then again on January 1 after everything is put away, with only spot cleaning and bathrooms the rest of December.  Yesterday Mom and I even managed to do a small amount of Christmas shopping.  I am one of those people who absolutely loves thrift stores but hates retail shopping.  The idea of spending 3 hours at a mall just about kills me so instead I try and get this shopping done in 1/2 hour increments.  We buy for our four kids, each other and for both of our Mothers.  The money for the shopping has been saved, now I just have to get it done.  I do have several online gifts picked out, just need to review them with hubby before ordering.

I still have not found anything to wear for the Christmas party we are invited to so that will be my next thrifting focus as it is only two weeks away. Worse case scenario I will wear a dress I own already but buy a sparkly scarf to go with it.  I have found a couple of great outfits but wouldn't you know it nothing in my size. #first world problem

I hope all of you in the USA have a great Thanksgiving weekend and the rest of you have a great week!