Running Mucks

 I don’t know what I was thinking.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I thought I could easily marry my love of prowling through discarded treasures and dragging them home with selling those treasures online.  And it all started so innocently. 

Last year we cleaned out a 10 x 15 storage unit we’ve been paying rent on longer than I care to tell you, and I spent the next few weeks going through boxes of stuff I had completely forgotten I had.  Now, our garage is only so big, so tough decisions had to be made.  As I carefully unwrapped and picked through the tidbits of our lives, I discovered, much to my surprise, a lot of things I wasn’t really all that attached to anymore.  But what to do with them?  Yard sales are a complete goat rope and, while I love going to them, actually having them myself, not so much. {insert chewing of lip here}  Which was followed by an AHA! moment when it occurred to me I have friends on Twitter and Facebook who sell stuff online.  Yeah!  I’ll do THAT! 

Long story mercifully shorter – I stumbled around a few selling sites, I researched, I photographed, I ordered up shipping supplies, and I listed a few things and waited.  And then I sold something.  Which was a whole lot funner than I had thought it would be.  And, just like that, I was addicted.  I mean, really, what could be better than actually making a vice work for you?  And, BONUS!, I won’t have to worry about being featured on “Hoarders”  anymore.  Well, maybe.  Cause now I need more stuff.  And a bigger garage.  Which is why I was getting rid of stuff in the first place.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Whatever. 

Of course, nothing is ever as easy as it looks.  So, what I thought would be something I could do a few hours a week to earn some money and make me feel like a productive, grown-up, responsible adult again has taken me places I never could have imagined.  Finding the right items is the first challenge, and then there are the hours of research, the hours of trying to get just the right photos, figuring out shipping costs, listing, marketing, social media . . .   Aaaaaaaaah!  I have days where I feel like someone punched the flipper on a pinball machine in my head, and that little ball is zinging around in there disrupting all my synapses.   No, it has nothing to do with being blonde!  *glares at Hubby*  

With Christmas in my sights, I really got wound up in my quest for more stuff and was spending more and more time on my little part-time (Ha!) venture.  And friends and family started to complain they never heard from me anymore.  My prized garden became an afterthought.  My exercise routine went the way of the dodo bird.  And my house – well, let’s just say I wouldn’t let Southern Belle Mama in the front door.  In fact, I would probably throw a match on it before I let that happen.  Woops!  Sorry, Mama!  You can’t stay at my house, cause it burned down!  

So, there I was running amok and getting a very bad case of crankypants, and, just about the time I thought my head was going to explode, I had one last rational thought – I HAVE to get out of here!  I need to go to the wildlife refuge NOW!  

Ah, instant attitude adjustment. 

Yeah, I got a little "arty" with the duck butts.  By the time I took this one, it was getting dark, because I had waited and waited for all those duck butts to be in the air at the same time.  Never happened.  Contrary critters.  LOL

Now, I don't know what works best for you, but getting outside and into nature snaps me back into a happy place every time.  As far as I'm concerned, it's the best prescription for what ails you.  Try it.  Even if you just go into the backyard and watch the clouds, the birds in the trees, or a ladybug meandering across a leaf, I'm willing to bet it'll make you feel better. 

A line from a Robin Williams movie, Bicentennial Man, springs to mind here.  Working as a domestic droid for a suburban family, he has a habit of referring to himself in the third person.  So, when someone in the family says something about him "running amok," he replies, "One is not qualified to run mucks."

Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure no one is.  Life is too short to be constantly running mucks.  And it is very easy to fall into the habit, especially this time of year.  So, now, I'm going out to do a little communing with nature.  I hope you'll join me.

Thanks for taking the time to visit!