#also hardware store is NOT RAP WHAT DO YOU MEANS

[hamsterclaw]

Namjoon Masterlist

All of my writing contains smut and is 🔞. I hope you enjoy reading these Namjoon stories as much as I love writing about our fave big buff clumsy cerebral Joon.

Nuts idol!Namjoon x reader

Your ex-boyfriend’s new song reels you back in.

Open Chest surgeon! Namjoon x doctor! reader

You and Namjoon lost touch after medical school. You aren't expecting to see him again, until he turns up for a fellowship at your hospital.

Americano hardware store owner! Namjoon x cafe owner! reader

You've just opened your own cafe in a small suburban town. Namjoon owns the hardware store next door. He's hot, he's handy and suddenly you are in way over your head. Also read: Heat for Namjoon's POV.

Fallen angel! Namjoon x fashion editor! reader

You meet a man claiming to be an angel, and he turns your life upside down.

Fleeced farmer! Joon x lavender farmer! reader, ft farmer! JK

You're determined to achieve your grandparents' last wishes, which means returning to the farm where you spent many summers as a child. The boys next door have grown up, and Namjoon in particular is proving to be very distracting. Featuring Jungkook.

Run police detective! Namjoon x reader. Part of the Rage AU.

Namjoon's not sure why he noticed you, but now that he has, he wants to know more.

Inferno and Epilogue officer! Namjoon x diver! reader

Namjoon and you sign up as officers of Project Inferno, a global endeavour to save Earth from collapse. It's a high-risk operation, and no one knows the risk better than Yoongi, one of the few men to make it back from the trench.

Reprieve police detective! Namjoon x reader

You're the newest recruit to Namjoon's investigative team. Unbeknownst to everyone else, you've met before, which is exactly why he doesn't trust you.

Kyoto bookstore owner! Namjoon x reader, dystopian future

It's the year 3021. Namjoon and you have been in each other's orbit for years. You don't want his guilt to be the reason you stay together, but he's getting harder and harder to resist.

Sake rap star! Namjoon x sake brewer! reader ft bar owner Hoseok and businessman Yoongi, polyamory

Yoongi has a business proposition for you. You think working with him is a good decision for your business, but not necessarily your heart. Also read: Daiginjo, a follow up story to Sake.

Spread ex-military! Namjoon x doctor! reader ft doctor! Hoseok

Your hospital is under siege in the middle of a pandemic. Featuring Hoseok.

Freak on a bike runner! Namjoon x reader

He doesn't know what he's doing, this big dumb guy. Also read Breakfast, when it turns out your big dumb goon can make eggs. And dumbblonde, when he learns to drive but is only marginally better at staying alive. Also hookup, where he can drive but not quite park.

Change pt.2

Namjoon thinks he's over you, until he sees you.

Heartbeat doctors! Namjoon x reader

Your colleague Namjoon is infuriating. He’s intelligent, but he’s also smug, irritating and cold. You hate him until you realise you don’t.

Dragonfire dragon rider! Namjoon x reader

Lord Namjoon commands the dragon riders of Mount Halji. He's authoritative, well-respected, a fearsome warrior on the battlefield. So why aren't you afraid of him, damnit?

Love - a series exes Namjoon x reader

Namjoon is your ex-husband, the man who committed even though he didn't really want to. So why is he still hanging around now that you're over?

Night, London idol Namjoon x reader

You steal moments together when Namjoon's in town.

©hamsterclaw 2021 - 2024

[nickgerlich]

Wave As You Go By

I remember to my fleeting days of youth how we paid for things in stores and restaurants. You either had cash, or you handed over a credit card to some guy who then laid it atop a cumbersome manual device. He then slid the arm over your card to capture an imprint—ka-chunk!—and handed you the carbon copy. A few weeks later it might show up on your bill, after much more manual processing.

Later we enjoyed the ease of simply swiping our plastic, be it credit or debit, greatly simplifying and speeding up our transactions. Over-use of your credit card could result in it becoming “swiped out,” meaning the magnetic stripe on the back becomes very scuffed from repeated use.

But in the last few years, the rate of change has magnified. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others all decided they wanted to be part of the payment eco-system, thereby grabbing a very small sliver of each transaction, but also providing convenience.

Then came tap-to-pay, which makes buying things ridiculously easy, whether in a store or at the gas pump. No need to worry about nefarious people installing credit card skimmers to steal your data.

Then there’s QR-pay, which I use in restaurants whenever possible, since I don’t want to relinquish my card to a total stranger for 10 minutes while they disappear to a hidden place. That’s risky business, and has also resulted in much fraud. Heck, I used QR-pay last night at Walmart, a handy feature of my Walmart+ membership. Talk about being in control, I not only scanned and bagged my own items, but then used my phone camera to pay for it from within the app. Easy peasy.

But wait, there’s more.

Biometrics are rapidly becoming the new cool way to pay. Last fall Amazon-owned Whole Foods announced it was rolling out its pilot program of hand scanners across the entire chain. Now when I go to a Whole Foods—mind you, we will never have one in Amarillo, but I shop there whenever I am in a larger city—I just wave my hand, and off I go.

Sure, it is its detractors, mostly those who contend that Big Data—meaning every big company that collects customer data—already has too much of our information. I reply, “But unless someone has me handcuffed against my will, or has chopped off my hand, this is exceedingly secure.” Your palm print is unique. I know. There is no perfect system, just like someone could have stolen my wallet 50 years ago with its cash and plastic, but I feel good about this.

And now Tencent, the Chinese firm behind their social media site WeChat, is doubling down on palm readers. This is not to be confused with American rapper 50 Cent, and I seriously doubt the Chinese entity has ever rapped. As much as we Americans love to be suspicious of anything the Chinese are doing, I must say they are leapfrogging much of the world with this effort. I recall China having QR-pay when we visited in 2019, and we were left scratching our heads and digging for RMBs to pay our lunch tab. Now they are reaching for the stars.

Tencent sees a hand-waving future in this, and not just for payments. Imagine being able to enter the subway or bus with a simple wave. Opening the front door of your house. Or entering your secure corporate campus and office. Even Google employees today have to “badge-in” and “badge-out.” Badges are so 1990s.

The long and the short of it is that we would not need to tote as many things as we have been doing, such as wallets and keys. I would stop short of saying we won’t need to carry our phone, because that would kind of negate the benefit of having such a handy mobile device. I mean, unless you simply do not want to be reachable.

Once again, there will be a transition period, and the hardware and software expense will be huge up front for businesses and anyone else using it. We just saw gas stations in the US transition to chip card readers (as mandated by law), and only some of those have tap-to-pay. All of that would be scrapped with a palm scanner.

And what of the Luddites who do not want to go along with any of this? My brother still prefers cash, and is loathe to use anything else. Going to pro sports and concerts these days is practically out of the question, because those venues no longer take cash, and ticketing is done electronically via your phone. When he saw me pay for my Whole Foods purchase a week ago in Orlando, he shrugged in a negative kind of way.

So does this mean businesses will have to retain legacy systems for those who do not want to adopt palm scanning? Tough question, because it would be even more expensive for companies. Perhaps what needs to be done is a concerted education effort to convince everyone of the merits of the new way, and demonstrate how that, while nothing is perfect, it is a step closer in the right direction.

Just be careful where and when you wave your hand. You may be paying for someone else’s dinner or groceries.

Dr “Ya Gotta Hand It To Them” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[wagnerbusk29]

rekordbox dj android

Considering the fact that DJing is a largely popular hobby (or profession) in today's day in age, a lot of people want to buy it in taking this path but aren't sure where to start. 1) What is the viable promote for your genre of alternative? What I mean is this, there is no point purchasing a style of music to play that significantly everyone else hates or has never heard involved with. Do not worry, you do not need to sell out, we must are commercial element into your plans. Otherwise you will never get any bookings or make little money. I made the transition from vinyl to CD about a long time ago, although I have kept my old records in crates which are stored during attic. Playing music from a CD has a number of benefits, as is feasible one being the regarding tracks I'm able to hold on the single CD compared with regard to an old fashion vinyl produce. When you're standing behind the turntables naturally people watch an individual move and ways you look, so among the important things for a DJ may be the visual concept. There are no standards here, you aren't in is not business so any interesting haircut, piercing or tattoos, basically anything that will help you make stand out compared additional DJ's that played that night will help. As for clothing - tees are invariably important for visual style and is capable of displaying for example if the DJ takes his work dead serious or just views everything as an important party. As to direct examples lets look over at some DJ related urban clothes. From rekordbox dj Torrent of the World Class Wreckin' Cru Dr. Dre moved on quickly to collaborate with N.W.A., a pioneer number of the 'gangsta rap' genre, along with Ice-T. The time after leaving N.W.A release a his own solo effort and founding his custom record label Aftermath Entertainment that he really made the decision to focus on production as opposed to rekordbox dj definitely be a performer by his own. His first successful production credits include no other than 3 tracks on Eminem's highly successful Slim Shady LP. From then has been created very clear that Dre's knack for production was slowly unveiling itself and needed in order to nourished by further occasions. Where do new DJs or Intermediate DJs go to learn set-mixes that purpose? A website has been developed for Event/Mobile DJs to give DJs immediate access to Set lists for all types of parties; Weddings, Birthdays, Kids, Sweet 16's, Graduations, and great mixes for popular dance music, updated monthly. It's also a resource site for DJ's to and get all kinds of helpful tips, how-to's, and information, song programming techniques, and event forms. You can have away with DJing on the midi controller alone, many DJs still prefer to employ a traditional DJ equipment along with digital vinyl systems and hardware. Understand a set of CDJs or turntables if you the traditional feel of platters and jog added wheels. As a companion, Pioneer HDJ-1000 DJ Headphones, is very important have along with CDJ 800. It has supreme sound quality, and can clearly hear the bottom while other track is playing via your speaker. For optimum protection of your investment, fully understand recommend 2 X Pioneer CDJ 100/800/5000 series coffin case which has wheels and cooling freakouts. There are number of other cases that help the overall look of your Digital turntable, but I would recommend that you buy the best. The best mixer together with this installed is Pioneer DJM-400 Pro DJ Mixer, but the only downside truly has only 4 areas. For 8-channel mixer, will not Pioneer DJM-800 Pro DJ Mixer.

[audio-luddite]

My preferences.

Basically I have said that the audio hobby is about preferences. There is no absolute best of any kind. Just think about the music. Some you like, some you dislike and everything in between.

I like a lot of pop music. I am a fan of Stefani Germanotta. (Lady Gaga) That was even before she proved to be a really good jazz singer. There is also Shakira and several others. Even some guys Bruce Springsteen comes to mind.

I enjoy country music (Bruce Springsteen comes to mind)

I like classical music. Beethoven and Bach and all those guys. I even enjoy Philip Glass, so it aint all 18th century stuff.

Opera came late as I just had a hard time around the actual stories and plots. (Really stupid mostly) The performances eventually won me over.

Yes I like Jazz of course.

Hip hop not so much. I am old. Rap neither, but there are a couple of artists that get my attention.

So that is just the software side. You must see my point though. For styles and types of music there is no best. There are groups and artists that are more skilled and certainly more popular, but can anyone claim the title of Best? Of course not. Is it worth ranking them from top to bottom. No it is not. You can like one more than the other, that is all.

It is the same in the hardware.

There is crap. The lowest level bottom feeder stuff exists, but once you dig out of the muck everything changes. I had crap once. It was a "stereo" my dad bought at a department store. It was a Panasonic thing with a record player, radio, and cassette. Sound came out and I was clueless.

My preferences developed. I liked things loud. (Surprise a teenager liking loud music) Still do. I like solid Bass. I did not like distortion. I knew I had to improve.

It was simple then.

I built stuff. I built an amplifier, a preamplifier and speakers from plans and kits. At first not great, but it was a start. I still build things. I learned a lot building things.

I gained a solid education and experience in the machines and methods that let me enjoy music. Those are my preferences.

I like clarity and detail. If I hear more with one device than another then I like it more. That was the big change with my new preamplifier. I lost a lovely effect of space, but now I can hear a woman's lips part as she starts to sing. It does not contribute very much, but tells me tiny things are there and can be heard.

I also learned that many things that professional reviewers lock on to are false targets. Yes there was a difference, but it was not the wire.

I like a good image of a performing space. I know there are very few recordings that deliver that. Some devices make convincing false images. But a good recording is important. Many old Orchestral recordings let you hear the room. Many do not. If it is all studio that's ok as it can still be fun if its phony.

Actually it is good image and detail that makes me actually hostile to dipolar speakers. That includes open baffle and most electrostatics. They blast confusion around the room. Things like Magnaplanars sound nice, for the wrong reasons. I will not buy any of those. I made some and learned what was wrong.

I have a powerful amplifier. Almost 250 Watts per stereo channel. I usually advise people to buy the most power they can. I ignore power ratings for speakers. They mean nothing. It is easier to blow a speaker with a small amp. Actually I think it is inevitable if you have a small receiver no matter what the speakers are "rated" for. Get as big as you can.

I have no preference regarding various types of transistors. Really good stuff is made with everything you can think of and it all works. I prefer discrete components to say Opamps. I like the sound and effect of tubes, but I do not like the inconsistency and frankly the cost of that glass. I say with certainty that for any Tube Amplifier you will find a better sounding transistor one for much less money. Keep any tubes in the low level devices like preamps or boutique player things.

I like vinyl LPs. I have collected about 600 and I am constantly amazed how good they sound.

I have a good, but not great CD player. Not as good as my records.

I can stream Apple Music and it is fine for background and auditioning new recordings. Not as good as my records.

Of all the choices speakers have the most in play. Any speaker will put out sound. Broad bandwidth is important to me. It needs to go low and high. An even and level response is good. Some speakers have a big character and let the chips fall where they want. There are too many to discuss. Buy what you like.

Mine are simple two way bass reflex that go hard against the wall. I think they sound great. ( yes I designed and built them) Simple parts, good components and let it sing. Oh and they look good. Almost invisible.

Keep wires between amps and speakers heavy and do not fret about anything else. Between low level parts keep them short and I like braided lately. They do impact the sound. Do not spend much on those things. Cheap works fine.

There is no best, but there may be better.

[inawickedlittletown]

Baked With Love (Destiel fic) - 3/5

Summary: Dean never met Lisa’s neighbor, but he knew one thing: whoever it was, they could bake. After breaking up with Lisa, the one thing Dean misses is her neighbor’s pie. After finally meeting him, Cas’ pie is not the only thing Dean likes.

On Ao3

Part one

Part two

-

Dean ran into Lisa the very next day when he was getting out of the Impala in front of Castiel’s house. 

“I see you finally called Cas,” she said. “He made you pie, didn’t he?” 

“He did,” Dean said. “Just as delicious as I remembered it.”

“Oh. I figured you were here to pick it up,” Lisa said with a frown. “You can’t bully him into being your personal baker. I know he’s a nice guy, but don’t take advantage of my neighbor.” 

“No, I’m kinda paying him back. Doing him a favor. He has a few loose steps in his backyard. I noticed them yesterday when I was here and I offered to fix them.” 

Lisa’s smile returned. “He wouldn’t take your money.” 

“No. He wouldn’t,” Dean said and left it at that. 

It was better than to admit that Dean would have wanted to do this for Cas even if Cas had taken payment for the pie. 

Lisa excused herself as Dean got into his trunk to grab his tools. He was hoping that the planks wouldn’t need to be replaced entirely, but wouldn’t know yet until he got a closer look. When he was sure he had everything he walked up to Castiel’s house. 

“Hello, Dean,” Cas said when he opened the door. 

“Hey, Cas,” Dean said. 

Castiel kept him company out in the yard. He busied himself with the garden, but wandered over to see how Dean was doing every once in a while, offering to get Dean anything he might need. It was nice. 

Cas hummed and he talked to his plants. He spent a long time checking on all of his plants, attentive in a way that Dean had never known anyone to be with plants. 

The wood planks were not in a horrible state. Dean figured that eventually they would need to be replaced, but they weren’t there yet. So, instead he made work of getting all of Cas’ steps to have better attachments to the supports. It was quick work, but he kept getting distracted by watching Cas. 

“Hey, Cas,” Dean called over when he was on the last step. 

“Yes, Dean?”

“Want to get lunch after this?”

Castiel nodded with a big smile. “That’d be great.”

—

“Let me get this straight,” Sam said. “Well, I guess not straight.”

“Sammy.” 

“You befriended Lisa’s baker neighbor because you missed his pies and then somehow you’re fixing up things around this guy’s house and you’re taking him out to look at possible locations for a bakery this weekend.”

Dean should have known better than to tell Sam about Castiel, but he was just so used to telling Sam everything that it had spilled out. He could feel Sam’s judgement. 

“Sam, we’re friends now. Cas is a cool guy. You’d like him.” 

Sam gave him the kind of knowing look that Dean was practiced at ignoring.

“Dean, you just broke up with Lisa a couple of months ago and this guy lives right next door to her. Isn’t it a little—”

“We’re friends, Sam,” Dean said. 

Not that Dean wouldn’t have minded if it turned into more, but for the moment he and Castiel were just friends. 

“How’s work?” Dean asked. 

“You’re changing the subject, but fine. Work is great,” Sam said. 

At the end of the night Sam shouted: “have fun tomorrow with your new boyfriend!” 

Dean turned. “Not my boyfriend.” 

“But you want him to be,” Sam said. 

Dean didn’t respond. He did kinda hope that his friendship with Cas would develop into more, but it was something he was keeping close to the chest for the moment even if to his brother he would always be obvious. 

—

Dean had fully expected the first hurdle to be getting the financials in place. But Cas already had the money. It made everything easier. 

Apparently, Castiel’s grandfather had been very well off. So well off that when he died, he left a sizable amount of money to his favorite grandchild. 

“He was a writer,” Castiel told Dean. “You’ve probably heard of him, actually. Carver Edlund.”

Dean absolutely did know Carver Edlund. So, his silence at the reveal made Castiel chuckle. 

“You’re a fan, then?” 

“Yeah, Cas. I’m a fan.” 

Dean hadn’t been a reader like Sam was a reader, but that didn’t mean that Dean hadn’t read anything and Carver Edlund had written books in many different genres — it was what had made him so popular — but he’d also written a series of books about two brothers who travelled the world hunting ghosts and other supernatural beings and Dean had been obsessed with them for a long time. 

“Well, my grandfather did well for himself and when he passed and he left me all that money, I knew what I would do with it,” Castiel said. “And when it didn’t work out when Balt and I were — well, I just never touched it.”

The money had been sitting in the bank for years. It gave Cas options. 

So, a week after meeting Castiel for the first time, Dean was once more back at his house, but this time instead of getting out of the car and knocking on his door, it was Cas that gave his car a gentle rap. Dean unlocked the door at once and Cas got in. 

“Hi, Dean,” Cas said, all smiles. “I brought something for you.” 

It was a honey crumb muffin and it looked delicious.

“Cas, you didn’t have to,” Dean said at once. 

“I know. I wanted to.” 

Dean imagined that looking for a place to open a bakery shouldn’t have been fun. Somehow, it was. They looked at places up for rent and a few that were for sale. Cas didn’t like most of them and Dean found issues with others. There was not one that either of them actually liked. 

“What if we can’t find a place,” Cas said after a while. 

“Then we keep looking,” Dean said. “Where did you originally have in mind the first time around?”

“That place where someone opened that hardware store,” Cas said. 

Dean could admit that it definitely would have made for a good location. 

It did take them a few trips before they found the right place. Dean didn’t tell Cas right away that Singer Auto was only a few blocks away, but he was glad for the fact. It was on a corner and only a couple of blocks away from Singer Auto. It had been formerly a dog grooming place, and before that a pizza restaurant, and before that a dry cleaner, but none of those businesses had taken off. 

“And why do you even think mine will?” Cas had asked. 

“Because the grooming place was by appointment only and expensive as all hell. Because the owners of the pizza place were laundering money and serving what amounted to baked frozen pizza. Because the dry cleaner wasn’t very good. Trust me, Cas, one taste of anything you bake and you’ll have customers for life.” 

Castiel put an offer in through a realtor the next day. It had been a month since Dean had met Cas, but it felt like he’d known him far longer. Sam pointed out that that was probably because Dean spent most of his free time with Castiel and Dean couldn’t actually deny that. 

Dean was actually over at Cas’ house on a Friday afternoon when Cas got the call that his offer had been accepted. Dean insisted on getting a bottle of champagne to celebrate even though it meant that he had to drive to the nearest liquor store to pick it up first because Cas just didn’t have any on hand. Castiel’s smile didn’t fade from his lips for the rest of the night. He told Dean all of his ideas. How he wanted to set up the kitchen and the display counters and the kind of mixers and ovens that he’d been researching. 

“It’s really happening,” Cas said eventually, looking at Dean with wide surprised eyes. 

“I told you it would,” Dean said and nudged his shoulder. 

Cas turned so that he was facing Dean, the space between them practically nonexistent. “This is only happening because of you,” Cas informed him before wrapping his arms around Dean’s shoulders. 

Dean hugged him back at once, his arms wrapping around Cas to rest at his back and he never wanted to let go. Castiel had an earthy smell to him, but something flowery too in his hair. He felt amazing in Dean’s arms and they stayed that way in that hug for longer than was socially normal. 

When they pulled away, Cas’ cheeks were pink, but his smile still hadn’t left his lips. 

“Thank you, Dean.” 

“Does that thank you include another pie?” Dean asked. 

Castiel chuckled. “Sure. I will bake you anything anytime anywhere.” 

“Will you marry me?” Dean asked. It was a joke and yet as the words hung in the air between them, Dean knew with certainty that he had never before felt about anything, that one day he would ask that same question without any irony at all. 

—

The thing about Castiel was that for all the time that Dean spent with him, he couldn’t figure out if Cas did want their friendship to be more. Sometimes, it felt like he did. Other times, it felt like Cas saw him as a friend and nothing more and Dean didn’t want to push it. So, he tried to flirt a little and he spent so much time with Castiel, that Sam began to feel a bit neglected, and yet Castiel never indicated that he felt anything more for Dean outside of how his cheeks would get pink whenever Dean flirted with him. 

Somehow, Dean had begun spending every single Friday with Cas. Watching him bake, and helping him clean up all the meanwhile discussing Castiel’s plans for the bakery. He even started driving Cas to drop off baked goods at the shelters and soup kitchens on Saturdays and then they would go out to get brunch. Early on, those Saturdays had also involved Dean fixing things in Cas’ house for him. Once the remodel at the bakery started, Dean joined him there where he could to see how the work was coming along and after a few weeks, Dean started to see Cas’ vision. The large work space in the back with gleaming countertops, the huge industrial ovens, and the giant mixers. 

The front came together slower, but just a few months after the remodel started it was all complete. The last thing to go up was the sign outside that read Angel Bakes complete with a halo floating over the A. 

“Why Angel Bakes?” Dean asked after the sign was up and he and Cas stood outside looking up at it. 

“My name,” Cas said simply. “My mom named me after the Angel of Thursday.”

“Was she very religious?” Dean asked.

Castiel laughed. “No, actually. But I was born on a Thursday and throughout the pregnancy she was sure I’d be a girl and that she would name me Wednesday.”

“Like the Adam’s Family?” Dean asked. 

“I have no idea. Maybe,” Castiel said with the confused tilt of his head that meant he didn’t understand what Dean was talking about. 

Cas, as Dean had come to learn, was brilliant if a bit behind on pop culture. There were few movies that Cas had actually seen and fewer tv shows. Things went over his head all the time and Dean had started — albeit slowly — giving Castiel a sort of education. He’d all but demanded that Cas have a movie night with him a few weeks earlier entirely so that Dean could put on A New Hope and transform Castiel into a Star Wars fan. He was pleased when Cas actually did enjoy the movie. 

“Anyway, I thwarted her plans by being a boy and being born on a Thursday. Dad always said it was the meds that made her loopy.” 

“I don’t know if that’s better or worse than being named after my grandmother,” Dean said with a grin. 

They stood side by side and looked at the sign and Dean couldn’t help the feeling of pride that filled him because he had known Cas for a few months and yet even from the first night, it had been easy to tell that Castiel didn’t feel confident enough to go for it. But a few nudges had been enough to make him decide that yes, he could do it.

-

Part Four

[aries-writingblog]

Stay With Me (2)

Summary: James Buchanan Barnes had never looked at himself as a family guy. He never even thought of it until she came around, flipping his world inside out. Bucky likes trouble and this girl? Well, she seems to invite chaos to dinner.

Pairing: Mob! Bucky Barnes x OC! Alex Grant

Chapter Word Count: 1898

Chapter Warnings: Language, mentions of violence, actual violence (one little hit, nothing big)

A/N: This is an OC story but I try to make them with the least amount of physical description as necessary. The pronouns used are feminine for the character.

“Hey, Alex- you’ve got another package on the front porch.” Wanda announced, walking through the door with Peter and Pietro in tow. The woman groaned, pressing her head to the kitchen island countertop.

“Again?” Alex asked, she looked over to Peter. “It’s the third time in two weeks- are you telling your boss the supplies we need?” Peter’s eyes widened and he shook his head. For the past two weeks, three unmarked packages arrived on Alex’s doorstep. The first just had some essentials for wood working- stain, paint, putty, a couple of new carving knives. The second had been similar- then she read back over a receipt as she was balancing her cheque book, noting the exact same products were present in the boxes. She could only imagine what was in the next one.

And she absolutely refused to change hardware stores- the workers were always so kind to her and the youth that typically dropped by- most of them attending the annual auctions to show support. More than once, they banded together and presented the group with a donation- which prompted Alex to make holiday cookies for the store employees every year. So, no- she would not give up on her family simply because of one idiotic, stupid rich criminal, who seemed hell bent on forcing his way into her life.

“What makes you think they’re from Bucky?” He asked, snatching a drink from her fridge. Pietro grunted, jumping up and sitting on the island, leaning over to Alex.

“If he’s giving you free shit, I wouldn’t complain.” He commented, tugging at her hair gently. Alex looked up, cocking an eyebrow at the teen. “Wring that fucker dry.”

“Pietro.” Wanda scolded, slapping her brother’s arm. “I don’t blame you, Alex. He’s a shady character, with even shadier money.��

“Okay, why are two teens giving me advice, right now? Shouldn’t you be... I don’t know, cleaning your rooms or something?” She snipped, pushing Pietro off the countertop. “People eat here, get your ass off.”

“I’m serious, Alex.” Pietro stopped her, gazing at her. She stopped pushing, meeting his electric blue eyes. “It would help with some of the expenses here. You know that.”

“We aren’t broke. You are, dickhead.” Alex shoved him down the hallway. “Now go- I need laundry in five minutes or your ass is grass.”

Wanda laughed, following her brother down the hallway. The two had been orphaned kids when Alex found them. They were on the streets, trying to survive. Pietro had been caught stealing from a grocery store, Alex stepped in and apologized for his behavior. The, at the time, nine year old played along and then told Alex their situation. She immediately offered them a place in her home. Pietro had accepted, trusting her fully. Wanda had been suspicious but eventually warmed up to her. They’d lived together for six years, the teens would have their sixteenth birthday in a few months. Every time Pietro or Wanda offered to help out and get a job, she turned them down.

“I make plenty of money at the hospital. You’re only kids now, enjoy your time as kids.” She’d tell them.

“They’re right, you know.” Peter supplied, tossing his backpack to the floor. “He may make dirty money but he has plenty of it. If he’s blowing it on you- what’s the problem?” Alex scoffed, swallowing her last bite of cookie.

“The problem is that you don’t live here, Pete. Why are you always here?” She passed the last of the dessert over to Peter.

“Aunt May is working night shift again and I told her I would stay with you so she wouldn’t worry.” He explained, trying to talk around a mouthful of cookie. He swallowed, taking another swig of his drink. “Plus, Pietro and I have a science report due tomorrow and we haven’t started it yet.” Alex took a deep, calming breath, closing her eyes.

“That’s great, Peter. But I’m also working night shift this week. So, you’ll be here by yourselves.” Alex stood up, stretching her back out. “Don’t burn my house down.”

“Sure thing.” He beamed at her, a chuckle falling from her lips as she started up the stairs.

Alex quickly got dressed for work, pulling on her scrubs. She made sure she had her ID badge, clipping it to her pocket. She then stopped by Pietro and Wanda’s rooms to double check if the clothes were picked up. On her way down the stairs, she heard quiet whispering from the teens.

“- what’s the harm in a date with the guy?” Pietro asked. Wanda sighed, Alex could almost picture her pressing her fingers to her temples in annoyance.

“So what she doesn’t want to date anyone? Just let it go, Pietro. And no one said anything about her dating Bucky, Peter just said that he has an interest in her. And sending random gifts isn’t gonna win that woman over, trust me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, do you know something?” Peter asked. Alex stopped on the steps, curious to hear what Wanda was going to spill to the group.

“Well... here’s the thing. In the back of Alex’s closet, there’s a-“ Wanda stopped, turning around and greeting Alex with a sheepish grin. “Oh, hi Alex.”

“Kids...” she narrowed her eyes, skirting around the group and going into the laundry room. There was a pause before three pairs of feet scurried after her.

“Can we order pizza tonight?” Pietro batted his eyelashes at her, giving his signature pouting smile. She returned the smile, mocking him.

“Pizza in the freezer. And stop going into my closet, Wanda.”

“In my defense, you told me I could borrow that top a few weeks ago and it fell off the hanger. So, was I really in your closet?” She asked, narrowing her eyes. Alex cocked an eyebrow and continued the laundry.

“What would you do, if hypothetically Mr. Barnes was like really interested in you?” Peter asked her, leaning over the washing machine.

“Peter.” She sighed. “I’m not dating your boss. End of story.” She started the machine before turning to Wanda. “Pizza’s in the freezer, keep an eye on it while it’s baking. Don’t let strangers into the house and keep an eye on your brother and Peter. Keep the laundry going and don’t work with any of the auction stuff until I get home. I don’t want any of you showing up at the hospital, wounded. Got it?”

Wanda nodded, repeating everything back to her. Alex grabbed her phone and keys, tucking them into her pockets. She hugged Wanda goodbye, ruffling Pietro‘s hair, before going out. She passed by the large box on the porch, groaning. She pushed it over to the edge of the porch, kicking it for good measure. Then, she got into her car and started to the hospital.

~~~~~~

“I don’t think this is a good idea, Bucky.” Steve advised, crossing his arms. He’d been slightly pissed all day, as soon as Bucky told him of the plan. Sam laughed, watching the buildings out of the window. Bucky groaned, throwing his head back onto the headrest.

“I’m just gonna ask if she got the deliveries. That’s it. No flirting, no banter, nothing. Zilch. Just a question.” Bucky reviewed, once again.

“But in practice, the deliveries are flirting tactics.” Steve pointed out, rolling his eyes. “She threatened to shoot you if you came back, Bucky. Leave it alone.”

“What’s the matter with you?” Bucky griped, cutting his eyes over to Steve. “You never give me shit for anything- girls in clubs, you’ve seen me beat guys senseless, shoot people, more questionable things than being interested in a woman.”

“She’s a woman who has her life together, man. Don’t pull her into this life.” Steve sighed, causing Bucky to shut his mouth. The SUV pulled to a stop in front of the house. Bucky unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out, slamming the door behind him. He jaunted up the steps and rapped his knuckles against the door. When it opened, he saw a teenaged boy with bleach white hair behind it.

“Can I help you?” He asked. He didn’t let the door open further than his shoulders. It was excusable. A strange, tattooed man at seven thirty standing on the porch of a woman who threatened to kill him. Bucky flashed a bright smile.

“Is Alex around, kid?” He asked, glancing over and spying the box still sitting unopened on the porch. “Ah... she hasn’t opened them?”

“You’re Bucky Barnes?” He asked, ticking an eyebrow up. Bucky nodded, reaching a hand out to shake hands. Pietro didn’t reciprocate, keeping the door tucked to him. Alex trained these kids well. “Well, thanks for the shit but Alex said she didn’t really want it.”

“Pietro, you left the oven-“ A girl with red hair stopped in her tracks. “What’s going on?”

“This is Barnes.” Pietro looked back at her.

“Oh, hi, Mr. Barnes!” Peter peeked his head around Pietro, opening the door wider. Pietro grumbled something but stood back a little to accommodate for the other boy. “What are you doing here?” Bucky silently sent a thanks to any deity currently listening in. Peter he could work with, the other two kids weren’t gonna give him the time of day. Much like Alex.

“Alex around?” He asked, trying to peek into the house further. Pietro shifted, blocking his view. He crossed his arms, scowling at the bulky mass of a man standing on their porch.

“No- she’s at work-“

“Peter!” The girl hissed, slapping a hand over his mouth. “Shut up!” She turned to Bucky again. “Listen, mister, we don’t want your gifts or you loitering on our porch. We’ve found Jesus, don’t need your depression pamphlet, and we don’t want any of your fucking cookies. Our mom doesn’t condone talking to strangers. Good day, sir.” She slammed the door in his face, the audible sound of several locks clicking.

“Wanda- what the fuck! He could kill you, you know that right?” One of the boys shrilled on the opposite side of the door. Bucky stood in shock- mom? Alex definitely did not look old enough to have two fifteen year olds.

“Oh please, as if. That’ll look real good to Alex, wouldn’t it? He won’t touch either of us.”

Bucky turned and jogged down the steps back to the car. When he opened the door, Sam was doubled over, laughing so hard he was crying. Steve was watching with a ‘I told you so’ smile.

“Alright, you’ve had your laughs.” He grumbled. Shoving his way into the car. Sam snickered, straightening up and looking over at the man.

“That little girl kicked your ass!” He burst out laughing again, pounding his fist on his knee. Bucky mimicked Sam’s words mockingly as he began a search on his phone.

“Whatever.” He breathed out, looking up to the driver. “Saint Quincy’s Hospital, Davis.” The driver nodded, starting the car.

“Why are we going to a hospital?” Steve asked, mirth in his voice. Sam began wiping the laughter from his face, sniffling. Bucky turned to Steve, unbuckling his seat belt.

“Punch me in the face.” He instructed, unbuttoning the top buttons on his shirt. Steve raised an eyebrow, cocking his head. Sam turned, serious again.

“Now, wait a minute-“ Sam was interrupted by Steve throwing a punch directly into Bucky’s nose. Bucky doubled over, holding his now bleeding nose. His eyes watered, stomach rolling.

“Shit!”

[clxgaming]

This Is Why You Should Get A Pre-built Gaming Computer Today

Not many people today will deny that building your custom PC is the best way to get the most bang for your buck. At least not with a straight face.

However, that does not mean that prebuilt gaming computers do not bring anything to the table. It only means that there are different ways to get exactly what you need that do not imply being computer tech savvy.

I think most of the bad rap pre built gaming computers get comes from big box stores selling poorly optimized rigs that, in order to return a profit, would skimp on components such as power supply units and even ram sticks. Many stores were so brazen, they would just increase price tags on products by just sticking the word “gaming” on them or adding an El Cheapo rgb fan.

However, this only showed there was a real market for truly optimized rigs, and that high-performance gaming PCs were no longer directed at an obscure niche. In a world where 67% of American adults play games, having a gaming computer has become an actual need.

Again, building a gaming PC requires time for doing your own research, finding the right components at the right price, waiting to have them all in your hands, and then spending a whole weekend putting it all together, running the appropriate tests and installing the desired apps and games. If everything goes according to plan, and it rarely does, you got yourself a nice custom built gaming PC at a fair price.

However, if you count the hours you put into it in terms of unpaid wages and downtime, you soon realize you´re not getting as much value out of your total investment. And these unseen costs get even higher when a vital piece of hardware comes with defects and needs to be sent back and replaced.

Fortunately for us, there are specialized online stores and system integrators that not only have all of your favorite components in one place. They also put them together and perform extensive testing to make sure everything works as intended.

CLX Gaming is one of my favorite websites for this. They not only have an amazing and intuitive custom PC builder that allows you to pick the components you want. They also offer ready to ship computers for every budget and need. I often go through their inventory and find incredible deals in every price range. I usually find cheap prebuilt gaming computers with components that will allow me to run the latest AAA titles at a decent frame rate without a hiccup. But those who want to break the 144FPS barrier and stay competitive can find full tower gaming desktops that can handle the most resource demanding titles and still leave room for live streaming and other simultaneous tasks.

Visit their Pre Built Gaming PC section often as they are constantly building new rigs with the latest components. I always find excellent deals that beat anything Big Box stores offer.

[herenortherenearnorfar]

Pretender to the Throne

(Just a not-so-quick SvtFoE bit because I’m still deep in Medical Terminology work but I love the twists, love me some complicated mother-daughter relationships and family dynasties. I guess the third part of my to-be-jossed, Butterfly centric SvtFoE fics.)

Star had never put much stock by her royal privilege. When you were born with something, you took it for granted; like Tom with fire, or Ponyhead with floating. 

More and more often, Marco was the one who put the pieces together for her. He bothered to learn about royal rules and rights, and how Star could technically skip to the head of any ice cream line in the allied kingdoms of Mewni. He was the one who shook her shoulder on the carriage ride home and whispered, “Hey, if Miss Heinous is a Butterfly, and she was Eclipsa’s daughter, and Eclipsa was queen, does that mean she was supposed to be queen?”

Star’s eyes flew open, and she punched Tom- her makeshift pillow- in the chest instinctively. He flicked the back of her head. “Not full of goose feathers, Star.”

“Sorry,” she said, apologetically. “Marco just said something real whack though. Marco, repeat the whack thing.”

Marco blushed under all the attention. Pony, at least, was still asleep, napping off the punch, but Star was staring blearily and even Tom was paying attention in between tearing strips off his shock blanket and incinerating them. “I mean, Eclipsa was queen, and Miss Heinous was- is, really- her daughter. And the daughter of a queen becomes queen next, right?”

“Normally, yes...” Star was too upset with the night to explain the complexities of Mewni’s succession- and frankly she hadn’t paid enough attention in school. She was next in line and that was all that mattered. “But not if there’s an older daughter, I don’t think. And Eclipsa is my great-whatever grandma, so she must have had an older daughter, right?” 

Suddenly, she felt uncertain of that once sure fact. Maybe Eclipsa was just her aunt, or her cousin. The grandma room couldn’t only be for grandmas. Butterflys charged into battle too often and too recklessly for them to have maintained a single line of descent. 

“Besides,” she said, covering for her sudden confusion with overconfidence, “A monster couldn’t inherit.”

Marco shifted a little on his bench, like he had in class when he knew the right answer but was afraid to say so. “Are you sure?”

Star gaped at him, mouth moving silently as she looked for an explanation she couldn’t provide. Desperately she glanced around the carriage, as if an inheritance lawyer would appear out of nowhere and solve her woes, but there were only the four of them. Ponyhead snored softly and Tom shrugged, as unhelpful as ever. His mother had emerged from lava and primordial evil and his father was the abstract conglomeration of every middle-aged dad who had ever gotten angry at a hardware store. He didn’t have to deal with extended family. 

“It might not be a law,” Star rallied finally, “But you know what mewmans are like; no one would have let her inherit. Especially not if she was a baby.”

“Yeah,” Marco said, “They might, I don’t know, try to kill her? Leave a crazy lady with purple hair outside her bedroom in case she ever tried to come back?”

“It does kind of make sense,” Tom said helpfully, “You don’t leave someone to guard something that isn’t dangerous- I’m just saying!” He held up his hands like he was afraid he’d get punched again. 

“I’m almost certain Eclipsa is my grandmother,” Star said, “’Cause her tapestry said she was married to a mewman first and you don’t say that unless you- you know.” It felt awkward to explain the basics of royal marriage to a pair of boys, even boys who were her friends, but they both nodded agreeably. 

“Got busy, yeah,” Tom said. “Maybe they were afraid she’d try to inherit anyway. Like, a bunch of monsters would want to make her queen because she’s a monster too.”

There was a long pause. 

“That’s really smart, Tom,” Marco said. 

Tom nodded, “I try.” The ragged remainder of the shock blanket burst into flames in his hands, sending Star scooching down the bench towards Marco. The flames died down quickly, Tom’s fires always burned out fast, but Star elected to stay away. He seemed a little moody, even if he didn’t realize it, and there was still a lot of hairspray in her hair. 

“Even if Miss Heinous- Meteora- was the heir back then, that doesn’t really matter now though, does it?” Star asked, trying to steer the conversation back on track. “There have been lots of queens. Seems like you’ve got a window to grab the throne and after that you’ve lost your chance.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works legally,” Marco said with a frown.

“Legality, reality. It doesn’t matter what’s legal, Marco!”

There was a long silence. Tom started to gently smoke. Both Marco and Star turned on him, concerned. 

Marco edged around the carriage floor until he was across from Tom, trying not to get jolted into the demon’s personal space. “Hey, Tom, buddy? Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Tom insisted, crossing his arms. Star closed in on him from the side. 

“You smell like brimstone,” she pointed out, with an awkward chuckle, “The driver is going to think we’re up to something in here.”

Tom didn’t respond. Marco reached over and carefully patted his hand, then withdrew with a yelp. “It’s okay to talk to your friends,” he said as he stuck his fingers in his mouth, “Also your skin is really hot and I’d prefer that no one gets second degree burns the next time we go around a bend really fast. We need to cool off.”

The threat of imminent danger to others finally did it. Tom flipped his sunglasses down over his eyes and leaned back against the carriage’s upholstery, ignoring how the leather hissed in protest. “She just looked a lot like me, is all. Looks human with a big red parent, magical powers, royal heritage. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I realized. You know I don’t usually care about politics but this one feels... strange.”

He wasn’t exactly wrong, Star reflected. Meteora did kind of look like him, if you squinted. The pale hair, the pointed ears, the hint of fangs. 

She hugged Tom, heedless of the way the cushions were melting around him. Sure enough, by the time she touched him he was just uncomfortably warm. “It’s not weird.”

“This doesn’t mean I’m on her side, or anything,” Tom protested, “Just some mildly uncomfortable feelings for me to talk out with my therapist.” “Well, I’m sort of on her side,” Marco said, as Star and Tom pulled apart. “Miss Heinous is terrible, but whatever happened to her sounds worse.”

“I know,” Star agreed, voice feeling too tight in her throat. “And I didn’t mean to say- I mean. We need to focus on what we can do now to fix this. I need to talk to my parents. I just don’t know what I’m going to say.”

A hand rapped on the side of the carriage and a voice full of knightly bluster called, “Five minutes until the Underworld and Cloud Kingdom!”

Tom pressed a little closer to Star’s side. “If anyone can figure it out, it’s you.”

In the corner, Pony abruptly stopped snoring and righted herself in midair, shaking free of the bubble Star had put her in to keep her from sleep goring anyone on the long and bumpy ride. Star brightened. 

“Ponyhead! We were just talking about-”

“Mmmhm,” Pony, never a light sleeper, looked oddly alert. “I heard. I was ignoring you because it was, how can I say this, not very interesting? But it’s clear that you all need my help.” 

Marco, less used to Ponyhead, looked affronted. “We don’t need-”

It was no use, she was on a roll. “It’s not your fault, you’re all only children. Politics don’t come easily to you. But I’ve had to live and breath politics every day or get stabbed in the back. Sibling life, you know. Listen up, because I’m only going to say this once.”

Star leaned in. Marco sighed but dutifully took out his favorite notebook. Tom stared out the window, pretending not to listen. 

“First off, you need to figure out the laws. Loopholes are your friends and everyone else is going try to use them. Learn every last declaration and requirement. And figure out how our girl Heinous really is related to you. Much as I hate to say it, you’re going to have to read some stuff.”

“We can do that,” Marco said slowly,

“I’m not done. Don’t tell your parents. Parents have no sense of humor about this sort of thing. Also if they know you’re looking for the information they might start looking at what you’re checking out of the library and that won’t end well. Do talk to historians though. They love talking, it’s the worst. And see if you can get some information out of our girl Eclipsa.” Ponyhead had the calculating look of someone who dealt with secret evil cousins very week, “Don’t tell her about her kid being alive though, that might upset her.”

“I can’t lie to her!” Star protested. 

“You can and you have to, bestie. She’s dangerous. You should also listen to the monster communities. If someone wants the throne they need co-conspirators, and the first place you look is family. If Heinous can’t get to her mom she’s going to turn to monsters related to her dad, or just monsters in general. Keep your ear to the ground.” 

The carriage started to slow to a halt. 

“That’s our stop,” Ponyhead commented. 

Star gave her a neck crushing hug. “Thank you for the advice,” she whispered.

“Learn how to throw better parties! Love you! Talk to you!” Pony said as she drifted out the door, now being held open by a waiting knight. ‘

Tom lingered. Under the gaze of Mewni’s finest they couldn’t talk freely, but he kissed Star on the cheek and said, “I’m sure you’ll figure... all of this out.”

“Thanks. And Tom? You know if you ever want to talk about feelings we’re here, right?”

“All of us,” Marco confirmed, looking up from his notebook to give Tom an earnest, if bleary smile. 

Tom backed out of the carriage hastily, “I absolutely will not be taking you up on that. Later, babe!”

The door closed, and the carriage started back on it’s way. It wasn’t too far from the outskirts of the city to the castle, and Star already felt dread at the scolding she was about to get slowly bubbling in her stomach. She threw herself across the carriage and stretched out on the unburnt bench so her head was next to Marco’s thigh and her legs were folded up against the wall. Even the sight of her party boots wasn’t enough to soothe her. 

Marco starting taking the pins out of her hair. Half of them had already fallen out, and the removal of just a few more made the entire updo collapse like a souffle. 

After a few minutes of listening to the wheels on the cobbles and the soft bleats of the invisible goat, Star had had enough. 

“It’s just... it’s so messed up!” she said, hand fluttering in frustration. “Mewni was bad to begin with, but I thought I could fix the problems with monsters and mewmans. I thought I could help Eclipsa. I don’t know if I can fix this. It’s so big.”

“Yeah, it is,” Marco agreed. “But I think we have to try.”

They did. As horrible as all the options for action were, inaction was even worse. 

It was only- Star was a royal, born and bred. She didn’t always think about it, or pay attention to it, but it was in her bones. She could disregard the privileges and ignore the customs of her station, but deep within her bones lurked the imperative to protect her birthright, protect her kingdom, protect her magic. It was something her mother had whispered to her when she was too young to fully remember it. 

Helping the monsters hadn’t required disregarding that. Neither had helping Eclipsa, long deposed and with no interest in queendom. But helping Meteora, who was frightening and had been wronged, and whose hurt might have given Star her crown? 

As Ponyhead always pointed out when she pushed her sisters around, a princess couldn’t well help her rival to the throne. 

“She’s family,” Star muttered.

Marco patted her head. “Yeah. Your family is super messed up.”

[angel-gidget]

Stars Unearth Your Fires (ch2/?)

Title:  Stars Unearth Your Fires (Ch 2/?)

Fandom: DCU, Teen Titans, Red Robin (preboot)     

Rating:  PG  | Words: 1200 approx | a03 link    

Summary: Tim Drake never thought of himself as a troublemaker as far as Robins go. But a passing accusation quickly escalates into a case of stolen memories, technologically backwards clues from his past self, interdimensional hijinks, reflections on the good old days, and possibly the rekindling of a foregone romance. Eventually Tim/??? Mystery ship!

A/N: I ask that any fashion nerds reading this forgive me for my fake fashion week plot device. Lets just say the DCU has extra fashion weeks bc magic and leave it at that. Thanks again to @kiragecko for the beta!

"Wait, dude. Scrappy Doo hacked your diary?"

"It wasn't a diary, Kon. But, kinda."

"A lockable device on which you record your private thoughts you share with no one? Soundslikeadiary,man. Youshouldembraceit."

"I could repeat lectures verbatim from Diana about refusing to be shamed for traditionally feminine things that are actually emotionally reinforcing, but I think I'll spare you since you're not fooling anybody."

He could have come alone, but he had returned their texts on a whim, and when they had learned he was going to scavenge their old HQ at Happy Harbor... well, there was no stopping the remnant of Young Justice otherwise known as his best friends.

"It was more like a smartwatch jam packed with ridiculous hardware and old ipod levels of memory that I had filled with work reminders, but whatever."

Cassie and Bart had a point. But the truth was, the closest thing he really had to a diary was the dozens of hand-written letters he had written essentially screaming at his father. Letters he had tossed in the fire before he could be tempted to actually leave them where the (now dead, now lost) man could find them.

But some things remained too raw to share.

"Hey," Cassie was the first to touch her toe down on the threshold (Normally, Bart would beat her, but he had allowed himself to be a bit distracted, fully zipping around a couple laps to check out external changes).

Cassie started entering the old security codes without a hitch. She was not even thinking about it, and it gave Tim a tiny surprising warm fuzzy tingle in the chest, "Damian didn't use anything in it against you, did he? Trying to dig up crap on--"

Tim allowed himself a chuckle, "No. Assuming he did manage to read any of my entries, I would have paid money to watch him try to figure out what any of it meant."

"Oooh," Bart zipped back, and darned if he wasn’t talking faster and faster, allowing his own nostalgic excitement to kick in, "Did you write it in a code?"

"Sort of."

Kon was floating by the graffiti wall. It didn’t matter how many times they cleaned it, "Hanson Sucks" would always reappear as if by magic. Tim used to suspect Bart solely, but looking back, (and looking at Kon's face now) he suspected a little differently.  

The guy's grin has a bit of the ol' Kid when he glanced over his shoulder, "You didn't just write it in code, you wrote it in SLANG, didn't you. Yes, you did."

Tim snorted. But denied nothing. There was no point.

"Bet it was like 90% rap references."

"Ooh, don't underestimate Tim's eclectic-ness, Bart. There was no doubt a healthy dose of Enya lyrics entwined in there."

Bart's nose scrunched, "Enya? Seriously, Tim?"

"Hey," Cassie interjected, "I like Enya."

"You also like country music and boy bands dangerously similar to Hanson. It's okay, Cass. Weloveyouanyway."

The rules for Gotham and his team had always been different.  While clever hiding spaces had been a practically intellectual game in his home city, sometimes the trick to hiding something in YJ HQ was to just place it somewhere really dumb.

“The girl’s locker room, Rob? Really?”

“You never looked for any of my toys here, so clearly, it worked.”

The locker combination was Steph’s birthday. Something his teammates had no reason to know and something Batman and Nightwing might overlook. Or at least, they would have overlooked it back then. Maybe he should change it. Did it matter? Would he ever have cause to use this thing again? It was worth thinking about, but not something for just yet.

The lock released with an obnoxious clack and the door swung open with a creak. There were some things in his life that Tim kept meticulously clean, but no locker had ever been on the list. His crumpled extra Robin uniform tumbled out along with a collection of scratched CD’s, multi-sided dice, hand-drawn diagrams of team formations covered over by Bart’s doodling, and a cracked baseball bat.

At least his uniform had been through the wash before he stuffed it in there. Small favors from his former self. Tim carefully unrolled the Kevlar cape, tumbling his old wrist computer into his palm.

He would need to replace the battery. Specifically, remove the battery, and carefully charge it, then place it back into the device. He was not going to risk synching the thing—even to the old YJ mainframe—by plugging it into the computer directly. Maybe he was being paranoid. Hm. Not the worst thing to be.

“So…” Kon interrupted, “You gonna tell us what’s up?”

His first—heh—impulse was to be cryptic, but he swallowed it down. These were his friends.

“I was singled out by those Gatekeepers. I want to know why. When I checked the dates, I realized all of our computer records were compromised. I think… I think a more personal record might have escaped their notice.”

A moment of silence. He would have enjoyed the rarity of quiet in the old YJ cave of all things, but they were looking at him with a high-alert concern that was on the edge of tipping into horror.

“Woah. The bat-computers were compromised? Holy Hera, Tim.”

“DoyouthinkitwastheGatekeepers? You do. You totallythinkitwastheGatekeepers.”

Tim nodded, “Yeah. I do.”

“So what, man? You think they waved their triple-joined finger and just…?” Kon waved his own hand.

“Erased a week—maybe more—of events that happened while our reality was colliding with something outside of our own multiverse. And in a room with you, the Flashes, Booster Gold, and Guy Gardner; the person they expected to cause trouble was me.”

“And you can’t remember because they probably also erased our memories.” Cassie inferred.

Kon nodded until Tim’s earlier comment sank home, “Hey wait, whattaya mean ‘with me’?”

Bart giggled, “Oh, as if you don’t remember what you were like back then.”

Kon sighed as Bart and then Cassie joined in on ruffling his hair. They had to be fast. And reach up on their tip toes to do it. But Kon let them for a good half of a second.

“Ok. Point taken.”

The wait for the charger to hit green felt like an eternity. Plenty of time for the ambiance of the old cave to slip from nostalgia to haunting. Bart had opened up an entire closet of junk—chemicals, paint, mechanical insects—that he had apparently collected with Greta. Kon had dusted off Anita’s old masseuse table, only to find that no one was really in the mood to hop on it. Cassie found an old set of brass knuckles that belonged to Slo-bo, but quietly set them down when she noticed their discoloration was due to dried blood.

Nobody messed with the dusty arrows kept in hopeful little spaces. Nobody looked at the archer’s targets. At least, no one looked when others were looking.

Tim sighed and watched as Cassie floated around, fidgeting. He remembered how hard she had clung to the idea of Cissie returning to the hero life, terrified that her best friend would grow distant as a result. Tim had… been more optimistic. At the time.

He knew where their old friends were. He knew Greta Hayes was a freshman in college now. That they girl they had once called Secret had impressed the entire faculty of St. Elias with her ability to catch up and surpass academic basics. He knew that while she excelled in her math and science classes, she enjoyed the chaos and the friendships she found in her drama electives. He knew because her teachers kept good notes that were easy to hack.

He knew Anita took odd jobs to support the two tiny children that were her de-aged parents. She would put on her old Empress costume on occasion, when crime had the gaul to come to her doorstep, but lived quietly in Louisiana for the most part. Supergirl had been the last hero to come into contact with her, and told him all about it.

None of them had really had the chance to feel close to Ray, but Tim knew that didn’t make them special. Ray Terrill’s profile with the Justice League displayed a new team every year. He had run with reserve units, the JSA, Freedom Fighters, and more.

Then there was Cissie, Arrowette, the girl who took them by all by surprise once every few months as her face appeared on a cereal box, in an energy drink commercial, or on a motivational poster in a sporting goods store. Because nothing sold that stuff better than an Olympic archer who had looks as well as accuracy.

It wasn't a painful thing for Tim personally. Hell, there had been a time when he thought he was headed for a similar path, a time when he thought retirement for himself was a strong possibility, just a few years away. But he knew better now. And he knew that Bart always bought things with her name or her face on them, but didn't actually look at them. And that when Cassie heard her voice blaring from the TV, she would stare mournfully at an old number in her phone before putting it away unused. As much as they would wish otherwise, Cissie King-Jones had drifted away from them.

Not that Tim didn’t also fit the drifter profile to an extent. The thought hit him hard. He hadn’t been to the Tower in over a two months, but like a dog with a bone, the Titans had refused to let him stay out of touch. Even when Dick had the bright idea of sending Damian to the tower, to try to get him to interact with ‘younger’ heroes—because apparently Dick could’t be bothered to remember that he was sending an eleven year old to socialize with a crew that no longer possessed a member under the age of sixteen—his friends had reached out, insisting that Red Robin was the only Robin on their roster.

It was humbling, and it put a scratch in this throat and a watery heat behind his eyes that—

BEEP!

Charging complete.

Bart zipped toward the outlet, and hopped on his toes while waiting for Tim to unplug the device. He felt Conner and Cassie join in hovering behind him as he began to skim through the files. There was only one that matched what they were looking for, with its simple text repeated in the space-tab code.

R E M I N D E R S

Dig up 8th grade time capsule

Go 2 fashion show @ Hollywood Mall. Compare/Contrast costume

Be outside July 4th

Go 2 most romantic city on July 15th

“That’s it?” blurted Kon and Bart at once.

“Fashion show?” Cassie scratched her head.

Tim sighed, “I was watching out for key word triggers. I think.”

Bart frowned, “Like, if  you actually said anything close to what you meant, you were worried the Gatekeepers or whoever would notice and erase everything like they did with the Batcomputer?”

Tim nodded, “The ‘reminders’ are literally reminders. Straightforward intel would be too dangerous.”

“‘Cause God forbid your lil’ bitty bat-self actually tell your future self what was going on.” Kon huffed impatiently.

Cassie elbowed him in the ribs.

Kon hissed. “Sorry! Too dangerous. I get it.”

Cassie raised her brows and let it go. “So, what are you going to do?”

Tim shrugged, “Do what they tell me to and hope they help me remember, I guess.”

Bart looked up from his phone, “Better hope the ‘reminders’ don’t have to go in order, Tim.”

Tim winced, “Why?”

Cassie looked over Bart’s shoulder at his screen, “Because the only major summer fashion demonstration in California hits the runway in about 12 hours. Woah.”

Tim powered down the wrist tech. He didn’t like the idea of going out of order, but only two of the reminders had actual dates attached. At least he had opened the file right before July. Small favors.

“Fine. Mall first. Grab some food and rest and meet back with me in—“

“Only if you do,” Cassie’s eyes were narrowed.

“Yeah, man. No caffeinated all-nighters.”

“Kon and I will tuckyouinifwehaveto.”

Tim snorted, “Fine.

It messed with his plans, but if he was being honest, Cass was in town, and Steph had mentioned to Dick in the cave that she was done with her freshman comp essay. Red Robin wasn’t strictly necessary when Blackbat and Batgirl were around to help out.

He did his best to take it as the impromptu bit of fortune it was.

He didn’t let it hurt.

[musicblogbfji204]

Tips YOU COULD BEGIN USING Today About Music Downloads

Do you want to know more about music downloads? Downloading music has become the preferred method in acquiring music for a personal collection. CDs have less benefits than MP3s. The correct approach is vital to your success. Keep reading to learn some important information to help.

If you are on the Internet looking for free music downloads, you have to be extremely careful. rap Downloading music without paying is illegal and is punishable by law. Another reason you want to avoid this is because hackers use music downloads as a way to send viruses to your computer.

Try browsing the daily deals sections on Amazon.com and iTunes for some great music downloads. Some of the tracks sell for about a penny a piece. Most of this is older music, but a lot of it is considered "classic." This is also a great way to find some interesting albums or tracks that you may never have considered for your collection.

Make sure that you have a good anti-virus program. Safety should always be a concern when it comes to electronic devices. Be cautious when you download anything off the Internet. This is imperative if you're using P2P clients. Scan any file you download for viruses. It is far too easy to get a file you really did not want.

Always check to verify the size of any music file before you open it. Finding yourself with a download you don't want is not hard to do. And that can be harmful to your hardware. Be sure the size of the file is as you intended for it to be. Any file that's really large or kind of small needs to be deleted before you open it.

If you tend to spend a lot on music, you may find a subscription service to be a much more affordable route in the long run. These services typically cost no more than $10 a month, and they open up a world of music. In fact some have near 20 million different songs that you can listen to and download.

If you are worried about the legality of the site you are downloading from, the easiest way to tell is if they charge you for each song. If there are no charges associated with the music you are downloading, then the website is probably stealing music and you could end up breaking the law.

When you download a song online, check its size. If it is less than 2 megabytes, unless it is a very short song, it is likely to be a virus. Most viruses are just text and they don't take up much hard drive space, so be wary of small files.

When downloading music online, make sure that it is in a format that your music player or computer can handle. The most common file format for music downloads is MP3, but there are many other types. No matter what format you get, make sure that it does not require conversion before you can play it.

Stick with trusted websites for your music downloads. The biggest problem with untrusted sites is that they can contain viruses, but you might also be putting yourself in legal jeopardy if you download music from a less respectable site. Take the time to research a site before you download to make sure it is both safe and legal to use.

If you want to keep your credit card safe from hackers, pick up iTunes gift cards at local stores. You can input the number online of the gift card, instead of your credit card number, meaning no one can hack into their database to get your information, saving you from criminals.

When choosing a website to download music, choose one that lets you preview a track. This way, you'll be sure of the quality you'll be receiving. Some sites even guarantee download quality, but some sites do not. You can avoid paying for low quality music by previewing the tracks.

Always have an updated anti-virus program on any device that you download music on. There are many people who would love to have access to the files on your system. If you do not have a good anti-virus program on your device, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to hacking attempts and viruses.

As you can see, there is nothing very hard to understand about music downloads. By using all the information you learned in this article, you can be on your way to getting everything you need done with them as quickly as right now. Have fun listening to your favorite music!

[smileitconfusespeoplex]

Pushing Your Website Up the Rankings With Economical SEO Services

So begin creating a connection with your local record store nowadays and see your company modify and your income increase! It's time for use to dispense with efforts that only make a small result but alternatively we must follow attempted and tried avenues that affordable search engine optimization ! There has been some significant changes in the audio business in recent years. Specially where subterranean and independent artists are concerned. It's reasonably easy to see that there are some totally new rules which were established in the net era, and it's essential to know them fully in order to take advantage of the situation. An unbiased artist must allow it to be their work to understand everything they could about the present state of the music business for them to attack the game in a highly effective manner. There is good quality media in the web audio market, but like any such thing there's also a negative part to it. As an example it's a lot harder to have signed to an important name in these times, therefore if you're wanting on wasting up over night don't maintain your breath. Nevertheless with their state of the subterranean audio scene that's barely a concern if you know how to advertise yourself correctly. Nevertheless, opposition is extreme! New technology has made it economical to record from your property without spending extravagant levels of money on hardware and software. Beat creating programs like FL Studio and Reason have managed to get probable to create market quality instrumentals at a fairly affordable value, and there is a wide range of applications that enable you to combine and master tracks at a studio level. What this boils right down to is their more than probable to setup your own home business and create music from the ground up without breaking the bank. The drawback but is that labels are becoming more demos than previously, this means until you occur to obtain happy or they really like your audio you probably aren't planning to be recognized between the a huge selection of submissions every day. Genuinely though, who says you will need a important record option to get compensated? Music has changed and so gets the promotions and distributions game. You will get serious publicity separately should you choose it correct, why not invest in your self? Promoting your self and earning money from your own music on the web, with no need to signal an agreement that always pieces you of all of one's rights as an artist. Several significant labels don't even allow their musicians to possess whole innovative get a grip on, and no one wants to be told what sort of music to publish to which beats. That's perhaps not the point of earning music. The reason a lot of the majors are not performing as effectively in the electronic period since they are having issues establishing to the brand new atmosphere that artists are obtaining themselves in. The artwork of campaign has changed entirely and the major labels still aren't knowing it. With the web got promotional tools which are free to use and offered to every one, web sites such as for instance YouTube, Myspace, and Facebook are often some of the very most important parts to the promotions game if you intend to garner a name for yourself. If you do it proper you are able to inflate online for practically nothing, what more can you request? As a result of this the independent audio business is simply doing much better than it used to. Billboard estimates that around 50% of most music sales produced in 2010-2011 were produced my independent brands and artists. That is clearly a HUGE statistic when you look at market leaders like Money Files and Warner Bros who have had a strangle hold on tight the game for literally decades. That is certainly caused by due to firms that allow you to distribute your audio through stores like iTunes and CDBaby. The increase, and cementing of such organizations, has helped the underground audio world tremendously. But if you want to provide your audio you have to buy defeats on line and possess the licensing rights to the important you use. Visit the hyperlinks in the paragraph below to get economical rap beats today

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My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds

I take pride in some very strange things. Being able to cartwheel into a pool for example. Or knowing every single word to old commercial jingles and 90’s rap songs. Or the fact that John and I, two righties, somehow made two lefties, which clearly means they’re brilliant (not sure how I can even take credit for this phenomenon, but I do, as well as the fact that our kids are super tall, which is amazing to me as a 5’2″ lady).

But one thing I don’t really think about much is my secondhand furniture hunting mojo. I don’t think I have any magic luck or special searching skills. I would generally describe the key to my process as frequency. In other words: looking often. I regularly look at thrift stores and on Craigslist and on Facebook Marketplace. Most of the time I don’t find anything good at all, but every once in a while I find something awesome. Like this insanely beautiful inlay dresser that’s made by Restoration Hardware and sells for $1800 that I found on Craigslist for $400 (you can read the full story of that here).

So instead of demonstrating that I know every last word to the Left Eye rap in TLC’s Waterfalls, I figured I’d round up my best tips for secondhand shopping success, all of which have nothing to do with dumb luck, and everything to do with actionable things that you can implement to hopefully score some great finds of your own.

Lesson #1: Show Your Interest & Be Persistent

If I stop an analyze how that inlay dresser coup came to be, there’s just one simple thing that made it all happen: I was determined with a capital D. I saw this listing go up months before I bought it. And I loved it. But it was $600 and that was still over my beach house dresser budget – no matter how gorgeous and expensive the dresser originally was. So I waited. And the listing sat there. And it sat there.

Knowing she might be having trouble selling it, I decided to let the seller know that an interested party existed. Even though I wasn’t ready to shell out the $600, I wanted to make myself an option and discourage her from just deleting the listing out of frustration (I know as a seller I’ve definitely done that before). I emailed her saying “I am SO INTERESTED in your dresser but the top of my budget is $400. If that works for you, I’ll gladly come right over with $400 cash and grab it.” And she very kindly emailed me back and said “Thanks, I’m not planning to lower the price just yet but I’ll let you know if I do later.”

Now here’s where the whole determined thing really came into play. The listing sat there for a few more weeks (and I continued to watch it), but then one day it disappeared. And I noticed. And I gasped. It could’ve sold or just expired, but since I already had an email chain started, I decided to reach out to her one last time, just to say “hi, it’s me again! I noticed the listing is gone so I’m sure my dream dresser sold, but if it hasn’t and you’re interested in that $400 cash I can come right over! Just say the word!” And you know what? She said “You’ve got a deal.”

And that’s how this amazing dresser ended up at the beach house. It didn’t fall into my lap. It didn’t happen in a day or even a week – but over the course of months as I kept an eye on it. And if I hadn’t pinged her that first time I never could have followed up that second time because I wouldn’t have had her contact info – and I’m pretty sure this dresser wouldn’t be ours today. So let that be Lesson #1. Have patience and go out on a limb (maybe even multiple times) for something you love.

Lesson #2: Be Vigilant & Ready To Pounce

Ok, now let’s move on to the next one. I really really love this marble topped dresser that I bought on Facebook Marketplace from the sweetest local lady whose entire house was so amazing I wanted to buy everything in there. The entire top is a gorgeous slab of marble and the drawers have little key latches and it’s perfect for storing board games in the foyer of the beach house. I forget how much this was but I think it was around $100 which is an awesome deal since it would be hard to find a slab of marble as big as the one on top of this dresser for $100 alone.

Let’s talk about my hunting routine. I like to sit on the couch at the end of a long day and just scroll through Facebook Marketplace. It takes less than five minutes, and I’d say I do it maybe five times a week if I remember. And thanks to my habit of checking pretty frequently, I happened to see the listing for this dresser within an hour of it being posted. So I was first in line when I pinged her, I got cash FAST, and I got to her house within about an hour, meaning nobody could snatch it out from under me. So upon reflecting how I scored this dresser, it really comes down to being SO READY to make this thing mine (and not wavering, waffling, or taking too much time to get the cash and get to her house).

The thing is, you never know when something is going to be listed, and you certainly can’t be on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace every hour. But I realized that back before I checked Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist with any regularity that I was greatly lowering my chances of finding good stuff. Of course I couldn’t expect to pop on every few months and immediately find something I wanted! I had to up my frequency – even if it just means devoting five minutes a night to it a few times a week. This obviously gives me better chances of seeing more items, and catching them earlier.

Also, get cash and get thee to the person’s house fast! Sellers often observe a “first come, first served” rule and I can’t tell you how many times as a seller that the second or third person who contacted me actually got the item because the first person took too long to come pick it up & pay. So there you go. Lesson #2 is spend a little more time looking for something cool if you actually want to find something cool, and then descend like Cheetah with the cash. Fast, fast, fast.

Lesson #3: Recruit Spies

Ok, let’s move on to the rug in our bedroom. Whenever I see it my brain sings: “I’ve. Had. The rug of my li-i-ife. And I never felt this way before.” Yes it’s the song from Dirty Dancing with a rug worked into it, and yes, weirdly altering song lyrics is also something I take great pride in. The story of this guy is that I bought it locally from a consignment shop. YES! I know! It feels like an extremely lucky find. And it was… but it also clearly has a lesson attached when I look in the ol’ rearview mirror of life.

See, my friend actually texted me a picture of this rug along with some others that she had seen at a local consignment shop. So the first lesson is: befriend an army of people who will text you all the pretty things they find. Ha. Kidding. But really, if you have an interest or a need for something, it never hurts to let your design-loving friends know! They might see whatever it is you’re looking for (secondhand or beyond!) and be able to tell you where it is. Heck they might even text you a picture or send you a link.

The fact that my friend, who is a decorator, knew that I love these big colorful wool rugs definitely worked in my favor in this case (had I not been “linked” to this thing in her mind, she never would have texted it to me). And you can offer to keep an eye out for things for them in return – it really is a nice mutually beneficial thing to do with someone else who loves home stuff.

My accompanying tip for this rug victory harkens back to the second half of my last lesson, which is DO NOT HESITATE. The second she sent it I called the shop, asked the price, got the cash, and John and I rushed over there to smell it (always smell secondhand things guys – it’s a non-negotiable!) and it was in our car about 20 minutes later. There’s way more about this whole rug discovery and our bedroom’s evolution in this post, which also has a ton of sources for things.

Lesson #4: Be Nosy & Remember It Never Hurts To Ask

These chairs are a more recent score that I chatted about a little bit on the podcast (in this episode) and they hail from Facebook Marketplace. One thing I like about Facebook Marketplace over Craigslist (don’t get me wrong, I still like Sir Craig & His List) is that Facebook Marketplace learns what you click. So, much like Pinterest, it can curate a more customized experience every time you browse. Which is also why it’s super fast to check every time I drop in (less than 5 minutes).

Mine has learned that I click on furniture and home stuff, so it shows me all of that stuff first in my feed, even if a weird ceramic babydoll that stares into your soul was uploaded more recently. AND I SO APPRECIATE THAT.

But back to these chairs. I mentioned on that podcast that this listing was funny because it was actually for a large piece of driftwood, but I saw these chairs in the background – yes, BEHIND THE DRIFTWOOD. And I basically messaged her and said “about those chairs – are they for sale?!” And she said yes! The seller even had a large car and offered to drive them to my house since they’re HUGE and it would have been impossible to get both of them into our SUV at the same time.

So the lesson here is: anything in the picture is something you can ask about! The worst they can say is “no, my cute dog in the background is not for sale you psycho” and the best thing they can say is essentially what happened with these chairs, which was: “Sure! I’ll sell them AND DRIVE THEM TO YOUR HOUSE FOR YOU!”

Also, sub tip: whenever something is large we ask if they would accept an extra fee (like $20) to drive it over. It often saves us time/gas/money spent renting a larger vehicle, so it can be very worthwhile in many cases.

This chair story also has sort of an epilogue of sorts. When we posted photos of them in the show notes of that podcast where we mentioned them, a very kind and knowledgeable design enthusiast essentially said “OMG I THINK THOSE ARE RUSSELL WOODARD CHAIRS!” and thanks to the rabbit hole of google I learned he’s an amazing 50’s designer, sort of like Eames (we all know about his chairs! can’t Russell catch a break?!) and THEY SELL FOR THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on places like 1st Dibs and Chairish. In fact, here’s a set of four currently listed for $3,750 (and here’s another one). HOW INSANE IS THAT?!?!

By comparison, we spent $140 for both chairs (which also included delivery!). So they might be the biggest secondhand score we’ve had yet. Honestly for me it’s way less about what something’s worth or who made it and a lot more about filling your house up with stuff you love. So my advice would just be to sniff around in secondhand spots (in person and online) often if you actually hope to find something amazing – and if you do it regularly enough I’m confident it’ll happen for you! Happy hunting!

P.S. Six years ago we wrote this post about 25 tips for buying on Craigslist, and a ton of them still apply – so check it out for even more ideas for scoring some pretty great stuff. Happy thrifting to one and all!

P.P.S. And if you saw something in the photos above from our beach house or our house here in Richmond that has you saying “where’s that from?” we have source lists for both of those: here’s the one full of beach house info, and here’s one for our Richmond house. 

The post My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds appeared first on Young House Love.

My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

[statusreview]

My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds

I take pride in some very strange things. Being able to cartwheel into a pool for example. Or knowing every single word to old commercial jingles and 90’s rap songs. Or the fact that John and I, two righties, somehow made two lefties, which clearly means they’re brilliant (not sure how I can even take credit for this phenomenon, but I do, as well as the fact that our kids are super tall, which is amazing to me as a 5’2″ lady).

But one thing I don’t really think about much is my secondhand furniture hunting mojo. I don’t think I have any magic luck or special searching skills. I would generally describe the key to my process as frequency. In other words: looking often. I regularly look at thrift stores and on Craigslist and on Facebook Marketplace. Most of the time I don’t find anything good at all, but every once in a while I find something awesome. Like this insanely beautiful inlay dresser that’s made by Restoration Hardware and sells for $1800 that I found on Craigslist for $400 (you can read the full story of that here).

So instead of demonstrating that I know every last word to the Left Eye rap in TLC’s Waterfalls, I figured I’d round up my best tips for secondhand shopping success, all of which have nothing to do with dumb luck, and everything to do with actionable things that you can implement to hopefully score some great finds of your own.

Lesson #1: Show Your Interest & Be Persistent

If I stop an analyze how that inlay dresser coup came to be, there’s just one simple thing that made it all happen: I was determined with a capital D. I saw this listing go up months before I bought it. And I loved it. But it was $600 and that was still over my beach house dresser budget – no matter how gorgeous and expensive the dresser originally was. So I waited. And the listing sat there. And it sat there.

Knowing she might be having trouble selling it, I decided to let the seller know that an interested party existed. Even though I wasn’t ready to shell out the $600, I wanted to make myself an option and discourage her from just deleting the listing out of frustration (I know as a seller I’ve definitely done that before). I emailed her saying “I am SO INTERESTED in your dresser but the top of my budget is $400. If that works for you, I’ll gladly come right over with $400 cash and grab it.” And she very kindly emailed me back and said “Thanks, I’m not planning to lower the price just yet but I’ll let you know if I do later.”

Now here’s where the whole determined thing really came into play. The listing sat there for a few more weeks (and I continued to watch it), but then one day it disappeared. And I noticed. And I gasped. It could’ve sold or just expired, but since I already had an email chain started, I decided to reach out to her one last time, just to say “hi, it’s me again! I noticed the listing is gone so I’m sure my dream dresser sold, but if it hasn’t and you’re interested in that $400 cash I can come right over! Just say the word!” And you know what? She said “You’ve got a deal.”

And that’s how this amazing dresser ended up at the beach house. It didn’t fall into my lap. It didn’t happen in a day or even a week – but over the course of months as I kept an eye on it. And if I hadn’t pinged her that first time I never could have followed up that second time because I wouldn’t have had her contact info – and I’m pretty sure this dresser wouldn’t be ours today. So let that be Lesson #1. Have patience and go out on a limb (maybe even multiple times) for something you love.

Lesson #2: Be Vigilant & Ready To Pounce

Ok, now let’s move on to the next one. I really really love this marble topped dresser that I bought on Facebook Marketplace from the sweetest local lady whose entire house was so amazing I wanted to buy everything in there. The entire top is a gorgeous slab of marble and the drawers have little key latches and it’s perfect for storing board games in the foyer of the beach house. I forget how much this was but I think it was around $100 which is an awesome deal since it would be hard to find a slab of marble as big as the one on top of this dresser for $100 alone.

Let’s talk about my hunting routine. I like to sit on the couch at the end of a long day and just scroll through Facebook Marketplace. It takes less than five minutes, and I’d say I do it maybe five times a week if I remember. And thanks to my habit of checking pretty frequently, I happened to see the listing for this dresser within an hour of it being posted. So I was first in line when I pinged her, I got cash FAST, and I got to her house within about an hour, meaning nobody could snatch it out from under me. So upon reflecting how I scored this dresser, it really comes down to being SO READY to make this thing mine (and not wavering, waffling, or taking too much time to get the cash and get to her house).

The thing is, you never know when something is going to be listed, and you certainly can’t be on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace every hour. But I realized that back before I checked Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist with any regularity that I was greatly lowering my chances of finding good stuff. Of course I couldn’t expect to pop on every few months and immediately find something I wanted! I had to up my frequency – even if it just means devoting five minutes a night to it a few times a week. This obviously gives me better chances of seeing more items, and catching them earlier.

Also, get cash and get thee to the person’s house fast! Sellers often observe a “first come, first served” rule and I can’t tell you how many times as a seller that the second or third person who contacted me actually got the item because the first person took too long to come pick it up & pay. So there you go. Lesson #2 is spend a little more time looking for something cool if you actually want to find something cool, and then descend like Cheetah with the cash. Fast, fast, fast.

Lesson #3: Recruit Spies

Ok, let’s move on to the rug in our bedroom. Whenever I see it my brain sings: “I’ve. Had. The rug of my li-i-ife. And I never felt this way before.” Yes it’s the song from Dirty Dancing with a rug worked into it, and yes, weirdly altering song lyrics is also something I take great pride in. The story of this guy is that I bought it locally from a consignment shop. YES! I know! It feels like an extremely lucky find. And it was… but it also clearly has a lesson attached when I look in the ol’ rearview mirror of life.

See, my friend actually texted me a picture of this rug along with some others that she had seen at a local consignment shop. So the first lesson is: befriend an army of people who will text you all the pretty things they find. Ha. Kidding. But really, if you have an interest or a need for something, it never hurts to let your design-loving friends know! They might see whatever it is you’re looking for (secondhand or beyond!) and be able to tell you where it is. Heck they might even text you a picture or send you a link.

The fact that my friend, who is a decorator, knew that I love these big colorful wool rugs definitely worked in my favor in this case (had I not been “linked” to this thing in her mind, she never would have texted it to me). And you can offer to keep an eye out for things for them in return – it really is a nice mutually beneficial thing to do with someone else who loves home stuff.

My accompanying tip for this rug victory harkens back to the second half of my last lesson, which is DO NOT HESITATE. The second she sent it I called the shop, asked the price, got the cash, and John and I rushed over there to smell it (always smell secondhand things guys – it’s a non-negotiable!) and it was in our car about 20 minutes later. There’s way more about this whole rug discovery and our bedroom’s evolution in this post, which also has a ton of sources for things.

Lesson #4: Be Nosy & Remember It Never Hurts To Ask

These chairs are a more recent score that I chatted about a little bit on the podcast (in this episode) and they hail from Facebook Marketplace. One thing I like about Facebook Marketplace over Craigslist (don’t get me wrong, I still like Sir Craig & His List) is that Facebook Marketplace learns what you click. So, much like Pinterest, it can curate a more customized experience every time you browse. Which is also why it’s super fast to check every time I drop in (less than 5 minutes).

Mine has learned that I click on furniture and home stuff, so it shows me all of that stuff first in my feed, even if a weird ceramic babydoll that stares into your soul was uploaded more recently. AND I SO APPRECIATE THAT.

But back to these chairs. I mentioned on that podcast that this listing was funny because it was actually for a large piece of driftwood, but I saw these chairs in the background – yes, BEHIND THE DRIFTWOOD. And I basically messaged her and said “about those chairs – are they for sale?!” And she said yes! The seller even had a large car and offered to drive them to my house since they’re HUGE and it would have been impossible to get both of them into our SUV at the same time.

So the lesson here is: anything in the picture is something you can ask about! The worst they can say is “no, my cute dog in the background is not for sale you psycho” and the best thing they can say is essentially what happened with these chairs, which was: “Sure! I’ll sell them AND DRIVE THEM TO YOUR HOUSE FOR YOU!”

Also, sub tip: whenever something is large we ask if they would accept an extra fee (like $20) to drive it over. It often saves us time/gas/money spent renting a larger vehicle, so it can be very worthwhile in many cases.

This chair story also has sort of an epilogue of sorts. When we posted photos of them in the show notes of that podcast where we mentioned them, a very kind and knowledgeable design enthusiast essentially said “OMG I THINK THOSE ARE RUSSELL WOODARD CHAIRS!” and thanks to the rabbit hole of google I learned he’s an amazing 50’s designer, sort of like Eames (we all know about his chairs! can’t Russell catch a break?!) and THEY SELL FOR THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on places like 1st Dibs and Chairish. In fact, here’s a set of four currently listed for $3,750 (and here’s another one). HOW INSANE IS THAT?!?!

By comparison, we spent $140 for both chairs (which also included delivery!). So they might be the biggest secondhand score we’ve had yet. Honestly for me it’s way less about what something’s worth or who made it and a lot more about filling your house up with stuff you love. So my advice would just be to sniff around in secondhand spots (in person and online) often if you actually hope to find something amazing – and if you do it regularly enough I’m confident it’ll happen for you! Happy hunting!

P.S. Six years ago we wrote this post about 25 tips for buying on Craigslist, and a ton of them still apply – so check it out for even more ideas for scoring some pretty great stuff. Happy thrifting to one and all!

P.P.S. And if you saw something in the photos above from our beach house or our house here in Richmond that has you saying “where’s that from?” we have source lists for both of those: here’s the one full of beach house info, and here’s one for our Richmond house. 

The post My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds appeared first on Young House Love.

My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds published first on https://ssmattress.tumblr.com/

[lukerhill]

My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds

I take pride in some very strange things. Being able to cartwheel into a pool for example. Or knowing every single word to old commercial jingles and 90’s rap songs. Or the fact that John and I, two righties, somehow made two lefties, which clearly means they’re brilliant (not sure how I can even take credit for this phenomenon, but I do, as well as the fact that our kids are super tall, which is amazing to me as a 5’2″ lady).

But one thing I don’t really think about much is my secondhand furniture hunting mojo. I don’t think I have any magic luck or special searching skills. I would generally describe the key to my process as frequency. In other words: looking often. I regularly look at thrift stores and on Craigslist and on Facebook Marketplace. Most of the time I don’t find anything good at all, but every once in a while I find something awesome. Like this insanely beautiful inlay dresser that’s made by Restoration Hardware and sells for $1800 that I found on Craigslist for $400 (you can read the full story of that here).

So instead of demonstrating that I know every last word to the Left Eye rap in TLC’s Waterfalls, I figured I’d round up my best tips for secondhand shopping success, all of which have nothing to do with dumb luck, and everything to do with actionable things that you can implement to hopefully score some great finds of your own.

Lesson #1: Show Your Interest & Be Persistent

If I stop an analyze how that inlay dresser coup came to be, there’s just one simple thing that made it all happen: I was determined with a capital D. I saw this listing go up months before I bought it. And I loved it. But it was $600 and that was still over my beach house dresser budget – no matter how gorgeous and expensive the dresser originally was. So I waited. And the listing sat there. And it sat there.

Knowing she might be having trouble selling it, I decided to let the seller know that an interested party existed. Even though I wasn’t ready to shell out the $600, I wanted to make myself an option and discourage her from just deleting the listing out of frustration (I know as a seller I’ve definitely done that before). I emailed her saying “I am SO INTERESTED in your dresser but the top of my budget is $400. If that works for you, I’ll gladly come right over with $400 cash and grab it.” And she very kindly emailed me back and said “Thanks, I’m not planning to lower the price just yet but I’ll let you know if I do later.”

Now here’s where the whole determined thing really came into play. The listing sat there for a few more weeks (and I continued to watch it), but then one day it disappeared. And I noticed. And I gasped. It could’ve sold or just expired, but since I already had an email chain started, I decided to reach out to her one last time, just to say “hi, it’s me again! I noticed the listing is gone so I’m sure my dream dresser sold, but if it hasn’t and you’re interested in that $400 cash I can come right over! Just say the word!” And you know what? She said “You’ve got a deal.”

And that’s how this amazing dresser ended up at the beach house. It didn’t fall into my lap. It didn’t happen in a day or even a week – but over the course of months as I kept an eye on it. And if I hadn’t pinged her that first time I never could have followed up that second time because I wouldn’t have had her contact info – and I’m pretty sure this dresser wouldn’t be ours today. So let that be Lesson #1. Have patience and go out on a limb (maybe even multiple times) for something you love.

Lesson #2: Be Vigilant & Ready To Pounce

Ok, now let’s move on to the next one. I really really love this marble topped dresser that I bought on Facebook Marketplace from the sweetest local lady whose entire house was so amazing I wanted to buy everything in there. The entire top is a gorgeous slab of marble and the drawers have little key latches and it’s perfect for storing board games in the foyer of the beach house. I forget how much this was but I think it was around $100 which is an awesome deal since it would be hard to find a slab of marble as big as the one on top of this dresser for $100 alone.

Let’s talk about my hunting routine. I like to sit on the couch at the end of a long day and just scroll through Facebook Marketplace. It takes less than five minutes, and I’d say I do it maybe five times a week if I remember. And thanks to my habit of checking pretty frequently, I happened to see the listing for this dresser within an hour of it being posted. So I was first in line when I pinged her, I got cash FAST, and I got to her house within about an hour, meaning nobody could snatch it out from under me. So upon reflecting how I scored this dresser, it really comes down to being SO READY to make this thing mine (and not wavering, waffling, or taking too much time to get the cash and get to her house).

The thing is, you never know when something is going to be listed, and you certainly can’t be on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace every hour. But I realized that back before I checked Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist with any regularity that I was greatly lowering my chances of finding good stuff. Of course I couldn’t expect to pop on every few months and immediately find something I wanted! I had to up my frequency – even if it just means devoting five minutes a night to it a few times a week. This obviously gives me better chances of seeing more items, and catching them earlier.

Also, get cash and get thee to the person’s house fast! Sellers often observe a “first come, first served” rule and I can’t tell you how many times as a seller that the second or third person who contacted me actually got the item because the first person took too long to come pick it up & pay. So there you go. Lesson #2 is spend a little more time looking for something cool if you actually want to find something cool, and then descend like Cheetah with the cash. Fast, fast, fast.

Lesson #3: Recruit Spies

Ok, let’s move on to the rug in our bedroom. Whenever I see it my brain sings: “I’ve. Had. The rug of my li-i-ife. And I never felt this way before.” Yes it’s the song from Dirty Dancing with a rug worked into it, and yes, weirdly altering song lyrics is also something I take great pride in. The story of this guy is that I bought it locally from a consignment shop. YES! I know! It feels like an extremely lucky find. And it was… but it also clearly has a lesson attached when I look in the ol’ rearview mirror of life.

See, my friend actually texted me a picture of this rug along with some others that she had seen at a local consignment shop. So the first lesson is: befriend an army of people who will text you all the pretty things they find. Ha. Kidding. But really, if you have an interest or a need for something, it never hurts to let your design-loving friends know! They might see whatever it is you’re looking for (secondhand or beyond!) and be able to tell you where it is. Heck they might even text you a picture or send you a link.

The fact that my friend, who is a decorator, knew that I love these big colorful wool rugs definitely worked in my favor in this case (had I not been “linked” to this thing in her mind, she never would have texted it to me). And you can offer to keep an eye out for things for them in return – it really is a nice mutually beneficial thing to do with someone else who loves home stuff.

My accompanying tip for this rug victory harkens back to the second half of my last lesson, which is DO NOT HESITATE. The second she sent it I called the shop, asked the price, got the cash, and John and I rushed over there to smell it (always smell secondhand things guys – it’s a non-negotiable!) and it was in our car about 20 minutes later. There’s way more about this whole rug discovery and our bedroom’s evolution in this post, which also has a ton of sources for things.

Lesson #4: Be Nosy & Remember It Never Hurts To Ask

These chairs are a more recent score that I chatted about a little bit on the podcast (in this episode) and they hail from Facebook Marketplace. One thing I like about Facebook Marketplace over Craigslist (don’t get me wrong, I still like Sir Craig & His List) is that Facebook Marketplace learns what you click. So, much like Pinterest, it can curate a more customized experience every time you browse. Which is also why it’s super fast to check every time I drop in (less than 5 minutes).

Mine has learned that I click on furniture and home stuff, so it shows me all of that stuff first in my feed, even if a weird ceramic babydoll that stares into your soul was uploaded more recently. AND I SO APPRECIATE THAT.

But back to these chairs. I mentioned on that podcast that this listing was funny because it was actually for a large piece of driftwood, but I saw these chairs in the background – yes, BEHIND THE DRIFTWOOD. And I basically messaged her and said “about those chairs – are they for sale?!” And she said yes! The seller even had a large car and offered to drive them to my house since they’re HUGE and it would have been impossible to get both of them into our SUV at the same time.

So the lesson here is: anything in the picture is something you can ask about! The worst they can say is “no, my cute dog in the background is not for sale you psycho” and the best thing they can say is essentially what happened with these chairs, which was: “Sure! I’ll sell them AND DRIVE THEM TO YOUR HOUSE FOR YOU!”

Also, sub tip: whenever something is large we ask if they would accept an extra fee (like $20) to drive it over. It often saves us time/gas/money spent renting a larger vehicle, so it can be very worthwhile in many cases.

This chair story also has sort of an epilogue of sorts. When we posted photos of them in the show notes of that podcast where we mentioned them, a very kind and knowledgeable design enthusiast essentially said “OMG I THINK THOSE ARE RUSSELL WOODARD CHAIRS!” and thanks to the rabbit hole of google I learned he’s an amazing 50’s designer, sort of like Eames (we all know about his chairs! can’t Russell catch a break?!) and THEY SELL FOR THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on places like 1st Dibs and Chairish. In fact, here’s a set of four currently listed for $3,750 (and here’s another one). HOW INSANE IS THAT?!?!

By comparison, we spent $140 for both chairs (which also included delivery!). So they might be the biggest secondhand score we’ve had yet. Honestly for me it’s way less about what something’s worth or who made it and a lot more about filling your house up with stuff you love. So my advice would just be to sniff around in secondhand spots (in person and online) often if you actually hope to find something amazing – and if you do it regularly enough I’m confident it’ll happen for you! Happy hunting!

P.S. Six years ago we wrote this post about 25 tips for buying on Craigslist, and a ton of them still apply – so check it out for even more ideas for scoring some pretty great stuff. Happy thrifting to one and all!

P.P.S. And if you saw something in the photos above from our beach house or our house here in Richmond that has you saying “where’s that from?” we have source lists for both of those: here’s the one full of beach house info, and here’s one for our Richmond house. 

The post My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds appeared first on Young House Love.

[billydmacklin]

My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds

I take pride in some very strange things. Being able to cartwheel into a pool for example. Or knowing every single word to old commercial jingles and 90’s rap songs. Or the fact that John and I, two righties, somehow made two lefties, which clearly means they’re brilliant (not sure how I can even take credit for this phenomenon, but I do, as well as the fact that our kids are super tall, which is amazing to me as a 5’2″ lady).

But one thing I don’t really think about much is my secondhand furniture hunting mojo. I don’t think I have any magic luck or special searching skills. I would generally describe the key to my process as frequency. In other words: looking often. I regularly look at thrift stores and on Craigslist and on Facebook Marketplace. Most of the time I don’t find anything good at all, but every once in a while I find something awesome. Like this insanely beautiful inlay dresser that’s made by Restoration Hardware and sells for $1800 that I found on Craigslist for $400 (you can read the full story of that here).

So instead of demonstrating that I know every last word to the Left Eye rap in TLC’s Waterfalls, I figured I’d round up my best tips for secondhand shopping success, all of which have nothing to do with dumb luck, and everything to do with actionable things that you can implement to hopefully score some great finds of your own.

Lesson #1: Show Your Interest & Be Persistent

If I stop an analyze how that inlay dresser coup came to be, there’s just one simple thing that made it all happen: I was determined with a capital D. I saw this listing go up months before I bought it. And I loved it. But it was $600 and that was still over my beach house dresser budget – no matter how gorgeous and expensive the dresser originally was. So I waited. And the listing sat there. And it sat there.

Knowing she might be having trouble selling it, I decided to let the seller know that an interested party existed. Even though I wasn’t ready to shell out the $600, I wanted to make myself an option and discourage her from just deleting the listing out of frustration (I know as a seller I’ve definitely done that before). I emailed her saying “I am SO INTERESTED in your dresser but the top of my budget is $400. If that works for you, I’ll gladly come right over with $400 cash and grab it.” And she very kindly emailed me back and said “Thanks, I’m not planning to lower the price just yet but I’ll let you know if I do later.”

Now here’s where the whole determined thing really came into play. The listing sat there for a few more weeks (and I continued to watch it), but then one day it disappeared. And I noticed. And I gasped. It could’ve sold or just expired, but since I already had an email chain started, I decided to reach out to her one last time, just to say “hi, it’s me again! I noticed the listing is gone so I’m sure my dream dresser sold, but if it hasn’t and you’re interested in that $400 cash I can come right over! Just say the word!” And you know what? She said “You’ve got a deal.”

And that’s how this amazing dresser ended up at the beach house. It didn’t fall into my lap. It didn’t happen in a day or even a week – but over the course of months as I kept an eye on it. And if I hadn’t pinged her that first time I never could have followed up that second time because I wouldn’t have had her contact info – and I’m pretty sure this dresser wouldn’t be ours today. So let that be Lesson #1. Have patience and go out on a limb (maybe even multiple times) for something you love.

Lesson #2: Be Vigilant & Ready To Pounce

Ok, now let’s move on to the next one. I really really love this marble topped dresser that I bought on Facebook Marketplace from the sweetest local lady whose entire house was so amazing I wanted to buy everything in there. The entire top is a gorgeous slab of marble and the drawers have little key latches and it’s perfect for storing board games in the foyer of the beach house. I forget how much this was but I think it was around $100 which is an awesome deal since it would be hard to find a slab of marble as big as the one on top of this dresser for $100 alone.

Let’s talk about my hunting routine. I like to sit on the couch at the end of a long day and just scroll through Facebook Marketplace. It takes less than five minutes, and I’d say I do it maybe five times a week if I remember. And thanks to my habit of checking pretty frequently, I happened to see the listing for this dresser within an hour of it being posted. So I was first in line when I pinged her, I got cash FAST, and I got to her house within about an hour, meaning nobody could snatch it out from under me. So upon reflecting how I scored this dresser, it really comes down to being SO READY to make this thing mine (and not wavering, waffling, or taking too much time to get the cash and get to her house).

The thing is, you never know when something is going to be listed, and you certainly can’t be on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace every hour. But I realized that back before I checked Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist with any regularity that I was greatly lowering my chances of finding good stuff. Of course I couldn’t expect to pop on every few months and immediately find something I wanted! I had to up my frequency – even if it just means devoting five minutes a night to it a few times a week. This obviously gives me better chances of seeing more items, and catching them earlier.

Also, get cash and get thee to the person’s house fast! Sellers often observe a “first come, first served” rule and I can’t tell you how many times as a seller that the second or third person who contacted me actually got the item because the first person took too long to come pick it up & pay. So there you go. Lesson #2 is spend a little more time looking for something cool if you actually want to find something cool, and then descend like Cheetah with the cash. Fast, fast, fast.

Lesson #3: Recruit Spies

Ok, let’s move on to the rug in our bedroom. Whenever I see it my brain sings: “I’ve. Had. The rug of my li-i-ife. And I never felt this way before.” Yes it’s the song from Dirty Dancing with a rug worked into it, and yes, weirdly altering song lyrics is also something I take great pride in. The story of this guy is that I bought it locally from a consignment shop. YES! I know! It feels like an extremely lucky find. And it was… but it also clearly has a lesson attached when I look in the ol’ rearview mirror of life.

See, my friend actually texted me a picture of this rug along with some others that she had seen at a local consignment shop. So the first lesson is: befriend an army of people who will text you all the pretty things they find. Ha. Kidding. But really, if you have an interest or a need for something, it never hurts to let your design-loving friends know! They might see whatever it is you’re looking for (secondhand or beyond!) and be able to tell you where it is. Heck they might even text you a picture or send you a link.

The fact that my friend, who is a decorator, knew that I love these big colorful wool rugs definitely worked in my favor in this case (had I not been “linked” to this thing in her mind, she never would have texted it to me). And you can offer to keep an eye out for things for them in return – it really is a nice mutually beneficial thing to do with someone else who loves home stuff.

My accompanying tip for this rug victory harkens back to the second half of my last lesson, which is DO NOT HESITATE. The second she sent it I called the shop, asked the price, got the cash, and John and I rushed over there to smell it (always smell secondhand things guys – it’s a non-negotiable!) and it was in our car about 20 minutes later. There’s way more about this whole rug discovery and our bedroom’s evolution in this post, which also has a ton of sources for things.

Lesson #4: Be Nosy & Remember It Never Hurts To Ask

These chairs are a more recent score that I chatted about a little bit on the podcast (in this episode) and they hail from Facebook Marketplace. One thing I like about Facebook Marketplace over Craigslist (don’t get me wrong, I still like Sir Craig & His List) is that Facebook Marketplace learns what you click. So, much like Pinterest, it can curate a more customized experience every time you browse. Which is also why it’s super fast to check every time I drop in (less than 5 minutes).

Mine has learned that I click on furniture and home stuff, so it shows me all of that stuff first in my feed, even if a weird ceramic babydoll that stares into your soul was uploaded more recently. AND I SO APPRECIATE THAT.

But back to these chairs. I mentioned on that podcast that this listing was funny because it was actually for a large piece of driftwood, but I saw these chairs in the background – yes, BEHIND THE DRIFTWOOD. And I basically messaged her and said “about those chairs – are they for sale?!” And she said yes! The seller even had a large car and offered to drive them to my house since they’re HUGE and it would have been impossible to get both of them into our SUV at the same time.

So the lesson here is: anything in the picture is something you can ask about! The worst they can say is “no, my cute dog in the background is not for sale you psycho” and the best thing they can say is essentially what happened with these chairs, which was: “Sure! I’ll sell them AND DRIVE THEM TO YOUR HOUSE FOR YOU!”

Also, sub tip: whenever something is large we ask if they would accept an extra fee (like $20) to drive it over. It often saves us time/gas/money spent renting a larger vehicle, so it can be very worthwhile in many cases.

This chair story also has sort of an epilogue of sorts. When we posted photos of them in the show notes of that podcast where we mentioned them, a very kind and knowledgeable design enthusiast essentially said “OMG I THINK THOSE ARE RUSSELL WOODARD CHAIRS!” and thanks to the rabbit hole of google I learned he’s an amazing 50’s designer, sort of like Eames (we all know about his chairs! can’t Russell catch a break?!) and THEY SELL FOR THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on places like 1st Dibs and Chairish. In fact, here’s a set of four currently listed for $3,750 (and here’s another one). HOW INSANE IS THAT?!?!

By comparison, we spent $140 for both chairs (which also included delivery!). So they might be the biggest secondhand score we’ve had yet. Honestly for me it’s way less about what something’s worth or who made it and a lot more about filling your house up with stuff you love. So my advice would just be to sniff around in secondhand spots (in person and online) often if you actually hope to find something amazing – and if you do it regularly enough I’m confident it’ll happen for you! Happy hunting!

P.S. Six years ago we wrote this post about 25 tips for buying on Craigslist, and a ton of them still apply – so check it out for even more ideas for scoring some pretty great stuff. Happy thrifting to one and all!

P.P.S. And if you saw something in the photos above from our beach house or our house here in Richmond that has you saying “where’s that from?” we have source lists for both of those: here’s the one full of beach house info, and here’s one for our Richmond house. 

The post My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds appeared first on Young House Love.

My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds published first on https://carpetgurus.tumblr.com/

[additionallysad]

My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds https://ift.tt/2vtMElj

I take pride in some very strange things. Being able to cartwheel into a pool for example. Or knowing every single word to old commercial jingles and 90’s rap songs. Or the fact that John and I, two righties, somehow made two lefties, which clearly means they’re brilliant (not sure how I can even take credit for this phenomenon, but I do, as well as the fact that our kids are super tall, which is amazing to me as a 5’2″ lady).

But one thing I don’t really think about much is my secondhand furniture hunting mojo. I don’t think I have any magic luck or special searching skills. I would generally describe the key to my process as frequency. In other words: looking often. I regularly look at thrift stores and on Craigslist and on Facebook Marketplace. Most of the time I don’t find anything good at all, but every once in a while I find something awesome. Like this insanely beautiful inlay dresser that’s made by Restoration Hardware and sells for $1800 that I found on Craigslist for $400 (you can read the full story of that here).

So instead of demonstrating that I know every last word to the Left Eye rap in TLC’s Waterfalls, I figured I’d round up my best tips for secondhand shopping success, all of which have nothing to do with dumb luck, and everything to do with actionable things that you can implement to hopefully score some great finds of your own.

Lesson #1: Show Your Interest & Be Persistent

If I stop an analyze how that inlay dresser coup came to be, there’s just one simple thing that made it all happen: I was determined with a capital D. I saw this listing go up months before I bought it. And I loved it. But it was $600 and that was still over my beach house dresser budget – no matter how gorgeous and expensive the dresser originally was. So I waited. And the listing sat there. And it sat there.

Knowing she might be having trouble selling it, I decided to let the seller know that an interested party existed. Even though I wasn’t ready to shell out the $600, I wanted to make myself an option and discourage her from just deleting the listing out of frustration (I know as a seller I’ve definitely done that before). I emailed her saying “I am SO INTERESTED in your dresser but the top of my budget is $400. If that works for you, I’ll gladly come right over with $400 cash and grab it.” And she very kindly emailed me back and said “Thanks, I’m not planning to lower the price just yet but I’ll let you know if I do later.”

Now here’s where the whole determined thing really came into play. The listing sat there for a few more weeks (and I continued to watch it), but then one day it disappeared. And I noticed. And I gasped. It could’ve sold or just expired, but since I already had an email chain started, I decided to reach out to her one last time, just to say “hi, it’s me again! I noticed the listing is gone so I’m sure my dream dresser sold, but if it hasn’t and you’re interested in that $400 cash I can come right over! Just say the word!” And you know what? She said “You’ve got a deal.”

And that’s how this amazing dresser ended up at the beach house. It didn’t fall into my lap. It didn’t happen in a day or even a week – but over the course of months as I kept an eye on it. And if I hadn’t pinged her that first time I never could have followed up that second time because I wouldn’t have had her contact info – and I’m pretty sure this dresser wouldn’t be ours today. So let that be Lesson #1. Have patience and go out on a limb (maybe even multiple times) for something you love.

Lesson #2: Be Vigilant & Ready To Pounce

Ok, now let’s move on to the next one. I really really love this marble topped dresser that I bought on Facebook Marketplace from the sweetest local lady whose entire house was so amazing I wanted to buy everything in there. The entire top is a gorgeous slab of marble and the drawers have little key latches and it’s perfect for storing board games in the foyer of the beach house. I forget how much this was but I think it was around $100 which is an awesome deal since it would be hard to find a slab of marble as big as the one on top of this dresser for $100 alone.

Let’s talk about my hunting routine. I like to sit on the couch at the end of a long day and just scroll through Facebook Marketplace. It takes less than five minutes, and I’d say I do it maybe five times a week if I remember. And thanks to my habit of checking pretty frequently, I happened to see the listing for this dresser within an hour of it being posted. So I was first in line when I pinged her, I got cash FAST, and I got to her house within about an hour, meaning nobody could snatch it out from under me. So upon reflecting how I scored this dresser, it really comes down to being SO READY to make this thing mine (and not wavering, waffling, or taking too much time to get the cash and get to her house).

The thing is, you never know when something is going to be listed, and you certainly can’t be on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace every hour. But I realized that back before I checked Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist with any regularity that I was greatly lowering my chances of finding good stuff. Of course I couldn’t expect to pop on every few months and immediately find something I wanted! I had to up my frequency – even if it just means devoting five minutes a night to it a few times a week. This obviously gives me better chances of seeing more items, and catching them earlier.

Also, get cash and get thee to the person’s house fast! Sellers often observe a “first come, first served” rule and I can’t tell you how many times as a seller that the second or third person who contacted me actually got the item because the first person took too long to come pick it up & pay. So there you go. Lesson #2 is spend a little more time looking for something cool if you actually want to find something cool, and then descend like Cheetah with the cash. Fast, fast, fast.

Lesson #3: Recruit Spies

Ok, let’s move on to the rug in our bedroom. Whenever I see it my brain sings: “I’ve. Had. The rug of my li-i-ife. And I never felt this way before.” Yes it’s the song from Dirty Dancing with a rug worked into it, and yes, weirdly altering song lyrics is also something I take great pride in. The story of this guy is that I bought it locally from a consignment shop. YES! I know! It feels like an extremely lucky find. And it was… but it also clearly has a lesson attached when I look in the ol’ rearview mirror of life.

See, my friend actually texted me a picture of this rug along with some others that she had seen at a local consignment shop. So the first lesson is: befriend an army of people who will text you all the pretty things they find. Ha. Kidding. But really, if you have an interest or a need for something, it never hurts to let your design-loving friends know! They might see whatever it is you’re looking for (secondhand or beyond!) and be able to tell you where it is. Heck they might even text you a picture or send you a link.

The fact that my friend, who is a decorator, knew that I love these big colorful wool rugs definitely worked in my favor in this case (had I not been “linked” to this thing in her mind, she never would have texted it to me). And you can offer to keep an eye out for things for them in return – it really is a nice mutually beneficial thing to do with someone else who loves home stuff.

My accompanying tip for this rug victory harkens back to the second half of my last lesson, which is DO NOT HESITATE. The second she sent it I called the shop, asked the price, got the cash, and John and I rushed over there to smell it (always smell secondhand things guys – it’s a non-negotiable!) and it was in our car about 20 minutes later. There’s way more about this whole rug discovery and our bedroom’s evolution in this post, which also has a ton of sources for things.

Lesson #4: Be Nosy & Remember It Never Hurts To Ask

These chairs are a more recent score that I chatted about a little bit on the podcast (in this episode) and they hail from Facebook Marketplace. One thing I like about Facebook Marketplace over Craigslist (don’t get me wrong, I still like Sir Craig & His List) is that Facebook Marketplace learns what you click. So, much like Pinterest, it can curate a more customized experience every time you browse. Which is also why it’s super fast to check every time I drop in (less than 5 minutes).

Mine has learned that I click on furniture and home stuff, so it shows me all of that stuff first in my feed, even if a weird ceramic babydoll that stares into your soul was uploaded more recently. AND I SO APPRECIATE THAT.

But back to these chairs. I mentioned on that podcast that this listing was funny because it was actually for a large piece of driftwood, but I saw these chairs in the background – yes, BEHIND THE DRIFTWOOD. And I basically messaged her and said “about those chairs – are they for sale?!” And she said yes! The seller even had a large car and offered to drive them to my house since they’re HUGE and it would have been impossible to get both of them into our SUV at the same time.

So the lesson here is: anything in the picture is something you can ask about! The worst they can say is “no, my cute dog in the background is not for sale you psycho” and the best thing they can say is essentially what happened with these chairs, which was: “Sure! I’ll sell them AND DRIVE THEM TO YOUR HOUSE FOR YOU!”

Also, sub tip: whenever something is large we ask if they would accept an extra fee (like $20) to drive it over. It often saves us time/gas/money spent renting a larger vehicle, so it can be very worthwhile in many cases.

This chair story also has sort of an epilogue of sorts. When we posted photos of them in the show notes of that podcast where we mentioned them, a very kind and knowledgeable design enthusiast essentially said “OMG I THINK THOSE ARE RUSSELL WOODARD CHAIRS!” and thanks to the rabbit hole of google I learned he’s an amazing 50’s designer, sort of like Eames (we all know about his chairs! can’t Russell catch a break?!) and THEY SELL FOR THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on places like 1st Dibs and Chairish. In fact, here’s a set of four currently listed for $3,750 (and here’s another one). HOW INSANE IS THAT?!?!

By comparison, we spent $140 for both chairs (which also included delivery!). So they might be the biggest secondhand score we’ve had yet. Honestly for me it’s way less about what something’s worth or who made it and a lot more about filling your house up with stuff you love. So my advice would just be to sniff around in secondhand spots (in person and online) often if you actually hope to find something amazing – and if you do it regularly enough I’m confident it’ll happen for you! Happy hunting!

P.S. Six years ago we wrote this post about 25 tips for buying on Craigslist, and a ton of them still apply – so check it out for even more ideas for scoring some pretty great stuff. Happy thrifting to one and all!

P.P.S. And if you saw something in the photos above from our beach house or our house here in Richmond that has you saying “where’s that from?” we have source lists for both of those: here’s the one full of beach house info, and here’s one for our Richmond house. 

The post My Top Four Tips For Scoring The Best Secondhand Finds appeared first on Young House Love.