I haven't posted in awhile but I have been so busy! WOW, it's just non stop right now! I hope you all had a magical Thanksgiving and now we can really kick out the jams for Yule! YAY! My pink tree is up and I am quite ready to get into the season.


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OH, how remiss I have been with blogging!I haven't had the time! I think I am busier now than when I worked full time! ha! How did THAT happen? I have been doing much around here and making regular jaunts to my favorite thrift shops and the one little antique shop that I love the best. I have found some of the most amazing stuff over the course of 1 month that I am boggled!


MANY new vintage record players have been discovered and I've gotten SO many fabulous gifts of records from my Atomic Vinyl Zombies. Sunday me & Skeet hit the Chiller Theater Expo and had the best time looking at all the fun horror memorabilia! SO many phenomenal guests were in attendance and I especially wanted to meet Elvira and get an autograph for my Uncle Harry but the crowds were SO thick and I get very freaked out in crowds so it couldn't happen.


Yesterday at 25% off day at the Goodwill I found 2 beautiful vintage turntables. One, a General Electric and the other a Technics. I was so excited, I ran them over to my friend Craig, the Record King, to test them out and see if they needed new stylli etc. To our great delight, they both worked amazingly well (the Technics needed a new belt, which Craig installed in seconds for me)


Craig testing the General Electric:

...and the Technics:





Then he put me in charge of the shop while he went upstairs to scope out some speakers for me.





I have vintage speakers but they all have RCA jacks and I needed ones with just the wires for the back of the vintage Lafayette receiver I got from Craig to be able to play these turntables. I had gotten rid of all my stereo components 15 years ago!


I then stopped at the pawn shop to see what they had in the way of vintage speakers and they had 1 single, beautiful Bose which I grabbed as most of what I like to listen to is Mono anyway, it's perfect.


So I came home with all my vintage equipment and set it all up and it just plays remarkably. I was very pleased with my bargains. Then, since the season is coming fast, I put up this year's Yule tree. This year is a pink one with every ornament on it being vintage 40's-50's. It was a VERY fun day! I am doing lots of running around what with selling on Ebay and all, back and forth to the Post Office.It's very fun and I am really relishing this time off!








It's beginning to look alot like Christmas in the Atomic Universe!


Love out~ Tinkie xoxo

Well, as of October 2nd I am unemployed for the first time in my life! I was with that same company for 22 YEARS! It was sudden and shocking. It's the economy and the fact that we lost many of our best clients to bankruptcy and other offers. It's scary and traumatic, even. I still can't believe it.


Thank Goddess I got some decent severence (although I have to wait for it for another 2 weeks or so) and I immediately applied for unemployment which I have never been on in my life. SO I think I'm due.


I've been keeping busy with the Atomic Vinyl Zombies and Ebay listing and doing things with little Vaggi, who, by the way, is VERY happy I do not leave him every morning!


SO the plan is to take time off and relax for the first time in years. My friend Jimmy just texted me from Starland and asked if, by chance, I was there tonight....one of my fave bands is playing, Social Distortion. Wish I WAS there!!


I have projects and plans all throughout the house and thanks to some Ebay sales I can even squeeze in a record buying binge here and there and maybe some thrift shop crawls.


But until my severence comes in and I can clear out the bills, I am limited to what I can really do for now. At least I have my music.


Huge love out to my friends who are so seriously supportive Diane, Skeet, Eric, Jeannie, Raymond, Miles, Bryan I love you all xoxo


So my cousin Donna said the day I was laid off "today is the first day of the rest of your life" and how true it is.


Hugs out, love, tink xo

It is getting very Fall-like here already and I am loving it! Having the music room all finished is too much fun and I'll be spending many a fabulous WInter night in there this year!

Yesterday was a dreary raining mess but it was also the Second Saturday Record Show in Wayne so I was up and out to that. I spent HOURS perusing through the bins. I got so much fun stuff! AND to think they have one of these shows every MONTH!










There's another show today in Springfield but I don't know if it's safe for me to step inside another record show within a single weekend! At any rate, I'm sure I will find some fun thing to do. Maybe that, maybe some antiquing.The sun is supposed to peek through today!


Soon I'd like to take Vaggio up to the haunted Ringwood Manor to walk the woodland path to the old cemetery. I used to love to take Mick. Vaggi will love the adventure. I think I'll wait until it gets a little chill in the air. It's a lovely walk when the leaves are changing! That will be a fun October jaunt.


Have a magical weekend, all! hugs~ tink xoxo

I was boxing things up little by little each night and living among stacks of boxes and mess. I can't stand stuff out of place and said I HAVE to finish this....I worked until noon on Friday and came home and tackled the project. I worked 10 straight hours and was to the point of starting to put the records and some of the players in place!! I did some more Saturday morning and then my mother & I went out rug shopping! I found a wicked fun retro inspired rug. I needed a large one so we had it hanging out the back window of the Jeep to get it home! I laid it out and it looks SO finished! Then comes the fun part for me! Decorating the walls!!! I will leave a little space here and there for new thrift, antique and record show finds but basically, all I need right now is a comfy chair and I'm finished!

It's so fun and it's great to have space to dance around! The music room opens out to the main living room where even more players reside and it's like one big lounge. I just love it!


Now I can relax and enjoy the Labor Day weekend and antique to my hearts content! Hugs out & Happy Labor Day~ love, tink xo

Well, this was a fabulous weekend! We did suffer the remnants of hurricane Danny and had fiercly stormy weather but I had won a beautiful 50's Grundig Majestic console player on Ebay which was a local pick-up so me & my brother went to get that and it was beautiful! The seller also gave me a big stack of records, nearly 50 of them!


Since I am cleaning out the studio to make a music room here in the house I had the Grundig's spot all ready and we put it in place. To my horror the turntable was way off. Not level and just dragging along. Thankfully my friend Bryan helped me get it working perfectly and within 2 hours of having it home I was spinning discs on it and marvelling at the Grundig's German technology. It sounds amazing!

Even the radio in the unit is fabulous and even has FM so I can listen to WFMU on it and this morning I had Jazz88 on and it sounded incredible.


Today it was off to Edison for the big thrift down there where I found a bunch of great 45's and then it was off to the Shannon Rose Pub for lunch and brews. I like the Shannon Rose because they have Rogue Dead Guy on tap. Nobody has that on tap!! These very fun little moon face Guinness characters were on the outside wall. I loved them because they had a very vintage cartoon look to them.





The weekend absolutely flew by and I have so very much to do here with the room switch and all that I thankfully have a long weekend next week to get something accomplished. Now it's almost 8:30 and I have the windows open wide and the french doors open and I am even a little chilly! ALL the humidity is gone! Tomorrow I have a doctor appointment. UGH. I hate the whole doctor thing. So I won't be able to work on the clean out until later. But I plan to do some every night this week and the major stuff Labor Day weekend.


Have a glorious evening! hugs~ tink xo

Well, this is week 2 after the heart attack scare and though I am not yet through with doctors & tests I am feeling better! The Atenolol seems to be regulating my BP and I feel better. Of course, being Tink, I still don't slow down or relax. Well, I relax sometimes! lol. Like when listening to my music.


I had seen in the paper a garage sale nearby with the magic word 'records' in the description so, despite the seriously humid weather with intermitent downpours, I ventured over there to try. It wasn't on but to my delight, the guy was outside and I asked about the records. He said "well, they are only 78's".....ONLY 78's?? LOL. I asked if I could take a look. He opened the garage and I took them all. He said I think there's alot of gospel. LOL, there were NO gospel. There was GREAT old Artie Shaw, Pennsylvannia 6-5000 and a WORLD of other fabulous swing era tunes all in protective books and all in fabulous condition. I backed the jeep up to the garage and he loaded them in and I drove off happy as a lark.

Then it was off to the thrift shop where I was looking for vintage external speakers for this FABULOUS 50's Westinghouse I had gotten:





I did find some old Fishers and went to Radio Shack to get some speaker wires. Unfortunately the 'children' in Radio Shack knew nothing about turntables, much less vintage turntables and I had to guess at the wires and, of course, I got the wrong ones. I will have to have my brother come over and help.





My dear friend RaymondT out in Columbus sent me a fun care package of records today and included were 2 Dickie Goodman's. I was JUST looking for Dickie Goodman's the other day at Record King!!! That psychic intuition kicked in, for sure! I was thrilled!





Raymond is off to the big Record Show today and I can't wait to see what he finds. I am (actually) relaxing right now with a rare brew. I don't/shouldn't drink them too much anymore :-( and it tastes good! Music time in the Woodland.


Love out~ tinkie xoxo

Woke up with a headache, but slept like a baby. Had my tea and REALLY enjoyed my surrounds. Played some records and relaxed with Vaggi. Yesterday's incident REALLY scared the shit out of me and I resolve to be more relaxed (if I can manage that) from now on.


Blanc & I had planned to go to Rust Riot in Putnam Valley but, after what happened yesterday, and having the fierce headache this morning, we decided against it as it was brutally humid today.


I had a relaxing day going to the craft store with my mom and stopping in the thrift shop down in Watchung. I got a few fun LP's there and a very old saint statue for the altar. Then, since yesterday was spent in the hospital for HOURS and I didn't get to have a nice leisurly dinner out, my Dad wanted to take me to any restaurant I wanted to go. I said "Meyersville Inn!!" So that's where we went and I had their wicked seafood gumbo and the most incredible crawfish etouffe! I couldn't eat more than half of it so I packed it up to take home.


Now I will just relax with Vaggi and try and get 100% better. They are calling for high 90's and HUMID tomorrow. Not good for the blood pressure, for sure.


Hugs & love~ tinkie xoxoxo

Well, what a weekend it has been so far and only half way through! geez. Saturday started out like any normal Saturday with my mother coming for tea in the morning and then a trek to the big thrift and a visit with Charlie at Platter World. I was feeling ok but stressy. Unsettled but pretty much fine. It was a nice day weatherwise and I got a bunch of great records.


I got home and was cleaning & playing my records and kinda just moving stuff around making room for new vintage phonographs. I put Vaggi outside and then all of a sudden I felt ill. Very oddly ill. Pain in my chest and down BOTH arms. A feeling I had never experienced before. I got my cell phone and sat on the couch to see if it improved. It didn't, and I believed I must be having a heart attack. I called my mother. While waiting for her to come I was looking around and saying I do not want to be having a heart attack! I am not ready for this! I got all sad and thought, I don't want to leave all my fun things yet!


So it was off to the Emergency room where they did an EKG, chest Xray, blood tests and CAT Scan. It all SUCKED. But all the tests seemed to be good with no evidence of any aneurism or heart irregularity. However, my blood pressure was way up there so they put me on Atenolol and a baby aspirin per day. They were going to KEEP ME but I said NO! I have to go home to my dog! I didn't want to be there a moment longer.


The funny thing is that you have a bar code on your hospital bracelet and they SCAN you like a grocery item. I was very thankful that it was not a heart attack and have made a vow to get back in serious shape, like I used to be, and to not let ridiculous things or people that are not good for me into my life anymore. As they say, today is the first day of the rest of your life!!

Hugs out~ tinkie xo

It's hard to believe it is Sunday night already! Where did my weekend go?? Friday I went over to visit Craig, the Record King and took some pics. Here's a clip of the pics which he'll be using when he re-does his website. Doesn't this place look like heaven for the music lover? I bought some fun novelty records and it was HOT and HUMID and threatening severe storms that day:





Friday night I came home to my vintage Newcomb so it was playing records and having a fun relaxing night! Saturday I got a huge package of 45's from my bud Bryan so I was playing through those and just having a blast! Whilst in between trying to get the Newsletter finished. Then a pause for sushi and zombies at Matsuya, yum!


Today I was up & out early. Was going to go to Cold Springs but the weather was bad so I'll save that for a nice day! Hit on Bergenline Ave in Union City and then the big Unique Thrift up there, newly opened. Got some vintage vinyl with VERY fun retro covers. Then it was Christmas Tree Shops where I found the perfect small shelving unit piece that would be superb for 45's so grabbed a couple of those. Lunch & brews at El Bandito then a stop at DiPierro's farm to get some fresh farm produce and to feed the sweet goats.


Some fierce storms came through but now it has cleared up nicely! I assembled the shelving and played some records. Now I am about to relax and really get into the music. Earlier in the week I got my beautiful Atomic Eames-Era Magnavox and that thing is outstanding!!

Vaggi got some fun stuff, too!








I was actually cold so I turned off the A/C and opened up all the windows and doors wide. There's a nice breeze now and it's just a perfect night!


I hope you are all having fabulous weekends!


Hugs~ tink


P.S. the latest newsletter is ready and here it is:


TWC August News


Tea Time for Tink! Hugs Out