What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

A Few Friday Finds

I've been reading on a lot of blogs lately about the sad state of thrifting and saling. I find that to be true lately too. I go and nothing speaks to me. Or not much anyway. I am being a lot more selective about what I bring home - it either has to have a home immediately, a purpose or to be listed on ebay SOON. But, I haven't had to talk myself out of a purchase because I haven't found that much that is calling to me. Yesterday I went to seven sales and only bought a few things. Which is a good thing. But, I really could have found more things for resale that would have made me happy.

I dug this old Kodak camera out of a box where everything was 25¢. I seriously do NOT need any more collections, but I find myself picking up old cameras when I find them for 50¢ or less. I think a shelf full of old cameras and some framed photos of my Great Grandparents would look great in the bedroom.
I used to win these Beagles at the Fair every year. He is stuffed with straw or something rough - not soft Poly-fil, that's for sure. I saw one of these at a sale not long ago and reminisced about it, but left it there. I later saw one on ebay and found that it had sold for $85.00! So, when I spotted this one in a grab bag for $1.00 today, I grabbed it. It probably won't sell for that much, but at least I have one to try!
I loved the graphics on this old Sunlamp Box. Especially for only 50¢. On the back it shows the whole family sitting under the sunlamp getting a glowing tan. Do you remember staying at Motels and they had a Sunlamp in the bathroom? And a box for quarters to make the bed vibrate. I always thought that was fun as a kid. Now, I "get it" and "Eeeew".
These three old powder boxes were in a grab bag for 50¢. I use Coty Powder and think it's funny that this 1942 box looks exactly like the one I use every day. The powder is still in them. The powder in the blue box says it is Natural, but it is pinker than any blush I have seen. These will go in my RX Cabinet in the bathroom.

This cabinet, in fact. What? It's full? Oh, no, no. Lots more room for things. I promise. I've picked up nearly everything in there for less than 50¢ each. Lots of the old bottles were dug up out of DH's Grandma's dump. Bars of soap, pill boxes, band aid tins, lots of little packages. The little pink plastic lipstick on the second shelf was The Bean's when he was little. He would sit in his carseat in the backseat and apply his lipstick over and over complete with the "Smack, Smack" sound. He just loves it when I tell that story. (At least I'm not telling you about the fact that he actually had an entire purse stocked full of lipstick, hairbrushes and a wallet. Now, that would be an embarrassing story). I got some Pyrex. I got some Pyrex. (Sing it with me). I don't collect Pyrex and I don't want to start collecting Pyrex, but I do appreciate the collections of it I see on other blogs. However, I do covet the sets of nesting bowls in the primary colors. This is the first one I have ever seen. It's a sweet yellow 1 1/2 pint bowl in great condition. I paid $1.00 for it.
Mold-A-rama's. I had never heard of them until recently. Apparently they are along the lines of pressed pennies at Amusement Parks and Zoo's. The wax pours into a mold and you get a random color and random shape as a Souvenir. There are crazy collectors that love these things and want every color and every shape from every location. I got all five of these in a grab bag for $1.00. And, guess what? THEY ARE ON EBAY. I actually listed them. Back on the wagon.
I got this old metal topped table at a yard sale for $2.00. Long ago it had two smaller metal table leaves under the big one that pulled out and extended the length. It is pretty rusty and old, but the top is in perfect shape. The 80 year old lady having the sale said she had had it in her kitchen since the 1940's and had it covered with a tablecloth all the time. It is white with red trim. It looked like a project.
So, when I got it home, I took the top off and saved it. If nothing else, it will make a huge magnetic board. Or a tabletop or a ??????. For now it is in the kitchen behind my aprons as sort of a backdrop. The base of the table is sitting by the road waiting for a scrap metal collector to spy with his little eye.
I'm trying to resist any Saturday Sales that might be out there. They're just full of junk right? Oh wait, I (Heart) Junk.


6 comments:

  1. Love old cameras too! And I am pretty sure my mother had that orange powder box, it looks so familiar. My son has 2 of those molded animals he got from the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, he loves em!

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  2. So, did you see the NY Times article on Ebay the other day?

    If not I will give you a chance to read it before I blather on about it, but it does make for interesting conversation about the state of collectibles.

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  3. We collected mold-a-ramas on our trips when I was growing up. I think it was my brother that came along and chewed the tails and ears off. If only we had known.

    Love the vintage camera, and I do have those mixed in w/old photos and it makes for a really cool vignette. It's probably the ONLY thing I did get regrouped after I painted.

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  4. Never heard of 'mold-a-ramas' before - learn something new every day!! 8-)

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  5. Oh my...you got some real treasures! I love the tanning lamp...I think we had one back in the day!!! And I remember the molded animals...what a riot!

    Hugz,
    Michele

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  6. Can't wait to see how the auction ends - LOOKS GOOD!!

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