Candy! Candy! Candy!

Boo! Happy Halloween. I still love Halloween, even though Halloween doesn't mean much at our house now that The Bean is beyond Trick or Treating. I still love my decorations, making goody bags for the kids and seeing the costumes when the kids knock on the door. This year if you trick or treat at our house, you will get a Trick or Treat sack full of spiders, rats, bats, skeletons, some candy and a black and orange pinwheel to amuse yourself. All bought after Halloween last year (except the candy - I'm not that cheap!) in true thrifty fashion.

Even when The Bean did go Trick or Treating, he never would say "Trick or Treat." He never did (or does, for that matter) speak to anyone he didn't know, so speaking to strangers isn't something that he would do. But, he would run fast to the door, knock and hold out his pail for goodies. Thankfully, he was one adorable kid with cute costumes, so people dolled it out after Mom, Dad, and Grandparents all yelled, "TRICK OR TREAT" for him. There was one mean old dude who said, "If you don't say Trick or Treat yourself, you don't get no candy" and proceeded to slam the door in his face. I should have egged his house. One year we took him over to the schamncy side of town to go to a few houses. We knew a few people in the area so we wanted to go to the houses that we knew and hit a couple neighbors too. At our first house, this very old, very cranky man was apparently overwhelmed by the rows of children knocking at his door, ripped the door open after The Bean knocked, looked down at my three year old Bean and said, "What's your address kid? If you don't live near here - NO CANDY FOR YOU!" Candy Nazi, ala Seinfeld episode. It made me mad and struck me funny at the same time, so we just left.

When The Bean was two, he was a clown. I applied clown face make-up on him, threw him in his car seat, took him to a party, Trick or Treating at Sonic, trick or treating to a few houses and then out to the retirement home for some more trick or treating. Everything a good Mom does except one thing - I failed to let the kid look at himself in the mirror. He got a glimpse of himself in a mirror at the retirement home and literally freaked out screaming in fear. He was a clown, for heavens sake, not a zombie or something scary. So, I learned a lesson, always let the kid look in the mirror!

When he was three he was a pirate complete with a moustache. Very comical and still very shy. But,s till awesomely cute and he scored a pumpkin pail full of treats.

The next year, he had just turned four and had a better grasp of the door knocking and getting treats thing. He still wouldn't say Trick or Treat, so I made him a sign and pinned it to him that said, "Trick or Treat, I'm shy". People loved that one. He was a cowboy with fringed pants, real boots, metal spurs, a suede fringed vest, real cowboy hat, rope and a horse to carry - an outfit I had pieced together throughout the summer. He was the cutest cowboy, I swear. People were really generous to him that year and he wanted to go to a lot of houses. He just kept going and going. After we had hit a bunch of houses, he suddenly sat down in one yard and pulled off his boots and socks, threw them aside and ran off for the next house. I found that odd, then I saw that his socks were wet and his boots were wet. The kid had peed himself and not even realized it he was so intent on candy, candy, candy. (That's a story he just loves to hear now!).

The next year, age five, it was the Halloween after September 11th. He wanted to a fireman. I put him in a yellow rainslicker, a fireman hat and he carried a plastic axe and a flag. People literally were choked up with tears while practically pouring their entire bowls of candy into his bag.

After that, age six, he was Matt Medic from the Rescue Heroes which was real hospital scrubs and a real lab jacket scored at the hospital thrift store along with a real working stethoscope from a yard sale. That year, he went to a few house, proclaimed, "I'm done" and he never went trick or treating again. Retired from Trick or Treating at the grand old age of six years old. He decided it was more fun to hand out candy at home and have Mom take him the day after Halloween and buy him giant bags of Butterfingers for half price. That's my boy.

This year he has decied to color his hair "You Won't Get Shot in the Deer Woods Orange" in honor of the holiday. Lord knows if it will ever wash out. Tomorrow we go meet Jack Hanna and see his show. I hope The Bean no longer has orange hair for the photos.

Did anyone see Regis and Kelly this morning? I love their Halloween shows. When Regis came out as Gordon Ramsey from Hell's Kitchen, he would talk but theywould "BLEEP" him like he was cursing. He told Emeril "Enough with the BLEEP'ing Bam." And he told Mario Botelli to get some "real BLEEPIN shoes". For some reason, hearing Regis get BLEEPED, was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time and I nearly peed my pants watching it. You might have had to have been there, but, to me, it was extremely funny.

Happy Halloween!

Cheapest Sale. Ever. And fun too!

Thank you for your well wishes about my Kitty Girl, Little Lady. Thank heavens and knock wood and all that stuff, she seems to be her regular self. Playing, eating, drinking, sleeping, being lovey to me...everything that makes her my Little Lady. I don't know what happened to her and I certainly hope it never happens again. She's my girl! Oh, yes, and when I fessed up that I don't leave my house at night, I thought everyone would say, "Oh my goodness - are you for real?" But, it seems there are a bunch of us Homies - staying home at night and not venturing out. Being a stay at home Mom, I have the luxury of shopping during the day, matinees, lunch specials at restaurants - all the things that fit into my thrifty schedule. Night time activities are costly - higher dinner rates, higher movie prices, thrift stores are closed, etc. We've just gotten into the habit of being home in the evenings and that's where we like to be. I must admit, it's nice to know, that it's not just me!

Friday morning I saw a sale on Craigslist touting a huge storage building full of Estate items, "This stuff means nothing to us, it must be gone, nothing will be brought back into the house and everything will be cheap!" Sounded like my sort of sale and was very close to my house. Off we go!

It ended up being at the house of a young married couple. The husband's mother had her things in storage for three or four years and had not even been to the unit once during that time, so she asked her son to sell it all lock, stock and barrel. The mother seemed to love teapots and books. Lordy, I never saw so many of each! The teapots were priced $1.00 each, sets were $2.00, teeny miniature tea sets were 25¢, lots of teapot themed things too. I bought ten rusty teapot drawer handles and a big giant rusty wire teapot for the yard, but those were the only teapot themed items that interested me. (And a box full of miniature tea sets for my Mom for Christmas - don't read this Mumsie!)

On to the books. Tables piled with books, boxes of books, books on the floor - nearly all hardback and in perfect condition. There were brand new high dollar books and very old books - but all were clean, non-stinky (!) and in perfect condition. Books were 25¢ each. No matter what. 25¢ each. Or $5.00 a box. Big boxes. Boxes so big people were staggering trying to get down the driveway with them. I normally give books a once over and pick a couple, but these were priced so inexpensively, that I decided to see what I could find. I started uncovering books on the Cherokees. I ended up finding 60 books about Cherokee history, syllabary, plants, myths, legends, famous Cherokees, etc. 60 books about Native Americans is unheard of - and all in one location! I got all 60 books into one box for $5.00. Then I started a box of my own. I found new decorating books, cook books, craft books like knitting, needlepoint, transfers, very old copies of the Hardy Boys, fun old children's books, books about the Grand Canyon and treasure diving for The Bean and lots more. I ended up with two boxes for $10.00.

Just a few that made me happy. Two brand new Mary Engelbreit books - each priced $20.00 originally.
A very old copy of Fifty Bab Ballads. I've never heard of it, but the book is just wonderful -old graphics, great old cover. Don't you just love the heft of an old book?
I think this book was worth the price of all the rest. Vintage Animals - patterns for vintage quilts, tea towels, pillows and lots more. I hope to make some copies of the patterns and give them a whirl.
When we left, she girl told me they had a house full to bring out, so "Come back tomorrow!" So, I did. When I walked up, she said, "You came back!" I said, "You told me too!" She laughed. She said they brought out a ton of more stuff, but it was pretty much all gone. (I'm not an early yard saler on Saturday's.) I did notice the books were now $2.00 a box, so I looked around some more. The day before there was an older man there looking at the books and he was very territorial about the books. I was going down the line of boxes on the floor looking at the books when he came over, touched me on the shoulder and said, "Those are mine." "Oh, sorry. I had no idea. I went along looking at the next box, but he wouldn't move out of my way. So, I went to the other end of the garage and started digging in boxes. That's when I started finding big coffee table books about Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, the Grand Canyon, Canoeing and other things. Big $60.00 books. I started stacking them up and put The Bean on watchdog detail. I kept looking at books and then I noticed the man was zeroing in on my box of books. I said, "Those are mine" in the same sing songy voice he had used on me, but he didn't budge. He walked around behind the boxes and was going to try (I think) and sneak a couple of my books while The Bean had his back turned and I wasn't looking. I made a head bob towards him so The Bean would see what he was doing. Just when the man thought he had a minute to grab one - The Bean sat on the box. Ha-ha Mister. (Don't worry, I always repay The Bean for helping me and buy him goodies along the way - this weekend he got a Playstation game and a duct tape wallet out of the deal. Not to mention his beloved Grilled Cheese from Sonic!)

Anyway, back to Saturday. Since no one else was looking at the books, I was able to look at every single book on the tables and make yet another box, plus I discovered a box of every Agatha Christie book ever written for $2.00. In the end, I wound up with 169 books for $14.00 - 94 of which went to my Mom and she gave me back $7.00. So, I have 55 books for a total of $7.00. Some will be listed on Amazon (one ((not mine)) is selling at $55.00 right now), lots are for the homeschool library, cookbooks for cooking and selling and so on and so forth.

As I was paying for the books and a tiny sterling silver box with a Lapis stone inset for 10¢ (and a set of sweet China rice bowls with cats on them that never made it home - boo hoo)I asked about two vintage bowling bags complete with vintage balls and shoes, "$1.00 a bag?" he said. Sold. And that white shelf in the driveway? $1.00?" He said. One dollar, baby!

My treasures photographed better when the garage door was blue. Oh well, its just a white shelf, but it's chippy and shabby and cost a mere dollar bill, so I loves it! And! The best part. I have a place for it. Yea, me!

I did buy a few other things from them. It seemed as I was taking a box down of books down the driveway to the car, I would spot something else along the way. I saw this wool swing coat - it looked vintage and it looked like it could be something. I recently read a blip in Country Living about vintage coats and that stuck in my mind.

It seemed to be in pretty good condition, so I decided to take a chance and ask how much for the coat.

"Clothes are 10¢" was the answer. I gave her a quarter, because I am generous like that. Well, not really generous because when I gave her the quarter, I said, "I reserve the right to grab another piece of clothing on the way out!"

Can you make out the fabulous embroidered floral details on the silk lining? You would almost want a windy gust to blow your coat open!

I grabbed this vintage 1960's dress on my last trip to the car as part of my 25¢ coat plus one purchase. Hippy cool, eh?

A little research on the coat says it is "Mar-Del Modes" Alpaca wool with a real fur collar. There is a black coat nearly identical to it on ebay right now with a Buy It Now of $249.00. Mine has a few loose seams in the armpit areas of the silk lining and it is missing two buttons. But, both those things can be easily fixed.
I got these five little vintage juice glasses for $2.00 at a different sale on Friday. They are cuties. Too little to use, so I think I'll just look at them for awhile,then list them.
This big vintage photo was $1.00 - cool old art deco frame to boot. I think this lady would have made a mean coconut cream pie.

Lastly, a piece of fabric. I read blogs where people are all giddy about fabric, and I really don't get it. I'm not a sewing kind of gal, I don't like window treatments, clothes are not my favorite thing, yadda yada. But, I bought a piece of fabric that made me swoon. I want to marry this fabric. Are you ready?

Oh my goodness.

Too damned cute for words.

Seriously.

Wouldn't this make an awesome blankie?

For me! Seriously! (And it was only a dime!)

I am putting myself on a time out this week. Lots of schoolwork, laundry, finding places for things (books, right now as you might imagine) and pie making for freezing. It is supposed to start freezing outside this week, with cooler days too. I am happy to stay home on cold days and be Miss Frumpy housewife. Wednesday we are taking our Annual Fall Foliage Ride over the mountain and on Saturday The Bean and I are off to see Jack Hanna and his jungle animal friends. Sounds like fun!

We're headed out to a Haunted Battlefield Tour, bonfire and hayride this evening. Would any of you believe that this is the first time I have left my house after dark in nearly a year?????? (That I can remember - it could be two years, actually). That's not so hard to believe in the summer months when it stays light until 9:00 pm, but now that it is dark by 6:30, that's another story. I've never liked going out after dark and I have issues with night vision and driving. I can do it, I just prefer not to do it. Some may think it a sheltered life, but to me, it's just my life. I remember when The Bean was about four years old, we drove past the Wal-Mart parking lot and he said, "What are all these people doing out in the middle of the night?" It was 6:30! We were on the way to pick up a pizza for dinner. So, the Bean is sheltered too!

My Little Lady

This afternoon our little kitty girl, Little Lady, seemed to have a seizure. She was asleep in her bed while we were watching "A Wrinkle In Time". Suddenly, I heard what I thought was her banging on the window with her paw at a bird or something. But, I couldn't see her sticking out of her bed, so I went to check on her. She was seized up and had her head back convulsing. I got her out of her bed (it's on a shelf up high so she can look out the window) and laid her on the floor in a blanket. She started drooling while she was convulsing. I was completely freaking out, thinking I was losing her. I begged her not to leave me and to just let it pass. After the convulsions stopped, I wrapped her up in the blanket and held her, but then she moaned to be let down. I set her down and she tumbled over to her side. I picked her back up and went to get the phone to call the vet. While I was looking up the number, she cried like she usually does when she wants down and sort of kicked off my chest. I laid her in the floor and she just popped up like her normal self. She ran to her food bowl, ate some dry food, took a nice long drink of water, walked into the living room and started playing with her toy mouse. Just like that. It was amazing. I have been staring at her for about six hours since this happened and she seems to be fine. I researched it a bit on line and it said that cats sometimes have seizures when their brain switches over in their sleep. I will be watching her like a hawk and will take her in if anything looks out of the ordinary. I don't want to blog about my cats like a crazy cat lady, but she is my sweet girl and it really upset me. The Bean handled it okay while it was happening, but completely dissolved into tears when she was back to herself. He is a very sensitive kid and loves our cats too. Hopefully, all will be well. But, I will be nervous for a long time.

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A few recent thrifty finds to clear the mind:

A set of circus themed cookie cutters. The plastic is a red and white mottled color and appear to be fairly old.

Children's Book of Knowledge from 1959 - I bought it for the great old illustrations and the pages about "Computer Brains of the Future" which describes (sort of) modern day computers and Internet. Sort of. The green glass dish isn't marked, but looks like it could or should be something. The little trick or treat pumpkin had the itty bity pumpkin candle inside it, so I grabbed them both. The funny Santa was cute for 10¢, but mostly made me giddy realizing that the Super Cheap Thrift was putting their Christmas stuff out NOW!

There wasn't a ton of Christmas, but since they are putting it out already, I know that must mean they have a ton to put out. This is a very old town with very old houses and lots of cool vintage trinkets being donated daily. The 1968 Empire blow mold Santa was 50¢ (yes, Sue, another one for the Army), the stacking boxes were 45¢ and the Pfaltzgraff dish set was 75¢. That is destined for resale, if it's worth it.

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We picked about 50 lbs. of apples yesterday, so I am off to Google apple recipes. And check on the kitty girl. G'Nite.

Tricks and Treats

I went out Sunday evening (During a bout of stomach ick) and decorated the porch and yard. Wham, bam, thank you Ma'm, fast.

These three little guys line up outside my door every year - they are really kid sized and I think they are too cute. My Mom bought them for me about ten years ago and they will always be lined up trick or treating on my porch.

Some Halloween junk mixed in with my regular junk. I normally pull the regular junk for holiday decorating so that it doesn't look, well, too junky. But, this year, it's all out there...junk, junk, junk.

The scarecrow head is a craft of yesteryear when I used to craft constantly to enter things in the County Fair.

The pink sign was my one and only after Halloween purchase last year. I showed restraint! I've have the big black rocking folk art cat a long time, but I never put him out because he's too big for inside the house. I had a brainstorm Sunday - I put him outside!

Another doofy craft for years ago. I still think he's funny, even though he isn't like the things I like to make and decorate with now.

A big fat pumpkin with a jaunty stem on his round head. I love a juanty pumpkin!

Official Fall Display. I will have to make him a regular scarecrow head after Halloween so he is more Fall'ish and not so Halloween'ish. Another fat pumpkin on one of my favorite side tables by the park bench. I found two of these side tables at a yard sale years and years ago. I asked if they were for sale because they had things on them for the sale. The old man said he had made them forty years ago (he said it like they were junk because he had made them so long ago, but I knew they were awesome!) and I could have them for $1.00 each. The other one has chippy white legs and a reddish colored top - it stays in the house to protect it from the elements.
Planters and a pumpkin on either side of the driveway. I keep expecting to find them smashed in the street one day, but so far the hoodlums have stayed away. *We have no hoodlums.*

Tomorrow we are going back to the freebie Apple Orchard. We've had time to taste the apples we brought home last week and found our favorite. So, it is back to shakin' the trees to get the good ones. And, my ugly pie? It was delicious! I think the trick was the KitchenAid mixer - no handling and overworking the dough. The dough hook did it to perfection.

Miss Heidi asked how I managed to score a KitchenAid mixer for $54.00. I spotted it on the markdown aisle at Wal-Mart, but it wasn't priced. It looked out of place and it was a different color - sort of a gunmetal gray. Not like any of the other KitchenAid mixers in the store. I hauled it to the scanner (not an easy feat-that thing is heavy) and it scanned at $54.00. Sold! I had a $100.00 gift card from our Anniversary that I had been rat holing since May. My procrastination paid off! I think the mixer might have been a very nice wedding gift to a very unappreciative young married couple - they didn't want it, returned it to Walmart for some random price that someone pulled out of their hat and then it had to be sold. A few days later, at the other Wal-Mart across town, I happened on a beautiful set of Farberware pots and pans marked down for $125.00 to $44.00, so I used the balance of the gift card to pay for that. After 17 years of marriage, we were due some shiny new pots and pans. So, my $100.00 gift netted me about $325.00 worth of merchandise. (Thanks Mumsie!)

These are a few of my favorite (Christmas) things

I'm participating in Jen's Vintage Pink Christmas Swap. My partner is Joanne at My Little Cottage in the Making. To say we are both excited about this swap, would be an understatement, to say the least. She saw the Halloween cones that I made this year and requested a Christmas cone. I've never had a swap partner request anything, let alone, something that I made. Yea me!

In strict swap tradition, here are my answers about my favorite things.

1. What is your favorite Christmas decoration? My woodsy tall tree covered in all vintage ornaments that I have picked up for pennies all year long. I love finding one one vintage ornament in the bottom of a box or a sweet pipe cleaner Japan angel or elf to add to it each year.

2. What colors/themes do you decorate for Christmas? I have a huge collection of Santa's, the ones I really love are Santa's made out of other things - Coke bottle (Thanks, Carol), an okra pod, an acorn, a walnut, a rock, a paintbrush, you get the idea. I also love my Christmas Annalee dolls which I think are cute, contrary to what some people think....

These are my only big Annalee's. The girl in pink and the reindeer were one of the first things I thrifted (when I really began thrifting after The Bean was born and I knew I needed to make money, so ebay seemed the right fit). I saw them in the back of the thrift and my memory is that I vaulted over a couch to get them, but I doubt that I ever vaulted over anything, let alone a couch. But, I knew I had to get them before anyone else spotted them. They were $1.00 each. The Santa was a lucky yard sale find for $1.00.

Three fun Annalee Santa's found at one of my thrifts for 25¢ each. The little Annalee mouse was $1.00 at a yard sale. Love them!

3. What Christmas item would you love to have? I would like to find a feather tree someday that I could afford. I'd also like to find more fancy Shiny Brites - figural ones and non-silvered ones.

Shiny Brites! Who doesn't love Shiny Brites!

4. Favorite goodie & hot drink? I'm not much of a hot drinker drinker. I drink coffee in the morning, but only a cup and a half - straight coffee with creamer - no flavors or anything, so that is pretty boring. I had The Bean convinced for years that you could only have hot chocolate when it snows, so we rarely drink it either. As far as goodies go - whatcha' got? Anything but fruitcake is good to me. I love those peppermint nougats with the Christmas trees in them at Christmas time. Yum-O.


5. Are you a crafter? If so what crafts do you do? I dabble in a lot of everything - paper crafts, felting, felt crafting, etc. I do not sew. Or knit. Or crochet. Or weld. (!) I want to learn to solder and felt with roving.


6. What is your favorite pink item in your home? My favorite pink item is in the backyard. My pink glider and chair.

7. What do you collect? Now, now, now, we don't have enough space for that! I'll keep it to my perfect trifecta - vintage matte white pottery, vintage tablecloths and old packaging with great graphics.

A mere portion of my massive Matte White Pottery collection.

8. Do you have special family traditions for the holidays? The usual - looking at lights, opening presents on Christmas Eve, stocking on Christmas day, we make lots of candy, baking, basically just enjoying the holiday.

We now return to our scheduled Autmunal, colorful, ghoulish Halloween festivities until it is time for Christmas chatter.......

Easy As Pie

Yesterday morning, we had all the school stuff laid out with our schedule all planned out. But, suddenly it dawned on me that it was an absolutely stellar day outside. The temperature was about 65, the sun was shining in the bluest clearest sky I have ever seen, the hawks were out riding wind gusts and the trees were just starting to get hints of color and, well, homeschool could wait, I decided. Thee will be months of cold dreary wet weather coming, so we need to enjoy what we have while we have it. Life lessons were waiting!

I threw together a couple of PB&J's, some bottled water and off we went. We drove out into the next neighboring town. This is the home of the Super Cheap Thrift Store. And, I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before, but the SCTS is located directly across the street from a Civil War Battlefield. (Surely, I have mentioned that...) Anyway, I digress. It is where we go when we should be doing something educational, but really just want to be outside enjoying life.

We ate our picnic lunch and then went on the one mile loop Historical Tour. We learned about cannons, the battlefield, civilian life and so on. The walk is beautiful and peaceful. I love fall because not only are the trees turning colors,t but they have added surprises - hickory nuts, walnuts, hedgeballs, catalpa beans and other oddities. We love to look at each tree.

If there is one thing that I know it is this - as a Mother I have taught my son to appreciate his surroundings. He grabs the moment and enjoys it for whatever it is worth. He doesn't need Playstation (but he does like Playstation!) to have fun. He knows that there are things to do and see right here in our very own backyard and to enjoy it when you can.

After our tour, we drove over to a different parking lot because I could see a tree in the distance that I wanted to take a photo of on the way out. The one and only brilliant orange tree in the entire park.

In order to get to this tree, we had to go down a road within the park that I had never been or or even knew existed. Down the road we passed a sign that said, "Apple Orchard." There were about 100 or so apple trees in three different varieties. They were loaded with fruit. Then I noticed people on ladders picking apples. I commented that I had absolutely no idea that there was an Apple Orchard in the Battlefield (we go there about once a week and have done so for years and years....). I wished aloud that we could buy some apples.

That's when I read the rest of the sign, "Apples are available to the public." FREE APPLES? FREE APPLES! We parked the car and grabbed two of the many tote bags that I carry with me for yard saling and headed to the orchard. I still wasn't sure that this was legal. Free apples for the taking and picking? I asked an older gentleman if it was true that you could have apples and he said, "You can have all you want! I've been coming here for years!"

He had one of those tree pruning things with the rope on it lying on the ground beside him. He offered to let me use it, and I gratefully accepted. I stuck it high into the tree and tried to pluck one solitary apple. He said, "Grab the branch and shake the heck out of it." So, I did. Boom boom, boom, the apples started to fall.

We couldn't figure out which apples had fallen and which ones were on the ground already, so we took turns shaking and spotting and then grabbing the apples. Before we knew it we had two huge bags full. When we left the orchard, The Bean said, "This was the best day, ever." I love that kid.

As I was going through the photos on the camera last night, I nearly deleted this one as it looks very similar to the one above it. I zoomed in on it and am I ever glad I did - look at The Bean. He shook an apple down right on top of his, well, bean! Right after that he was rubbing his head telling me an apple fell on it. I had no idea I had captured it! Too funny.

Today we made apple pies. I've made apple pies before in various stages - frozen crusts with canned filling, frozen crusts with fresh apples and scratch pastry with canned filling, but never fresh apples (THAT I PICKED) and fresh scratch pastry. I must say, it isn't he most attractive pie, but it smells like heaven and I know it will taste good no matter how it tastes! I used my new Kitchen-Aid Mixer (that i scored on clearance for $54.00 a few weeks ago) to make the dough, made the filling and the crust, so I think it was just too many new things at once to make a purdy pie.

I SPY with my little eye

Wednesday is the Breadman's day off, so it is Family Day. We try to do something Educational one week, something not so Educational the next (movie, Target bargain hunting, etc.) Last week we went out and took photos of trees, mushrooms, plant life and flowers then identified them all using books that I have picked up at the thrifts. Only I could have a book entitled, "How to Identify Mushrooms and Fungi" (complete with a 15¢ price tag) in our library. The Breadman had the fabulous idea to pick one of each and bring it home for further study, but I over rode that idea. Lucky for us, because out of the seven different types of mushrooms we found, all but one turned out to be poisonous. That's why I handle the homeschooling, my friends.

Today we were headed to another lake to see if the trees were starting to turn when the sky opened and the rain began to fall - hard. We made it as far as the new Walgreen's up the street before we decided to stop and give the rain a chance to subside. It did pass, but it had rained so hard and so fast that we decided the mud factor would outweigh the fun factor. So, when you can't do something educational, what to do, what to do?

Well, you go thrifting, right? I had three totes full of Halloween and fall decor to drop off at the thrift, so I decided I might as well have a look around.... You know how that goes.

Pardon, the glare. I spotted this box for "Natural Fruits in Wax" with the price tag of $1.99 from a Department Store named Newberry's. It shows placing the wax fruit in a bowl on top of you TV for a "stunning display." Okay.....

These pieces of wax fruit were in the box, still in their plastic bags - each one individually priced 19¢. There was a time, early in my ebay days, that wax fruit was highly desirable. I don't know if it still is or not. I looked around ebay, but when I typed in WAX FRUIT and got about 10,000 candles. So, I need to refine that search a bit. To say the least. The ladies quote me a price of $2.00 and I threw a big fake fit telling them it was only $1.99 originally. Luckily, they laughed.

Oh, no she di'nt........(I tried to leave it. I just couldn't.)

An original Viewmaster in it's original box for $2.50. No discs or wheels or whatever you call those things.. REELS! That's what they're called - Viewmaster reels. Anyway, no reels, but finding a almost new vintage Viewmaster is a pretty good find.

This is a set of two decks of playing cards for $1.00. They were in a Congress velvet flocked box, but the box had photos of Grecian Urns on it from a museum somewhere and these fun dog cards were in the box instead. I covet velvet flocked Congress Playing Cards, so I was sad to see the wrong cards in the box, but then I took another look at the cards and realized that they were actually much cuter than any Grecian Urns ever could have been considered.

After I have looked in every section of the store, I always take a second run through. It seems that is when I generally find my best find. Today was no exception. I found this in a plastic shoebox under a bunch of crocheted potholders. Who would look in a box of crocheted potholders? (Me, watermelon lady, that's who). This is a child's apron, handmade with feedsack balloons and the cute little embroidered girl. LOVE IT. Especially for the princely sum of $1.00.

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On a completely different subject. I have been spying. And I feel dirty. Let me explain, I didn't mean to spy. It just sort of happened and it went to far before I could get out.

I was on the local freebie website to see what was being offered and I spotted an odd last name by someone's listing. A name odd enough that I have only seen it and heard it one other time in my entire life. And I sorta dated a guy with that very same name twenty some years ago. So, I click on Profile just to see, so I can say, "My, what a small world" and then return to my surfing. But, suddenly I have links to blogs and My Space and Facebook and I have photos of his kids on my screen and I know his wife lost her job and photos of HIM siting on his couch watching TV. I have not spoken to this person in nearly twenty years. I should not know what his couch looks like! I should not know that he has the ugliest lamp ever on his side table. Then there's a photo of his dog lying on his BED. The guy's bed. Now I know what his bed looks like and what is on his nightstand and that there's a picture on his nightstand of his kids by the Christmas tree. And then there is a photo of their kitchen and I know how it is decorated and what his yard looks like and oh my god I am a dirty spying girl. I should NOT know what his house looks like, I should not have been able to recognize that I know where his house is or where he works or where she works or what grade the kids are in or what type of car he drives or, for goodness sake, what type of cereal they ate for breakfast that morning. Ick, ick, ick.

And I should have quit reading before I found out that they had some hard times with their kids and the law and mental disorders and money problems and needed help from a food pantry and I am all full of tears for this guy I haven't talked to in twenty years. And, now I am afraid that if and when I do see him ( I do see him around town occasionally, we just don't chat it up) I will run to him, give him a hug and a hundred dollar bill and he will look at me like I just fell off the turnip truck.

So, here's the moral of the story. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - don't connect all your online stuff because someone could be spying on you. They could have bad intentions and that is not good. Or, they could be like me and have accidentally spied on you and know they know that you have ugly wallpaper, three kids, an ATV and you drink Sprite in the can. Ick.