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.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Happy Thrift Find

Yesterday I decided it was time for a day of relaxation.  We goofed around the house in the morning and then went for lunch at Chili's.  You won't often hear me say that we went to an actual restaurant for a meal.  Chick-fil-A is about as nice as we get.  But, we bit the bullet and went for a nice sit down and be waited on meal.  Personally, I could eat about three baskets of chips and salsa and call it good.  I love that stuff! 

I make a knockoff version of the salsa that we love.  Here's the recipe:

Almost Chili's Salsa Recipe

1 (14 1/2 ounce) can tomatoes and green chilies

2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans whole canned tomatoes (plus the juice)

1/4 cup yellow onion (diced)  (I use dehydrated onion)

1/2-3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender - blend until almost smooth.  Eat with heated tortilla chips.  YUM!

(I swore I would never post a recipe on this blog.  I am so not a recipe person.  Maybe now people will call me SharaDub and I will get a movie deal too!)

After we ate, I managed to get the boys to go to two different thrifts with me. 

I spotted this little vintage box in the 50¢ area at the first thrift.  You know I love old packaging, so I picked it up.  When I opened it, I gasped out loud.  The Candle Coasters were missing, but instead were these:
A set of my beloved cake toasting glasses!  I searched for years until I found a set on ebay and finally got them. Since then, I have found two more sets.  And, now I actually found a set at the thrift! 
So, I have four different sets in all. My Great Grandmother used these on Birthday Cakes and it is my fondest memory of her.

She was one hep chick.  But, that is a post for another day.  My point to this post is that you never know what you are going to find when you go thrifting.  And sometimes, the smallest things make you the happiest! 

11 comments:

  1. I had never seen those. A very cool find and your Grandma was a hottie!

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  2. I so want to find a set of those! Love the pic of gma.. so cute!

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  3. Ooohhhh...I adore Chili's salsa!! It's so yummy. I'll have to try this copycat recipe, thanks for posting. We love that place.

    Love the toasting glasses. Good score.

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  4. Lucky, lucky day! A toast to thrifty vintage finds!

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  5. Melissa6:51 AM

    What luck! I bet you were happy all day!
    As for the movie who will play you and who will be playing the Breadman? :o)

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  6. Amen to that. I get almost giddy when I find a surprise. I am easy to please, the littlest things make me the most happy. Have a great day.

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  7. How funny that you've found so many sets! Are they all the same style of glasses?

    I LOVE Chili's chips & salsa, with a big cold Dr. Pepper to drink. If it weren't snowing, I think that's what I'd go have for lunch!

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  8. I think Lady Gaga stole your g-g-momma's hat.

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  9. Looks like your grama covered the chair and made an outfit to match.What a snazzy chick. And did you notice the outfit you are in as a child matches? Whoo! I love grama stories, Mine was right up todate with her plastic drapes in the bedrooms.

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  10. Your Great Grandma is gorgeous!! LOVE that hat and all the red. I love red. Oh and the toasting glasses. So you put them on cake and put what in them? Champagne? Grape Nehi? lol

    Oh and yes, I do thrift store math, too.

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  11. your ggma must have been the inspiration for the red hat society!

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