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 29, 2010

My First Swap Meet

Today we had our very first Swap Meet in our area.  I was very excited, to say the least.  Although it was called a Swap Meet, I suppose it is what most people would call a Flea Market.  (Here a Flea Market is a regular business where you rent a booth).  There were about 50 vendors today, with about double that scheduled to be there in the next two days.  We went today because it was sunny, but extremely windy.  There are storms forecast for the next two days, so it might be today or never. I'd like to go back if it stays dry, but we'll have to see.
Not the best picture, but the tables were scattered around a bit, since some of the Vendors weren't there yet.  Note the hanging mannequins in the back.
This was a male 2x mannequin and I found him to be pretty funny just hanging there.

I had a hard time knowing what to buy and what not to buy since you  had to pay each individual person before you moved on to the next table.  In the end, I think I did okay and I really don't think I bought anything I shouldn't have bought.

So, what did I buy? 

 Good question!
A new Madeleine Pan for me and the Bean to try out, three very old cookie cutters, two blue Milk Of Magnesia Bottles, a sweet old drinking glass and a pair of old glass doorknobs.  After I made a purchase, I asked about the glass doorknobs and the guy told me $1.00 for the pair.  After I paid him (happily) he just started laughing and said, "I have no idea why on earth I just told you you could have them for $1.00!  I should have said $15.00 a piece!"  Then he just kept on laughing, so I got the heck of of Dodge.
A neat tin egg marked 1894, miniature pottery vase, nesting doll set (25¢!), old yellow pottery bowl,  set of cool retro leaf shaped coasters, old bunny squeak toy, interesting old red rimmed pitcher.  The little chipmunk in the middle is all hand carved and hand painted and oh, so cute.  When I asked the price, the guy gave me a wink and told me to just take him.  (That sort of made my day!)  The old Boy Scout plague in the back is neat.  It had a paper label on the back that said who it was awarded it to and the year (1930's-ish), but the crazy winds blew it right off and out into the cow pasture.  ;o(

Great old biscuit tin lunchbox and a dovetailed wooden box that says FANCY on it.  A FANCY box for $1.00?  I'll take it!
Lovely old tablecloth.  The guy had about fifteen old tablecloths, but he wanted $10.00 each for them and that is too high for me.  I bit the big one and sprung for this one at $5.00.  It is pretty, though.
Isn't this sweet?  A new faucet for the garden with a bunny handle.  Love it!

Books - I rarely show the books that I buy, but today the price was right and I found a slew of neat old ones. 
The Casserole Book has a whole lot of, uh, odd, recipes in it.  I think food in the 1950's must have been gross!
The little Bob Hunt in Canada book is inscribed "From Mother".  I just love things like that.
The Bean shopping for treasures.  He scored a lot of good stuff today too.  He even bought a 30 year old jar full of M&M's for his M&M collection.  He is a true junker at heart! 

Hope there is some JUNK in your future this weekend!  Happy  hunting!

12 comments:

  1. You must cast a spell over people to sell you their junk cheap... Great finds, love the door knobs! I just posted my junk from last weekend, like the new look of your blog!

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  2. Those are the best kinds of flea markets, small enough to actually find good deals! The huge fleas are usually dreadfully overpriced.

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  3. Gosh, that sounds like so much fun. Bad weather here, so not much saling for this weekend.
    I love how the guy winked at you and gave you the little chipmunk!
    Is there anything different about 30 year old M&M's vs. the current ones? Wonder if The Bean would be willing to give us a photo tour of his M&M collection some time? - would love to see it!

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  4. Laurie12:49 PM

    That white "pitcher" looks too much to me like an old...well...men's bedpan.

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  5. Laurie - is is a Pitcher. Not a urinal. Gross. ;o)

    Pat - 30 years ago, M&M's were only orange, yellow, green and brown. Very boring! These are peanut M&M's - I remember a pale brown one at one time. I think that was in the plain ones though.

    I'll ask The Bean to show off his collection someday - it's two bookcases full.

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  6. I'm so jealous of your stuff! All I can say is, it better not rain on Sunday because I've got big plans to go to the flea market. Tell The Bean I want to see his collections. Or else he has to start a blog of his own!

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  7. Oh such good stuff!! Love the door knobs and the price....funny he did that....

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  8. LynnW9:13 PM

    Shara, you're right. There was a light brown or tan M & M color but was replaced by the current bright blue M & M. I kinda miss it. Originally, M & M's were in autumn tones. Now you can get them in custom colors to match your bridal scheme!

    You found some great stuff at the flea market. And for so cheap! Love it!

    I really like how your blog looks. That is a cool typewriter masthead.

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  9. I love the yellow pottery bowl and leaf coasters. I need to hit more flea markets!

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  10. Anonymous9:41 PM

    I love the yellow pottery bowl & leaf coasters. I really need to hit more flea markets!

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  11. Looks like you found some great scores... I love going to flea markets, but here in the NW most of them are filled with new socks and logo printed t-shirts.

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  12. Awesome stuff! Especially those door knobs!

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