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, June 10, 2010

Thursday's Thrifty Finds





Tuesday I made a special trip to the Super Cheap Thrift store, only to find it closed for restocking.  Boo that it was closed, but Yippee that they were restocking.  So, I made a point to go back today when they opened to get a good shot at the new goodies.  But, they were CLOSED again.  Sigh.  They had a bunch of junk, (and I do mean real actual junk) outside for FREE but a bunch of us were having a dig looking for a treasure anyway.  While we were digging, the ladies that stock the store kept coming out and saying how they had so much new stuff that they didn't know what they would do with it all.  Apparently a family had donated an entire Estate to the thrift store.  It took every fiber of my being not to mow those ladies down and go in there to see what I can only imagine are huge overflowing boxes of vintage Christmas, vintage craft supplies and Grandma's vintage linen collection.  I don't know when they will get the store ready to be reopened, but until then I will have to tell myself that they really only donated old margarine tubs, smelly old sheets and geriatric furniture.  Yea, that's the ticket. 

I did manage to find a couple of sales that had a good amount of my kind of junk - old crap.  My day got away from me today and I didn't get photos of everything, but I did manage to take some not well lit photos tonight of my favorite finds. 

A beautiful piece of vintage turquoise pottery for a mere quarter.  I about fainted when I saw it and then again when I saw the price tag.  It's so purty!
A giant thermos for my thermos collection.  I loved the color and I loved the 50¢ price tag.

But, I really loved the name on the thermos - Happy Home!


A sweet old centerpiece of a bride for 25¢.  I love her crepe paper base and crepe bouquet.


A pair of huge heavy cuckoo clock weights - 75¢ for the pair.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have a small collection of these too.  These are about 8" long and weigh a ton.

A very old egg or vegetable gathering basket for 25¢.  I can spot an old basket amongst the fruit basket discards and craft department baskets a mile away. 

An old sap bucket for 50¢ that is actually quite pink despite the appearance in this photo. 

This was the only item I found in all the free stuff at the thrift store.  It really isn't my cup of tea, but once I turned it over, I knew I had to rescue it from the bins.
Buddy, Buddy, Buddy,  your Mama was 94 years old and she still took the time to make you this Christmas gift.  And now, here it is at the Super Cheap Thrift in the FREE box.  Wait, if she was 94 years old 28 years ago, Buddy was probably in his late 60's, which would mean he is probably gone too.  Sorry Buddy.  I hope you and Mama are up in Heaven making tacky pottery together.  RIP.

The main reason I headed out saling today was that I am in need of some shelves and bookcases for my NEW FLEA MARKET BOOTH.  I had signed up for a booth at a new Flea market in town about six months ago and I got a call earlier this week saying that they had one opening.  I waited to see about a booth after it was all  full before I signed up so the other people could lose out money if the place went belly up.  But, it seems to be doing quite well, so I am pretty excited to have a booth again.  I have a lot of ideas for it including making vintage Christmas wreaths to sell and decorating for all the holidays.  It will be great to have an outlet for all my things I have stockpiled, plus an outlet for my creative side.  I've always loved merchandising - it is the only thing I miss about my old job.  I love building displays.  I hope to make it a fun booth and *Crossing fingers* hope it does okay. 

Hope you have a fun junk filled weekend. It is supposed to be quite rainy here, which is good.  I need to price things for the booth and concentrate on the junk I already own and not be tempted to go buy more junk! 

But.......there is a Church sale not to far away.......;o)

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:46 AM

    Wow, Shara I would be the same way. Just dying to get in there and see what treasures there are to find. Can't wait till you go back and share with us what you found.
    I too recently rented a booth at an Antique mall. It is a new experience but I am loving it. The pricing is a little tricky for me because I buy very cheap so not always sure what to mark it up to. I am wishing you the best of luck and fortune with your booth. Looking forward to pictures.

    Debra Ganas

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  2. It's funny that you find clock weights with no clocks. I always find clocks with no weights. (And I have on the cabinet right now in need of weights. Ooof.)

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  3. Anonymous7:47 AM

    For spending some of your time at a store that wasn't even open, you sure did well that day. How great that the flea market has a spot for you. Please post pics so we can see all your displays and goodies for sale.Good Luck and much success!

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  4. Anonymous9:14 AM

    Shara! I am so excited to hear about your booth and can't wait to see photos too. Best of luck

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  5. How exciting about your Flea Market Booth!!
    And I think that bell-shaped dish made by the 94 year-old Mom is fabulous!

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  6. That vase. For a quarter?

    I'd love to know how you can tell the old baskets from the made in china crap. We need a lesson!

    Can't wait to see your booth! What fun you'll have.

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  7. You're going back to that store every day until it opens, aren't you? I really think I would go rearrange my case every day if it were closer - it's all about the arranging. (and covering the rent)

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  8. I've had a booth at an antique mall in town (small town) for about a year and a half and I have only "made rent" in sales about 3 or 4 times. I just put a ton of vintage Pyrex down there and have sold very little--people here go in the antique mall looking for pressure cookers and cookbooks. It's very discouraging BUT that being said, I'm sure you'll do much better in your neck of the woods. You know I want that turquoise vase BIG TIME, don't you.

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  9. About that vase--are there any marks at all on the bottom? It looks like Bauer Pottery. The color is just gorgeous.

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  10. I love the turquoise vase. That is the "It" fashion color this year. If you have seen some of my recent posts, I am opening up a shop....all vintage lovelies, and i am loving the setting up of the vignettes. My shop is not going to be packed full, so full that you really can't enjoy looking at everything. I hate it when I go into a shop that looks like a hoarding nightmare. So Please make sure that you are posting pretty pictures of your booth and I will be posting from my store.

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  11. I need one of those cuckoo clock pine cones! When I moved the last time one of the pine cones from my cuckoo got lost. I know they are super heavy but the USPS has the 4.95 small box and that weighs less then 70 pounds. Want to sell one off? Or make a trade? I know, you are wondering just what treasure I may have to trade since I never update my craft/crap blog. ;) Let me know if you would be interested in my sending you pics of my treasure or just plain old money. ;)

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