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.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

A Wee Bit of Winter Thrifting

So, it's cold.  And going to get colder - maybe five below or so and it is getting ready to snow maybe a foot or so.  Yadda yadda.  Same old, same old.  I, the person that loates summer.....is thinking it doesn't sound too bad right now. 

In between snowstorms, I have managed to sneak out for provisions - milk, bread, TP and a THRIFT RUN.  You gotta do what you gotta do......

First up we have the "I don't know what I am going to do with it, but I had to buy it since it was a quarter" find.

A trophy from the Rose Bud Beauty Pagent!  In pink!  I don't know - I just couldn't leave it behind. Especially once I saw that it was only 25¢.  Had to have it.  Trust me, it's the only trophy from any Beauty Pagent I will ever own.

Next up we have the "Oh my god, that is the tackiest thing I have ever seen so I must have it because I kind of love it" find.

Silver.  Plastic.  Made in Hong Kong.  Donkey with a wagon.  Flower wheels.  Pink Rhinestone eyes.  Tacky or fabulous?  I'll let you decide.  (I think it is tackilicious).

Next, we have the "Aw, that's cute and old and tugs at my heart strings" find.

An old plastic cow pull toy.  His head bobs and he says "Mooooooo" as he rolls along.  On the bottom on one of his wheels, it says, "MASON" which is a special name in my life.  So, home it came with me.

Nest, we have the "I paid $5.00 for it and a man offered me twenty bucks for it in the parking lot" find.
This giant basket caught my eye at the Salvation Army, but it was brimming with umbrellas.  I looked on the back of the basket and saw at tag that said, "Basket $5.00", so I knew I wanted it.  I looked for a suitable replacement for the umbrellas, but couldn't find anything or anyone to ask, so I neatly laid them the table and took my basket.  Suddenly all eyes were on me with this huge basket.  I sat it down twice and heard two different people mention "that basket" but I had it in between my feet so they knew it was claimed.  When I checked out, I let a man go ahead of me with two pictures.  When I threw that big basket up on the counter, his eyes bugged out when he saw it was $5.00.  He told me that I was getting the "Deal of the Day" (check out the original name of my blog in the web address...) and then he went outside.  The lady that rang me up said, "Oh, that is my umbrella basket!" and I was afraid she wasn't going to let me buy it, but she did.  Whew.  After I checked out and went outside, the man was waiting for me and offered me $20.00 for it.  I declined because I knew I could use it to hold my famlies unsightly skivvies on my new washing machine.  :D  I think he must have thought it was a Longaberger or something.  It isn't marked, it is nice and well made.  I like it.  And, you can see Mr. 22 lb. FlubbaDubba Tiger likes it too. 

And, lastly, for the "Man, that is awesome" find.
A very large elephant made out of an old feedsack quilt.  
 

There are some super sweet fabrics on this guy.  The quilt is old, but the elephant is new.  I think he will hang out with me for awhile, then head to ebay or Etsy.  He's kind of sweet.

Okay, back to the cold.  The snow.  YAWN.  Whatever.  See you on the flipside.

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Check out Ala Carte for other Winter time thrifting finds!

14 comments:

  1. Oh yeah, I've done that before. Once I took a moose that said, "Wipe your hoofs" from a shop window. I held my breath as the shopowner asked, "Where did you get this?" But she sold it! and at only 5 dollars! See my trailer pix, the moose stands out front. Cool stuff!

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  2. Oh my god the elephant. Thrifting *perfection*

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  3. Could it be a Gibson basket maybe? I don't know if their baskets are marked or not. I should ask my dad as he has a HUGE Gibson hamper.

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  4. I love the elephant! I have a soft spot for toys. And yes, tackalicious it is! :)

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  5. VERY cool basket!
    And I am head-over-heels in love with that adorable elephant!!

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  6. Great finds, all the way around! Even if that basket isn't from a "named" maker, it's still a great deal! I've been trying to find a pretty large basket for Maren's room for a laundry hamper and all the new ones I've found are around $50! I ain't shelling out $50 for something to keep dirty undies in. $5 would be perfect, though!

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  7. I'm jealous. My only trip outside was when DH wanted to go to a convenience store so he could use a free coupon. The streets in the neighborhood were still bad, but today (Wednesday) they are even worse.

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  8. Love that basket and your fugylicious item but he Moo cow pull toy and the feedsack elephant are my choices for buy of the day! Oh, and stay warm. hugs, Linda

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  9. I love the 'tackalicious' stuff you found! I don't know...I'm pretty sure I would have bought the little plastic donkey too!

    The elephant is so sweet!

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  10. Cute stuff. I have the thrifting gene too.

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  11. What a great day you had. Love the basket too.

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  12. Oh yeah I love that bunny!

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  13. I so love that elephant! If and when you decide to get rid of him I wish you would blog about it. I would so love a chance to buy him!

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