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, August 19, 2014

Junking With My Dad: New Payment Options

Saturday I went to my Dad's house for a late birthday celebration.  My idea of a celebration is JUNKing, so we went to an auction down the street from his house.  It had started a couple hours earlier but from what I could see it all looked like man junk - tools, lawn stuff and most of it seemed fairly new.  I went out to the backyard where I heard them say they were unloading a shed full of Christmas and linens (Okay, I ran out there!)  but it was old bedspreads, newer Christmas greenery and a bunch of lights.  I didn't see a single thing that interested me, so we left without a bid on one thing.  *insert pouty face* (I also found out that everything was being sold because the man went to prison for molesting his Foster Daughter, so suddenly everything skeeved me out and made me uncomfortable.)

Right up the street there is a lady that has a perpetual yard sale every single weekend.  I would normally steer clear of it, but since I had never been, we stopped.  My Dad knows her (and I actually rode the school bus with her when I was a kid) and he often stops down just to visit with her.  He's always finding something from her and she says, "Just take it and bring me a beer someday."  He's gotten quite a bit of good stuff with that payment plan.  :)

I dug around for quite a bit while they visited and I made a pile of stuff.  I got a nice pile of old fabric, three old dictionaries, a pile of sheet music books and a few other ephemera type items that I didn't bother to photograph.  I had a vintage pink plastic birthday cake pedestal that winds up and plays "Happy Birthday" in my hands, but somehow I didn't get home with it.  My Dad is going to go see if she has it this weekend.  *fingers crossed*

I spotted this huge old wooden crate with this giant glass bottle in it under a shelf.  I pulled it out and saw that the top of the bottle is broken.  But, as I looked it all over - I decided it was super cool and I really needed to save this thing.  It is marked 1884 from France and it is a Burgundy wine bottle.  The bottle is old, heavy and really just lovely.  I want to see if the local glass guy can grind it so it isn't a death trap or cap it off or something.  If there's any chance of harming it, I will just leave it as is. I want to add ball feet and a table top to it to make it a side table of some sort.  I found a crate with an unbroken bottle that sold on ebay for $695.00, so I am really happy that I decided to buy it - broken even.  I paid $2.00 for it - so not bad, not bad at ALL.  

I paid $2.00 for this old horse wooden horse shelf.  I can't decide if I should paint it or leave it as is.  I think horse trophies, ribbons and some old books would really look great on it in a girl's room.  These photos are all as I bought stuff - dirty and grubby.

I saw these big metal suitcases lined up in the driveway as we were leaving.  The bright colors appealed to me.  I asked my Dad to see how much they were and he got the old, "Take them and bring me a beer" line, so we grabbed them and loaded them up.  They have cleaned up pretty good and look great all in a colorful stack.  I was hoping to get the big stickers off the tops, but they seem pretty well adhered.  They held presentation materials for something.  They are as big as a suitcase.  They will be headed to the next Junk Ranch.  

So, a few new projects and some junk for the Junk Ranch - a good weekend in my book!  Hope yours was good as well!

10 comments:

  1. Oh my, I like your Dad's payment plan for sure! That huge bottle is amazing and even broken worth more then $2!! Please share it when make into a table!! The colors of those suitcases are really cool. I would not buy from the molester either! Ick!
    hugs,
    Linda

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  2. My husband would also like your dad's payment plan. I really can't wait to see the bottle project reveal and I'm completely smitten with those suitcases.

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  3. That bpttle will make a wonderful side table. I hope you show it finished as I love it when a plan comes together.
    Sheryl

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  4. This lady and her payment plan sounds like my kind of gal!

    Those suitcases are awesome. You should keep them. :-)

    ~Erica

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  5. Awesome bottle! I hope you can get it ground down. My neighbor has one in his garden that's very old. I love it. Cool old cases, love them, too. Especially love the payment plan. I've been following your boards on pinterest and have found some things I thought you would like, but I guess you've disabled the ability to pin to your boards.

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    1. I actually didn't mean pin to your boards, I meant the ability to send you pins. Ah well, see you on Yardsalequeen.

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  6. I suddenly feel like I should keep a 6-pack of beer in the car at all times in case I run across a similar bartering situation but so far, it's only been cash where I shop.

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  7. I like the beer payment plan! I do like that bottle and your idea to make a table with it is pretty cool. Hope the glass guy can fix 'er up for you.

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  8. What a find! I absolutely LOVE that Burgundy wine bottle. When I was growing up the family that lived across the street from us were Air Force that moved from USA to Italy and back to USA and she had a garden FULL of those huge bottles. in deep green, and clean, and few blue ones too. The Beer Payment plan sounds ideal!

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  9. Have you investigated getting the bottle ground down yet? It is really just SO COOL. Also love the horse shelf. Don't think I would paint it but whatever you decide it will be AWESOME.

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