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.

Monday, April 04, 2016

The Week In Junk: Yard Sale - They're Baaaaack!

This morning I needed to run to the booth and fluff it up a bit and of course, the Super Cheap Thrift is open on Saturday morning, so that was on tap.  I thought I might find a yard sale or two.  But, did I expect to go to nine yard sales?  And did I expect three of them to be massive sales?  No, no I did not. But was I happy to find them?  BOY HOWDY!  As I would leave one sale with an armload of things, I would think, "Ok, you have found enough and spent enough money.  You are done."  Then I would see another sale and the car would veer into the driveway and I would dive out of the car and find more treasures.  As I did this each time, I realized that I have a serious problem with yard sales.  I mean, I cannot get enough!  I told Lara this and she said it was akin to fasting for a week and then gorging on food.  I think she's right  - it has been a long winter in the fact of there have not been any sales.  I have been thrifting, but leaving a thrift store with three things and spending 12.00 isn't nearly as fun as leaving with a bag stuffed full of stuff for $3.00.  That first couple of weeks of loads of sales in the Spring is intoxicating - more, more, MORE!  I will pull it together and make better choices as the season continues.  


I will say that I filled up the back of the car (the picnic basket and pink bag were already in there), part of the back seat and the passenger seat and ALL of it is for resale.

I only kept one single deer salt shaker for my orphan collection.  That's pretty good, isn't it?
*Pats self on the back.  

On to the junk of the week:


I spotted this shelf at the second sale and knew it was perfect for my booth - since I was headed that way I was able to unload it and put things on it without ever having to take it to the house. Perfection! I will load it up with more when I take a load out this week.  It's also out in the aisle a bit more than it should be, so a bit of shelf shuffling will be in order.  

Oh wait!  Did I mention the shelf cost ONE DOLLAR?  



This chair was $3.00 - it's good and solid and just needs a bit more scuffing up since I don't paint things.  It will go to the college booth and likely sell quickly.  *Fingers crossed.


These old Nativity figures are different from any of the others I have collected. I wish I could have found the whole set.  


The REAL Superman.  Christopher Reeves.  Oh, how I loved him.  
A timely find with the new movie out.  


At the Fall Junk Ranch, a lady bought a couple of Nurse themed things from me and asked if I could keep an eye out for more.  I have a good amount of things now so I hope she finds me this time.  


These three books are from the 1800's.  Marbelized covers, leather bindings, gorgeous pages, the edges are gilded and they are in German.  I think one would be lovely on a coffee table or a shelf.  They are works of art.  


I try not to buy dishes.  But when they are old and 25¢ each I tend to change my mindset.  The middle two plates are Hadley Pottery and do well on ebay.  


Cast iron cat trivet, small chalk cat (who really wants to live with me but I am trying to be STRONG) and a Parmesan Cheese shaker.  (Have I apologized for these back of the car shots yet?  So not blogworthy.)


Vintage hand painted Japanese photo album.  ebay bound.


This old deer lamp has some chippiness to deal with.  I have had great luck with a Sharpie on black chips.  Sounds tacky, but it really does cover up the white and enough that the item is usable again.  Deer things are hot, so I decided it was worth grabbing.


This dude has a hole in his head and is hollow.  I thought it was a vase, but that seemed kind of dumb.  A little research and I found out that you can get an actual drink served to you at Planet Hollywood in this thing.  It is ceramic and super heavy empty.  I wonder what it costs?


Vintage kitchen junk.  I think those plastic glasses came out of oatmeal - do you remember?  I bought a giant bag of old cookie cutters - ten Tupperware and fifteen copper ones plus a handful I tossed - all for $1.00.  Those always make me happy.  


Ugh.  Arkansas Hillbilly humor items.  I really hate the idea that Arkansas is full of monshiners and we all use outhouses.  But some people collect this stuff, so here you go.  I'll take their money.  WTH.

A boot with mushrooms.  I don't know why.  


A bunch of dogs.  (Yes, I carry a garden trowel in the car.  Never know when you might need to dig up a random roadside daffodil or find a treasure when I am out with the metal detector.)


Old doll suitcase in horrible shape.  But I think I can still use it or sell it.

(Are you bored yet?)


These are boys or men dolls - the bodies say otherwise, but the heads are DUDES.



I actually picked these up at the thrift earlier this week.  It is a whole pile of old soda fountain pumps.  I think there are six of them.  The thrift had them priced at almost $10.00 each which is just silliness.  I watched them drop and drop until they hit the magic color price that made them 25¢ each.  I know they are money makers, I just need to make sure they all work.  


I also got two of these dipper lids that would have dipped out cherries or strawberries.  They are kind of fun, I think.  

The three best things I found were at one sale and I almost didn't stop at it!



This old scale is in working order.  It is kind of beat up but that adds character.  Isn't that what us junkers say?


This scale is older and made of cast iron.  It's sort of a blue gray and has art deco designs on it.  It's a beauty.  


At the same sale I got a tackle box full of all new packages of ribbon embroidery supplies.  Over 125 packs of ribbon and beads.  Each pack was $1.50 new, so that's a lot of $$.  It's on ebay now.  



My most fun find was this old table top butter pat holder.  It was made by Land O Lakes and held the old pats of butter that came with your hot rolls or pancakes.  The butter was on a thin strip of paper with waxed paper on top.   This was in the olden days when I was a kid.  Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  ANYWAY - what is better than one of these is FOURTEEN of these!  Now to find a new and fun use for them!

Everything is priced for the booth or on ebay, so I guess I did pretty good after all.  

Having said that - next weekend I am going to the City Wide Yard Sales in Neosho, Missouri.  So far there are ninety-one sales listed and many of those are multiple vendors at churches and schools.  The Chamber of Commerce is having a 70+ vendor sale.  I've only been on Yard Sale Crawls that have sales all on one highway, so going to an entire town is kind of overwhelming.  I think I will hit the multiple vendor sales and then find some older neighborhoods.  A little Google Map/Google Earth research is in order.  Lara is going to so I hope to meet up with her at some point and see what we each find.  The weather is going to be great and it's just about an hour and half drive  - so it should be a fun day.  Don't worry - I'll take you with me!

12 comments:

  1. It has been way too cold for yard sales here. Not sure why but last year was the worst so I'm hoping everyone has one this year. You got some great goodies!!! Never been to a mile long (or whatever) yard sale...couple of neighborhood ones...sounds like a blast. Keep us posted on the treasure hunt!
    Chanelle

    ReplyDelete
  2. The sales came out in full force in my area this last weekend too, including a huge estate sale at my neighbors house. It's about dang time!

    ~Erica

    ReplyDelete
  3. YES!! Yard sales rock! Lots and lots of cool finds!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like it was an absolute blast! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was just talking about how Christopher Reeve is the best Superman ever! ❤❤ your finds!

    ReplyDelete
  6. can't wait for you tales of the Neosho adventure

    ReplyDelete
  7. I remember butter pats in restaurants. But I never thought about the holders for them. I'll have to add that to my "look for" list. Yard sales are just starting up here, I have been to a few but have not found much yet.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have been to exactly one garage sale this year and it was a dud. Glad you are finding good ones down in hillbilly holler (haha) You found some good junk!

    ReplyDelete
  9. WHOA! That is a LOT of yard sales! I don't know if I should be tired or envious!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You did SO GOOD! It would be hard for me to pick out a favorite thing but I'm going to have to go with the books -- those are gorgeous! And that shelf is a FAB FIND.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Someone kicked one of the legs off that new shelf at the booth, so I sawed off the rest of them and drug it to Goodwill. I should have seen if you could salvage it. It was super cute. But, I was just peeved and it had to go!

      Delete
  11. I love that your addicted to yardsales! Now I don't feel so bad. Love, love those butter pat holders! Lots of fun finds! Looking forward to going along on the town wide sale.

    ReplyDelete

I love my comments. I'd love to respond to everyone, but if you don't have an email address tied to your ID, please sign your name so I will know who you are! It makes it nice to know who is saying what. Now, leave a comment! Please? ;o)

I Can See You!



Look at my Visitors!

Fellow Junk Followers