Waiting

I was just sitting here waiting for the plumber to come and fix the water leak that has water oozing in under my hardwood floors, out from under the carpeting, under the A/C UNIT and into the closet and thought I would do a little blogging. Because I won't have time to do anything else but suck up water and throw out stuff after this is over. Eh gads. When it rains, it pours at our house.

Oh well. It's just money. And time. And stuff. And my sanity.

Expletive, expletive, expletive.

Baseball and Baby Dolls

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing weekend. We were on the go all weekend. Saturday, My Great Uncle was in town and he told us very interesting stories about going down in an airplane while he was a fighter pilot. These were stories I had never heard before and I am glad I had the opportunity to hear them from him.

Summertime is here! This is my 1955 Buster Brown Mannequin that I got at a sale last Fall for $2.00. I don't think I've ever shown here on my blog. I dress her for the holidays and seasons. This is her summer wardrobe. I've always wanted a little girl to dress up!

Sunday we went to an Arkansas Naturals game. The Naturals are a new Minor League Baseball team that recently formed and moved to our area. The tickets, parking pass and concession money was a birthday gift for DH from my Dad. I should preface this story with saying how very much I deplore sports. Hate. I hate sports. Especially watching them. Zzzzzz. DH gets all wrapped up in and starts yelling at the referee/umpire/coach, etc. To say that I didn't want to go would be an understatement. But, I knew I had to go and we would make the most of it. As we were puling into town, a huge ominous black cloud came into view. Crap. My cellphone rang and it was my Dad, warning us that a tornado had been spotted in the very area where we were headed. Double crap. I would have turned and gone home. Oh, but not DH. Not with a baseball game in his future. We parked and ran into the stadium just as the rain started. And, man did it come down. Hard. There was a small roofline in between the outer edges of the stadium where the concessions where and the actual stadium and that is where about 2,000 of us huddled. It blew and it rained and the thunder crashed and the lightening struck all around us and I knew then that I really did hate sports!

I found this little zebra striped swimsuit at the Dollar Tree in her size. The cat-eye sunglasses and hat were from the Dollar Tree too. The sweater was 25¢ at the Super Cheap Thrift. She has to wear a sweater because she is missing her right arm. You really can't tell unless I tell you.

But, then about as quickly as it came, it moved out. And it brought with it surprisingly cooler temperatures and a nice breeze. The ushers wiped down all the seats while the grounds crew rolled up the tarps and squeegeed off the bases. We bought three drinks and two bags of popcorn for $13.50 and headed to our seats. We were right behind the home plate and DH was very excited because he said they were very good seats.

As the teams came out to warm up, they played loud fun music and the crowd got really pumped up. The stadium holds about 10,000 people and it was pretty much packed. It was Nickelodeon Family Day so there were games and activities in between each inning and during warm ups. The music kept playing and everyone did the wave, the Cha-Cha Slide and all those other cheesy ballgame songs. It was about halfway into the second inning that I realized something terrible. I was having fun! Lots of fun. It was like being at a concert and a play and there just happened to be a baseball game in the background! And, I realized something else even more terrible that I still haven't told DH. I understood the game and was even able to explain things to The Bean as it happened. Crap. Double crap.

Isn't she sweet? I love her. I got her at the sale of a special lady that we knew that died very unexpectedly. She worked for Woolsworth's for years and this is where she acquired the mannequin. Knowing she belonged to our friend makes her even more special to me.

There wer these big inflatble danging mascots there called the Zooperstars. Shark McGwire, Tiger Woodchuck, Harry Canary, etc. They were so funny. They danced and head bopped the Umpire. I took lots of photos and even a funny video that I will share once I get my Photo CD back. During the 7th inning, they came out and threw T-Shirts into the crowd. The mascot is a big Sasquatch. He looked me square in the eye (I swear!) and threw it straight to me. It bounced off my hand, hit me square in the head and fell behind my chair. A lady two rows up dove over the seats to get it and DH sprang backwards to grab it at the same time. He got it and she said a few expletives. He said "It hit my wife in the HEAD. It's ours!" It's amazing how aggressive people can get over a T-Shirt! Luckily, a ball never came to our area or I fear a fist fight might have occurred!

I found these sweet little pink "Crocs" for $3.00 when we were on our vacation last week. I thought DH would have a fit that I was buying my doll shoes. But, he thought it was funny. Besides, she can wear them through other holidays, right?

We all had fun, in fact, we had so much fun, that another game is in the works for our family. The bargain hunter in me discovered that you can bring in empty water bottles, so that will be our course of action next time. $3.00 for a bottle of water just ruins the day for me. The lady ahead of me had granola bars, fruit and all sorts of goodies packed in a clear backpack, so next time I will be prepared!

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I'm headed out the the new Thrift, which I fear isn't going to make it much longer. The lady is overwhelmed running it alone and is inundated with merchandise. I am dying to get in that backroom and have a dig! When we drove by this weekend, there was a sign out front that said, "Free Items Inside." So, I have to go. Have to!

*Edited to add: I went to the thrift and it was gone. Empty. Ka-put. Apparently, the lady opened the doors and gave it all away. Free. Gratis. And I missed it. My husband thanks you lady. But, I wish I could have had a peek into that backroom at all the freebies. Oh, what did I miss, what did I miss?

And, since Oliveoyl asked, the Buster Brown girl wears a 2T, so I have fun finding her cute little girl things. I call her Hazel, but I really don't know why.

Memorial Day

Be safe.

Friday's Vintage Finds

Today I followed signs that said "SALE" this way and that way from a different direction than I normally travel. When I finally found the sale, it was a warehouse sale that I have been to many times. I always find something, but nothing overly exciting. In fact, I had decided not to go back since they have it all the time. It is a yard sale, but it is in a 5,000 square foot warehouse and that place is stocked to the gills with stuff. The ladies that run it buy storage units, then sell off the furniture, pawn the electronics, sell the jewelry and then the rest of it goes to the warehouse sale. They have it every Friday and Saturday and I cannot imagine why the city hasn't shut it down yet since they don't charge sales tax.

But, since we were there and The Bean usually finds a book or a puzzle there, we went in and had a looksie. I did find a few cool vintage goodies and I was pleasantly surprised. I have never found anything vintage there. Now, I suppose I have to go back!

I found this great old piece of Matte White Pottery for 45¢ yesterday at the Super Cheap Thrift. I was taking my third stroll down the knick-knack aisle when I spotted it lurking behind a bunch of those green floral vases. It's a beauty with it's swirly seashell look I think it was made to sit up on a bookshelf or on a TV as all the design is on the bottom.
I dug this little gal out of the crocheted doily/hotpad/ladies scarves/gloves bin for 25¢. Seriously. That's even what it says on the sign in front of the bin! She's an oldie and I adore her.
I went to one yard sale today and was about to leave empty handed when I spotted a metal toolbox full of screws, washers and old nails and stuff. There was an old jar upside down in it so I picked it up to look at it. It was a Big Top Peanut Butter jar. I've never heard of Big Top Peanut Butter, but I knew it was an old jar. I asked if I could buy just the jar and they said "Yes" then I explained that I really only wanted the jar, so they dumped out the contents and sold me the jar for 25¢. I am such a sucker for old advertising and especially old boxes and jars that should have been trashed years ago. I have bought most of my old jars and some old tins by finding them in the tool section full of nails.
These two pretty ruffled edge saucers came from the warehouse sale for 5¢ each. I don't normally buy dishes, let alone cup saucers sans the cups, but did you look at them? They are freaking adorable. Pink and white with ruffles. Helloooo? Does it get any better than that? And for only five cents????? The little devil was 10¢ and is marked 1955 on the bottom. He was just too cute to leave there! This clipboard is a small one meant for a book of receipts or an order pad. I've been trying to resist the urge to make an altered clipboard, but when I spotted this one for 10¢, I had to grab it for another (yes, another) one-of-these-days projects. There were ten of them in a basket for 10¢ each, but upon closer inspection, something had chewed the corners off of all but one of them, so I left them there. Eeeeew. I've also sworn off any doiley's as I have a ton of them and don't use any of them. But, this one was special, don't you agree? How on earth did anyone make that thing? And why would anyone sell it for 10¢?
This Atomic glass was 5¢ and I bought it for price of it and the oddity of it. This is a crummy photo, but I am hoping someone might have a clue about what or where this glass is from and why it looks like it does! It has martini glasses, slices of cake, shooting stars and gold K's all over it. Any ideas?
This is the first thing I found at the warehouse sale. A head vase! Yikes! And it is a cutie-patootie! The boy and the girl each have their separate vase sections so you can put two flowers or two plants in it. It is adorable. I hesitated about even asking how much since head vases are so hard to find and so expensive when you do find them. But, I bit the bullet and asked and the angels sang and a halo appeared over the ladies head when she said, "A quarter." I need to sell it. But, it is so cute!
I bought a stack of ten of these old Needlework Magazines from 19232-1924. I thought they might be good ebay fodder, but when I got them home and started looking at them, I spotted wonderful fantastic old advertisements on the inside of each cover and on the back cover of each one of them.
I love old Cream of Wheat Ads. They are hard to find. I've always wanted to find one. And tonight, I have ten of them! All different. I thought this one as unique because it is specifically for Thanksgiving.
There are also some neat old Jell-O ads on the backs of some of the magazines. I love reading the tiny ads in the back of old ladies magazines. I found one for freckle cream that insists it can make you freckles disappear in ten days. Forever! And, a set of 101 dishes delivered to your doorstep for....$1.09. Ah, the good old days.

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Has anyone else been suckered in by the new giant cupcake pan that Wilton is selling? From the day I saw it I knew I had to have one. I found it online and then found a code for a percentage off, free shipping and a free giant tote bag to boot. It was on back order for three months. But yesterday my beloved UPS man delivered it.

So, of course, today The Bean and I made this:

It's on a saucer so you can hopefully tell how big it is. It takes an entire cake mix, so it is a good sized cake. I think it will be fun to make the birthday person a big cupcake and regular sized ones for the party revelers. Icing it was a little tricky, but I did it with an offset spatula and not a decorating bag. I think a decorating bag would be much easier. As I was whipping up the icing, the mixer made a terrible racket and one of the beaters stopped spinning. I killed my mixer! Oh well, it was a wedding present and my 17th anniversary is in a week, so I suppose it lived a good long life. Good-bye Mr. Mixer. You done good.

Hellooooo Kitchen-Aid!

I Bought a Can of White Paint

And then I went a little crazy.

First I painted the stool I bought last week that was a badly painted aluminum color.

Then I painted the carrier thingy that I scored on Clean Up Day on the curb. It was black and the criss-cross details didn't show too much.

Then I painted this old silver tray. Love the decorative edging.

And this old oval silver tray.

And this two tier tidbit tray that was a glaring bright Christmas-y green.

All of these items were rather ho-hum and not really me until I painted them white.

Now I love them all! I'm not sure what I will do with the trays. I was thinking of making a collage on them or using them as magnetic boards. Who knows. That's half the fun of Junkreating!

Apron Swap & Walgreen's Goodies

I participated in the Apron Swap over at Mama and Jack's and I was paired with a fellow Junker Jennifer .

She sent me a lovely blue apron for my blue apron collection as well as a pack of vintage rick rack for my stash. Thank you Jennifer! See how it its perfectly into my blue collection? Yes, I know, I have let some red and pink sneak into my all blue collection. But, the main colors are still blue. Any excuse for keeping something......

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Now it's time for another round of "You Paid What?". I've been on quite a shopping spree at Walgreen's for the past three weeks. It all started when they had Cover Girl Make-Up Buy One Get One 50% Off. I had coupons for $1.00 of each one, which lowered the price even more. And, if you bought nine items, you got a Register Reward for $20.00 off your next purchase.

Swiffer products were also included in the $20.00 Register Reward, so I bought a Swiffer Wet Jet for the bathroom floors (badly needed) and a Refill Bottle. On that initial trip, I bought The Swiffer Wet Jet, Swiffer refill, 2 CG Eyeshadows, 2 CG Blush, 2 CG Nail Polish and CG Make-Up Sponge. After my coupons, I spent $35.00, and I received the $20.00 RR, which was actually two $10.00 RR, which make it easier to spread out into more deals.

Trip #2 netted a Venus Razor for $9.99 and a set of ice cream bowls for $4.00, after coupons the total was $10.99 - I used the $10.00 RR for a total of 99¢ and then I received a $6.00 RR for buying the Venus Razor!

Trip #3 I used the $6.00 RR to buy Coty Pressed Powder for an Out Of Pocket cost of 9¢. No RR or coupon, but I needed the Coty Powder!

Trip #4 I bought the following:

I had coupons for everything pictured except the Coke which was on sale for $1.00 a bottle. The Gummies are normally $2.49 each at Walgreen's (ridiculous!), but were on sale for 99¢ and I had three coupons for $1.00 off two bags. So, I paid $3.00 for what they thought were $14.94 worth of Gummies. I tried to get my total close to the $10.00 RR for a free spree, but when I checked out some things rang up less than priced (which I normally love), but it brought my final total to negative $1.23. So, I was forced to throw four bags of M&M's in to make my total 86¢. (One bag mysteriously disappeared before the photo shoot...). And, I got a $3.00 RR for buying the Razor. So, I am still "Rolling" my Rewards for more and more loot.

Razors are never in short supply at my house. I can always find them on sale with coupons and maybe Register rewards to boot. We never buy refills, just crack open a new razor. They make their money on the refill blades. So, you can usually find a good deal on the Razor themselves. The Gummies will be hidden in pockets and purses for upcoming Movie Days. Yes, we sneak candy in the movies. Don't you?

Our Trip

Here's a rundown of our trip last week, probably more than anyone would ever want to know. But, this is my way of journaling and documenting our lives. So, here goes.

We went to Van Buren and Fort Smith. It is only 45 minutes from here, but over very hilly terrain, bridges hundreds of feet in the air and the only tunnel in the state. It is quite an adventure just getting there, and we don't do it often. When we do, we pack a bag and stay a few days.

The day we left it was DH's birthday, and apparently, it was very hard on him as after the loooong 45 minute drive, he could barely a) get out of the car or b) maneuver the three steps up to the train depot. Getting old is hard! He'll always be older than me so I can pick on him about it.

Our first visit was Historic Van Buren where there are about twenty Antique/Junk Shops. I cheerfully suggested a stop here for Educational Purposes for The Bean. But, you know me, the Junk Shops were calling.Although, as I said before, I bought nothing. I am pretty cheap and I really didn't see anything that I couldn't leave without.

Except I did love this sign!

This is one of the buildings in Historic Van Buren. It was a restaurant long ago and my Mom and I had lunch there when I was pregnant with The Bean. Now, it seems to be a church of some sort. I adore this building. Don't you?
We shopped a bit, walked along the railroad tracks (we found a rusty spike - that was our souvenir) bought some homemade fudge, The Bean did a little jail time, and then we headed on to Fort Smith.

( There is so much history everywhere, that we laughed when we spotted this marker on a building.)

I had booked our hotel on Hotwire.com. That was the first time I had used Hotwire. You tell them what you want and what you want to pay, they find it for you, you pay and THEN you find out what hotel you booked. Kind of scary in a new town or a big city. But we knew the town well and where this hotel was (once we found out which hotel it was) and thought it would be okay. Okay was an understatement! The rooms range from $150.00-$200.00 a night and I got our for $50.00 a night plus taxes.
Here's our room. Pretty, right? It had just been remodeled and everything was brand new. We had eight pillows for two beds! I slept better there than I have in a long time. And, I normally do not sleep well in hotels.
We stayed on the fourth floor, but we made a hundred trips to the ninth floor. The Bean + Glass Elevator = Up and Down and Up and Down....
Our first night in town, we got lost trying to find a short cut back to the hotel (there are no short cuts when you have to cross a RIVER, but DH insisted there was. Anyway, we spotted this sign in a neighborhood. I suppose it means CHILDREN AT PLAY, but I'd never seen one like this before and it absolutely cracked me up. DH is getting used to me screaming, S"TOP! Get the camera!" at the oddities I spot.

Day Two began at the Trolley Museum. You can take a ride on a real working trolley for $2.00. Somehow, I'm not sure how, but the three of us ended up going on the tour with a busload of Senior Citizens from Missouri. They just loved it that us "kids" were with them on their tour. One lady was sitting in front of me, and I kid you not, her head was just barely visible over the back of the seat and she turned to me and said, "Can you see over me?" Uh, yea. When it was her turn to get off the Trolley, the rest of the Seniors actually picked her up and set her on the ground! They waved at us and wished us well as we left like they were waving good-bye to the grandkids.

Across the street from the Trolley was an outdoor Amusement park with an outdoor video arcade. There's a diner in an old railroad car, a snow cone/popcorn stand inside an old Double Decker bus and an old wooden Ferris Wheel.

Thankfully (for me anyway) it was spitting rain so the Ferris Wheel wasn't open. I don't do rides.

In fact nothing was open that day due to the weather, but that's okay, we prefer to prowl and window peek without an audience. If you enlarge this photo, you will see all sorts of mannequins wearing 1950's clothing in the bus - the driver, Mom's and Kids. It was pretty comical.

Then it was on to Miss Laura's. I try to take The Bean to as many educational and historical places that I can find in our area. And, well, Miss Laura's is educational and historical, but, well, it's a Brothel. I finally told him that is where men went for "companionship". That's about as far as I was willing to go with it. It is all set up with period furniture, clothes and architecture. Lots of pretty things, as them hookers liked purty things. We learned that the doctors used to come to the Brothel once a month and give the girls check ups. If they didn't pass, they were not only asked to leave the Brothel, but the Sheriff escorted them out of town and they were told not to return. Good news for me though! I was given a "Clean Bill of Health" upon leaving. The tour guide leaned in, gave me a wink and told me I was "good to go, if you know what I mean". Now, I thought it was funny, but I can see that not setting well with some ladies. Or their husbands!

Next was a bus tour of the Historic Belle Grove . Tons of very old and very historic homes. Famous Civil War Commanders and the local Hangin' Judge all lived in these houses.

Beautiful homes that made me ache for a humongous house with a big porch. Sigh. Most of these homes are restaurants, lawyer's offices, insurance agency's and even a TV Station and not private residences anymore. I imagine the costs of keeping up an old house would be crazy high for a family, but I bet there are tax incentives for a business. Sort of sad, I think.

There have been a lot of storms in our area and Fort Smith was hit badly. Practically every window that faced the direction of the storm was broken. This building looks abandoned, but was actually full of workers (they park out back). Many of the historic homes lost their windows and they are having difficulty locating thin enough glass to fit in their existing windows. If they have to change the windows, then they are not truly historically preserved and can lose their accreditation. So, the city is trying to find a loophole in the Historic Books to let them get windows.

Day three: We check out of the hotel and try to take a walk along the Riverfront, but it starts to drizzle. Instead, we drove over the river to Oklahoma so we were officially in a different State for about twenty minutes! We got gas at the Indian Reservation Casino ($3.64 - a bargain). Somehow I took a wrong turn into the gas station and ended up in the Big Rig lot. I almost got us squashed by five different tractor trailers who could have absolutely cared less if they flattened us or not. I felt so teeny in there with those trucks! We headed back to Fort Smith where I managed to find two thrift stores that were icky dirty yucko and left them both empty handed.
Next we headed to Fort Chaffee. Fort Chaffee was home to Cuban Refugees, the location where Elvis had his official Army haircut and lots of other military and government maneuvers still happen during maneuvers during Summer Camp for the National Guard. This winter there was a fire in one of the old wooden buildings and it took out nearly 150 buildings. These pictures were taken as I was zipping (and driving) down the road at 65 miles an hour. Nothing but chimneys as far as you can see in every direction.
They did manage to save a few buildings for Historical purposes including the aforementioned Elvis haircut building. It is sad that it is all gone. It was so interesting to see all those buildings standing like soldiers all in a row.

Okay, are you still with me? After we left Fort Chaffee,we decided to "backroad" it a bit and see where we ended up. We passed by a sign that lead to a Lock & Dam, So by dam, we went. ha.

No boats or freighters came through, so we didn't get to see the Lock in action. We thought and pondered on how we could get out of the Park and find that bridge so we could drive over it. Luckily, when we left, we did drive over it without any searching at all.

We walked along the waterline that just began in the middle of what appeared to be never ending steps. This sign was along the way. Apparently, the siren goes off and suddenly the water rises. Fast! We got out of there since no one knew where we were and we didn't feel like drowning that particular day.

Apparently it does happen, because we spotted nine dead Bass that hadn't been able to swim fast enough with the receding waters and they were just lying there. There is on laying about three feet away from The Bean in this photo.

One of the roads we drove on twisted and turned and some took you back to where you began because they circled over themselves. One sign warned, " 22 people killed on this curve. Don't YOU be next!" Yikes.

We stopped at "Artist Point" which is an area where you can see seven mountain ranges away. It was still sort of overcast, so I'm not sure if you can make them all out or not. It is such a beautiful place up there. Quiet, peaceful. Wonderful.

At the Gift Shop on Artist Point, we met Oscar. When we drove up, he crowed to alert the shop owner that we were there. He walked over to greet us and usher us to the Lookout Tower. He followed us to the Gift Shop and back to our car when we left. He was totally cool.

Oscar was definitely the highlight of The Bean's trip. "I've never pet a chicken before," he said. Me neither kid. Me neither.

We took a picnic lunch to the Tractor Pull today and I did not a) pack it in one of my 18 vintage picnic baskets or b) pack a vintage tablecloth. What sort of a picnic is that? I envisioned cold crusty fried chicken, freshly made potato salad and an assortment of freshly baked cookies all packed with loving care in pyrex bowls and stowed in a Redmon basket. Top it off with some graniteware dishes and a sweet vintage tablecloth, throw it in the back of my 1966 Cherried out Chevy truck and off we go. But, alas, turkey on white bread thrown in a Wal-Mart bag with a bag of Great Value chips was my gourmet tractor pull picnic. Maybe next year!

On the way there, we happened upon a sale at the Flea Market. This is a Flea Market with normally sort of pricey prices, but today all the booths were running discounts and (the best part) the vendors were outside selling their extras. I expected high prices outside, but I was pleasantly surprised at the first booth when I asked, "How much are the packages of rick rack?" And the guy said, "10¢ a pack."

He literally had hundreds of packages of old bias tape, but I rarely ever use that as I do not sew, but I love rick rack. I'm wondering if the Bais tape would have been a good Etsy buy. Oh well. I found all this rick rack, threw in a few Bais Tape for the old packaging and the sweet pink button card all for $1.50.
At the next booth, I spotted this fabulous old tin box. It has the Capital and the Cherry trees on the front. It is a Sunshine Biscuit tin and an exceptionally old and unique one at that. I almost didn't go look at it, because more often that not, when I see a really cool old tin like this, the people at the sale are using it as their money box. But, I ventured over to look at it. The price was $19.99 X'ed out, $15.99 X'ed out, $12.99 X'ed out and so on and so forth. I finally made out the lowest price on the tag. 25¢. Are you kidding me? I scooped it up and threw the lady a quarter. She is an expert too - I know her. Not sure why she was letting it go so incredibly cheap. I was stopped three times by different people asking to see the box. Me thinks I did good.

The next booth had lots of old tools and manly looking things, so I almost went to the next booth, but I decided to look around anyway. Sometimes men have cool rusty crap. That's when I spotted a box with an old embroidered pillowcase sticking out of it, so I dug in. I started pulling out vintage tablecloths. Gasp. I didn't really pull them out and check them out because I have noticed the more I look at things, the higher the price seems to be. So, I casually asked how mcuh the tablecloths were and he said, "A buck a piece." I found six in all and didn't even bother to unfold them at that price. I had some nice surprises when I got home and looked at them.

This is a sweet lightweight blue and white cloth. Perfect for that Tractor Pull picnic next year.

This one has a pink background with wirey baskets of blue flowers on it.

This fruit basket cloth has nice vivid colors of blues, grays and greens.

And, I was surprised to discover that this cloth is the same pattern as the cloth above, but in pinks, pale blues and grays. Cool!

Not the best photo - but this one has Roosters on it and who doesn't love a good rooster?

I saw the most awesome linoleum topped table and chairs today - yellow with roosters embroidered into the backs of each chair. The guy was selling it off piece by piece and I PRAY that no one bought one piece and not the whole set. It was da bomb.

And, lastly, this one has really bright vivid colors - greens, yellows and oranges.

I have a cabinet in the garage that I am itching to get into the house to hold my all-of-the-sudden fast-growing tablecloth collection. I did mostly have Christmas tablecloths, but I have been lucky this year and have quite a collection.

I'll be back tomorrow with pictures from our trip We saw bee-U-ti-ful things.