******This photo borrowed from Google Images - IT IS NOT ME. Although, I did wear a mean hair doodle. ******
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.
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Eye, yi, yi!
******This photo borrowed from Google Images - IT IS NOT ME. Although, I did wear a mean hair doodle. ******
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
One, Two, THREE
I always make a walk-through of the toy department looking for old children's books and vintage toys. Sometimes I find some, mostly I don't. Today I found this sweet Effenbee sleepy eye doll. Her little felt pockets say, "Stop, Look, Listen" and the little ribbon has cars and trains on it. She is so cute. I need to research her to find out how old she is - I am guessing mid 1950's or early 1960's. If she's worth anything at all - she'll be ebay bound this Fall.
This sweet blue and green floral one is lightweight and in perfect condition. I cannot explain the darkness of these photos. It was bright sunny and 103 outside when I took them this afternoon.
Pretty, right?
But what about THIS ONE?
It's funny. I had quite a few tablecloths, but then I told myself I was going to cut down on so many collections and concentrate on my favorite collections. Vintage tablecloths moved up to the top of the list because they are not often found in my circle. Since then, I swear, I have found a tablecloth (or three) every time I leave my house. Maybe I need to set my mind to finding Monet's or copies of the Declaration of Independence.
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No thrifting or much fun on the schedule tomorrow - I have an eye appointment which means I will have to have my eyes dilated which I hate so much. It takes my eyes about 4-5 hours to get back to normal. They say it will wear off in 20 minutes or so, but it's always at least four hours. Oh well, what are you going to do, right?
*We saw Hancock - it's good. Not what I expected, but good. I don't like Super Hero movies. He's a Superhero - but not like any other.
Monday, July 28, 2008
This, That and Those
Saturday, The Bean and I made this Chocolate Walnut - Zucchini Cake. Yes, I said Zucchini. It's awesome. We planted way too much zucchini this year and I literally had a drawerful in the fridge. Sure it's chocolate and sure it's cake, but there are vegetables in it, so I am sure it's healthy.I found some oranges in the bottom of the crisper that were getting pithy, so I threw them out in the backyard for the birds to peck at for some water. Later that night, I went out and noticed the oranges were black - covered in what DH called JuneBugs (Hello, it's July!). There were hundreds of them on those oranges. I did not get too close. Shudder.
I got The Bean registered at school today. He has to take a short test in the morning to see if he needs any special classes (because he was homeschooled, they have to make sure homeschool kids were properly educated...Don't get me started). Anyway, the Principal and Asst. Principal both said hello to him and welcomed him back. He has a new Counselor (today was his first day) and he seems very nice. I am happy to have a completley new person to count on that doesn't know "the story" and have any hangups about The Bean. He is happy to be getting back to "normal" and being with his friends. He's always been a good student in every way, so I know he will do well. (This is a photo from 4th grade with one of his buddies.) This Spring I sent out various packages of Zinnias to a lot of my blog buddies. The ones I planted are flourishing - they are about chest high and all blooming in the brightest colors. I plant mine specifically to pick. Some people think you should never pick flowers, but I just love them in the house to brighten it up. These are in the kitchen to make my boring chores a bit more perky.
This sweet little notebook was sent to me by Cheryl, who doesn't have a blog yet, but does sell on Etsy. She asked me about a vintage coloring book I had bought at The Sale of Sales becuase she had the same one when she was a child. I sent it to her as a gift, and she made me this sweet little Red Riding Hood Notebook as a thank you. Thank you Cheryl!
Tune into tommorrow for more miscellaneous random ramblings. Like we are going to the movies tomorrow and I am going to the Eye Doctor on Wednesday (Oh, how I hate having my eyes dialated) and getting new brakes on the car later in the week. Ys, it's just one fascinating event after another!
Friday, July 25, 2008
It Was Meant To Be
When I pulled into the sale, the lady said, "You did come back!" I said, "I kept thinking about the quilt top, so I'm sure it's gone". And, she said, "No, it's still waiting for you." Can you believe it? I gathered it up and decided to grab one of the big wooden spools for $2.50. In the end, she told me $10.00 was plenty for everything, and then she gathered up all the linens she had and gave them to me. Free! I thanked for her for the deal and she said she was really happy the quilt was going to a home that appreciated it and loved it. Lady, that's my thing. Take it home and love it. Isn't it divine? There are hundreds of silk swatches, thousands of stitches. I just think it is lovely.
It is quite large, although I haven't measured it. It's at least a full size quilt. I mentioned having it finished, but she recommended, and I agree, that leaving it unfinished, per say, you can see the stitches and had sewing on the backside.
So many interesting fabrics and designs.
The colors are pretty bright considering it's age. Most of the fabrics are silk, but there's old feedsack material in there as well.
Each square is a square, but the designs of each square is different, which is of course, the very meaning of a Crazy Quilt.
Since it's in the picture, this old green chair came home with me from a sale for $1.00 a couple weeks ago. It's holding a 25¢ watering can. The Breadman hates mowing the yard because I have all this junk fabulous stuff sitting all over the yard. Actually, he hates mowing any way you put it, so what's a little junk in his way?
Here are the linens that the lady gave me. Two pink linen napkins, three strawberry embroidered doilies, a small quilted potholder, a sweet embroidered dishtowel and an old sugar sack. Wasn't that sweet?
Here's the spool. It's really tall. I have quite a few of these. Have I ever shown what I do with them? Wait, I'll go take a photo.
(Man, I love modern technology and digital cameras.) I have them all on top of a bookshelf holding blown glass fishing net floats. The roosters are lamps so when they are on, the glass floats glow too. I think it looks interesting. (Love that wooden baby shoe form!)
We stopped at one other sale today and scored this nice glass biscuit jar for $1.25. I have another one chock full of old molds, so now I have another one to fill up with something. The other two items are from yesterday's S.C.T. run. The Bean is interested in cooking and baking, so now he shops the kitchen sections at thrifts instead of the toy section. These were his two finds yesterday. The basket thing is a tortilla bowl fryer basket for taco salads and the other is a Pampered Chef Press and Seal for making small pies and tarts. We tried the tortilla fryer last night and it worked great. Now we just need to make some mini pies!
The weather man just forecasted temperatures at 100 or so until at least August 15th. That, is simply unacceptable. I guess the weatherman didn't get the memo that I HATE SUMMER.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thrifty Thursday
The Bean and I went to school for the THIRD time this morning to get him enrolled for the Fall. But, no one was there. For the THIRD time. I get my courage all screwed up to do it, and then no one is there so we have to go through it all over AGAIN. Next week better be the charm!
So, what do you do when the school is locked up tight? You find some yard sales! We went to two yard sales and made a pit stop at the Super Cheap Thrift. There was lady hoarding the jewelry buckets and I never did get to dig in them. I know I missed treasures! I generally look in one bucket, put it back and then wrangle the next bucket for a dig. But, she had them both in her cart. It's okay to do that, I just wouldn't do it. (But I might next time!)
Would anyone care for some corn? I could have a corn-eating party with all these corn holders. We've never used corn holders at our house, but The Bean is less than neat when eating corn, so I think they might help him get a better grip on his ear - ear of corn, that is. I really like the red ones, they might even possibly be bakelite, but I haven't tested them yet. All these corn holders and the two corn troughs, if you will, were 75¢ total. The red and white tablerunner with a crocheted edge was from one of the yard sales.
This little 1963 booklet "Care of the Back" was in the free bin. Love that poor lady trying to lift the laundry basket with her poor aching back. I've been there! And, yes, another watermelon potholder for 25¢. The lady behind the counter was giving me advice for using my new potholder - "Don't set anything really hot on it in case it's acrylic, or it will melt." Thank you Ma'm, but I don't use them, I just collect them.
I got this tablecloth at a yard sale full of old vintage things. None of it I really needed, so I left it all there. Her prices were good - old mirrors for $4.00-5.00, steamer trunks for $15.00 and the biggest old wooden spools I had ever seen for $2.00 each. I really meant to grab one of those spools, but I left without it. She had a wonderful old white chippy rocking chair that I loved, but I didn't have anywhere to put it. And, the worst part, it was only $7.00. Crap, I shoulda..... Back to the tablecloth, I got it, the red and white tablerunner and the baby shoes for a $1.00 at that yard sale. It's got stains, but I can get most of them out and the rest I can live with. I just love the feel and the colors of the old tablecloths. Stains don't bother me too much.
But this darn heat does!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Where's George?
Monday, July 21, 2008
Awards
First from Sharie @ View To the Hill in England:
Second: From Diane Diane @ Two Barking Dogs:
This award is for blogs with creativity, design, interesting material, and that also contribute to the blogger community. (Not sure if I really deserve this one!)
And, this award again from Debbi @ Prim 'N Stuff.
Thank you ladies!
I really appreciate these awards and I know I need to do my part to pass them on, but according to the rules of all of these awards, I am supposed to pass the awards on to 19 other bloggers. NINETEEN other bloggers. Yikes. That's a lot of folks. I read so many blogs and so many are deserving of an award, but I really cannot pick 19 blogs. Am I forgiven?????? I'm a bad, bad blogger.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
A Great Junking Day
There were things in the front yard, in the carport, things on the small porch and throughout the entire house. It was only a five room house, so it was pretty tight corners with all the people milling about inside. The living room had one table full of items and a built-in bookshelf with things on it. The kitchen was still decorated and set up like it could be used to prepare dinner, but everything had a price tag neatly applied to it. The most awesome part about the kitchen was that the cabinets were all painted pink! I tried to take a picture but it was so small that I couldn't get a decent photo.
I spotted this tiny black, what I thought was an, evening bag on a table in the front yard. I opened the bag and saw that it was a ladies shaver.
The first bedroom had miscellaneous items and a few Christmas items here and there. I opened the drawer to a dresser that was already partly opened and found these: Two Japan Christmas birds priced 25¢ on their backs. Slightly tacky, yet awesomely cool. Just enough to make me wonder what other Christmas goodies I missed!
The next room was linen heaven. Piles of linens on the floor, the dresser and on the bed. There were a couple ladies pawing through them when I walked in the room. I did a quick scan and didn't notice any tablecloths, so I went on to the next room (but I went back and looked at every single linen in there, trust me).
The next room was either a family room or the Master bedroom, I really couldn't tell. It had a fireplace and a walk-in closet, but there wasn't any furniture to really be able to tell for certain. I went into the closet and found a cool old cane carved out of a stick - complete with knotholes (50¢), a small red Pyrex custard cup (25¢), two FireKing Custard cups with pink flowers (25¢ each) and this fantastic piece of pink pottery (50¢) that was corroded with an icky residue, but I got it all cleaned up once I got it home.
In the corner of the room, under some books there was a box that said "Towels" on it. Well, I decided to look in the box, 'cause you just never know, right? The entire box was filled to the brim with old sheet music. Old, old sheet music, some as old as 1904! I asked a lady working the sale how much and she said $5.00 for the box. I knew there was a ton of good old sheet music, so I didn't even bother going through it until I got home. When I did go through it,there are over 125 peices of music including some really cool old Black Americana ones:
Back to the Linen room where I found a few goodies hidden under some old basic blankets and sheets. The best hidden treasure is this sweet old quilted floursack apron:
I love all the old fabrics and the rickrack details. It was 50¢. Another lady saw me dig it out and said, "Oooooh" when I picked it up.
I also found this cherry stamped tablecloth for 75¢, a linen bird themed dish towel for 25¢, an anthromorphic fruit towel for 25¢, one of my coveted crocheted watermelon potholders (I've been on a bit of a dryspell for finding watermelon potholders - I thought maybe I had bought them all!) and a felt watermelon potholder for 25¢ - a new kind of watermelon potholder. Oh my! Let's see, is that everything? Oh yes, the wooden clogs were $1.00. I've always wanted a pair of wooden shoes, but I always see them one at a time.
This set of canisters labeled "Gossypion, Pulvis and Crinale"intrigued me at 75¢. After a bit of googling, I have learned that they are old Dentistry apothocary jars. Gossypion is a form of cotton, one is a medicine made from cinnamon and the other is made from red algea. And, now you know. And now you may be slightly grossed out, as I am.
This flowery wicker purse ($1.00) was hidden behind some coats in that big closet. I have about 12 old purses that I am getting ready to list, so this one will be added to the pile. In my hurried shopping, I often hand things to The Bean to carry. He always does it without complaint. When we were paying, I turned to look at him to see if he had anything and he was just standing there holding this wicker purse like a good sport. Poor boy!
After we left the Estate Sale we were headed home and I passed by a sale at a house off the road and it was absolutely packed to the street with stuff. *Screeeech* When we got out of the car, the lady handed each of us a bag and said, "If it fits in the bag - it's $1.00 a bag." I won't bore you with everything I bought, but I packed three bags to the gills, plus got a cool old basket and a neat child's lamp for a total of $7.00. That includes this cool Junk Project:
This old Brownie camera was priced $8.00, but fit in one of my $1.00 bags with lots of other treasures!
This old wall mount can opener, the old metal burger pres, the tiny blue metal measuring cup and old small milk bottle were part of one of my $1.00 bags too. The old Calumet pie tin (25¢)and Searchlight Cookbook ($1.00) came from the Estate Sale (but looked better in this photo!). The Searchlihgt Cookbook is from 1937 and printed in Topeka, KS (My birthplace). My Mom had an old Searchlight Cookbook when I was a kid. Everything we ever made from it was dee-licious!
Coming up next: I was bestowed three different awards this weekend by fellow bloggers this weekend! Three at once! Thanks ladies, I'll do my part for these awards tomorrow.
Friday, July 18, 2008
She's a Winner!
Here are the bulk of my finds. The driftwood in the back was 25¢ - it is flat as a board and worn velvety smooth. I love pieces of nature. When it's standing up with the knothole and the hole, it reminds me of an eagles head. Not really sure why I bought the yard head dude. He was funny and only 25¢ - I think it might be some sort of voodoo doll or something. The knee hugger elf was 25¢ and will go with my evergrowing collection of kneehuggers. The little glass $1.00 chicken on a nest is very heavy and more modern and sleek than the older ones (which are always broken when I find them, I might add). The bunny was $1.50. Why did I pay $1.50 for another bunny?
Because he is a handpainted rock. Love it! It is so well done and feels like you are holding a tiny bunny in your hand. He's signed and I imagine he came from the War Eagle Craft Fair where things like that cost $$$.
This little radio had a retro vibe to it and fits perfectly in my kitchen. I can now listen to MUSIC instead of hearing the Disney Channel blasting Hannie Montannie 24/7. Yea for me. It was 75¢ and works great - complete with AM/FM radio, alarm clock, snooze and all the beeps and whistles. I often wonder why people get rid of completely useful things like a perfectly good clock radio and why they only expect to get 75¢ for it. I am glad they do this, so I can reap the rewards. But, I really don't understand the logic.
After finding only these few things, I was tired of yard saling so we went to eat (Buy a large Sprite Get Free Chicken Nuggets at ChickfilA), stopped into ToysRus to do a little bargain scanning (more on that this weekend and some tips for you) and then headed home. As we were driving along, I felt the car just sort of veer onto the street where one of my thrifts is located. I was just there on Wednesday, but they are always putting out things, so you might just find a treasure. (And I did). Our favortie part about that thrift on Friday is the old grouchy man that mans the register. No matter when you come in, he grouchily grumbles, "We close in XX minutes!" One day he told me, "We close in an hour and a half." As if I spend an hour and a half in there! The ladies all laugh at him so we've learned to laugh at him too. Except he's serious. He wants to go home NOW!
Oh yes, that treasure I mentioned: An old metal cake carrier. So wonderful. I'm not a rose kinda gal, but I do like this one. I like the whole pink and black thing. It's the first one I've ever found, so I had to buy it. It was $5.00,which is sort of pricey for me, but I have bought plastic ones for more than that at retail stores. If I ever find one that is more my style, I can list this one. But, it really is sweet, don't you think?
Tomorrow there is an Estate Sale that touts that "everything is up for grabs" after the same family has lived in the house for 65 years. How they think they can sell everything off on Saturday only from 8-2 is beyond me. An Estate sale around here just means everything in the house is for sale including the food in the cupboards and the bathroom towels. We don't really have typical Estate sales where a company comes in and prices everything. Occassionally there is one of those and I like to go just to get into fancy houses. I went into the Mayors house not too long ago just to get a gander at it while they were having an Estate Sale. I couldn't have afforded a thing in the place, but I got a free tour Anyway, back to this sale, I really really REALLY want to go. It sounds like a diggers paradise. I usually head for the garage where the old stuff and junk is located - Christmas items, persoanl items like photos and papers, etc. I also like to look in the kitchen drawers and cupboards. It's a weird feeeling rifling through things, but that's how it's done. Maybe I'll find enough treasures to fulfill all your wishes! Tablecloths, wicker shelves, buttons, fabric, pottery, picnic baskets, egg beaters, dice, keys, sewing notions, canisters, train case, recipes, postcards, shiny brites, jewelry, aprons, tea cups, mirrors, baby shoes, steiff, teapots, sports pennants, spools and flower frogs for everyone! Whew!