The Thanksgiving Bunny

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We honored our long standing family tradition of a mashed potato snowball toss and a new tradition - breaking and entering! The Bean and I went to my Dad's house for turkey sandwiches and pie. Not your usual Thanksgiving feast, but good, nonetheless. After dinner (our lunch as it was) we went on a long drive around the lake where he lives. We drove around to the other side of the lake so we could look for his house from that angle. We stood on the bluffs overhanging the water which is about 100 feet deep in that particular area.

Two vintage starched doily tussy mussies with vintage millinery flowers, tiny toadstools, ribbon and lace from the 5¢ ornament bin at the Super Cheap Thrift. One has a tiny golden football attached to it, which does bewilder me a bit. Possibly a homecoming boutonniere?

The rocks are smooth with wear from the water and there are pits from rocks sitting in the same spot for thousands of years. Now, you don't all know my Dad, but for those of you that do, none of you will be surprised to hear that he found a penny wedged inside one of those pits. It was really worn and dented, but we finally made the date out as 1950. Only my Dad could find money that had been in the water for about 58 years. He has an eye for things like that.

A treasure at the bottom of the 5¢ bin at the Super Cheap Thrift. One tiny pine cone gnome complete with tiny glittered skis and a bottle brush tree. (A bad photo taken at night in a dark room). I recently read an article in Country Living (or was it Country Home?) about these and fell in love.

After our nice relaxing drive and walk, we finally made it back to his house. The glass of eggnog and glass of water I had earlier was now sitting heavily on the old bladder and I had to go. Bad! That's when my Dad hopped out of the car and said, "%$#&!" My keys!" He had left his keys in his truck in his locked garage and locked the front door behind us when we left. We looked in every window hoping to find a window unlocked or perhaps a gremlin waiting to let us in, but to no avail. He has a sliding glass door leading to the patio, so we decided that might be our best bet. He had left it unlocked (yeah!) but he has a board in the track to keep it tightly shut (boo!) so we were certainly locked out.

Four vintage wooden JAPAN birds. I have had one yellow one for years and loved it. Now it has some company at long lost. Dug out of the 5¢ bin at the SCT.

The Bean got our tool kit out of the VUE and, between the three of us, two screwdrivers, a pair of hedge clippers (don't ask) and a perfectly aligned kick by The Bean, we managed to hillbilly lowjack the door open one full hour after our mission began. Oh, it was a great moment of high fiving and excitement as we ran into the house. Not to mention I finally got to use the bathroom. (Whew).
More 5¢ finds - An assortment of vintage ornaments - the house is marked West Germany, the indented ornament has three indents around the outside and the blue ornament matches the pink one I found last week. The other three remind me of these big fluffy minty meltaway candies I had as a child.

I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post that my Dad still lives in the house where I was raised. When I moved out I pretty much took everything that was mine. But, I did leave behind a giant stuffed bunny. He has been sitting in my old room for 24 years since I moved out. My room is now a bar (Named the "Holiday Bar" because it has a permanent Christmas tree and every other Holiday represented in the room) with a poker table and lots of scantily clad beer posters, but the pink bunny just sat there like he belonged. After time, my Dad put some Mardi Gras beads around the bunny's neck and a top hat on his head. Then he really did fit in.

FREE cigar boxes from the SCT. As I was leaving my donations, I spotted boxes and boxes full of hundreds of cigar boxes. Newer ones on top, older ones on the bottom. The lady told me to "take all you want". I took these few and now I wish I would have taken the rest of the cool old wooden ones. Even though I had permission, I felt odd taking from Donation pile. But, now I am worried they will throw the rest in the dumpster. (Ignore that crap in the background!)

I got him for Easter when I was six years old - our first Easter in our new house in Arkansas. The year before, on Easter weekend, we had visited Arkansas looking for a house. We were staying at the Holiday Inn while we looked. On Saturday, I was on the floor playing and for some reason, I looked under the bed in the hotel room. That's when I spotted a shoebox. "Treasure!" I thought. I pulled it out and when I opened it, I couldn't understand what I was seeing. It was a shoebox full of chocolate bunnies, foil wrapped eggs and grass. "What?" I thought. I really didn't understand what I had just seen. A few years later I realized that that was the day I discovered "There is no Easter Bunny!' My Mom had brought the goodies for my Easter Basket in a shoebox and hid it in the hotel to keep my believing, and I had found it. Anyway, I must have mentioned it to my Mom, because the very next year, I got the bunny. The giant, taller than me, very expensive FROM THE EASTER BUNNY Bunny. So, he must exist, right?

Mr. Bunny at home at last. Sadly he had to be relocated to the garage for the Christmas tree. But, he will return this Spring. You can count on it! (Ignore that crap in the background too!)

Secretly, since my love of vintage crept into my life a few years ago, I have been wanting to bring my bunny home to my house to live with me. So, on Thanksgiving, as I patted him on his head and my Dad said, "He's yours, take him." So I did. We put him in the backseat and seat belted him in for the ride home. The Bean and I took a detour to look at the Christmas lights around the square on the way home. We had all the windows down as to not obscure the view and so we could hear the music. I did notice people looking at us as we drove by and a few smiled. Now I see that it just might have been because we had a four foot tall pink bunny seat belted in the back seat on Thanksgiving Day! Ya think?

Gobble Gobble

Things for which I am thankful:

I am thankful that I have a house that I own and no one can take it away from me. (Although if someone ordered me to declutter, that might be a good thing).

I am thankful that DH has a job and can provide for our family. Even if it does man that he can barely hold his head up after a fifteen hour day of selling Brown and Serve Rolls.

I am thankful that The Bean is a happy healthy thriving young man. Even though someone told DH today that he should be in "real school". Pbthhhhhhh....

I am thankful that I am able to talk to my Mom two, three, seven times a day (at no long distance cost) about such important matters as Dancing With The Stars Results, Beyonce's jiggly thighs* and how our respective husbands can be dolts.

I am thankful that I am spending Thanksgiving Day with my Dad at the house where I grew up (even though my old room is now a poker room with a full bar).

I am thankful for the blog friends that I have made. I don't have many real life friends, so having my blog friends means an awful lot to me.

I am thankful for my three goofy cats, all of which seem to be healthy, active (sort of) and pretty darn funny.

I am thankful to be able to sleep in on Friday and not brave the Black Friday crowds. I am thankful that I am able to bargain hunt all year long so that some Black Friday prices can seem high to me.

I am thankful that I can pack up the turkeys and break out the glittery vintage Christmas stuff on Friday. YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Have a wonderful safe Thanksgiving!

*I have jiggly thighs too, but I don't prance around at the Music awards in a bodysuit doing the shimmy shimmy shake. (I do like that song, though!)

Quick! Hurry!

I had to make a mad dash to the gorcery store for a few odds and ends to finish up our Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow. And, since the Super Cheap Thrift Store is open on Saturdays and it is right up the street (well,okay, about seven miles away), I decided to make a quick thrift run. Wouldn't YOU?

And, I think I did pretty well for a mad hurried dash! I spent a total of $4.00 on everything.

Two more vintage Empire Santa Blow Molds. I seriously don't know why I buy these. I have about ten now.
A sweet vintage JAPAN angel tree topper complete with pipe cleaner arms and golden tinsel.

The Angel Tree topper, a fun vintage candle and a small hard plastic Angel Blow Mold.

Vintage Santa and Mrs. Claus - I think they are supposed to be dancing. What sort of dance would they do? The Cha-Cha-Slide? The Hustle?

A vintage Dakin Dream Pet reindeer. I sold a vintage dream pet many moons ago for $50.00 or so. I bet I couldn't do that anymore.

A funny felt mouse. He was stuffed inside a hideous furry stocking, but I decided to pull him out. I think someone made the stocking and put the already made mouse inside. He's a cutie!

And, lastly, not Christmas at all, but for my other absolute favorite holday Easter - a sweet vintge bunny stuffed with sawdust. He was in the FREE bin at the check out. Love him!

Dynamite Thrifty Finds

In my quest for more vintage Christmas items, I made a run to the Super Cheap Thrift this morning. I also spotted a Yard Sale, which was surprising since it was 32 degrees and a Thursday. It was a good one and I imagine it was the last one for awhile. That's okay, the thrifts seem to be stocked with plenty of goodies to tide me over until Spring.

My first find is not Christmas, but it is Vintage.

A Dynamite Magazine from my childhood. Everything came to an abrupt stop when Dynamite arrived in the mailbox. Who would be the centerfold this month? Leif Garrett? Shaun Cassidy? Jimmy McNichols? (Gawd, how I adored Jimmy McNichols......). This blast from my past was only a dime, so I had to grab it. Did you get Dynamite, Sveltestuff? My fellow 1970's child?

Now, on to the Christmas Goodies. This is a mix of yard sale and thrift find, so prices are a bit foggy, but rest assured, CHEAP.

A book of Fireside Christmas Stories for 25¢, a pair of Japan kneehuggers for $1.00 total and two battery operated candles for 35¢ each. They are actually wax, but the flame is plastic. I know they are fairly new, but they have a sweet vintage feel to them.

Yea, baby. This is what I've been looking for...vintage ornaments. I think these are my first with the indents. I've been looking, but I don't remember finding any in the past. These were 5¢ each, so a total of 60¢ for everything shown. Love, love, love that big pink one with the blue stone inset. Suh-weet.

More mini ornaments for my evergrowing collection. These were in a big box at the yard sale and the box was marked $3.00 for all. I really only wanted the ornaments, so the lady said I could have them for 25¢ each. Bless her heart. The other items were in the 5¢ bin at the thrift. That itty bitty Nativity ornament is an old Japan marked one and it is so very cute.

This old Candolier was still in the original box for 50¢. Truth is, I really like the box much more than the actual Candolier.

As I checked out at the thrift, the ladies told me they had so much Christmas in the back, they didn't know if they would ever get it out. Perhaps it might be time to volunteer my services? ;o)

And on the non Christmas front:

A sweet piece of vintage white pottery for my collection. A bit different from my others, but it grew on me - especially for only 35¢.

Another ruler. This one was $4.00 at the yard sale, so I had to think long and hard about buying it. But, it is cool and I am glad that I did. Now I have three stars in a row in the living room.

At the yard sale, I was talking with the lady that was having it. She has sales at three different houses in town and sells at the local flea market, so I run into her quite a bit. She asked me what I was interested in and she would keep me in mind when she sets up a sale. (A dream come true right?) I told her vintage Christmas and vintage tablecloths. She told me that her sister in law collects tablecloths so they all go to her. Bummer. Then she said that her sister in law is also super picky and doesn't like them if they have a stain or a small hole. Heck, my collection is pretty much all stains and holes (soaked and repaired, of course). That's when she pointed to a tablecloth hanging on the wall covering up the "Not For Sale" tools on the wall.

It was a sweet one, albeit with a hole, but not a bad one. She told her sister that I liked it and she said, "Well, she could have it for a quarter if we could get to it." It was on the wall with rows of storage tubs in front of it and a row of card tables in front of those. The husband suggested I stop by next week to pick it up while the other lady said she would hold it for me until the next sale. However, I already knew, I was not leaving without that tablecloth. So, what would you do? How would you get it? Would you make your son get on his knees, crawl under the tables, move the storage tubs and pull the tablecloth off the wall?
And then, after he crawled back under the table and handed you the coveted tablecloth, would you ask for his allowance so you could pay for your treasures? Yeah, me neither.

His and her vintage bloomer pillowcases for 50¢. Very cute, indeed especially with the red ric-rac trim. The bloomers are pockets, for what, I am not sure.

A fun morning of goodies to satisfy my thrifting mojo for awhile. Time to concentrate on Turkey Day and decorating for Christmas. What are your Thanksgiving plans? We are having my Mom and Stepfather over on Sunday for a dinner, then The bean and I will go to my Dad's on Thanksgiving Day while The Breadman goes to see his family for the day. I learned a few years ago that is is easier to divide an conquer rather than trying to go everywhere on one day as a family. Too stressful to say the least. Never fear, I will be back between now and Thanksgiving. You knew I would, right?

Worth a Thousand Words

I am a month behind on decent photos for this blog. But, today I finally got my Memory Card downloaded to a Cd, so here we goooooooo. Photos are in random order because Blogger likes to switch the order of the photos as I post them and I am just too darned lazy to fix it all tonight. Forgive me?

A big rock thrown into the deep water which was actually only a few few from shore. We don't swim, so I don't know why we like to traipse around the edges of water so much.
The Bean posing for me the way I asked him to do. Stay tuned to see his version a bit down in this post.
"My building" as the family now calls it. I have so many photos of it, it is insane. But these are winter photos - see no leaves!
Since it was winter, we were able to see things and go places we hadn't been able to before due to the weeds and leaves and such. This it the bridge over the walking trail.
Some pretty berries growing along the way. I think this could be a calendar page. Listen to me, all braggy on the photos.

Ah, yes, here's The Bean's version of the photo above:

"My leg! My leg! I've lost my leg!" he said as I took the photo. Quite the comedian, eh?

After we had traversed the trail, gone off the beaten path for photos and walked along the shore of the lake - we spotted a freaking SCORPION on the blacktopped walking trail. God only knows what was lurking in the woods that we had been in. *Shudder*

Trick photography courtesy of The Bean.

Yes, another one. Sorry.

And, maybe, just one more. You don't mind, do you?

The sunrise one morning before Daylight Savings Time kicked in or went off or whichever it did last month. I get so confused. All I really know is that it gets dark during "Oprah". And,that sucks.

A stick in the sidewalk - in the shape of an "A". We found this as it was on a walk. Cool, huh?

A photo of me! What a treat. Me and The Bean on a lookout over the water.
My, The Bean is tall! Trick photography courtesy of Mom.

The Bean and Jack Hanna. He was super nice and I am so glad we were able to see him. He was at the local Arts Center,which is rather small and doesn't hold that many seats, so tickets are often $75.00 or so for events. Our tickets for Jack Hanna were $15.00 each and we were on the back row of the upper deck of the balcony. AKA The Cheap Seats.

What The Bean did to his hair for Halloween - bright glowing orange. And, it was incredibly hard and crunchy. I was afraid that his hair might break off or it might not wash out completely. Luckily it was back to normal the next day. Whew.

Our friend Oscar the Rooster up at Artist Point. We visited him this Spring and were able to pet him on his rooster head. He lives feet and I do mean feet from a major highway, but he stays out of the road and obeys the rules. He is one super cool rooster.

This is the view from Artist Point. That mountain range waaaay back there is miles and miles and miles away. You can see forever and see nothing but trees. Not one single house, highway or anything. Just trees. While we were there, a big rig came over the hill, quite fast and loud. Then, suddenly, the driver hit the brakes and came to a screeching halt. A young Hispanic man jumped out of the cab, ran over to the edge where I was standing and yelled, "BEE-U-Ti-Full!", snapped a few photos and went on his way. I was happy that he took the time to appreciate the beauty even though he was obviously working and rushed. I still wish I would have offered to take his photo.

Sadly, this is not how The Bean dressed up for Halloween, instead this is how he greeted me in the hallway one day out of the blue. Scared the bajeezus out of me.

Okay, that wasn't so bad, was it? Just a recap of the past month in photos. And not a thrifted item in them. Yea, me!

***Did anyone see the Space Station zoom across the sky this evening. It was awesome!

The Kitchen Table

Boy, oh, Boy, did I find some fabulous things today! You won't believe all the goodies I found. I still can't believe it! And, I didn't even go to any yard sales or even leave my house. I, (are you ready for this) I cleaned off the kitchen table. Yes, yes, I did. Thank you, thank you very much. It seems that after I bring my treasures home and photograph them for the blog, they seem to just get tossed on the kitchen table (unless they have a definite home). It was to the point that I wasn't completely sure if there was even a table under that pile o'crap or not. But, I discovered there was a table! And some cool stuff buried beneath the crap.

I had bought this bookshelf for $1.00 a few weeks ago and it was still awaiting a new home. Since we don't really use the kitchen table anyway (especially when it is under a pile o'crap), I decided to put the shelf on the end of the table against the wall. (One thing we are particularly lacking in this house is a method for getting my prized collections up on the walls on shelves or book cases and not just scattered haphazardly in low locations.) All that junk on the table at the bottom of the photos is tomorrow's project. I ran out of time for it today (the family thinks they need to have supper. Hurumph!)

Once the shelf was up I started putting things on it. Most of the items on it right now are things that are going to be sold one of these days - things bought for resale, but that had just been piled on the table. The big apple McCoy Cookie jar and the Nabisco Promotional cookie jar will be listed this Spring. Things aren't where they will stay, but I am just slap-happy to have them up where I can see them so I can say "Hey! I need to get that listed!" And, then I can reclaim them as mine and fill them with m y goodies!

In another area of the kitchen, I was pleased to get my vintage tablecloths in order. This old metal shelf holds double rows of tablecloths on each shelf. I honestly didn't realize how many tablecloths I had accrued this year. I think I just decided to collect tablecloths within the past year after I started finding a few here and there. Here they are all neatly folded, purty side a showin', counted and organized. Ahhh, it feels good.

I've had this old Royal typewriter a while too. It screams out to the Journalism major in me and I love it so. But, I don't really have anywhere to put it right now. I decided to take it out of the case and enjoy it on top of the tablecloth shelf for awhile. That big old metal biscuit tin with the Capitol Building in the Cherry Blossoms was a lucky twenty five cent find at a flea market. Another vendor about did a spit take when I told her what I paid for it. She was not happy that she had missed it on her rounds. To the right of the typewriter is a very old ledger I found at a sale a number of years ago. It is from a General Store from a tiny town near here and it is dated 1890. This was back when people charged everything they bought and their purchases included flour, sugar, material and medicine. It is interesting that nearly every customer bought themselves a Hershey Bar for 5¢ no matter how hard times were and what else they needed that week. That just proves it - everyone needs chocolate!

That basket of watermelons is part of tomorrow's project as well......

I suppose the moral of this post is that, even though it isn't perfect or even what someone else might have done in their house, it make me happy to see my treasures and learn to appreciate them even more. And, believe me, a little happiness goes a long way!