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.

Friday, November 14, 2008

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!

6 comments:

  1. LOL! I've known people to go shopping in their own closets, but to go thrifting on your own kitchen table...you really ought to win some kind of prize for that! I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one who buys stuff to resell that then just sits there in my house for far too long.

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  2. 8-) Isn't it FUN playing with your toys?!!!

    I too, am in the process of reclaiming a table, except for me it is my Dining Room table - after all, the only time it is used is for Pumpkin Carving!!!

    WARNING!!! Display your 'to-resells' too nicely and you will become attached to them, and won't be able to part with them - as I SOOO often do!!

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  3. Wow - that shelf sure is filled with a lot of great stuff! And I love how your tablecloths look all neatly folded and stacked! Mine are all tucked away in cupboards - I WISH I had a place to display them where they could be seen and enjoyed all the time!

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  4. LOL...I'm with ya on the kitchen table being a catch-all. Mine is the same way. I think I may need a bigger house, so that I can buy more things! Just kidding!

    Love the shelf with all your goodies!

    Hugz,
    Michele

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  5. Just milling around, and saw those amazing tablecloths! Wow! =)
    Lucky you!

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