Thanks for all the kudos on my purchases at the Sale of Sales. I still have two boxes sitting in the living room and I just like to get it out and look at it all. I must look pretty silly looking at Tiddlywinks, Bing-O and dolls, but I don't care. I love looking at my treasures! I planned on going back Saturday morning and go for another dig, but I awoke to the worst Saturday morning sound in the whole wide world. Thunder and Rain. Sigh. No more treasures. It sort of cleared up mid-day, but still sprinkled some throughout the day. My curiosity got the best of me and I had to make a run to their corner to see if the sign was up, but it wasn't. Now I have a lingering hope that they might open this weekend since they lost a day last weekend. But, since they are from KS and it is a Holiday weekend, I doubt it. But, that certainly won't keep my from going to see if I can spot a sign!

On my way to check on the sale Saturday, I did find another sale, so I popped in to prowl. I spent $1.00 and got a vintage tablecloth with flowers on it (No photo, sorry Sarah). I thought that was pretty good to only hit one sale, only buy one thing and have it just happen to be a nice vintage tablecloth. Score.

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Because no one (including me) likes a photo-less post - here is a photo of The Bean trying on his baby shoes. (I'm still trying to delete photos so I can set up my new computer that has been sitting un-opened in the box for two months. Can you believe that???)

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And a note to any family members that read this blog - I regret to say that my family won't be at the big Richardson reunion this weekend. The Breadman couldn't get off work until Sunday as it just couldn't work out. I wanted to see everyone and I know I will miss a huge amount of fun. Sorry to miss you all!

The Sale of Sales

I thought of so many of my blog friends today as I dug in boxes and found treasures at my sale. So many of you would have loved this sale. The things they have are so much fun, so old and priced so cheap that is is just a ball to dig, prowl and hunt for goodies.

When you arrive, there are about ten big tables covered in boxes of things, plus the boxes are stacked two deep under all the tables. Everything is $1.00 a box, or each item is 25¢ each. Or, this is what I do, you can get an empty box and make your own box for $1.00. I made three boxes, plus gathered up many more items from the other tables. I spent a total of $14.25 for five boxes of things. *Most intended for resale. Well, a lot, anyway!

Lots of goodies everywhere you look!

Avon bottles are not collectible anymore, but I usually see them at sales for high prices. These were 25¢ each. The front of the table was all Avon bottles, but lots of other treasures were at the other end of the table. That lady in the red owns the local flea market/antique store and thinks she knows it all. I enjoy finding things that she has missed. I would like to know what she did find, because she left with five boxes of things that I never got to see!

These little gals were Avon bottles, but they are cute, aren't they? I never have the b*alls to take many photos at yard sales for fear people will think I am weird and ask me to leave and I will miss out on a treasure! So, I didn't get any photos past this one table. Now, on to the goods:
My two expensive splurge items - that is if $1.50 and $1.00 respectively can be considered expensive. I am in *love* with the graphics on these boxes. Too cute! And, they are complete inside.
Four old unused coloring, paint and dot -to-dot books. The graphics are just too cute. I think they would make good embroidery patterns for dish towels or quilt squares. I loved my dot-to-dot books when I was little. These were all in one of my $1.00 box.
An old vintage Hallmark paper Halloween tablecloth for 25¢.

Eighteen handmade felt Santa napkin rings. The paper napkins complete the bearded look - all part of the $1.00 box.

An old store-stock 3 Musketeers box. I love old packaging, so this is mine. I paid 25¢ for it as it would have taken up too much room in my $1.00 box. It actually had something in it, and that was what was really being sold, but I wanted the 3 Musketeers box.
A red and white gingham CHILD'S apron. My first. Seriously, too cute for words - 25¢.
I scooped this Schnauzer up from the depths of a kiddie pool full of older Happy Meal-ish toys. I knew he was old and I knew he had character and I hoped and hoped he was what I thought he was - and he is. A Steiff. For a quarter. I meant to go back and really dig in that kiddie pool to see what else was there, but I forgot. Dang!
Two big old Mason fruit jars. There was a table of at least 100 blue canning jars all for 50¢ each. I got the only two big ones. The little tin saucer and cup were in the $1.00 box. The sad, but sweet sock monkey was 25¢. I have had good luck with sock monkeys on ebay in the past. I write stories for them and give them identities. I bought eleven sock moneys once for $1.00 each and they sold for nearly $300.00!!! I don't expect that to happen again, but I'm pretty sure I can make a good return on the quarter. The 1966 Kansas License Plate was a fun find for me - I am a 1966 Kansas born baby. I also found my Mom a Kansas plate from her birth year - 25¢ for both.
This $1.00 matte white cradle still has the foil Haeger sticker on the bottom. It is a wonderful addition to my pottery collection as I don't have that many figural pieces.

I already had two of these tins and I have sold quite a few of them in the past. I got five of them today for 25¢ each. I love the original prices of 19¢ and 29¢ stamped on them. Does anyone have any idea what area this line of spices is from?

These six dolls fit nicely in one of the $1.00 boxes along with five or six more that are in various stages of disarray - missing limbs and such. All the pieces are there - just a little TLC is needed on them. They are all celluloid, have sleepy eye, felt hats and millinery flowers. Surely they will sell, right?

Love those toadstools in the center - that was a happy find at the bottom of a digger box on the tables. The book is interesting and a bit morbid. Someone has kept obituaries, death notices, car accident reports and such from Kansas newspapers from 1950-1968. I think surely, it must have been part of a church records or some other reasonable excuse other than a morbid obit collector. I thought it might be a good genealogy item. I want to look through if first because it is from the area where all my family lives and is from dates when several of my grandparents would have died.
A very, very small part of the many, many linens I brought home - I spotted an unopened box full of linens and snagged it for $1.00 without even looking inside.
These few items were worth the $1.00 of the whole box! Neat old floursack material sewn onto dishcloths. I will be donating a box of linens that aren't that great or in need of more help than I can give them.
Some cool old vintage Hawaiian themed material. There's a couple yards of the green/yellow, but not as much of the red/blue. I think there's enough for curtains or pillows, so I am hoping it's worth listing.
A child's toy 8mm movie projector and a fun old "Adventure with Rocks and Minerals" set complete with lots of rocks and minerals. The Bean and I are rock hounds, so this is for us.

I'll probably go back tomorrow. There's just so much to look at and they often start bargaining even more the second day. You don't have to ask - they just see you looking at something and say, "How about three boxes for $1.00" or "How about $2.00 for all those dolls?". There were a lot more board games, puzzles and celluloid dolls that I didn't get too look at very closely. They also had a lot of pottery and planters, but you really have to look closely at them because many of them have chips or cracks. Most of the pottery is not more than $1.00, so you can overlook a fleabite or a chip since the price is right.

Yep, I'm going back. I've talked myself into it. That was easy! ;o)

Thrift Thursday Part II

Right after I posted my finds this morning, DH called to tell me there were quite a few Thursday sales in town and he thought I should check them out. I told him he was an enabler. He should have said, "Woman, stay home and keep de-cluttering." But, no, he told me to go buy more junk! So, like the good wife I am, I followed his suggestion. I found some good junk and I was back home within the hour.

In this photo you see an old Samsonite suitcase that I got for 75¢. When I got it home, I opened it and left the room for five minutes. When I came back, not only was the cat in it, she was sound asleep. And, she's been there all day. The funny thing is, that I just ordered her a new cat bed that looks like an old vintage suitcase and I cannot believe, that I, the Junkreator, didn't think of just giving her an old suitcase to sleep in. So, when the faux vintage cat-bed suitcase arrives, I shall see if she likes it or the authentic suitcase better.

That tray or platter is old white enamel with red trim, which I adore. It was under a pile of old plastic once-was deli platter trays. On a whim, I dug it out because it looked old. And it was! And, it was only 25¢! The old stuffed animals are filled with sawdust. Old carnival wins, I assume. They were 25¢ each too. The set of white enamel Coffee and Tea canisters were $1.00 total. There is a sticker on the bottom that says, "Not for food use. May poison." So, I will have to think of a non-tea, non-coffee idea for them.
This is an old Philco bakelite radio/record player that I found for $2.00. Yes, two dollars! They seem to sell in the $50.00-$100.00 range on ebay, but the shipping is about as much. I think I might try this on Craigslist. If nothing else, it will go to my Dad's house in his antique collection. I can't get it to work, but I haven't tried too hard. It has a bunch of glass tubes and odd things under it that I am afraid of breaking if I tinker too much. I wish I could get it to work. I still have all my old Disco albums that I would love to hear again.

Okay, are you ready for this? What's better than finding a few vintage Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments?

How about finding 86 vintage Shiny Brites all in red? I bought three paper bags and two small boxes of Christmas ornaments for $1.50 total. I didn't even bother going through them at the sale, because I figured it would be my afternoon's entertainment to sort it out. I did see a few things in the bag that made me know I was getting a good deal. And, guess what else? These red Shiny Brites aren't even what I saw in the bags.

Are you ready? Are you sure? Okay, if you say so.... Vintage Shiny Brite-a-palooza is what I saw. There's a few newer ones, but they are mostly old and oh, so pretty. I swear, I could have just left the suitcase full of ornaments (sans the cat) and left it on display until Christmas.
See? Oooooooh. So, so pretty. The red ornaments will most likely be attached to a bottle brush wreath. I think an all red ornament wreath would be so pretty. I'd love to put it on the front door, but I worry about ice and cold breaking them.

Tomorrow I am going to my favorite sale of the year. They have one or two sales a year and I have been going since The Bean was a baby. The people that have the sale, actually live in Kansas, but they bring their things here and have a big sale. They buy at old household auctions, re-sell on ebay and then sell the remaining things at this sale. And, even though they do sell on ebay, I have found a lot of things there that I have made good money on. They buy box lots for certain items, and just sell the rest. They normally have at least 25 boxes lining the driveway. The boxes are either $1.00 each or you pick and choose from the boxes and make your own box for $1.00. I swear, if I had a truck, I would just buy all the boxes and sort it out at home. They also have a flat bed trailer covered in linens and everything is 25¢ each. This includes a few clothes, but also kitchen towels, embroidered pieces, tablecloths, aprons, etc. They also often have boxes of material for $1.00. I bought a box of material once after I realized that the "material" was actually several tablecloths and other vintage linens. I think I ended up with 40 pieces for that $1.00. This was back when I had a flea market booth that did quite well. Then there are tables upon tables covered in little treasures. I am normally there about two hours looking at everything. Last year, I didn't buy that much, but I still had a lot of fun picking up a few things and looking at everything else. Everything in the entire sale is vintage. Nothing new, nothing modern. Just old stuff everywhere. I'll never sleep tonight thinking about it all. Gotta get to bed so I can get up early! I'll take my camera!

Thrift Thursday

We had a Family Fun Day yesterday. We visited a museum, went to the most heavenly smelling place I have ever visited - a bakery home to a cake decorator we saw featured on The Food Network, stopped at a thrift store that I have been going to for about 25 years (!), ate at our beloved Taco Tico (!!) and fed a pack of starving (or so they thought) geese at the park. My photos are being put on a disc, so I will share our day with you this weekend.

Until then, here are my thrifty finds from yesterday:

I love the heart shaped pockets on this apron. It's quite sweet. I think it will be gifted along the way to a certain someone. The thrift had recently implemented a new pricing system using the plastic tags that you normally attach a paper tag to - the plastic tags are colored and each color is a different price. The Super Cheap Thrift uses this pricing method too, but the colors were all different at this thrift. White tags were $1.00 and clear tags were $7.00 and I couldn't tell if the tags on these aprons were white or clear, so I asked and found they were white - so they were $1.00. (I wouldn't have paid $7.00, but I am guessing you already knew that). I left a few in the back, and now I am wishing I would have bought all of them.

Another sweet apron for $1.00. These are old fabrics and they are stain-free and in great condition. I'll probably gift this one too or add it to a swap along the way.

This 1957 Better Homes and Garden Book was $1.00. It is from 1957. I have the Decorating Book already, so I will list them this Fall. (Really, I will, I promise!)

And, lastly, the thing I felt "calling" to me at the thrift. I told the boys there was white pottery waiting for me in there, I just had to find it. And, I did. I found the first one, then a few shelves down, I found it's mate. And, they were only 25¢ each. These do have a slight gloss to the glaze, and I really prefer the matte finish. But, when you see white pottery and it is calling to you, you have to grab it! Some people prefer the gloss, so I might round up all my glossy pieces and sell them someday. Or, I might not. That's my prerogative!

Inventory

When I worked in retail we had to conduct a thorough inventory once a year. That involved a lot of cleaning, organizing and counting. During my cleaning sessions lately, I have also been conducting Inventory at home.

My inventory results are in:

9 Vintage Flour Sifters
5 Bakelite Handle Cake Servers
26 Vintage Tablecloths
68 Vintage Cookie Cutters

Here is my quandary. I don't really need nine flour sifters. Well, I really do need one flour sifter as the last time I baked a cake I realized that I didn't have a usable flour sifter. But, do I need need nine old unsanitary, not for use, flour sifters? No. So, I decided to line them up and sort them out. I have a red handled sifter. Need that one. I have a green handled sifter. Need that one. An aqua handled one. Need that one. A beat up old worn Bromwell's. Like that one. A brand new vintage Bromwell's with the original 48¢ price on the side. Love that one. And, so on and so forth. I'm in quite the pickle with those darn flour sifters.

I have this old cabinet in my kitchen that I am forever putting things in that I pick up at sales. Often it is something small priced 10¢ or 25¢ that I just grab to save from the landfill. Not everything is a valuable treasure, just things that I see and love and bring home to protect. I really don't even know what all is in there now. One of the doors recently came off the hinges, so I took some photos of my treasures. I am going to dump it all out and take inventory of the contents later this week. So, until then, enjoy the photos and 'scuse the dust.

Look at all the goodies! Old typewriter ribbon tins, tin toys, old stuffed toys, kitchen items galore, old blocks, crockery, cast iron toys, glass insulators, wooden cheese boxes, an ice cream scale, skeleton keys, iron locks and lots of other things that spoke to me at one time or another. That little Mercury crock up in the upper right corner was one of the very first old things that I ever brought home. I researched it and found that it was used in the coal mines. I think it was worth about $25.00 back then, but I loved it because of the history of it and kept it. This teeny handmade beaded coin purse is one of my favorites. It is not much bigger than a silver dollar and it is beaded front and back to look like an orange slice. It is very old and oh, so sweet. It was missing a few beads, but my Mom, the bead master, fixed it good as new, I mean good as old. The little celluloid doll is sitting in a very old primitively handmade scoop. It is made out of an old welded can.
An unused 1966 Date Book. I need to pencil in "Shara was born" on August 15th. Love the little teeny acorn the funny pipe cleaner Koala is holding. Don't forget - 'scuse the dust.
That glass item in the center is a very old blown glass paperweight full of seashells. The shell in the center is engraved with some words that I cannot make out and it drives me crazy with wonder and the date 1907. So, it is 101 years old. I want to know what it says and why someone made it. The stack of coins under it are over scale reproductions of coins that were made in 1976 for the Bicentennial. Each week there was a new coin and you could only buy them at a certain bank. My Dad bought me one each week so I would have the whole collection. That rubber cowboy popped out of the dirt at my Mom's house one day. She lives in a house that was once the Church Parsonage. Every time it rains, treasures pop out of the ground. One day she spotted a bride and groom cake topper in the dirt. Dolls of all sorts. An old clothespin doll, a wooden beaded doll, celluloid dolls (some missing limbs, oh my!), rubber dolls and plastic dolls. Geez, is that another flour sifter in the background? Make that 10 flour sifters, then. Cripes.
Here's a corner of the kitchen cabinet that is in an awkward spot so I just use it for display. I just put all the old molds in the big jar yesterday. I have so many of those little molds. I really, really, need to only keep ONE mold of each size and design, but noooooo, I have at least six of each size and each design. It is a sickness, I tell you, a sickness. I found that little cast iron stove in the center not long ago for 25¢ and I adore it. As I cull out items and find others that I love more, some of these items may go by the wayside. But, not the molds. Or the stove. Or the old packaging. Or the crow on the pie. Or the.......... It's a pickle, I tell you. A pickle.
Here are the vintage cookie cutters in their new home - the giant four gallon Mason jar. See that, at the top of the jar? Space! Room! A place to keep collecting cookie cutters! Yipppppeeeee. I've posted photos of this jar before, and it is deceiving. That is a HUGE rolling pin behind it. It weighs 12 pounds and it is 2 1/2 feet tall. I bought it from a lady that made pies for a living at a diner. How she lifted that thing all day long is beyond me. She made pies for 40 years with that rolling pin. It was a part of her life 40 hours a week for 40 years. And, she sold it for $2.00 at a yard sale. Why am I such a sucker for other people's history when they don't seem to care about their own history?

A few Saturday Finds

The Bean and I hit a few sales this morning. We have company in town, so my time was limited. I have never seen as many sales as I saw today. But, the pickings were slim because there were just too many people at all the sales. My main objective today was to find my new sweet little baby cousin, Luke some goodies. He is 20 months old. I wanted to find him a ride on toy so he'd have some entertainment today. I didn't find a ride on toy, but I did find him the cutest little metal shopping cart for a quarter! He pushed it around all day with his toys in it, his lunch, etc. He really loved that little thing! I also bought him a handful of cute little books for 25¢ each. I took him about $50.00 worth of stuff and it only set me back $1.00.

Here are my meager, but still fun finds. Five different new unopened packages of various blank cards, envelopes, tags and bookmarks. Each package was 50¢ each. The finial in the center was 50¢ and will be repurposed or added to something someday. The little yellow McCoy planter in the middle was $1.00. The 75¢ big die (one of a set of dice) is made of marble and was The Bean's purchase. The metal items and rolling pin were in a big bag for $1.00. I needed those little bundt pans and molds like a hole in the head as I have a cupboard full of them, but I cannot seem to pas them up when I see them. I love them!

The five metal cookie cutters were in the bag too. The bird and the Scottie dog are new additions to my evergrowing cookie cutter collection. I had to think long and hard about spending $2.00 on that bag, but really, the Scottie Dog was worth the $2.00! Not pictured was a bunch of plastic cookie cutters and a toy wooden rolling pin that were in the bag that will be re-donated.

I also bought a nice old wooden stepstool that needs a coat of a paint and some sanding. At 5'2", I am always in need of a stepstool! But, not another project!

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I received my win from Kristin yesterday. Not only did I get the scrumptious Lolly Dolly, but she sent me a Bag O' Bingo and a wonderful handmade card.

Thank you Kristin. Lolly has a loving home in Arkansas.

Thursday Thrifting

I went to the Super Cheap Thrift Store this morning. I've really cut back on the thrifting, but the Super Cheap Thrift is so, well, cheap and I can usually find a goodie or two without breaking the bank or cluttering the house. We also went to a couple yard sales. I mention that because the first item is from a yard sale.

I got this bowl full of matchbooks for $3.00. (Banana not included) I couldn't find anything to sue for scale except this banana. Pretty lame. The point is, this is one mega glass bowl chock full of matchbooks. The bowl was worth $3.00, although I will most likely re-thrift it. I'd bet there is at least 300 matchbooks in there, if not more. I bought them to resell, but in the recesses of my mind I think I am remembering you can't mail matches. Hmm. I found brand new ones and old ones that go back to the old five digit phone numbers. They are from all over the USA. I found one from Heinie's Steakhouse. I asked to go eat dinner there on my 7th birthday. It was a bit pricey and you didn't get much, but I wanted shrimp on my birthday. I guess I wasn't always frugal and thrifty! Don't most kids want pizza on their birthday?

This vintage red wicker purse was $1.50 at the S.C.T. That's like a hundred dollars at any other thrift! It's just so cheerful. And vintage-y.
This produce themed apron was 50¢. I love the veggies with the big pineapple stuck in there like it belongs.

A hodge podge of items. The material is a floursack, but I'm pretty sure it is new. With the Mill around here (the one I have shown before) there are a lot of new floursacks around. Still, it is a sweet print and as big as a pillowcase. It was 25¢. The shadowbox with strawberries was 25¢. It will most likely be emptied, painted and filled with something vintage-y and kitchen-y. A bag of vintage robin's eggs for 10¢, a bag of old sewing items including these two sweet cards of old buttons for 75¢ and the two old song books for 1937 were the bestest price of all. Free. Our library has a huge section of books for sale - paperbacks 25¢, hardbacks 50¢ and then a cartful that is FREE. They usually put the "old out of date books" in the box for free. Where do you think I go first?

Here's my "I don't know what I will do with it, but I had to have it" purchase of the day. This is a huge and very heavy wrought iron candelabra. It is very well made and I love it. I, however, have no where to put it, so it will be a thinker. I'll have to think about what to do with it. It was only $4.00. I've seen these re-purposed with old teacups on the candle holder part and old enamelware hung from the rest of it. I'd love to have it on my big front porch over the old wrought iron bistro set with the big pot of geraniums on it. What's that? I don't have a big porch with a bistro set and geraniums? Bummer. It's in the garage on top of my cool bulletin junk board that I made that DH broke (Grumble. Grumble) and a blue train case that I bought because all the other bloggers are snapping them up like hotcakes. I have no idea with to do with it. It's a thinker too.

There's a sale on the next street over on Saturday morning. It is advertised as "lots of knick knacks". That usually means box of stuff for digging and hidden treasures. Maybe, maybe not. It's the thrill of the hunt, right?

Gettin' Organized - One Space at a Time

We are about to start a lot of work at our house - new Heat Pump, Guttering, some odds and ends home repairs, some custom shelving in the living room, painting and new flooring. I expect my next year to be quite busy and full of strange men coming in and out of my house. (And some of them might even be there to work on the house. Ba-dum-dum!) We've lived here 14 years, so it is time to do some updating. We remodeled the kitchen five years ago and the bathroom two years ago, so we are slowly working our way through the house.

I am getting rid of things and putting the things I love out so I can enjoy them. I've been acquiring a lot of vintage tablecloths as of late, so I decided to get them out of an ugly plastic tote and put them where I can see them:
I folded them up neatly and put them on an old white metal kitchen cart that I had bought this spring for $3.00. It might be a temporary place for them, but at least they are out where I can see them.

And, since we can't afford to build on for more space, I am adding space where I can find it. I had a ton of baskets in the linen closet with my coupon purchased toothbrushes, deodorants and razors. I bought these nice fabric shoe organizers at the Dollar Tree. I stapled them to the inside of the door and now I have plenty of storage for all the little things that get lost in the shelves and baskets. I've even made labels for each pocket, but I haven't gotten them on the pockets yet. I'm so Martha! *snicker*

And, lastly. The Gift Closet. Doesn't everyone have one of these? I am always picking up nice gift-able items and putting them in the closet. The very same closet that got flooded in the Great Hot Water Heater Explosion of '08. I culled out a lot of the items that I had bought and donated them to my favorite thrift. It was all good new merchandise, I just overbought. For instance, at one time for some reason, I got an amazing deal on Amazon on Waffle Stick Makers. I think I got them for $3.00 each and ended up getting a rebate on top of that so they were either free or I ended up making money on them. But, I gave one to every conceivable person I could ever give a gift to and I still had a bunch left. So, they are gone.

I saved the glass dish set, a pasta cooking set, a baking set, two sets of all white dishes, an alarm clock, a silver cocktail shaker/bar set, a cool piece of new art pottery and a car washing kit. Something for everyone, right? I figured these are all good general gifts. As for that VCR - new in the box. We bought that for DH's parents, but his Dad died and we knew his Mom wouldn't use it and then she died a year later, so now we still have a brand new in the box VCR. I was told the new VCR's that they sell in stores now are really just Players and not Recorders. Is that true? It might be ebay-able now. The DVD/VCR unit was the Grand Prize at the Back to School Bash last year. DH won it and there it still sits. How do you get a man motivated to do anything? Granted, we already had one, but still, we could be using it instead of it sitting there on that shelf.

Next chore: I have shelves above the washer and dryer and they are crammed packed full of gift bags, ribbons, tissue paper and gift boxes. I am going to save a few and donate the rest. I am going to find only the phone books that are good for THIS year and get rid of the rest. All the partially burned candles are outta here. The batteries must all be in date. If I don't know what cord goes to what electronic, so be it, they are gone too. I am going to finally shred the cancelled checks from 1999. I will find The Bean's birth certificate and immunization record. I will put my photographs in matching pretty boxes with labels. Oh, a girl can dream, right? Photos to come.....

Lost, Found, Won & Done

Before the whole mess at school started, I volunteered there a few days a week, waited in line for thirty minutes each day to pick up The Bean, made copies for the teachers, baked cookies for their fundraisers, waved at all the Mom's, talked to the Mom's, served as a PTA Chairman, etc., etc., etc. I was like a fixture at that damn school. And then, one day,out of the blue, poof, I disappeared and only one person ever called to see where I had gone. Only one! But, I haven't blogged in four days and I had three emails asking if I was okay. Now, that, is friendship. Thanks to my buddies in blogville.

We had our house appraised today and I have pretty much been a madwoman cleaning, dusting rearranging and hiding clutter. Someone suggested hiding the clutter in the dryer. Well, there is a full fledged Laundromat down on the corner, and that wouldn't hold all my clutter! I decided to tackle the living room, kitchen, bathroom and master bedroom. My ebay room is beyond help and what can you do to a 12 year old boy's room when he is halfway between still being attached to his toys and halfway to music, video games and Hannah Montana. It's not like the house is a total disaster or anything, it's just that I don't know if your typical house has 12 picnic baskets stacked in the corner. I like it, and they hide my craft supplies very well, but what do other people think? Especially strangers. And even more especially, men strangers. Men don't often get the whole collecting thing. I culled it down to six baskets, donated two and put the others in the garage. I cleaned off the kitchen table. I mean, you could actually eat a meal on our table now! Yea, me! I mopped the floors, I hid the laundry, I scrubbed the bathroom within an inch of it's life, vacuumed the carpet until there was a hairball the size of a cat in the vacuum canister (can you believe how much crap comes out of your carpet????), cleaned the windows, dusted the blinds and did all sorts of other household chores. (Disclaimer: I do these things all the time, I just did them really, really well and really really often over the past three days. )

The Appraiser shows up, thirty minutes early, which is good because there wasn't one more thing I could do. He walks in, makes a note of where the doors, closets and windows are, sticks his head in each room and he is done. When he walked into my Office, he said, "Oh. My. God." And, I thought "Oh crap. My stuff." And then he said, "You have some COOL STUFF!" Then he proceeds to ask me for my ebay ID and starts asking about certain items I have in my Office. He said, "I have a lot of junk too, but I don't sell it. I just like it." Oh, a man after my own heart.

He was in and out in seven minutes and I worked for three days getting ready. Oh well. I have company coming this weekend, so I am ahead for the week. Hopefully our house will appraise at close to half a million after all my hard work. HA!

After three straight days of cleaning, I positively had to get out after he left. We headed to Target - Land of Hidden Deals. They've already clearanced out all their summer merchandise, which is crazy since the first day of summer is this weekend. But, if they want to mark it down and practically give it away, who am I to argue? Thee wasn't much left, but I did get a couple big plastic gallon size drink dispensers and a big Melamine striped bowl. I love giant bowls. The bigger the better. I don't know why, but I love having big bowls for salads, bags of chips, etc. All three things were $5.00, but would have been $15.00 since it was all 75% off.

On the way home, I spotted a thrift that has never been open on Mondays before, was open today, so the car just careened in on two wheels. Not much,which is fine. I've learned to buy only what I love and be happy with what I find and find a spot for it when I get home.

Here are my finds: A nice Floraline planter for 75¢, a hand carved Santa for 25¢ and a wee miniature old insuluator for 50¢. I've never seen such a teeny little insulator!

I entered a blog giveaway over at My Polka Dotted World. I rarely ever enter the giveaways on blogs because I seem to have my own surplus of goodies. But, when I spied the prize, I HAD to enter:

And... I WON! Oh, is she cute or what? I can't wait to get her and introduce her to the family. Thank you Kristin!

This concludes this post of random thoughts and silly stuff. I'll be back when I have something worth writing about!

Thrift / Trash Picking Thursday*

*Title courtesy of Heidi. Seems we had a similar day today.

The Bean and I were headed to a Church Sale this morning when I spotted something sitting at curbside that made me do a donut in the street. The lady that lives in the house where I found this often just sits things at the end of her driveway when she doesn't want them anymore. Just a thing or two at a time and no FREE sign or anything. It just sits there until someone takes it. And, it'susually me. (Man, I hope she just isn't trying to decorate the end of her driveway!)

Today I spotted this:

It's a cast iron candle holder with a huge glass hurricane sitting inside. Since it is made of cast iron, it is heavy as all get-out and in great shape. It is also very tall - about 24" tall. The glass hurricane is in perfect condition too. It's perfect. It's just not me. So, I did this with the base: Remember the 50¢ Tiffany lampshade that I made into a birdfeeder? I knew I would find a base for it one of these days. And, I did find one. Literally. And the glass hurricane?

Now its a big bell jar. I've had my eye out for another cloche for one of my pieces of pottery. And now I have it. For free. Love it!

As for the Church Sale, I spent $10.00. The Bean got six brand new cool skater shirts for 50¢ each, $65.00 worth of new books for a total of $1.35 and three brand new Beanie Babies. I'd say he has quite the stellar day. (I know Beanie Babies are not worth anything, but he likes collecting them and it gives him something to shop for at sales. $1.00 is the most we ever pay for them, usually more towards 10¢-50¢ each. This year, someone had donated at least 300 brand new Beanie Babies and they were selling them for $1.00 each. Last year on the last day of the sale, stuffed animals were 5¢ each. So, guess where we will be Saturday morning.)

What did I get? Not a lot, but I did run into one of my very best friends that I haven't seen in years and we gabbed for an entire hour inside the sale BEFORE I even shopped. Oh, it took restraint, but it was worth it to see my friend again.

Set of two monkey mugs - 10¢ each. Why? Why not?

A 25¢ vintage Razorback plaque for DH for Father's Day Gift because I am generous like that. My purchases where in the Houndstooth Clothing bag. Houndstooth was founded by an old High School classmate of mine. In fact, when he was just getting the company started, he saw some paperwork that I was doing for our class reunion and he said he could use someone organized like me to help run his company. But, he couldn't offer me health insurance, so I declined. He's a zillionaire now. Sigh. However, he did end up marrying the gal he did hire, so it worked out. For them.

A silly vintage vinyl Santa with jingle bells. Not sure what his original intention was - but he looked cute and was 10¢. I also bought a Gold Leo Ward Bird for 25¢, but I forgot to put him in this photo. And a set of funny vintage Santa coaters in a plastic sleigh., but I forgot to photograph them. Seems I am a tad forgetful today.

And, my cutie-pie item of the day. A sweet vintage apron with an embroidered bird and flowers. It was only 10¢ and very, very cute. But, it isn't blue or gingham and those are my apron collectiong guidelines. But! It has ric-rac and I am the ric-rac QUEEN. So, may I keep it anyway, pretty please?

Tomorrow another A/C man comes to give us an estimate. Monday we are having our house appraised. I am soo tired of strangers in my house. I suspect I am getting quite the reputation in the neighborhood what with all the A/C guys and Plumbers as of late. I just might outshine Crazy Carl the daily lawnmowing guy with my daily visits from strange men in trucks antics. "I got a Rep-U-tation!"

*Ten extra credit points if you know what movie that line is from!