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.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Weekend Finds

Another weekend of yard saling down the hatch. Saturday, my dad came over and he went yard saling with me and The Bean. My dad is sort of a "jump out of the car, take a quick look and leave" kind of guy. I am more of a "look at every single thing and dig in all the boxes" sort of gal. So, I had to hurry a bit more than I am used to doing. We went to the Super Cheap Thrift and he was in and out in about three minutes. I did manage to snag one good item before we left. Here is the one and only item my Dad bought - a Dept. 56 Volkswagen. I found it in a box and held it up to show him because we had a red Volkswagen just like this when I was a kid. He handed me a quarter for it. He planned on giving it away, but I managed to make him forget he bought it so I could have it for my Christmas Village. I mean, I need a red Volkswagen for my village, right? Sorry, Leon.
I did manage to dig in one box at one big parking lot fundraiser sale. It was a box of cheapy dollar store Christmas stuff, but sometimes I find a treasure at the bottom of those boxes. This was my treasure in that box - four lovely Poland ornaments. 50¢ for all four.

A sweet little vintage dog planter for 50¢. I got that green paint off his face since I took the picture. I didn't even notice it when I bought it. Luckily, it came off.

Here's my score from the Super Cheap Thrift. And, it was the most expensive item I have ever bought at the Super Cheap Thrift - $4.00. Still cheap, I know. But I am used to 5¢ and 25¢ price tags. It is in great shape and I love that black deco looking handle. I have a couple of the old tumblers already. I will most likely sell it, but I think we will have to enjoy at least one pitcher of lemonade out of it before it goes. My Mother hates these metal things - she remembers them from her childhood and they hurt her mouth.
One of my collections that I try really hard not to add to is miniature chairs. But I just love the little wooden ones and when the price is right, 25¢ each, I cannot leave them. Well, I could. I just don't want too!
Love this vintage frame for 25¢. I will be painting it white. Don't tell me not to - I am going to do it! ;o) The last frame I bought has an oval opening the exact size of this frame so I am going to mount this one inside that one. Got that?
I really liked the shape of this what I thought was a vintage shelf when I bought it for $2.00. But, when I got it home, I realized that it is very tropical with palm trees and such carved on it - it is Monkeywood from Hawaii. It really is not me now that I see all that. Not sure if I will paint if white and re-evaluate it or just re-donate it somewhere. I think if it was white and I put some of our Leo Ward birds on it, I would like it better. *Crossing fingers.*
A sweet cast iron bunny doorstop for $1.00. He will go out in the flowers in the yard. He was on a table in the boiling sun and hot as Hates when I picked him up. But, I liked him, so I carried him around even though he was burning my arms. Yard saling is not always easy!


And, one more thrifty find. but this one was on ebay. I never buy on ebay because I find enough treasures at the thrifts and yard sales. But, when I found this, I HAD to buy it!
Another set of my beloved mini toasting glasses. These are in the original display box with the literature and everything. These are shaped like the ones I remember my Great-Grandmother putting on my birthday cake when I was little. The very best part about these was that I bid on them at 99¢ and six days later - I won the auction! For 99¢! Shipping was only $4.00, so that was an awesome deal for me.

So, what did you find?

6 comments:

  1. Hey Shara, I would have lugged around that bunny, too....burning arms and all! Just read the article from the newpaper. Good article and you sounded great! Way to go! A celebrity! : )
    Jan

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  2. Anonymous11:08 AM

    Great finds! I love the old pitcher. I really like the toasting glasses. How exactly do you use them?

    I found exactly 0 zip nada nothing this week. I did a couple of drive-bys at yardsales on Saturday, but wasn't compelled to stop at any.'

    Have a great week!

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  3. Neat stuff - especially that shelf!
    And, you know, there is simply no earthly reason for you to have left those two adorable little chairs behind - so glad you didn't! I understand not being able to resist those!

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  4. PocketChange8:15 AM

    Great finds again! I love the little toast glasses, and I think you got a steal too (with the original box)! I agree, I never buy on e-bay because I can find all sorts of neat treasures at yard sales and thrift stores. Plus, there's something about picking up an item and holding it in your hand.

    You might like the monkeypod shelf if put your Leo Ward birds in it - try it and see. And, I hope you'll show us a picture of your twinned oval frames - sounds neat!

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  5. I didn't even notice that those were palm trees on that shelf thingie. I thought they were flowers. After you have your lemonade, get that pitcher on Ebay, because I've sold alot of that stuff, and it always sells really well! So happy for you that you found another set of toast glasses, and at a great price!

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  6. One of these days I'm coming over to drink tiny shots off of a frilly pink birthday cake. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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