May 31st

Today is our Anniversary.

19 Years.

We "dated' a year before that. so, that's 20 years.

We were friends a year before that, so that makes 21 years.

And, I thought he was a complete creep for two years before that. So, that's 22 years. Nearly impossible since I am only 25. ha

Here's the whole sorrid story of me and The Creepy Guy. 

I'll be back this week with tales of a journey, the big Anniversary Day details and some Fab-O junk I scored in a hurried roadside stop.  (To which I am going to attempt to visit again in a minute, if I can persuade the Bredman to let me go.  I used to be able to get anything I wanted if I just pouted right.  I'll see if it still works after all these years.....)  Let the pouting begin!

**It does say HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE on the sign.  But, it was really just a Dance hall.  Honestly.  Mostly.  Uh, huh.  ;o)

Conversations Overheard

Conversation overheard between The Bean and The Breadman.

Bean:  We need to buy Double AA's.

Breadman:  Okay.  I don't think you can buy those though.

Bean:  Why not?

Breadman:  We have to buy the stuff and Mom will need to make them.

Bean:  What?  We buy them at The Dollar Tree all the time!

Breadman:  We do?  I've never seen any here.

Bean: Are you kidding me?  We always have Double AA's.

Breadman:  Double AA's?  OH!  I thought you said Deviled Eggs.

Do you see what I am up against over here?

Lord have Mercy.

Craft Challenge - Fergie Style

Earlier in the month, Rebecca announced another Craft Challenge.  This is the third challenge she has hosted that I have participated in.  Rebecca finds an item, sends one to each of the participants and then we work some magic on it.  This time, Rebecca found these cool old appointment cards at a Treasure sale. 

When I saw it, I thought it might be a fun one, so I signed up.  I thought about what on Earth I would make with it as I waited for it to arrive.  I kept thinking about  the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on the front. 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

Friday, Saturday, Saturday, then Sunday.

Anyone following me here?

I couldn't get the Black Eyed Peas out of my head!

"I Gotta Feelin'"

Let's Do It! 

Party Everyday...Party Everyday!

So, I went with it.  My ode to the Black eyed Peas, I suppose.

I broke out all my stickers that I hoard in my scrapbooking supplies. (I don't scrapbook, yet I have a three drawer chest of drawers chock full of scrapbooking stuff....).  I found all my letters and managed to make the word PARTY in each day and add some party decor like balloons, streamers, stars, confetti, cupcakes and the like.  I got a lot more on there than I ever thought I could.  I added some rickrack for a bit of whimsy and called it done.  I don't know - it's different than my usual craftiness.  But, I like it!

Party Everyday! 

Thanks Rebecca - it was fun!

Weekend Junkin'

Saturday I headed out looking for a yard sale or two (or nineteen).  I found a bunch, but I only stopped at a couple.  I've never done my best at Saturday sales.  Too many diehard yard salers out at the break of dawn searching for treasures and too many people with a card table 'o baby crap and Tupperware calling it a Yard Sale for Saturday's to pan out for me.  But, it was a beautiful day to be out, sales or not. 

I finally happened upon what appeared from the road to be a huge sale in the parking lot of the very Church were the old Breadman and I tied the proverbial knot.  Once I actually got to the sale, it was Eh.  Lots of clothes and some manly looking construction stuff.  It turned out that I knew the man running the sale.  "Oh, Shara is here! She's got lots of money!" he said.  Ha.  Much to his disappointment, I only spent 50¢. 

I did find one treasure in the mix:

I usually find these canisters with burn marks, missing the lids, cracked or completely faded.  This coffee canister is perfect.  I have it sitting on my counter holding my Hershey's Almond Kisses and if you tell anyone at my house about those Kisses, you are no longer my friend.  ;o)

I was on the way back home, when I spotted some junk out in a field.  Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel.  Brakes.  I'm there.  The Bean scored some Playstation games for $1.00 each and a Bocce set for $5.00.  I got excited when I saw the Bocce Set, I keep hoping to find a Croquet set and thought I have finally found it.  I was disappointed at first that it was not a croquet set, but decided that we needed a Bocce Set too.  Now that all the summer re-runs have started, we spend a lot of time in the backyard playing games. 

I found two things on the $1.00 tables.

A sweet old Chocolate tin.  A bit worse for the wear, but it still has a lot of charm. 

It was well worth a buck, I thought.  Hey!  It's a chocolate tin.  Another hiding place for Hershey's kisses!  Shhh!

I was also surprised to find this tiny old JAPAN porcelain tea cup sitting on the $1.00 table.  I never, ever buy tea cups and I rarely ever buy souvenirs.  But, this tea cup is special - this is Old Main at the University of Arkansas campus, only two miles from my house.

See?  Cool, right?

So, that's it, only three things.  But, three sweet, happy things.  Sometimes I bring home a carload and I am happy.  Other times, I only find a few things, but they make me just as happy.

I hope you found some treasures this weekend.  And some Kisses.  Chocolate or otherwise!

*I had to buy storage space to make this post.  I wondered when I would run out out space.  Good news!  I bought enough for 10,000 photos in the next year.  Yeehaw!

A Good Day of Junk.....Ahhhhhhhhhh

First, thanks to all of you for your kind words of encouragement on my last post. My life isn't so bad, it's the lives of everyone that I care about right now that is in turmoil. But, it will work out. We'll all get through it.  But, until then, it really did feel good to vent a bit.  Thanks!

Don't you love this big glass toadstool jar?  It is so sticking fabulous, I can barely stand it.  It came with the vintage garland and the lovely vintage spun ornaments for 50¢.  Fifty cents, I tell you!  Love the old bar glasses.  I think they would make good vases for summer wildflowers.  A pink elephant, seriously?  Seriously cute!

Today The Breadman got called back to work even though is vacation wasn't over until Monday.  He was not happy about it, but his boss was desperate and offered to give him a few days off in a month or so to make it up to him.  One of his work friends is in the hospital with a bad, bad injury, so he doesn't mind helping for him.

I kept going back to this framed piece.  Those are actual Dogwood Blossoms under glass.  It's just a homemade project, but I really liked it.  It was only 50¢, so I decided to get it.  Even though my walls are geting badly crowded.  The matte white baby is absolute perfection in my matte white pottery collection. 

Since The Breadman was back to work, I looked at Craigslist and Holey Guacamole there were a ton of garage sales!  You don't have to tell me twice - off I went.  Zoom!  First stop was a Church Sale that I went to last year just at the end of my street. I got a ton of good stuff, so I was itching to get there. When I did get there, there weren't any cars, despite the giant yellow BIG SALE in the yard. I pulled up and noticed a man sitting in a chair by the door. He waved for me to come on in and shop. I've never had a Church Sale all to myself before. Sadly there wasn't much there, but what was left was only 50¢ each. As I paid, the man having the sale smiled and waved his money bag at me..."We've already made a thousand dollars today!" he said very excited. Good thing I am an honest law abiding gal. I think I could have taken him. 

I spotted this cool old tie rack on a table at sale, but it was full of ties.  I asked the lady if it was for sale and she hemmed and hawed and really never gave me an answer.  I kept looking at other things and started making a pile.  When I paid for my pile, I asked about the tie rack one more time.  She said it holds the ties so nicely, I hate to sell it.  Okay, I thought.  Then she said "How about $5.00 for the ties and the rack?"  $5.00 was a pretty good price for the rack, so I grabbed it.  There ended up being about 40 really nice handpainted and abstract ties from the 1940's on it.  The case of ViewMasters and reels was from the same sale for $1.00.

Our second stop was at a neighborhood sale where we went to about six sales on one block.  One turned out to be a lady that I know.  She is in her late 60's and just got married, so all the new hubby's stuff had to go.  I thought that was funny.  She mostly had a ton of DVD's and books.  We bought a couple movies and a stack of Hallmark Collector Club yearly membership packs.  I'm hoping that those sell.  I haven't looked them up yet.  Do you know that with all the photos I post, there are things that I buy that I don't even mention on here???  Clothes, movies, music, video games, books and the like don't get a mention here.  But, we do buy a lot of good usable things. 

Old Hiawatha book, small flower frog, a wee JAPAN deer figurine, old pottery shoe, old cheese box, magic Art Magic Copier and a framed dried flower bouquet.  

After the neighborhood sale, we did a few drive-bys.  I never used to do that, and it makes me feel rude to do it.  But, honestly, if I only see clothes and baby stuff, I'm not stopping.  We finally found one that looked promising due to massive amount of stuff scattered in the yard.  The Bean ended up getting a nice stack of books about mummies, crypts, skeletons and zombies.  Such happy reading!  (He loves books).

Four very nice end of the day marbles and a scissor rack.

I decided to drive out on the highway just a bit to see if there was  one more sale.  I spotted a sign that said HUGE SALE.  I am leary of that word HUGE.  In my experience, any sign that says HUGE, really isn't.  But this one....it was!  It was a four car garage with three room chocked full of stuff.  It was like a store, but everything was cheap.  Even the antique-y stuff that is usually was high, was cheaper than usual.  I ended up with a huge bag full of stuff for $5.70.  I loved it!!!!

The next photos are my favorite finds of the day.

Three incredibly cute wooden girls with flowers.  As I picked them up, I said to myself, "Please be cheap, please be cheap!'  And, they were....50¢ for all three!  They are from Germany and I love them.  And, they are cleaned up now - I didn't realize how dusty they were until I saw this photo.

A beautiful aqua colored West Germany Candy Container.  This is one of my most sought after items.  I thought it might me a repro when I picked it up, but it is marked West Germany on the lining.  And, it was only 50¢!

I found this old BBQ apron at the sale with the tie rack.  Can you believe this silly apron???  Check out the wiener cowboy on his wiener horse with the fork and spoon legs.  And, a wiener fence!  Larry was a fancy BBQ'er!

The top of the apron has all  these old charms all over it.  I have a feeling that this might sell okay, but I just do not think I can let it go.  Not yet anyway.  I love blue and red vintage linens.  And, this fits that.  Not to mention the wiener man! 

One last thing - a quilt.  I don't know the pattern - it looks like butterflies in this photo, but the quilt is sideways, so not sure.  it's older, but not super old.  There are feedsack squares in there.  It was only $2.00 and I never leave a $2.00 quilt behind.  It's a good useable picnic quilt or wintertime quilt. 

So, my day of junking.  Ahhhh, it felt good.  And, there are plenty more sales tomorrow.  But, I think I might just consider myself lucky to find all these goodies and not tempt fate. 

But, then again.......

Oh, Woe Is Me

Whine, whine, whine.  My life sucks.  Whine, whine, whine.

There that's it in a nutshell. 

It has rained every damned day for a week.  It is storming right now. It is going to rain tomorrow.  Rain, rain, go away!

We still have major Grandma issues going on.  My Mom is still trapped in her house with her.  It's been a month now.  It is crazy and not fair.

Yesterday, my dad stepped out of a business, caught his toe on the cement and tripped off an 18" high porch.  He was splayed out on the parking lot and no one came to help him.  He finally yelled for help and a man came and looked at him.  My Dad asked for him to get an employee to help him because he couldn't get up.  He thought he had broken his leg because he couldn't move.  The man went in and got an employee who came walking out the door and said, "What are you trying to pull?  Get the F*** off my property!"  He's 72 years old for God's sake, why would he throw himself off a porch?????  He said he needed help getting up, he thought his leg was broken.  Again, "Get the F**** off the property" and then went in the store.  My dad got his cellphone out and called 911.  He asked for the police, but they sent an ambulance instead.  He was actually scared because they were being so mean to him - he wanted the police there.  When the ambulance came, they agreed he was hurt, but maybe he could call a family member since the hospital was only a few blocks away and it was not life threatening.  He agreed and said he would call me.  By this time, they had him on his feet, but he couldn't bear weight on his knee or leg at all.  When the owner of the store saw him on his feet, he came out the door and said, "Get the F*** off my property" and then called my dad all sorts of names.  My Dad said he was going to call his daughter to take him to the hospital.  The owner said, "If you don't take you vehicle off my property, I will tow it."  So, my Dad got in the truck and drove home even though he could barely use his leg. 

He called me and I took him to the Emergency Room.  He has a badly sprained knee.  He has to stay off of it for about a week and keep ice on it.  He is on pain killers and an anti-inflammatory.  He is really messed up.  Getting hurt was bad enough, but the way he was treated was simply not acceptable.  He did the right thing by calling an ambulance so it is on record and we have the hospital records on our side.  The business is known for having cameras everywhere, so I imagine that it is all on tape somewhere.  I will be contacting a lawyer.

So, there you have it.  Well, that and a bad seizure for my sweet kitty (she is fine now) and a mental breakdown from The Bean because I am so damned stressed all the time.

Whew. 

That's it.

So, today, we went to a Baseball Game.  I don't like sports.  It rained.  Hard.  I don't like sitting in the rain.  It got cold.  Cold isn't fun either.  There were 5,000 local school kids on hand that had to huddle under the eaves during the storm and it was absolutely deafening.  I hate noise. 

But, you know what?  As I sat watching the baseball game in the cold, I realized that it was actually the most enjoyable day I have had in a long time.  I really had a good day.

Whew.

See, they actually played some baseball!

*I won't continue with the Woe is me posts.  I like to be optimistic and I am optimistic that things are about to turn around!  And, drive right over me.  I kid! 

Junk & A Little Culture

I have a lot of junk in my yard.  I like to use old things as displays.  I haven't gotten my flowers planted yet this year.  I'm a bit late, but every single Saturday when I think I will get it done, it is cold and rainy.  Maybe this week I will actually get some flowers planted.

I love my old concrete bunny.  I scored him for two bucks at a sale many years ago and he continues to be one of my favorites.  Long time readers may remember how he was stolen once out of my yard, but I got him back but putting huge "BRING BACK OUR BUNNY" signs in the yard.  I guilted the thief into returning him. 

See - that's a lot of junk!  But, I will plant flowers and put a bucket of flowers on the ladder to soften it all up a bit.  I love all my old watering cans that I have found.  I nearly killed myself trying to haul that big rusty wheel to my car one day.  It weighs a ton!

Junk everywhere!

I got this big fern for Mother's Day. 

It's huge!

Come on in.....there's plenty more junk inside!

*My Rookwood tile ends tomorrow night.  I had it end on Saturday night so it wouldn't end during the Survivor finale.  And, I like to watch auctions end.  I am always home on Saturday night.  Only once in the entire past year have I not been home on a Saturday night.  But, guess what?  I won tickets to the theater tomorrow night, so I won't be home!  I won't get to watch it end.  That's okay.  It's at $100.00 now, and that is one heck of a profit already! 

Wednesday's Thrifty Finds

Even though it was The Breadman's Birthday and he was in charge of the day's events, I managed to sneak into one thrift.  We have gone to this same thrift the past two weeks and both times I have found more sets of my beloved Toasting Glasses. 

The Breadman found these last week in the hardware section.

The week before I found this set in the hardware section too.   Odd spot for them to say the least, but I am happy to have added them to my collection.  And, the best part?

I actually remembered to use them on the cake this time! 

On to the meager, but fun thrifting finds:

A wee teeny pottery pitcher for my wee teeny pitcher collection.

A pair of celluloid Indian dolls. 

A new to me find - Standard Oil Wayside Candles.  I could tell they were old and I thought they were Gurley Candles until I looked at the tags.  The fat guy is funny.  He is very rotund!  I'll have to do a bit of research on these to see if the stay or go.

Speaking of research....... 

I bought this tile last Friday at a yard sale.  I could tell it was older when I touched it just because of the heft of the pottery, the coolness of the glaze and the muted colors.  But, I didn't recognize the mark. 

So, I did some research.  I discovered that it was Rookwood Pottery.  I have never seen a piece of Rookwood, so I wasn't familiar with the markings.  This particular tile is from 1927.  That is quite a bit older than I had thought!  A bit more research led me to see that they are worth a good amount of money.  Far better than the $1.00 I paid for it, that's for sure!  I listed it on ebay last Saturday night and it is currently at $72.00.  Not bad for $1.00!  If it ends there, I am happy.  (But, I will be really, really happy if it keeps going, going, going!).  There are a few others that have Buy It now prices over Five Hundred Dollars.  I think they are dreaming.  Whatever I get is good.  (Yes, $500.00 would be good.  Very good!)

The best part about this whole experience is that I have ebay fever again.  I used to sell a ton on ebay, but then I slowed down and then I just stopped.  Occasionally I will list a thing or two if I look it up and see it is worth selling.  I forgot what a rush it is to see something jump up $20.00 while you are watching Survivor or doing the dishes.  Perhaps this is just the nudge I need to start listing some more of my junk treasures!

Happy Birthday, Breadman

It's The Breadman's Birthday.

I know I don't talk about him a lot.  He works a lot.  A real awful lot.  He leaves for work at 1:30 in the morning and he gets home about 5:30 in the evening.  That is 16 hours a day.  On Saturday he gets off early.  He only works 12 hours that day.  He's not around for most of our adventures.  He's working.  Or asleep.  Or listening, watching or breathing Arkansas Razorbacks Sports.

You will never see him without his Arkansas Razorback shirt.  Or sweatshirt.  Or coat.  Or socks.  Or all of the above.  I haven't found and Razorback undies yet, but when I do, I will get The Breadman some.

He has 32 Arkansas Razorback shirts, five coats, six sweatshirts and three windbreakers.  His truck has all the paraphernalia - magnets, flags, Crazy fan guy stuck on the back window, license plates, antenna ball, etc.

This year I am giving him money to go towards his Arkansas Razorback season tickets.  They are expensive!  He saves up money all year to buy them.  He cut out "the extras" in life so he can afford them - chocolate Milk, Diet Coke, Fast Food on the run at work, Valentine flowers for his wife.  (Ahem, I got that one corrected.  Valentine flowers are not "extras".)

So, Happy Birthday to The Breadman. 

*If you see a Breadman at the store.  Thank him.  He hasn't seen his family in days.