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.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Tuesday's Thrifty Finds

Yesterday I cleaned out all the closets in the house.  I threw away one trash bag full of stuff and donated five huge stuffed bags to Goodwill today.  We don't even have a Goodwill in town, but we do have a Goodwill Donation Only Center not far from my house.  You just drive up and a bell rings like the old gas stations used to do - the door opens, a smiling face opens your car, unloads it, says "Thank you" and you are on your way.  Super easy and super handy.  And, while it is handy, it doesn't give me the "I just got rid of six bags of stuff, so I deserve a trip to the thrift" excuse to go in to the thrift.  Ha.  So, I had to drive across town to the Salvation Army for that fix!  (I don't like donating to the Salvation Army - they put people that are working Community Service out to accept donations and they are not friendly and I've seen them make fun of donations and throw complete bags of clothes into the "Rag Bin".)  

The Salvation Army never used to sell much Holiday Merchandise.  In fact, they hardly used to sell much of anything.  On Saturday's they had a Parking Lot Sale and pretty much put out all the boxes of donations that came in that week.  People would line up an hour early waiting while they unloaded the pallets of boxes.  I went once, years ago.  I filled up three boxes and they only charged me a couple of bucks.  But, it is dirty work and you can get hurt - I spotted a steak knife sticking up in a box of Happy Meal Toys once, just as The Bean went to dig in it.  I decided never to go back to those sales again.  Recently, they got a new manager and she likes to sell things in the store - as many things as she can cram in there.  And, much to my delight, she has them price it fairly inexpensively. 

They have a a big selection of Christmas items this year.  I was eager to have a look and see if I could find anything of neat-o vintage variety, or if it would all be newer junk.  I'm happy to report that I found a couple of jewels!
Three nice vintage handmade felt Stockings - sequins, beads, glitter.......you can't get any better than that!  $1.00 each.  Lovin' that Santa.
Three vintage-y children's Christmas books - Rudolph will get a glittery treatment and the other two will go to the Booth - 30¢ each.
I found this adorable planter in the new "One of a Kind" section that the Salvation Army recently added.  It is full of quirky and weird things - right up my alley!  I love those cute chubby love birds on top.  It will go in my Valentine decorations.  (Always thinking ahead, I am!).  You are already getting a peek at my favorite item......
Twelve mercury glass picks!  Twelve!  I am always on the hunt for these beauties.  I think I only have three so far.  So, I really increased my collection today!  They were stuck on a tree that was for sale.  I spotted one pick, then another, then another, etc.  I walked around and around that tree, until I had them all picked off and I was a bit dizzy.  I was worried that they wouldn't sell them to me since they weren't priced, but the lady didn't bat an eye, and only charged me $2.00 for them all.  

Tomorrow I go decorate the booth for Christmas.  Next week I will take all my vintage kitshcy items in and stock it up for the holidays. 

Speaking of Kitsch - I had an idea this morning and I whipped out my crafty stuff and made my vision.  I am madly in love with it, and hope you will be too.  But, I will save that post for another day.  :D

8 comments:

  1. Good finds on the picks - always on the hunt for those too. LUCKY and a GOOD price...

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  2. So, Joella in't at the Sally anymore? It is probably a much nicer place to work and shop then! I loved that parking lot sale they had and it was my regular Saturday thing for several years. I miss it!

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  3. Great finds.I'm adding those picks to my list of "someday my thrift store will have those"!Have a great day.Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Anonymous9:21 AM

    STEAK KNIFE IN TOYS???? YIKES! Glad that the new manager has some sense! The S.A. is my favorite out here but the prices are ridiculously high. I go in and if the sign reads "30% off entire store" I will shop. Every other Friday it is 50% off the entire store but it is crazy then. I like to shop for books for the Professor...he is really into one particular series and I always find one or two. I also find high end kids clothes for pennies!!!! My kids are dressed nice and I don't have to worry about the stains that are a given! Great finds. I am really excited to see your creation!!!!

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  5. I don't think I've ever seen the glass picks before, I'm going to look for them. They are very pretty.

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  6. I always hate to see knives stuck haphazardly in a thrift. So many children and they can get hurt so quickly. I love your finds but the mercury glass picks are the best!

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  7. We just recently got rid of some stuff at goodwill also, which was a great excuse to go look inside for some treasures. We did find some cute things!! We love that planter, great finds!

    Laura and Michele

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  8. Mercury glass picks are probably in my top 5 most coveted items to find. I LOVE THEM! The ones you found are gorgeous!

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