MORE Thrifty Finds...I'm on a Roll!

If the past week is any indication of what junk lies in store for me this year - it's going to be a good year.  It's been a long winter and I need some JUNK.  More to sell than to keep - but JUNK, nonetheless.

This glass, or vase, or whatever it is is just weird.  It says FOR JUST on the top and ABOUT ANYTHING on the bottom.  All around the sides it says all sort of "J" words like JuJuBee's, Jerky, Jigsaw Blades, Jalopy Keys and my favorite - JUNK.  It was $1.25 with 25% off, so once I saw JUNK, I knew I had to have it.  I may use it to hold flowers this Spring.  What type of flowers?  Why JONQUILS, of course!  :D

This old match holder with an owl on it will go to the booth. 

As I walked around the thrift store, I kept spotting different pieces of pottery scattered about.  Since the price was right, I gathered them all up, then cut some of them when I saw they were just Mexico pottery.  But I was lucky enough to find three great pieces in the mix.  The round one is Niloak which was made in Arkansas in from 1909 to 1946.  The middle piece is Nemadji Pottery which was made in Minnesota in the 1930's to 2000.  The small piece is Silver Springs Pottery made in Florida in the 1930's.  I already have teh Nemadji piece listed on ebay, I am keeping the Nilaok since it was made so close to home and I am still researching the Silver Springs piece.

Speaking of ebay.  I have been picking up Scrabble games for a few years.  I have been dumping the letter tiles into a big gallon jar and it finally got full.  Today, I made the boys help me count, sort and alphabetize all those tiles.  I ended up with 1026 tiles.  I listed them on ebay tonight with a starting bid of $59.99 (I never start for much over $9.99 due to the fees, but right now listings are FREE, so I decided to aim high).  Anyway, I had a BID on them within NINE minutes.  So, grab up those Scrabble tiles!  And sell them!  FYI the racks are worth selling, too).

Friday Thrift Finds

That's two*clink* two thrift find posts in one week.  Maybe the junk gods are going to smile down on me again soon.  It's been a long winter!  I chose not to go to the Estate Sale yesterday because I knew it would be packed and I only had d certain a mount of thrifting money set aside.  Besides, I never know what I missed and I am happy with what I found. 

As it turned out, when I got to the sale, I actually knew the lady having the sale.  I see her at all the thrifts and she has sales quite often.  She owned a shop at one time, she sells on ebay and has these occassional sales from time to time.  (I suppose the word occasional explained that...)  Anywho - I had told her about Etsy and she told me today that she was loving it, so I was glad to hear that.  She had a lot of neat things, but her prices were a bit higher than I like to pay.  Not that they weren't worth what she had priced - it's just that I have this damn cheap gene and I won't pay much for junk. 

First the junk I get to keep.  And, it's not junk - it's good stuff!.  A sweet vintage aqua pottery pup, a nice matte white vase and a small flower frog.  The pottery is perfect for the pottery collection and the flower frog fits right in with my collection of frogs.

A vintage cedar cigar box - DYNAMITE.  I like to keep my crafty stuff in cigar boxes - I love the unique ones like this.  What shall I keep in it?

I was on my third and final walk through when I spotted this giant handmade key on the door frame.  It was only $1.00, so I snagged it.  Nest to it was  set of metal keys on a ring that I thought was $2.00, so I scooped them up too.  The Bean informed me they were $20.00!  Yikes!  Quite a difference in prices. 

Now for the find of the day!  Like I said, this lady knows her stuff and sells in a lot of different venues.  So, for me to find something worthy or reselling at a decent money really surprised me. 

OLD stone fruit.  Really old stone fruit.  Not that made in Mexico stuff. 

 A beautiful apple.

Two overly ripened bananas.

 A juicy ripe peach.

 A sweet nectarine.

An ready-to-eat apricot.

 And a fig. 

I love old stone fruit, but I will be listing these this weekend to sell.  They deserve to go to a good home that will treasure them.  They are really great.

So, did you find anything this week?  You did?  Spill it!

*You remember those old Certs commercials, right?

Nifty Thrifty Finds

The weather has been nice here, so I have been able to get out quite a bit. We are trying to enjoy the outside by walking trails, digging in the muck at the lake, etc. But, I almost always manage to squeeeeze in a thrift stop along the way. When there is a will - there is a way!

Here are the recent finds:

A vintage Safe-T-Cone Ice Cream Dipper, two salt dips and a "Beans" pot.  I bought the "Beans" pot for The Bean to store his pens and pencils in - I thought it was cleaver, but I am not sure that he feels the same way.  :D

Three small artist signed pottery pieces - the tallest is only 2" tall.  I love miniature pieces of pottery.  These were 50¢ each at the Salvation Army. 

A vintage "Punch-O-Dex".  It is a two hole punch that makes index cards fit perfectly into a "Roll-O-Dex".   This was 50¢ at the SA, and I thought that seemed terribly cheap, so I happily picked it up.  When I checked out, the lady said, "What is that thing?"  So, I told her.  "Well, I gotta try that out!", she said.  So, she grabbed a postcard and started punching away.  "Woohoo, I could do this all day!" she said.  Okaaaaay.

Someone had donated their entire collection of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls at the Salvation Army today.  There were about 40 of them in all sizes - handmade, store bought, old, new, etc.  They looked really cute in the window.  If I had my own shop, I would have bought them all.  But, since I don't have a shop, I only bought this older Raggedy Andy Doll.

I was surprised to find this sweet little girl at the SA - I rarely ever find anything truly vintage there.  She was the sweetest face!  I have absolutely ZERO Graduation items and I do not intent to buy any.  But, this little girl had to come home to me!

There is an old house up the highway that puts things out in the yard almost every Saturday. I usually don't go to those sort of places, but I have had some good luck there. The first time, I got a bag full of chandelier crystals and jewelry for 59¢ (he only took the change I had) and the next time, I bought a shoe box packed full of old jewelry for $10.00.

This past weekend I saw the yard full, so I stopped to have a look.  I picked up this Shoney's Big Boy Bank.

There was a big Rubbermaid tote full of old men's ties and out of habit, I stuck my arm in to stir them up thinking I might spot a handpainted one or a Nudie lady (!).  But, instead, I pulled out a bolo tie with a beaded slides and ends.....then another one...and another one.  I asked the man how much the ties were and he told me $1.00 each.  Then he said, "I like the one with the flags" referring to a silk one.  I told him that it was a nice tie, but I was more interetested in the string ties.  "Oh, well those, those are........(...my heart thrumping waiting for a fat price...) 50¢."  They really should have been a lot more than those old cloth ties, but who am I to argue?  :)

I grabbed a box and started sorting through the cloth ties, pulling out more and more bolo ties.  Turquoise, inlay, stones, handpainted ones and lots of different ones.  An older man walked up right as I walked away with all those ties on my arm - he sucked in his breath and uttered a swear word under his breath.  (Sorry dude.) 

I also picked up these four concho belts that were priced 50¢ each.  I found a clay flower frog (that I forgot to take photo of now that I think about it...) and he said, "You can have that - if you tell me what the heck it is!  The wife and me been trying to figure it out for days!"  When I laid out the goods for him to price, I knew I had over $10.00 in priced things as well as a few other things that remained to be priced.  "Oh, gimme five bucks", he said.  I tell you what, he is my kind of guy!  You can bet I will be stopping there until they run out of stuff to sell.

This last item is a thrifty after Valentine's Day find at Walmart.  They are marshmallow cupcakes and they are not something I would ever consider eating.  They have a terribly strong fruity smell and a thick not-what-I-would- call marshmallow consistancy to them.  But, they are adorable!  And, they ere only 75¢.  I put them in this old blue jar and put them by my vintage birthday candle collection.  They had marshmallow donuts and marshmallow chocolate covered strawberries too.  I think any of them would be cute in a jar on display.  Who wants an old bottle of vinegar and oil on the counter when you can have a big jar of cupcakes?????  From the looks of them and the list of ingredients, I think I may very well be able to pas this jar down to my grandchildren and those marshmallow cupcakes will look just like they do today. 

There is what appears to be a very promising Estate Sale near me on Thursday.  I love Thursday sales and this particular one starts at NOON.  Woohoo, no 4 am wake up call for moi.  I think I see a lot of things that look awesome.  It says prices are reasonable - but we will see about that. 

Art Wreck

On our day out the other day, we stopped at a truck stop,restaurant/convenience store/arcade/art gallery (yes, you saw that last one right) and I spotted this painting for sale.

I think I know where the artist got their inspiration.......

Don't you agree?????

**Thank you for all your sweet comments and nice words.  I write this blog for me and I am still amazed when people read it.  I feel like I have made a lot of friends out in Blogworld, and it makes me happy that you consider me a friend too.  As for the haters........{tongue waggle} nanner-nanner-boo-boo.

Happy Thrift Store Volunteer

I generally go to the Super Cheap thrift on Thurdays because my favorite ladies run the register.  Everything is already priced, so it's not because they give me good deals - it's because they are so nice.  They are always happy to see me and say I buy the most interesting things.  Most of the people that shop there are using vouchers to get clothing and household items.  I buy all the weird stuff, the unusual stuff, and the vintage stuff.

Yesterday I found this for 50¢.  It's a vintage Add-A-Matic hand held adding machine.  This was high tech in the 1950's - you used it at the grocery store to tally up your purchases.  In this age of high tech everything, I love to show The Bean the technology of yesteryear, so I threw it in my bag. 

When I checked out, the lady that was bagging up my purchases, grabbed the Add-a-matic and clutched it to her chest.  She kept saying, "No way!  No way! No way!"  She told me how her Mother worked at Sav-On and used one of these at her job and when she grocery shopped and when she paid bills., etc.  She said she always had it in her pocket or in her purse.  "Whenever I picture my Mom, I see her with one of these in her hands", she told me.  She had tears in her eyes when she said her Mother had died about a year ago. 

So, what could I do?  I gave it to her.  She tried to pay me for it - she even wanted to give me a dollar.  But, I didn't want it.  Her face made my day.  She was so happy.  She said, "My kids are going to FLIP!"

Making her happy, made me happy too.

**Blog buddies - I no longer accept Anonymous comments.  If you do normally leave comments aanonymously, please register for a Blogger Profile.  It's painless.  Or, you can email your comments.  I like hearing them.  Just not from the ONE Anonymous person that seems to think it is okay to say hateful and hurtful things about me.  :( 

Yoplait Two Week Tune Up Givaway

***UPDATE:  And, the winner is..........drumroll...........SvelteSTUFF!  Congrats, Sue.  I'll ssend your inof to Blogspark and they will mail you your prize. 

MyBlogSpark has graciously sent me a Yoplait Two Week Tune Up kit and has offered to send one to one of my readers as well! 

This year, Yoplait Light is giving women a great new way to get ready for special occasions with the launch of the new Two Week Tune Up plan. Whether it´s for a class reunion, a birthday, or your best friend´s wedding, Yoplait Light´s Two Week Tune Up could help you lose five pounds in two weeks by:

• Replacing your breakfast and lunch with a Yoplait Light yogurt, a whole grain, and a fruit
• Eating a diet rich in lean protein and non-fat dairy, including a sensible dinner, beverages, and snacks
• Walking 30-40 minutes daily

Please visit Yoplait for study and full diet details.

I received enough coupons for FREE Yoplait Yogurt to be able to eat two a day for two weeks.  Unfortunately, I had difficulties getting any grocery store to let me use more than one coupon at a time, so I was unable to actually do the plan as it was meant to be.  I was able to get many of the yogurt's and I am still picking one up every time I go to the store.  We love the Strawberry Shortcake the best.  it is a really nice thick real strawberry tasting yogurt.  We tired the Boston Creme Pie and some of the dessert flavors, but I tend to like my yogurt natural tasting like strawberry, vanilla, etc.  Yoplait has always been our favorite yogurt and we will continue to buy it. 

Yoplait and Myblogspark will send one reader a prize pack consisting of a gym bag, a reflective wrist wallet and a pedometer as well as one coupon* for FREE Yoplait Yogurt. *This coupon offer for Yoplait Light yogurt is not valid in some states, including California, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota and Tennessee.

You can go here and print a coupon for 75¢ off 4 Yoplait Yogurts.  **This coupon offer for Yoplait Light yogurt is not valid in Louisiana, Nevada and North Dakota.

If you would like to win this prize pack, please leave a comment and tell me what your favorite flavor of yogurt is today.  Winner will be drawn Sunday.  The Prize Pack will be mailed to the winner from Blogspark.

Good luck!


**The products were given to me by MyBlogspark and Yoplait.  The opinions are my own.

Off the Beaten Track

Today was our first Free Fun Day of 2011. Free Fun Day is just that - the most fun we can find doing new and different things without it costing a dime. We got up bright and early, packed a picnic lunch and headed out for Lake Fort Smith. To get to Lake Fort Smith, you go on the Interstate, through the only tunnel in Arkansas and drive over bridges that are hundreds of feet above land. I've tried to take photos, but they never do it justice. If you ever have a chance to drive on Interstate 540 through NWA, you must do it.  Even though the Interstate is new and beautiful, we prefer the old defunct Highway 71.  Lots of old motels, cabins, overlooks and out of business gift shops.  It is a lot like Route 66 - it was once the main road and a very popular tourist route.  Now it is baren.  But there are still fun things to find, see and do.

Once we got to our turnoff on the Interstate, we turned onto old Highway 71 and entered Mountainburg - a tiny town consisting of only a few businesses and homes with a population of less than 700. (I did notice TWO resale/thrift shops though.....) As we were driving along, something caught the corner of my eye by the road. Not your typical by the road in Arkansas thing.

A dinosaur!  A huge dinosaur!

Nearly life sized dinosaurs.

Three in all.

This one had an interesting feature.

I think smaller kids could climb through it.  But the boys looked funny sticking out of it.

While we were there I noticed the tracks were this.close to the park.  Then I heard a train whistle.

It was very close and very loud and super fast.  Something The Bean had never experienced, even though he was riden on a train four times.  We always go on the slow touristy trains. 

This one was, pardon the expression...hauling ass.

We are big fans of grafitti - and yes, we know it is against the law and shouldn't be done on trains and such.  It is still cool.

As we were leaving, I noticed that the driveway in the park runs right THROUGH the swingset. 

Grab yourself a baby on the way out!

I am happy that we took the time to stop and see these things that we din't know existed on our way to our Free Fun Day.   It's all about the journey!

Happy Valentine's Day

I ((heart)) you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Decorations

I love Valentine's Day.  I still remember making my shoe box for school and going around desk to desk and putting in the Valentine's in everyone's boxes.  It was so hard to pick the right ones for each person - "You're swell" - well, that one went to the boy - you know which one...wink*wink*.  The best part was digging out the Valentine's in my box and seeing which ones each person picked out for me.  I hated the ones that the "MOM'" had written out instead of the kids - usually the boys, of course.  How was I supposed to tell if Bradley loved me when his MOM picked out the card and signed in Bradley in all frilly looking cursive.  Sheesh!  This is important stuff Mom, stay out of it!

It doesn't seem like I have that many V-day decorations until I start displaying them.  Most everything is small and condenses into one storage tub.  I have to keep track of it in storage or it gets lost in the mass amounts of Christmas, Halloween and Easter.  Thanks to Sarah's Heart to Heart Swap, I have a ton of wonderful handcrafted Valentine items that I just love.

A few weeks ago, I thrifted this wire metal holder thingamabob for $1.00.  I really didn't know what I would do with, it but it looked like something that might come in handy someday. 

When I got out all my Valentine's I started sticking them into the holder and it worked perfectly.  I rotate it every once in awhile, so it's like I have a different display every day.  There are all sorts of treasures stuck in there from friends all over Blogland.

More Heart to Heart items from the past five years.  Some favorites in the cloche - a wooden cake stand with an inverted glass hurricane candle holder (that I found on the  curb for FREE) on top. 

A Valentine Bunny that I made in Kindergarten about a hundred and fifty years ago.  My middle name is Lee and I went by Shara Lee for most of my childhood.  (And still in my adulthood to my Aunt's - right DoDo?)

My Valentine Tree filled with more Heart to Heart items, hearts, and sweets.  It is getting rather full! 

But,that won't stop me from adding to it.  :D

A sweet little vintage Japan flocked girl that I scavenged from a box along the way.

There are a lot of sweets on the tree - cupcakes, ribbon candy, pies, candy, conversation hearts.

My coveted Chocolate Covered Cherry boxes.  We always sent my Grandmother a box of Chocolate Covered Cherries for Christmas and Valentine's Day.  And, although I am not terrible sentimental about my Grandmother, these do sort of make me think of her.  Most of these have been found at yard sales with things inside them - buttons, ribbon, etc.  The Roxbury box was found full of vintage hotel soap by Laurie and gifted to me.  (And, oddly enough, she just listed the soap in her Etsy shop).

Lots of things.  I am dying to find some old heart shaped Candy boxes.  Vintage ones - the larger one especially - bring big bucks on ebay.  But, I just want some for my collection. 

My old four pane window - L O V E in each section with a vintageValentine tucked in for good measure.

One of my real actual vintage pieces - such a sweet planter. 

More Heart to Hearts, gifts and Vintage Valentines.  I love this old grate for displaying paper items.

Oh  - I found a bigger flower for may candy box and even added in some pink festooning. 

Now I really like it.  It's more me!

Another old window complete with my Shiny Brite encrusted heart wreath (Iwill hate to pack this up next week).  Those blocks that say "Be My Valentine" were one of the first things that I bought for the house when we first bought it.  You can change them for each holiday and it is a real pain finding the right sides to make them say "Merry Christmas", "Happy 4th of July", etc..  I was considering getting rid of them due to their cutsey factor and 1990's look.  But, The Bean informed me that they are VINTAGE (in his eyes) and how he remembers always helping me make the new holiday out of them.  So, they will stay in our house.  And probably in his too!

I plan on having a lovely Valentine's day despite thefact that The Breadman asked me if he was supposed to buy m a card.  :(  He always does and I usually get some flowers, but he does say some dumb things sometimes that sort of take away from the niceness of the day.  Men are just weird, huh?