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, November 07, 2011

A Few Fun Vintage Finds

A few quick vintage finds this weekend.  I spent most the weekend sorting through my own junk and pricing it for the new booth.  I only went to one yard sale and Goodwill hoping to find some wall shelves for the booth.  I found a few other goodies to make the trip worthwhile.
Sweet Samsonite Train case for $1.00.  It was filthy dirty, but I took a chance and it cleaned up perfectly. 

The inside is clean - I just need to re glue the piece under the mirror.  Inside the suitcase are 87 key chains from one yard sale.  They were priced 25¢ each or 5/$1.00.  The Bean has collected key chains his whole life and has over a thousand now.  Rather than pick through these, I went up to see what they would take for the whole box.  I was prepared to go as high as $5.00, but was thinking they would say $7-$8.  When I stepped up to the table and before I even said one word the lady looked at me and said, "Two bucks for them all."  Score. 

At the same sale where I got the suitcase, I left behind the most adorable yellow Amsco metal doll crib with pink wooden ball trim.  It had a sweet lamb decal on it and it was just dreamy.  It was $20.00 and I only had ten on me, so I took a chance and asked if that was the best price on the crib.  I asked really nice and I really rarely ever ask for a better price.  The lady got an attitude and shook her head and told me how old it was and what they sell for online and blah, blah, blah.  I didn't need a lecture.  They only sell for about twenty on ebay, but that is because the shipping is so much.  It was so cute.  *Sigh* I loved it. Oh, well.

I stopped in Goodwill today hoping to find some shelves for the booth - and I did - so that made the trip worth it.  Since I was there.....you know that old song and dance....I had to have a look around.  I rarely look at the books since I have a self imposed "NO BOOKS" rule, but today I ventured over and looked around.  Someone had donated a bunch of old books chock full of vintage goodness and vintage graphics.  Love the the "Treat Shop"  - too darn cute.

These three books are so sweet.  I think I am going to have to find the whole set.  The Things to Do book has instructions for making pipe cleaner people and a footstool for Mother out of juice cans and other fun retro things.  Questions Children Ask has interesting slants on things such as "What are Tattoo's?  Tattoo's are permanent ink drawings on the skin of savages."  Savages!  Ha!  Parade of Stories has politically incorrect things such as a Mammy that says, "Sho nuff" and "kin folk". 

The self imposed NO BOOK rule can be easily broken when the person setting the rules is also the person breaking the rules.  :D  I think it's worth if when you score a slew of sweet old books for 50¢ each.

I'm all a twitter hoping the vintage Christmas starts showing up in the thrifts soon.  I have a TON of vintage Christmas.  But!  I really need more.  I do!  :D

*PS - The Bean felt the Earthquake, but I didn't.  Did you?  (I was in the shower).

7 comments:

  1. We had that set of books on our shelf next to our encyclopedias growing up 8D ! Amazing we turned out as well as we did!! (of course, we were eating lead paint off our cribs, not wearing seat belts, and breathing asbestos too!)

    Glad none of your Pottery was hurt in your earthquake!

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  2. Rules are meant to be broken, especially where books are concerned!! Nice finds!!

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  3. Sometimes vintage books need rescuing.Vintage Christmas ALWAYS needs rescuing.Love that case.Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Anonymous8:49 AM

    Those books are so worth breaking that tiny little rule.

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  5. Score on that train case! I wish I still had the one from when I was in college! Oh well. hugs, Linda

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  6. How funny--I have that same Treat Shop book and the Things to Do book! Great minds think alike. :D

    I've already been hitting the thrifts hard for vintage Christmas. Woo-hoo!

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  7. I don't know if the books can be considered politically incorrect, because of the time period they were written in. But I'm kind of surprised that you found them at a thrift, the ones around here seem to go through books before they put them out.
    Yes, we felt the quake! It's on my blog, but the big one Saturday night woke all three of us up from a sound sleep. We had another one Monday evening, not as strong.

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