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.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Sometimes

Sometimes you go to Goodwill looking for two things on your list: a rug for the new Booth and a Tabletop Christmas Tree for the both of the Booths.

Sometimes you strike out and don't find a rug, but you go next door to Lowe's where the nice carpet man sells you the end roll remnant for $13.00 and it is enough that you use it in your own booth and have enough leftover to sell the rest to the person in the booth next to yours for what you paid for the whole thing.  Hypothetically...:)

Sometimes you don't find a Christmas tree, but then you remember a huge tree you bought at the Salvation Army for $1.00 last year and you can use just the top section in a stand and not spend a dime.  :)

Sometimes while you are at Goodwill, you decided to look at everything in all the departments.  Because you just never know what you will find.  Like the old curling iron in the kitchen department or the Avon bottle shaped like a firetruck in the toy department.  Odd things in odd places.  Maybe worth a chuckle or maybe you'll find a treasure hidden in a strange place.

Today after I struck out looking for my two items and as we were walking up to pay for a couple odds and ends, I spotted a basket in the toy area chock full of plastic chicken legs, plastic corn on the cob, plastic biscuits and plastic chicken wings. The price of the plastic food was $5.00. Not a bad price for a huge amount of plastic food. I don't need any plastic chicken breasts.  But, wait, what's that plastic food in?

 A very big, very old, very nice market basket. 
All handmade and hand constructed.  Very, very well made.

 Probably made in the late 1800's.  The patina is just wonderful.
A true treasure - worth a couple hundred dollars at the least.  A fabulous antique basket full of plastic KFC food. Crazy.  I feel blessed to have found it and rescued it instead of someone buying it for the play food and trashing the basket.  I will covet the basket and re donate the plastic food. 

I'm sure there's some Chicken in a Basket, Basket of Chicken, Count your Chickens, etc. some sort of thing here, but I can't quite put it together.  Insert your own clever line here------------>!

*I never set out to be the antique basket, picnic basket, miniature basket collector that I have turned into.  They just come to me!

7 comments:

  1. Gorgeous basket! What a true find! Yes the 'basket whisperer'! LOL....keep on saving them and you can always find another willing home for them if you want to...hint hint!
    hugs,
    Linda

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  2. That is a nice basket!!! You just never know what you might find......

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  3. What a great basket.
    I know just what you mean when you say 'they just come to me' I have the same 'problem'!

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  4. That is an awesome basket you found - may many more come your way!

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  5. Just lovely! Most of my collections have just kind of happened, I very seldom set out to actually collect a particular thing.

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  6. A tisket, a tasket,
    A really pretty basket!
    xox
    Pam

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  7. ...now, NO.More.Complaining about 'CHICKEN' stores playing Xmas music - it was the plastic 'CHICKEN' stuff that got you the basket!! ;-)

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