Super Cheap Thrift STIRKES Again!

The Super CheapThrift was calling to me and today was the day I would go!  Yeah me!  I bought just enough to be able to handle and just enough to make me happy.  A win-win!

The first item I spotted as this Clarinet.  It is missing the mouthpiece, but that can be replaced.  I'll probably put it on Craigslist in August when school starts. 

I got this great old set of Children's Classic Books for $1.50.  There are ten total.  They will go to the booth.

I spotted these great old 1950's Wonderland of Knowledge books in a box in the book area.  They weren't priced, so I assumed they would be the usual 50¢ per hardback book price.  So, I schleped them up to the register and asked them to hold them for me.  When it came time to check out, the two ladies asked me how much they were.  I told them that they weren't priced, so I thought they would be 50¢ each.  "Oh, but they are OLD!" they said.  And, "they are a SET!" they added.  "We need to ask someone in the back how much they are!"  So, two women from the back came out and the four of them stood around the box, each one picking up a book and opening to the inside cover, "The 1950's! " I heard one exclaim.  "A whole SET!" I heard another one say.  Finally the two ladies recessed back to the backroom and the other two women finished up with the rest of my items.  When they were done, I asked, "Well, what did you decide about the books behind you?"  "OH!" they said.  "Well, since they are OLD and since it is a SET - they are all FREE." 

Well, who am I to argue with little gray haired volunteer thrift store lady logic like THAT?  I did tip $2.00 to my total because it was just too good of a deal.  They aren't particularly valuable, but they are just lovely with the old graphics and pictures.  There is value in a lovely old set of books to display on a shelf.

This old 8 x 10 was too cute to leave behind.  It had slipped out of a frame along with a few others, so I stuck them back in the frame and paid $1.00 for them all.

This one was my favorite.  Love those high waisted shorts and belt buckles.

I also scored a great art deco trophy.  A lady behind me in line asked me where I got it about nine times.  "Uh, in here" I said.  She acted like she wanted to go back and get the rest of them.  As if I would have left any of them behind.  It heavy pot metal and really lovely.  It's made by a trophy company, but I don't know if it really was a trophy or not.  I do know it was only 50¢, and that my friends, was a DEAL!

Things I Have Thrifted (But Not Recently)

Before my Mom was moved to the new Rehab, she was in a location .3 miles from Goodwill and .5 miles from another HUGE thrift store.  Some days her husband would be there (my step-father) so I would kill a little time on my way to see her so they could have more time together before I butted in.  I bought a large amount of stuff over that month or so.  But, nearly all of it went to the booth.  Since I am no longer working at the Flea Market, I have to not only pay my rent but also the 10% commission.  I have been very lucky in the past to get every penny I made, so I have to make sure I cover my rent and commission PLUS bring home a nice amount of money.  So, I have been taking lots of stuff out there.  My car is fully loaded to go again but I have bronchitis, strep throat and what they thought was Pink Eye, so I am home bound for another few days.   (Could someone bring us some produce, bread and eggs, please?)  I kid.  Kind of.  The fridge is bare....

(So, I digress as usual which is sort of what this blog is all about.  Maybe I should subtitle it "But, I Digress".)

Oh wait, I did it again.  

Thrifting was what I was supposed to talk about today, so here we go.

I found this great old vintage bed tray at the HUGE thrift.  It's Shabby Chic and really cool.  I have a vintage minty green bed tray that folds up and I use it every single night for reading magazines, pricing flea market items and making crafts.  This white one is really nice, so I hope it well sell quickly.  I have upped my prices just a tad.  Not too much, but I thought I would try. I can always mark things down, but I can never ask for more, right?  What would you think this should be priced?  Be honest...!

This basket on wheels is really, really awesome.  I bought it at the same thrift as the bed tray.  It would make such a good junkin' basket.  It has more personality than those old metal ones people use.  (I have two of those too, hmmmm.)  The basket itself is about three feet tall and the handle makes it about four feet tall.  I'm torn about it as I really love it, but I think I should sell it.  I've never used it, but then again, I really haven't had the opportunity to use it yet either.  I'm going to put it in the booth with a nice price on it and use it for display.  Maybe no one will buy it and I can keep it, right?  But, if it sells, that will be okay too, I suppose.  Go ahead and shoot me with what price you think it would be at your favorite store.  

Great Google Moogley!  My lovely readers have discovered that this basket costs about $200.00.  So, as I am so known to do - it's back in my garage with a DO NOT SELL sticker on it.  I think I will keep it since I only paid $12.99 for it!  Now, what to do with it....THINK WOMAN...THINK! :D

I haven't been to the Super Cheap Thrift in months and I am ITCHING to go.  I just know that treasures await me there.  I've never mentioned where the SCT is, but local thrifter Lara at Pretty Quirky, found my secret store!  And, she found cool stuff.  I'm happy to share, but leave some goodies for me, okay? :D 

Folk Art Collection

When I am out thrifting, junking, looking for treasures, whatever you may call it, I have an affinity for little handmade things.  Things that someone made out of nothing. People make such elaborate things now with jigsaws and sewing machines.  People used to make things with their hands out of a chunk of wood or old clothing scraps.  I gathered up all my finds and made a little display of folk art items.  

There's not much color, but most of the items were just made out of a piece of wood and left that way.

Most of the items on this shelf are whistles.  The big owl in the center is one of my favorite pieces - it sounds just like a Hoot Owl when you blow into it's head.  I never found a whistle until I found that owl, now I find them often.  I had to learn what I was looking for to see them. Odd holes at the bottom or on the side.  Maybe you will find one now.  

There are seven whistles in this photo.  The Chess pieces are not - they are hand carved though.  The little carved toadstool is not a whistle.  That little thing in front of the toadstool is a carved peach pit that a friend made - it is a monkey.  

More whistles.  Love that clay hillbilly guy at the end too.  

All of these little carved shoes where my Grandmother's.  Each year she would come to Arkansas to this huge craft fair.  She collected these shoes and she and I would pick out a new one each year.  That's one of the few good memories I have of her - so I kept the shoes.  The carved woodsman was a good find one day too.

Then there's animals, of course.  Probably the most found item of all.

A carved dog puzzle, carved dog and a very, very old carved horse.  Small carved animals of all sorts at the bottom.

The dog, duck and bunny are signed by the same man.  They are very crudely done, but I still like them.

The big "X" is a carved string holder.  I love how all of these things came to be out of a chunk of wood.  Someone sat on the porch with a pocket knife and a scrap of wood and ended up with a little piece of art.  I think it's art.  

What in the World?

In putting my regular things out this year since I put away the Christmas decorations (ok, I confess, those darn Santa's are still up.  But, they are a collection and I am all about collections, so I don't m ind them too much.  I will get them boxed up.  I really will....), I am trying to mix things up and make things different.  While doing that, I seem to have discovered a couple of new collections.  Whoopsie.

I thought I was selling all the old globes that I run across.  I know I have sold about five of them in the past year.  The largest one lights up and is on a Lucite base.  The next largest is a tin Zodiac globe.  I bought this one at a sale where they had left the kids in charge for a minute.  Big mistake when nothing is marked.  They quoted me a price of a quarter, so I paid it and RAN.  (Don't leave your kids in charge!) The other two are tin banks - the smallest one missing it's base, but still pretty cute.  

I'm in kind of a squabble with some family members about what is "junk" and what is not "junk".  What is proper decor and what is not.  They are the type of people to go to Pier One and buy a big painting of a tree or a building or some random thing, stick it on the wall and call it done.  (If you go to Pier One and buy paintings of trees, I apologize.  But, if you are the type to do that, I don't think you would be reading this blog, so apology retracted.  Unless you are - apology re-instated).  Just because something is not their taste, they think it should be discarded.  Not everyone has the same tastes.  Thank goodness.

I prefer to hunt and gather things and then make displays.  This particular display of globes, old window and architectural pieces, a giant Gas Station number "8" I rescued from the middle of the highway, old German books I thrifted for 10¢ each and a couple of old cake stands would drive these family members CRAZY.  It makes no sense, it's all weird stuff from yard sales and it doesn't go together.  I take that as a compliment.  Well, I LIKE it and I think it works.  So, that's the difference between THEM and me.  

You like it, don't you?  No one else in the whole wide world could make the exact same display because I have picked things up forever and saved them.  Anyone can go to Pier One* and buy the same exact tree painting.

**Disclaimer.  I have never even been to Pier One and it's probably a super cool place.  If Pier One wants to send me a million dollar gift card, I would be cool with that.  :D

*I orerded a new camera so my sucky iphone shots will soon be a thing of the past.  

What's up?

*My Christmas Village is still up.  

And I light it up every day.

I still get a kick out of my Chick-fil-A that I bought after Christmas last year.  And that red VW.

 *My Santa collection is still up in the living room.

The bottle brush village is still on display.

I'm not happy that it's still up.  Everything else is packed away.  But, it doesn't really bother me either.  I just haven't had the time to take it all down, pack it correctly and squirrel it away on the shelves in the garage.  I'm sure it will get done eventually.  I did finish up some valentine crafts tonight for a swap and now I'm hoping to do a little Valentine decorating.  I have big visions of only my pink and white pottery on the shelves, vintage Valentines, the feather tree covered in Heart to Heart Valentines.......we shall see.

My Mom is in a different Rehab Hospital now.  This is more of a long term facility - the type where you get Rehab, but lots of rest and healing time too.  It is in a beautiful place - fancier than most hotels I have ever visited.  The people that built it made a place where you would feel like you were NOT in a hospital but at a resort.  Shiny dark wooden floors, grand piano, china in the dining room, huge fountain in the courtyard, as well as private rooms and private dining rooms.  It's really, really nice.  And the care is amazing.  They know where you are - you are free to roam the entire facility from the rehab wing to the long term wing to the Pods where there are apartments.  There are social events and field trips, Bingo, music and 50" TV's in all the day rooms and hallways.  My Mom is very happy there.  Except for the whole being  a big old broken mess, that is.  :(  But, she is getting better.  She can feed herself now with a little prep - open her milk pull everything close to her so she can reach it and make certain everything can be stabbed with a fork.  She can't eat oatmeal by herself, but put her soup in a cup and she is good to go.  

The Breadman started his new job on Christmas Eve.  It took three weeks to get his first paycheck and boy howdy, did we need that!  Right now he is the "extra man" for SaraLee.  He will be buying out a route after some re-configurations within the company.  The weird thing is that rumor has it that SaraLee is buying the Wonder Bread and Twinkie lines so he just might be stocking those items again one day.  This week he has to travel away to help with another branch, so tomorrow he has to pack and leave.  He is such a light packer.  I am just the opposite.  He will say, "I will just wear a hat, so I won't have to pack a comb".  Uh, hello, a comb takes up less space than a hat.  He'll probably take two changes of clothes and I would take nine.  He's staying at a Holiday Inn Express and he has a gorgeous 2013 rental in the driveway to boot.  For being the new guy, he is getting some fancy perks.  Some time apart might be good because I am so tired and so stressed all the time that I have been really, really short with him.  Really.  Luckily he hasn't smacked me one.  I KID.  He's taken it in stride, but I know I need to chill.  It's just that sometimes there has to be someone that you use as your scapegoat.  And he's turned into mine and I know that isn't good.  I need to get road rage or yell at the cashier at Wal-Mart to clear my mind.  :D

I stopped working at the Flea Market.  I still have my booth, but my day working there would be much better spent with my Mom or cleaning my house or homeschooling or really just about anything constructive. I feel out of place and worthless away from everyone for a day when I really wasn't getting paid anyway.  It's been nice not paying rent or commission, but it's not that much in the end.  Sometimes time is more valuable than money.  Sales have been good and I have been able to keep the booth stocked and current even with everything else going on.  

Thanks for still coming back to read this old blog.  I want to get back into thrifting and junking and being me again.  Someday.....someday.  I've dropped all the way down to Number 21 on Top Vintage Blogs.  I was as high as 12 before my life got turned upside down.  Maybe I'll hit the Motherlode of GOOD JUNK someday and shoot right back up to the top.  Or at least 12 again.  

So, that's what's up with me.  How about you?  

An Auction, Christmas and The Breadman

My blog looks so sad, dated from last year, with no new entries.  Here are so quickie news updates.

I bought this stone fruit last week at the thrift close to the hospital.  It was $5.99 with an orange tag so it was 25% off  - about $4.50.  I listed it on ebay, knowing it would sell for about maybe a hundred dollars?  but hoping it might go a bit higher.  Imagine my surprise last night when my phone went DING DING every few minutes and it ended at THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY THREE DOLLARS.  $383.39 to be precise.  Whoo freaking HOO!  I haven't have a really good SURPRISE auction in years. 

The tree is down and the ornaments are sorted.  Spun heads here.

Angels here.

Santas and elves here.  

Justification for buying every single one of these tins I have ever found.

The Christmas village, bottle tree forest and Santa collection are still up.  I am so busy with my regular chores plus being at the hospital a lot every day, that it is just going to have to be an ongoing project for awhile.  

The Breadman started his new job on Christmas Eve working for Saralee.  He took about a month off to help me around here and with the kiddo.  His new schedule is about the same int he mornings - he leaves where about 1:00 am.  But he used to come home about 5:30 in the afternoon.  Guess when he gets home now????  10:00 AM.  At the latest!  Holy cow, it's like he doesn't even have a job.  I get up and BOOM  a couple hours later, he's home.  ladies, I need my NO MAN time.  Time to do what I need to do, when I want to do it.  Like have Miss Clariol come for a visit, or take down the Santa's which are right beside his chair where he is asleep.  Give me strength.  I think he needs a part time job too.  (I'M KIDDING!)  

Sorta.