Here's the Story.....of a Junkin' Lady

I left the house this morning with a full car of things headed to fill up my booth.  Mind you. my booth has about five times as much in it as any other booth in the store, but I can ALWAYS put more in there.  I had vintage Fisher Price toys, an old one man band and five picnic baskets full of smalls to put out.  I was feeling good getting all that stuff out of my living room.  But then, you know where this is going, after a stop at the Super Cheap Thrift and one of my favorite yard sales of the year, my car was full again.  It is a vicious, but fun, cycle.

The Super Cheap Thrift has been pretty empty lately and I haven't found much there in a while.  They did have games and puzzles for 10¢ for awhile, so I was picking up games to piece out for the game pieces.  But, other than that, not much.  Today it was stocked up and really full.  I was kind of bummed that I didn't get there until 45 minutes before they closed.  They stock the store the night before it is open (it is only open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for three hours each day), so people are usually lined up around the building waiting for it to open at 9:00.  I bet I missed some goodies, but that is okay.  I found some good stuff anyway.

The main thing I bought was an old heater unit.   Somebody really did a number on it with greenery, a birds nest and a big old mushroom.  It was seriously fugly.  

But, I thought all that fugliness could be removed, and I was right.  It wasn't priced, so I found the lady that is over the whole place that thinks I am "sweet" and "nice" and asked her for a price.  She said, "Three dollars."  Thanks lady.  Now, that copper backing is actually just some textured scrapbook paper, but it looks okay in there to me.  At least until I decide just how to spruce it up..  It will go the the Barn Sale this Fall.

After the thrift I spotted the signs that always lead to my "favorite ladies" sale.  Her name is Jean and she has sales at her house, her son's house and her sister's house.  but, she always uses the same wooden "A" sign that says YARD SALE with an arrow so I always know it is HER sale, no matter where I am headed.  She and her husband have several flea market booths in town and even up in Missouri so they buy a lot.  They go to auctions and buy box lots, then they take what they don't want and make up baggies of the odds and ends and price them 25¢  or 50¢ each.  I guess they don't sell a lot of smalls in their booth or maybe it just isn't the right stuff.  But, I love those bags of junk!  I always find three of four things at least that I can sell for a couple dollars each for that 25-50¢ investment.  Not bad.  

Her sale today was at her sister's house.  When I walked up she said, "Where have you been?"  She had a sale at her house last week (that's where the BIG Sales are) and I missed it.  Boo.  That's why there wasn't as much this time.  When I left, she gave me a hug and told me that she would see me next time.  Now, how often does that happen at a sale?  

Here's the loot from today, all from the sale, the SCT and one rare purchase from my very own flea market.  

An old mug tree.  I always pick these up for the occasion that I do find a set of mugs to fit it.  They also make good jewelry displays.  A set of gaudy orange toadstool salt and pepper shakers.  On gaudy orange Readers Digest book. already gutted.  A quilt square with gaudy orange flowers.  It's all very Brady Bunch, isn't it?

I have actually been looking for these for about twenty years.  I had a pair of these in my room when I was little.  I had them in storage when I lived in my apartment, but when we got married, I hung them in the laundry room of our rental house.  There was a year of having all of our things in storage in between the rental house and buying our first house.  Once we bought this house, we put things in the garage that we wanted to keep, but didn't have the perfect spot for......yet.  We also had a pile of things we never, ever wanted again, so we had a garage sale.  At some point during our yard sale, I made the mistake of going into the house to go the the bathroom and left the husband in charge.  Yes, you guessed it.  He sold my Raggedy Ann and Andy pictures.  THE HORRORS.  When I came back out, he said, "There wasn't a price on those pictures of the dolls, so I sold them for a quarter."  When I finally figured out what he was talking about, I was crushed.  Those were mine.  And, just vintage enough and just sweet enough that I wanted to put them somewhere.  *Sniff*  So, now here we are twenty years later and I FOUND THEM.  But, guess what?  I'm going to sell them.  They aren't MINE.  *Moral of the story:  Never leave the husband in charge of your yard sale.  (He also sold a high dollar wrought iron stand, fish tank and all the fixin's for $10.00 while I was in the house.  But, that was long ago and I have nearly forgotten/forgiven him.  NOT!)

An old Vaporizer in the box, four old pot holders and a red gingham tablecloth/

This stuff is all from the yard sale baggies.  Two old cook booklets, three tiny loaf pans, three tiny tart tins, two potholders, an old beaded plant hanger, a YoYo from an Air Force base and a sample of marble from the Capitol Building.  

A 1969 Yearbook from a local high school, sweet apothecary jar with some of my beloved, albeit tacky, plastic flowers inside, a sweet art deco PINK box and a couple old blocks.  

The blocks feature a sweet birdie in a nest and a deer.  The backs have a mouse and a Scottie Dog.  

Three old berry baskets (for free) and a handful of old advertising pens.  In the past, I have sold a lot of old advertising pens, so I always pick them up.  I look for the old ones with five digit phone numbers and places like car brands, tractor brands, food companies or other name brands on them.  

I found this "Hog Caller" at the Flea market.  It's from the 1960's and vintage razorback items are always good sellers.  I am hoarder a bunch of old razorback stuff to put on ebay this Fall.  Apparently we have a new coach and everyone is very "excited" and looking forward to a "great" season.  Pbtth.  Like I care.  I hate football.  But, I will sell stuff to those suckers all.day.long. :D

A handmade Scottie Dog (I know he looks like a pig in this photo) made out of vintage ticking.  

A cheerleader doll from 1983.  Any ideas who she is?

My favorite find:  A vintage bridal bouquet.  I am trying to find some old millinery flowers for a project, so when I saw this, I thought these might work.  But, once I got a closer look at it, I knew I could never tear it apart.  

The flowers are made of some sort of plastic or resin material.  Up close, they look just like Buttercreme frosting flowers off a big beautiful birthday cake. I think it must be from the 1950's-1960's.   I'm not sure what I will do with it.  I think it is just lovely though.  

I did get a lot out of the house and this really isn't that much, now that I look at it.  The heater is in storage and the bulk of this will go to the booth.

There are plenty of sales listed for this weekend, but there are also heat advisories and that does NOT sound fun to me.  Maybe staying home or going to the movies might be in order.  Happy junking to you if you choose to go out there!  Stay safe and for Eddie, wear a big floppy hat!