Junk and Journeys: It's the Pits

Today when I stopped into Goodwill, someone was in the back corner plunking out the first eight notes of "Chopsticks" on an old piano.  They played it over and over and over and over.  The store is big and all ceramic tile and metal shelves, so the sound really resonated across the whole building.  As I walked up and down each aisle, the consensus among the shoppers and even the employees is that this incessant "Nuh Nuh Nuh Nuh, Nuh Nuh Nuh Nuh was getting very old, very quickly.  But no one did anything about it.  I was just about to call it a bust and leave when a little girl about four, hands clasped tightly over her ears - elbows pointed up in sharp triangles -  came running across the store, over to the piano and began jumping UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN yelling at the top of her lungs, "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" God Bless that little girl.  

All I got at Goodwill was a Scrabble game and that story.  :)

Saturday I went to an Estate Sale that was well into it's second day.  All they really had left was books - lots and lots of books. There were boxes and boxes of very nice library quality books.  When I paid, I found out that the wife is the head librarian of the local high school.  I found The Bean ten very nice books about Dragons, Mythology and Fantasy.  Books were $3.00, but half off that day, but the nice lady only charged me $1.00 each since it was so late in the day.  We looked up the price of the books when I got home and the very first one sold last week for $99.00.  Score!  I said, "Read that one first so we can sell it!"  He probably won't let it go - he loves his books.  

The other thing that they had at the sale was wood, lots and lots of wood.  There were huge chucks of wood of all sorts out in the shop building and carving tools.  When I spotted a big box of peach pits on the workshop table, I realized that in a round about sort of way, I knew the man that had lived there.  He did wood carving, peach pit carving and made pottery plus he had greenhouses and had sold produce to my Dad at the store for many years.  I asked if that was him, and it was.  Most of his carvings were pretty pricey - pricey for me anyway. 

 I went out in the shop and dug around in some scraps and managed to find these two pieces. The one on the left is a Cypress Knee that looks like a lady to me.  The other is the beginnings of a carving with a head on it.  Inside the house I found this tiny piece of pottery that he had made.  The Cypress knee went in our nature collection and the pottery is in my cabinet of mini pottery.  When I mentioned that I knew the man, they gave me the carvings and only charged me 50¢ for the pottery.  

And then, in a box of kids junk, I found this carved hand.  When I went to ask how much, no one had seen it.  They were astonished that no one had found it in all the months of sorting.  (This happens to me a lot, I swear.)  The decided that I deserved to have it for $1.00 since no one had ever seen it before.  I think it's really cool.  I will use it in my jewelry display somehow.  

 Every time I walked through that shop, I saw those peach pits sitting there waiting to be carved.  I knew they never would be carved.  You and I see old peach pits.  But, he saw animals and baskets and many other things in those peach pits.  I don't really know why, but I really felt like I didn't want to take all those peach pits home.  So, I did (for a small price).  Now I am the owner of about one thousand peach pits.  For now they are on my porch in a big old minnow bucket.  

On the way home from the Estate Sale, I stopped at a thrift and was rewarded with two things.  

A nice piece of old white pottery for 99¢

And these completely adorable Kewpies for 99¢.  

Kewpie butts.

Really, just too cute.  They made my day!

Tomorrow is a WORK day at the Flea Market.  I need to get it all straightened up and stocked before the SLEET! and FREEZING RAIN! and SNOW! come this weekend.  Holy kukamunga!

**Before I forget - sometimes I wonder why I only have three comments or so on the latest post (I get the comments sent to my email and read them there so I can respond to them).  The other day I went over to my actual blog (Whodathunkit) and discovered that not all the comments were coming to my email!  So, if you have left a comment and asked me a question - I wasn't ignoring you, I just never got the comment.  So, now I will read the comments ON the blog.  Lesson learned!  *Part of the reason may be the 2,358 SPAM comments one person has posted every thirty minutes over the past two weeks.  I swear!

Not the Right Type

The Flea Market where my booth is located has a Facebook Page.  They use it to show photos of certain booths or individual items that have come in recently.  I am an Admin to the page, so everything shows up on my personal page too.  Yesterday, I had just finished checking my emails, when I saw a new group of photos being posted.  I always like to see if any of my items have been featured, so I looked through all the pictures.

Several photos in, I spotted this - a RED Brother Prestige typewriter.  Oh my gosh.  It was beautiful.  I know that red and pink typewriters command HIGH prices, but I wasn't sure about this particular brand.  

I did a little surfing on ebay and Etsy and found this one on Etsy for $350.00.

Meanwhile, on the FB page people started asking, "How much for the typewriter?" and "Has it sold yet?"  

I didn't know how much it was since I couldn't see a tag.  There is a sign on the table and after I blew the picture up, I thought it might be $60.00, but I still wasn't sure. I decided to use my Admin super powers and call out to the Flea Market ask about it.  The girl that answered the phone is a friend of mine, so she helped me out.  She went and got it out of the booth and brought it to the phone.  I asked if it was metal or plastic.  She said it was heavy and made of metal.  Then I asked if it was $60.00 and she said, "No, it's $30.00."  I said, "SOLD!"  I made no mention of it's value.  I just told her that I wanted it.  They all know I love vintage.  So, I just left it at that.  

I was trying to work out when I could come and pick it up, when my friend asked me about a quilt top I had in my booth that she was interested in.  After some discussion, we worked out that she would take the quilt top, she would pay the Vendor the $30.00 for the typewriter and then she would deliver the typewriter to me.  It was going to be MINE and I didn't have to put out any money for it AND it was going to be delivered to me!  It doesn't get any sweeter than that.  

She called today and I went to meet her up on the corner.  When I got there, I could see it in the backseat and my heart leaped into my throat.  It was really mine!  I was going to go straight home, photograph it and get it listed tonight.  I was so excited!  

Just then, she opened the door to get the typewriter out and the overwhelming smell of spray paint hit me in the face.  When she handed it to me, I could tell that the typewriter had been spray painted red.  It was not original.  Dammit. Dammit.  Dammit.

Here it is - it looks legit, doesn't it?  I know the Vendor that did it wasn't trying to fool anyone.  She just painted up an old typewriter.  The whole place is full up with painted up old junk.  I'm the dummy that got dollar signs in her eyes and said, "I'LL TAKE IT" before I even went to look at it.  So, it's my fault.  It really does look good, doesn't it?  

You can see the red paint on the keys here.  Oh well.  I'm really not out much except the quilt top and I got it for next to nothing.  Plus my friend is a seamstress and she is SO happy to have that quilt top.  So, that's all good.  Plus, I think I can sell the typewriter in my own booth for the $30.00.  It would still be good for a wedding, or a Senior photo shoot.  It's just not worth the BIG BUCKS I had already tucked away in my mental wallet.  

Well, you win some, you lose some.  

Onward and upward!

*BREAKING NEWS* Around The Globe

I went to a GARAGE SALE today.  I KNOW!  That means....THEY ARE COMING!  

Okay, so the truth is that it was advertised as a Garage Sale, but it was in the parking lot of a now defunct flea market where they were selling everything off before the building is demo'ed.  The guy in charge of selling things was nice enough, but my LORD he could talk your leg off.  I asked the price of something and he practically gave the history of that item including how he came to own it and why he was selling it.  I would have $2.00, but really $1.00, in mind as a price to pay and he would quote $10.00.  That's when I knew I was in trouble as far as finding a deal.  But, I found a few things.

I did find this old crock with the pretty flowers painted on it.  I'm not usually a fan of painting on old stuff, but this is Spring-y and well done.  I'm trying to look for Spring and porch things in case I do the Barn Sale this year.  It had an old garage sale $2.00 sticker so he let me have it for that price.  Otherwise, it might have been $20.00.  

I spotted this box of yard on a table and I was interested it from the start.  I've been looking for some yarn in different colors for the little pompom guys I make.  After MUCH conversation and drilling by HIM as to what it was worth, we decided on $5.00.  He started at $20.00.  Uh- no.

 I, of course, wish that I had paid less, but when I got home and sorted it out there were 98 balls of yarn in varying sizes, so I think I did pretty good after all.  

I found this beautiful piece of McCoy pottery sitting on a table.  It was filthy dirty and I wan't sure if it would clean up.  He told me that the Vuh-ah-z was $2.00.  I've really never heard a local hillbilly say Vuh-ah-z.  

I'm happy to report that a Magic Eraser and a Brillo Pad cleaned it right up.  It is a wonderful piece of McCoy pottery in a soft buttery yellow.  A happy find for me!

The last thing I found was this thermometer from a Dentist in Kansas.  Can you read it? "Turn me over to see someone important to us."  Turn it over and there is a mirror on the bottom.  I think I'll try this one on ebay.

We stopped at the thrift and I found a few things.  I never buy plates, but this one is hand-painted and signed and just really sweet.  I'd love to eat a lovely slab of pink birthday cake on it.  Heck, I'd eat birthday cake off the floor.  But this plate would be nice too. :D

A book with the oddest title ever - it is signed and has some uber sweet illustrations in it - the tiniest Dennison labelmaker ever and the biggest tea infuser ever.  The tea infuser looked like it could be a project of some sort.

A book of Fairy Tales that I bought just for the cover and an old school reader that has seen better days. I like old readers with torn pages and names written in them with notes scribbled in the margins and old library card pockets in the front.  

A vintage toaster cover.  I know a lot of people don't like this sort of thing, but it's vintage and people used to use them.  So, to the booth it will go.  

But, my best find is this:

A giant huge globe on a lucite stand.  

I can just barely get my arms around it.  It's a National Geographic Globe from 1976.  I won't show my stupidity here but there are countries on there that I have never heard of before.  (To my credit I was in the 3rd grade and we didn't do a lot of World Geography at that age.)  It stands about three feet tall.  It's really wonderful.  If my house wasn't so small ans so crowded, I would SO keep it.  

I posted it on Instagram and it got a lot of attention.  I hope it gets that much attention in my booth.  

So, have you seen any garage sales yet?

The Week In Review (with Donuts)

I keep waiting for something VERY EXCITING TO HAPPEN so I have something interesting to write about. But, IT NEVER HAPPENS.  So, here's my phone dump and what I've been up to in the past week.  

We had Valentine's Day, of course.  I received pink carnations, which are my very, very, very favorite flowers in the whole wide world.  The Breadman just figured that out last year.  He thought it was sweet to bring me three roses.  Why three?  I don't know.  The only other person I kind of sort of "dated" (air quotes are perfectly acceptable in this case) would always bring me one rose.  So, roses are kind of "ick" in my book.  ANYWAY.  You can see in this photo the pink Carnations, my hot pink "Christmas" Cactus and my Poinsettia that is still thriving.  Thank goodness all those wild colors work in with Valentine's Day.  

I always set our coffee table up for the day of the holiday with all our cards and gifts to each other.  Lots of PINK on this table which made me happy, happy, happy.  *Ignore the photo bombing cat!

We found ourselves in the vicinity of a Krispy Kreme.

(It's about a fifty mile round trip)

So we succumbed to it's deliciousness.  

I went to a new to me thrift store and spotted all these tiny shoes lined up.  

Red?  Black?  They got you covered.

 They also had this giant frame with all these clipboards mounted in it. I have been hoarding old clipboards and painting them with chalkboard paint.  Now I just need a HUGE frame.  I think this would be great with flash cards or kids artwork in it.  

I bought this giant funeral basket.  Now, I have this weird thing about funerals and death - I KNOW no one likes those things - but I am really skeeved out about it.  I stood in front of this thing for about fifteen minutes before I finally decided to buy it.  I'd never seen one for sale and I know that it will sell, but I just didn't really want it in my possession.  I finally decided to buy it, but I haven't brought it in my house yet.  It's been banished to the front porch until I decide what to do with it -  paint it or just clean it up.  

I also bought all this vintage Dennison Crepe Paper.  I wish it was prettier colors, but it is mostly white, beige, brown, burgundy and pink.  Seventeen packages in all.  I never see it, so I had to pick it up. 

We started rooting celery from the ends of celery we bought at the store.  Who knew you could do this? Not me, that's who.  It grows at almost an alarming rate.  My Mom asked me if we were going to eat it and I said, "It would be like eating my pet!"  I think I might not be the ideal person to raise my own vegetables. At least not in the house, anyway.

We went to Sam's and ran into J*m B*b D*ggar, some of his boys and some of the Bates boys too.  Nearly every time I go to Sam's, we see one two or ten of them in there.  

I saw this at Walmart.  

The boys helped pus this poor guys up out of the street today when his car died.  I pulled up and said, "Go help him!"  I forgot that The Breadman is sick, but he did it anyway.  I'd like to think that if the shoe were on the other foot, someone would stop to help us.

And tonight, we turned on our porch light in honor of Hailey Owens in Springfield, MO.  

There are no words.

Things like that make me thankful that there hasn't been anything happening in our lives other than Krispy Kreme and celery growing.  I hope life at your house is calm.

Happy Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

May your day be filled with LOVE!

And chocolate!  

The Weekend I Went to Eight Thrift Stores

Friday I announced that I was a) leaving the house and b) I would do NOTHING housewife-ish on my day out - no groceries, no bill paying, nothing grown up or sensible.  I was going thrifitng - I would hit as many thrifts as I could  - hit them hard and hit them fast.  And I did.  In the end, I only hit five (and one was actually closed, so really that's only four) BUT the last one I went to I cleaned UP and cleared the place OUT.  Okay not really, but I was there like an hour and a half and I bought a LOT.  

Put on your seat belt - here we goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.......

First Stop: Potter's House:

I go here once a week, so I can usually spot new things pretty fast.  They have a color coded system so things revolve in price and out of circulation after five weeks.  

The cup and the dog were full price, the bridge tally was the final color of the rotation, so it was 25¢.  The cup is on ebay and the other two items will go to the booth.

Second Stop: Council for the Blind Thrift Store

This store has been in five locations that I can remember, but I hadn't been to this one before.  It was pretty big and prices were okay with the exception of the glass "collectibles" case being kind of pricey.

I found these three things.  The little duck was in the collectible case, but it was half price at $2.25, the vintage Beistle honeycomb was $1.75 and the Annalee mouse (Squeeee!) was $1.75.  I don't have an Annalee for Valentine's Day (the horrors!), so that was one happy find for me.  All three of these items are keepers for me.

Third almost stop: Hospital Auxiliary

It wasn't open.  Wah-wah.  This is one of my favorite thrifts.  I have been going there since I was a little girl. The ladies that run this thrift are very, very nice and very, very, very old.  Prices are still 65¢ (a drastic price increase from 50¢), items are washed, pressed and everything is counted out and made sure it works.  I hated that it wasn't open.   

Fourth Stop: Salvation Army:

This big frame was in the $1.00 bin, so I grabbed it.  Square frames are harder to find.  I think it is funny that thrifts sell what is IN the frame and don't really think about the frame itself.  It's easily a ten dollar frame at most thrifts.  I even salvaged a couple cool old buttons.

This nice wire shopping basket was $3.00.  I thought it would make a good display item.  For what? Who knows!

Fifth Stop: Samaritan House

This thrift is kind of pricey and I really never find much.  The main reason I go is that Reader's Digest Condensed books are 4/$1.00 and I am always looking for pretty covers and they give away the day old Panera bread to the customers.  Sometimes I spend 50¢ on two books and walk out with $8.00 of bread. They didn't have bread on Friday.  What they did have was better!  When I walked in, the clerk at the register said, "The whole store is half off today."  They do have sales like that every few months, but I always get a postcard about it.  I mentioned that I didn't get a postcard and she said, "Oh we just decided to have a half off sale today for no reason."  I still didn't have high hopes since it is kind of pricey.  But, when I started looking at things - stuff was priced super cheap.  I mean if it would have been $2.00, now it was priced 50¢ PLUS it was half off!  I quickly filled on one hand basket, then two, then three, then an armload of books to boot.  

This HUGE clump of alabaster grapes was one of my best finds.  They are on ebay already.

This big pitcher isn't my usual type - it's kind of frilly.  But, for the price, I knew I could put it in the booth.

A couple of tins - including a Titanic Fudge tin which is sort of weird (I assume it's from the Titanic Museum, but still...), a 1970's whale stapler, painted salad fork and spoon and a child's cup.  All for the booth.

A giant chocolate box (that I looked up and it cost over $100.00 full of chocolates!), a vintage roll of ribbon, a wee piece of pottery, an old Donut Shop mug and a book of Dennisons Gummed labels.  The labels are on ebay, the cup will be on ebay, the rest will go in my hoard.  

The labels are really, really kind of fantastic.  There are 419 of them in the book.  Super tempted to keep them and use them, but money talks......:D 

Some really good RD book covers including two of the seahorse cover, which is my favorite.  Eight books for $1.00.  

Are you bored yet?

No?  Ok, let's keep going...

A fun old mail and key holder, a pack of stencils, a pretty hand painted cup, an Ohio Art recipe box, four sweet little glass shakers, the top of a butter mold and a pink plastic flower pot holder.  

A big Whitman's Sampler tin and a granny square baby afghan.

Well, now.  This isn't my usual fare, is it?  Mary Moo-Moo's.  Collectible several years ago and not my style, but I do think they are kind of cute.  They will go to the booth.  This is just a small portion of what I bought - I think I got 27 pieces in all.  There's also a milk glass light cover back there if you can see it.

A set of four Weller Pottery individual casserole dishes with saucers.  I've never found Weller pottery, so this was a happy find.  I think I will put them on ebay.  I haven't really researched them yet.  That blue is just perfection.

I bought Pyrex!  SURPRISE!  I still don't collect Pyrex.  But, if you saw these bowls at the thrift for $1.00 each - well, you would buy them too, right?  They are already in the booth.

I paid less than $18.00 for everything I bought.  It was a fun, fun afternoon!

Saturday, Lara texted me that she was at the SCT and I had to think a long while on what that meant.  But, I bet all of you guys knew what it was!  I'd never seen it other than ME writing it.  The funny think is that I was almost ready to leave the house and go to the Super Cheap Thrift myself.  I ended up meeting her at the Flea Market and we went on a little thrifting trip with her twins. (Who I am in love with and want one or two of my own now).  When we would get out of the car, Lara would take Jack and Emme's hand and Emme would pull away and say "NO, I WANT TO HOLD SHAWA'S HAND!"  Which was pretty funny since they have never really been around me one on one before that moment.  It was nice having a tiny hand in mine again.  Oh yea, being with Lara was FUN too!!!!!!

We sent Grace Place first.  It's a small thrift and there are no prices on anything.  The sign at the register said, "Housewares 50¢ -$5.00  Price is up to cashier."  Well, alrighty.  

The first thing we, and by "we" I mean Lara, found was this vintage Christmas tablecloth.  She handed it to me and insisted I take it, and I don't know why I did - she should have bought it.  Then I found the big enamel platter in the kitchen-y area.  When we were waiting to pay, I spotted the Fisher Price Xylophone Bear out in the vestibule and grabbed it.  Still we had no idea what the prices were going to be.  When it was time to pay, the cashier was a teenager - maybe about fourteen or so?  It was weird.  She picked up the tablecloth and looked at it, looked at the platter, picked up the bear and put it all in a bag.  As she handed me the bag she said, "One dollar."  I handed her a dollar and we walked out without saying a word to each other.  We watched the twins pick out a toy when I finally started laughing about my price.  We couldn't believe I only paid $1.00 for those three great things.  We should have gone back in for a better look around, now that I think about it.  I think I paid 50¢ each for the platter and the tablecloth.  The toys were free - one per child.  I guess I am a child.  I did discover that the FP bear is from 2005 and not vintage.  It sure looks vintage.

Our last stop was a little Junk Store.

I bought a book about the Human Body for The Bean and this set of books on Memory Training from 1958.  I spent $1.00 total.  Lara got a good old School Reader, but that was it.  

It was nice to get out of the house, do fun things and buy good junk with good company.  There is more snow coming tomorrow.  Whoopity doo!

*If you actually read this whole thing - you get a gold star!