Five Things to Look For at Yard Sales this summer

I'm joining up with a group of die hard yard sale going, rummage sale rummaging, dumpster diving bloggers and we are all writing about the five things to look for at yard sales this summer.  Since I am a die hard junker AND I am forever long winded  - I am going to write about TEN things that I am going to look for this year - Five for my personal collections and five for selling.  And, then there is always my wishlist.  The five things I WANT to find.  But, I haven't.  YET.

So, let's get this party started!

First - Top Five Things for Selling:

#1: Cute Stuff:  Anything you had as a child and it was cute?  Buy it.  Old baby toys, squeaks, Irmi lamps, baby cups, baby spoons, baby quilts, things with wiggly eyes and drooly smiles.  If it's cute - someone wants it.

Vintage baby Squeak toys like this old Sun Rubber Ruth Newton are highly sought after now.  

#2:  Old Jars.  From old blue Ball and Mason jars to old Peter Pan Peanut Butter Jars and old Miracle Whip jars - I have bought them all.  Sell the pretty ones as they are - fill the others up with stuff and sell them.  What should you put in them?  Well......

#3: Bulk anything.  Honestly.  Anything.  Milk caps, old match boxes, pool balls, rulers, gum wrappers, bottle caps, spools, pens, pencils, office supplies and on and on and on.  You can literally put anything in an old jar and it is instantly FASCINATING.  I usually buy almost anything I find if it's in bulk and afforordable.

One of the best bulk finds I ever found was 90 brand new brass peepholes for $5.00.  I had no idea what to do with them, but darn it, they were interesting and unique.  So, I bought them.  I discovered they work like little telescopes so I called them "Pocket Telescopes" and sold them mostly to men and kids at $3.00 a pop.  

Another one of my best bulk finds was at my last stop on a ten hour yard sale crawl.  I bought five huge tubs full of cake decorations ranging from every holiday to Disney and TV toppers.  I packaged up the vintage ones for my booths, stocked my Etsy shop with vintage holiday and Teletubbies (I sold 24 packages of Teletubbies ranging from $18-$27 for EACH set.  

#4: Vintage School Supplies.  I love old crayon boxes, chalk boxes, chalkboards, erasers, primers, Readers, Flash Cards, puzzles, learning toys, paint tins and on and on.  Priced right and it will spark nostalgia to people and they will impulse buy it.

I frame old flash cards and they sell well.

Old packaging strikes nostalgia.

#5: Vintage Christmas:  Shiny, glittery, mercury glass, aluminum trees, color wheels, tacky gaudy. Oh, it's all SO GOOD.  I love it all (and I do keep the very best for me.  Because I am greedy.)  But, I do sell a ton of it too.  Boxes of Shiny Brites, loose boxes of Shiny Brites that can be bagged into dozens of good ornaments, old tinsel garland, spun head angels, tree toppers, bottle brush trees, knee huggers, vintage packging and on and on.  Oh, it is all just so delicious!

I found all this on a 4th of July day sale - it was so hot, no one wanted any part of the Christmas stuff. But, I dove right into those boxes and hit pay dirt.

I always dig down under the dollar store junk to the bottom of the box.  You just might find a nice little stash of gold under there.  

And now the Top Five Things for ME:

#1: Vintage Christmas: Yes, I already listed it in the "To Sell" area - but it forebodes repeating.  Yard Sales are great places to find vintage Christmas - you might not find a ton at one sale, but I usually pick up one or two items a day all yard sale season long.  It adds up.  When I go to some of the highway crawl yard sales, I find one thing here and one thing there and before I know it I have a major haul!

Yard Sale crawl finds - see?  It adds up!

#2: Vintage Tablecloths:  This is the one thing I look for at every single yard sale.  I don't find them as often as I would like - but I do find my fair share of them.  And they are all FOR ME.  I have a huge collections, all found for less than $2.00 each.  I keep them stacked neatly in a couple cabinets and they make me super happy.  I do use them at the holidays or for family dinners and on my tables when I am selling at vintage markets.  I do keep a few out for sale because people always want to buy the display cloths.

#3: Vintage Picnic Baskets:  These are the greatest for storage.  I have way too many, but I cannot pass one up if the price is right and it's in good condition.  Last week I did pass one up - bottom falling out and only one handle - "$10.00 - 'cause that's an antique".  Uh, nope.  Anyway, if you can find one for less that the cost of a Rubbermaid tub at Wal-Mart, I say BUY IT.  Store your seasonal items in it, your "to sell" items, ebay listings, extra towels and sheets, craft supplies, your stash of Halloween candy you don't want anyone to know about and on and on. 

Oh, I just love them SO much.

#4: Display Racks.  I love display racks!  So much, in fact, that I can barely stand to actually leave them in my booths for fear they will get stolen or lost.  I have been lucky enough to find several that I use in my booths and at shows.  I am never shy to ask at a sale if a rack is for sale.  More often than not, it is and I swoop in on it. 

 I have these vintage spinner racks that I got at a yard sale for $1.00 each.  I love those things so much that I have them displayed in my office  - EMPTY.  Empty display racks on display.  I may or not be slightly crazy.

#5: Useful Things:  Oh, this one is rather boring.  But, I will buy packages of photo paper, cardstock, printer paper, ink pads, hang tags, envelopes, staples, sticker paper, scrapbooking paper and just about anything that I can use for pricing in my booths, The Junk Ranch booth or even just here at home. Every thing I buy for a quarter saves me money if I need to go buy it at a retail store.

And, lastly (as if I haven't rambled on enough!), here are the Top Five Things that I will be looking for myself this year - my Wishlist.  It's a WISHLIST because I have never found any of these things.  But, I will continue the hunt.  Because, the hunt is half the fun and you never know what you WILL find!

Hazel Atlas PINK Crinoline Dishes:  Because PINK is best.

Vintage Hanging Produce Scale:  Reminds me of my Dad's Produce Department

Old Metal Laundry Basket on Wheels:  It just seems like it would be handy, doesn't it?

Sunbeam Bread Christmas Tin:  Because it is uber adorable.

Kitchen-Aid Replacement Batter Bowl:  Because I hate washing the batter bowl before I make the frosting.  

So, what are YOU looking for this year at yard sales?

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers and see what they recommend looking for this year.  I know I will!

Amy @ Brocante Treasures

Cecilia @ My Thrift Store Addiction

Diana @ Adirondack Girl at Heart

Donna @ Distressed Donna Down Home

Eddie @ Eddie-torial Comments

Jillian @ Bella Rosa Antiques

Kim @ Snug Harbor Bay

Linda @ Itsy Bits and Pieces 

Melissa @ Melissa's Antiques 

Pam @ House of Hawthornes 

Rita @ Panoply 

Shara @ Monkeybox

Sharon @ Blue Willow House

Tuula @ Thrifty Rebel Vintage

The Week in Junk

Earlier in the week, my friend sent me a text for a yard sale that was right up the road from me that had interesting things listed.  The best one being a huge pile of old red handled rolling pins - and they all had 25¢ stickers on them.  The ad said "no early birds and no holds" so I decided that those rolling pins would be mine. Now, we all know that I am not a morning person.  I start hitting sales after 10:00 or even later and I still do okay.  But, I decided that I would get up an an unholy hour (6:30) and be at that sale when it started.  I was the second person in the driveway as they were starting to unpack. They were very nice and I stayed out of the way so they could put things out.  I picked up a few things then I asked if the rolling pins were still available.  "No, those sold last night."  Now, I KNOW it was just a yard sale and they had every right to sell whatever whenever.  But dammit, I got up early for those rolling pins.  

I left and drove to a neighborhood sale up the road.  It was to start at 8:00 and it was only 7:30.  I drove past the "Newlywed Sale" in the brand new very fancy house and went on up the road to a sale that was still setting up.  I bought one thing there then doubled back to the "Newlywed Sale." Now here is an interesting tidbit I learned about the Newlyweds - they had been married 18 months and they were both in their 70's!  Not your typical Newlywed yard sale.  I found some good old stuff there at great prices and I am sick that I didn't stop there first.  Live and learn I suppose.  

The stuff:

Two old restaurant custard cups.  

Do you know that I can never spell restaurant?  So, I made myself learn to spell it this week.

Restaurant. Restaurant. Restaurant.  

You can teach an old dog new tricks.  :)

Restaurant.

Four beautiful old  Franciscan Desert Rose dinner plates for 50¢ each.  I have them on ebay but I hope they don't sell.  The idea of packaging them up is stressing me out.

This old chalkware Shriner made me laugh.  

My mornings haul.

I ran to get to this Nesting Doll.  No one else was even at the sale, but I still ran to get it!  Sadly, it is empty, but it is still fantastic.  It is about as big as a two liter bottle of pop.  Huge!

The bowls came from the rolling pin sale.  They aren't old, but still interesting enough.  The little refrigerator dish is McKee Sailboat.  I had no clue, but my pal Heidi filled me in. The Santa S&P's are marked Japan, but they have plastic stoppers so not sure of their age - probably 1960's?

These velvety jewelry displays will be great for my feedsack pendants at The Junk Ranch.  That's an old magnifying mirror on the right and a couple of good old glasses on the left.

I sell a lot of coffee cups at the college booth.  So, I am always on the lookout for cheap fun, unusual mugs. The Sad Face is a Happy Face on the reverse side. The old folk art shovel crows went in my yard.  

As soon as I got home that morning, Lara sent me a text about an Estate Sale with great prices, so I headed over there.  She was right,  Everything was 25¢ or so.  It was really picked over, but I found enough to fill up a tote bag and a box and my total was $6.70.  

The worst thing about the sale that in the driveway there was a huge walk-in dumpster and the door was open.  I told the guy working in the garage that the good stuff was usually in the dumpster.  He assured me it was just junk.  Then he said, "But you can take a peek."  I didn't though.

Later after I paid, I told him I was going to take a peek by the dumpster.  He went back in the house and then another guy came over to get me out of the dumpster.  But, I was actually beside it taking photos of some peony bushes.  

Gorgeous peachy pink peonies.  Smelled like heaven.  

*I actually did step into the dumpster to peek and take that photo.  Everyone on Instagram said it was free since it was in the dumpster, but it was a privately owned dumpster on private property, so it wasn't free for the taking.  I did see some stuff that I wish someone could have rescued and not see it go to the landfill.  But, there wasn't much I could do about it.  

I didn't take photos of everything I bought, but all this came from that sale.  Pristine vintage Christmas tablecloth, kneehugger ornament, couple old ornaments, firetruck, old push button phone, cookbook and a squeaky pig - all for $1.10 total.  

***I bought a firetruck just like that for The Bean before he could even walk.  My Mom was holding him when I handed it to him - he wriggled and fought to be sat down on the ground.  When she sat him on the ground, he took that little fire truck and drove it back and forth like a madman.  How did he even know to do that?  It is one of my favorite memories.  

Speaking of The Bean - I sent him this photo from a yard sale.  You are never too old for Nerf.  He has a ton so we know it's expensive stuff.  I found him all of this plus a giant clear one with all sorts of attachments for a total of $5.00.  I was hoping some were doubles so I could put them in the booth.  But he deemed them all "keepers." At least he paid me back!  

Today I decided to that it was time that I had a yard sale.  I started puling things out of the garage, and I had a nice pile going.  Then, on a whim, I threw it all in the truck and sent it off to Goodwill. Sometimes your time is just more than important than a little bit of stuff.  I still might have a sale, but I haven't really decided.  Yard sales are SO MUCH FUN to go to and SO MUCH NOT FUN to have. People are rude, they offer you a quarter on a five dollar item, their kids kids mess things, up, there are speech barriers, and on and one.  Just so not worth it.  

Thanks for coming by this morning.  I sure love you guys.  <3 .="" span="">

The Week in Junk: Finds and Freebies

Friday morning I was getting ready to go hit some yard sales when my sweet friend Paula sent me a text, "Are you ready for another load?"  Paula has the sweetest most fun booth at Daisies and Olives called Emma's Back Porch.  I adore everything in her booth because we have similar tastes.  Every once in a while she cleans out a bunch of things she is tired of or cleans out her garage and she does the most remarkable thing with it.  SHE GIVES IT TO ME.  For free.  I feel so guilty about it because she gives me better things than I can ever find when I am out thrifting.  The last time she brought me a load, I took her to my rusty stash in the back yard and she picked out some yard and garden stuff she could use and sell.  So, that lifted my guilt A LITTLE.  Bot not completely!    

Here are some shots of what she gave me and what I found at the thrifts and yard sales this week.

Trunk shot.  The guy across the street was mowing and was watching me display things in the back of the car so much that he almost tipped the mower over.  Honestly, he should be used to my shenanigans by now.  

Everything in this show was from Paula except the square Longaberger basket I found for 50¢.  The lady at the thrift shook her head over that one.  "I'm happy for you, but I really wish they would price things better sometimes" she said.  I always buy cheap Longaberger, but I really have zero luck selling it so I usually just use it for displays.  *Did you hear they are closing down the giant picnic basket office at Longaberger?  Nooooooooo!

I love this big pink parasol.  I found it late in the day on the third day of a sale.  Why didn't anyone else buy it???  I'm going to take it to the Junk Ranch and although I plan to sell it, I have a feeling I might actually USE it.  

The trivets are from Paula and I bought the rest.  I love finding those sweet old baby hangers for my collection and to sell.  Now that I see those tins  - I realize that I had one more in my pile that didn't make it home with me.  And it was a really good one. Dangit AGAIN.  As I was bringing tims up to add to my pile, the lady at the sale said, "Where are you finding these things?  I have never seen them before?"  *(This happens to me all the time, I swear!)  I told her that she had boxes of popcorn and cookie tins under a table.  "I know that" she said.  "Well, there are tins in tins in tins."  I learned a long time ago to shake tins  - there are almost always more in them or something else.  

Case in point - I found these in a tin in a tin in a tin.  

She said, "Huh. Never seen those either."

All thrifited - "No job is finished until the paperwork is finished" plaque will go to the college booth because Bathroom Humor sells.  Do you see those giant wooden spoons?  They won't even fit in my sink!

I picked up these old relay batons mostly for the colors, but I've never seen any out in the wild before.  now.  They will go to the Junk Ranch.  Maybe someone will have an idea for them. 

The tag on this said it was a twin size sheet, but it is way too big, plus it has a seam down the middle and the fabric is too heavyweight for sheets.  Its big enough that I think someone could reupholster a chair or make lots of pillows out of it.  

This old quilt isn't that attractive, but it is heavy, well made and still has lots of use in it AND it was only 50¢, so you can't beat that with a stick.  Why would anyone sell a quilt for 50¢????  I like a good old quilt for covering things up, protecting the seats in the car, picnics and cat naps.  Literally - the cat loves it.  

These sweet deer bookends have worked their way into my bookshelf, but they are to be sold.  I think?  So cute.  

This tiny tin was too sweet not to pick up even though it is missing it's lid.  I can find something to put in it.

I hope you found some good junk this weekend!  Or better yet - your sweet friend brought you a load of goodies!  :)

One Small Find

I stopped into Goodwill today to return a set of scales I bought.  The LCD screen didn't work and I was upset until I read my receipt and saw that Goodwill accepted returns.  I don't think any other thrift store does that - so that was nice.  It was only $5.00.  But, five bucks is five bucks!  They put the $5.00 on a gift card, which I didn't know existed either, so it was quite a day of learning things about Goodwill.  

Of course, you can't go to Goodwill and NOT look around.  I'm pretty sure that's a law.  I looked around and din't find anything, but then as we were passing the toy section The Bean spotted this:

A tiny set of actual golf clubs in a tiny golf bag.  It's not a toy - but the real deal.  I put it by the tire for a size reference.  I mean, it is very little!

It is Hazel sized!  

I'm sure it's for a kid to learn to play golf, but since it is so very small, I am hoping that it might be a salesman sample.  I doubt that it is, but I do live in the land of Wal-Mart Corporate Offices where every company on the planet brings in products and samples to Wal-Mart.  So, maybe?  Either way, they were just too darn cute not to buy!  And the price?  Well, my newly acquired gift card covered it!

FORE!  

I mean, SCORE!

Neosho City Wide Yard Sales

Thursday night I ran through all the yard sales listed - over 250 in all - and chose the ones that looked the most promising - School Sales, Church Sales, Fundraisers and any sale that listed Vintage.  Lara gave me a heads up about an app that routes your trip form location to location, so I loaded all the addresses into it  right before I went to bed.  

Traffic is really horrible on the Interstate until after 8:00, so I knew I either had to go well before - like at 6:30 or wait until 8:00 when it subsided.  Since we all know I am not a morning person, you can guess which choice I took.  I was ready to leave at 8:00.  We swung through ChickfilA for a biscuit and then we were on our way. Right before we crossed the Missouri border and entered the land of nothing - straight highways and no businesses or houses - my tiny bladder with it's cup o' coffee in it was screaming STOP NOW.  A normal person would stop at McDonald's or a Gas Station for a bathroom break.  But, not me.  Nope.  I knew that a brand new Goodwill had just opened in that very town not more than a week ago.  Goodwill is the only thrift with a clean bathroom so WIN WIN.  We were the fist customers as soon as they opened the door.  Luckily the bathrooms were right by the front door so sweet relief was quick.  Ahhhhhh!  Of course I had to look around while I was there!  This town is a Village  - not a town or a city - a Village.  It is comprised of numerous golf courses, country clubs, homes and very few businesses.  The median age is 61 and there is no school and hardly any children.  Therefore, I pictured the place smack dab full of vintage goodness.  And, I was actually right - but it was really expensive.  Things I expected to be $10 were $25 - so I won't be putting it on my "GO TO" list unless I happen to be passing by.  

Now, having said that - I actually found one of my best finds of the day there.

Giant vintage snowman cookie jar.  For FIVE DOLLARS.  There were a dozen handmade cups around him that matched - each one had wonkier and wonkier eyes.  Like the person that made them just got sick of painting those DAMN SNOWMAN EYES.  I hate separating things, but I only wanted the cookie jar, so I left all those wonky eyed snowmen on the shelf.  As we drove, about thirty minutes up the road, I said completely out of the blue,"Why does a cookie jar need cups?"  Then I was guilt free about leaving those wonky eyes little SOB's.  

When we got to Neosho, I took the first turn into downtown.  We passed up a big parking lot full of vendors and made a mental note to go back to that sale at some point.  The first big intersection had about a billion signs pointing in every direction, so I went that way.  I was not prepared for what I found  - the street at the top of the hill was Oak Ridge (one Lara had said always had good sales). The street had been turned into a one way to handle all the traffic and foot traffic.  You just parked where you could and took off on foot.  We parked at the top of a steep incline and I prayed the car wouldn't get towed or just flat out roll down the hill before we returned.  We took off to the left and started shopping in yards.  Each yard had many people set up selling, plus there were random hot dog, cotton candy, kettle corn and tamale stands along the way.  Cars were single file bumper to bumper and the foot traffic was going in each direction with people pushing strollers, cart and even wheelbarrows full of stuff they had bought.

This was the only picture of a corner that I managed to get - signs everywhere.  

Loved that it was CASH Street too.  

My first purchase was a vintage Fisher Price Dog pull toy for $1.00.  Cheap cute vintage right off the bat?  This was going to be THE BEST DAY EVER. Although it might be TIRING. (I learned in the 4th grade about foreshadowing when it comes to writing.  That's when you hint at something that will happen later in the story.  You, my friends,  have just been foreshadowed.)

We continued up the street until we couldn't see the car anymore, then crossed the street to hit the sales on that side until we got back to the car.  I had a small tote bag and I had it half full of random things when we got back to the car.  We loaded up and turned down the street to find a better place to park.  There was a Church sale, so we found the one and only empty spot at the end of the sidewalk in the grass.  I pulled in and we got out and started walking up the block.  We ended back up at the church and bought a few things - so we headed to the car to unload.  When I started the car, it made a DING and the low pressure tire light came on.  It does that from time to time, so it didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was when I pulled out onto the street, the passenger front wheel was about six inches lower than the rest of the car.  We stopped and got out to discover not just a flat, but a tire with a huge gash in it. Ugh.  My world flashed before my eyes - I was in another STATE!  What was I going to do?  That's when my little baby boy plucked his pacifier out of his mouth and looked up at me and said, "I can change it".  I swear to you - that was the first time that I have been happy that he is a grown man and not my little baby boy anymore.  (Upon investigation, we had ran over the remnants of a street sign that had been broken off about 1" from the ground in the grass.  Sliced the crap out of that tire.) 

Excuse the possible butt crack sighting.  Hard to avoid when tire changing.

Long story short (too late, right?) - he changed the tire, we drove to Wal-Mart Tire & Lube, sat by a huge stack of tires for two hours, got a rubber induced migraine and spent $117 on a new tire. BUT! I had the money on me to pay for it (we operate in cash), my son changed the tire for us, we could have had this happen on the Interstate, or we could have had a wreck, Wal-Mart had the right size tire in stock and plenty of other things to be thankful for so I was not upset by it.  I was really only upset that we lost three hours from our fun day of yard saling.  

My view for two hours.

By the time we got back into the groove, most sales were closing up or were running out of merchandise.  We did go back to that big parking lot sale and that is where I got the bulk of my items. I was discouraged at first because many of the vendors had new merchandise like t-shirts, hats, flags and knives.  But, The Bean collects knives (

I dug this little jewel out of the $2.00 table.  She is about three inches tall and just the cutest little cowgirl.  I think she might be Annie Oakley.  At least that's what I have decided.  The horseshoe came from the last sale of the day where upon telling the man my tire woes said if anyone needed a lucky horseshoe that day - it was me. True Dat.

This silly guy was in the $1.00 bin. He makes me chuckle with his gap toothed smile and receding hairline.  

I got so excited over the fact that this little lady is wearing a Mercury Glass Bead necklace that I failed to notice she only has one eye.  LOOK AWAY EDDIE.  I wonder where I can find a wee little eye patch?  Actually, I swear she had an eye when I found her - I think it must have flaked off in the tote bag.  

Next to the doll guy there were long tables set up with cardboard boxes on them three across and about thrifty feet long  They were heaped with junk - old clothes, old pregnancy tests, out dated Hallmark plates and on and on.  They had two guys set up like Carnival Barkers, "Everything's a quarter - ya can't beat the price!"  I didn't see anything on top that looked even remotely interesting. But, any true junker knows you have to at least look a little.  I stared digging, trying not to cut myself on a steak knife or a broken dish and what do you know - I started finding some good old junk.  For a quarter!  

This old Japanese lantern Christmas bulb has seen better days, but it was still worth way more than a quarter.  

Five vintage Miracle Whip jars for 25¢ each.  I love old jars and old jars with cool lids are really fun to have - I like putting random things in them to sell.  The old jar just adds appeal.  

I got an entire sleeve of 200 of these older paper snowcone cones.  I also found a package of not new, but not really old Japanese paper lanterns with honeycomb on them.  They look like the good old ones that are about impossible to find in good condition.  As I dug in the boxes I found one here and one there.  The guy saw me finding them and fished about 30 of them out of one box for me.  So I am in the Japanese paper lantern business now.  I found some old Christian Grade School Science Readers, milk glass coffee cups and a few other things.  I spent $15.00 in the 25¢ bins  - so I got quite a bit of stuff.  

My favorite find from the quarter bins.  A very sweet cuckoo clock wall pocket.  I thought it held a pocket watch in that little square at the bottom - but pocket watches are not square.  Any ideas?

Other random finds from the day:

Lefton Mrs. Claus cup and that Lantern bulb.  Lara was texting me good sales as she hit them - there was one in an old service station that I managed to find.  They were closing up , but let me look quickly.  The main thing I found was an old orange box full of brand new cross stitch kits.  I paid $5.00 for the box and found 19 new kits, plus a bunch of Bucilla rug yarn, hoops, needles, frames and lots of other new craft supplies.  I need to do some research on the kits, but I know I will do okay on them.

Cannon camera lens travel mug - for the college booth.

Random old tools and a horse shoe.  I have this grand idea of making an old sign out of old metal junk that says JUNK.  I found the J and the U. 

Loved this big old print for 50¢.  Had it been original - $4000!  It's a print - whomp whomp.  

But, I still like it.

I spotted an old toothpick box on a table at one sale.  I peeked inside and found....

A blown glass giraffe family.  The little ones are less than an inch tall.

Here's a truck shot - all smalls as usual.  Some old swanky swigs, a pile of costume beads, an old Nylint car carrier, a stuffed fabric bear, Do Not Disturb sign from an old hotel, folding sunglasses, the lanterns, the dolls and a few other things.  Also, my very best and favorite find of the whole day hidden in the middle.  

A Sun Rubber Ruth Newton Squeaker!  She cleaned up perfectly.  If you are on Instagram - you know that these are highly sought after for collecting, photographing and owning.  I spotted her at the doll guy's table and I sucked all the air out of the vicinity.  She wasn't in a priced area - so I asked the magic question.  His answer?  "Two bucks."  SOLD.

I enjoyed my day minus the tire incident, but that didn't even ruin my day.  I am always up for a day of yard saling and a road trip.  Add in some sweet vintage finds, a day with my kiddo and some car snacks (we found Mother's iced animal cookies at Walmart.  SO GOOD) and you have a good day! Since I had never been to Neosho (the highway bypasses the town so I have never ventured into town on my hundreds of trips past there to Kansas in my lifetime) I didn't know the layout of the town.  Apparently I missed about 75% of the town by bad driving, not planning and the whole tire fiasco.  Live and learn.  I'll go back next year and try the rest of the town. Be sure to check out Lara's blog - she got lots of good, good stuff.  She has been there four years in a row and learned where to go - plus she was on the road before I even got out of bed. She's a good junker so she deserves the good stuff.