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.

Monday, May 16, 2016

The Week in Junk and Mother's Day Too

We had a little backyard BBQ for Mother's Day.  My Mom, Step-Father and the three of us sat under the shade trees and had hot dogs.  Tres fancy.  I didn't have to cook, so it was fine by me.


The Bean wore his "I Like Mama" shirt.  

(I held the phone up to take this photo and he looks eleven feet tall!)


My Step-Father fell asleep.  
I guess our stimulating conversation wasn't enough to keep him awake.  :)


We were sitting in my old Motel Chairs and it was like The Breadman was sinking in quick sand all of the sudden as his chair went down.  He was trapped - couldn't get up, so OF COURSE I took the time to take a photo.  Or nine.  Poor chair.  Off to the metal shop it will go.

As I ran to buy the aforementioned hot dogs, I stopped at one yard sale.  I mean, it was Mother's Day and I am a Mother and I needed to go to a sale - so I did!  As I walked up, I spotted lots of tubs of Christmas stuff - lots of new stuff and lots of junk.  But, I saw five boxes of old ornaments and enough other old stuff that I asked, "How much?"  The lady said, "We've been out here all day and you are the first person to even look at it.  How about $5.0 for everything?"  SOLD.  They loaded up four Uhaul boxes of Christmas and loaded it in my car.  I never even touched any of it.  They even dug a bunch out of a trash can that they had deemed "junk" - it was some of the better stuff!  I dug through all four boxes and re-donated three and a half boxes back to Goodwill. 


There were the boxes of ornaments I mentioned (And forgot to photograph) plus these goodies. Glass garland - my very favorite thing to find EVER.  Not a big string - but enough to make me happy.


I stopped into Habit for Humanity this week - only the second time I have ever been.  A lady that worked there was very happy to see me  - she hadn't seen me in forever - how have I been?????  I have no clue who she is  - isn't that AWFUL???  But, she was so happy to see me that she let me dig in the Christmas boxes and pull out a few goodies.  And, she only charged me a dollar for all three things.  When I went to check out - I told them "Sandy said I could buy these for $1.00". Oh.  They were SO NOT happy with Sandy.  The lady told me Christmas was in a room where I wasn't allowed (this was a pallet on the floor - not in a room) and the man told me that the whole pallet was shrink wrapped (it wasn't) and there was a big sign on it (there wasn't) saying the whole pallet was one price. I told them they could keep the items, I didn't want to make trouble.  "It's fine," they said.  "THIS time."  I don't think I'll be going back any time soon.  Sorry Sandy.  


I bought all these colored floodlights at a Church Sale - actually I bought about a dozen of them.  I don't know why - they just looked like big jewels or candy all together.  I think a red, yellow and green on a shelf in a boys room would be cute.  I'll schlep them to the Junk Racnh and see if anyone bites.  


I got this cool shelf at the $5.00 Christmas sale. It will go in one of the booths to use.


Yesterday I went to this sale.  I have been there three other times  - they are cleaning out their Mom's house and she kept everything.  I mean honestly - every thing.  It's all clean and well cared for - plus it's almost all $1.00 or less.  I don't know if you can see the fence - but there must have been five hundred clothes hangers hanging on that fence.  That must have taken forever.  At each sale - they usually have mass quantities of the same sort of things.  Not some of everything - but lots of a few things.  This time it was books, chairs, plastic tables and hangers.  There must have been a thousand books and they were fill a paper shopping bag for $1.00.  I have a self imposed book ban, but come on - a dollar a bag?  I filled up four bags and got probably 100 books.  I went through them today and donated about fifteen back to Goodwill.  I'm sure more will go as I look them all up.  There were 1980's coloring books - Mr. T, Captain Planet, New Kids on The Block and more.  Concert programs for John Denver, The Carpenters, Bob Hope and Circus programs, cookbooks, teacher books and about twenty five old school readers.  It was crazy fun filling up those bags.  I swear, if I had a workshop, I would have just bought them all and dealt with them at my leisure.  I know there was money there.  

Oh yes, they also had suitcases.  


I bought them all - for five dollars total.  I'm thinking the red, white and blue theme will go with my camping/summer vacation theme at the Junk Ranch.  


I rescued this sweet handmade kitty and a Playskool Water Pet that is ebay bound.


A tiny denim jacket that says HOWDY.  I mean, how cute is THAT?


I spotted this box full of glass garland siting on a shelf - how could it still be there at noon?  But, thank heavens it was and now it's MINE for the princely sum of twenty five cents - six long strands of red/pink garland.  OH, HAPPY DAY!


Some fun stuff too - the glass garland (AGAIN), Bozo, old kid card sets, a teeny Santa mug, a fun Red Nose Light Santa on the card and a great chalkboard.  There was more in my pile, which I had left by the table where they told me to leave it so it would be safe, but as I was shopping, I saw a lady walk by with something that I knew was in my pile.  I let it go since it wasn't the garland (TOUCH THE GARLAND AND I WILL CUT YOU LADY), but I wonder if anything else I had in my pile was missing?  I have short term memory when I am at a yard sale - when I get home and unload I am all "Oh I forgot about that!"  - so I will just think that only one thing was missing and not worry about it.  

Today I shopped my own garage looking for Junk Ranch items - I sent a load of crapola off to Goodwill and made some room in the garage.  I'll be back at it all week long - wish me luck!

15 comments:

  1. So much good junk!! Love the Bean's shirt. I'm trying not to buy much but I still need a junkin fix now and then!
    hugs,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm selling most of what I buy these days. Of course a little pottery and Christmas is always welcome. Junkin is good for the soul!

      Delete
  2. Looks like a good time was had by all. How nice of the Breadman to provide the entertainment for the occasion. I love those floodlights. I think they would make some kind of cool, funky Christmas decoration.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought those bulbs looked Christmas-y too. Great minds you know.....

      Delete
  3. Okay, so on the route 11 sale this weekend, I scored a huge bag of blue and gold garland for $1. I don't know how many strands yet. But, man, I thought THAT was a good deal. And look, you beat me with your 6 strands for a quarter!

    Did you get to shop any portion of the route 11 sale this weekend? I made it from Knoxville, TN to Ft. Payne, AL. I was proud of myself for making it so far!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw that bag of Garland on IG. A great find!!! I've had pretty good luck finding it lately. It's my favorite thing to find! Looks like that sale is about 8 hours from me. I hardly go to the next town to hit sales! Ha!!

      Delete
  4. Glass garland is always a good thing to find. That sale sounds like a fun one to hit for a buck or less, but I can't imagine being one of the kids cleaning out that much stuff. I would be stalking that sale since you said it was the third phase...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was a sign up for the next sale. June 25th. It's in my calendar!

      Delete
  5. Glad you had a smashing Mother's Day :) OK, maybe a better pun for The Breadman's chair would be in order, but I got nothing! That $1 sales sounds amazing! Except for the lady who stole your stuff from your pile. You gotta respect the pile!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm so glad you are on IG. I just love seeing all your amazing finds in real-time. I've been a terrible about staying on top of my favorite blogs. You really do find some amazing treasures. I'm desperate for an estate sale fix. Desperate!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. will the jacket fit Hazel? Thank BM for giving me a good laugh today, had a crappy day and needed that release.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry you had a crappy day. TBM is usually good for a laugh because he's always doing something dumb. :) My poor chair though.

      Delete
  8. The best part of the Breadman story is the nine pics you took. I had to snicker at that because I would have done the same :) Lovely pink garland you found and totally worth defending! Bon Qui Qui happens to be my hero, I went as her for Halloween one year...No one WILL CUT YEW like her!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love this post! The action shot of TBM was priceless. So many fab treasures, I can't pick just one as a favorite. My rule has always been to never make a pile and leave it. I once saw a huge fight break out over stuff that was someone's pile. Glad you didn't lose your fav things in the looting.

    ReplyDelete
  10. All great stuff and those prices!! Wow - we never see low prices like that in Chicago.

    ReplyDelete

I love my comments. I'd love to respond to everyone, but if you don't have an email address tied to your ID, please sign your name so I will know who you are! It makes it nice to know who is saying what. Now, leave a comment! Please? ;o)

I Can See You!



Look at my Visitors!

Fellow Junk Followers