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.
Showing posts with label collections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collections. Show all posts

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Out of the Closet

This morning I had to walk down the street to pick up the car at the Repair Shop and pay an $800.00 repair bill.  Ouch.  Since I was feeling sorry for myself about that, I decided to treat myself to a yard sale.  I have been getting rid of things like crazy all week.  So, maybe I deserved a goodie or two, I thought.  Besides I needed something materialistic in my hands that I could say cost me a couple dollars rather than think about the $800.00 for something I couldn't even see.  (But it was needed and I am grateful to have it repaired).
It was a small sale, but I did find a treasure or two.   A huge Dictionary - almost a foot tall.  It has color plates and fun old words in it.  When I asked how much it was, the guy told me that he wanted to take it to an antique auction, but he never got around to it.  I figured he would want too much for it, so I dropped it.  (The idea of buying it, not the actual dictionary!)  He finally told me that I could have it for $2.00.  I also found he strawberry tea towel for 50¢, the white pottery for $1.00 (and I need more pottery.  You will see that in a minute), Royal Copley planter with a sweet bird for $2.00 and the vintage hatpin holder for 50¢.  I think the hatpin holder is my money maker for the day.  Not a bad haul for ten minutes and six dollars.

When I was cleaning out my office closet this week, I was surprised at some of the things I found.  When I first started buying things to resell, I only bought things to resell.  I never thought about keeping anything because I wasn't into vintage stuff.......yet.  I bought it and researched it to see if I could learn more about it.  Some things got boxed up until I could learn more about it.  Some things, apparently, got boxed up and forgotten about until this past weekend. 

Imagine my surprise when I opened a box and discovered P.O.T.T.E..R.Y.  The kind of pottery I look for everywhere I go and dream of finding.  Loads of it.
I found YELLOW Pottery.

GREEN Pottery.

BLUE Pottery.

And even WHITE Pottery.
But, I was really surprised to find my very favorite.....PINK Pottery.
In my very own closet.

These are the keepers.  Pink, aqua, yellow and white. 
Yum.

I'm sure I can squeeze it all into my shelves.

Or not.

It's a mad hot mess, isn't it?  I just keep piling it in there, hoping and praying it doesn't collapse or crash. 

So far, so good. 

I actually did rearrange it and pull quite a few pieces out and manage to work in the new stuff.  It's still sort of a mess, but I love it all.  I'm looking for the perfect hutch this summer to put it all in.  I'm particularly partial to that first shelf full of pink and yellow and aqua. 

Lots of Church Sales and Yard Sales tomorrow.  I am going to go to a lot of them, but I will show restraint.  I am making progress here in the house and it feels good.

But, a new piece of pottery feels pretty good too, right?  :D

Friday, January 15, 2010

Collections: Gingham Aprons


I have a lot of collections.  In fact, if you ask me what I collect, I would answer "collections".  Some things, I set out to collect, others came to me unknowingly.  Several years ago, I went to a sale and purchased over 50 aprons for 10¢ each.  It was a huge box of aprons!  I took them all home and washed them, only to find an ungodly gnarl of apron ties in the washer that took me days to untangle.  There were many aprons of all sorts in that box.  Aprons for holidays, aprons for every day use, aprons with the grnadkids names on them, aprons with pockets, aprons with holes.  Lots of aprons.  I have given a lot of the aprons away in swaps and in gifts, but I still have a lot of them.  It occured to me one day that if I was going to keep any of these aprons, I needed to find a common theme in the ones that I liked and only collect those.  As I looked through them, I was drawn to the gingham aprons.  Particularly the aprons with chicken scratch on them.  I went through the aprons, found all the gingham aprons and put them in my kitchen.  I have also added several from sales over the years. 

Now I have a virtual rainbow of gingham aprons.  I actually don't have a yellow apron, that is a yellow gingham tablecloth (with chicken scratch) stuck in there to complete the rainbow.  On this year's Wish List when it comes to thrifting:  A yellow gingham apron and a brown gingham apron to complete my rainbow of aprons.  I don't really need a yellow or a brown apron, but that is just part of the thrill of the hunt when it comes to thrifting - finding what you really wanted!

Wish me luck!

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