Thursday's Thrifty Finds

I just know you are all on the edge of your seat waiting to see my thrifty finds from yesterday.  (Yea, right, get a life, Shara).  Today I managed to find two yard sales so I added to my bounty. 

Let's see if I can do this tonight without the type getting all wonky on the side.  Forgive the bad backdrops and lighting.  I knew if I didn't take photos when I did, I wouldn't ever get them taken.  (As you can see, the tubs of Easter are in the living room, but not quite out yet).

Some vintage Easter goodies.  When else are you going to find it but now, so you gotta buy it.  Too sweet little vintage girl bunny and two more vintage baskets for my ever growing collection. 

Funny Bunny Planter and a stack of vintage plastic Easter Basket Treat Cups.  Love those treat cups!

A box of funny round wooden doll beads.  I look for these on Etsy all the time, so that was a happy find. 

A bunch of random sewing things - bias tape, old tape measures, sewing scissors, and an iron on "S" all from a 50¢ Grab Bag.  The piece of Haeger pottery isn't exactly the lovely pastels I love, but you just can't leave a piece of vintage Haeger behind for 50¢.  Right, Sue?

Miscellaneous linens for 25¢ each.  There was a huge tub of linens all for 25¢, so I took my time and sorted through them looking at each one carefully.  Most of them have some spots and age, but the embroidery was so pretty.  I only spent $3.00 for everything, so if one thing is a keeper, that's not bad.

Yet another old ruler.  I think I have about eight of these.  Again, if the price is right, I can't leave it.  This one was only $1.00, so the price was right!

Set of Lusterware canisters.  Not perfect and not complete, but they were only $1.00 for all three.  I think I might plant flowers in them this summer.  FLOUR - Get it?  ha ha ha!  Oh i am so clever.  Not.

Some cool old wooden checkers with stars on them for 25¢.  Great for crafting or in a jar for fun.

And, lastly, a weird not vintage item that I love.  In fact, I have always wanted one. 

My very own shopping basket!  It's a cool aqua color.  I'll cover up the Eckerd part with something cool - an old sign or something. 

Another day, another bunch of old junk.  Hope you find some junk this weekend!  (It was 70 today, but we have sleet and snow coming on Saturday.  Are you kidding me????)

Free Wednesday

Today was Week One of the newly implemented "Free Wednesday" here at the monkeybox household.  Wednesday The Breadman is off so we always go do something as a family.  Sometimes we go to a movie, the arcade, the walking trail, grocery shopping, the library, a picnic, the park, whatever...

But, today I decided Wednesday's would be Free Days.  We could do whatever we could find to do - but as much as possible of it had to be FREE. 

We started our day at Chick-fil-A for lunch and used coupons for three FREE Chicken strips from this year's Chick-fil-A calendar (that we got for FREE, I might add).  FREE lunch.  Good start.

Next, on to the Rogers Historical Museum where admission is FREE.  We went on a really cool guided tour of a home built in 1895 that is fully furnished with the original furniture.  Everything was so interesting to look at that I had a hard time remembering I was in a museum and not a thrift store.  Boy, I would have loved to buy some of the things I saw in there!

Next it was on to the Daisy BB Gun Museum where they had this in the window:

It's Fra-gee-lee.  It must be from France!

We looked at room after room of BB Guns and BB Gun related advertising and ephemera.  It was interesting, but a pretty quick walk through.  When we reached the back of the building, a lady appeared and announced it was $2.00 each for the two adults.  Okay, not FREE, but cheap.  After we paid, she handed us two collectible Daisy BB Gun Medallions that were price $2.95 for FREE.  So, I think we sort of came out $2.00 ahead on that deal. 

Next we headed for our first taste of Krsipy Kreme donuts.   We had never been to a Krispy Kreme, so we had no idea what a cool place it was.  They were making fresh hot donuts, so we lined up with the crowd at the glass and watched them come down the line through the oil and into the glaze.  I was lucky enough to be standing by a group of seven year old kids that were equally excited about the entire process.  They had been there before, so they talked me through it.  They didn't seem to notice that the 40 something old lady was hopping up and down saying things like, "On no, that one fell off!" and "Look at the glaze machine!"

We even donned paper Krispy Kreme hats to thoroughly enjoy the experience.  Now, I know you all  probably already know this next tidbit, but we had absolutely no idea that the lady at the counter would bestow one of those hot fresh donuts on us for FREE.  Yippee.   I'm not a donut fan.  They always look much better than they taste and they give me heartburn, so I never eat donuts.  These, however, were a little bite of heaven.  Oh.MY.Word.  It's probably a really good thing that Krispy Kreme is about 30 miles away or I fear me and those 7 year olds at the window might get to be really good friends. 

What a treat!  Those FREE donuts fit right into our FREE day just perfectly. The dozen we decided to purchase, however, did not!  But, how could we only eat on Krispy Kreme in our entire lives?  We had to have some to take home.   We still only spent $11.00 for our entire day out - lunch, two museums and Krispy Kreme.  Not bad, right?   What shall we do next week?           *For the record, we did go to an awesome Thrift Store packed to the gills with junk and I spent $18.50.  The Bean declared that I had blown FREE day, but I insisted that since I had pocket money, it didn't count.  It didn't, did it?  (Those thrifty finds to follow tomorrow).

America

This is my little cousin, America.  She is the Children's Miracle Network Champion for the State of Kansas.

Taken from the Miracle Netork Blog:

"When America was born with spina bifida, hydrocephalus, scoliosis and club feet, it was clear she'd face tough times in life. But no one knew then just how tough this little girl could be.

She was told she’d never be able to sit up, crawl, talk or feed herself. They were wrong. She sat up on her own at age 1 and crawled on her arms soon after. Before she was 2 years old she was happily chatting away. But there is one thing she won't do: America will never say "I can't." Instead, she takes her time and continues to try.

America, 5, has her own customized wheelchair, and people in her community are amazed at how smoothly and quickly she zips around. She teaches everyone she comes in contact with that being in a wheelchair doesn't mean you can't be independent and as happy as anyone else. America loves to dance in her chair and does gymnastic moves on her therapy bars at St. Francis Health Center. Her family has been told that America is going to change the wheelchair world. After every barrier she's already broken, it's safe to say that America will make those changes and more."

The Champions program designates a champion child in every state who has bravely battled a serious injury or illness. The champions represent the nearly 17 million children treated at Children’s Miracle Network hospitals every year. The 2010 champions have dealt with a wide variety of injuries and illnesses including genetic diseases, heart transplants and traumas, as well as life-threatening staph infections.

You can vist the  Kansas Champion Blog to see more about America or to visit your State to meet your local champion. 

We are proud of you, America!

Church Rummage Sale and Estate Sale Finds

Yeppers.  You read that right.  I went to a CHURCH Rummage Sale and TWO Estate Sales this weekend.  Thank you, oh mighty Thrifting GODS, thank you.  The dry spell is over.  Winter is gone...almost.  Spring dune Sprung and all that crap.  Except for the fact that it is going to snow this weekend....

I knew there was an Estate Sale in town, but I hadn't planned on going that way because I had errands to run the other way.  But, my errands got changed a bit and I was able to go after all.  On the way there, I spotted a HUGE banner that stretched across an old restaurant - RUMMAGE SALE.  I don't know about you, but those are may favorite words.  I do like to rummage.  Dig through Stuff.  Good times.

I went to the Estate Sale first, since I was already headed there.  There wasn't a whole lot left, but I'm never looking for priceless antiques or expensive items anyway.  I like the junk that no one else wants.  I always head straight to the garage.  There's always good junk in the garage.  Case in point, a big box of Christmas stuff sitting in the corner of the garage and a few miscellaneous items scattered here and there throughout the garage.  I added it all to the big box and asked the magic question..."How much?"  Two bucks for it all.  Cha-ching.  SOLD.  I didn't really even bother to see what was in it.  For two bucks, that's a nights worth of entertainment for me. 

The man that lived there played cards.  A lot.  I found twenty eight decks of cards here and there, some old Congress cards in the velvety boxes, some with neat old graphics, some regular cards and be still my heart....a box of Lawrence Welk cards complete with old Lawrence himself on the Ace!  The guy told me that I could have all the cards I could find in the whole house and all the bridge tallies and such for $1.00.  I also found a Gurley lamp post candle laying in the middle of the bedroom, completely out of place.  Not sure where it came from, but it came home with me.  There was a neat old Key Keeper hanging on the wall, so we grabbed that too.  In the end, the box of Christmas was heaping with the cards and all the other odds and ends we gathered up.  The man ended up just taking $5.00 for it all.  Plus he gave The Bean a book about Fossils when the basket of fossils we attempted to buy had already been sold.  I love it when they deal themselves down!  And give you freebies!

Miscellaneous Christmas items from the box o' stuff.  More in the following photos too.

On to the Rummage Sale.  It was for a 7th grade trip at a local private school and the kids were all there.  And they were loud, obnoxious and generally in the way playing with the merchandise, crashing into me as they ran about and generally being a bother.  I thanked The Bean for being a responsible quiet kid and got to shopping.  Stuff was strewn about in a haphazard way, I had to make several trips through there to see it all.  My first find was a neat old bottle brush tree - a three footer, still in the box.  When I went to see how much it was, the lady gave me a song and dance about how old it was and it was vintage and how much was I willing to pay for it?  I said, "Thanks, but no thanks".  And I walked away.  Then she said, "Two dollars?"  "That's fine, thank you," I said.  I do not like it when they pull the vintage card and start trying to make you feel guilty for buying something cheap.  If they knew it was vintage and they knew they wanted a big price for it, it should have been priced, for goodness sake!  She could have said $5.00 or $20.00 and I would have made my decision then.  I wasn't looking for it to be 50¢ or anything.  Honestly, two bucks was a pretty good price for them to get for a Christmas tree in March. 

More Christmas, the Key Keeper and a happy find of three nesting nice - the biggest one is about as big as a golf ball.  They were in the original plastic bag and all dirty so I didn't really even realize what they were, but I threw them in the box "in case".   Lovin' that vintage pink and aqua tinsel.

Saturday I went to the Estate Sale that I wrote about earlier in the week.  It was pretty low by the time I got there, and it was all nice new up-end stuff.  I did look around and find a couple items.  This lovely matte white Hull planter was only a quarter!  I was happy to spot it amongst the newer stuff on a table in the garage.  I believe I whined about not finding any pottery lately and now I have found two pieces in three days.  Oh, Thrifting Gods, thank you.  And, for the record, I haven't found any $100 dollar bills or winning lottery tickets either.  (Hey, it can't hurt to mention it!).  The pink pottery box matches a white one I already have in my pottery collection. 

My favorite item of the day:

This incredibly adorable angel.  Oh my heavens, she is so adorable.  I love the fact that she looks like she is in her thermal undies.  I feel the need to gussie her up, but then again, I like her as she is.  She's a cutie pie!

I hope you got to dig in some JUNK this weekend!

Thursday's Thrifty Finds

Is is just me, or are the picking slim at your thrifts?  I went to two stores yesterday and spent $3.00 and then to another one today where I spent $7.00.  I am happy to not spend much $$$, but the stuff, the junk, we'll..it's just not there.  I think it will be a huge yard sale season.  Times are hard and people need extra money.  I think there will be a ton of yard sales and then they will send the leftovers to the thrifts.  Which is fine, I love a good yard sale even more than the thrift!  In fact, there is an Estate Sale this weekend!  I knew the lady that the house belonged to and I know the lady having the sale for her family.  She was an Administrator at school and died last year - she was only in her 60's.  Her only daughter had died a few years earlier, so there was no immediate family.  Her best friend was the Counselor at school, so she is handling the Estate.  Gee, now that I have said all that, I feel sort of bad about saying, "There's an Estate sale this weekend!'  Estate sales are sad in their own right.  But, to just junkers, they are fun too.  I appreciate the things that people acquired through their lives and I like to think that take them home and care for them.  So, I feel like they have gone to a new home and that is what the people would want in the first place.

So, on to the Thrift Finds of the Week.

A nice tall Matte White Hylan Pottery Vase.  I haven't found a nice piece of white pottery in a long time.  Thrift score!

A mystery item.  "What is that?" everyone asked at the thrift.  I haven't a clue what it is, but is is cool and I love it!  It is big and I think it has possibilities written all over it.  What shall I do with it? 

A sweet vintage Easter basket (my latest obsession), a spun cotton egg (my first!) and a flocked bunny.  I tell this same story every Easter, but here is goes again. When we cleaned out The Breadman's Mom's house, I found a yellow flocked bunny in this drawer and a pink one in that drawer and a blue on over there and a white one here and a brown one over there and so on and so on.  I ended up finding about twenty of them scattered around the house.  She had a ton of everything, so it wasn't that much of a surprise to find mass quantities of bunnies.  But, since I thought they were cute, I decided that would be the one quirky collection of hers that I would keep.  I put them all in a box near (not with or next to, but NEAR) the boxes of "Salvation Army" donations and well, you can guess what happened.  All those bunnies were gone.  So, now whenever I see one, I have to buy it.  Maybe when I am old and senile I will "think" they came from her house. 

 

A small cute picnic basket tin.

 

An old plastic bunny toy for 25¢.  Cute, huh?

A wee birthday figurine for my vintage Birthday collection. She's 5!

(Shown in front of a massive amount of Buttermints purchased at Walgreen's for 92¢)

The neat old Backgammon pieces came from a thrift and the cards are from Etsy.  I never heard of BEANO, but I had to get some for The Bean.

And lastly and more importantly, creepily, a mounted head.  Okaaaaaaaaaaaay.  It is sort of cute.  I mean, how wrong can you go with pink rick rack and pink and white gingham.  (Apparently, a little wrong.) It will go on Etsy and who knows, someone might buy it!

Speaking of people buying things - last Saturday I bought a book at the Super Cheap Thrift called "Hugh Hutchins of Old England".  It was a family history, printed in typewritten pages.  Big and thick.  I don't usually sell books. but this one looked like maybe a Genealogy person might need it.  I put it on Amazon and they suggested a price of $49.99.  What the heck, why not.  So, I listed it and surprise, surprise, it sold yesterday.  I paid 25¢ for it!  Woohoo!  Of course, Amazon took a nice chunk of it, (about $9.00), but still - not a bad profit.  Wish I could do that with all the junk good stuff I drag home!

Disco Fever

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

This makes me laugh so hard, it hurts.  Seriously.  I'm not so funny, but The Breadman cracks me UP!  And, sadly, these dancing skills are reminiscent of his actual danging skills.  And, even his attire before I converted him to "normalcy".  Oh My Lord.

You have GOT to do this!

Go Fly A Kite...Again

Yesterday was the Annual Kite Festival.   It is held in a teeny community, on top of a mountain, up a skinny dirt road.  it's quite a ride getting up there, but once you are there....it is awesome.  The wind is always blowing just right to get a kite right up.  Yet, it's never too windy to just sit and be a spectator.  it had been cold and windy for months, but yesterday was a Spring-like day.  The warmest temperatures since November 7th, to be exact.  It was a perfect day to be outside, soak up the sun and do a little kite flying. 

We took our lawn chairs, some bottled water and a bag of M&M's and we were set for the day.  The Bean has a large assortment of cheapy kites and a really nice Thunderbird Kite that he flies.  It costs $2.00 a person to fly a kite which is super cheap entertainment.  They also have a raffle for a big show kite that they give away in the middle of the day.  Tickets are 50¢ and limit one per person, so you have a good chance of winning, since you have to be present to win, too boot. 

I guess our chances were really good, because The Bean WON! 

It is an awesome kite - absolutely beautiful in the sun with the brilliant sky behind it.

I love this photo.  He's growing up and won't want to go to the Kite Festival with Mom and Dad many more times.  But, for now, he does and I am happy for that.  That kite is trying to fly free like him.  But, he's holding onto it, not wanting to let go, like me. 

(Only I could turn the Kite Festival into a tear jerker.) 

Alcohol, Go Go Dancing and Older Men

Often I joke about "needing a drink".  Well, I don't drink.  Anymore, that is.  There was a time when I was quite the Boozehound.  Once I found myself at a party surrounded by a bunch of bikers sitting on motorcycles.  They had Apple wine.  It smelled good.  And I wanted some.  I went from person to person, batting my eyes begging them for alcohol.  Just a taste.  Everyone there knew that it wasn't good for me, but to appease my thirst for alcohol, each person gave me a teeny sip.  They had no idea that I was going to every person in the group and getting teensy sips.  Twenty five teensy sips make for a half a bottle of Apple Wine.  I was on top of the world, feeling good.  But, suddenly, my world began to spin.  My stomach lurched.  Suddenly, I needed to use the restroom.  As I sat on the toilet, the room began to spin and I fell to the floor in a heap.  It was the day I reached a new low point in my life. 

Here is a photo of me at the pinnacle of my Booze fest..

Yep, I was three years old and I wanted it bad!  I would fake a cough "Eh, Eh" to try to get a sip of Lime Vodka from my Mom.  It worked once, then they figured out I was faking it.  "Eh, Eh."

When I got older, I gave up the taste for alcohol, but I began Go-Go dancing.  I would go to the bar, stand at the top of the stairs by the Jukebox and dance to the Beatles.  "Hey, Jude" being my favorite.  I had Go-Go boots and everything.  I would swing my hips and the men would ply me with Beer Nuts and Shuffleboard money, all the while watching me dance.  By this time, I was four. 

About this time, I also had the major hots for an older man.  I threw myself at him and quite frankly, he was quite smitten with me.  I had a photo shoot about that time, and when the proofs came in, I knew exactly the photo that my man needed to remember me by.  I took a copy and brazenly marched over to his house and handed him the photo, suggesting that he put it in his apartment. 

Me in my slip with the strap pulled down seductively over my shoulder.  What a tramp!

By the time I was seven, I no longer danced for money or drank alcohol.  Apparently, everyone else in the family did as is obvious by this Christmas photo.

So, at the tender age of seven, I cleaned up my life.

Until Junior High anyway.

But, that is a post for another day!

Punk'd

Once a week, for about four years, I have gotten automated phone calls from Humana Insurance asking for "Roy Yadda Yadda".  It's all automated, so I can't say, "There is no Roy Yadda Yadda here!"  I've actually called the number they leave a few times and told them, "Dude, you have totally got the wrong number!"  The calls stop for about a month, and then they start up again.  About two years ago, I saw the Humana number on the phone and waited for the computer to ask for "Roy Yadda Yadda.  But, nooooooooooo, they wanted "VERA Yadda Yadda".  Are you freaking kidding me?  So, now they call once a week for Roy and once a week for Vera.  Like clockwork.

It doesn't really bother me that much.  I mean, it is annoying.  But, I suspect they might actually need to talk to Roy and Vera one of these days about something really important.  The last time I called to tell them it was the wrong number was in January.  I haven't had any calls since. So maybe, just maybe, they actually got it fixed.

Last night the phone rang during Idol.  Guess who it is on the Caller ID?  No, not Humana.  That would be too easy!  The Caller ID said, "Roy Yadda Yadda".  I thought it was some sort of joke!  I just stared at the receiver thinking, "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"  (You know that old phone prank where you call and ask for Bob over and over and then you call back and say, "Hi!  This is Bob!  Have I had any calls?"  Well, that is exactly what I thought was happening.)

When I answered,  a lady asked if Jack or Betty were there.  I said, "Uhm.  No.  Uhm. You have the uhm, wrong uhm, number."  She apologized and was about to hang up when I said, "I get a lot of phone calls for you though."  She said, "For me?"  I said "Is this Vera Yadda Yadda?"  "Yesssssssssssss, Who is this?" she asked.  I went on to explain the whole situation to her and she laughed and laughed and laughed.  Hard.  It absolutely cracked her up.  In all these years, I just assumed the number was completely off track.  I never thought it might be a local number, it really just never occurred to me.  Turns out they live about a half a mile from me. 

It all struck me very odd, like I was being Punk'd or something. 

Ashton? 

Are you out there?

Thrift Finds, A Happy Find and an Actual Find

My thrift finds lately have not been plentiful, or really, that great.  I went to the Super Cheap Thrift twice last week and to two other thrifts on Saturday.  The Bean, the Breadman and my Grandmother are all sick.  So, being the good Mother and Wife I am, I got the skeedaddle out of here!  Now, I did go to take my Grandmother cough drops (thank heavens we had the option of putting her in a Rehab hospital in the same tiny town as the Super Cheap Thrift!) and get The Breadman some soup and a milkshake for The Bean.  Is it my fault that the car drove clear to the other side of town to hit some thrifts along the way?  I think not. 

So, what did I get?  Toys and pink stuff.  And something I've always wanted, but never had.  I'll save that one for last.

Old puzzles with neat old boxes.  Etsy Stuff.

An old number puzzle game that is so complicated that no one in my house can make heads or tails out of the darn thing.

A sad little doll. 

Wait! 

Turn her over...

A happy little doll!

A silly old metal toy tool box for 75% off $1.50.  So...36¢?  It now houses my Exact-O knife. 

Pink stuff - A Capidimonte Perfume Atomizer.  Ebay/Etsy bound.

A pink teeny planter.  Etsy bound.

A vintage baby blanket.  It has the images drawn on with embroidery paint.  I may embroider it, I'm not sure.  I seem to have a new love of vintage baby quilts.  It was only $1.00, so home, it came.

When I pulled into Sonic to get The Bean a milkshake (See?  I am a good Mother!), I spotted this giant #8 laying by the street.  I ordered the milkshake and thought about that big old number 8 while I sat there.  I have a huge fear of "being spotted' junking.  But, I really wanted that #8!  So, after I got his milkshake, I pulled into a parking spot, opened my door and grabbed it.  Only one lady spotted me and she was about to fall out of her window trying to see what I found in the street.  I doubt her enthusiasm over the big #8 would not have been half as giddy as mine.  In case you are wondering - Sonic doesn't use numbers this big, so it must have come down the street from a gas station.  I was born in August, so I can justify owning a giant number 8!  (CD shown for scale and for the fact that Nick Jonas is a cutie patootie!)

What have I always wanted and never found at a thrift?  It's not vintage.  But, it's COOL!

A Galileo Thermometer - a 25" tall one to be exact.  I got it for $6.75 and once I had it in my hot little hands, I was the Belle of The Thrift Store.  Everyone wanted that bad boy.  But, it was mine.  *Insert maniacal laugh* I found one on-line for $79.00 exactly like it.  A good find, indeed!

I have such a desire to *******dig******* in some J-U-N-K!  How about Y-O-U????