Two more projects checked off my list!

I got busy today and did a LOT of cleaning and organizing in the spare bedroom/booth storage & staging room. I still don't have the bed uncovered, and that could be problematic since my mom is coming down to stay with us on the 8th for a few days to take a glass fusing class. I still have 8 days to work on it right?

I'll work on it tomorrow for a couple of hours, and hopefully I will be done. I just hope my dad doesn't come too, because then I'd have to clean off the other bed too ( I have 2 twins in the room)! LOL! Just kidding! I hope he does come-I don't get to see either of them nearly enough. I'm sure he won't though-he hates to be separated from his upper peninsula.

In addition to making massive head-way in the room, I finished a couple of easy projects. My second gossip bench is done as well as a cute little footstool. I realize I didn't use vintage fabric, and that may limit the buyers who might be interested in it, but I was thinking it might appeal to someone who likes both old and new. We'll see! The other one has been in the booth almost a month now, and so far it's still there.

Are You Ready For Halloween?

Are you ready for Halloween? Do you have your candy and costumes ready? Lucy is ready-whether she likes it or not!

She's 8 months old now and she has everyone in our house wrapped around her little finger!!!  She has brought so much laughter and joy to our house-she even makes life more fun for Maddie!

Fall Saturday Finds...

Since Kevin is gone on a short hiking trip, and the boys both had things to do today, I decided to head out and just wander through some driveways. Don't worry, I only went to driveways with signs and lot of junk things for sale. I found a couple little sales that had everything priced fifty cents or less-most of it was a quarter!! My kind of sales!

One sale I found only because there was a woman and a golden retriever trying to put a sign in the ground at the end of the road when I drove past. She looked like an older lady, so my heart skipped a little beat in anticipation of hopefully finding some vintage goodies at her sale.

The man running the sale looked to be my age, so I assumed he was there helping he mother run the sale. He asked me if I saw his ad in the newspaper or if I just drove by. I told him that I saw the lady and the dog putting the sign up and that's how I found it. I almost said the "older" lady, but stopped myself  before it came out. I am sooo glad I did too, because he said she was his wife!

I bought a small cabinet/dry sink-right after I got a giant sliver in my finger from a rough edge. He was very nice and helped me load it in my car, and as I was driving away, I saw his wife coming back down the road. She was no where near as old as I first thought...she might have been only about 10-15 years older than me.

After that, I found a sub sale and at the first sale, there was an older woman (I looked closer this time), and a  younger woman. They had a bunch of vintage goodies that were all priced to sell. I found two vintage tablecloths for fifty cents each!

As I was walking up to the next sale, I saw what I thought was a grandpa playing with his little 2-ish year old grandson just outside of the garage. I walked in and the woman running the sale turned around from what she was straitening and she said, "Hey! I know you!" She ended up being a girl I went to high school with, and the guy was her husband and the little guy was her son!

BOY! Do I need my eyes checked!!! As we talked, I looked again at her husband and he didn't look as old as I first thought. Is it bad eyesight, or just looking too quickly and not really seeing? Then I got to thinking...I couldn't imagine having a toddler! I am soo thankful that my boys are young adults! It kind of puts things into perspective for me.

I'd MUCH rather pick up a dirty dish here or there than change dirty diapers, or have to get up during the night with a little one. Whew! I'm glad I had my kids young! I am glad for the phase of life I am in now.

I'm going to have to slow down and pay better attention when I look at people though!

Here are the things I picked up today...

 This is an old oak dry sink cabinet with a towel bar-still in the car-and the sliver still in my hand!

 A FREE bowling ball! I've wanted to try a craft project that I've seen several times, but have never found a ball cheap enough to give it a try!

Two tablecloths (another one with fringe-how weird is that!?!), an aluminum canister set, a bunch of kitcshy tins, an enamel pot and a few other little things.

Another fun day-with gorgeous weather!!

W O R D S...

Supposedly, women speak, on average, 10,000 words a day and men only about 4,000. Or any variation you can think of or find on many different websites that claim to know exactly how much we all talk. Sometimes our words are kind and up-lifting. Sometimes they can rip people to shreds-even without us realizing it.

I have a friend who has decided that she needs to "fix" me. She is always telling me I need a new hair style, or that a certain shirt or pair of pants don't look very good on me. Sometimes it is nice to get a warning message about an outfit, but most of the time it makes me feel like crap.

Do you have anyone in your life like this? I get so weary of hearing how crappy my hair looks! I've told her I actually *like* my hair and I'm not changing, but every couple of months, she tells me it looks out of style or it "dates" me. What the heck!?!  I find this especially insulting because she does nothing with her hair-pony tail or straight-not even straightened.

Over the years, I have seemingly attracted *friends* that tell me something about me is all wrong...whether it's my choice of clothes, my hair, my make-up, whatever. Why do they think that's ok? It is just -not. I mean if I have a giant booger hanging from my nostril, by all means PLEASE tell me! But...if I've told you that I *like* my hair, I *like* my clothes, and I like who I am-then back off!

I got a paper a few years ago that is just titled WORDS...and on the sheet are several Bible verses printed out that speak  about words. I keep it on the side of my fridge where I can see it every day. I *try* to live by what the verses say. I know I slip sometimes and my sharp tongue has slashed out from time to time.  I would feel really miserable if my words were always wounding and not building up and encouraging.

Here are the verses if you want to look them up:
Proverbs 10:39, Proverbs 17:28, Leviticus 19:16, Proverbs 16:28, Proverbs 17:9, Matthew 12:34-37, Ephesians 4:3-6, Ephesians 4:29-32, James 1:19, James 3:3-10.

I'm going to be working on being quick to listen and slow to speak. My sincere apologies friends and family reading this if I've slashed you with my tongue. I've gotten a good taste of that lately and I am SO sure I DON'T want to be like that!!!

Sorry! Ranting is over! We now return to our regularly scheduled treasure seeking blog that us usually rant free!

Whoa! It's Friday already?

This week has gone by sooo fast! I can't believe it is Friday already! Where does the time go? This post is going to be multiple days worth of junk treasures coming to my house. It started on Sunday when my SIL & BIL come over for a visit. They brought me LOTS of goodies! They found a game for me at a church sale and brought a bunch of things from my MIL.

I'm ashamed to say that they sat in the same spot on the kitchen counter all week! I spent very little time at home all week and the time that I was at home, I was either coming or going or sleeping! Now I have some down time, so it will all get put away-along with all of the new junk stuff that I got yesterday and today.

Here is how my week went...

Monday-dropped Lucy off at the vet to be spayed. This was very difficult for me! I had this feeling that she was going to die during the surgery and I'd never see her again. Not only did she survive (of course she did, it's a routine surgery after all-why was I being so silly?), you wouldn't even know she had surgery (other than the inch long scar on her belly). She is just as rambunctious as ever, and never once has she acted like she was in pain.

I worked late on Monday, raced to WW to weigh-in, raced to the store to pick up a newborn size onesie (what the vet recommended to put on Lucy to keep her from licking her incision), raced to pick her up at the vet office, went a little further into town to make a quick stop at Adam's friend's house so I could squeeze their little guy and give him some kisses. He's 4 months old now and I hadn't seen him for about 3 weeks. Got home really late, and the day was over!

While I was at work Monday, I got a call from a co-worker that her husband dropped off the rocking horse and I needed to get up to the front to take it to my car right away. I was kind of confused...I went along with it, because I very well could have forgotten all about our conversation about it. I was assuming she wanted me to sell it for her in my booth. It was a big mystery to me, but I went with it.

Tuesday, I took Lucy to work with me in her cage. I was nervous about leaving her by herself all day. My boss was fine with it-whew! It was either let me bring her, and work, or stay at home all day and not work...it actually worked out really well! At lunchtime I took her home because she was doing fine and Adam was home. After work was volleyball-and the day was over!

Wednesday-work. I went to lunch with my friend Auntie and she cleared up the mystery about the rocking horse! It seems my co-worker had talked to her months ago about selling it in her booth, but auntie wasn't interested in it...so I don't know if she thought she talked to me about it, and was confused, or if she actually did talk to me and I have no memory of it at all...scary thought! Didn't have volleyball, it was our team's turn to have a night off, so I got a few things done around the house, and caught up on some things, and before I knew it, the night was over!

Thursday-Worked/pulled my hair out with a newsletter and an mass email provider for a good chunk of the day. Fortunately, I was able to walk away from it, before I had a total melt-down and came back to it later in the evening from home and finished it up. I went to a couple sales on my way home, and had pretty good luck. I texted Kevin about a barn sale that had a plethora of old steel filing cabinets.

He has been picking them up all summer for his barn and his woodworking tools. He was thrilled to get 4 more. I got a few things, but now I am wondering if was such a good idea. EVERYTHING was filthy!! Gross filthy. Lotta time cleaning and soaking filthy.

Kevin and I went out for a quick dinner, then I had Bible study with 3 of my cousins and by the time that was over, so was the day!

Today I went to a few sales, one was just across the expressway from my house. There weren't any signs out, but the street was lined with cars and people were waiting on the porch. I waited to see if they went in before I got out of my car. It was listed as a garage sale, but it was inside the house. It was one of those "50 years of accumulation" sales...the ones that I am a total sucker for.

Nine times out of ten they aren't worth even stopping for-just ask Auntie. I've dragged her around to plenty of them only to walk away either empty handed or shaking our heads-or both! This one was just o.k.-I got a red Friendship Pyrex mixing bowl, a green Pyrex mixing bowl and a scalloped milk glass bowl with gold around the top edge.

Then I decided to head to the area that I grew up for a couple estate sales and a church rummage sale. I really wanted to go to the rummage sale because it was at the church that my great-grandma used to go to. I stopped at a family run estate sale (everything was priced higher than I would price it for the booth) along the way and wasted about 10 minutes, so by the time I got to the rummage sale, I was over an hour and a half late from their starting time. I wasn't expecting much, but I was VERY pleasantly surprised!

I filled up my car! I got an art deco type dresser, a pink covered candy dish, a couple aprons, a tablecloth, a canister set on a lazy Susan, an appetizer set on a lazy Susan, and a few pieces of Pyrex. A very nice woman helped me load the dresser into my car because the people running the sale were all about 75 and older and no one could lift!

It seems like I picked up a little something at just about every sale I went to-except one. They had an Obama sign in their front yard, and there were 4 shoppers all talking about how they support Obama, and how wonderful he is, and they were ripping on Romney. How uncomfortable to be the only one not in agreement with them! I couldn't get out fast enough! They were getting themselves all riled up-it was very odd to me.

I don't necessarily like Romney, but I do appreciate a candidate who stands up for the unborn. I'm going to be doing a 3 mile fundraiser/awareness walk for a local pregnancy help clinic on the 6th. with my cousins, and anyone else who wants to walk with us. If you're a local reader and want to walk too, send me an email and I'll put you on the list. It's $20 and they'd appreciate if you got donations too, but you don't have to.

One of the last sales turned my stomach before I even got out of the car. I drove up to see a king-sized bed in the yard that the box springs were quite stained. That was the first thing I saw, but once I committed to the road in front of the house, I felt I had to stop. I'm glad I did, I found a vintage drink shaker, a green glass pitcher and a chippy-funky red metal cart for $3!!

As I was walking away the two ladies got teary-eyed because it was their mom's and she had passed. They said she had painted it many, many years ago and they were in a sense, giving me permission to repaint it. When I told them I kinda liked it the way it was, they both were happy.

I went on a long rabbit trail looking for a Craigslist estate sale...the address didn't even exist! I have had that happen more times than not with sales listed on Craigslist. I think I am going to pass on future CL sales for a while-I'm tired of wild goose chases that end up being nothing!

I met Eric for lunch, and now I'm home, blab blab blabbing about my week! Kevin left this morning to go hiking with a guy from our church co-ed volleyball team. they'll be back tomorrow-just in time to play a double match (2 1/2 hours of vball!) I've got a couple subs lined up just in case.

There are a couple sales that I'm thinking of visiting tomorrow...not that I need anything else...just the thrill of the hunt. Plus I put a bid in on some stuff at the church rummage sale, and hopefully they will call me and say I got it! They pick out things they think are valuable and make them bid only items-usually I pass on them, but this time I took a chance-we'll see...

Here is all the junk treasures/finds that made their way into my house this week...

 Where, oh where am I gonna put this stuff???

 I've seen these little canisters usually one at a time, but never the whole set and never with the lazy Susan underneath. Yep...thinking this might stay with me for a while...

 This is the vintage game my SIL got for me, along with the golf books from my FIL. The Sunkist reamer (top right) is from my MIL. The nasty dirty milk glass dish is from the barn sale, along with the set of cast aluminum or zinc candlestick holders. Also in this picture is a set of 4 ceramic corn on the cob dishes with ceramic cob holders, and two sets of vintage fondue forks.

 Here's the mystery rocking horse. He has two little bells in the hollow part of his belly that chime when he rocks. He is part wood, part plastic. I have no idea what price to put on him for the booth. I have a feeling it will end up being a lot less than my co-worker was expecting, so she might just take him back home.

 Here is the appetizer set on a lazy Susan-not sure if it all really goes together or not, but it was sold together as a set. A box of noise makers for a quarter each-not sure if they are vintage or not.

 A Fiesta butter dish bottom, a couple sets of vintage Christmas tins and tin coasters and a woodworking book for Kevin.

 A fall tablecloth, an enamel pot, two Pyrex casseroles with lids, two Pyrex bowls and two plastic Christmas decorations. 

 Here's the very cool red cart-too bad I've got it loaded with junk! On it is the white scalloped milk glass bowl with gold trim, the drink shaker, the green glass pitcher, a couple more Pyrex bowls, some tupperware coasters, a couple vintage tablecloths and a crocheted doily.

 A couple more Pyrex bowls, a Pyrex Zodiac casserole, & teapot from my MIL, a twenty five cent suitcase, a kiddie rocker, clothespin bag, and ice bucket.

 This funky ceramic canister set is on another lazy Susan (seems to be the theme of the day!), some odd glasses and some of the aprons I picked up.

 A bunch of half aprons, an embroidered tablecloth and a Silver Lake Sand Dunes hoodie that was a quarter!

 Here's a side view of the round tablecloths with fringe. 

 A closer look at the teapot-any idea what the pattern is?

 The dresser is still in my car...waiting for a big strong boy or two to unload it into the barn.

 Isn't this Art Deco? Or am I mistaken?

 An old pine storage/toy chest. 

An old green double window that is nasty filthy from the barn sale. I seem to be drawn to green window things lately-remember the green double screen and green wooden ironing board?

That's it, now I've got to figure out where in the world I'm going to put it all!!! I surely didn't need one more thing for the booth, because I've got more than enough, but is was FUN hunting it all down and dragging it all home. Maybe women do have a touch of the hunter/gatherer gene that men have...ours is just for things like vintage treasures!

The kiddie rocker, toy chest and blue suitcase were from last weekends finds-they just got hidden away in the garage before I could take a picture of them!

Swimming in quilt squares!

I already mentioned this quilt top in an earlier post, but I am just overwhelmed at the number of completed squares that I got! Each one is sewn together-some by hand some by machine, and all the seams are pressed. Someone spent a TON of time on this, but never got around to finishing it. Then I came along and paid pennies compared to its real value.

I think I'm falling in love with it, even though I really am not a fan of the pattern or design. My mom is coming to stay with us for a couple of days the beginning of next month and she offered to sew the rest of the squares together for me! She offered! She said that sounded like it was right up her alley! She's bringing her sewing machine and can't wait to see it and work on it!

WOW! I'm surprised! Delighted, excited and thrilled, but still surprised! When I sorted the squares, I counted 65 that need to be sewn together and the part that is already assembled has 42 squares.Plus, there is a strip of 7 squares already sewn together. It will either make one massive quilt or two (hopefully) twin size quilts.

I've enjoyed looking at all of the different fabrics used in the squares. Some are just u-g-l-y and some are charming and cute. I wonder if the material was from favorite pieces of clothing or if it was just something the original owner picked up at the store...

Do you recognize any of the designs? Any idea on how old it might be?

This was the only one not pressed...

Can trees get confused?

One of my Magnolia trees is confused! It has a giant bud that is ready to bloom and a second one close behind! How can this happen? I thought the whole tree was dead last spring. the whole middle section just dried up and died, while a couple outside branches looked like they were close behind.

I cut the middle down in an effort to try to save the whole tree, but for the longest time, it looked like it was going to die anyway. Then just the other day, I noticed this...

I hope it does bloom! I'd love to see it-especially with everything else drying up and dying right now.

It's time to let some things go...

I just finished posting this to Craigslist. I LOVE it, but since we've moved our old living room furniture out to the sun room, there just isn't any room for it in our house! It takes up wayy too much room in the booth, so I thought I'd try CL. Have you ever sold anything on it? I sold all of my catering dishes (china place settings  for 175) when I stopped doing catering, and an old curved glass china cabinet that needed much more TLC that I could muster.

Both times things went smoothly and I was happy with the transaction. Hopefully this time it will go just as well! Here's the link if you want to take a look...http://annarbor.craigslist.org/for/3289100724.html

Wish me luck! :)

Weekend Finds...

I know the weekend is just beginning, but usually by Friday afternoon, my weekend finds are already found. I usually make my way to a couple of sales after work on Thursday, and then a few in the morning on Friday. Once in a great while I'll head out on a Saturday-if I see something that piques my interest. So, I'm ready to clean up and put away my weekend finds even though it's only Friday evening.

The sales are dwindling as the leaves get drier, and the sales that are out there (at least in my area), really aren't that great. I might get one thing here, and one thing there, or a couple things at another sale, but no big hauls for a long time now.

I guess that is what keeps us going-the thrill of the hunt and the expectation that the next big haul is going to be in the next driveway, and we'd hate to miss it! It's this obsession thrill of the hunt that is filling my house too full! Why can't I just say no??

I think I've been doing this too long and it's just a part of who I am. I started going to sales with my parents when I was little. Then when my boys were little, and money was tight, I would map out my quest, pack some snacks, strap them in their car seats and head out for the morning searching for kids toys and clothes.

I did very well for them, and I even found  a few small, cheap trinkets for myself each week. Now, they only have requests once in a while (like Eric's grill request), so now it's all about me. I wonder how many sales I've been to over the years. Do you ever wonder that? Or do you keep track and already know? I think I would be blown away if I really sat down and figured it out...maybe ignorance is bliss!

Here are the things that came home with me...plus an old pine storage chest, an old dark kiddie rocker, and a vintage blue suitcase that got put away in the garage before I got the camera out. It is strategically stashed, so I don't want to upset the apple cart, so to speak to get a picture-you understand right? :)

Since there is a LOT going on in the picture...  a quilt top (do you know the pattern)-machine stitched (all seams pressed!) with vintage material and enough squares to make a second 6x6 quilt, a red Christmas tablecloth, a blue and white tablecloth (that's a second one for me in this design-remember a couple years ago the one I got that had the sharpie stain?), a free painting of birch trees and a lake, an embroidered tablecloth, a cracker tin, a few hankies, a jar of small nails, and 3 sets of vintage appetizer forks.

I actually went back to the sale with the quilt a second time. I bought the sewn together quilt top the first time, and passed on the extra squares. It nagged me all afternoon, so I went back, holding my breath that they were still there, and they were!!! The ladies holding the sale told me their mother started it many years ago, but never finished. They looked to be in their 70's, so mama had to have been up there. It's sad that they sold her hard work for $6!

It really wasn't such a great idea for me to buy them, because I don't really like to sew...(another little secret about me!) So, unless my Mom tells me her life won't be complete if she doesn't get to sew these squares into a quilt, it will probably go into the booth as-is. Although, the more I look at it draped over my couch...the more I am falling in love with it! I might have to "foster" it for a bit!

I kind of like the painting...it reminds me of my parent's lake. It is marked 1946 on the back-it proves the statement, "One man's junk, is another man's treasure", since it was in the free box!

Something I've noticed more and more lately, is sellers printing out Ebay comparisons and taping them to their garage sale items. I've started turning around and walking away as soon as I see them. Do you ever see that when you're out shopping sales? Every sale that has done this has prices that are wayyyy too high, so it's not worth my time to continue shopping those sales.

Tomorrow I'll be working on the spare bedroom/treasures storage room. My Mom will be staying a few days in October and my in-laws will be staying one night in November before they fly to Florida, and right now, they wouldn't fit in the room with all the junk treasures I have in there!

This weekend is the last weekend for the Midland Antiques Festival. I thought about going...part of me would LOVE to go...part of me knows how tired I would be for Volleyball tomorrow night...part of me knows how much I have to do at home...so the practical side won, and I'm staying home! It'll give me more to look forward to in June for the next one!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! If you're going to Midland-have FUN for me too!!!

Mega Mall Flea Market Sunday=AWESOME!!!

I went to the Mega Mall Sunday Flea Market again today! It is on the third Sunday of the month, May (I think) through October. I went last month and really enjoyed it, and when I saw on Facebook that they were getting more and more vendors as the days were getting closer, I decided to head over after church.

They completely sold out all of their vendor spaces -103 vendors!! It was a gorgeous day, bright blue skies, big puffy clouds, 80 degrees...a parking lot PACKED with treasures and a really FUN atmosphere! Most definitely worth the drive!! If you're in Michigan and looking for a great flea market with lots to look at, in a fun atmosphere, you have to visit Mega Mall!

I didn't buy a whole lot ( I don't need anything), but it sure was fun to shop!! I love the DJ and the music, it just makes it even more fun! A lot of the dealers inside have sales when the flea market it going on so it's a double deal-inside and outside treasure hunting at its best!!

I actually saw a vintage Fiesta mixing bowl, that was reasonably priced, and I walked away without it! I think the 12 step program is working! (joking). I already have 3 in that particular size and even though I circled it (3 or 4 times) a time or two, I decided I didn't want to start another set, and I knew if I bought it for the booth, it would never make it there. So, I had to walk away.

I did get Eric a Weber charcoal grill. It has a busted wheel and a tiny bit of rust, but it was a steal (I was reminded of this fact from the seller when I came back to pick it up)- $12. Eric's been asking me all summer to keep a look-out for a charcoal grill for him-so he's thrilled. Especially since is it just like Grandpa's!

I picked up a toiletries bag for Kevin. He likes to have stocked first aid kits in each of our vehicles and these type bags are perfect! They hold a LOT of supplies in clear zipper pouches that are easy to see through and easy to get at.

I got a Gemco condiment set (inside dealer) that is a perfect match to my syrup dispenser from last weekend, a Dept. 56 green and white plaid tablecloth (I had no idea Dept. 56 made tablecloths and no idea that's what this was until I got home), and a moonstone hobnail trinket box.

I stopped at my booth on my way back home, and I was glad that I did!! My front table was a disaster!! It seems that someone was interested in the table itself and made the staff take EVERYTHING off so they could look at it-then decided they didn't want it. The staff just plopped everything back on it and on any open space in the booth that they could find.

I don't blame them. I had that table LOADED with stuff! It still doesn't look as good as it did when I first made the display, there were way too many people in the mall to take the time needed to reorganize it, but at least it doesn't look like a tornado blew it all apart!

I had a GREAT parking spot-just steps away from all the goodies!!