Bargain Hunting Treasure Seeker

Taking advantage of the sun!

2012-02-12T12:17:00.000-06:00

Our Michigan winter has been so mild this year! I've been LOVING the sunshine and blue skies!! I decided to tackle a HUGE pile of linens that has been piling up since fall. I soaked them for hours, and then hung them in the sun to dry. It felt amazing to be doing that in February! No gray skies here! I LOVE seeing the linens flapping in the breeze! It just brings a smile to my heart!

See the remnants of the ice rink that never was in the background??

A Quick Trip to the Other Side of Town!

2012-02-11T12:17:00.000-06:00

Last night, I found an estate sale on the other side of town that was a one day sale-for TODAY! So Kevin and I decided to check it out! We didn't get up early enough to get there when it opened, we got there an hour late. The roads were bad and the temperature was finally what it was supposed to be for February in Michigan--9 degrees!

It was in a tiny little condo, so we already know that all of the good stuff was gone before the sale even began, because they already had to downsize once to get to the condo. It was a family run sale-so prices were all over the map. I did pick up a few things. I think I got all of the vintage things that were left. The rest was clothes, newer furniture and new everything else.

The hankies were only ten cents each! I'm keeping the apron-I LOVE the purple!!!

There's NOTHING like a good GPS!!

2012-02-10T20:28:00.001-06:00

Yesterday after work, I took off for an estate sale in a very old farm house. It was a long drive so when I got out to my car (at work) and found that Kevin still had my GPS in his car, I didn't want to go all the way home to get it. I had Adam's GPS in my car from a month ago when mine was acting up. I grabbed his one day just as a back-up so I wouldn't get stranded somewhere.

I didn't get to the sale until around 1:30 and it was very well picked over. I wish I would have been able to get there earlier!! For the most part the prices were pretty good, some things were high, but you get that at just about any sale.

I saw an old iron Victorian style full size headboard for $20 in the garage. It was pretty rusty and it didn't have the side rails or foot board, so I decided to think about it while I walked around the inside. I found a couple of small things inside (the house was packed with people shopping), but almost everything I saw had either a "hold" or "sold" tag on it. When I went back to the garage, the headboard was sold! Snooze-you lose-right? Oh well, it wasn't that big of a deal for me, so I won't lose any sleep over it.

This is what came home with me...

This is a rocking chair that I dug out in the basement-it was only $3-needs a good cleaning, and it is pretty stable!

This is an applique quilt that has been started-it's full of pins-ouch! Found that out the hard way-$2.

Yes, sadly, another tablecloth came home with me...the only thing I can say is, I don't have one in this color?

I got back in the car and set the GPS for home. It is a really old, cheap GPS that doesn't say street names, or tell you which side of the road your destination is on. It was also really off on its measurements. It would say 800 feet when it was more like 80 feet. I got about 5 miles from the sale (which was in an area I'd never been to) and the screen went black and it started making a very loud grinding/clicking sound. I kept pushing the power button, but nothing happened. I had to put it under my leg just to silence it enough to not go crazy!!

I had to rely on gut instinct to find my way to the expressway. The GPS was taking me home a totally different way than it took me to get to the sale and I was out in the middle of no where. I finally found one expressway that eventually led me to an expressway that I know.

I stopped at a consignment store (that I love) in Fenton on the way home and was hoping the GPS would wind down on the battery and stop the awful noise while I was shopping...no such luck! It was still going strong when I came out. I did score a vintage Fiesta relish tray base while I was shopping and it was only $13!! Guess that means I will be adding the inserts to my wish list now!

I almost did a happy dance right in the aisle when I found this!!!

I drove most of the way home, but decided to stop at the grocery store--to get away from the terrible noise the GPS was STILL making! It sure has a long battery life! When I got home, I left it in my car clicking/grinding away until Adam got home from school. It was going off for over 4 hours by the time he got to it!! He told me to toss it out the window when I was driving (I had called him to ask if he knew why it was going crazy-but he had no clue either)! He found a pin and pushed the tiny reset button and it turned off and back on and was perfectly normal-I'm glad I didn't toss it!! Why didn't I think of that???!?!?

Last night I had made up my mind that I was going to stay home today. I never even thought about running out to Kevin's car to grab my GPS I had no need for it because I scanned all of my favorite estate sale/garage sale/auction advertising companies and didn't see anything worth the drive. But...when I woke up, my mind kept going back to an auction in Lansing. I didn't see a ton of things I was interested in, but I did see some great looking quilts, and a few other things that would be good buys if I could get them cheap enough.

I ended up with Adam's GPS again since I didn't think to grab mine. It worked fine until I got into a bunch of one way roads...then it got me all turned around. Thankfully, I was able to call Adam and he walked me through it and got me to the hall where the auction was. I was only 20 minutes late too!

Twenty minutes late might have been 2 hours late, as I soon discovered! They had been selling quilts left and right and by the time I registered and got in the swing of the auctioneer's call, I had missed out on all but 3 quilts!!! UGH!!! The lady in front of me had a HUGE pile of them and she kept winning more! I was able to snag one, but it was the second least desirable one. It was really cheap, so I don't regret it. Who knew 20 minutes could make such a big deal!! Usually when I go to auctions, I sit (or stand) and wait, and wait and wait for the stuff I am interested in to come up!

Not gorgeous-but not a total frog either.

Notice the empty card....wahh!

I liked this auctioneer. He was quick and didn't do a lot of dilly dallying around-he sold a TON of stuff in the hour and a half that I was there. I bid on a few more things but they all went for way more than I was willing to pay. I decided to scoot out and try to find some thrift stores and make a stop at Mega Mall on my way home. The one thrift store I was really anxious to check out--Vintage Palooza--wasn't even at the location it was supposed to be at. It must have went out of business but Google is still picking it up when you do a search for vintage thrift. It looks like it is a restaurant now.Bummer!!

I did find the Mega Mall-in a kind of round about way (that crazy GPS again!). I've been wanting to check out the Mall since I've heard there is new management and a lot of new dealers. It was a great day to go, it was their "Cabin fever" sale. A lot of the dealers were having sales that ranged anywhere from 10%-75% off. Even at 75% off, I couldn't find anything that I couldn't live without or resell. Almost every booth was full, and some of the older, dirty booths have really been cleaned up-yay for new management!!! I did find one thing in a 50% off booth...

This is a picture I borrowed from the internet, I left mine out in the car and I was
too lazy to run out and get it-besides...it's cold out there!!!

After I got home, I had to run a meal over to some friends who recently had a death in the family, run Eric around to find a new backpack (his ripped and it's too bad to fix or even use anymore)-do you know how hard it is to find a backpack in the not back to school season?!?!? What a pain!! We did eventually find one--after a LOT of running around!

Now we are just vegging out, after our Friday night pizza. It's nice to be home with no where to go!!! Now I think I'll head over to your place to catch up on what you've been doing this week-I can't wait to see what you've done, where you've been and what you've found!!!

Happy Weekend!!!

Would You Buy it Wednesday...

2012-02-09T19:04:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I came across this really heavy, really dirty dresser...

If you saw this would you buy it?

What if it was free??

Bet you can already guess that it came home with me! I'm linking up to "Would you Buy it Wednesday" at Junker Newbie-stop by and post your would you buy it finds and see what other fun things people are finding!!

All Decked Out for Valentine's Day!

2012-02-05T15:15:00.000-06:00

Today was dealer day at our antiques and collectibles mall, so that meant it was time to deck it out for Valentine's Day!! Since our early church service was changed to start a half hour later, I am usually a half an hour late getting to dealer day so Kevin has been going with me to help me load stuff in before the mall opens for customers at 12.

We worked our tails off today, to get done in time. He even ran the vacuum! I don't think I've ever seen him do that at home!

Here is what it looked like when I left-all red and white and Valentiney!

Weekend Finds...

2012-02-04T15:15:00.001-06:00

This was a great weekend to be out and about searching for ~~junk~~ treasures at estate sales! The weather here in Michigan is more like end of March/early April weather and not February. There has been plenty of blue skies and sunshine to enjoy with the mild temperatures. I could get used to these kinds of winters!!

On Friday, I got to hang out with my friend and co-worker the Chicken's Auntie from the blog Kitschy Vintage. We used to go junking together almost every Friday, but haven't been out together for several months. Boy did we talk, and talk and talk, and talk some more!! It was great to catch up-even if the sales weren't that great.

We went to a few sales that looked way better in the pictures that they turned out to be in person. The first sale, the one I was hoping to snag a vintage Fiesta pitcher and tumbler set from, ended up being super high prices, so I only walked away with a couple of vintage paper items and an old peanut butter jar.

The next couple of sales were frogs, and definitely not worth the gas to get there, but we had the talking and catching up to keep us occupied! The last sale of the day was a digger sale. We got there about an hour and a half after it started and there was still a line! There was probably about 20+ people in line in front of us! Isn't that crazy!?!

We waited about an hour to get in, and I enjoyed talking with the other junk hunters in line around us. I even saw the older lady who outbid me at the auction in Gregory on the boxes of swanky swigs, at the end of summer! I never expected to run into her again-especially at a place that was probably about 100 miles in the opposite direction of where I saw her the first time!

Once we got in the house, it was stinky-so I was hoping for some great junk. I've been getting lucky at the stinkies lately, but my lucky stinky streak ran out! I spent about $20, and I got a few things, but I don't think it was worth waiting all that time for in line. I most definitely don't think it was worth the drive-but all the talking and catching up was worth it!

Here is what I picked up-besides filthy dirty hands and a stink embedded in my clothes and hair! As soon as I got home, everything I was wearing went right into the washer!

Kevin and I went to a sale on Saturday that was listed as "MASSIVE", but it was a tiny little frog of a sale. It was family run, and I think they were very overwhelmed with having to have the sale, so it probably seemed massive to them. I felt bad for them because an old man went off on them because he went into a room that was off limits and tried to buy something that wasn't for sale. He was a jerk and her really rattled the lady taking the cash. Her husband came in when he heard what was going on and sat down next to her they very patiently waited for the old guy to run out of steam and we all laughed about it when he left-kind of relief/can you believe that-type of laugh.

We stopped at an Entenmann's Outlet and loaded up on bread and donuts! Two boxes of donuts were devoured before I got everything out of the bags and onto the table! We are going to be sooo rich when these two moose boys finally move out!!!

All of the extra bagels and loaves of bread are safe and sound in our new refrigerator (freezer). Yep! The fridge died last week...we're taking bets on which appliance is going to die next month! I say dryer, and Kevin says dishwasher-wanna get in on the bet? There's still the stove and microwave!

I was (and still am) thoroughly impressed with the delivery guys! The just used two giant canvas straps and carried out our old fridge and brought in the new one. They didn't use a dolly, and they parked at the bottom of our driveway (which is at the bottom of a hill)!

Tyme Well Spent...

2012-02-02T15:33:00.000-06:00

Today my boss took me out to lunch to celebrate my birthday. She took me to a beautiful old Victorian house that had been converted into a tea room and antique shop. It is called Tyme Well Spent and it is located in Hartand, Michigan-in the old downtown area.

This is just inside the front door-it's actually behind the door when you open it.

You are standing at the foot of these gorgeous stairs when you come in the front door.

This is looking in front the entryway into the main dining room.

This is standing on the stairs looking down into the entryway and the first dining room.

This is a shot looking into one of the three dining areas.

This is one of the tables.

First, they took our order for tea. It was $2.50 a pot and they had a HUGE full sized menu selection of teas We tried a vanilla pear tea (that was wonderful), and a chai vanilla, cinnamon tea (it was good, smelled like Christmas!). They served the tea in tea pots that sat on a base with a tea light candle warmer.

After the tea, they brought us pumpkin bread with a fancy dollop of butter and an orange slice on a pretty red plate.

Next came the salad-served in a wonderful pink depression bowl. It was mixed greens with dried cherries, fresh strawberries, walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette.

The menu was very small, only 6 or 8 choices listed as titles without any description. The ladies at the table next to us got the chicken pot pie and it looked incredible! I ordered that, but they were all out, so I ordered the broccoli bacon quiche. It was very good! It too was served on depression glass. See the silverware??

The rooms were all decorated with antiques, the wood trim and doors were amazing! The baseboards had to be at least 9" tall!! I LOVE that look-I wish our house had baseboard trim like that!!!

After we ate and paid, we went upstairs to shop! The whole upstairs is filled with antiques that are for sale!!

This was at the top of the first landing.

This is at the top of the stairs. I turned right a little ways. the white wicker table with the hats is at the very top of the stairs. To the left of where I am standing is the railing for the stairs and they had old chenille bedspreads draped over it. I had to wipe away the drool when I saw them!

This was the first room. I only had my phone, so the picture isn't the best.

This is the second room and you can see the third room just beyond the second. For some reason, I forgot to take pictures of the third and fourth rooms.

Even the bathroom was decorated beautifully!!

Lunch was $10.95 each plus the tea. It was relaxing and wonderful to be surrounded with all of the antiques. I'm so glad she picked that place to take me today!!

I really like this place!! If you happen to find yourself in the Hartland area, make sure you call ahead to be sure they are open and make reservations-you won't be disappointed!!

Down but not out...

2012-01-31T11:44:00.002-06:00

Last week Eric was really sick! Tthis week, I have something that I just can't kick! It's not as bad as what he had, but I just can't stop the headache, and queasies. I've stayed home from work the past 2 days, and I feel exhausted! Yesterday I slept until 3 in the afternoon and slept through the night starting at 8pm. I have bags under my eyes and I'm wiped out! I've been cold one minute and hot the next--I sure hope you or your families get this!!!

I did get a bright spot of happiness delivered in the mail though...

I'm hoping to get back to work tomorrow...I know the work is piling up!!!

I finished it!!!

2012-01-31T07:50:00.000-06:00

I finished my first rag rug!!! It's not very big, and it's not perfect, but I made it and I couldn't be happier!! I am so creatively challenged that I'm thrilled that this turned out!!! It was very easy too-so easy-even I could do it!!

It's the perfect size for in front of my stove!

Local Antique Store --Sale Alert!!!

2012-01-29T15:50:00.000-06:00

If you live within reasonable driving distance to Whitmore Lake, Michigan you're going to want to mark your calendar for a BIG sale!!! I stopped and visited Mart's Treasures and they told me they are moving into Hamburg so they are having a BIG sale March 10 and 11. Anything left in the front of the building will be half off, and anything in the back room will be just $1.

I enjoy visiting this little shop, I'm sure you've seen my posts in the past about it-I can't wait to see them all set up in their new shop!! I'm glad I found them-I think it was on Craigslist-I've visited at least 4 or 5 times now and their inventory keeps getting better and better!! So, if you're nearby-stop in and check out their sale!!

A FUN Day and an update...

2012-01-27T16:39:00.001-06:00

The winter sickness has hit our house! My youngest son has had the full gamut of every type of flu the past couple of days. He's feeling better today, but not 100% yet. Normally that wouldn't be something I'd even mention, but with my mom coming to town to stay with us so she can be with her sister in the hospital, it made things a little difficult!

Thankfully, a friend and co-worker who has a mother-in-law apartment attached to her house offered it to my mom to stay so she doesn't take any sick germs to my aunt or any of the other cancer patients at Karmanos. It is a beautiful little apartment! My mom is going to want to stay there every time she visits instead of coming here and taking over a stinky teenage boy's room! Too bad it is a 1/2 hour away!

She spent the day at the hospital today, I'm hoping she has some good news to tell me! The doctors said my aunt had a stroke earlier this week when she was bleeding from her brain so she will have to go through rehab now, on top of fighting for her life with this nasty melanoma! Thanks for your prayers, kind words and thoughts!!!

I spent the day with my sister-in-law. She lives about an hour away from me and today was her community's annual fundraiser indoor garage sale. Last year she invited me for the first time, and we had a LOT of fun, so we both marked our calendar for this year and have been eagerly anticipating our adventure!!

We got there during the pre-sale time and admission was $5. I was hoping they would agree to a lower price since it was half-way through the pre-sale time, but they didn't, so Dawn took a seat and waited while I had a momentary brain lapse and paid the $5 to get in. What was I thinking!?!

The sale was HUGE again, but not as much really cool stuff as last year. I think I will do well with what I bought, but I was hoping for some big scores like last year. The prices seemed higher across the board than last year, and there was a TON of people shopping the pre-sale! I didn't do the pre-sale last year. I don't think I'll do it again.

They had two "holding" areas where you could stash your treasures and they would guard them until you were ready to check-out. I made a few trips to the holding area, and on one trip, I patiently waited for the woman in front of me to leave her stuff and the guy working the area to take it. When she walked away a woman walked up behind me and yelled, "Excuse me!" and when I turned around she said, "I just need to leave my stuff here." I told her that I was waiting to leave my stuff too. Then she said "well, I already have stuff in there and I just need to leave this real quick." I explained that I too had stuff in there, and that she would have to wait. Then she said " I just want to leave it real quick." I told her she would just have to wait until he took my stuff.

Geesh!!! The nerve of some people! I had stood there a few minutes waiting my turn and she was going to barge right in and step in front of me? I think NOT! I was ready for more, but she backed down. Must have been the "REALLY?" look I gave her-LOL! Or maybe it was the "Bring it sister" look-who knows-LOL!

It wasn't worth the extra $5, but it went to charity-so in that sense it was worth it. There were a LOT of older people there, who were shoving their way through the very narrow aisles-some with granny carts, some with walkers and some who would just plow through and stop dead in their tracks right in front of me.

After we waited FOREVER to check out, I drug my sister-in-law around to 5 estate sales, all within 19 miles of her house!! For the most part they were very, very over-priced and we didn't get much. We did find a few things each at a really stinky house though. I've been getting lucky at the stinkies the past couple of weeks, I hope it doesn't become a pattern though-I hope I can find some good ~~junk~~ treasures at non stinky, dirty houses!!!

We had lunch at a Thai restaurant (first time trying Thai food for me!), it was O.K.-not my favorite, but it could have just been what I ordered-I'm willing to try it again sometime. I dropped her off after our late lunch and then stopped at a couple stores on my way home.

Here is what I got today:

Mini Pyrex casseroles.

I wish there were more than just one of these!

A very dirty amethyst Moroccan oval dish.

A Michigan tin platter from S.A..

LOVE it!!!

I Love unusual bottles and jars!

Primrose.

I know these aren't old or even vintage, but I thought they were cute-especially the spoon that looks like a leg!

With the spoon in the sugar dish.

An unused orange fondue pot in the box!

I grew up with these-reminds me of my brother!!

A red enamel bowl and double boiler.

Not old or vintage, but I LOVE these kind of card/picture holders.

A stool for my mom. I've been looking for one for her, and found this one with storage for only $2!

She's going to recover it to match the one she already has.

A $3 chair-why do I keep buying chairs??? They aren't good sellers, and I have more in the basement...

A little wooden doll high chair-needs some TLC-but worth $1.

A vintage shelf.

Oyster and Pearl candy dish.

Not old, but great for some of my crazy old bottles.

I've never seen a tin like this before.

From 1945.

For fifty cents, it will be great for hanging things on in the booth.

We lived in California for a couple of years when we first got married and Kevin was in the Navy stationed at the Naval Hospital in Hawaiian Gardens-we weren't far from Knott's Berry Farm.

Hope you are having a great weekend!!! I'll be popping over to see what you've been up to soon!!

What Did You Do Last Weekend??

2012-01-24T14:18:00.002-06:00

Kevin and I went to a great marriage conference at our church called "The Art of Marriage". It was a video conference created by Family Life Ministries.

There was about 100 couples who were married between 14 months and 61 years! At first I was asking myself what I was doing there, and then little things kept popping up in what they were saying that spoke to me. We've gone to 2 of their marriage conferences before (with "live" presenters) and I think this was just as helpful.

If you see it coming to your area, even if you aren't struggling or having a tough go of things it is worth it! Kind of like a little tune up.

Prayer Request!!

2012-01-23T19:18:00.000-06:00

My mom got word today that my aunt (her sister with the brain tumors-who just had another surgery a couple weeks ago to remove more brain tumors) was rushed to the hospital by ambulance! She started bleeding from where she had the surgery and couldn't stop throwing up. They determined that her brain is bleeding, and it is very swollen, so they have her very heavily sedated to try to allow her brain to stop swelling and heal.

My mom is coming down to stay with us Thursday through Sunday to be with her sister at the hospital. Please pray for my aunt Brenda and her family, this new development doesn't sound good at all!!

A Great Looking Sale...but

2012-01-22T11:43:00.000-06:00

I only have a few quick minutes today between church and a meeting for parents of high school students interested in going on this year's summer mission trip. So I made a quick pass through some up-coming estate sales on estatesales.net.

There is a sale coming up in a couple of weeks that looks very interesting...except it is a sale where they will be filming HGTV's Cash and Cari. I don't want to be on TV, and I don't want someone shoving a camera in my face while I'm shopping, but the sale looks really fun...a real digger sale.

What would you do? Would you go? Would you skip it? I want to go, just for the treasure hunt of the sale, but I will probably skip it, because when I went to a Cash and Cari sale (by mistake) before, not only was there a cameraman getting up in everyone's business, their prices were pretty high. What a bummer! It looks like there will be lots of great things to dig through!!!

I'll have to keep looking--and hoping a big digger sale will pop up somewhere else!

Frigid Friday Finds...

2012-01-20T16:36:00.000-06:00

It was 9 degrees when I headed out this morning!! The main sale that I was going to was almost an hour away. I had made up my mind months ago to never travel that far again for a sale, but when you need a vintage fix, and the pictures of the sale look amazing, and it is in an area you never even knew existed...sometimes you have to break your own rules!

I got to talk to my mom for almost the whole trip, so we got all caught up on what's been going on this week, and it made the ride go by really fast! The sale was on a quiet little street that was lined with cars when I pulled up. There was even a utility truck, that had a cone out in the road-just like they were working! I fell for it until I saw the guy making trips from the house to his work truck with boxes of stuff from the sale.

The house looked like it was about to fall down from the outside and was really rough on the inside. It was packed with stuff-dirty stuff. There was more glassware than I've seen at any other sale, maybe even the last 10 sales I've been to combined! It was a private sale (not run by an estate sale company). Those kind of sales are usually either way too high because they are selling "antiques", or really low because they don't know what they have. This sale was a little of both!

I didn't even make a dent! I wish it was closer, and I wish I wasn't tied up all day tomorrow-the last day! I think there probably be some great deals in the last hours.

It only got up to 16 degrees by the time I got home. I stopped at 3 more sales and 4 thrift stores, but nothing even came close to the first sale. It was bright and sunny for the first couple of hours, but then the clouds came in and now it is snowing.

Any idea what this Pyrex pattern is? When it was made? I've never seen it before, and it was really cheap, so I picked it up.

Kevin is on his way home from work, we are going to a marriage conference at our church tonight at 7, for a couple of hours and then all day tomorrow-right up until volleyball time! Sunday I have to go to a meeting with Eric to find out what our Youth Group is doing for their summer mission trips-busy weekend!

Hope you are having a great start to your weekend! I can't wait to see what you've been finding!!

Like a moth to a flame...

2012-01-19T15:36:00.002-06:00

I just can't seem to resist vintage linens! I have collected wayyy too many, and I have way to many for sale in my booth, but for some reason, I can't walk away! I'm keeping my eye out for my blog friend Deb, for a certain size and color in vintage tablecloths, but so far no luck! You should check out her blog Garage Sale Gal.

I also am drawn to vintage thermoses...all because of this really cool blog I read called Monkeybox. Shara always has great finds, and great collections. You should stop by and check out her blog. I bet you'll put it on your follow list just like I did!

I went to a couple of sales after work today. One was so ridiculously priced, I'm still shaking my head! The prices made me say to myself--"Really? You've got to be kidding me! No wonder the house is still packed at 2:30! and I'm outta here!!!" Another sale had a really bad b.o. odor in the house (everywhere-ugh!) and everything felt sticky, icky, dirty. I'm glad I carry hand sanitizer in my car!!

I have a small list of things that I am always on the look-out for that friends have asked me to try to find for them, and it got me thinking...we all go to a lot of sales, why not keep an eye out for each other!?! Is there something you've been hunting for and you just can't find it? Is there one little elusive piece to a set that you are dying to complete? Are you kicking yourself for passing up that great whatchamacallit, because you haven't seen another one in years?

Maybe I can help!! Maybe we can help each other!! We could have a network group of thrift store, estate sale, garage sale, antique store bargain hunters-who could keep an eye out for each other!! What do you think?? I might see something at every sale I go to, but you can't seem to ever run across one where you live. What if we traded picker-for-hire services??

I've been thinking of starting a Wednesday blog party called "Wednesday Wishlist" where like-minded blog friends can post one thing that they are dying to find, along with a price range they are willing to pay (and a picture if you can find one) for all of us to keep our eyes peeled for, and if we find it, we could contact the person who posted it with what we paid for it, and how much shipping would be! What do you think??

I don't mean for it to be, oh, I bought it for $5, so I'll tell them I got it for $10 and then add in a couple bucks on the shipping. I want it to be, I got it for $5, it's yours for $5 plus actual shipping-from one treasure seeker to another, because it's a fun and rewarding (helping someone) thing to do!

Think about it, and let me know what you think! I would LOVE to be able to help someone finish up a set, or find that special something they've been looking for-forever!

No Sense of Humor!

2012-01-16T18:50:00.000-06:00

Eric had the day off from school and he texted me around lunch time asking if I had plans for lunch-how cool is that when your soon to be 18 year old son wants to hang out with mom!?! He even paid!!! It was just Burger King, but it was still pretty awesome! He hung around and helped me with some things for a couple of hours and then we went down the hall to the gym where the Red Cross was conducting a blood drive.

I was really discouraged to see how few people were there to donate blood! We were walk-ins and we got right in. I was surprised when the lady asked me if I was registering today as a female...what kind of question is that? Do that many people change their gender between their blood donations that they have to ask that question? Eric said they asked him if he was registering as a male so I didn't feel quite so weird about her asking me.

I was trying to be friendly and a little chatty with the lady who was processing my information, and she kept giving me "the look", so I stopped and "behaved" myself. When the blood started actually flowing, Eric was first, but I finished first 5 minutes 46 seconds. When she was un-hooking me I asked her if I beat him and she just gave me a disgusted look and "did you beat him?" then she sighed and told me to sit up and go get some juice and cookies.

Would it hurt them to be just a little friendly? Would it hurt them to make it a little more fun? Why do they tell you your time if it isn't a competition? :-)

Some Great Ideas and a New Project!

2012-01-15T17:23:00.002-06:00

Last week I got an email from a coworker and it really had some great ideas in it! I have already put a couple of them into practice, and plan to try out a couple more! It showed spreading chocolate chip cookie dough on muffin cups from a muffin pan flipped upside down, and baking it that way to form little cookie bowls for ice cream-my guys are looking forward to trying that!

It showed putting a tension rod under your sink in the cupboard to hang your squirt bottle cleaners on to get them up and off the bottom of the shelf and kind of make a second shelf under there. My next trip to a hardware store involves getting a tension rod-I can't wait to try this!!

It also showed a really easy way to fold fitted sheets, and suggested putting your clean sheets into one of the pillow cases in your linen closet-so everything was all together and ready to go. It would keep your linen closet neater and you wouldn't end up searching all over for stray pillow cases. My fitted sheets have never been folded so nicely, and my linen cupboard has never been so organized!

While folding and organizing, I came across a couple of old sheet sets that I decided to put to another use. The white sheets with the purple flowers are my all time favorite sheets! Unfortunately, I was lazy one night about six or so years ago, and went to bed with an ankle bracelet on and as I stretched out my leg, the clasp caught on the sheet and ripped a big ole rip that was impossible to repair.

I've kept the sheets because I couldn't bear to get rid of them because I love them so much. Now I found a way to keep them, but see them every day! I'm trying my hand at making a rag rug!! I tried to make one last summer using bright primary colored material and I was pulling it too tight and it ended up looking like a Jamaican hat-so after a ton of teasing from my guys, I gave up.

This time, I am being really careful to not pull too tight and it is actually laying flat!! YAY!! It isn't perfect, but I'm happy with it! It is a really easy project-I wonder why more people aren't making rag rugs!! I watched some great how-to videos on youtube by LauraJaneV82. If you are interested in making a rag rug-I highly recommend her videos! She makes it sound easy enough to give it a try!

I think I need to make my strips a little wider next time to avoid the bottom sheet from showing through.

After I ripped the two fitted sheets into strips, I pulled as many strings as I could off and rolled the strips into balls to make them easier to handle.

My funny little tool that I made out of a paper clip and some painters tape.

I watched a different video on ripping your sheets quickly and efficiently. I ripped a whole sheet in about a minute-it was incredible! I had to have Kevin on the other end, but it worked! Now if I could just find some extra time, I could really go to town on this! I'm still getting the teasing, but I think they can see I'm doing much better this time! I'm so glad I didn't give up and never try it again!! I can't wait to make another one-I'm sure it will be much better than than this one!!

It's nice to be at home, working on a little project-today has been a crazyyyyy day!!! I had to work the front desk during the first church service and it was crazy busy and weird! We had to call 911 for an older man who passed out during the service. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. I hope he is alright!

It seems that more times than not when I work the desk we are calling 911 for an ambulance! Most times they refuse to go. This time he really needed to go, and so I'm glad he went! There was a couple of small housekeeping/building issues that came up after that, then a woman came in and said there was a hurt deer on the play ground. So I kept our facilities Manager hopping with my phone calls for a while.

Shortly after that, a man who was helping spread salt on the sidewalks came in because he had needed to open a new bag of salt, but didn't have a knife, so he used his teeth and a small piece of the plastic from the salt bag got stuck in his teeth and it was hurting him and he wanted to know if we had some floss! Luckily someone else was at the desk helping me at that time and she was able to find him some string.

On top of regular Sunday morning office stuff and people dropping off cookies for the blood drive tomorrow, it was an unusually busy day! Kevin was taking blood pressures for anyone who wanted it today, so we got into church late and had to sit in the balcony-which was about 90 degrees! I don't think I could have lasted much longer than I did, I was getting so sleepy up there! After that, we ran out and got a bite to eat and then headed back for our congregational meeting to vote for some new elders. We didn't get home until about 3:00-and we left early!

Now I've got dinner in the oven and I will be working on my rug the rest of the night! Speaking of dinner...do you like butternut squash? Do you have a Costco near you? I found this a few months ago at Costco and we just loved it! I was so happy when I found it again when we went on Friday.

I usually chop up some onions and toss it with some olive oil and a little salt and pepper and roast it in the oven-YUMMMM!

P.S.--if you would like to see the email with all of the great ideas, just leave a comment or send me an email and I'll email it to you! I wasn't able to post pictures or copy and paste the email into this blog post.

Crazy, Busy Friday!

2012-01-13T17:33:00.000-06:00

This morning I asked myself if I should stay home and do laundry or take a chance on a few sales that looked iffy. If you've been reading my blog for more than a week, I know you know what I chose to do! (smile) Yep! Kevin and I took off on a little adventure and tried out a few estate sales. most of them were frogs, and two of them were junior princes-not quite good enough to call princes, but not bad enough to be called frogs.

We had a nice relaxing day, enjoying each other's company-without the usual distractions around the house. One of the sales we went to actually had a bomb shelter and some of the stuff for sale was in the bomb shelter. I was excited to see it when the lady running the sale told us to make sure we we didn't miss it, because they had things for sale in it too.

The entrance was in a hidden corner of the basement and it had a long, twisty, narrow hallway leading from the basement to the bomb shelter. The whole shelter was probably 9'x9', and made me feel pretty claustrophobic while I was in there. It looked to be made out of cinder block, and I couldn't tell if there was more to it than that or not. It seemed like it could be a place someone could get trapped in pretty easily though if it caved in .

Maybe it would be a good tornado shelter instead. The ceiling even looked to be cinder block. I bet it would be a fun fort for kids to play in-although I don't know if they'd get any internet connection in there!

This is what I picked up today:

a chenille baby or crib blanket-no holes, stains or tears!

Three fired-on apple dishes, two primary Pyrex 401 bowls, a few old Christmas stockings

A plastic drink shaker, a Christmas mouse an oval frame, a clothespin bag,
a pile of half aprons and a baby gown

a pink and white baby blanket-gorgeous!

This one puzzles me...it clearly asks what little boys are made of-yet it is pink and white!

This is what Kevin picked up-it came with a stethoscope-$2!

Other things we squeezed into our day include: a meeting at Eric's school, a trip to Lowe's and Home Depot and a trip to Costco. We found a shower enclosure at Lowe's that looks like travertine, but is a man made product-all assembled in sheets that you glue to the wall studs. I think we both are excited, because it was considerably cheaper than tiling the shower, but much nicer looking than the fiberglass one piece unit that we currently have.

It's something to tuck into the back of our minds, for a later time. We still have to put stone on the outside walls of the sun room and we have Eric's graduation party coming up in June. So maybe next fall we'll change up our bathrooms.

We got a rug at Costco for the sun room. I think it looks great and it keeps your feet off of the cold, cold floor. Kevin and Eric think it is too big and hides too much of the tile...what do you think? It takes up about 1/3 of the overall floor space. It's a big one-7.5'x10'!

***As I was typing this Kevin got a call from Eric to come to the end of our little road, because someone had rolled their car! He was waiting to make a left turn onto our road and someone flew over the train tracks (coming toward him) going too fast for the snowy road, and the little hill that the tracks are on and started swerving right for Eric! She over compensated and ended up in the ditch with her jeep on its side. Eric ran to the rescue with a few other people who were driving in the area at the time, and I'm happy to report that the girl was just really shaken up-but not injured at all-thank you Lord! Poor Eric, he can't stop shaking-that was a close call!

Now I am off to do that laundry I bailed on earlier, and maybe curl up with a book for a few hours. Eric got an electric blanket for Christmas, and last night I fell in love with it! He may have a fight on his hands getting it back! It is just the right size to curl up on the couch with...maybe the laundry can wait a bit longer...a book, a warm blanket and a mug of tea-seem to be calling my name! (smile).

Hope you have a great weekend! Stay warm and stay safe!

Merry Christmas to Me ~ Thanks Mom & Dad!!

2012-01-12T15:15:00.000-06:00

I must be dreaming! I actually won a quilt top on Ebay and it was very reasonable! I used my Christmas gift card that I got from my parents and it came in the mail today. I LOVE, LOVE, Love it! The only issue I have is, it smells like cigarette smoke!

It's twin size and I think it will look awesome on my old iron bed. It is the Grandmother's Garden pattern. It is very similar to the one I wanted to buy at a garage sale at the end of summer. The sale where the seller changed her mind and decided to keep it.

It doesn't have any stains, or rips...just the stinky smell. I don't really want to wash it, because I'm afraid the stitches might come loose. Any suggestions on getting rid of the stink? I can hang it outside to air out once the weather cooperates and stops raining. I just draped it over my tablecloth rack in the sun room for right now.

I got off work early, and was planning to go to a couple of sales, but it was yucky-rainy out and my GPS was being dumb, and I didn't feel like driving-so I went home and now, I'm sitting here itching to go to a sale-LOL!

I thought about running out to the Mega Mall, I've heard they have new management and a lot of new dealers and I've wanted to check it out, but I didn't feel like making the drive today. Maybe tomorrow. I don't see any great sales that are worth driving to for the weekend, so I might just have to get my fix at Mega Mall.

Or, maybe I'll just stay home with a good book...

A Hamster Estate Sale??

2012-01-10T17:37:00.003-06:00

I was skimming through Craigslist and came across a hamster estate sale! It made me laugh, so I thought I'd share a chuckle with you!

Hamster estate sale - $20

Our Russian dwarf hamster passed away from old age and we are not planning on getting another one in the short-term future, so this is his estate sale...

Includes:
- Glass fish tank (10 gallon?) with mesh lid. The tank is not sealed so it won't hold water (i.e., can't be used for fish)
- Silent wheel, water bottle, food dish
- Hardwood "furniture"
- About one third to one half of a bag of paper bedding, and a similar amount of wood chip bedding,
- Half a bag (2 pounds or so) of hamster food
- A bunch of plastic components compatible with most commercial hamster habitats
- Clear plastic ball

I admire their creativity! I hope they sell their stuff!

Gorgeous Moon!!!

2012-01-08T19:54:00.001-06:00

As I was sitting int he sunroom, surfing my blog friend's blogs, I happened to catch a glimpse of the moon through one of the skylights. I had to turn off the ceiling fan to get a shot at it (pretend you don't see the dust-I am pretending! ;) )

Then I went outside to snap a couple shots...the pictures don't do it justice! It is gorgeous!!!

Playing Can Be Work Too!!

2012-01-08T19:07:00.000-06:00

Today was a busy day! It was "Dealer Day" at the antiques and collectibles mall where I have my booth. Dealer Day, in case you haven't been reading my blog for a while, is when the mall owners open the doors for dealers only, the first Sunday of the month from 10am-noon. They put out a buffet spread, and have two drawings-one for a $20 mall gift certificate, and the other for $50 off the next month's rent.

It's a great chance to get into your booth to rearrange, dust, vacuum, straighten, or whatever! I waited until today to take out all of my Christmas ~~junk~~ stuff. I'm glad I waited, because I sold some more of it this week! I sold the headboard bench Kevin made yesterday so I needed to bring in something to fill it's spot, plus I had 3 giant bins of new ~~junk~~ treasures to add in.

One of the other dealers came over to me with a worried look on her face, and asked if I was moving out. I laughed and said no, just moving stuff around. It looked like a bomb went off in my booth for most of the 2 hours I was there! Kevin went with me, but he was soo worried about getting out to the car to sit and wait, he kept asking if we were done yet.

I asked him along because I knew I had a major amount of work to do, and knew I couldn't get it all done by myself. I should have left him home after I kept having to explain about presentation, and displaying things nicely and not just throwing them on any old shelf. I couldn't imagine being as impatient as he is. I think I'd have an ulcer from it!!

After I got home, I decided to play with some of my finds that I've decided to "foster" for a while. I bought them with the intention of selling them, but once I got them home, I fell in love with them and can't part with them just yet!

Part of the playing involved going to the upstairs part of our barn and hauling in a twin box springs (don't worry-I thoroughly checked for critters!) and putting the bed together, as well as moving the trundle bed around. While I was up there, I found the quilt my grandma made for us for a wedding gift (it was in a clear bag-not just laying around in the barn). I never really liked it (just didn't like the colors and the way she edged it) and never appreciated the time she put into it. I appreciate the time that went into it now but part of me wonders if she really made it herself, because up until them and ever since then, I have never seen her sew a thing!

She crocheted up until about 6 years ago when she starting having issues with dementia and couldn't remember how to do it. She did ceramics until about 10 years ago until she got tired of it (or maybe couldn't do it anymore), but I never, ever saw her sew. I wonder if she just bought it. I can't ask her because she is gone now, and I know my grandpa won't have a clue, so there's no point in asking him.

I never used it on our bed. It's mostly been in the basement in a storage bin, or in the barn (I didn't put it out there-I thought it was still in the basement). The quilt batting looks like it is dissolving or something. I looked it over to see if I could just remove the little triangles that it is edged with, but that would involve removing the whole back, and that's a task I am not up for right now. So, it will stay as is, but it won't stay in the barn. It's in the house on a spare bed in the basement family room/boys rec room/treasures pricing room.

I feel bad for not appreciating it when I got it, and for forgetting about it all these years! It's still not my favorite, but I appreciate the hours and hours that went into it. I could almost say I appreciate the love that went into it, but, 1. I'm not sure she even made it, and 2. If she did make it, it was for the attention/admiration of the ladies at my shower more than out of love for me. I don't think she ever learned how to love anyone other than herself throughout her whole life. I know is sounds mean, but I also knew her, and it's the truth.

So, Now I'm headed off the see what you've been up to this weekend. Hopefully there will be some good sales this coming week! I'm itching for a good hunt! Hope you have a great week!!!

January 6th? Or April 6th?

2012-01-06T14:48:00.000-06:00

It is a glorious, blue-sky, sunny 53 degrees out today! I am LOVING it!! It sure doesn't feel like January-more like April. I didn't go to any sales today. I went to the movies with Kevin instead. I am so glad I went too! We saw War Horse and it was incredible! I hadn't seen any previews, so I didn't know what to expect, and I wasn't too thrilled about going. I just went along because Kevin asked me, and we don't have "date time" as often as we should. I hope the movie wins lots of awards-it is very deserving in my eyes.

We're thinking of going to D.C. the end of March for the Cherry blossom Festival...any thoughts, ideas or advice about that? I know it will be crowded with this being the centennial year, I'm wondering about parking, driving around, places to stay, etc. Any tips or advice you can give me will be very greatly appreciated!!

Hope you're having a great Friday, and that your weekend is relaxing, and refreshing!

Where to go...What to do...

2012-01-05T18:03:00.001-06:00

We are thinking of doing a little bit of traveling this year and we have to hurry and make up our minds! Every year in February, U of M makes their nurses decide on their days off for the entire year! Usually we forget about it and we are scrambling the day Kevin gets his pick. This year, we are trying to think ahead...but we are drawing a blank.

We are thinking of going in March or April, and have no idea where to go (except Florida, California and Arizona-been there done that enough times). Do you have any ideas? I thought about Savannah, or D.C., or Texas...what do you recommend? We want to stay in the U.S. this time, and it can be as short as a few days or up to 10.

Best Finds of 2011...

2012-01-03T17:20:00.000-06:00

Since many of you are doing posts of your best finds of 2011, I thought I'd jump right in with my best finds for the past year.

WOW! That was a FUN year of treasure seeking!!! I'd forgotten just how much great junk I got! The best part? It was FUN searching for it!! The funniest story is the ornament box with "A Tribute to Ugliness" written on it!

Hope 2012 turns out to be half as much fun!!!

Starting the New Year off right!

2012-01-02T15:57:00.000-06:00

One last day off from work, and I'm wondering how I'll ever get back into the swing of things! I've had 12 days off and I am starting to get used to the leisurely pace that I've had on my vacation. I've gotten a lot accomplished, and I've relaxed a LOT-maybe too much!

Volleyball starts back up 2 nights a week this week, then in February it goes to 4, and this is the homestretch for Eric in his senior year. I know all of this rest and relaxation is going to disappear quite quickly-so I am very thankful to have had this quite time.

I totally forgot about a package of hand towels that I picked up at the second sale last week! I just found them in my car and they were all folded and tied with string. I picked them up because the whole pack was only $3. When I unfolded them, I was in love!

Florida, New Jersey and California and polka dots!?! LOVE ♥ ♥ ♥!

What do you think? Kinda dirty, but I'm not worried-Biz can get it out! They are kinda smelly too, good thing Biz has a great scent too!

I had to run out to pick up a new hole punch (my other one has been missing for over a month), so I stopped at our local thrift store-boy was it PACKED!! I had to park on a side road along with about 10 other cars. It was worth it though!

Wouldn't you know as soon as I got home with the new punch and went downstairs to get busy pricing stuff, I found the old one! I had tucked it away in a old wooden box, along with a bunch of tags that I had cut out and some other stuff that I use for pricing-figures.

I'm looking forward to dinner tonight! I'm trying something new-crock pot lasagna! My cousin brought it to our extended family gathering on Christmas Eve and it was awesome! It was very easy to make, and one very important thing...when it's in the crock pot, it won't bubble up and spill over the sides like it does in the oven! :)

Happy January 2nd everyone! Have a great night!!!

2012 Michigan Flea Markets, Festivals and Sales-My Top 10

2012-01-01T14:48:00.005-06:00

Every year I like to make a list of the flea markets, festivals and sales/shows that I love to attend. Since it is a new year, and I have some down time, I thought I'd make my list up early so I can mark my calendar and plan my adventures!

1. Michigan Antique & Collectibles Festival in Midland. With over 1000 dealers on over 80 acres-you get your junkin fix along with a good workout! Admission is $5 per person. This year's dates: June 2-3, July 21-22, Sept. 22-23.

2. Warren's Greatest Garage Sale in a parking structure at Warren's city hall. Admission is only $1 per person and if you can think of it, it will probably be there! This year's dates are May 27-28.

3. Flat Rock Historical Society Flea Market at the Flat Rock Speedway. Free admission and parking-with up to 300 vendors. Their usual dates are the first Sunday in May and the first Sunday in October 7am-7pm.

4. Greenmead Flea Market located on the historic Greenmead Farm in Livonia. They don't have their 2012 dates posted yet, but I am assuming they will be Sunday, June 3 and Sunday, September 9-same as it has been the last few years. Admission is $2 per person and they have up to 175 vendors.

5. Royal Oak Parking Structure Sale located in the 6th and Lafayette parking structure. July 14-15-admission is $2 per person.

6. Williamston Antiques Open House dates not announced yet, but I'm thinking March and June-like last year, and years prior

7. Mega Mall Summer Flea Market located in the parking lot of the Mega Mall in Lansing. It is on the third Sunday of the month April-October 10am-3pm.

8. Ingham County Superfest Flea Market/Garage Sale located on the Ingham County Fairgrounds. Admission is $4 per person. 2012 dates are not release yet, but I am assuming they will be February 4-5.

9. Michigan's Yard Sale Trail located along US 12 Heritage Trail August 10-12.

10. World's Longest Yard Sale or 127 Sale from Gasden, Alabama to Hudson, Michigan. 2012 dates-August 2-5.

These are my top ten. I don't know if I'll make it to all of them, but I will certainly try, and I'll take you along so you can have an adventure too!

One Last Adventure for 2011

2011-12-31T20:36:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had our Christmas celebration with Kevin's side of the family. We only exchanged white elephant gifts and it was pretty funny! We kept it simple and just ordered a bunch of pizzas-boy was that nice!!! No cooking and easy clean up!

Today, we left for another adventure-this time to the east. I wanted to visit a few antique shops that I've been to a few times before. Two were in Livonia, and the other, Knightsbridge, is in Northville. I have a special fondness for Knightsbridge-it's where I bought my oak curved glass china cabinet a few years ago.

We had a fun time hanging out together and searching for treasures. The first place we stopped was The Country Peddler. It is half antique mall, half craft mall. In every other visit to this mall, I've always skipped the craft side and only visited the antique side. I missed so much! There were antique booths mixed in with the crafts and some of the craft items were pretty cool!

One booth had Corian cutting boards. Some cut into the shape of the state of Michigan, some even had the shape of the U.P. too! I'm keeping that locked in my memory for Christmas presents for next year!!

I saw a lot of Pyrex and lot of vintage goodness but nothing was begging to come home with me...until...I spotted a sign that said 90% off!! Really?!? It was just a couple of pictures and a bunch of reference books. I only found one that needed to come home with me (it had big colorful pictures-ha!), it was a whopping 95 cents!

Our next stop was Town and Country Antiques Mall-it was just a couple of miles down the road. The last time I was there, I ran into my cousin's wife and little daughter and her parents. I think it was between the holidays when I visited the last time too!

I didn't find anything that needed to come home with us, but I did find this really cool vintage kid's bike. How cool would it have been to have this when you were little?!?!

We drove past a Salvation Army Thrift Store and made a quick detour. I found one Amish Pyrex Cinderella bowl. It was only $4.99, but it had been put through the dishwasher too many times, so I left it there.

We only had about a 6 mile drive to Knightsbridge Antique Mall in Northville, and it went pretty quickly. It was really crowded there, not like the other two which had a few shoppers, but wasn't busy at all. I always skim through the front section to the left rather quickly. It is mostly display cases that are locked, and to my way of thinking, if it has to be locked up, it is probably too expensive for me, so I just skip on by.

I found some awesome vintage decals. I only bought a couple, but I think I might go back and get some more-they're pretty awesome!

Just a little way down the aisle, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a mauve blue Harlequin pitcher! I've been looking for this color for a lonnnnng time. It was in excellent condition-no chips or cracks and was very clean. I also had a gift card from my parents in my pocket-so Merry Christmas to me from mom and dad!!

I even asked for and got the little known discount! Did you know most antique malls will give you a 10% discount on items over $20 if you ask? I never knew that until I became a booth renter, and this is the first opportunity for me to ask for it. I'm still smiling! I feel like I won the lottery or something! ;)

All in all, it was a fun day! We finished up with lunch at A & W. Now we are watching #2 of 4 Red Box movies with full bellies of all kinds of yummy appetizers. Do we know how to party or what? LOL!

Happy New Year!!!

A New Year, A New Me?

2011-12-31T19:23:00.001-06:00

I get a couple of emails every day from sites like Girlfriends in God, and Encouragement for Each Day. I've been pondering what I read in one of them. It was meant to be a help for the Holidays. To slow you down, and put your focus back on the birth of Jesus, but I think it has great potential for a New Year's resolution/priority change for me all year round.

This is what they said:

Make time each day to be alone with God.
Pour out your dreams and desperation to Him.
Read Psalm 23 once a day.
Invest at least 15 minutes in solitude each day, allowing your soul to “catch up.”
Make a list of the top five joy thieves in your life and make a plan to eliminate them.
Prayerfully choose five verses of Scripture about peace. Write these verses on a 3X5 card and carry it with you through the holidays, referring to it while you wait in line, while you are stuck in traffic, at every meal, etc. Consider doing the same as a family project.
After the holidays are over, evaluate the difference this preparation made in your holiday celebration.

I'm going to make these suggestions my New Year's resolution. I try really hard to have quiet time with God each day, but it ends up getting bumped too easily for other things-I'm going to really work on not letting other things bump my time with God this year!

Instead of reading Psalm 23 every day for a year, I'm going to pick one Psalm per week to read and reflect on. I think I'll just start at the beginning and work my way through. Maybe 2 per week-I'll see how it goes.

I've never thought of pouring out my dreams to Him...I've poured out my desperation, and heartache in prayers for myself, my family and my friends, and for anyone who asks me to pray, but my dreams I've kept to myself.

Fifteen minutes a day of solitude sounds almost heavenly and actually very doable! I am going to consciously work very hard on this-to slow down, relax and rejuvenate. No TV, facebook, blog, texting, housework..."Come with my by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Mark 6:31 NIV.

I've been making a list in my head already of my top 5 joy thieves. I knew deep down that my joy was being zapped by some of them, but it never really made it to my thought process as something(s) I could eliminate or work on eliminating. This is very intriguing to me!

I LOVE the idea of finding 5 scripture verses on peace and carrying them with you! I'm also going to find 5 verses on Love, Joy, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Goodness, faithfulness and Self-control and print them out and carry them as well!

I've ordered a couple of new Bible study books that will be here Wednesday, and they should keep me busy until the beginning of July. I am soo looking forward to doing this and refocusing my life!

I'll still be doing what I'm doing as far as sales, shops, adventures and the booth-just putting things in a better priority/focus for me. If you want to join me, I could use an accountability partner or partners! If not, no worries!

Happy New Year to you and your families! Best wishes to you all for a wonderful year, filled with lots of love, laughter and great memories!

What a difference a day makes!

2011-12-28T14:49:00.001-06:00

I headed out this morning just as the sun was peeking out from the east. It was an amazing sunrise! All I had was my phone, so the pictures are awful-but I think you can see the gorgeous colors-even if it is blurry. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day-big change from yesterday's gloomy, soggy mess!

A little colder today too.

My trip today was to the south. Almost as many miles south as what I went north yesterday! The blue skies and bright sunshine in December were like a refreshing glass of iced tea in July-I Loved it!! I ended up going to two estate sales-run by the same company-nine miles apart! One was great, the other-eh-not so much.

I got to the first sale which had "(hoarder)" in the description about 10 minutes before it opened. It was very rural and there were about 40 people in line in front of me (no numbers). It was a ranch style house (not too big either) and I couldn't believe they let everyone in! There were probably about 15 or so people behind me too!

Everyone in front of me literally ran to the basement. I stopped and checked on a yellow vintage Fiesta vase in the living room-$85-wayyy too much for me, then I went to my favorite part of any estate sale...the KITCHEN! I found all kinds of treasures! The best one--a recipe box! With all kinds of hand written recipes! Why wouldn't her family want this? How sad! I'd give anything to have either of my grandmother's recipe boxes!! Even if the recipes were all nasty-I'd just like to have their handwriting.

Last year I came across a site that would screen print your loved one's recipe on a kitchen towel or apron, so you'd always have their recipe in their handwriting. I asked my mom for one of my grandma's recipes, but she didn't have time to look for it-I should ask her again...I hope she didn't throw them out-she isn't a saver-she's a tosser.

I found a really cool breadbox in the basement. Later, as I was checking out, a woman was asking the son of the guy running the sale about a breadbox, and did somebody take it upstairs for her because it was gone. He looked to be about 11 or 12 and had no clue as to what she was talking about. He said he thought his dad took it up.

I bought it, but it didn't have her name on it, and she didn't pick it up from the spot where it was in the basement. I saw her looking at it (the same time I was looking at it) and heard her say she wanted it, so I left and explored the rest of the basement. When I made my second pass-it was still there and she was long gone-so I picked it up. I made a second pass through the whole house, then out to the garage to check out.

I've been feeling guilty ever since I bought it.She doesn't know who bought it, but I'm sure when she went to check out she was disappointed she didn't get it. I thought she changed her mind because it was still there-that is why I grabbed it. I'm wondering if I should have gone back and offered it to her. What do you think? I know when I've been at other sales and I've set something down and walked away -someone else has picked it up and bought it...it's just kind of the nature of an estate sale-right? What would you have done? She seemed like she was from the area, should I call the estate sale company and tell them I'd be willing to give it to her? My boys say no. They said she walked away-therefore it was fair game-the nature of an estate sale...what do you think??

I wouldn't have classified this sale as a hoarder sale-yeah, the woman had a lot of stuff, but no where near the level of hoarder. My grandma had way more stuff (before her house fire) than this lady had. I would probably classify it as a saver's sale.

Pictured above: 9 vintage Pyrex pieces, 2 small vintage Fiesta bowls, 2 large newer Fiesta baking bowls, 9 vintage dish towels, 1 vintage tablecloth, 2 vintage aprons, 6 vintage crocheted hot pads, a vintage-never used- giant yellow Tupperware bowl, a drink shaker, a fired-on turquoise small vase, a vintage glass and an ice bowl, and a vintage syrup pitcher. These are from all the places I stopped, not just the estate sale.

Since it was in the same town as one of my all time favorite antiquing areas, I planned my route so I could stop at a couple of antique stores. I was very sad and very disappointed to find out that the shop I got a lot of my newer Fiesta at has closed!! It was empty! It was called "The Place" and I never walked away empty handed when I visited this store-I am so bummed it is gone!!

I walked down a little further and went into a huge antique mall, but even that had changed. It was very empty-not like it was a year ago when I shopped there! I'm wondering if it too will go out of business. Two days in a row of seeing shops that have been around for a long time closed, is really sad. I wonder if they just decided it was easier to sell on Ebay and not have the over-head of a shop...

As I was making my way back home, I had to stop at a candle/antique shop (another favorite) and I found some great deals! They looked to be well stocked, and there was a steady stream of shoppers, so I am hoping it will still be there next year!

I also stopped at Treasure Mart in Ann Arbor. I like Treasure Mart a LOT, but parking is always an issue, and it is hit or miss as to whether or not I find anything I can't live without-about 50/50. Today, there was a spot in the tiny lot behind the store (score!), and I found 2 of the larger (newer) Fiesta baking bowls (another score!)! I wouldn't have seen them if one of the workers hadn't grabbed a pitcher I was looking at before she realized I was looking at it, for the front display window. I wandered over to look at her display and got very excited when I saw the bowls!!

Shhhh! Don't tell Kevin!!! More bowls have made their way into our house! ;) They are already washed and sitting on a shelf in the sun room-he will never know! ;)

See how nice they look with the two smaller prep bowls I got at the Fiesta tent sale!?!?

Tomorrow I'm staying home to run the vacuum and dust-in laws are coming Friday. No cooking though-decided to order pizza instead-whew!! Kevin's brother is bringing a green bean casserole-even though we are getting pizza-guess he loves green bean casserole! I'd be willing to bet he won't show up anyway-he has bailed more times than he's shown up in the last 5 or 6 years.

The boys are done house-sitting and are back home...along with a week's worth of dirty laundry, and back to eating everything in site! It's quiet right now-they both had to work at 3 ;-). I'm glad they are home, I missed them, but the quiet is nice too.

What are your plans for New Year's Eve? We usually keep it very low-key. Pajamas, snacks and movies! Hope you have a nice night, whatever you decide to do!

A Fun Day Exploring!

2011-12-27T19:30:00.001-06:00

Since the boys are both still house sitting for my friend, and Kevin had to work, I decided to head out to wander and explore some antique shops and thrift stores that I haven't been to for a couple of years. It was AWESOME! I enjoyed it so much, I am thinking I will go in the opposite direction tomorrow!

It was a gloomy, rain/snow mix.

My first stop was at the Antique Warehouse in Saginaw. I try to get to this place once a year, but I think it's been 2 since the last time I was there. It wasn't crowded at all, so it was nice to wander around aimlessly. Some of the dealers were having sales, so I picked up a couple of things at amazing prices.

I remember having this set when I was little! I didn't buy it, but it brought a smile to my face.

I've never seen a refrigerator dish this big in green before! I didn't buy it, but it was great to see it.

I did buy this-needs a lid, but I've never seen this color in this size, and the price was awesome!

This vintage Fiesta Sugar dish was half off-the flash makes it look like there are chips, but there aren't any.

My next stop was Americana Antiques on Water Street in Bay City. I wasn't even in the store more than 10 feet when I found one of the newest things on my wish list-and it was half off!!!

$12.50 and it works!

There are a lot of great booths in this little mall!

My heart skipped a beat when I saw all of this vintage Fiesta -too bad it was too much for my wallet!

Aren't these shoes cool!?!?

I LOVE this cabinet!! Too bad my house is too small for any more cabinets!

I drove about a block (it was rain mixed with snow and very wet out) and ended up at Bay Antique Center. This place is HUGE! It was pretty empty too, so it was nice to just wander and not worry about being in anyone's way or having someone else in my way.

Too bad my budget is too tiny for this! This has been on my all time wishlist forever. I'd have to find it in the double digits, because I'd never be able to sleep if I spent that much!

I liked this tree skirt, but it it wasn't exactly what I was looking for-so I passed on it.

This is the ceiling in the basement! Isn't it AWESOME!?!?!

This is the Tree of Life Pyrex casserole-my only purchase from Bay Antiques.

After Bay Antiques, I tried to find a thrift store that I found out didn't exist any more, then I headed toward an antique shop that I think has been in business most of my life (R & J Needful Things-in Flushing)...but when I got there, I saw a big FOR SALE sign on the building, and a note on the door saying they were sorry but they were closing forever on November 30, 2011!!! That was a total shock! It was a really big antique mall! When I think back though, there were never any shoppers whenever I stopped and their prices were kind of high. I don't think I ever bought anything there in all the years that I've wandered through.

I stopped at a couple of thrift stores in Fenton that I usually have good luck at. Didn't find anything at the first one, but I got a couple of plain red felt Christmas tree skirts and this pitcher at the second.

Since I was in Fenton, I thought I'd stop at another shop that wasn't really my favorite, but other people have said how much they like it.

They had an awesome set of 4 pink vintage Pyrex mixing bowls for only $60! I've seen them go for around $100-$225 on Ebay. Everything else that caught my eye was way above my price range. It was pretty busy inside, so I was glad to see that-especially since Needful Things was gone.

I stopped at my local Salvation Army since I had to drive past it on my way home and found a few more good deals.

Funky napkin holder!

A set of 4 glasses-I didn't get them out of the box yet.

A Pyrex refrigerator dish-it's the larger rectangle size.

These are 4 curtain panels. There are a lot of possibilities with this much material! I'll let you know what I decide to make with them!

Tomorrow I'm going to my last estate sale of 2011 and a couple of my other favorite antique malls, to the south. Hopefully I'll have some fun adventures to share tomorrow night-and hopefully the weather will be better for driving!

A Week off and nothing to do! YAYYY!

2011-12-26T17:48:00.007-06:00

I've got this week off from work and I am so excited to catch up on some reading, some inventory spreadsheets for the booth, and I hope to visit a couple of antique shops that I love, but haven't had time to visit in a long time. The house got a thorough cleaning (cupboards, drawers, closets, etc.) for the party, so that's not hanging over my head.

We had a quick nice Christmas with my parents on Sunday and a quick extended family gathering of all of my cousins and uncles on my Dad's side on Saturday. We'll be getting together with Kevin's siblings and their kids this Friday-so for the next three days, I am going exploring!! I'll be sure to bring along my camera, so you can see what I saw!

Since I am almost done with my Fiesta and Pyrex collections, I am thinking about what my new wishlist will look like for 2012... I think the biggest thing I'll be searching for is a Grandmother's Garden quilt. I saw one late this summer at a garage sale and the seller changed her mind just as I was going to buy it-so I didn't get it. I just loved all of the bright colors-it kind of reminded me of my Fiesta and Pyrex.

I'd also LOVE to find a vintage color wheel for my aluminum Christmas tree! Other than those two things, I don't know that I'll be searching for anything for me any more, but I will still be searching for stuff for the booth. Can you believe that in just 36 days it will have been a year since I became a booth renter in an antiques and collectibles mall!?!? That time just flew by!

While it has been a lot of fun, it has also been a lot of work! The hardest thing I've dealt with (and I don't know why it even bothers me) is when I see other dealers buying my stuff and then marking it up and putting it for sale themselves. Why wouldn't they tell me that I goofed and priced something too low?

Kevin tells me to get over it. I know I need to get over it. I don't have anything to complain about, because I make a profit on the things I sell, and I don't try to grab the highest amount possible when I resell. If it came to me as a good deal, I pass that on to the customers. I should just think of the other dealers as "customers" and be glad that I sold something.

Looking forward to catching up on your blogs and to my adventures tomorrow!

Hope you had a wonderful time this Christmas with your family and friends!

No sales lately...

2011-12-23T06:24:00.003-06:00

I haven't been to any sales, or shops this week-other than my booth to fluff and add in some stuff and vacuum. So I don't have any wonderful vintage treasures to share. I can't believe how fast this week has gone! We've been laying low and quiet this week- recovering from all the work we did for the party last Saturday-it's been so nice!

We did have to run out and shop for one big appliance that died-Saturday of all days-our washing machine. We shopped several places and they all said we couldn't get it until December 29 or January 3 and their prices were all the same. Then on our last stop, we found a place that we could get it within 2 days, and it was about $300 cheaper-and they offered 12 months same as cash!!

We got it yesterday and it looks amazing! It sounds like a jet engine taking off when it starts up and really spins the clothes dry! It tis so not the season to be buying appliances though!! We decided to not buy the dryer right now because it is still working-even though it is 10 years old too. They don't match at all, and it looks kind of like a Rolls Royce parked next to an Escort-but for now it's working, and hopefully by the time the dryer dies, we will have given our gasping bank accounts time to recover!

Lots and Lots of Food!

2011-12-18T10:26:00.000-06:00

The party was a big success! Although our numbers were much lower than we were expecting, I think everyone who came had a nice night! Last night was also the big Anesthesia department formal party, and the roads were a little slick, so that may be why we had less people. Two couples actually came in their formal clothes and left early to go to the other party afterward. Most of us were wearing our ugly sweaters and jeans but one guy had on a tux!

This is what I made...

Meatballs in the crock pot-surprise-it's a purple crock pot-imagine that, me having a purple crock pot!

Smoked turkey and roast beef roll up sandwiches.

Sausage and cheese-there was a huge platter just as big of crackers too.

Christmas tree shaped cheese ball and crackers.

Spinach dip

Cream cheese salsa dip.

Veggies and dip

Layered Greek dip-YUM! This recipe is a keeper!

Ham roll ups with dill pickles and green onions.

Baked Crab Rangoons-they didn't turn out as well as they usually do.

Little pigs in a blanket

A red velvet Christmas trifle-my mint leaves were really floppy and didn't make it look very appealing!

I forgot to take a picture of the swiss cheese dip and the bacon wrapped water chestnuts-they were a big hit! Others brought dishes to pass and we had a giant fruit platter, a fruit torte, fresh shrimp and cocktail sauce, a giant bowl of candy, some homemade oreo truffles-YUM! some crab dip, a couple of cheese cakes and some homemade candy! Every inch of counter space was taken up with food! No one went away hungry-that's for sure!!

One lady asked some questions about my Fiesta, but for the most part, no one was really interested in all of my vintage treasures. I'm surprised. How could you not love all the bright vintage goodness?!? Maybe if I would have put up the big 6' silver tree right in the middle of the sun room, I would have gotten more of a reaction.

Last night I got a facebook message from my brother in law-he is coming over today to help eat some leftovers! Hope he doesn't mind us not entertaining him today-we are all pooped and just planning to crash after I run some stuff to the booth and straighten it a bit!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I plan to spend some serious couch time catching up on everyone's blogs as soon as I get home!!!

Have a Merry Christmas if I don't get a chance to say it later!!

A Quick Fix...

2011-12-16T16:03:00.001-06:00

Our antique dining chairs with cane seats have seen better days. With two moose boys in our house and Kevin's friend all putting a knee through them here and there, they look really bad! We still use them, just ignoring the obvious-they need to be re-caned!!

With the big party coming up tomorrow, and no time to learn to cane, and no extra money to have someone do them, I remembered that we used to use some purple chair pads (in case you don't remember, everything was purple at one point in our house) and I kept them.

Kevin found them in the basement and brought them up and tied them on the chairs...they are so worn, ugly, stained and nasty there is no way we can use them for the party! Some of them only have one set of ties to tie them to the chair.

I got an idea to cover them to match the Santa hats I picked up for the backs of the chairs at the dollar store. I went to Joann and they had fleece on sale for 50% off, and I had a 40% off coupon...then I got busy cutting and tying.

Nothing fancy, but it sure beats the yucky purple chair pads!! I thought about just buying all new pads, but this was cheaper than buying one!

What do you think...be gentle...I'm not a crafty person...

Peanut Butter Cup Recipe

2011-12-15T18:44:00.001-06:00

This is a good recipe, but I think I'm going to try it with no peanut butter mixed in with the chocolate...let me know if you try it what you think of it. I got it from Taste of Home. I LOVE their recipes! I always used their recipes when I was doing catering and never had a complaint about the food-ever! Most of the time people were asking for the recipe!

This was wayyy easier than dipping all those buckeye balls-and then trying to cover up the toothpick hole in the top!

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
4-1/2 teaspoons butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
4 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 ounces each), coarsely chopped
Colored sprinkles, optional

Directions: In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter, butter, confectioner's sugar and salt until smooth; set aside.

In a microwave, melt the chocolate chips, candy bars and remaining peanut butter; stir until smooth.

Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture into paper-lined miniature muffin cups. Top each with a scant teaspoonful of peanut butter mixture; top with another teaspoonful of chocolate mixture. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3 dozen.

Mmmmmmm....Cookies!

2011-12-15T16:44:00.000-06:00

I've been baking up a storm trying to get all of the cookie request filled for our family. I haven't gotten to the chocolate dipped pretzels or the caramel corn yet-maybe that will come next week, and then again maybe not!

Peanut butter blossoms-they went a little flat because I used a scoop instead of rolling each one into a ball, but they taste the same-so no one minds how they look!

Cut-outs-just waiting for some frosting and sprinkles!

Snowballs-my dad's mother's recipe-She's died on Christmas Day 27 years ago-these were my favorites of all the cookies she made every Christmas. I miss her! She never got to meet my boys!

These are something new I tried. Store bought sugar cookie dough wrapped around a mini snickers bar. In the pictures online-they look like a ball-mine went a little flat (seems to be a repeating theme here doesn't it?!?)

Usually I make buckeye balls, but this year I decided to try these peanut butter cups instead-they are a keeper! Much easier to make!

Molasses cookies! The recipe for these comes from my parent's friend PJ-she plays volleyball with us on our co-ed league on Saturday nights.

These are not usually covered in red and green sugar-usually it is white sugar. They are my mom's recipe called double treat cookies. A peanut butter cookie with peanuts and chocolate chips.

These are super easy and fun to make! Almond Joy mini candy bars, with mini twist pretzels broken in half, mini marshmallows cut in half, a little black gel frosting and a mini red m & m.

These were pretty easy too! Square pretzels with a rolo on top and heated in the oven til soft-then smooshed with a pecan.

These are Kevin's favorite-Magic 7 Layer bars. I hate to make them! That's why he only gets them once a year-aren't I a mean wife?!? They are miserable to get out of the pan, even if I line it first!

Tomorrow I'll be making all the appetizers for Saturday.

Thank You Mary Lou & Jan!

2011-12-14T13:18:00.001-06:00

Look!
What
I
got!!!

My blog friend Mary Lou read about me wanting to find a vintage aluminum Christmas tree and she knew her friend Jan was wanting to sell hers, so she contacted me and told me how to get a hold of Jan. Then a friend from work who lives near her picked it up for me, and I got it today!!!

Six feet of shiny, vintage awesomeness! I can't wait to put it together!!! Thanks again for thinking of me Mary Lou!!

Ugly Enough?

2011-12-13T17:00:00.000-06:00

I don't have much time to uglify our ugly sweaters for the party Saturday-too many other things to do! I just found out our volleyball playoff game that was cancelled two weeks ago, is tomorrow night at 7:30...if we weren't playing short one player already, I would just cancel, but since it is the playoffs...sigh...I don't feel like I can let the team down by not going.

What do you think? Are they ugly enough? any suggestions on something quick I can do to make them uglier?

I pinned on ornaments, rope garland and icicles hanging from the waist on both. Kevin's sweater has a bright blue glittery butterfly on the shoulder!

Skipping chores to go to sales...maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all!

2011-12-10T12:32:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I had a date with Adam's best friend's new wife to bake Christmas cookies all day, except she cancelled late Thursday night. She is pregnant (about 14-15 weeks) and is borderline preeclampsia and because of the high blood pressure, she's been having horrible headaches. Please keep her in your prayers, she is very scared.

Since she cancelled, I decided to try a couple of estate sales. One was in an area known for big expensive homes, but their ad made it sound like there might be some of my kind of junk and I was hoping it might be reasonable...HA! As soon as I walked in and the house was decorated for Christmas and they made me put booties on over my shoes, I should have just turned around and ran back to my car!

The next couple of sales were not really worth the drive either-I got a couple of things, but I am wondering if I might have been better off staying home and baking the cookies!!!

Today there was a sale in Ann Arbor with LOTS of vintage quilts and linens in the photos, so I decided to take a chance and check it out (instead of making cookies and cleaning, and catching up on the week's laundry). I was #29. It was 15 degrees. It was a tiny house. Only 15 in at a time. It was PACKED with stuff. It was by a company who's sales I've shopped many times and they have great prices, but they haven't had any sales with my type of stuff for many months. so, you see, I HAD to go-right?!?

I parked across the street, near a sign that said "No parking M-F 8am-6pm -2hour limit". I figured -"Cool! It's Saturday and I'm not going to be here for 2 hours-I'm good!" I got my goodies, and got out the door and was congratulating myself on my decision to skip my chores to go to this sale as I was driving toward the expressway.

As I picked up speed on the on ramp, I noticed something starting to flap under my wiper....oh noooooo! Yes....I got a parking ticket! How do you get a ticket on a Saturday, when it states M-F? The ticket says it was a no parking at any time zone. Now my deals don't look so good-with the extra $25 I'm going to have to spend to pay the ticket!!

I wonder if the other 12 cars parked in front of and behind me also got tickets? Or maybe my dirty car just stood out (since I live on a dirt road my car is always more dirty or muddy than clean) in the city?

I went on Zillow and looked at a street level view of the street I was on, and found the parking sign...maybe I read it wrong...there are two signs together the top one is the red "P" with a slash the one under says M-F 8am-6pm in green letters...does that mean it is OK to park M-F 8am-6pm? Sigh! What a bummer way to end a fun sale and cast gloom on some good finds!!

Here is what I found yesterday and today...

Seven full aprons, two half aprons, a pink chenille bedspread, 4 vintage tablecloths(one looks to be mint), vintage Christmas curtains with valance, a Christmas card holder, a lingerie box, a folding wooden bed tray, a vintage blue Fiesta covered casserole (mint!) a Little Black Sambo syrup pitcher a Fiesta go-along shaker, an ice crusher, a chichi's chip tin and a wooden bird cage! Whew!

Even with the parking ticket, I still got some great deals. If I was to add the price of the ticket to the casserole, it still would be worth over 4 times what I paid for it.

As I was downloading pictures, someone came in through the sun room and slammed the door-and CRASH! My little red (mint) Pyrex fridgie bit the dust! Now to vacuum it up and get busy with laundry, housework and baking the cookies-not really in the mood now...

It keeps on getting better...just cut my finger picking up the big pieces that the shop vac couldn't get...yep---shoulda stayed home!

Air-vacuate?

2011-12-09T17:26:00.002-06:00

This afternoon, both boys wanted to go to Kohl's-one to look for a winter coat, and the other for a pair of khakis for work. We bought "a" coat, but decided to check at Dunham's and Elderbeerman (just down the road a couple blocks distance & right next door to each other) to be sure it was "the" coat.

As we were pulling into the parking lot, I smelled a propane smell and when we got out to walk up to Dunham's the smell was really bad. We were met at the door by the manager who told us he couldn't let us in because they were "evacuating the area" because of a gas main leak and to try back in about an hour.

We got back in our car, and drove through the parking lot and had to wait at the light. As we were sitting there, Eric pipes up from the backseat, "That man is crazy-there's no such thing as an "air vacuum-he can't vacuum the air"!" I thought Adam and I were going to die laughing!! Usually it is me who makes the blonde comments in our family.

We all have had a good laugh about that one all evening!

Mr. Air-vacuate to the rescue!

What Have We Been Doing?

2011-12-08T17:26:00.001-06:00

We've been really busy the last few weeks, trying to get the built-in cabinets for the sun room done in time for the big party for Kevin's co-workers (yikes!). I feel like I could stain and polyurethane in my sleep now!

Kevin thought he would be helpful and stain the second cabinet for me before he put all of the pieces together...unfortunately, he has a heavier hand with the stain and his cabinet came out darker. Fortunately, I have LOTS of vintage goodness to fill the shelves with that hopefully no one will notice!!

This is the one I stained...

This is the one he stained-in the pictures they look pretty close...

Today he got the crown molding in place, and the trim along the bottom-so we're almost to the finish line!! We just need to get some glass for the outside doors, and hang the doors. I think once they are all done, things will seem a lot less stressful. Having an air compressor and tools, and saw dust all over doesn't make it very easy to clean!

We've been playing volleyball as a family on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and I've been playing in a women's league on Wednesdays (we're in second place!), but everything is winding down now for a couple of weeks. We're going to have so much time on our hands we won't know what to do with ourselves!!

We're both off for the week between Christmas and New Year's -staying home while the boys and their friends go up to my parents-looking forward to a clean, quiet house for a few days!

Today I got to go shopping and wrap presents and got paid for it!! The church I work at does Angel Tree ministry, and this year there was a glitch and 22 names for clothes and toys didn't get to us until yesterday! So, since my work was pretty caught up, I got to go shopping with a coworker. We only had to buy the clothes and gift bags, but we had to sort and wrap clothes and toys. It was so much fun!!! We were done with everything by 2:00.

Then once I got home, I had to go grocery shopping for my family-I'd much rather shop for presents for other people than grocery shop-that's for sure! Now that it's all put away, I get to put my feet up and enjoy some relaxing time-Adam is making dinner! Pretty cool! He's making shrimp scampi and linguini from scratch. We used to play "Emeril" when he and Eric were growing up and they got to cook a lot, but it's a rare treat when either one of them actually wants to plan, shop for and cook dinner!!!

Tomorrow is cookie baking day! Hope you're having a great week!!

Oh Christmas Tree!

2011-12-05T13:04:00.005-06:00

I found one!!! I feel like I need to pinch myself-I am just tickled pink!!! It is exactly what I wanted, in excellent shape-the only thing that could have been better would have been if it was a little cheaper. I've been smiling ever since I was taking it apart and putting it in the box at the mall!

The story gets even better (pinch, pinch, pinch)!!! Last night I got an email from Mary Lou, a blog friend just west of where I live. She wanted to let me know that her friend has a 6' aluminum tree for sale, and would I be interested! It was too late to call last night, and too early to call before work (I start at 7am), so I called her friend after work.

It sounds really amazing! It used to belong to her grandparents! I LOVE that!!! One of my coworkers lives in the area where Mary Lou's friend lives and has offered to pick it up for me-how cool is that?!? Now I will have a 4' tree in the dining room on the buffet, and what do you think about the new big one right in the middle of the sun room? So you can look at the the vintage-y awesomeness from every side?

Somebody pinch me! I must be dreaming!! Thanks so much Mary Lou for thinking of me! You're awesome!!

I wasn't planning to go to any sales today...

2011-12-02T15:43:00.000-06:00

I slept in this morning, and I have a list a mile long of things to do to get ready for the big party for Kevin's co-workers, so I was planning on getting right to work. Then I looked through my emails and saw an interesting sale...I was able to find 2 more within a few miles to make it worth the drive.

I was lucky that it didn't start til 10. I got there about 15 minutes early, and was #30. There was one thing I was extremely interested in, a vintage aluminum Christmas tree. I heard other ladies in line in front of me saying how they have been hitting all the estate sales looking for vintage Christmas stuff, so I thought-it won't even be there when I get in.

I ended up being about #20 to get in because when they opened the doors, a lot of people weren't there. I found the tree, sitting in the box in the living room and since I didn't see a price, I asked...$80! Gulp! Is that high, or am I just cheap? It was a 6' tree, and I am looking for a 3 foot tree for the sunroom for Kevin's party, so I passed it up. I saw a lot of people looking at it, but they all passed it up too.

They had a LOT of stuff in a tiny house. Some prices were good, some were ridiculous. This is what I found:

Lime green Pyrex baking pan, a couple condiment jars with spoons, 2 Pyrex Cinderella bowls, some ornaments, a light up Jack-o-lantern, some vintage dish towels, a mini Pyrex oval casserole (a quarter!) a glasbake mini casserole with lid some beaded garland, a red basket with a Christmas bow (perfect for napkins for the party!), an amethyst Pilgrim glass vase, and another casserole with lid and wire stand.

This cute little guy was only fifty cents! He has a JAPAN sticker on the back of his head.

A dirty set of amethyst Moroccan chip and dip bowls.

A chippy white old shelf.

I also found this awesome "ugly" Christmas sweater! At first the lady wanted $4 for it and I said no and set it aside while she added up my other stuff. After I paid and was starting to walk away, I asked if she would take $2 for it and she agreed! I found the guy's "ugly" sweater at Salvation Army, and I stopped at the dollar store and picked up some stuff to ugly it up even more!

I'll show pictures of them after I add the magic from the dollar store! ;)

Tomorrow I'm going to Williamston Antiques Christmas Open House with 3 friends from work. I'm looking forward to just girl time and having some FUN! Hope you have a GREAT weekend!

Finding the Humor in Life

2011-12-01T18:56:00.000-06:00

Do you ever notice how stressed people get about a week before Thanksgiving, and how that stress level creeps higher and higher the closer it gets to Christmas? Some get crabby, some get cranky, some get just down-right nasty! It seems like I've gotten my share of the receiving end of stressed out people the past couple of weeks!

I've been on a mission to stay relaxed, and laugh a lot with a light heart and I am so blessed to have a family who gets my sense of humor and who likes to laugh as much as I do! Last night, my oldest son (Adam) was anxiously waiting for the UPS driver to deliver his order. Part of it was his Christmas present, part of it was some stuff he ordered for himself.

You'd think he was 6 instead of 20 for how anxious he was! What was he waiting for? A new mother board, a tower case, and some RAM-(cue crickets chirping!). So NOT my idea of fun stuff-but he did ask for the mother board for Christmas. As he told me, "Mom, I am 20 years old. I don't need toys anymore,and this is what I really want."

The next step was for him to convince me that it was ok for him to have it now-rather than wait for Christmas! He opened the tower case and the RAM (the stuff he bought), and after sweating it out for a while, he finally got me to say ok.

When he opened the box, this is what he saw...

LAST FLAP TO AWESOME!

How cool is that?!? We both cracked up when we saw it! Then tonight after dinner we were both sitting on the couch. He was watching TV and I was scouring Ebay for a cheap, ugly Christmas sweater for Kevin's work party's ugly sweater contest.

I came across this picture first...we both cracked up!

Photo from STL_Vintage on Ebay.

Then a couple more popped up as I scrolled through, and I just had to check out this seller's other items. Some of their poses are hilarious! I bet these guys had a blast making the pictures for their listings! They sure entertained us!

I know, it's silly, but it was funny to see someone actually posing in the item for sale and not just a picture of it hanging on a hanger or laying on a table. I think they are so weird that you can't not look at them! You don't want to look at them, but you can't stop yourself!

I really want a cheap, cheap, cheap sweater otherwise, I probably would have bought one of theirs just for their creativity! I didn't go through all of their pictures, just a few was enough for a couple of chuckles. I guess I'll try S.A. again tomorrow-they didn't have any yesterday-wish me luck! I need to find something by the 17th!!

A Most Awesome Thank You Gift!

2011-12-01T18:17:00.000-06:00

Do you remember a couple of months ago when I went to help my friend Bonnie with her Uncle's estate sale? I didn't do much, just drove out and gave her some advice on what to price stuff at, how to put it out, you know, stuff like that.

Today, she drove up in our driveway just after we pulled in from getting groceries. She jumped out of her car and handed me a grocery bag full of vintage tablecloths! I couldn't help but squeal in delight! They were her grandmother's and she gave them to me as a thank-you gift for helping her with the sale!

I am so blessed! After a really hard and tough week at work-these lovelies made me forget it all!

First Snow...

2011-11-30T16:55:00.000-06:00

Last night was the start of our first snowfall of the season...

Just What We Needed...

2011-11-28T16:34:00.000-06:00

More bowls!!! Last week was a jackpot week for me for collections! I finally found a vintage Pyrex 404 in aqua (in my cheapo price range) and it arrived safe and sound! My aqua set is now complete! Wow--did that ever take a lonnnnng time!

Don't you wish Pyrex would make some bright, awesome designs again? I wrote them a letter last year telling them my opinion on that, but I never heard back from them. Maybe I should start a petition and get other Pyrex-aholics on board...wouldn't you love to see some new fun, bright Pyrex designs?

I also found this Fire King colonial bowl with a blue band (look how dirty it is!), and one with a pink band.

Then...I found a Fiesta #5!! I'm still pinching myself!!! It hasn't arrived yet-hopefully in the next couple of days!

Now that so many bowls have made their way into our house, I must get rid of some to make room. I am giving this Gibson set of nesting/mixing bowls to my sister-in-law. She fell in love with them when she was here last week, and I really don't have room for them. She's thrilled to get them too! I love it!!

Shhhh! Don't tell Kevin we got more bowls this week! He's so busy trying to get the second cabinet done for the sun room before his co-workers come over, and he was so focused on the 5K on Friday that he has been oblivious to the goings on around here.

Be Still My Heart!!!

2011-11-27T18:03:00.000-06:00

Eric and I had to run to Menard's today to get some more oak bead board and crown molding for the cabinets Kevin is making for the sun room. While we were there, we wandered around and checked out everything. I thought my heart was going to stop when I spotted boxes that said 'Shiny Brite-Vintage American 1940's Design'.

Aren't they awesome?!?!

They were a little pricey, but I couldn't resist! I felt like pinching myself all the way home!

Family Update

2011-11-27T07:09:00.000-06:00

Thanks so much for your prayers, comments and emails about my Mom and Aunt! My Aunt didn't get to come home on Wednesday, but she was home on Thursday and she looked WONDERFUL!!! They only shaved a small portion of her hair, and the rest of her hair was long enough that the incision was completely covered. She goes back on Tuesday to find out the game plan for the rest of the tumors in her body-so prayers are still very much needed and very much appreciated!!

My Mom also had a great appointment on Wednesday. She found out she is in the very early stages of macular degeneration, although she is starting 10 years earlier than most people. The doctor was very thorough and very informative. She found out that on a scale of 1-10, she is at a 1! She got some great information, tips and advice as well as a treatment plan to try to slow the progression as well as things to do to make less strain on her eyes. She was very relieved when we met for lunch after her appointment. She is worried for me though, I guess blue-eyed blondes have a much greater risk of developing it, and especially since both of her parents had/have it and now her.

I'm not going to worry about it. If it happens, it happens-so far no signs of it. I get regular eye exams, so if symptoms ever show up, I'll deal with it then. All of your comments and emails felt like great big hugs, and they all meant so much-THANK YOU!!!

Christmas Open House!

2011-11-26T07:04:00.001-06:00

Next Saturday is the Antique Market of Williamston's annual Christmas Open House! Looks like there will be 4 or 5 of us going this year! We've been going for several years and always enjoy this open house and the summer one too! If you haven't been to Williamston, or if it's been a while, this is a great time to go!

We plan to get there right at 10, so if you're going to be there around the same time, send me an email and maybe we can shop together!

5K and Light Parade!

2011-11-25T21:05:00.000-06:00

Tonight was the Fantasy of Lights 5K run (Kevin ran in it) and parade (after the run). It was an awesome night for it! I just wore a long sleeved t-shirt and a hoodie and was very comfortable. There was supposed to be over 1,000 runners in the race! A lot of people dressed up with Christmas lights or garland. Kevin had a giant pair of cardboard scissors with a strip of wrapping paper taped to them for his costume.

The first runner crossed the finish line in just a little past 15 minutes! Kevin finished around 25 minutes. We had great seats for the race and the parade and we were able to get out and home quickly through all of the traffic. It was wall to wall people everywhere you went!!!

We had a great visit with my parents-they actually stayed until today and we got in a little shopping! We didn't leave the house until 8:30-but we got what we wanted and had a nice day!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

GREAT News!

2011-11-22T18:15:00.000-06:00

My mom called my uncle to see how my aunt's surgery went and she actually got to talk to her sister!! The doctors said they felt like they got it all and everything went well! They are planning on sending her home tomorrow!

Can you believe that?!? Brain surgery one day and home the next! I think we'll have more details tomorrow-but I just wanted to let you know what we know and say THANK YOU so VERRRY much for your concern, kind thoughts and prayers-they really meant a LOT!!!

Great Pyrex Finds!

2011-11-22T13:42:00.000-06:00

I found a few pieces of Pyrex recently that I haven't seen before.

A Golden Butterfly 664-this thing is HUGE!!! I had no idea this even existed!

These are a bright lime green and I just LOVE them! I don't know if the carrier is original to this pan or not-do you know?

A Work In Progress...

2011-11-21T12:55:00.002-06:00

Last year, about this time, we decided to turn our deck into a sun room. After a lot of stress, anxiety and work, we got the sun room closed in, tile on the floor, tongue and groove pine boards on the ceiling, windows in, a small deck on the front and drywall up. We still have one giant wall that we had planned to put 2 built in cabinets on. The wall is split by the 9' door wall that goes into the rest of the house.

This weekend we got one of the cabinets almost completed. My shoulder hurts from the all day staining marathon I had yesterday, but I think it turned out great! We are going to finish it off with crown molding on the top, and two solid doors in the middle bottom, and the outer 2 bottom doors will have glass in them.

It takes up a lot of room, and I am worried if we make another one for the other side, it will be too big and too much. What do you think? Would the room look off kilter having a big heavy piece of furniture only on one side and not the other?

When you stain wood, do you put polyurethane on it or do you just leave it? We've used poly and tung oil in the past, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do to finish it. Any suggestions?

Please PRAYYY!

2011-11-20T15:59:00.000-06:00

I mentioned my Aunt Brenda in previous posts. I got to spend the day with her when we were driving together to see my Grandma for the last time and to say good-bye in August. My Aunt is such a sweet, loving and gentle woman who would give the shirt off her back to anyone in need, even though at times, she has been the one in need.

You may remember that I mentioned that she has been in a battle against melanoma. Six years ago, she found a spot on her toe that was cancer and the toe was amputated, treatments ensued and that was the end of her cancer-or so we thought. Last year at this time she found a lump in her leg and had it removed. Since then, she has found other lumps around her spine and other places, and the doctors found 2 on her brain.

Three months ago they radiated the two on her brain, and when she went back in last week, the two that were radiated are GONE! The bad part is, they found 4 more! One looks to have been there since the original first two but wasn't caught at the time. It is now really big and they are planning to operate to remove it this Tuesday.

Please keep my Aunt Brenda, her family and her doctors in your prayers. She loves the Lord and is trusting Him no matter what the outcome. We love her and want to have her here with us for a good long time yet! She is very upbeat, very trusting and very positive-never wavering in her faith. It reminds me of the verse about faith like a mustard seed...even though her faith is HUGE like a mountain!

My mom has an appointment on Wednesday with eye specialists-so if you could remember her too that would be GREAT! She is really scared for her sister, and what they'll find when the go in to remove the brain tumors.

To Keep, or Sell...That is the Question

2011-11-20T12:36:00.000-06:00

About a month or so ago, I got this awesome old iron bed at a garage sale at a very nice price. When I bought it, I intended to put it in the booth right away, but I didn't have room in the booth right away. The longer it was in my garage, the more I wanted to keep it. I see it every day when I pull in and out of the garage and I'm starting to feel guilty for keeping it.

I don't have anywhere to set it up until one of the boys moves out, and that probably won't be happening for a few years. Is it silly to keep it in the barn or garage or basement for years? Should I just sell it, and enjoy the fact that I actually found one, and bought it? It isn't a money thing, because I got a smokin hot deal on it. It's more of not having a place for it and storing it for who knows how long.

What do you think? What would you do? This was the first one I've ever seen under $100-or cheap enough that I'd consider buying it...I could sell it for a tidy profit...but...I may never find another one in my price range...what to do, what to do!

Oh Great.....You Invited How Many People?

2011-11-17T13:50:00.000-06:00

I've been stressing like you wouldn't believe this week! Kevin and his co-workers were talking last week about their annual Christmas get-together. They decided since our house is pretty centrally located for everyone, that we should host. I don't have a problem with that, because at most there would be 16 or so people.

What I am stressing about, is that he decided to not only invite his team from work, but EVERYONE who works in the operating rooms at his hospital!!! YIKES!!! At the time, all I could think to say is "That's fine, but you better get heat in the sun room so we have enough room for everyone." Now I am thinking..."How in the world am I going to decorate the house!"

I'm not worried about cooking, or cleaning-I've already got a huge list of what appetizers I'm going to make, I'm stressing about having all of these doctors and nurses over to our house- and as a result of simplifying and purging a lot of stuff, we have next to nothing for Christmas decorations now!!

We used to go all out with the Christmas houses/villages, light up decorations in every window, light up things out in the yard...you name it, we had it! Now we have a tiny little 7 foot fake tree and lights for our front gutters....

Just typing this makes my heart beat faster! What are some nice (and inexpensive) ways to decorate for Christmas that doesn't look like you just got any old thing and threw it around the house? Now I might be regretting selling all of the vintage Christmas items in the booth this month!

A Surprise Night Off!

2011-11-16T20:07:00.000-06:00

I was supposed to have a volleyball match tonight at 8:40pm, but at 6:00 I got a text message telling me it was cancelled! I almost didn't know what to do with myself---almost! I wish I could report that I got industrious and got a lot of things accomplished in my unexpected free time...but I decided to get my pajamas on early, crawl under the covers, flip on some old reruns of the Waltons (yeah, the Waltons...brings back lots of memories from my childhood), and catching up on some emails and reading!

It has been AWESOME!!! The house is pretty quiet too! Eric has left for our cousin's farm on the west side of the state for his annual deer hunting outing with my Dad, his brother, and about 20-30 of my Dad's cousins and their kids and grand kids. Adam got a new XBOX game last Friday (he pre-ordered it, but still waited in line at midnight for it-crazy kid!), so he and Kevin are downstairs trying to beat it. They'll be down there for a couple more hours, I am sure.

After trying, and trying to get a heating and cooling company to come out and give us an estimate for a heater for our sun room (we tried 6 and only got 2 to actually show up and give quotes!), we decided to order the heater and install it ourselves. Kevin will do that tomorrow. He has been on vacation from work since last Friday, and doesn't go back until next Tuesday! He gets more vacation time than anyone I know! He has also been working on our built-in cabinets for the sun room. He has one base completed, and the top part is about 90% done-so that means I'll probably be staining on Saturday. I'll try to remember to post some pictures over the weekend.

My parents are coming to town on Tuesday. My mom has an appointment with and eye specialist on Wednesday-it's a 4 hour appointment. She has been diagnosed with macular degeneration and has been noticing subtle changes in her vision. I am hoping and praying that the doctors will be able to prescribe something that will slow the progression of the disease so that she doesn't totally lose her eyesight for a long, long time. She is still very young-she just turned 64! We'll have an early dinner on Thursday, and they will head home until Christmas Eve.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Do you have any traditions or special recipes you always make, or someone in your family always makes? We always make our turkey on the grill and it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving dinner to me without it. My mom also has an awesome recipe for stuffing that we all love too.

I am hoping to get to a few sales this weekend, but there doesn't look to be much out there right now. I've been doing much better this month at the booth, so I am excited to get out there and find something really unique and interesting for it! I think I'll quit blabbing now-Criminal Minds is on!

Hope you have a great night! I'll be catching up on what you've been doing during the commercial breaks! Can't wait to see what you've been up to!!!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

2011-11-12T06:44:00.000-06:00

Today is Kevin's birthday! He's celebrating 44 years! Happy Birthday Kevin!!

Here he is wearing his medal from his first ever 10K race!

Showing one of his projects.

Goofing around with Adam!

A Youngster in the Navy.

An All Around Nice Day!

2011-11-11T19:03:00.000-06:00

Today has been kind of a whirlwind day, but in a nice kind of way. I got up and out the door to be at a church rummage sale that opened at 8am. It was in the town that my mom's family is from. It was at the church my great grandma used to go to. I went there several times as a young girl for their mother-daughter banquets. It was a very BIG deal in our family to attend these banquets. All of my Aunt's, my Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma, and Great, Great Grandma went. About the time my Great, Great Grandma passed away, my Mom and Grandma had a rift and we didn't do so many family things.

I used to LOVE those banquets! I got a fancy new dress and sandals and got a corsage-plus they had all kinds of prizes and drawings for gifts. It was neat to be back in that building today. It sure looks a LOT smaller than it used to!

When I got there, about 7:55, there was about 50 people in line in front of me! Really? Wow! As I waited those long last 5 minutes, my mind was going crazy with thoughts of how wonderful this sale was going to be!!! Yeah...well...it sure didn't live up to the excitement of my mind-that's for sure!!

Nothing was priced (you know how I feel about that already), it was strictly donations. They had one table of stuff that was supposed to be valuable so they were taking bids on that stuff. Nothing on the table or under the table was worth the hassle of bidding, and going back later for. I think most of the shoppers felt the same way.

As I stood in line I watched a woman totally rip them off. She got a white kitchen garbage bag full of clothes, and another one with ice skates, shoes, cross country ski boots, a vintage Star Wars space ship thing, and some really old baseball mitts, and she only gave them $4! Good thing I wasn't PMS-ing, otherwise I might have let the "REALLY-you're gonna rip off a CHURCH?" thought slip past my lips! LOL!

I went to the next table as they bagged up her stuff, so I got a totally different "cashier". I pulled all of my ~~treasures~~ junk out of my bag and spread it out on the table. She counted it up, looked it over and commented that I got some good stuff. Then she says that'll be $30! GULP!

YIKES! What should I do? I did find a couple of good things, but most of it was kind of bordering on "why did you put this in your bag?". What would you have done? Is it tacky to counter offer at a church sale? Should I have made all the people in line wait as I sorted out what I really wanted and gotten a new price for that? Should I have just paid it and considered it a donation to the church (who by the way was celebrating it's 180th year!)?

I swallowed my shock, dismay, and huge gulp of surprise, and I tried to make the shocked expression on my face fade into a normal look...and...I paid it. I figure it IS a fundraiser after all, AND I made up the difference from what the lady in front of me ripped them off for.

Do you shop at church rummage sales? Do you find good stuff? Are the prices reasonable? I've shopped them in the past, and found the prices to be usually really low, but mostly I've found that the stuff they are selling is usually stuff that has been really used up, and probably should be thrown out. I'm not so sure church rummage sales are for me-at least in churches around me. I've read other blogs where they get phenomenal stuff at incredible prices-but that just isn't the case around here.

After that sale, I stopped at a couple more sales on the way to visit my friend and her husband at her Uncle's house. Today was the second day of their estate sale, and she seemed really happy that I drove out to see how they were doing. Yesterday was their first day and they made $1000!! I couldn't believe how much stuff was gone! I was thrilled for them! They still had a TON of stuff, but I'd say at least half of it was gone-good for them!

I went on to one more sale then I met Kevin and Adam at Chili's for lunch. Did you know they were doing free meals for veterans today? It was packed too! As I was walking in, I noticed almost every car in the parking lot had some sort of military markings on it. Either on the license plate, or a bumper sticker.

It took forever to get our food, but it was a nice time to be together. We were also celebrating that Adam got a new position at the rehab facility he works at. He is no longer contingent-he gets a guaranteed 32 hours a week-woo hoo! Since Adam and I got the express lunch, we had plenty of chips and salsa to keep us happily munching while we waited.

Once we got home, Kevin and I spent a few hours in his wood shop in the barn working on the built-in cabinets for the sun room. We got a good start and I am soo excited for it to be done!!! We also had a guy come out to look at the doors on the sun room. We've been having a problem with condensation on all 6 of them. He agreed they shouldn't do that, and was going to see what he could do about replacing them-whew! I thought he would say-too bad too sad, so I am pleasantly surprised!

Now we are just hanging out. Tomorrow is Kevin's birthday. I got a Costco cake to take to volleyball tomorrow night to share with our friends that we play with each week. Other than catching up on laundry and household chores, that's it for our weekend. How about you? What are your weekend plans? Did you get to any sales today? Hope you did better than I did! :)

Here is what I got...

An old rectangular egg plate.

A fancy plastic gold mirror.

Some evening purses and a green wallet.

A Christmas bun warmer and a pair of smiley hot pads.

A box with chickens on it...

That opens up to reveal a block puzzle.

A vintage dresser scarf.

A jewelry or trinket box.

Got this for the frame...

An antique cookie press with some cookie cutters.

A golden butterfly Pyrex 664 casserole dish-this thing is HUGE!!

An Avon covered butter dish.

A package of old flocked Easter/Spring decorations.

This is the same color as the vintage Fiesta gold color.

What do you think? Was it worth $30? I'm not so sure, but at least the money went to the church.

Here is what I got at the other sales...

Three chartreuse green baking pans with a wire serving rack, a set of old s & p shakers and an aluminum grease jar-I actually got these yesterday on my way home from work at a sale down the road. You don't come across the lime green Pyrex very often, so I may have to be a foster parent to these for a while! ;)

A Japan rooster covered butter dish-a quarter! The tablecloth under all of my junk was from the same sale and it was a quarter too. When I asked the lady how much on the tablecloth she said "25" I almost dropped it in my haste to put it down and I asked "dollars?" She cracked up laughing and said "no, cents!"

A Japan rooster napkin holder-a quarter.

Some musical Christmas bells-a quarter.

A bag of foil ornaments-from my friend's estate sale.

A Florida tray from my friend's estate sale-didn't want to leave empty handed. I also bought an egg incubator and egg rocker/turner tray there for Auntie. She was just mentioning the other day that she wanted one.

A big vintage pitcher and bowl set.

This came in the mail today...vintage Fiesta sauce boat.

This was in the same package from the mail.

This cute little rooster plate was from the same sale where I got the butter dish and napkin holder. If I would have been about 10 minutes earlier to that sale I could have had the whole back end of my car filled with chicken and rooster stuff from Japan-just as I got there an older lady bought it all up!

I also got a ceramic Christmas tree that has a music box and light under it, with colored pegs on all of the branches-for some reason the picture didn't turn out.

Have a great weekend!!!

Thank you veterans!

2011-11-11T15:35:00.000-06:00

Thank you veterans for the many sacrifices you've made for our freedom! Thank you Kevin for your service to our country during the Gulf War!

Moving Stuff Around!

2011-11-07T16:44:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Dealer Day at the antiques & collectibles mall where I have my booth. Dealer Day is the first Sunday of the month from 10:00-12:00, before the mall opens to the public. Dealers/booth renters can go in and straighten/organize, add stuff, take stuff out-whatever without being in the way of shoppers. The mall owners also try to entice more dealers/booth renters with a free brunch and drawings for either $50 off the next month's rent, or a $20 gift certificate to be used in the mall.

I haven't won either of the drawings yet, but since I am always at Dealer Day, my chances are pretty good that one of these times, my name might be drawn! I keep hoping for $50 off rent-wouldn't that be sweet!?!?

Kevin went with me yesterday to load in a bunch of stuff and totally rearrange stuff. I had to keep telling him for a week that I really needed him to help me, and not wander off in the mall because I had a limited amount of time and a LOT to get done. He did really well! He didn't get crabby, and he actually had some good staging ideas! He was happy he got 3 desserts from the brunch buffet, and I was happy for the help!

We added in the off white bench in the back-it's kind of hard to see because it is all covered in ~~junk~~ treasures just waiting for their new home. The bench is made out of a headboard. Kevin made it and he made it with storage in the bench. I think it turned out really nice! I just hope someone else likes it too!

When we were all done, he said the booth looked good, but it also looked like someone threw up Christmas stuff all over it! HA! It DOES look like that! I've got every single piece of vintage Christmas, that I'm willing to part with in the booth. I walked around and noticed that most booths don't even have a single Christmas item, and mine is the most loaded-hopefully that will be an advantage for early decorators and planners!

I found a snowman blow mold that I sold in someone else's booth for 2.5 times what they bought it from my booth for. I just laughed-live and learn I guess! I sold it for 6 times what I bought it for, so I was happy!

I had to run back up there today to take in a small side table. Yesterday I sold a cute little night stand with curved drawers so I knew the lamp, clock and other things that were on it were probably on the floor. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that one of the workers there had rearranged my nightstand stuff so it just blended with the other stuff! I could have skipped going in today it looked so nice!

I noticed a few holes from yesterday-so hopefully the rearranging strategy worked! Either that, or someone wandered off and dropped the items off in someone else's booth! I'll find out tonight when I log on to see my sales for the day.

I remembered my phone today so I snapped a few quick shots:

I'm not liking the end corner shelf-the tall blue one. It is just filled with vintage glasses and it is hodge podge and unorganized. The next time I go back, I plan to redo that shelf. I got all of the others yesterday, but not that one.

What would you do?

2011-11-04T16:39:00.000-05:00

What would you do if you were at a garage sale, and there really wasn't anything that was of any interest, but you happened to see this box on the floor...

You unwrap one and you see that it is vintage, but not very pretty...and the guy says the whole box is $5...would you buy it? Or would you walk away?

I bought it-and I'm so glad I did!!!

I went to another sale that was in a greenhouse. It was an estate sale where they were using the empty greenhouse to sell all the stuff. I couldn't believe my eyes at how high the prices were! I kept walking from table to table and stuff that should have been $1 or less was priced at $10 or stuff that should have been $30, was priced at $225. I was just about to leave when I saw a table of older children's books. None of them were marked so I picked up a little stack of them and went to the check out.

The lady running the sale said they were $2 each! I said no thanks and started to walk away and she immediately asked me what I would offer. I said nothing nearly that high and tried to pass a couple of ladies holding and petting a poodle (why do people bring dogs to estate sales?-I see them all the time!). They were blocking my way long enough for the lady to ask me to name my price. When I didn't respond in the 3 seconds she gave me, she threw out $5 for all of them.

We went from $22 for all of them down to $5 in about 20 seconds! I hesitated, and a man working there agreed that she was giving me a fair price. I did buy them-because of the little red book in the front...

The Story of Little Black Sambo. Someone gave it as a gift in 1970-they wrote an inscription on the inside of the front cover. The pages look like they've never been turned! It doesn't have a publication date either.

Would you have bought them? Or would you have walked away?

It's Vintage You Know...Seems to be the new catch phrase

2011-11-03T18:30:00.000-05:00

I got off work at 10:00 this morning, because I have to work tomorrow (my day off) for a few hours getting a group of 5th & 6th graders off to their weekend retreat. I was pretty excited to be out and about so early...until I checked for sales-ugh! Not one single garage sale in my area with my kind of things!

I didn't give up though-I found 3 estate sales that were about a half an hour or so away that I decided to take a chance on. The first sale was advertised as a 5 generation sale. There were LOTS of cars there and it was exciting walking up to the big, old barn, with the anticipation of what I might find.

Everything was priced WAAAYYYYY to high! I found 2 things I was interested in right away, so I picked up the first thing-no price. I asked the guy at the check out table (who, btw was just sitting there), and he said $7-"it's vintage you know". I put it back and the very next thing I saw (about 2 feet from the first thing) was missing a price tag too. By the time I picked it up and walked the three steps to the guy at the check out table, he was on his cell phone on a personal call.

So, I just stood in front of him waiting...he looked up and said "What?" with a scowl. I asked how much it was-he cocked his head toward the table where I picked it up from and gave a big sigh and said $15. That wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the dirty look-followed by the eyes rolling when he went back to his phone conversation! I just found an estate sale company that I will never shop again! I don't need junk that badly to put up with ridiculous people!

I've been to this particular company's sales before, and I believe he is the owner of the company. So, I quickly scooted out to my car and took off for the other two sales. Hoping I wasn't just wasting my day. The second sale was in a really bad neighborhood. There were a LOT of burned out/boarded up houses.

Luckily for me, I found a spot to park that was only about 15 feet from the front door! Otherwise, I probably would have kept right on going. It also helped that a big burly man was going into the house just as I was, so for some reason that made me feel safer.

This sale was packed and I heard the lady running the sale telling people that this was the third sale they had out of this house! She said there was so much stuff, that they had to ration it out and they filled the living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms in the lower level three times for three sales!

They had a HUGE pile of vintage aprons, that were in awesome condition, but they wanted $5 each for them. They had an even bigger pile of vintage crocheted hot pads-there must have been 50 or more. The next pile was vintage crocheted dishcloths and there had to be at least 75 or more. Tons of doilies, scarves, hats, costume jewelry-and this was just in the living room!

The kitchen was loaded with all kinds of glassware, and while I was in there searching for treasures, the lady running the sale and the man who was helping her came into the kitchen to talk. She was nervous about the moving truck that backed right up to the front door of the house across the street. His advice was (because of the neighborhood) to mind our own business and ignore it. When I left I saw that they were actually moving stuff in and not out-so that was a good thing!

There was a huge table just filled with folder after folder of vintage sheet music. Each folder must have had 25-50 sheets tucked in it-all indexed on the inside pocket of the folder. I think there was at least 25 folders. I asked how much the music was and I was told $1 per sheet-not per folder-but per sheet! I put that folder down so fast! The lady in charge told me "it's vintage you know". I told her I knew that and all I wanted it for was some craft projects to Mod Podge with it. She told me to come back tomorrow-she'd make me a deal on the whole pile. I told her I wasn't from around there and wouldn't be back. She insisted if I wanted it I would be back. Sorry lady-I won't be back!

The last sale was in a tiny, very dark, dank and dirty house-filled with all kinds of nasty smells. the ceiling in the basement was so low you had to walk either scrunched over, or tipped to the side. I found a few things, but was very quick to get out and back to my car-which smelled soo much better-like chicken strips and potato wedges from KFC! :)

I stopped at a sale that I happened to drive by as I was heading home, but only got one vintage dish towel. The rest of the things were either new or had really high prices.

That was my day. No big treasures were found, nothing out of the ordinary-just normal, run of the mill junk. tomorrow there is one sale I plan to go to and Saturday Auntie and I plan to hit an auction that is practically in her backyard! Sunday is dealer day at the mall, so I'll be busy adding in new stuff. I plan to have all of my vintage Christmas stuff in by Sunday-wish me luck!

Here are the things I picked up today...nothing special, but good enough prices.

A couple of old Santa candles.

I LOVE old crocheted hot pads!

The coasters look to be Manhattan-they were ten cents each! The flour sifter still has the original price sticker on the handle!

I can't pass up the old syrup bottles...maybe someday I'll find one that is Fiesta!

There's some Pyrex hidden in there, and a swanky swig. There's a drink shaker, and some old snowflake glasses.

This old Christmas card basket is so awesome!!!

This is an old metal cooler. I snapped the pictures before I dried it out inside and before I wiped the outside.

Did you know that today is the national "Men Make Dinner Day"? I heard it on the radio this morning. Too bad Kevin is working late! I tried to get Eric to make dinner, but he said he isn't a "man" yet because he's only 17, and Adam couldn't peel the X Box controller out of his hand long enough to stir anything up-sigh! Rats! I missed out!! Maybe next year!

Pass it on Liebster Blog Award!!

2011-11-02T18:42:00.001-05:00

Joy at A Vintage Green nominated me for a Liebster
Blog Award!

Thanks so much Joy! It's really fun to be nominated!!!

The "Liebster Blog" award it given to up coming
bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

"Liebster" is German and means sweetest. kindest,
nicest, beloved, loveliest, cutest...

The rules for the Liebster Award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to her/him.
2. Reveal your top picks and leave a comment
on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the
love too!

Part of the fun is picking the blogs to pass the love
along to!

In no particular order, here are some blogs I've

nominated:

Monkey Box (143 followers)
A Sentimental Life (184 followers)
Protector of Vintage (109 followers)
Thrifty Vintage Kitchen (18 followers)
Gramma's In The Kitchen (135 followers)
Kitschy Vintage (65 followers)
Smile, Wink, Nod (24 followers)
Junk Stuff Treasures (19 followers)
I Love Collecting (90 followers)
Mom Wald's Place (118 followers)
Helen and Her Daughters (27 followers)

You can pick as may blogs as you want to pass on.
I could have added three times as many-because I
LOVE so many blogs!!!

Its a good way to find new blogs to read and to have
other blogs find you.

Check out these blogs and pass on the love!

Thanks so much to Joy from A Vintage Green-you
really made my day!!!

OK-Who's the Wise Guy?

2011-11-02T16:40:00.000-05:00

While I was at work today an email popped up on my personal email account. The email was from you.have.a.problem@yahoo.com. It was driving directions from my home address to the Brighton Hospital Addiction Treatment Facility! Ha!

I thought it was Adam who sent it, but he denied it (via text message-I've yet to look into his eyes when he tells me he didn't send it), Kevin says he didn't do it, and I can believe that-it would be too much work for him to go to all that trouble. Eric was in school, and he denied it...so now the hunt is on to find which friend sent me the message. I already checked with the three co-workers in my department...but I didn't ask Auntie yet....hmmm...

Considering I just posted about my Fiesta Addiction-I thought the email was pretty funny!

YAYYYYY!

2011-11-02T16:25:00.001-05:00

I got a #5 today!!! For those of you who aren't Fiesta fans, you're probably scratching your head about now and saying...huh? I'll explain! Today in the mail was a beautiful brown box with bright orange "FRAGILE" stickers all over it. It wasn't squished, smashed or missing corners,and when I picked it up, it didn't rattle.

Inside was a vintage Fiesta mixing bowl-a #5 (in a series of 7). My first #5, and the last bowl to my first set! As I was putting the whole set together Kevin watched me get some more bowls out and asked, "You've got 2 sets going?" Silly man! I actually had 3 sets going!! He just shook his head and asked, "Why?"

Hmmmm...why? I kept coming across bowls at super low prices, and couldn't walk away-that's why! It's the walking away part that I have a hard time with-although I've walked away this year from many that were in the 1-4 range (patting myself on the back-lol).

So, now I just need 2 more of #5, #6 and #7-ha! Notice the word "need"...my addiction is pretty bad! I should say, I'll be looking for the other bowls where ever I am at, and hopefully I'll find them in my price range-which is c-h-e-a-p-o, but for now, I am thrilled to have a #5 and a full set!

Full set of 7.

Two sets of 1-4.

Yeah, I know there are ~~some scratches, flea bites and chips~~ character marks, but I still love the bowls! When I told Adam I got a #5 today, he asked where? Taco Bell?-LOL!!!

Don't you just LOVE vintage hankies?!?!?

2011-11-01T16:27:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I saw a baby quilt made out of vintage hankies and fell in LOVE with it! It was so awesome!! After cleaning and ironing all of these, I am tempted to keep them and try my hand at a quilt---sigh---if only I enjoyed, and was good at sewing!

Happy Halloween-Fiesta Style!

2011-10-31T12:22:00.001-05:00

Hope you have a fun Halloween!!

Weekend Finds...

2011-10-29T18:55:00.001-05:00

I found a few things this weekend...keeping the Harlequin pitcher, Fiesta plate, platter and glass stir sticks!

I might be keeping the pink gingham apron too-LOL-at least for a while...I found a set of 6 glasses with pink, white and blue kitchen items on them-I've had glasses with this design on them before, but these look like they might have been sour cream glasses-can you see how different the lip is?

A couple of melty popcorn Christmas decorations, a pink daisy Pyrex divided casserole, a couple of baby A& W mugs, a set of 6 Dog-n-Suds mugs (I only put one in for the picture. a mini stainless cream and sugar set, a Frankenmuth boot mug, a red basket, a MCP-USA brown planter, a Pyrex covered butter dish-don't know the pattern yet, an old wooden box ($1), a very cool vintage thermos, and an antique sheet music book-WHEW!

I got a couple more things, but like the other 5 Dog-n-Suds mugs-they are already cleaned, priced and in the bin ready to go to the booth.

How did you do this weekend? I'm heading over to your blog next to see what treasures you found this weekend! We've got volleyball in about an hour, so that will take up the rest of my Saturday. Tomorrow I plan to put another coat of paint on the headboard bench that Kevin made, and catch up on the rest of the laundry from the week.

Battery Jars or Aquariums?

2011-10-29T13:18:00.000-05:00

I picked these up at a local barn sale yesterday, I think they might be antique battery boxes, but there isn't any markings on them to indicate that. Last winter when I bought a box similar to the medium sized one at a different sale, I went online to research it and I came to the conclusion that unless they had the markings of the manufacturer, they weren't battery boxes. Have you heard that too?

Do you know anything about glass battery boxes? Are these battery boxes or just glass aquariums? Wouldn't they look awesome filled with vintage ornaments in the middle of a buffet or table for Christmas?!?!

Would You Buy it?

2011-10-28T20:23:00.000-05:00

Earlier this summer I was on a quest for furniture for the booth. I got carried away and picked up some pieces that needed a LOT of work! Fortunately, I was able to sell the one that required the most work for the same price I paid for it, but I am still left with a few that need work.

First thing this morning, I went to a couple of sales, and Costco and was home around noon, so I ironed a ton of vintage hankies and then headed out to the barn. I put another coat of paint on the headboard bench Kevin made (it's amazing what a difference good paint makes!!!). Then I got some sand paper out and started sanding a rocking chair. It was painted white, but it had some sort of transparent yellow poly coat over the paint that looked awful! Plus it had a lot of chips in the paint.

I think I'm going to leave it as is, and rub some wax over it all...do you think anyone will buy it from my booth?

Mod Podge DOES Rock!

2011-10-28T19:50:00.001-05:00

I LOVE the blog "Mod Podge Rocks"! Amy has a lot of great ideas, and once in a while, I get brave and try out an idea that I have. This is my latest attempt...

Before: Old mirror with boring white frame...

After: Old mirror with vintage sheet music frame!

This is my second Mod Podge project and I had so much fun!!!

What do you think? The mirror was a garage sale find last summer- $1.50, and the sheet music I found just a few weeks ago at an estate sale for a quarter. The whole project cost me $1.75!