My Week in Pictures...

It's been another week of getting ready, and waiting. Doing all kinds of things that I won't be able to do while I'm recuperating. By the time I actually have my surgery, it will have been the longest six weeks of my life! I'm not stressing, not worried, not obsessing-just ready to move on and start feeling better!

 This is what happens when you ask someone in your house to "deadhead the hydrangea" -Yikes! I've been babying this for 3 years, I think it's a lost cause!

 View from my sun room window.

 Late blooming Rose of Sharon bush.

 Love, love, love this girl!!!

 Still pretty, even if it's on the compost pile!

 Happy Pumpkin candle 

holders!!

 Ornaments a co-worker picked up for me at a garage sale last .

 bumper stickers I got in the mail for free!

 Not old, but I love it!

quarter license plates for my state of Michigan repurpose project.

Perfect Fall Day!

After church this morning my youngest and I hopped in the car and headed to our favorite cider mill. We knew it would be crowded this time of year. We've been going to this orchard for 20 years, and every year it gets more and more crowded. It was a gorgeous day-bright blue sky, sunny, gorgeous fall leaves-BEAUTIFUL!

This year was CRAZY crowded! They even cleared a field for more parking, and it was FULL! I couldn't even begin to count the cars-there were hundreds! Luckily, we found a close spot, and after a trip inside all of the chaos (11 lines of about 8-10 people in each line), we were back on the road with our warm donuts and cider slushies-YUM!!!

Cheers! Hope you have a great week!!

Cheap Finds

I didn't get out to very many sales this weekend. On Friday, I was stuck at home waiting for a well repair person to show up. He finally got here around noon and was here for about half an hour. It was an electrical issue and it took him about a minute to fix it. He waited to make sure everything filled up and worked properly before he left. We are very thankful that it was such an easy fix!!

After he left, I went to a couple of sales and the things I got, were super cheap!

Total spent: $1.10.

Friday night we went to Rochester Hills to the Onyx to watch my cousin's sons play hockey. They play for Rochester College, and the game was against Oakland University. It was an action packed,fast paced game, and LOTS of fun to watch! They won 5-3, making it even more fun!! It was a late game, so we didn't get home until well after midnight.

Hope you are having a GREAT weekend!!!

My Week in Junk...

I've had a pretty quiet week. Just the usual, work, family, volleyball, and a little junk. Nothing out of the ordinary, but a good week, none the less. Hope you are having a good week!!

Here are my finds for the week...

 I never realized how tiny these little nut cups are until I found a couple at a church rummage sale for ten cents each!  I've been on the hunt for the other colors ever since.

 It fits very nicely under the individual creamer.

 Just need the mauve blue nut cup and my set is complete! I'm not a very traditional collector, I'm not interested in collecting every color, just the ones I like. 

 Last one in the set! Its been a great summer/fall for Gooseberry!

Using some Fiesta bread plates as risers for the bowls!

This beauty is my most exciting find...I am really thrilled to have it. It has a little sticker on the back that says Strawser Auction-Becky Turner Collection. You can search for those words and find out more about her. I'm honored to have a piece from a fellow collector, and seeing it everyday will remind me to pray for her family, as they walk through the valley of the shadow without her. 

Have a wonderful weekend! Remember to take time to laugh, and make memories!!

More Rain, More Wind and More Treasures!

Today was the day! The second ever and last of the season, Davisburg Antiques Festival. Just like last May, it was rainy, muddy and cold, and also like last May, Auntie and I found some great treasures! It's a LOT closer to home than the Midland Antiques Festival, but it's also a LOT smaller than Midland. We recognized a lot of the same vendors from Midland and from last May. It's kind of fun to shop their booths again and again, and get to know them a little bit.

We had all the rain gear, and there seemed to be less mud than in the spring, but the wind was going right through us! I think the temperature only got up to 41 degrees!! Several vendors kept tarps over their tables that were outside and some of them even kept their tents closed. I thought it was crazy to rent the space, bring the stuff and not open. There were shoppers all over the place. I noticed a couple that was waiting for a guy to uncover his tables so they could see what he had and he was busy moving around things that could get wet and was oblivious to the couple. I don't think he even saw them.

Every dealer today, that we dealt with, was willing to go lower on their prices and make deals. I only got a few things, and Auntie only got a few things...until the very last tent! where she got a couple of great deals on some vintage Christmas stuff!! I'm so excited for her! I wish she would have let me take a picture of her face to show you how excited she was-you would have a great big smile on your face just for seeing hers!!

It was a lot of fun, despite the cold, the rain, the wind and the mud! We even ran into our junking buddy Marie-it's always fun to see a friendly face in the crowd-especially one that is attached to such a sweet, bubbly gal.

I think there were more vendors this time around than there were in the spring. I wish there were more "vintage" vendors. I was disappointed at how much shabby chic, painted furniture there was, but I guess like every other fad, it will have to run its course. I see all of that chalk painted furniture and think of how I could do it myself and save a ton of money. I would think that a lot of people would have the same mindset, but maybe it's just easier to buy it all done rather than hunt for the furniture to paint, and then paint it.

Here are just a few shots of what we saw today...it wasn't a good day for pictures.

 We saw LOTS of vintage Christmas stuff.

 Look at this!! How fun!! I'm going to make some of my own!!

 I about swooned when I saw so many bright vintage tablecloths in one spot!

 What a cute way to display small linens and pillowcases!!

 A lot of the vendors had sheets of plywood leading into their tents. Look at this cart!!!

 I think I'm going to get a pair of rubbery boots to wear when the weather is like this. My feet are still frozen from being so wet and cold. 

 This is what I got today. Orange is the color of the day.

I also bought a hat pin. New beads on an old pin.I love it!

This was the back of my car. I've been so frustrated with my guys all summer for not putting the left side rear seat back in-I was glad that they didn't because we would have really had to do some strategic packing to get it all in if the seat were in place!

Now I'm off to make some hot chocolate, crawl under a blanket or two and catch up on what you've been doing this weekend! Hope the rest of the weekend is a great one for you!!

Rainy Friday=Trip to Maumee!

Thanks everyone for the kind encouraging comments and emails about my surgery!!  I really appreciate the thoughts and prayers!! November 5th seems so far away, yet it's just around the corner! I'm still trying to get in as much treasure hunting as I can before the cold weather and my surgery put things on hold for a while. So, this morning when I heard the rain, I shot off a quick text to my junkin buddy Auntie from Kitschy Vintage that said "Feel like Maumee today?" Her quick "Yes" got us both moving for the day and we headed out on an adventure.

Mr. has been on the look-out for caffeine free Mountain Dew...I don't know what the purpose of drinking Mountain Dew that's caffeine free is...don't people drink it because of the caffeine??  I found a store in Bowling Green, Ohio 12 miles from the Maumee Antique Mall. Auntie was gracious enough to drive all the way there, but they only had diet caffeine free! I picked up a couple anyway-youngest son will drink it, so it won't go to waste.

Finally, we made it to Maumee and the treasure hunting began!! We each took a cart-what a handy thing to have!! Saves tons of time to just put an item in your cart rather than run it up to the front desk to hold while you shop!! I think we both did really well. We got a few fun things and talked so much that the drive down and back seemed to go by in a blink and by the time we got home we could see peeks of blue skies and sunshine between all of the clouds.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Davisburg for the Antiques Festival. When we went in the spring, it was very chilly and very rainy and muddy. I had mud halfway up my pants to my knees and my shoes were pretty much ruined. We've seen a couple of different forecasts for tomorrow, mostly rain again-ugh! If it is raining too hard, we're going to pass-hoping for a window of sprinkles instead of storms during the time we go!

This is what I picked up today...

 This is for a coworker/friend who collects round covered butter dishes. I didn't end up buying the shakers -I already have them, so Auntie picked them up.

 I had the lids-just needed the bases and found them today-both for less than the price of one should have been!!

The dealer was stocking her booth and took the price down for me because I was buying the Fire King Fridgies and because there was baked on grease on the edge. 

Here are some other treasures that found their way to my house this past week...

 I finally got some pillow forms for my tablecloth pillow shams-the pillow forms are really sad looking-way under-stuffed. I plan to fluff them up a lot with more stuffing. 

Lucky find---474

Now I'm off to hang out with my guys, it's pizza time and probably some time in front of the TV watching Netflix. Hope you have a great weekend!!!

Trying to get to all the last sales of the season!

There has been an overabundance of sales lately. Everyone trying to get the last bits of junk cleared out before the snow falls, and everyone is stuck inside looking at it for the winter. I've been to several sales the past couple of weekends, but only a few things have caught my eye.

I found out on Monday of last week, that I will be needing surgery, It is scheduled for November 5. I'm very happy and very impressed with my surgeon. I had an appointment with a different one, but my husband who works in the trauma burn operating room, made me switch to a different surgeon, because he didn't know anything about her. This new surgeon came very highly recommended by all of the nurses, and when I met her, I was very impressed with how down to earth she is, how knowledgeable she is and how easy to talk to she is.

She spent a considerable amount of time with me at my appointment-it was 2 hours and 45 minutes long!! Then when I had a couple more questions and emailed her about the questions, she called me at 8:30 at night to answer every last question-never rushing me, never making me feel stupid, and never being impatient.

After the doctor appointment on Monday, I stopped at Knightsbridge just to wander around a bit and let my mind veg out for a bit after that long appointment. I didn't find anything I couldn't live without, but I did enjoy my time wandering and checking out all of the treasures in the many booths.

The rest of the week just flew by, and before I knew it, it was Thursday afternoon and time for the weekend! I went to a couple of sales after work, and then Mr. and I started a marathon cooking evening. We cooked 20 beef meals for the freezer. Next weekend, we plan to do 20 chicken meals for the freezer. We used to do marathon cooking on a regular basis, but we've gotten away from it and we've missed it. We would spend a weekend cooking for 3-4 months at a time and freeze it.

It feels good knowing that it's all in the freezer, ready to be used, and that no one will have to go to any trouble for meals while I recovery from surgery. I should be up and pretty much back to normal within a week,but am told I will need to be off work for 4-6 weeks.

I went to a couple of quick sales on Friday morning before heading to Dearborn Heights to help some friends get their dad's stuff ready for an estate sale. The dad had to be moved to assisted living, so they are trying to clear out his house to get it ready to sell.

We spent about 6 1/2 hours pricing stuff. They did all of the hard work of pulling everything out and sorting it onto tables throughout the house. I just worked with them on pricing things. I wasn't thinking there would be as much stuff as there was. He was a collector of quite a few things. He had a big collection of carnival glass and a large collection of Patrician Spoke depression glass.

I can only imagine the hours the family has put into getting everything ready for pricing!There was so much stuff!! We spent some time looking up prices online on some of the items that were out of my realm. I think everything is very fairly priced. It is a good deal for the shoppers and the family will make some money for their father at the same time.

Saturday, Mr. and I went to a couple of sales, but they were all frogs-not one prince to be found, and we came home empty handed. We did a few things around the house and then went and played a couple of hours of volleyball-it was a lot of fun, with some really long plays-FUN!\

Today, we're taking it slow, doing a few things around the house, and relaxing and enjoying the 72 degree, sunny day. Next weekend Auntie and I are going to Davisburg for the Antique Festival there-I can't wait!! I'm trying to talk Mr into the GR vintage street fair on the 12th, but other than that, I don't have any plans in the near future for festivals or flea markets-I might go through withdrawals!! I'm kidding--kind of!

Here are the things I picked up this week...

 This matches a canister set that I got a few years ago! It was a great price, and I had a great chat with the seller-a former dealer in an antique mall in Allen, who lives in my area.

 Can't wait to sit on the front porch and watch the leaves change!

 404 Friendship!!

Must be the time of year for orange Pyrex!!