Sunny Saturday...Super Sales!

This morning I went to a memorial service for the mother of a dear friend of mine. You may remember last May when I posted pictures of a bunch of ladies from work getting pedicures and dinner out-as a farewell party for Deb...today's service was for her mom-Judy. I've really missed Deb since she and her husband moved to Atlanta to be closer to their daughters and granddaughter.

It's sad that the reason we got back together is because of her mom's passing, but it is also a time of bittersweet joy for the family because while their hearts are breaking from losing her, they know without a doubt that Judy is rejoicing with her Savior. If you are a praying person-please send up some prayers for Deb and her family as they walk through the valley of grief in the next few months-I know they would appreciate it!

After the service, I quickly changed clothes and headed out to a couple of estate sales and a couple thrift shops in that area and a little beyond. It was such a sunny, beautiful day!! Just a teaser because it was still only in the 40's-soon it will be warmer-soon ( I keep telling myself this because the cold, gray Michigan weather is really getting annoying!).

The first estate sale was more like a garage sale-it was throughout the whole house, but the prices were starting at a quarter! All I could find to resell were these things.

The second sale was a total frog! It wasn't even worth the walk from where I had to park to walk into the sale! They had prices higher than an antique mall and all the junk stuff could have fit on about 6 card tables-and it was the first day-within the first 2 hours! The people running the sale were too busy watching the television in the living room to be of any assistance to anyone-not that anyone was buying anything. I won't be in a hurry to shop anymore of their sales, that's for sure!

Next I stopped at a thrift where everything is marked, but you always get 50% off the marked price. I don't really understand this...why don't they just mark it at the 50% off price and sell it for that? Does it help sales when people think they are getting their items at half off? This is what I bought...

Just down the road was my favorite Salvation Army store. It's kind of a long drive, so I don't get out there very often, but when I do visit, I very rarely walk out empty handed. These are my treasures from that store...

The next thrift shop was the prince of the day. It is a new shop that runs on donations, and it is set up to help physically and mentally challenged adults with job skills and training for independence. It is a really tiny shop that only sells household items. They have a much larger second location a few miles away that sells only clothing.

When I first walked in, I was drawn immediately to a stack of Marcrest Swiss Alpine dishes. There was a sticker that was marked $9.99, and the sales associate confirmed that they all were included in the price. As she was wrapping them up for me I found another much smaller set that was marked $12.99. She offered me both sets for $13.00-and no-she wasn't a physically or mentally impaired employee, and no I didn't take advantage-honest! She was one of the trainers and was happy to free up some shelf space! Look how many pieces I got!

I punched another address into my GPS, but it would have been another half hour north...this was the second day of a sale from a company that I've found to have pretty high prices on every day stuff. The ad for this sale was very clearly tagged with "High End Sale"-I can hardly imagine what kind of prices they would have used-so I decided to skip it. There is another sale starting tomorrow in that general direction that I might head to , and if I do, I'll stop by and see if there are any discounts on their "high end" prices on the last day. I may just stay home---it felt really nice to not run out anywhere on Friday!

How about you? What did you find this weekend?