A Quick Couple of Sales...

After work yesterday I ran home real quick to pick up my garage sale money and my guys wanted to go to Panera for lunch. So the four of us headed out. The three of them in one car, and me in my car-so I could leave right from lunch to hit a few sales. After lunch, Kevin followed me to my car and decided he wanted to go to some sales with me.

I'm going to have to leave him at home! He's costing me a LOT of money this summer!!! He has been finding a lot of big ticket items, for  very reasonable, if not cheap prices. He found a sprayer on wheels, that you would tow behind a mower or tractor for spraying fertilizer or weed killer. He got it for less than a third of what they go for in the store and it was only used once.

I found a few treasures, but for the most part the sales were not my kind of sales. The first sale of the day was the best, and even then, I only got a few things. Today's sales didn't look very promising, but like any good treasure hunting junkie, I found myself behind the wheel with a list of 6 sales to check out.

I overslept (which felt wonderful, after not sleeping very well for several nights) so I was mad at myself because I was going to be getting to an estate sale that looked wonderful, about a half an hour late. I had just pulled out of my road when I saw a sale sign...I convinced myself that a few extra minutes at that point wouldn't really matter, so I stopped.

I'm so glad I did! I found some really fun junk! I got an old barrel, a blue pedestal thingy (not sure if it is for flowers or really thirsty people), and a vintage liquor decanter/dispenser with the name Gilmore on it. A dear friend of mine has the last name Gilmore and her husband has been putting together a "man cave" the past few years, so I bought it-thinking he might like it. If they don't want it, I can put it in the booth-some just sold on Ebay for $27.10 and $39.99 plus shipping, so I think it is safe to assume I can make back the $8 I spent on it if they don't want it.

I got back in my car, happy that I'd stopped, and took off once again for the estate sale. About a mile down the road, I see a sign for a moving sale, and since it was at a house where I've never seen a sale sign at in the 18 years that I've lived here, I decided to stop again. It was a great sale. I was just a little too late-a couple of ladies before me got almost all of the vintage fun stuff-almost, but not all. I snagged a couple of things!

Then I was determined to get to that estate sale-so off I went. It was in the town my mom's family all grew up in. The city/town where my parent's built a house my senior year in high school and stayed there until 10 years ago when my dad retired. I always LOVE to go back to that town to just drive through to see how things have changed. I went to school there from 5th grade through 12th grade and I worked in optical there for 8 years.

I worried about getting to the estate sale for nothing!! It was still really loaded when I got there-almost an hour late. The things I saw on estatesales.net in the pictures, were all still there-because they were priced WAYYYY too high! There were several things I would have bought, had the prices been lower--oh well!

I did pretty well just taking off on rabbit trails after that. I decided that the unplanned sales were working much better for me today so every time I saw a sign I pulled in. All of the planned sales turned out to be frogs. All of the unplanned/freestyle sales were princes!!

I filled my car pretty full, and didn't spend a whole lot. One place I stopped is a perpetual garage sale place. They are on a busy road, and the lady has an old block building next to her house where she always has stuff for sale. For the most part her prices are kind of high-but every once in a while-you find something. She also has stuff in her garage, mostly furniture and those prices are usually really good. I found a quilt today in the little building and asked how much it was, since I didn't see the sticker. As she was walking over, I saw a sticker for $2!! She blushed and said, "I'm busted! That's what I paid for it. I had it for sale for $6, but since you busted me, if you want it, you can have it for $4!

The top is in great shape-the underside...not so much. But for $4, I was willing to take a chance on it. She told me to make sure I visit her niece's house because she was having a sale too and she lived just about a mile away. I went to the niece's sale and found some more fun stuff! So for today at least, freestyling was the way to go!!

How do you do it? Do you make a plan before you leave your house and stick to it? Do you just head out and start following signs-following the little rabbit trails? Or do you do a little of both? I usually have my plan and stick to it for the most part-unless I can see a sale from the road I'm on, I don't usually follow signs...maybe I should wander off my well planned path more often!!

Here is what I got yesterday...

I don't even know if this is for tea, coffee or chocolate-I just thought it was neat looking.

Tablecloths, 3 rounds and one rectangular-fifty cents each or three for a dollar!!

I'm thinking this hanger might help in the booth...

Vintage metal lap trays...

A Christmas tin...

A Christmas half apron...

A couple of vintage cutting boards...

A vintage popcorn tin-perfect for Valentine's Day!

A set of 4 trays-I accidentally ruined one when I pulled the price sticker off-I thought they were plastic!

Here is today's finds...the front passenger seat was full too!

Tupperware picnic set-unused!

This was in the "FREE" box-it's real too!!

Real silver...$3 for the whole bag-now I can try some projects I've been wanting to try!

A few hankies and some glass stir sticks.

This was in a box of embroidery stuff marked $1 for entire box. I didn't want anything else but this, and asked if they'd sell it separately and the lady running the sale said, "Merry Christmas!" and she gave it to me!!

This pin just reminded me of my Dad's mom. She wore all kinds of pins like this! I'm gonna keep this since I don't have any of hers, and every time I look at it, I'll think of her!!

Full chenille bedspread-$2

Kiddie rocker...

  A tin full of knee huggers!

This is the BEST find of the day. It is a glass shot-Something that doctor's used before everything went to metal then to disposable plastic. You know how much I LOVE old glass things-I was thrilled to find this at a sale of a nurse/collector who works at the same hospital as Kevin. Even the plunger is glass! The Pyrex fridgie lids were only a quarter each at another sale.

Here's my $4 quilt, because I "busted" the lady having the sale-LOL!

I know this isn't old, but it is whimsical and ever since Eric had chickens' I seem to be drawn to chicken things!

A 1940's Starline suitcase-it's a big one too! This is from the lady that gave me the doily-she was the one who embroidered it too, but didn't want it anymore.

Here's today's load

Did you see this hiding in the back? I've been wanting a wooden ironing board for a long time, and I was so excited to find this one! It had a ripped up silver cover on it with a thin piece of yellow foam under the cover.

I ripped off the cover and foam, only to find it was covered with stuck on dog hair and fuzz (probably from the previous cover). Any ideas how I can get the fuzz and dog hair off without taking the paint off??

Kinda gross-huh?!?! No wonder it was so cheap-they knew what was under the cover!

What do you think about these two little rockers...I love the red one, but not the stickers someone put on it...I'm hoping they will come off with water, and I'm hoping they weren't mod podged on.

This little guy is in serious need of a paint job! Any color suggestions? I've sold several that were painted red, either by me or by the previous owner, so I'm kind of tired of red...but if it's a good seller, should I stick with it??

How about you? Did you get to any sales today or yesterday? If you don't have a blog, send me an email or leave me a comment about what you picked up! I LOVE to hear about what my blog friends are finding and what they are doing with their finds!!

Hopefully I can find a few good sales tomorrow too! This weekend is the Midland Antiques Festival, but I'm staying home. Our boys have taken off for a long weekend to my parents in the U.P., so I'm going to get busy and organize the basement and paint some projects that have been sitting around for a while! I know Marie is going-Have FUN Marie!!!