Bargain Hunting Treasure Seeker: Long,but FUN day!!

I left my house at 6:38 this morning...I got home at 4:15,changed clothes and left again! I just got home at 7:30...it's been a loooonnnnng day! It's been a fun day too!!! I met up with my good junking buddy the Chicken's Auntie from Kitschy Vintage and we went to the Midland County Fairgrounds for the Michigan Antiques Festival. It was the last one for the summer-the last one for 9 months, and the first one I've made it to all summer.

The weather didn't look very promising during the whole trip there, and as soon as we got out of the car, it started raining. Not a heavy rain, just the steady, irritating rain. It stopped and started several times with peeks of sun in between rain drops and dark clouds. after 11 or so, it pretty much cleared up.

The very first thing we did when we got there, was make a quick stop at the potties since they were at the start. Auntie walked up to one that showed "un-occupied" and she opened the door on a guy using the porta potty!!! We both cracked up! The guy wasn't even embarrassed! We were more embarrassed than he was! He told her, "Don't worry about it. I wasn't planning to be in there all that long, so I didn't lock the door." Who does that? Luckily, we recovered after a fit of giggles and were able to get down to the business of hunting junk!

There were a lot of vendors. I think even more than last year. Also a lot more high-end vendors than ever before. I prefer the run of the mill, average seller to the perfectly staged, matchy, matchy magazine cover booths. I like to come up to a booth and see all kinds of different things-the more variety the better! Plus, when it isn't all magazine-like staged, the prices are lower.

We walked all over, and ran into my blog/junking friend Marie twice! I sent her 5 texts, but none of them went through. I am so disgusted with my phone carrier-I had no service at the festival, but 2 miles down the road, my phone went crazy with incoming texts. I had to borrow Auntie's phone to look something up while I was shopping to make sure I was getting a good price. Hope you got some great treasures Marie!!

Auntie and I filled our carts so much, there was no squeezing another thing in! For the most part, when we walked up to a table together, we each reached for different things! I was thankful for her little red cup holder on her granny cart-that was how I was able to keep track of where she was when I wandered off!

I got my most important item first-kettle corn!!! There are two vendors, and I have bought from the same vendor every time. I make sure to buy from them every year. Their kettle corn is really good, and their bags are bigger than the other guy who is toward the front.

It was really, really crowded today with lots of buyers, and I saw lots of full carts, wagons and tote bags! I was really impressed with how many teenagers and early-twenty-somethings there were.I'm glad the next generation is catching on to how much fun vintage things are, and how much fun treasure hunting is! I don't know about you, but I love to people watch! There were some very interesting characters to watch today!

I couldn't get my phone out of my pocket fast enough to get a better shot!

I'm happy with all of my purchases and I enjoyed catching up with Auntie-it's amazing how fast an hour and a half car ride can go when you are chattering like magpies!! One purchase has got me stumped though...it's a vintage egg crate with the original cardboard inserts. The perplexing part is not being able to figure out how to open it! Any ideas? We're thinking the nails on the top should be something else...but not sure what.

We got polish sausages and fries for lunch, and on the way out, I caved and got an elephant ear. I waited until we got to the car to eat it-bit mistake! It isn't as good once it gets cold! Good thing our volleyball league started up tonight, so I could work off some of the calories from all the junk I ate today!!

I made it home with just enough time to change my clothes and head in to the church to kick off our 11th year of volleyball. Since I and the league coordinator, I have to be there for the first and last games of the season. The first games to welcome everyone and go over the rules, and what to do if someone gets injured, and the last games to run the potluck and tournament.

When we got done playing, we noticed a tire that was really low. We made it to the gas station and filled it up, but it is already starting to go flat again. It figures! I have Kevin's car for one weekend, while he takes mine north to run the estate sale again for his mom and step-dad, and I get a flat! I have such bad luck with flat tires! I know I'll never hear the end of this!!!

Did you get to any sales this weekend? In addition to Midland, I went to a couple sales yesterday and got a couple of things, but I think I am reaching a junk-over-load after working on the estate sale last weekend, my heart wasn't really into garage sales this week. Midland was a different story-I'm always ready for that kind of junk hunt!

Here is what I saw today, and what I got.