Bargain Hunting Treasure Seeker: A Little Treasure Hunting, A Little Life...

I don't have a ton of things to say about each treasure hunting trip anymore. Most of the places I visit are places I've visited numerous times and posted about numerous times, so I feel like I've said all that there is to say. I still take my phone out and snap pics though because a picture can still tell a story.

Here are some pics of what I've seen the past couple of weeks while I've been out and about...

My Magnolia tree that was a gift from my grandma and grandpa was just gorgeous this year.

The Forsythia wasn't going to be outdone and put up quite a pretty display as well!

Not sure what this is, but it was vying for attention too!

We took the poopers on a walk at a nearby park and there was a giant orange chair and since I was challenged on fb to post 5 days of happy dog photos, I made Bailey pose. She wasn't happy as you can see.

This is what they all wanted! They LOVE walking in the park!

This happened while I was in the midst of round 2 of decluttering the spare bedroom. Sigh! Now that it's broken, I don't think it was actually a vintage rolling pin. I think it was newer and made for decoration. The glass was so thin, I don't think it could have stood up to rolling out dough. I compared it to my other truly vintage pins and they were by far thicker.

This is the pie safe in the closet in the spare bedroom. What a bright sight! I think I need to do some re-folding to try to get everything in there better, some of my stacks are looking pretty sloppy!

This is the metal cabinet right next to the pie safe in the same closet. It's filled with quilts and loaded with more tablecloths on top! Next to the tutus that we wore when we walked in the spina bifida walks.

This corner cabinet is in my bedroom, in the corner, because I don't have any empty corners anywhere any more and I couldn't pass up this cabinet a couple of years ago on the M15 Yard Sale Trail. I am going back again-it's next weekend, and I can't wait!!! I'll hit the yard sale trail on Friday and the Davisburg Antiques Festival on Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing my friend Marie on Saturday!!!

This is the bottom portion of the cabinet in my room.

Here are some pics from a quick trip to Collette's. Mr. ordered a custom made, leather cell phone case from the leather artisan that has a booth there, and when he got the call that it was done, I made a huge sacrifice, and rode with him (smile). It was tough having to walk around and look for treasures while he picked his case up, but I was willing to do it for him!

LOOK!! This pie safe was only $60. I so wanted to bring it home with me! I would have had it put back together and the glass out and filled with linens so fast, but I don't have room for another cabinet!! Maybe once my youngest graduates from college and moves out, but right now, every square inch of wall space is filled.

No room even for this little guy-super cute though!

I've been looking for clear jars for bridal shower centerpieces, and I just like jars and glass anyway, but I left this one behind.

I've been drooling over this star for a while now. I think it was originally a wine bottle holder, but LOOK at how cool it looks with the glass rolling pins on it!! I tried hinting to Mr that it would look amazing with MY rolling pins on it, but he didn't bite, and we left it there...again. The next time I go, if it is still there, I'm afraid it will have to come home with me! I should send him on a Mother's Day gift mission!! (wink)

We always get a kick out of this booth because that is Mr's first name and it has a lot of stuff in there that he likes.

This set made my heart smile. It just looks so sweet, and girly and I LOVE it!

This jar! OMGSH! I couldn't stop drooling! I am on the hunt for a jar like this! Could you picture it filled about half way with Fiesta ball shakers?!?!?

This was a little friend that showed up at work the other day. I think his or her reflection in the windows probably looked like a mate.

Since I work in a church that has a lot going on all the time, I try to take pics of different tablescapes/displays in case I need an idea some time for something. Right now, I'm looking for ideas for bridal shower tables. My soon to be DIL would like plum tablecloths and I'm trying to come up with a way to finish the center of the table off with centerpieces. I am thinking clear mason jars with fresh flowers and a ribbon around the top to match the tablecloth, and possibly using a square lace piece or gray piece that ties in with her wedding colors...it's still a work in progress, since the shower isn't until the middle of June, but I saw this and wanted to remember it.

Last Thursday after work I went to the home of a recent widow from church to help her price her stuff for a down-sizing garage sale. She had helpers help get everything set up on tables and sorted, so all I had to do was go in and price, price, price! After almost 5 hours, and two helpers, we got most of it priced. There are still a TON of tools to sort and price, but some guys were coming to help with that since tools aren't my specialty.

I can't imagine how hard it is to lose your husband and basically your whole life as you knew it. It was really hard on her and I felt bad that she was hurting so much, because each thing that we were pricing had a story from their lives together and each thing hit her in a different way.

I've been having lots of shoulder/arm pain and numbness that hurts for a couple of weeks from too much computer work (work is crazy, crazy, crazy busy right now), and probably a little bit from volleyball, so I decided to see if I could get a massage to loosen up the muscles a bit to try to keep from having to go to the Dr and get assigned P.T..

So, Friday afternoon I went for my first ever massage. It was with an acquaintance from church, so it wasn't a stranger, but I was so nervous! I'm not a super touchy-feely person, and the thought of someone rubbing my back and arms kind of sounded NOT fun. She was great and calming me down and super nice about the whole thing, plus I kept my under garments on and was under a sheet and blanket for the most part, except for the part she was working on at the time. I was in so much pain that I HAD to do something, so this was my first try at fixing it.

She said she could see a lump from the swollen muscle in my right shoulder. She worked on me for an hour, and I felt pretty good. Just a little stiff. When she was done, she told me to take my time getting up and dressed and to use the bathroom if I needed it, and to meet her upstairs when I was ready.

I got dressed, and went right upstairs and wrote her a check. I talked with her for a minute and then left. I started to get a really sharp headache as I was walking to my car, but once I sat down, it was fine. As I was driving, I felt super mellow and super sleepy. I thought about just going home and taking a nap!

I decided to stop at BB& BY because they had a door mat that I saw in a flyer that was right up my alley-made with recycled flip flops and it looked like Fiesta colors---Plus, I had a $5 off coupon! So, I made a quick detour and went in to get my mat.

After I grabbed the mat (which was right by the front door), I decided to wander around and look at things. As I passed the gift registry station, one worker asked if I was "OK" and if there was anything she could help me with. I thanked her and said, that I was just looking. Then I remembered that my oldest and his fiance have a registry there, so I walked back over and asked her to print it out. She snapped right to it and gave it to me and explained that there were a lot of items on the registry that were "for delivery" and would need to be ordered, but insisted that they'd help me with that should I decide to order.

Great! I thanked her, wandered toward the silverware, so I could see the style they picked and noticed theirs was "delivery only", so I walked away and the registry girl asked me again, "are you OK? Do you need any help finding anything? Did you want to see their silverware?" I told her it was delivery only. she whipped her monitor around really fast and said she pulled it up so I could see it and asked if I wanted to see it. Of course, I wanted to see it, so I looked and thanked her and started wandering away to browse more.

She must have intersected with me another 3-4 times as I worked my way to the front of the store, each time asking if I was OK, and if I needed help. Each time, I thanked her and declined help. Just as I was about to check out, I decided I was going to buy them something. So, I headed off in the direction where I thought it might be, but couldn't find it. I saw a guy worker and asked him if he could direct me.

He too asked me if I was OK, and the was super kind, and chipper while he lead me to the item. I thanked him and went to check out. The cashier also asked me if I was OK, and if I found everything. At this point I was thinking they all must have just been through a training class on customer service.

After I checked out, I went to my car and put everything in the back seat and hopped into the driver's seat...where I got a glimpse of the rear view mirror, and my FACE!!! OMGSH!!! I was MORTIFIED!!! I so, should have went into the massage therapist's bathroom before I left her house!!! My mascara ran while my face was face-down on the table during my massage!!! I had NO IDEA!

I looked like I'd been bawling my eyes out for hours, because my contacts dried out a bit too and made my eyes red, so with the mascara running down my face and the red eyes...being mortified only lasted about 10 seconds then I started laughing and couldn't stop!!! THAT'S why everyone kept asking me if I was OK!!! That's why that sales person kept following me around! I can only imagine what she was thinking about me!! Was I going to melt down in the middle of the store and throw myself on the floor and scream and cry? Or was I going to try to steal my items and try to re-sell them for my drug fix?

That's how bad I looked!!!

Figures, that it happens in my hometown, and not in a store where I'll never go to again. I'm probably flagged on their monitors as someone to watch, and every time I go in that store, I'll be followed now. LOL!

Too funny!! Life is never dull-that's for sure!! Here I was feeling all relaxed and mellow after my massage and wandering around leisurely having a nice time, not feeling pressured to be anywhere else or to do anything else...and I should have just gone in for the mat and been done!! Ha!

See, it's pretty cool, right?!?

Today is a new day, and my mascara is in its rightful place-I'm happy to say!

Today was a big day too! It was the day my church hosted a Feed My Starving Children manna pack. We did it about a year and a half ago and it was such a huge success, we hosted it again. If you're not familiar, it is a mobile food packing event where volunteers come to pack pouches of food for starving children in third-world countries.

Statistics show that 6200 kids die every day from hunger and hunger related issues. So, this is a tangible way to help end hunger and hunger related deaths in children. So, along with Mr, our youngest, some good friends and my cousin posse, we went and packed meal bags.

Our little table group packed 27 boxes of bags. Each box held 32 bags, each bag feeds 6. As a whole group (305 volunteers) we packed enough meals for 215 kids to eat every day for a year!! By the time all the sessions are done we hope to pack 500,000 meals. It'll be a busy weekend around our church, people coming and going and lots of fun being had packing meals.

This isn't the only thing my church does to help less fortunate people. I know the last time I posted about this, some blog friends were critical in their comments about this, please don't make critical/harsh judgments friends, we do a LOT of things to help people in our own area, state, and country as well.

Now, it's time to catch up on laundry and weekly house work, and oh, by the way...today is the 31st anniversary of Mr and my first date! I hope we continue our tradition of celebrating with a Chinese dinner to reminisce, I'd like a night off from cooking!!

Next weekend I'm doing the M15 Yard Sale Trail and Davisburg Antiques Festival...flying solo as my junkin buddies have other plans, so if any of my local friends want to tag along-the more the merrier-I always say!! Let me know-I've got lots of room for friends in my car!!

It's been cold and dreary here today and we're supposed to get rain. While I was outside with the poopers, I noticed another tree making a grand appearance in our yard...