Sunny Friday Funday!

Today was just gorgeous!! Beautiful blue skies and lots of bright sunshine-lovin it!!! My friend Anne (from Kitschy Vintage & Thoughts from the Chicken's Auntie) and I set off on a treasure seeking adventure bright (well, not really bright-it was still dark out!) and early. We went to a few estate sales, a few thrift stores and one of our favorite Antique shops--- Lamb's Gate Antiques in Grand Ledge.

We got to the first estate sale about 40 minutes before it opened. We walked up to get numbers and found a sign in sheet and a sticky pad of numbers. The sign in sheet was at number 23 and 24, but the sticky pad numbers were 35 and 36. Can you believe we actually got in with the first group?!? I was pretty excited about that! It was FREEZING out there today-the sun and blue skies were deceptive!

While we were sitting in the car (blasting the heat), before the sale opened, we talked a little with the guy who parked behind us, (he asked if there were numbers). While we were waiting outside he was there with his box and bag-ready to load it up once he got inside and he was telling people all about the people running the estate sale. So he seemed like a dealer....but he was acting like just a regular person who happened on the sale.

Once we got inside, I went right to the kitchen, because I had seen a LOT of Pyrex in the pictures on estatesales.net. Anne followed right behind me and he was right behind her. I was picking up the casserole dishes and putting them in my bag and Anne was picking up bowls and putting them in her bag. He says, "Oh, are you getting that? Those are the whole reason I came to this sale." I felt guilty, like I should give the poor guy the dishes and let him buy them. Anne said, "That's why we came too." He later mentioned a couple of patterns I was looking at and said, "Those never sell."

We ended up in a back room with him, and I had just picked up a really cool turquoise pan with a lid. It was marked $2. As I was looking at it, he told me he had the lid, but has been looking for the bottom for a very long time. I asked if he wanted it, and he said "yeah." So...gullible me...I gave it to him! Now, I realize he played me-ugh!!! I wish I would have kept the darn pan--it was soo cool!!!

I'm glad I had Anne with me, otherwise, I probably would have let him have the Pyrex too!!! Grrr! Why am I so gullible?

Oh well...no use crying over spilled milk (or lost turquoise pans), I did get some nice Pyrex, and a couple embroidered table runners.

 The hankies are from the second estate sale.

 Anybody know what the pattern/maker is of the bowl?

The next sale was a second day sale and a couple members of the family were there helping with the sale. I picked up a ziploc bag full of hankies that was $4. When I got home and counted them, I found I had gotten 29 hankies!!! They aren't anything special-but there were quite a few that were trimmed in purple!!!

This is what else I picked up...

 Anyone know what this is? Is it an old battery jar? An old aquarium? An old terrarium?

Anne bought a really cool Formica and chrome table-if you visit her blog, I'm sure you can see for yourself how cool it is!! The homeowner's son carried it out to my car for her, and just as he got to the back edge of the car, he slipped on the ice and fell! Poor guy!!! I felt so bad for him! I asked, and he said he was OK, and that he didn't need any help. It looked like he really hit his knees hard! I hope he's alright-he sure was a nice guy!

The third estate sale was a frog...but I did get this teacup and saucer hanger for the booth.

We stopped at a couple of thrift stores. One of them was a new one to me. It was called Volunteers of America Thrift Store. It was an OK store with OK prices. They wrote the prices with a black sharpie and a black grease pencil.

This is what I got at the VOA Thrift...

 PURPLE PYREX!!!

After that, we scarfed down lunch at a small cafe that was only a couple of doors down from Lamb's Gate Antiques, and then we wandered around and shopped, and shopped, and shopped! We totally lost track of time and by the time we were checking out, I noticed the clock behind the register said it was 1:55...that meant we only had 35 minutes to drive an hour and five minutes!!! Good thing Adam didn't have work or classes today and he wasn't too irritated (only mildly irritated---he is 19 you know~) with me for asking him to pick Eric up at school. I'll have to remember that 35 minutes notice isn't enough time to wrap up XBOX and drive 7 minutes away to the school! ;)

I got this gorgeous tablecloth at Lamb's Gate...Merry Christmas to me from Mom & Dad! I'm anxious to get it washed and on the table!! What do you think of it??

So...that was my day...how was yours? Did you get out and hit any sales? Find any good junk at the thrift shops? I'm dying for a good garage sale! Especially one where I don't have to drive over an hour to get to!! These estate sales are fun, and I've gotten some great stuff for me and for the booth-but all the driving...it's getting old real fast!!!


BTW...look at what happened to the deck/sunroom today!!!

Brrr...Windburned Cheeks, a Few Good Finds, Sparkling Cherries and a Sale Filming for HGTV!

Yesterday my friend Auntie (because her original blog is called "Thoughts from the Chicken's Auntie"...check out her new blog!) and I left before the sunrise to go to the east side of the state for an impressive list of 8 estate sales! Can you believe 8 estate sales in January-in Michigan?!? All within a 23 mile radius of each other-too bad they were over an hour from our hometown!

The first sale was at the home of a former Chrysler executive. When we got there, it was single digit temperatures with a 15 mile an hour wind. We waited outside for about a half an hour. My cheeks are still red and sting a little bit today from getting windburned!

The company hosting the sale pretty much just piled the junk stuff wherever. It was almost like an episode of hoarders-there was so much stuff! They only priced a small amount of stuff, and the rest of it was up for interpretation (meaning they look you over, they look the item over, and they set a price based on what you look like you mind spend on it.). My least favorite way to shop sales!

I picked up a few things, and when I went to pay and was told the prices, I said a few times, "no thanks-I don't want it that bad". The owner/cashier then came back with lower prices and I ended up with everything I carried to the check out-and at prices I was willing to pay. Hopefully other shoppers didn't just accept the Interpreted prices! I hope they dickered a little bit!

For some reason, I've been drawn to vintage thermoses ( I picked up 5 at the first sale yesterday!). I think that it's Shara at Monekybox's fault-LOL! I saw a photo of her thermos collection and ever since, I've kind of been drawn to them!

I also got a bright green Glasbake jumbo mug and a red Carlton cake saver/carrier, and a few hankies with crocheted edges-sorry...I already got them cleaned up, priced and packed in the bin to go-otherwise I'd show you the pictures!

The next sale we went to was just 5 miles from the first one, and it was in an old mini-mansion. It had really high ceilings with crown molding, dressing rooms, servants quarters, a grand oak staircase with 3 levels. A servant's staircase to the second floor and third floor as well as to the basement. It was a gorgeous house-I'm bummed that I forgot my phone in the car-otherwise I'd show you!

After the cramped, hoarder quarters at the first sale, this sale was wide open, very well organized everything was priced and clean-and best of all...there were LOTS of workers. Even the check out line went really fast! I will definitely be interested when I see sales come up from this company!

At the mini-mansion, I got a pair of adorable little red leather baby shoes all scuffed up, a glass punch ladle, a yellow Pyrex loaf pan and a Kate Spade purse (looks like new-for me!). Everything but the purse is the same place the other stuff ended up. I'll take pictures of the booth once it is all set up and I'll try to remember to show you what I bought.

Here's the purse...I thought it was something fun and whimsical for a cold, dreary, winter day!

 After that we went to some other unremarkable sales and then to a sale where they were filming for HGTV. I've seen ads for a few months for sales that say they are filming for HGTV, but from the pictures on estatesales.net, I haven't seen anything worth the trip to one of those sales. This time, since we were in the area, we decided to stop and check it out.

They were filming for the show "Cash and Cari". We both really didn't want to be on camera, so we were glad to be able to sneak in behind the cameraman while he was filming Cari at the checkout table, but a few minutes later, he caught up to us and another woman in the kitchen. As soon as I saw him, I turned away and tried to squeeze past him and out of the kitchen. Unfortunately, I didn't see the giant black camera equipment box on the floor and smashed my shin into it and now have a scrape and bruise as a souvenir of my time at the estate sale filming for HGTV!

We ran out of time and weren't able to shop the last two sales on the list, but that was OK, by me. I had a lot of wrapping and packing waiting for me at home. I have about 90% of my stuff for the booth priced and now 90% of that is wrapped and in bins ready to go!

The new stuff from yesterday is cleaned, priced and all tucked into the last bin. All that is left is to paint the display shelves (Auntie has offered to do this, because I hate to paint!), load the stuff into Kevin's truck and my car and head out to the mall on the first! That and hope that I didn't price my stuff too high, and that it's stuff other people would want to buy!