FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Today was the much anticipated Greenmead Fall Flea Market in Livonia on the site of the historic Greenmead Farm. Since Kevin and Eric both decided to go, and Auntie's niece Crit was in town and going as well, we decided to meet up and drive separately.

Mapquest said it would take about 32 minutes to get there...we got there in less than 30 so we were waiting in a long, long line for about 15-20 minutes. I totally forgot to bring bags, or a cart today-BIG mistake!! I know Auntie said there would be around 175 vendors, but with our not so good flea market experience last weekend-I wasn't going to hold my breath that this would be a good one. It ended up being BETTER than good--it was AWESOME!!!

The weather was perfect! The length of time it took to get there was perfect! Only $2 admission and free parking! Lots, and lots of vendors set in amongst the historic buildings and lots of variety among the vendors. Great prices for the most part. All the way around it was FUN!!

Gorgeous blue skies-won't be seeing that much longer! Have to soak it in while we can!

The only thing I would suggest, to the organizers for future years...have more food vendors! The only options for food was a big trailer with caramel corn, and snacks, an ice cream truck, and a booth selling hot dogs, soda and water. Where was the kettle corn?? Aren't all flea markets supposed to have kettle corn? LOL!

As soon as we got through the gates, Kevin took off leaving us in the dust. I expected him to be through the whole place and back in the car within about 20-30 minutes. I like for him to go, I just wish he would slow down, smell the roses, enjoy the day for what it is. It tends to make me anxious and feel like I have to hustle through so he isn't sitting in the car so long waiting for me. I felt bad for scooting out on Auntie and Christy after we stopped and caught up over a hot dog.

While we were sitting there, I was really shocked to see Kevin walking past with a big ole box full of stuff! He NEVER buys much (if anything) when we go out treasure seeking together. For him to still be walking around, let alone having a huge box of purchases at that point really surprised me!

 There he is on the left with his box of treasures!

These are his treasures...

 A case of wine bottles to use in the clay oven that he is making for baking bread.

An irrigator...he says this would have been used in the hospitals...and since he's a nurse-he was intrigued by it.

 Another "nurse" item, a basin. 

 Something he got the seller to "throw in"!

He thought this was funny...

Another bed pan, this one with a lid.

Some stainless steel wire for making chain mail.

A box of old tools-a quarter each.

He did really well. He only spent $15 on all of the enamel ware! $20 total on all of his purchases.

These are my treasures...

A pink dish towel.

A Vera scarf, a purple hankie, and a lid for a quarter.

A Pyrex individual casserole dish.

 An amethyst Moroccan dish.

A milk bottle carrier-not an old one, but in my price range!

A set of refrigerator dishes!

This was such a FUN flea market! I am soo glad we went!! It makes me even more excited for the Midland Antiques Festival in 2 weeks!!!  I'll have to remember the ibuprofen before we go to Midland-my ankle and hip are really killing me from all the uneven walking today-just when I told Auntie on Friday that  my ankle is doing really well...sigh! We'll see how it does this week-3 of the 4 volleyball leagues I play in start up again!

Hope you have a great week this week!!! :)

Weekend Finds...

Yesterday Auntie and I took off on an adventure to Warren, Roseville, Farmington and Livonia. We stopped at a lot of estate sales. Most of them were on their second day. While most of the time, I prefer to go on the first day in the first hours-the second day has some benefits too-in the form of discounts!

 A funky chartreuse platter.

 Two doilies and a runner in eyelet lace.

 Four aluminum dessert dishes in MINT condition that ended up being 4/$1!

 A purple embroidered doily.

 A hankie.

 A glass with a purple tree -the same size as a Swanky Swig...

 A Glassbake individual casserole-in excellent condition!

Today, Eric and I went out for a little bit and went to a couple of local estate sales and this is what we found:

 A old napkin.

A platter.

A jug-is it Manhattan or is it too new?

A bunch of old bottles-can't wait to spiff them up with the vintage labels from Cathe at Just Something I Made! They were only a quarter each since it was the second day-yesterday, I was told, they were a dollar each!

How did your treasure seeking go this weekend?

Auntie and I and her niece Christy (who is in town visiting this weekend) are going to Greenmead Fall Flea Market tomorrow morning. Although, I'm not sure how we are going to work the driving arrangements because I think Kevin and Eric want to go now too...We'll figure something out. I can't wait to go! There is supposed to be 175 vendors!!!

I hope the weather holds out...right now it is raining pretty hard.

Tomorrow afternoon will be spent closing up the pool for the winter and then at 6:00 a special worship service at church to kick off the new classes and programs for fall.

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!!

Last weekend's sales were so depressing! They went from 185 the week before down to 56 last weekend (in our local paper), and of those, only about 4 or 5 looked interesting and only 1 ended up worth the effort of getting into the car-and it was just barely worth it!

This week, the number of sales is way up (97 garage sales and 6 estate sales) and there are a bunch that look VERY interesting! Auntie and I are meeting up tomorrow and we are hoping to find lots of treasures to bring home with us! (Hoping for Swanky Swigs!!! )

Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to watch a volleyball match between a local home school group and Livingston Christian School. The JV and Varsity teams will be competing and since I know some girls on both sides (and I play in a co-ed league with the home school team's coach), I thought it would be a good opportunity to go and cheer them all on!

Hope you are having a wonderful Thursday!!! Happy Treasure hunting this weekend!!! I'm looking forward to reading about your adventures and seeing the treasures you bring home!!!

Another trip to the library

I got a few emails yesterday and today letting me know some of the books I had requested had arrived and were ready for pick-up. One nice thing about a new driver in the house is that they are always looking for an opportunity to drive! So I had no problem convincing Eric to make a book run.

These are what he brought back!

This is my favorite section in the book!

My new wish list includes a set of Pyrex mixing bowls in both the aqua and pink colors...

and some of these custard cups...

Can you believe these prices!?!

and a bag of fiction-since I'm a pretty fast reader, this should last about a week.

I'm thinking I might be getting more reading time this fall and winter. My ankle just hasn't healed up from the bad sprain in early May, and 3 months of physical therapy didn't seem to strengthen it as much as it should have. All (3) but one of my volleyball leagues are starting up next week, and I'm worried that I won't be able to play at the level I was at before the injury. It's really depressing me this week-I love to play, but I don't want to play if I can't play well, because I'm not doing my teammates any favors if I can't hold my own...

The case of the collapsing bread loaf...

Kevin is on a health kick lately and bought a fifty pound bag of wheat, and a manual grinder. He has been trying to make some bread but every loaf is coming out all sunken in the middle...any ideas what might be causing this? We just bought a brand new jar of yeast that doesn't expire until April 2011. He's even tried mixing in regular store-bought flour and those all collapse too. He has been following the recipes to the letter (he's tried 3 now) and still no luck.

Any ideas?

Food, Fun and Friends!

Had a fun day today! Five Families came over for an end of summer potluck! We had some really yummy food to go along with our burgers and dogs-kids running around-a little sand volleyball-and a lot of catching up and visiting!! Fun Times! Adam even had 3 of his friends spend the afternoon with us.

I made a pumpkin dump cake-YUM! Why do I only think of pumpkin as a fall dessert? I plan on making this more often! Here is the recipe in case you want to try it...

Ingredients

1 29 oz. can pumpkin puree 3 eggs 1/2 C. packed brown sugar 1/2 C. white sugar 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 tsp. salt 1 18 1/4 oz. pkg. spice cake mix 1/2 C. coarsely chopped pecans 1/2 C. melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, brown                                 sugar, white sugar and milk. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Pour into pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the pumpkin filling. Sprinkle pecans over the cake mix. Drizzle melted butter over all. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Is very yummy served slightly warm! Extra yummy served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!! Enjoy!!!

Do you track your antiquing adventures?

Whenever I visit an antique shop for the first time, I come home and mark it on my big laminated Michigan map and I log it into an excel spreadsheet. Usually it isn't the instant I get home, but sometime within a couple of days of my trip, so I don't forget the details!

 This map is about 2'x3' and I got it laminated so that when I need to change a location from want to visit to "visited" I can just wipe the permanent marker off with a little rubbing alcohol and it's ready to mark for the new status. As you can see, I've got a lot of treasure seeking adventures just waiting to happen. Michigan is an awesome state for so many reasons, and we are really lucky to have so many wonderful antique shops to enjoy ourselves in!

Here is my excel spreadsheet. I am in the process of updating it for the trip yesterday. I started this, because I got so frustrated with the lack of information out there on antique shops, flea markets, antique shows, etc.

Do you keep track of where you've visited? How do you track your treasure seeking adventures?

Places you might not have heard about...

While Eric and I were out and about yesterday, I picked up a bunch of fliers advertising antique shops and flea markets. Some of them I had heard of, some I have visited, some are now on my list to visit!