Saturday Date Day

Kevin and I went to one very tiny sale and a church rummage sale. The rummage sale was to raise money for that church's youth group's mission trip. I got a few things at the first sale, and I just missed a big pile of Homer Laughlin Riviera dishes by about 5 seconds-bummer!!!

I did get a lilac Fiesta cup and saucer, and some other fun things-so I can't complain. Kevin found a $20 bill in the grass a few houses down-so that made up for there being no guy things.

 This is a pic of my finds. The door on the left is from a small cabinet that I couldn't resist. All of the purple is staying-the rest is for the booth. I LOVE the musical cake stand...might have to keep that too!

At the church rummage sale, there was only 3 teens running the whole sale. On top of the usual rummage sale fare, they were selling homemade apple turnovers with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for $1-so Kevin had a great day too...found money and a fantastic dessert! I picked up a couple small things at the rummage sale.

All that fun and we were home by 10:30!! We sure enjoy our Saturday mornings together-what a fun date time we have going to a couple garage sales a week!

I think climbing up on ladders and hanging insulation is a job best left to the strong teenage boys and the husband in our house. After several hours yesterday and today, my back started screaming for me to stop. It stinks to get older-and I'm not much past 40!! Can't wait to see what I'm in store for in the next 10 years!

We Passed!

On Monday we passed our rough electrical inspection and today we passed our rough building inspection for our nightmare, money pit sun room! Whew!!! What a relief to have those inspections behind us and approved!

All afternoon we've been insulating, insulating, insulating! Maybe tomorrow we can start on the drywall! Next week the siding will go up and then we can have our final inspections-hopefully they will go as well as the rough inspections did. 

We are all very anxious to be able to use this room, and with the weather forecast for the next two days calling for rain...we won't have any excuses for not getting some serious work done!

We're trying to decide on the flooring...maybe you can help us make the decision. Our first choice was porcelain tile (same as what we have in our kitchen and dining room that opens into the sun room). My Dad recently suggested hardwood floors. I'm worried that the temperature fluctuations might make the wood warp, and with our sand volleyball court in the back yard, and having people coming in to the house through the sun room after playing...the sand could scratch up the wood. On the other hand, the wood would definitely be warmer than the tile and would be easier to install.

What do you think? We haven't made a decision yet. Either way, we'll be doing the work ourselves just like we did throughout the rest of our house. We probably could have enclosed the deck ourselves instead of hiring the builders, but we were expecting the professionals to have it done in the two weeks they promised (a lot quicker than the 3 months it has taken them). Live and learn-right?

I'm hoping that you all had a great day of thrifting today. Since I didn't get out to any sales, I'm needing a thrift fix! I'll be checking out your blogs to drool over your Friday finds.

Happy Weekend!!

2011 Summertime Wishlist...

I've made two treasure seeking wishlists and have done very well in finding things this past year that have been on my list. So I thought I'd make a new list for the new treasure seeking season! Here are the things I'll be looking for this summer as I head out to estate sales, garage sales, festivals and flea markets...

               ~Vintage brightly colored tablecloths
               ~Vintage Fiesta #7 mixing bowl (3)
               ~Vintage Fiesta #6 mixing bowl (2)
               ~Vintage Fiesta #5 mixing bowl (2)
               ~Vintage Fiesta #3 mixing bowl (2)
               ~Vintage Fiesta #2 mixing bowl (2)
               ~Vintage Fiesta #1 mixing bowl (1)
               ~Vintage Harlequin ball jugs/pitchers-all colors except orange, yellow and green
               ~Vintage Harlequin dishes and serving pieces
               ~Vintage Riviera dishes and serving pieces
               ~Edwin Knowles Yorktown dishes and serving pieces
               ~Brightly colored vintage dishtowels
               ~Aqua/Turquoise vintage Pyrex mixing bowls (404, 403 & 402)
               ~Vintage Pink Pyrex mixing bowl #404
               ~Vintage Fiesta pitchers, tea pots, and carafes
               ~Swanky Swigs-florals, stripes, and dots
               ~Amethyst blown glass rolling pin
               ~Vintage glass Christmas ornaments
               ~Vintage Fiesta and Harlequin shakers
               ~Vintage Kitchen Kraft items
               ~An old wooden school chair (desk size)

I know this is a huge list. I'd be thrilled to find just one or two things from the list this summer.

What about you? What does your summer wish list look like? Is there anything I can look for for you?

We're Having a Heat Wave!

Is this really Michigan? Or did I wake up in Florida today? When we left for church this morning, it was only 50 degrees, but now....

Look out hammock-here I come! My favorite place to be on a sunny Sunday afternoon is lounging in a hammock in the yard with a good book. Might just fire up the grill for dinner too. Eric wants to uncover the pool-now that's a little bit much. It is Michigan after all, and it could be snowing and 25 degrees tomorrow!

Hope you are having a GREAT Sunday!!!

Saturday...A Stay at Home Day

None of the sales today looked worth the drive, so we decided to stay home. Kevin puttered around in the sun room, getting a few little things done, and I went out the the barn and started sanding the headboard bench. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's so I plan to go out after church to paint.

I started painting this picture frame.

I had it in the booth for 2 months and no one took it home. I think it was the gold color...pretty soon, it will be a creamy off white.  I might even try my hand at smashing some of my clear glassware to make the frame into this...

I saw these in one of the booths in our antique mall and immediately fell in love with them. I can't figure out how they did it though...any ideas? One of the workers at the mall told me that the back side was really sharp because of all of the exposed broken glass. I thought it was all glued onto a window...

While I was making lunch I heard the post office truck pull up the driveway and honk...look what came in the mail!

This big box and big sticker make it seem like something super important...

 It is!! Harlequin shakers!

Now this little guy isn't so lonely! ;)

Sorry about the bad pictures...our camera is MIA again, and all I had was my phone. I wish they had a remote finder device for cameras!!

Soggy, Slim Pickin's

Today was a rainy gray day with slim pickings at the sales I visited. I only went to two estate sales and both of them were grossly over priced. It figures the rain would stop and even a glimpse of the sun shone through when I got home and didn't have to be out in it any more!

These are the two things that came home with me today...a tablecloth and a napkin. The only reason I got the tablecloth was because the woman in line in front of me was scared of the stains and passed on it--so I snatched it up!

This month is turning out to be much better sales-wise for me in the booth. I only have $7 to go to make my rent-woo hoo!! Hopefully this weekend will put me over the top.

Did you get to any sales today? I'll be stopping by your blogs to see the treasures you picked up today-can't wait to see what you found!!

Happy Weekend!

What's the craziest thing you ever sold?

I guess I should also say what's the craziest thing you ever sold or tried to sell. Almost every night when I go online to check my sales for the day, my husband is totally convinced that someone has bought his anvil. He has an anvil in the booth. He rescued it from a barn that burned down and was set to be demolished. The original owner was our neighbor. He passed away a few years ago at the age of 92. The anvil is very old, but Kevin painted black so it doesn't show its age very much.

I think that the niche for anvil buyers is really small and I don't think he's ever going to sell it. It's not like it's something that can be moved around easily-especially this one-it weighs 131 pounds!!

Tonight Kevin and I had our little chuckle about it and then he suggested we get a Wylie E.Coyote stuffed doll and put it under the anvil...ha ha! I guess you had to be there! I'm sure we are the only booth in the whole mall with an anvil-maybe we'll be the only one in the mall with an anvil squishing a cartoon coyote...or maybe we should decorate it for Easter...

What about you? Have you tried to sell any crazy things? Were you successful? Want to buy an anvil? ;)

Do you check your bank statements?

Today I got an email from my husband. He was concerned that there was a $10 "Miscellaneous" withdrawal that was pending on our checking account. He has heard from someone that clever thieves will gain access to your account, withdraw a small amount one or two times then totally wipe your account out!

Needless to say, I got on the phone right away! At first it was a little scary because the customer service guy couldn't find our account with our account number or my social security number. I was beginning to wonder if the whole account was already wiped out, or if maybe it was a scam number on their website and I was giving away my ss number to a thief...all kinds of crazy things were running through my head.

He finally figured out that he was using one wrong number for the ss number, and the bank account number was for the bank we originally opened the account with (they were bought out by another bank-but we were told we could keep the same checks until they run out). WHEW!!! What a relief to finally have my account found!

The $10 charge?? It is a yearly ATM card fee that this bank charges-our original bank did not charge for that. Since we both had debit cards linked to the checking account, I just canceled the ATM card and cut it up. The $10 credit is supposed to show up on my account by Friday afternoon.

I'm glad it wasn't a compromised account, and I'm glad Kevin found it so we could get it taken care of! Don't forget to check your statements for things like that-you could be paying a fee for something you don't really need like we almost did!

Please give me your opinion...

I have a great vintage enamel top table. It has 2 slide out sides and a utensil drawer. It is in really good shape, and the slide outs, work very smoothly. The down side? A previous owner spray painted the table apron and legs grass green. I had it in the booth for 2 months and ended up bringing it home today. At first I had it priced at $100, then lowered it after the first 30 days to $75.

Was the price too high? Was it the green that turned people off? Should I spray the green a different color like red or white? Should I try it again in the booth in a few months? Am I stuck with it? What do you think?

Junkin With My Man!

Today was a fun date day of junkin with my man! For the past couple of summers, Kevin and I have spent Saturday mornings hitting some local garage and estate sales and today was the first Saturday junkin date of 2011-even though it is no where near summer. It was a quick trip to a couple of sales and a local shop that I've been wanting to stop at for a while. We were home by 10:30 with a LOT of fun treasures.

He is just as excited with his finds as I was with mine! We didn't set the alarm, didn't make major plans...if we woke up in time to go, then we'd go. If not, then we wouldn't-no big thing. We woke up late, and I almost decided to stay home, but we went anyway. I figured since we only had 20 minutes to wait until it opened once we got there, that we'd be in the high thirties or forties (street numbers). We were surprisingly 18 & 19. Even more surprising...a lot of people with numbers ahead of us left and didn't make it back when they opened the doors! We only ended up with 8 people in line in front of us when the door opened!

I found some Fiesta, Riviera, Pyrex, aprons, vintage kitchenware, an old bench and an old suitcase. Kevin found some old swords. He LOVES swords and knives (pretty much all weapons). His brother is coming over tomorrow to look at them-he thinks he might want to buy them from Kevin. I found one of them online-it's worth $159-he paid $40. The other two, I'm not having much luck with finding out anything about them. I think they might be cadet swords-but I can't figure out how old they are, or if they are reproductions.

This is our haul from the first sale:

The second sale was in competition with a neighbor holding an impromptu yard sale-taking advantage of the free advertising from the estate sale next door! We actually thought the estate sale was the yard sale-when the men running the estate sale came over and said "Hey, the estate sale is that house, not this one." They didn't seem very happy with the yard sale couple.

It was a gorgeous house! Prices were wayyyy too high-but it was fun to go to the sale just to see the house inside and out. Here is a quick snap I took of the outside of the house...

The last place was less than 3 miles from my house. It was a little shop in a shopping strip that had gone out of business, but is now back in a different space in the same strip...confusing right? I drove by it every day for several months last summer-always wanting to stop, but kept forgetting...until it was too late and they were gone-out of business. Now that they are back-I decided to stop. I really didn't miss anything last year by not stopping...but at least now I know-right?

It was a fun junkin date day for me and Kevin, and since we've been home, we've been pulling electrical wires up through the floors in our new (soon to be) sun room-boy is that a LOT of work! Unfortunately, we found a BIG mistake our hired builders made...no wonder Mike Holmes gets so much business on Holmes on Holmes!! Geesh! What goes through the minds of builders who think they can get away with this kind of stuff?!?!? I sent the builder a text message with a photo attached-in less than 2 minutes he sent a reply: "I'll stop by on Monday." His usual response time is 2 days!

Here is the picture I sent him...all I said is, I want you to see this picture of what we found...a support post sawed in half with the broken saw blade still stuck in it-and only one nail to secure it...

I wonder how he's going to fix a support post that his son sawed in half and left the broken saw blade still in the cut line...and put only one nail in it to secure it...a post that has been there for 2 years and should have NEVER even been touched...hmmmmm....I imagine I'll have more to tell on Monday! We would have never found it if we weren't running wire today...

I'm being summoned to pull more wires (darn! I thought we were done!), I will go for now...hope you had a fun day today!