Good Friday Surprise!

This morning I wanted to get out and be out and about in the gorgeous (although chilly) sunshine. I scoured Craigslist for sales in my area, and came up with two within 5 miles of my house, so I set out. The first one was not really a sale, as I would call a sale. It was a new resale shop that was set up like a garage sale in an old computer ink business. It was mostly newer stuff, and I'd say 99% of it wasn't marked. I didn't find anything. It's a good thing I didn't find anything because when I got back in my car, I realized that I left my cash at home!!

I had plans with the boys to meet for lunch, and it was only 10:30 when I left the first sale-and the second sale didn't start until noon, so I stopped at TJ Max and walked around for a while, and then decided to head home to get my cash and find out where the boys were and what time we were meeting. They are house sitting for my friend just a few miles from our house.

As I was pulling on to my street, I noticed a sign going in the opposite direction of my house. Our road is split by a main road, and we live on the dead-end dirt part of the road. The sale was on the other bigger part of our road. It was at the home of an older lady who has been a collector for years! She has had at least 2 other sales in the past few years that I've gone to and my friend Auntie has gone to as well.

She is down-sizing and her house is for sale. I heard her say she is moving into an apartment. Both Auntie and I have bought a LOT of stuff from her in years past. This time around, it was a small sale. Just odds and ends, and by the time I left and another guy who was shopping at the same time left, there wasn't anything vintage to be found! That's why I didn't call or text you about the sale Auntie... :)

After I paid for my stuff, I noticed a set of 3 old white wood chairs. While I was asking about them, another lady started going through the boxes of stuff I had already paid for!! I looked up and said, "Uh, that's my stuff." She asked me if I had paid for it!! Since I had, I said yes!! Did that mean if I hadn't, she wasn't going to put it back? I've never experienced something like that before at a sale. Usually when someone has a pile or box of stuff, if they mention it, people will walk away-no questions asked.

I really shopped at this sale! I had quite a load to drop off at home before I could take the boys to lunch! We tried the sale that didn't open until noon before we went to lunch, but the only things that were vintage were being bought by someone else (a dealer in my mall, I'm pretty sure) as I was walking up.

Lunch was a LOT of fun! We went to a local Chinese restaurant that we all really like and since they just started $5 lunch specials, it was even better!! Now, Adam is off to work, and Eric is off to play video games as he enjoys house-sitting. After wearing out the new puppy (Lucy) and the old lady (Maddie), I am enjoying a very quiet house!

I think the BEST sales I've ever been to are the little sales that are not advertised. The sales by older ladies, who just at the spur of the moment decide to have a sale! I think they are like reaching your hand in your coat pocket after not wearing it for several months and pulling out money!

Here is what I picked up...

All of these Little Golden Books are bar code free. Some of them have the dark binding that came before the leaf pattern. All of them are before the shiny "gold" binding. One of them is a first printing edition. She gave me a lesson on what to look for to help identify their age.

 I actually got two of these, one has a dark blue binding, which I was told is a lot older than this one.

 

 A vintage doll coat and hat-I couldn't resist for only a quarter!

A doll apron made out of a vintage hanky! She thought it was worthless, so she gave it to me for free!

 More cute doll clothes and a tiny pair of doll socks!

 A 9 piece set-four napkins, four place mats and a table runner.

 A beer cap trivet, a pair of gloves and an aluminum measuring spoon set. Someone took the time to cover the caps with foil before they made the trivet! 

 This is a cloth book...it was only a quarter!

 Inside view of doll case. 

 Couldn't keep Lucy out of the photos, she really was interested in this doll case!

This was on a table just like this...I couldn't believe my eyes!

 It was the first thing I looked at, and the first thing I picked up!!

This is what they look like out of the tissue paper and box!

 This is just to show the chairs-not a great shot, but they are just old white chairs. I got 3 of them. I'm hoping to use them as extra guest chairs when we have company!

Last, but not least...an old washboard with glass!!

I sure wasn't expecting to find any more sales this weekend, but I'm glad I did!! 

Marshmallows Falling From the Sky Doesn't Always Mean FUN Times!

Last night was our community's 3rd annual Easter marshmallow drop and moon glow egg hunt. This year was the most organized it has ever been. Kudos to the team organizing it for working so hard to plan, organize and run it this year! It was also the most attended event of the three years. This year seemed to be as big as the past two years combined!! We live on a dead-end dirt road near the fields where the festivities are held, and usually we see the people, hear the loudspeaker (echoing in the house with the windows closed), and we walk over and take pictures. We have actually enjoyed watching this event the past couple of years.

This year...not so much! People decided to park on our little dirt road. On both sides, three quarters of the way down. It was nearly impossible to get in or out for a good chunk of the evening. Our driveway saw a steady stream of people in and out. Even when we put our giant trash can in the middle of the driveway, people still drove in and went on our grass.

I actually stood out there and when people went around the barricades in our driveway, I clicked pictures of them to share with our township supervisor-not that it will do any good! They weren't happy about me snapping pictures of them as they drove into my driveway that was blocked to prevent anyone from driving into it!!

Eventually, we put out a sawhorse and cones along with the giant trash bin, and decided to go to the back of the house to try to ignore it. There was a steady stream of cars from about 6pm until about 9:30pm. There was even a police officer sitting at the end of the road with flares because of the amount of traffic. Too bad that officer left all of the used up flares and the wire stands IN the road when he or she left!! Come on!! REALLY?? How disappointing!! I guess they are expecting the Used up Flare Fairy to come and pick it up...or maybe the Easter Bunny was supposed to do that this year...

Too bad "guests" of this event left a TON of trash and marshmallows all over the place! I know it is only one night a year, but...when they first started this event we were told people would not be allowed to park on our road...what happened this year?? I tried to call the township to let them know our concerns, but of course, they weren't open today...figures!

If we would have had a fire, or a medical emergency, I highly doubt that emergency services would have been able to get down our road in a timely manner. Considering only 2 houses are occupied on our little road, maybe they feel that the income from the over 700 kids paying to attend this event is more important than the safety and well being of just 2 families.

Yeah, I got some fun pictures...yeah, I enjoyed watching the helicopter drop the marshmallows, yeah, I'm glad so many kids had a fun night...but I sure wish it could be done somewhere else!!!  The park has totally destroyed our privacy, and peaceful yard with their soccer fields, stadium lights (that we were promised would only light up our yard like a full moon-HA! What a joke!! We could sit out and play cards in the middle of the yard when the lights are on!), and all of the people!

Want me to tell you how I really feel?? (smile) That's a joke! I usually ask that after I've been venting about something, just to lighten it up. Here are some shots of what it looked like around here last night...

Out and About on a BEAUTIFUL Spring Day!!

I only had to work 3 hours today so I decided to try my luck at some sales. I found 8 sales that looked somewhat promising-the only problem...they were in another town/city that was about 30 miles away. Normally that wouldn't phase me, but gas prices being what they are...made me think twice about going. In the end, I decided to go for it, and I'm glad I did!!!

It is a BEAUTIFUL day today! Very sunny, but still a little chilly-only 46 degrees! The first sale was in a brand new subdivision that only had about a dozen of probably 50+ homes built. When I pulled in, I was thinking, "why did I come here? I'm not going to find anything!" Admit it, you'd probably think the same thing right?? Well, I was right-nothing for me there!

I stopped at a tiny "moving sale" a few miles away and was excited the minute I pulled up the curb! It was an outside sale and the first thing I saw from the road was the big snowman!

She had the little guy on the side of the garage and sold them both to me for $3! I love their noses!!

One of the stops was actually at an antique store (I didn't know this from the ad though) that was having a yard sale in their parking lot. Nothing was priced, and there was no one outside watching stuff. I had to go in and the only person around was a teenage guy, who was watching the store for his dad. I found 4 things I wanted, so he called his dad for prices. His dad never answered his phone...so I got my stuff really cheap!!

I stopped at a new VOA Thrift store and found some Atlas canning jars, a ball canning jar, a vintage thermos and an aluminum spice set-and a brand new shirt for me (sorry-already in the washer)!

Then there was one last estate sale...it was run by an estate sale "company" of sorts-although their signs looked to have been made by a second grader (no kidding), and their prices looked to have been done by the queen! Some things weren't marked, so I took a chance and went to the check out table and the woman doing the inside check-out, didn't have a clue (she even told me she didn't), and she said "I don't know how about $1 each...she meant $1 each stack! I got both stacks of 4 trays each for $2!!

This stack also had a set of coasters!

It was a small score, but a cheap score for the day, and I got to enjoy not having to think about ANYTHING for a few hours!! I even got to sing at the top of my lungs along with the radio while I was driving and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine!!! Even if I didn't find anything-it would have been a great day!

How was your day?? Did you get to any sales today? I don't expect to go to anymore sales this weekend-how about you? Tonight is the big annual marshmallow drop and moon glow Easter egg hunt at the park near our house, so I'll have a post later about that!

What are you doing for Easter? Are you cooking? Are you spending it with family? I'm cooking-just for the 4 of us. We are doing a ham and a turkey (on the grill). I'm thinking about having an early dinner and then heading north to stay with my parents for a few days. The gas prices are still a big concern...so I may just stay home and clean out some cupboards and do so spring cleaning-haven't made up my mind yet. All of my guys have to work too much to even consider going up with me.

Well, whatever you do, I hope you have a wonderful Easter and a happy weekend!!!

Weekend? What Weekend?

This weekend flew by so fast, it was almost like it never even happened! On Friday, I met my friend Deb and her daughter Mandy and we visited Williamston Antiques and Livingston Antique Outlet, and then we went to lunch. Deb moved to Atlanta almost 2 years ago and every time she comes back, we try to have a lunch date to catch up.

It was so nice to catch up!!! After lunch, I went to my friend Becky's house to help her make chicken enchiladas. We made 35, and she was thinking she might go get more stuff to make more. She was hosting a surprise 30th birthday party for her son's fiancee.

Saturday morning Kevin and I ran to a couple of estate sales. One in my home town-just a few miles away and the other one was in Hell...Hell, Michigan that is. It was a tiny little house and the estate sale company running the sale only had 3 workers. There was some tension outside when one of the workers asked to see a  customer's receipt as he was walking out to his car.

He threatened to post ads all over Craigslist destroying this company's credibility. I'm glad I was in the house and didn't hear it. Kevin told me about it when we were driving to the other sale.  I picked up a couple of glassware pieces and an old tin. The second sale was a one day only "blow out" sale. Nothing was marked (not my favorite-as you already know). I picked up a couple aprons, a vintage Bingo game, a liquor decanter/shot glass set still in the box, and an old yardstick.

We saw Auntie at the second sale. She had a big pile of stuff and was waiting to check out when we left. I think there was only one person working that sale. I got my stuff at a great price, I squeezed in between a couple bigger sales and he threw out a pretty low price for my little pile and I offered less...he kind of bickered a little bit, but when your ad says "all must go", "one day blow out" and you walk around shouting that it all "must be gone by 4:00", you have to expect people are going to dicker on the prices.

After the second sale, we made a Costco run and then went home so I could get my stuff ready for the booth for dealer day (today). We had to play volleyball at 5:30, then I came straight home and worked some more on pricing and cleaning up my stuff.

We went to church this morning, then raced home to get the car loaded then ran to the antique mall to reorganize the booth and add in some junk stuff. One of the doors had all of the glass broken out of it. It wasn't like that when I was there Friday, so I asked what happened. Someone broke in last night!! The owner's daughter was there until 8pm, and someone broke in around 9. They took a lot of coins from one booth and a lot of gold jewelry from another, and they said it looked like they knew exactly what they wanted, and didn't touch anything else.

In the past couple of months, I've lost a vintage fishing reel, a very pretty Valentine's apron, a couple tablecloths, and some small glassware pieces. Do you have a problem with theft where you have your booth? During the year that I've had my booth, I've lost about a dozen things. Most of them small things that were very cheap when I bought them, so it hasn't been a big expense to me-yet! I just hope this isn't a trend that is going to keep escalating.

The rest of the day today, I've spent cleaning, doing laundry and making dinner. Nothing exciting, but stuff that needed to be done! Tomorrow it's back to work, a meeting after work, volleyball at 6:45. Tuesday-work, and vball at 7. Wednesday-work and vball at 8:40. Thursday-work, and then vacation for 10 days!!! I can't wait!!! Adam is house sitting again for my friend, and Eric is dog sitting for one of his teachers. We will have 3 dogs in our house for a week-yikes!!!

Hope you had a great weekend!! I'm off to see what you've been up to, and then finish up the last load of laundry! Have a great week!!!

Needing a Good Junk Fix!!!

Here I am at the end of another week, and no good junking adventures in sight!! The number of garage sales in the local paper have been picking up, we are up to 16 this week!! Unfortunately, they are not selling my kind of junk stuff! There are also 38 estate sales within 50 miles of my house, but none of them are enticing enough to spend the gas money on.

My friend Deb, who moved to Atlanta a couple of years ago is in town for the weekend, so we are going to lunch tomorrow. I was hoping for a couple of estate sales to drag her to, but I'm coming up empty! Maybe we can visit a couple of antique shops instead!

After lunch, I'm heading to another friend's house to help her prepare food for a surprise party for her son's fiance's birthday. I think I've recovered sufficiently from the big fundraiser dinner last weekend that I can make some more food! The fundraiser dinner went well. We were down about 50 people from last year and brought in about $500 less than last year, but it was still a big success!

I had to day off from work because I worked all day Sunday for the fundraiser dinner for our church's high school youth group's summer mission trip. The BEST part of my day? Taking little Lucy in to see my little 3 year old cousin Zoe at preschool! She was soo excited!!! She is more than just a little dog crazy and she totally fell in love with my little fluff ball! I'm still smiling!!

Sunday is dealer day at the antique mall, so I'll be spending a good chunk of time Saturday getting stuff ready to go to the booth, and Sunday after church I'll rearrange, straighten and clean stuff up. I've been having a record month this month. I'm surprised because everyone I talk to says March is notoriously a slow month. My friend Auntie told me that most of the dealers in our mall aren't doing well at all this month. That really surprised me! I just figured everyone must be having great sales too. How are you doing this month?? I hope it's a good month for you!!

There really isn't any rhyme or reason to the things that have been selling either...Things that I had expected to sell  immediately are still there, and the stuff I ask myself what in the world possessed me to buy it, is flying off the shelves!! One thing that has surprised me is a set of Marcrest Swiss Alpine dinnerware. I've had it in the booth for almost 6 months and I've lowered it and lowered it and now it is at $32 for a set of 38 pieces...it's still there! I was hoping it would go so I wouldn't have to bring it home, but it looks like it is coming home on Sunday.

I can't wait to catch up on what you've been doing and finding this week! Hope you have a GREAT weekend!!!

How Was Your Friday??

What did you do today? Did you get to any sales? Did you just stay home? Did you have to work? I was off work (for the most part), and I slept in!!! I went to one sale that was advertised on Craigslist, but didn't have any signs out and nothing was priced, and you know how I feel about no prices-right?!? Didn't buy a thing, but on my way home, I followed a rabbit trail of some signs and came across a couple little garage sales and a newer Salvation Army store (that in the past has been full of very high priced junk).

This is what I got today...

I took the little peanut to the vet for the first time today. I thought she weighed about 4 pounds but she actually weighed in at 2.8 pounds!! She got a glowing report, and by the time we left, she had the vet, the office manager and the front desk help wrapped around her tiny little paw! She seems to have that effect on everyone who meets her!

No sales for me tomorrow-big food prep day with the high school students from our church youth group. For their fundraiser dinner on Sunday for their mission trip in June. I had to shop for the produce today-that was the little bit of work I had to do-not bad at all!  I did find a great sale for Kevin in the town I grew up in-it's full of woodworking tools and equipment!

Here's a couple of shots of Adam's new car-it just rolled over 100 miles, and just got the first car wash of its young life!

Here are a couple shots of spring popping up all over our yard! It's been in the 80's for almost a week-I'm dreading June, July and August's temperatures if it is this warm already!!!

Hope you have an amazing weekend!!!