Crazy Fun days!

On Tuesday, our neighbor's daughter stopped by to tell us they were going to be having a sale at their dad's house this weekend. I wasn't home, but Eric told me about it. On Wednesday, I saw them working out on the porch and stopped after work to say hi.

We chatted for quite a while. I had only ever met one of the daughters before, and now I've met all three. They are all such lovely ladies!!! I have spent a lot of time with them the past couple of days and have really enjoyed talking with them and getting to know them!

They even let me have a pre-sale shopping adventure! I was able to shop the sale the day before they opened. I felt awkward-almost like I shouldn't be doing it, but I did. I was trying to hurry because I had a volleyball game to get to, plus that awkward feeling...plus I was noticing on many things their prices were wayyyy too low, so I was telling them as I was going to raise their prices on things.

They were excited that things sold for as much as I told them to price them for. Some things they had a quarter on got bumped to $5, a $5 item I told them to bump to $40, a $5 item for $25-and all but 3 things that I had them bump prices on were gone!

I bought quite a few things. I spent a lot more than I usually do, but the majority of it will be going to the booth. I will keep a couple things. See if you can guess what I am keeping.

 Pink Pyrex is getting harder and harder to find! I love the pink plastic butter dish. One of the daughter's said their mom's dream was to have a pink and black kitchen.

 For some reason all my pictures turned when I uploaded them-sorry!

 Vintage material and feed sacks!

 Double paper rack-just needs a couple dowel rods.

 Very dirty chenille bedspread-they gave it to me for free since it was so dirty.

 Can't wait to clean this up to see what it says!!!

 Tablecloth

 Tablecloth

 Tablecloth

 Dish towels

 Paper roll for the paper rack

 Needs a good washing, but that's an easy thing to do!

 Michigan glass

 Hanky for a dime

 Fire King bowl for a quarter

 

 Ladies glove box

 Vintage planter

 Presidents plate

 Knee hugger elves.

 Cootie Game-I still need to look to see if all the pieces are in there, I didn't look-just fell in love with the box!

 Old tin toy phone

 Dolly washing station and a couple of old yard sticks

 Cabinet #1-the picture doesn't do it justice-it is pretty awesome!

 Toy Sewing machine

I went back today after work to see if there were any treasures left, but they looked to be down to about 1/20 of what they started with-I was so happy for them and so happy to see the relieved looks on their faces! I was bummed to have missed out on some of the stuff, but I got some fun things. I chatted with them for a while, and went home and got Adam to help me load the second cabinet that I bought, I only bought the top half because I wasn't so sure the bottom actually went with it. As we were walking out, one of the sister's offered the bottom to me for free! So, it came home too.

Tonight they are pulling stuff out of the last bedroom and pricing it for tomorrow. Do I go back tomorrow? Have I been a big enough pest already? I'm curious to see what they pull out, but I don't want to over do my welcome...what do you think?

Here is cabinet #2:

The bottom looks a lot newer than the top and the top is about 2" narrower than the bottom. They were painted the same color and the same knobs were used, and in the pictures they look pretty good together, but I don' think they were original. It's about 4- 4.5" tall.

After I left them for the second time today, I ran an errand and on my way home, I passed a sign (that I obviously passed on the way there, but missed) for another sale at a house I've always admired from the road. So I stopped. 

It was the home of a former antique dealer, who had tons of awesome antiques. As I was walking up, I noticed a pie safe on the lawn! I've been looking and looking for a pie safe, but they are all well over $100, some as high as $800. This one was in my price range-cheap! It is (according to the dealer) turn of the century. It has tongue and groove boards and octagon like nail heads. Not quite square, but definitely not round. 

I still had the second cabinet in my car, so I ran home real quick to unload, and when I got back, we found out it was too heavy for me to help an older man lift and carry across the yard to my car. So he asked a younger guy who was picking up the most amazing primitive dining table that I've ever seen, to help him.

The bad news, is---it wouldn't fit in my car! It was about 3" too wide and since it was square-we couldn't turn it to get it to fit. The table guy lived about a block away and he told me to hold on and after he dumped his table off, he'd be back and would deliver my pie safe! How awesome was that!?!?

Sure enough, he came back, followed me home-he lives about a mile from me. I had seen him earlier at the neighbor's sale and he was showing them historical photos of the area and historical maps that he brought over. 

He said people have been kind to his family lately with his grandfather's illness and mini strokes, so he was paying it forward by helping me, and all he asked was that I pay it forward to someone else and keep it going! How awesome is that!?!?

I will be paying it forward on Saturday! I am going to Bowling Green, Ohio to help a friend from work set up an estate sale at her parent's home. She just moved them into assisted living last weekend and needs some help because her only sibling isn't willing to help. She had asked someone else, but they couldn't help. 

Here is the pie safe...

I plan to replace the fabric with screen and store quilts and tablecloths in it. She told me to use restorer's finish on it and it would be lovely. She said it got dried out in her house because she didn't use it on the wood for a very long time. I'll have to wait a week after using it to prevent it from getting on the linens, but after a week, it should be safe.

So there you have my crazy, fun couple of days. another fun couple of notes...we won 4 out of 5 games at our volleyball match last night against the first place team! Adam grouted the tile in the bathtub/shower in our main bathroom-so only 10 more days of sharing our shower, and only ten more days until our house gets back to normal!!!

Almost Full!

I found another Betty Crocker cupcake stand, and this time all the pieces were in the box! I couldn't wait to put it together and do this...

I really love it! The wire centerpiece behind it is going away, and this will now sit in the middle of my table. I only need 2 more shakers to fill it up...I was thinking of checking out the new flamingo color, since I just got a set in lapis, but I'm not such a fan of pink Fiesta. Maybe I'll leave those two slots open and see what the new color for 2014 is before I fill it.

Long,but FUN day!!

I left my house at 6:38 this morning...I got home at 4:15,changed clothes and left again! I just got home at 7:30...it's been a loooonnnnng day! It's been a fun day too!!! I met up with my good junking buddy the Chicken's Auntie from Kitschy Vintage and we went to the Midland County Fairgrounds for the Michigan Antiques Festival. It was the last one for the summer-the last one for 9 months, and the first one I've made it to all summer.

The weather didn't look very promising during the whole trip there, and as soon as we got out of the car, it started raining. Not a heavy rain, just the steady, irritating rain. It stopped and started several times with peeks of sun in between rain drops and dark clouds. after 11 or so, it pretty much cleared up.

The very first thing we did when we got there, was make a quick stop at the potties since they were at the start. Auntie walked up to one that showed "un-occupied" and she opened the door on a guy using the porta potty!!! We both cracked up! The guy wasn't even embarrassed! We were more embarrassed than he was! He told her, "Don't worry about it. I wasn't planning to be in there all that long, so I didn't lock the door." Who does that? Luckily, we recovered after a fit of giggles and were able to get down to the business of hunting junk!

There were a lot of vendors. I think even more than last year. Also a lot more high-end vendors than ever before. I prefer the run of the mill, average seller to the perfectly staged, matchy, matchy magazine cover booths. I like to come up to a booth and see all kinds of different things-the more variety the better! Plus, when it isn't all magazine-like staged, the prices are lower.

We walked all over, and ran into my blog/junking friend Marie twice! I sent her 5 texts, but none of them went through. I am so disgusted with my phone carrier-I had no service at the festival, but 2 miles down the road, my phone went crazy with incoming texts. I had to borrow Auntie's phone to look something up while I was shopping to make sure I was getting a good price. Hope you got some great treasures Marie!!

Auntie and I filled our carts so much, there was no squeezing another thing in! For the most part, when we walked up to a table together, we each reached for different things! I was thankful for her little red cup holder on her granny cart-that was how I was able to keep track of where she was when I wandered off!

I got my most important item first-kettle corn!!! There are two vendors, and I have bought from the same vendor every time. I make sure to buy from them every year. Their kettle corn is really good, and their bags are bigger than the other guy who is toward the front.

It was really, really crowded today with lots of buyers, and I saw lots of full carts, wagons and tote bags! I was really impressed with how many teenagers and early-twenty-somethings there were.I'm glad the next generation is catching on to how much fun vintage things are, and how much fun treasure hunting is!  I don't know about you, but I love to people watch! There were some very interesting characters to watch today!

I couldn't get my phone out of my pocket fast enough to get a better shot!

I'm happy with all of my purchases and I enjoyed catching up with Auntie-it's amazing how fast an hour and a half car ride can go when you are chattering like magpies!! One purchase has got me stumped though...it's a vintage egg crate with the original cardboard inserts. The perplexing part is not being able to figure out how to open it! Any ideas? We're thinking the nails on the top should be something else...but not sure what.

We got polish sausages and fries for lunch, and on the way out, I caved and got an elephant ear. I waited until we got to the car to eat it-bit mistake! It isn't as good once it gets cold! Good thing our volleyball league started up tonight, so I could work off some of the calories from all the junk I ate today!!

I made it home with just enough time to change my clothes and head in to the church to kick off our 11th year of volleyball. Since I and the league coordinator, I have to be there for the first and last games of the season. The first games to welcome everyone and go over the rules, and what to do if someone gets injured, and the last games to run the potluck and tournament.

When we got done playing, we noticed a tire that was really low. We made it to the gas station and filled it up, but it is already starting to go flat again. It figures! I have Kevin's car for one weekend, while he takes mine north to run the estate sale again for his mom and step-dad, and I get a flat! I have such bad luck with flat tires! I know I'll never hear the end of this!!!

Did you get to any sales this weekend? In addition to Midland, I went to a couple sales yesterday and got a couple of things, but I think I am reaching a junk-over-load after working on the estate sale last weekend, my heart wasn't really into garage sales this week. Midland was a different story-I'm always ready for that kind of junk hunt!

Here is what I saw today, and what I got.

 I fell in love with this little white cabinet-too bad it was three times what I was willing to spend!

 This was at the 3/4's of the way through point. Auntie's cart was too full, so I put her kettle corn in mine. This was before my last few purchases.

 This place has the best, hand-cut fries and their large soda is only $2 with a free refill! 

The back of Auntie's van-good thing she took that seat out!!!

 My first vintage tablecloth in brown and yellow.

 Amethyst medicine bottle!

 Vintage Fiesta 1 quart bowl.

 Vintage egg crate-how in the world do you open it!?!?!?

 FLORIDA tablecloth.

Chenille bedspread with 2 peacocks and lots of amazing flowers!! I think this would make a terrific robe!!!

 I've never seen one of these in the wild before! I love it an all its waxy-vintage-ness!

 How could I not get this?!? It's not every day you find a vintage yardstick with your name on it. Your name with one extra M is close enough!

 Fiesta apricot demitasse, no saucer though-but it was only $1.

Harlequin teapot-a little dirty and a little scuffed but for $2, I can overlook all that!

Here is what I picked up on Friday at a garage sale...

Charlie Brown and Lucy cookie cutters.

I also got a crackle glass, red decanter with a glass stopper, but I forgot to take a pic of it!

I hope to plant some mums tomorrow, what are your plans? Hope you have a great day doing what you love, with people you love!!

Missing Pieces...

A couple of weeks ago, I won an item on Ebay that I was so excited to get. It was a Betty Crocker acrylic cupcake stand. I saw it on a fellow Fiesta fan's website. She used it to hold her Fiesta salt and pepper shakers. It looked pretty awesome, and it was a fun way to display the shakers. I did an auto search on Ebay and watched them for a few months and finally one popped up with a great price and I jumped on it!

When it got here, the package was a little smooshed, so I took pictures before I opened it, just in case it was damaged. It wasn't damaged. It was worse! 3 little parts were missing! Even though they were little parts, they were crucial to the design.

I sent the seller an email immediately, just in case she forgot to include them in the box. She didn't have them,and told me she'd give me some sort of a refund. I informed her that it didn't work at all without them and she gave me a full refund.

So, now I have some parts to a tiered cupcake stand that can't be put together, but at least I'm not out any money. I should probably just throw the parts out, but I hate to throw perfectly good things away!

I'm so bummed! I was so looking forward to it! Back to the drawing board and searching for another one in my el-cheap-o price range!