REFLECTIONS.......

Well, so much for my plans for today. Last night I was thinking about "taking the day off" today. Which really means that I wanted to go thrifting since yard sales were rained out this week end because of Irene.

HA!!!!

As I was shutting down my computer last night I had one more email. So...being the inquisitive person that I am I just had to open it. 

It was from ebay....great something really pertinent and life changing....not!!

Well, this time it was.....sorta.

Today was penny listing day for ebay stores!! Now, for the store owners that pay only 3cents per listing every day it may not mean much. But for us store owners on the bottom of the pile it means something. It means saving 19cents for everything I list today. That makes a difference....especially since its the end of the month and fees are due in a few days.

So this morning I got busy washing, drying, sorting and taking pictures of everything I wanted to list for auction today. I photographed and cropped and sized until I wanted to cry. Then I saw this picture of my Starbucks French Press and almost died......laughing.
.

Does this qualify as obscene?

This was really shiny and hard to photograph without a flash back. I refuse to do it again.

I showed this to my daughter and she asked me if it was "reflection porn". I have never heard of this, but I will be careful and not take my auction pics in the buff. 


Sales would plummet!!

BLOWING IN THE WIND

I have always like the Bob Dylan song, Blowin' in the Wind.

Not so much the actual blowing in the wind, as in Irene.

We are hunkered down here watching our tall tall trees blowin' in the wind. Several years ago we had to have a very old oak tree cut down. It was leaning and starting to die and we were afraid it would fall on something or somebody. When it was cut down almost 3/4 of the inside was hollow. An accident waiting for a place to happen. I hated to see the old oak tree cut down, but it was time. I am glad now that we don't have to worry about it hitting the house or barn. The old gentleman who cut the tree down estimated it was between 200 and 250 years old. Yikes!! And it was about 120 feet tall. I guess we should have called him "Big Boy".(oak tree...acorns...nuts...;p

Here is hoping that all of your tall tall trees will just be blowin' in the wind.

What a week. An earthquake and a hurricane.

Lets hope next week is dull and boring.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT WHAT MOMMA TAUGHT ME

Everyone has a mother. All mothers teach their children. It's just a matter of what sinks in and what floats on down the drain.

What did you momma teach you?

I'll bet she taught you to share, not be greedy and not to break things that didn't belong to you. Mine did.

My Mom grew up as the oldest girl in a family of six children. She survived the depression, share cropping and raising us on a very small farm. Life was tough, but she was tougher. We learned lots of things. Don't sass Momma was learned very early. We took care of what we had, because we might not get anything else. We respected other peoples property. We respected our elders and ultimately we respected ourselves.

At the estate sale this past week end I was reminded of things my Mom taught me.

There were about 40 people signed up ahead of me. So I knew that when I entered the house that most of the things I was interested in would already be scooped up. Shiny Brites, blow mold Christmas, vintage dresses were some of the things I was interested in. Most of these things were gone when I entered the door. But I didn't worry because it looked like there was plenty to go around.

One lady scooped up all of the Shiny Brite ornies. ALL of them. There were about 6-8 boxes of pristine ornies of all sizes. As I got to the sun room with all of the Christmas goodies, two ladies who were obviously seasoned estate shoppers, were trading things that they had scooped up. One had vintage elves and one had the Shiny Brites. They reached a compromise and moved on. Fine, I have no problem with that.

As I was getting ready to get in line to check out I made one more sweep around the rooms to see if I missed anything. Guess what was back on the Christmas table? Several boxes of Shiny Brite ornies. I went over to check them out.  Surprise, surprise. There were three boxes of ornies back on the table. But wait, what was this...they were broken. Now, I saw the boxes of ornies while the ladies were dividing up the spoils and NONE of the ornies were broken. The boxes were full of unbroken ornies. How did this happen?

My theory? The "lady" who scooped up all of the Shiny Brite ornies carried them around and some got broken while she was looking at other stuff. She didn't want to pay for "damaged goods" so she tossed them back on the table. Now someone bought those boxes I am sure.(I checked on Sunday) But there was absolutely no reason to be so greedy, careless and then not responsible for your actions. Didn't her momma teach her anything?

I realize that a lot of the people at the estate sale were dealers looking for stuff for their shop. I can deal with that. I was there looking for stuff to sell and stuff for myself. I don't have a shop but I do sell on ebay, so I guess that is really a shop. Economic times are bad and it's every man for himself. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!!

What I can't deal with is people who are rude, greedy and destructive. There is no excuse for acting that way.

Mom could have handled them with just one LOOK.

And if that didn't work my Dad would have thumped them on the head.

MONSTER ESTATE MADNESS SALE

As promised I have pictures of the monster estate sale.

While standing in line to give my pint of blood at the estate sale, the lady in charge was talking to customers about the sale and the former owners of the house. It seems that they had another 3 day event in June and sold most of the smalls and some furniture from the main floors of the house.They needed another 3 day sale just to show and sell the attic and basement contents. Buyers were only allowed on the main floor, basement, sun room and solarium this time. The living room was the check out room and about half full of stuff. The main floor consisted of the dining room, kitchen,  three bedrooms, bathroom, garage, sun room and solarium. Downstairs was a completely finished basement with two huge (and I mean huge rooms) a kitchen area and a man's workshop. The mans workshop area was bigger than a single car garage and the finished area of the basement was at least 1800 sq ft.

The original family moved there in 1976 and proceeded to buy everything in sight to fill up the house. One room of the basement was done in orange and owls. The other room was in blue and white. 

The kitchen counters were completely covered in jewelry. The pantry and cabinets were open and filled with kitchen stuff. The garage had tools and garden stuff. The sun room had Christmas stuff and I mean stuff. There were four long tables against the outside wall and they were stacked with everything you could every imagine   for Christmas decorating from the last 50 years. There was a row of stuff down the middle of the sunroom. The solarium had three huge tables piled about 4 boxes high on the table and 2-3 boxes high under the table and boxes linining the wall on one side with  every kind of kitchen gadget you can imagine. The lady of the house was a shopper and a hoarder. But a neat kind of hoarder. She kept everything in their original boxes and never used anything. Oh, in the back yard they had a huge fountain pool on one side(the size of a small swimming pool) and a larger indoor pool on the other side and of course a garden shed the size of a small car. It. was.unreal.

I didn't go to the sale in June, but I can only imagine the amount of stuff that must have been in the house. I arrived Friday at 8am and left at 11:30. I was pooped. I spent just over $135 and this is some of my loot.

Most of this was picked up on Friday. We went back on
Sunday and got there for 50% off. The white box in the
back is a nail care kit(empty) that has never been used
It had the original tag and a  80's brochure inside. The
round box is a 60's sewing box. The measuring cups,
  2 sets, never used still have their original tag. The one
in the celo bag is dated 1957 and came from the Came Lejeune PX.
Vintage Disney placemats, small blow mold snowman.

  5 Wilton cake pans from the 70's, new still in original packaging.
The turquoise plastic set is new 70's. Somewhere between picking it
up and paying for it I lost a fork. A Pyrex vacuum coffee pot
and a Cory pot from the Friday, both never used. Vintage stuffed animals from the
40's and 50's.( Our cat is stalking the bunny.)

Cake pans and three stitchery kits from the 70's, two never
opened and the purse kit opened and never started.Also,
behind the cross is a box crammed full of vintage
ephemera. Ledger pages, drapery samples from the 60's
and old catalogs from the 60's. This lady never trashed
anything!!

 Picked up 7 vintage dresses on Friday and
2 more on Sunday. See the one in back on the
left, blue w/white collar, a vintage maids dress. The
pink on right is an 80's jumpsuit.

And one more picture. This is a plastic chicken. The orange head pops off and the chicken is hollow inside.
I think it is for putting crushed ice in and keeping a veggie tray cool. But I could be wrong. Never seen one before and since it was only 50c, I couldn't pass it up Does anyone know what it is?

What am I?

Any volunteers to help sort, photograph, list and keep track of all of this stuff?
Hope everyone had a great adventure this week end.

HERE I AM.......BURIED UNDER THE STUFF

Well, I have been a bad girl this week.
First, I haven't posted anything.
Second, I went to an estate sale and yard sale-ing.

Let's talk about the yard sale-ing on Saturday. Not too many on craigslist, that sounded good anyway. Just one in our little town and one in the metropolis down the road. Oh well, we don't have to get up that early to go to the one down the road.  The one that advertises that "everything is 25cents". It starts at seven. We stroll down the road at 8ish. And yes, everything in the boxes on the ground is 25c each. What? I don't believe it. Well some of the stuff was overpriced at that price, but some was a good deal.

assorted box of stuff, so so stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

five pairs of colorful shoes, a glass thingy with snowman hat

The shoes were brands I had not researched, but for 25c I thought I could take a chance. Michael Antonio, Jazzberry and luichiny and one pair from Cato. Oh and what is that glass thing with the snowman hat? Why it is a vacuum coffee pot!!

brand new, Cory, the instructions were in the bottom pot.
just needs a new seal on the top pot to create the vacuum

 

 

Of course I had to dig around in 3 or 4 boxes to find all of the pieces. I found them!!!Well technically I had all of the pieces except the glass rod filter when I got home. So I got to thinking that if all of the other pieces were there and the instructions that the glass rod filter was probably in one of the boxes. Right?
Yep, I went back to the yard sale and told the guy what I was looking for and he started looking for it. I started digging too. In less than 5 minutes he found it!!!! Yeah, and he said no charge, it goes with the coffee pot you got earlier. Well, I didn't want it for free, so I gave him 25c for the filter. (It was the least I could do.)

OK, one more yard sale to go. This one was billed as "Worlds Best Yard Sale". Yeah right, we will be the judge of that. When we arrived a gentleman greeted us at the entrance and gave us a pamphlet and explained that his church was having the yard sale. Everything was free, including the hot dogs. What? Let me clean out my ears. Everything is free? Yes, do you need a bag? (No, a wheel barrow will do)

I tried to be conservative and leave some for others.

Lester del Ray, covers not in great shape, but inside is great!!

I couldn't believe that I got all of this for only $6 total.Well, of course, some was free. Cheap is good, and free is even better. I came home with 54c in my pocket!!! I didn't even touch my mad money!!!

I traveled to an estate sale on Friday. The lady of the house was a buying junkie. Hoarder? Yes, and she stored everything in the box and never opened the box and never used the item.!!!!She never threw anything away and put everything back in the box. The kids toys, dishes, jewelry...everything. After I raved about the mountains and mountains of stuff, my daughter wants to return today. So we are off to the estate sale. I hope to sneak a few pics and I will share tomorrow.

I'M SO EXCITED.......

I LOVE yard sales.
Yes, I do. I like getting stuff new in the box for pennies on the dollar. I am super thrifty. I even put my brother, Fuzz, to shame. He is world famous for being cheap. I have beat him up one side and down the other today.

Last week end yard sales were a fizzle. It rained. Of course after lots and lots of days in the 100's it was good to have rain. But I was jonesin' for yard sale fun.

My daughter, Smarta**, and I set out early and hit one near our house. After 1 hour and 15 minutes we decided it was time to leave. I spent $35 and loaded up. I wanted to take my van, famous for hauling all sorts of stuff from 6 states, but we decided to take the car. Big mistake. After our first stop we had to return to home base and unload stuff. The car was full. We unloaded all of the stuff on the front porch. I was trying to imagine the comment SweetiePie would have when he came out the door to go meet us for breakfast. Something like Holy S*** Batman.

This is not all of the stuff we got. My daughter got a wrapping paper storage box with 5 boxes of vintage miniature wooden Christmas ornaments in the bottom, $4. I tried to arm wrestle her for them, but no go.

FOUR strands of vintage patio lights, 2 owl and two plain.
Vintage bakelite radio, pyrex, fabric.

Metal tote is filled with cross stitch books, floss, stuff
5 beaded miniature tree kits. AT&T red phone, spa, coffee
grinder assorted stuff.

Blow mold snowman, magnetic paper dolls
The horse says Madam Alexander.

NIB Bamix, new shoes, new tub tool tote thingy.
One of the boxes of vintage mini ornaments, new
in package.

47 Shiny Brites, vintage, 3 strands of vintage aluminum
tinsel, a vintage pink tree topper.
MINE, MINE, MINE

 I have never in my life seen so many Christmas lights. There were at least 4 big totes with nothing but lights in them. All kinds of porcelain houses, outside deco, furniture, household.

I thought I was in heaven. And they were selling cheap.
Be still my heart!!!!!

WHERE HAS SHE GONE?

I know....I know.....I've been a lazy blogger.
I have left you folks wondering about the minute details of my life;p
Here is what I did today.
I finally unloaded my van.
Now you may think no big deal. Right?

But what you don't know is that my last craft show was May 7. I haven't been hauling the stuff around, it has just been sitting there. First I had to clean out a spot in the garage to put the totes back in. They came out of the garage so they should go back in. Right? Not as easy as it seems. I have stuff. Lots of stuff. If you have ever participated in craft shows you know the deal.. You have spring stuff, fall stuff and Christmas stuff. Lots of stuff. And lots of stuff so you can make stuff.But that is another story and a whole other space.

When I did my last craft show I kinda moved stuff around in my haste to get the van loaded. Therefore, the big mess. Well here it is after I unloaded the van.We have a two car garage and this is my half. SweetiePie keeps a car in his half. My half has a car. Does Matchbox count?

See the Christmas lights on the left? There's a table saw under there, somewhere.

The bare spot on the wall is where I have cleaned out some space for my totes. I have about 25 totes, plus boxes of display items, shelving, Christmas lights, bags for sales and just stuff.

.This is the view from the cleaned out spot. Not a pretty site.
If you need me, I'll be in the garage. It's only going to be 98 today.

JUST HANGING AROUND

Who do you have hangin' around your house?

We have cats...children...SweetiePie and these strange creatures...

Can you tell I have been busy with ebay listings? Shorty is hiding behind the slip because she is NEKKED!!

Thank goodness I have a tolerant SweetiePie...

NO....I DIDN'T FORGET THE CHALLENGE

HA...HA...HA you thought I had forgotten the bag challenge. 

Not a chance. I have just had a lot to do.

I was planning a post yesterday but spent the day with my daughters instead. Had a wonderful time in the hot, hot, hot, and big, big, big thrift store. Found lots of bargains so that means I will be busy taking pics and listing on ebay and bonanza.

A fellow blogger has opened a market place for thrifty finds and hand crafted items. I have linked all of my selling spots there. Here is the link Late Night Marketplace. Lots of fun stuff all in one place. Check everything out.


OKEE DOKEE....on to the challenge. Remember the challenge? See how many reusable bags you can use in one month and how many plastic bags you used.  Since there is no way to validate how many plastic or reusable bags that each one used  in the month of July I have decided on a random drawing.

Just leave a comment and I will pick one by random selection at noon on August 4th. Leave a tally of your plastic bag consumption and I will include a freebie along with your reusable shopping bag.

This is the shopping bag. Vintage bark cloth.

Ok? So lets see how much plastic we saved from the landfill and how much plastic our great grandchildren will not have to deal with. Let me hear those comments.