TOO CUTE....FROM LONG AGO

I love to find bags of stuff...little stuff like sewing notions, knitting and crochet stuff and just lots of stuff. I have had lots of luck with sorting these things into groups and listing on ebay. Sewing notions, vintage, do really well and knitting and crochet needles do really well if you have an assortment rather than just one pair. Everyone likes a bargain.
                                         
So when I spotted this zip lock bag with scissors, needles and just stuff in it I picked it up. I saw a white piece of fabric folded up and thought it was cross stitch fabric. When I got home and unfolded it this is what I found.......absolutely. beautiful. Someone, probably a young mother or a grandmother, put a lot of hard work into this sampler. It is almost finished. Monday's girl just needs the mirror behind her and Thursday's boy need the frame of his bicycle finished. But if I were to frame it I would leave it just like it is.

                                But what makes this find really special is the little note attached, "Buy frame & frame this". I will be listing this this coming week on ebay and the note goes with it, to remind the new owner the proper thing to do with this vintage lovely.

Hope everyone finds something special this week end. Yard Sales....here I come.....

NANA KNOWS HER STUFF

Somehow when you find a box at a yard sale marked "Nana's Xmas Figurines" you hope that Nana had good taste and it isn't the stuff that little Billy made in Bible School.....

This time Nana had good taste. Most of the stuff in the box was Napco, with stickers, no chips and just beautiful.

The little angels singing are flocked which is unusual for Napco, hopefully more money. The taller girls and boy singers are marked Fine Quality "A" Japan and I have sold single ones in the past for $10-12 each. The little elf has spaghetti on her skirt, that gets broken easily and it is perfect.
These little kissing angels are adorable and in perfect condition even though the red glaze is not perfect, it was made as a cheap export from Japan for American consumption. Some of the Napco figures have the original price in pencil on the bottom and are from 1956.
See the scruffly little green trees that have very tiny pipe cleaner ornies on them and are mounted on a slice of tree? They are Napco! I have never seen any of those before.  The Empire State Building and Chrysler Building are S&P and are silver. The little birds are hand carved from the NC mountains craft school. The Moses figure in the back is a molded figure that is old but I can't find any info on him. The knitting needles were in the bottom of the box, a freebie.

And an assortment of other stuff. A tin childs cup with circus figures,  a English Bovril beef bouillion tin,

a fish hook tin filled with hand tied flies(beautiful) and a typewriter ribbon tin. The razor is a Remington Duchess and the green ceramic tile soap dish is from the 40's or 50's.

And a box of Shiney Brites!!  I think Nana had pretty good taste.

I found all of these in one box. The grandson running the yard sale wanted $50 for the entire box because there was a Peter Rabbit plate in the box that was "worth $30 or $40". Well, not with a big crack in the middle!! So I told him I was only interested in the Christmas goodies and he "let me have" the entire kit and kaboodle for $20. I thought that was a good price and whipped my $20 out before he could change his mind.

That was our first yard sale of the day and it turned out to be the best.

IT PAYS TO THRIFT...REALLY

I have been telling my SweetiePie for years that it pays to thrift.

Well, today it finally came true.

I had a hugh bunch of thrifted clothes to run thru the laundry and on my second load I opened the door to the dryer and look what was there.....

I can truly say that I have never found money in anything I have ever thrifted...until now. I was drying a load of mens pants, shorts and jeans. Somebody forgot to check their pockets before donating.

Has this ever happened to you? Feels great!!!

I have found money in parking lots, two fives folded up outside a bar(no I wasn't IN the bar, I worked across the street), $50 in a mall on vacation and various coins on the street.

IN OTHER NEWS......

I have survived tax day. We get a refund.

I have survived my computer crashing, twice in two weeks. I purchased a refurbished CPU on ebay from a company in state and when I called they offered to send me a replacement and a call tag for my old one.
SWEET!!!! So now I am on my second new unit this year. I hope this one is OK with no problems.
I think I will survive ebay. With the moving of my stuff from upstairs to downstairs and moving the nephew in upstairs I had let ebay kinda do its own thing  for a while there because I didn't have any energy left to list new things. I just renewed everything. I was selling but my store numbers were down and I had some issues with some customers  (got them resolved) but lost my Top Rated Sell status. OUCH!! That hurts when it comes to fee discount and the ranking in search listings which ultimately affects sales. I have still had sales but I also have gotten my listings up from 460 to 530. Whew!! The higher number of listings the better the calculated % will be, hopefully. Today is review day, so I will find out in a couple of days.

Now I need to get my butt in gear and get all of this stuff listed as fast as possible so I can earn some coins and bills. Hopefully it will be more than what I found in the dryer.

Happy thrifting!!!

I HATE EBAY...COMPUTER VIRUS...AND TAX TIME

I have had major problems the last week.

Let's just start with my *lovely* computer. It has crashed...twice in the past week. Now it is just sitting there....staring at me with that black, square face and doing nothing. I am going crazy.....crazier...I am back on my *lovely* laptop and will be until I can figure out what is wrong with the desktop. I couldn't even access my blog on the desktop along with other issues.
*feel free to substitute @#$% ^%*& ##@!!! **&^$ for the *lovely*

And I was going to do my taxes today....fat chance....with a busted 'pooter.

So I won't bore you with the details, but I'll be back when two things happen (more or less)
I get my taxes done and
I kill my computer
Which ever comes first.

And I had some good things to share....but they will have to wait.
(Boy, my laptop screen shrank and the keys are soooo close together......)

Well, maybe just one or two things. I went to my super favorite thrift store armed with my discount coupon and found some GOOD things. hot rollers...popcorn poppers(coffee roasters) and some odds and ends. The bad thing was I didn't have to be there at 8am to get the discount. It was good all day, all month. The other bad thing was that the coupon was only 25%. May is the 50% coupon for early in the morning. Oh well, I got there when it was early, only two cars in the parking lot and no crying babies or kids playing in the toy section.  Yeah!!!!!
More after taxes...

Carry on people

ACCIDENTAL APPLESAUCE MUFFINS

Good morning boys and girls. It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood. I think I'll whip up a batch of good ol'  Morning Glory Muffins. We love these muffins. They taste almost like carrot cake, without the cream cheese frosting. They fill you up and they have lots of healthy stuff in them. Of course, SweetiePie hates raisins so I sneak some chopped dates in there and he is none the wiser.  hee hee

Ok lets check out the pantry. Flour, sugar, olive oil, chopped dates, baking soda, cinnamon...We are good to go. Let's get the dry stuff mixed up and then the other stuff.  Done
Ok lets check out the fridge. Carrots....no....apple...no...coconut...no...eggs...yes. Holy smoke when was the last time I had no carrots, no apples, and no coconut in the fridge? Before the dawn of time, I think.

Has this ever happened to you? I had all of the dry ingredients mixed up and had to find a recipe that would go with what I had already mixed up.   Hello internet!!!

Applesauce, I have applesauce...yeah!!!  OK just some tweaking and it WILL work.  I googled applesauce muffins and got a basic one from cooks.com but adjusted it a bit.  These muffins turned out great, spicy and moist and I added a crumb topping to give a little pizzazz.  They were good....yum...yum and I plan on making an accident again.
Do you want to try some?
ACCIDENTAL APPLESAUCE MUFFINS
2  cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 cup sugar, brown or white or mixture of both to equal 1 cup
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs beaten
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla
Mix flour, baking soda, salt, spices and sugar in bowl.
Add applesauce, eggs and butter.
Mix well and pour into greased muffin pan
TOPPING MIX
1/4 cup butter melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oatmeal
1/4 tsp cinnamon, optional
Mix everything together, mixture will be coarse and crumbly(adjust ingredients if necessary) and sprinkle on top of muffins
Bake at 350 for 12-15 min. Makes 12 large muffins
The recipe said that you could keep the batter in the fridge for several days if you prefer to bake fresh every day.
Now go make a cup of tea and sit back and ENJOY.