Confessions of an Avid Junker, and a Friday's Finds Recap

THE PLEDGE

I am a hoarder

But I can change

If I have to

I guess

(with apologies to Red Green and the members of Possum Lodge)

Last weekend I hauled a pick-up load of accumulated "stuff" up to my sister-in-law Claudia's house and together we put on a massive one-day yard sale. Even with all my junk, Claudia's trove dwarfed mine. (I had to say that!) Decades of dedicated collecting have definitely reared up to bite us on our middle-aged posteriors, and the stark realization was most embarrassing.  (I cringed when I heard one woman get out of her car and exclaim, "What happened here? Did somebody die?")

It was an exhausting ordeal, and the upshot is, both Claudia and I have committed ourselves to achieving a less cluttered lifestyle. No more indiscriminate nabbing of vintage goodies. It will be a strict regimen, and I will only allow myself to fondle the merchandise before resolutely replacing it on the table and stepping away empty-handed. Or mostly empty-handed. Only the best shall be allowed to come home!

In case either one of us should be tempted to err, I post these photos of shame to keep us humbly walking the straight and narrow pathway of bargain austerity:

I hate to tell you, but this isn't even the half of all the stuff we had to sell.

These two photos above were taken the night before the sale. We were attempting to set it up in 104 degree heat.

It looks a lot smaller and more respectable in these photos, somehow, than it did in real life!

 We braved the heat valiantly and by mid-afternoon, we were offering everything at half price, just to get rid of it. By four o'clock, we were giving it away. Anything to avoid having to rebox it and restore it!  The bits that were left were donated to our local hospice care thrift shop.

Okay, having come clean about my murky identity as a "junkie", I do have to admit that my husband (I'm blaming him, yes) has already hauled me off to some local sales. BUT I have been very good and only purchased the things that were (to me) the creme de la creme and I'm being a penny-pinching skinflint, to boot. I do have to have some new stuff  to put in the shops, after all!

Here's what I have to show you today...little finds for which I paid 25 cents apiece:

 

I LOVE these greeting cards!  They're huge--9 1/2 inches by 7 1/2 inches, and they've never been used. They'd be wonderful framed. I think these will sell well (when I can bear to part with them--it may be a few days) and  help raise money for Mimi the pomeranian's veterinary bills. I found these undiscovered treasures in the back of a box of children's books at a garage sale about a mile from home today. I'm surprised (and delighted) no one else snapped them up, but either they didn't find them, or they just don't like vintage. Poor souls.

Also costing a whopping quarter were these interesting 1950s ballpoint pens in their original box. (These actually were a "Friday Find".)  The ink is dried up/used up, but the value here is their collectibility. Arpege and Chanel No.5  perfumed writing pens with "14 KT. GOLD FILAGREE" design. I didn't even know such things ever existed!  I looked these up on ebay and they're definitely selling, anywhere from $9 to $26. 

I was pondering these interesting and quite old sunglasses (?) when Claudia mentioned how much these sorts of things are being sought out by the steampunk crowd. I think these date to the 30s or 40s. I shall test the waters and see how these sell.

Lastly, I got a big bundle of unused vintage Christmas cards, all the same design. Okay, I actually paid 50 cents for these, not a quarter!  But there are about twenty of them, and I'm thinking I'll sell some, and use my large Fiskar's punches to cut some into gift tags. I also have some vintage Christmas playing card decks I want to use for this purpose.

Okay, I'd better sign off for now. I've a bride's lace bag to complete, and a house that is crying out for some custodial TLC. When I finish the bag, I'll post photos--the ones I've made for the bridesmaids are really special, and I'm excited about how the project is shaping up!

  

Friday Finds: 55 Cents and What It Bought

Last Friday I didn't make it out to any garage sales, but today my husband and I found a few good ones.  We did have to hit some total duds first, but after three of those, we happened upon a seniors' mobile home park sale, and that was when things got interesting. (And by the way, this is a great tip if you're looking for vintage items at good prices--look for sales in retirement communities. They almost always yield "good junk".)

I'm only going to show a few of the nifty gems I managed to find--I don't want to make this post too long. But I thought it would be fun to show you just how much you can get for less than the price of a candy bar if you get out and scout about.  It won't happen every time you go out (if it does, drop me a line and tell me what region you're from so I can hopefully get in on the fun sometime) but when it does, it's the ultimate cheap thrill.


Today, I nabbed the following:

 All but one of these items, the little flowered trinket box, came from a single sale.  An older woman was selling off things from her parents' estate, and she was more concerned with clearing it out than with making a profit. Very nice for me! 

 Among a number of other wonderful items, which I'll show you in another post some time, I got these two pretty embroidered holiday towels.  Not a stain on either one, no tears, and beautifully hand worked.  "Would ten cents each be all right?" the lady asked anxiously. It was the same with the little pink California pottery deer figurine. Another 10 cents ("Is that all right?" she inquired.) and now I'm up to 30 cents. Then at the far end of the table, I came upon the most wonderful vintage box with fabulous bright graphics. She wanted 25 cents for it, and I would gladly have paid that much even if it had been empty, just because it's so cool. The Whopper Box. Is that great or not? Yet, to add the cherry to the sundae, it was filled with unused, mint condition small coloring books, all dated 1956!

 This is less than half of the little booklets contained in the box. Lots of fun paper ephemera here for a crafty person. It will be fun to see how these sell.

After ten minutes or so I left this sale, and we were about to head out when we spotted one more in the park. It wasn't as intriguing as the other I've described, but the seller did have a "Free" box.  And in it, I found the pink plastic trinket box. I also got some vintage jewelry but, as I say, that tale is for another time.
So, all in all, a nice little haul for a tiny expenditure. Even figuring in the gasoline, it's still not bad!

And now for the Peppy report:

It's been a week now since Peppy got the all-clear from the vet to start returning to his pre-surgery activities.  As advised, we're "making haste slowly" and so far, Peppy is doing a bit of trotting (no all-out running yet) and he will go down stairs unaided.  And he'll come up the two steps of the front porch by himself some of the time.

It's plain he doesn't have much strength or spring in his knees yet, and I've no intention of urging him to do more than he chooses to do himself.  He prefers to be picked up to get on the couch rather than using the doggy stairs, and he hasn't attempted to climb the full staircase yet at all.  The hair on his back legs is beginning to grow back, but it's still a funny sight to see his skinny back legs attached to the beautiful silky coat he sports on his front half!  It makes him look top heavy like he's going to take a header and land on his nose if he's not careful.

Now I've got to get prepared to have Lollia spayed.  I want to manage that sometime after the near-constant rains have stopped, so she won't be getting the incision wet.  I wish I didn't have to have her spayed, but I know it's healthier for her in the long run, and she's just quirky enough that I'm uneasy with the idea of passing bad genes on through her pups. It's too bad, though, because she would be a wonderful mother.

This is definitely going to be the summer of the dog surgeries...

 

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime: This Week's "Friday Finds"

Well, here it is, another Friday...  No doubt you've been waiting with baited breath for my latest post about garage sale treasures I've uncovered.  Shopping vicariously, as it were. My husband thought it was a very boring day at the sales and the only purchase he made was a vintage walkie talkie in the original box.  I, on the other hand, nabbed a number of vintage goodies.

Okay, let's start with the sublime stuff.  It's not my usual forte, I must admit, as I am passionately addicted to items more accurately categorized as "tacky".  However, this morning I was privileged to stop at the garage sale of a most delightful lady who, having lost her husband of 25 years some time ago, had decided to sell her wedding items. We had a great time talking and laughing about wedding fashions and how they've changed over the years, and upshot is, I bought her gorgeous veil and pretty yellow and blue wedding cake topper.  She let me have them at a great price, which I appreciate.  The cake topper will definitely go up for sale, and I'm weighing my options with the veil:  To sell, or to keep for a wonderful dress-up item for my granddaughter when she's old enough to enjoy it?

What else did I get?  Oh, yes, a number of 25 cent bargains!  A 1959 Scholastic paperback of Black Beauty (retold version for younger readers), a nifty plastic something-or-other which I assume is some sort of sachet or scent holding device, the cutest little decorated matchbox (which also came with a stack of attractive homemade greeting cards, very nicely done), a vintage autograph album from the seventies, still in its original shrink wrap, and a wonderful vintage boy's cap of green corduroy with earflaps, dating from the 1970s.

I also got this pretty little mob cap:

This will probably end up in the dress-up stash I'm collecting, but I may "steal the plans" and attempt to sew some as well.  I have beautiful flocked fabric--real vintage, not this cheesy imitation stuff--and it would be fun to give it a try.  Meanwhile I have been wearing it and giving my son grave concern over my sanity.

But the piece de resistance (or, as my best junking buddy Claudia, and I refer to it, "The Big Kahuna") of the day was this most extraordinary crocheted poodle bottle cozy.

Those of you who follow this blog (don't worry--the names have been changed to protect the innocent) will know I have a thing for crocheted poodle toilet paper cozies, but this is a new one for me.  Why this poor fellow has a pom pom on the tip of his nose is anyone's guess, but it certainly does render him unique.  As my husband said, "It's so dumb, it's funny."  I had a blast all the way home making him dance and cavort about the passenger seat.  (Okay, I admit it!  It was a lap dance!)  And no, the liquor bottle is not mine!

I have wonderful plans for this cozy, but you will have to await the unveiling, as I am still finishing up on the other pack of poodles I wrote about last week.  I didn't finish them, unfortunately, but I did make some headway with them before breaking ranks and launching into the new pattern I bought for a crocodile-stitch shawl.  It took a bit of trial and error, and I watched some youtube video tutorials as well, but now it's going along famously and it's great fun!  My son says it reminds him of chain mail.  Now there's an idea!!

Peppy is doing quite well now at 3 1/2 weeks past his surgery.  He goes out on a leash several times a day for short strolls about the yard, and he's taking a proper interest in activities around him once again.  Today he was pleased to peer and sniff at something enticing outside the fence, probably a rabbit.

As you can see, Pep's putting weight on both his back legs now.  He even tries to run--good thing he's on a leash!

 

He's looking very contented, don't you think?