Yard Sale Finds

We haven't been yard sale-ing much this summer. When we do go, I try and make up for lost time and hope, hope, hope that each yard sale I stop at, something good pops up!

Pickings have been so-so, but we did get lucky and found these adorable doll beds!

 They stack to become bunk beds and the girls really love playing with these.

We've talked about making blankets and pillows but there's so many other projects going on, we haven't gotten a chance yet. Probably later, during the colder months when we're all cooped up in the house, those long-awaited projects will get started. For now, they swipe their old baby blankets from the closet and fold them over to use for their dolls.

Want to guess how much I paid for them?

Two dollars!!

Score!



Yard Sale Finds

I'm not going to complain, but dang! The weather sure has been uncooperative for gardening! Constant raining and chilly temps make it very frustrating. I'm appreciative of the rain, though, grateful that our well should be nice and filled by now, and everything around here is looking green and lush. We drive slow over the bridges to see how high the rivers and creeks are and whether or not they have flooded their banks.

Yard sale season is getting off to a wet start with the rain, and lucky for us, our favorite church holds their yearly yard sale inside the gym. This sale is huge, with rows and rows of tables and organized, too! They give us a head start with the sale starting on Friday. I always find something there-- clothes for the kids, books, toys (not that we need anymore of those!), kitchen stuff... Last year I scored a couple boxes of canning jars.

We did alright this time, not so much kid clothes this time around. Seemed like there were more older kid clothes than the younger set, but as we were going in, there were several ladies who had arms full of bagged clothes walking out the door, so maybe they beat me to it. I picked up some vintage sewing notions, a school dictionary, 3 vintage drinking glasses, a few clothes, cloth napkins, books, and my favorite find: a vintage chinese checkers game.

Still in the original shipping box which was sent from Sears, but no date. I'm guessing 60's? I haven't had the chance to do my homework on this yet.

Regular checkers on one side...

Chinese checkers on the other! Great graphics on this set! I love chinese checkers. I had a set when I was a kid and I wonder if that's what set me off on my love of marbles, too? But my favorite game with marbles? Oh yeah! A winning combination! This is a nice set, there are two inner drawers on the side sandwiched between the games, one side holds marbles, the other holds checker pieces. Some of the pieces are missing, but I can find game pieces to complete the set easily.

I had other vintage chinese checkers game boards up on the wall in the dining room, but then the blue corner hutch took over that space and they came down. I haven't found a new home for them yet... maybe the living room? *eyeing wall appreciatively*

I also found this: an Oil Paint by numbers of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. I've always loved that painting and, if I could afford it, I'd buy the real thing and hang it on my bedroom wall. Guess this is the next best thing and, at $1, it's in my price range! Now if I can find some time to actually paint it... Evelyn has a paint-by-numbers kit, maybe we can paint together while the other little ones are playing outside?

It rained the rest of the weekend, so no more yard sales to go to. It's chilly here, the temps never got above 60 and I actually asked Andrew to start a fire for me. I don't think we've ever had a fire in May! It's looking like another overcast day, but at least it's not raining. I have errands to run in town, so I better skedaddle!

Show And Tell

Yard sale season is gearing up around here. These past few weekends, I have spotted a few signs here and there and even stopped at a couple. Last week, on my way home from errands, I spotted a moving sale sign, but I was in a hurry to get back home before Andrew needed to leave for work. With Mom away at my sister's house, we don't have that freedom of flexibility anymore and we have to be more aware of the time.

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Anyway, the next day, Andrew didn't have to go to work, so I suggested we hit a few yard sales. The moving sale I spotted the day before was first and it looked promising, but upon closer inspection, much of it was junk. Nothing more disappointing to see lots of stuff and nothing worth even making an offer on. The stuff was dirty, in poor condition, or just plain broken. They were even selling a microwave with a busted glass door! It was almost as if they wanted to see if they could sell the stuff before hauling it to the dump.

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On our way out, right by the door, was a pile of games. Dusty and dirty, but an old scrabble game caught my eye-- I've been looking for an extra game for crafting purposes with the letter tiles. A wooden box with a drawing of a castle looked interesting and I grabbed that, too. Boy, am I glad I did!! It's an old wooden block set for building castles, made in Germany. An awesome set!! I'm trying to figure out what it says... I know that baukasten means blocks and 150 teile is 150 pieces, and that's all I got. An online search gave me little to go on. Anyone out there read german?? What does Schlob-Baukasten mean? How about "Ungif tige lacioerung"?? There are some vintage German block sets on Ebay, but nothing like this with a castle theme. Anyway, we've played with this several times and it's lots of fun coming up with different castles. I haven't counted to see if there are 150 pieces yet. I'm sure there are at least a few pieces missing.

It's definitely a keeper! I wish I could find another set to double the fun. There's plenty of bickering among 4 little ones on who has more pieces or 3 kids wanting the same turret. This is one of those toys that gets put away and only comes out with parental supervision.

Not bad for a buck! :o)

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Endless Possibilities

A friend of Andrew's told us that there was a place not too far from us that sold used metal barrels in good condition for cheap. When he told us how much, I thought he was kidding. Turns out, he wasn't.

We knew of the place, in fact, we'd been there before. It's a digger's heaven! They sell everything from marked-down food, yard sale items, those cheap-o tools you find at flea markets, furniture from salvation army with the sale tags still on-- the price crossed off and an even cheaper price written in, and boxes of stuff outside, under a roof that you are free to dig into and get your hands dirty. Beware, though, we found out the hard way, there is only a port-o-potty and no place to wash your hands, so better bring wipes with you!

Anyway, he told us they sold barrels for $7.50 each. Really? No, really??? I envisioned rusty, dirty barrels with films of grease or oil, all dented and banged up. I imagined I'd be half inside scraping out stuck-on bits of black tar and trying to figure out where to dump the chemicals. These barrels were nothing like that. They were clean, in good shape with minimal dings, and once contained fruit juice concentrates. Labels still on them ranged from lemon, lime and apple concentrates. Food grade metal barrels with lids and bands for $7.50? And clean?? What a bargain! We paid and then walked across the street and picked out 4.

We are giddy with excitement at all the possibilities these barrels give us. There's so much we can do with them! We picked these green ones because they are creamy white inside and easier to see if they are dirty and if we decide to use these for food storage, we can see better if there are bugs or rodents in them. The lady we bought them from said she uses them for rain barrels, but I'm kind of hesitant to use metal barrels as rain barrels. We do have a plastic barrel that we plan to use as a rain barrel and sure would be nice to have a 2nd rain barrel but not metal.

I want to go to the local grain mill and see if they will make a custom chicken feed for me and usually to do that, most mills need to make it in batches of 500 pounds or higher. These barrels would be perfect to store all the chicken feed in and that would mean no more almost weekly trips to the farm store for chicken feed.

They would also make good dry food storage barrels for surplus bags of flour, sugar, or rice. Keeping them in the basement in a dry, cool area and we'd have plenty of food to last awhile if the sh!t ever hits the fan.

With some of the less-than-perfect barrels, they could be used in the pole barn for holding farm tools or as garbage cans. They're better than those cheap-o plastic garbage bins. Bigger and sturdier and no worries about cats or other animals getting into them. You could even cut into one and turn it into an outdoor wood stove.

We're already planning to go and get a few more-- we want to replace our cheap-o plastic trash cans and I'm thinking I can take one of the sturdier plastic ones and use that for a rain barrel. No sense in tossing a still good trash can, even if it is cheap-o! The trash can-turned-rain barrel can be the one we use for garden water and I can cut out part of the lid and replace it with a screen to keep out debris and mosquito larvae. I'll use the other plastic barrel by the house for watering the herbs and rhubarb patch, also for refilling the water bowls for the cats and chickens.

My mind is just going crazy with all the possibilities of these barrels!! They had 2 colors-- the green with the white interiors or all blue inside and out. To keep them from mixing, I think we'll get blue for trash and pole barn/farm use and save the green ones for food/grain/storage use. The lady at the store said they go fast in the summer and hard to keep in stock, so we'd best go back soon while there were still plenty to choose from and we can afford to be picky.

Any other suggestions on what we can do with these barrels??
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Recent Finds

I don't live in an area with a lot of thrift stores, which for someone like me, could be a good thing. In our first apartment, we lived in an area with thrift stores nearly every mile or so. We'd spend our days off scouring the shops looking for whatever struck our fancies. Here, yard sales rule! While we haven't been hitting them heavily this year, the few we have gone to, we've done well. Here's a few of my favorite finds:



I picked up this Fire King dish in the Summerfield pattern for free. Yes, free. They had fishing lures in it for 25 cents apiece and I just wanted the dish. When asked how much for the dish, she let me have it. Ooooo-kay! I'm not gonna argue! Sadly, a couple of days later, the dish got knocked off the shelf and a chunk of the handle chipped off, but it's still usable. I won't be able to turn around and sell it, but I'll probably use it for holding craft supplies or something.

A recent sale had loads of boy clothes in Peter's size and I had fun rummaging through clearly-marked bins for warmer winter clothes. Usually, clothes are piled up and you have to check each tag for sizes, and I dread going through those-- I have limited time and if Peter is with me, he's usually running off or struggling in my arms to get down. This sale had them neatly folded and sorted and I really appreciate that. I scored a bunch of tops, bottoms, long sleeve pajama sets, and some shoes for Peter. When I got home, I found that two of the pajama pants had bad elastic waists. The rubber rotted and no longer had any stretch. An easy fix and I had elastic on hand, so a quick sit-down at the sewing machine and they're good as new again!

I have a thing for vampires. No idea why, just always have. Not that I want to be a vampire or get bitten by one, but I guess it's just the mystery of the unknown. I devoured Ann Rice's Vampire series when I was a teen, then I dove right into the Twilight books (but I don't care for the movies), and right before we canceled our satellite, I watched an episode of True Blood on HBO and was just a teeny bit disappointed I wouldn't be able to see what happened next. I always meant to check out the books, but never remembered the author's name or the original title of the series. Lo and behold-- the entire Sookie Stackhouse series for 70 cents! That's 10 cents per book! And I don't have to wait to read the next one either! I've already read 3 and they are so enjoyable, something I can really sink my teeth into! (har har) I'll have to see if I can find the True Blood series on dvd.. hmm.


I saw something similar to these in a magazine ad: skeleton salad servers at one of those pricey home goods stores for $20 a set. They were so cool! Andrew and I love Halloween and we're getting ready to start pulling out the decorations and get into the spooky spirit. The only thing I didn't like was the price tag, so I knew I'd never go to the store (which is far away) or even bothered to check online for one of those. Then we went to Target the other day and found these at half the price. Pretty similar to the ones I saw in the ad, though I don't have the magazine anymore and I'm too lazy to check online. I don't need them, but they're so cool and our salad tongs did break over the summer, so technically, we do need them. But really, I was just excited to spot them! They were the very last pair left, except for some cheap-o plastic ones, but I wanted the metal ones; they're sure to last longer. I'm looking forward to the next time I make salad for dinner so I can use them!

Any good finds for you lately?

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Table for 7 (or 8, or 9, or 10...)

With 4 children and 3 adults gathering for meals everyday, and Peter not content to sit in the high chair anymore, it quickly became apparent that we needed a bigger table. Andrew's grandparents' red formica table comfortably seats 6 with the leaf in and with guests, we had to squeeze in a couple of chairs in the corners. It was time to find something bigger.

I'd been keeping an eye out for a new table-- watching the sales ads, checking prices at stores, looking around at the thrift shops. I even considered making one by getting new banisters from the hardware store for the legs, and then using planks from one of the many sawmills around here and creating a farm-style table. It's been a few months since we started searching; new tables are out of our price range and the ones at yard sales haven't won us over.

I stopped at the local thrift shop a couple weeks ago, looking for something else when I spotted a table. Oh! I immediately fell in love with it, but there was another lady looking at it and I didn't want to rush over and push her into buying it when she sees another interested party. After she walked away (whew!) I moseyed on over and casually looked at it, pretending I wasn't really interested in it. But I couldn't resist, it was just perfect for what we needed. Damn! Andrew wasn't with me so I couldn't ask him, and I was 99.9% sure that he'd like it too, but still, I hate to buy something big without his input.

I asked the worker there if there was any way they could put it on hold for me, and she suggested putting down 25%, but it was non-refundable and if Andrew didn't like it, I'd be out that 25%. I pleaded a little bit, saying I didn't want to buy something large without my husband's approval and I'd send him right over as soon as I got home-- about an hour it'd would take him to get there: 30 minutes for me to get home and 30 minutes for him to come up. The worker called the manager over and she looked me up and down, perhaps assessing whether I was sincere or just wasting their time, but she agreed and said they'd hold it for me!! Eeeee!! I was so happy, I left in a rush, telling them that a bald-headed guy would be in soon, that his name was Andrew and thanked them several times before leaving the store.

As soon as I got home, Andrew came out to meet me in the driveway to help unload the van and I told him to get to the thrift shop as fast as he could. Bless his heart, he knows when I am serious and I would only tell him to go if there was something really worth checking out. He wasted no time, turned around, went back into the house and changed his clothes, got his wallet and keys and left.

It was still there-- they had put a 'sold' sign on it and just as I thought, he liked it too. He paid for it and brought it home and it's the perfect size for us, with a little room leftover for guests and no squeezing either! No chairs, so I am on the look-out for chairs, but for now, the old chairs we used with the formica table will do.

Not too sure what kind of wood it is, mahogany maybe? Something else? The leaf folds under for storage so no worries about where to store it if we didn't need it. It's not perfect, there's a spot where someone left a hot iron and you can tell there was a lace tablecloth on there once, since I can see a lacy pattern in the finish in some places. Someday I'll refinish the top, but for now, we are using a tablecloth to prevent any more damage to the top. Knowing my kids, there's bound to be spilled drinks and messy meals.

It has nice detailing on the corners, brings to mind the art deco style. And a neat feature is when you pull the top apart for the leaf, the legs don't move, they stay put. Much nicer than having to struggle with the whole table to pull apart or shut the top.

We put the girls all on one side and it's nice, they seem to be eating better than before. Like Gretchen sees her sisters eating something and she is more likely now to eat it rather than pick at it. We put Peter between Andrew and I and we can both encourage him to eat instead of just me, and I can actually eat my food before it gets cold because Andrew can help with his food, too.

We've already had 2 extra people eating with us for a total of 9 people, and there is still plenty of room for all of us to eat comfortably. I'm so glad we got this table and for the people at the thrift shop that made an exception and held it.

There is also a matching cabinet that goes with the table and we hated to separate them, so we got that too. It's in the living room for now, and still empty, until we decide what to do with it. I'm thinking of moving the games into the lower cupboard and then displaying some of our pretty things in the glass area. We thought about moving it into the foyer area, but the thermostat is in the way, so that's out. Just might leave it where it is, it's an unused corner anyway, so hmm... wait and see.

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Afterthoughts

Have you ever had an afterthought that turned out well? A last-minute move that you didn't plan on taking and landed you in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? I had one of those the other day!

I had to run into town-- a missed appointment that turned into a month-long phone-tag game and I finally gave up and went to the office in person to schedule a new appointment. I wasn't planning to go to the Library, they have new hours and close early on Tuesdays, but since I was so close, only a few blocks away, I might as well go. I had Peter and Sylvia with me. Sylvia is old enough, at 4, to know how to behave and not run around the children's section like a maniac. Peter, on the other hand, let's just say I got some eyeballing from the other patrons there. As I checked out the dvds, I noticed the sign for the book sale they have going on the upper level. With Peter screaming like he was, I had no intention of staying a second longer than necessary, but then, he suddenly calmed down and he was quiet. What the hell-- I'll make a quick run upstairs and see what they got.

Normally, because it's such a small Library, the book sale is not much to look at.. a few tables with books lined in rows, spine up to see the titles, and this sale was no exception. A few random squeals from Peter squirming around in my arm and I almost didn't go around to the other side of the tables, but as before, he suddenly quieted and I went ahead and checked. Lo and behold! Quite a few volumes of the Life Nature Library Series!

22 books total! I haven't researched, yet, to see how many volumes in the set there are supposed to be, maybe 24 I'm guessing, but I am so pleased that my afterthought to the Library paid off! Other than smelling a little musty, the books are in pretty good shape, and the ones I checked, dated 1978. They will be added to our little homeschooling Library. For the most part, I'm not too worried about the age of the books, there haven't been a whole lot of changes with some of the topics and they'll mostly be used for leisure reading. I'll be encouraging the kids to look through these and come to us with any questions.

Any good finds for you lately??

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Feelin' (Not So) Blue

Memorial weekend around here means 4 days of yard sales, so went spent a few hours each day hitting the sales, looking for that elusive vintage metal bed. No luck on the bed, but we did find a few other things.
Like this blue corner hutch. Ain't it sweet? The blue is growing on me and I like how it pops with the yellow wall behind it. I'll be taking off the hearts on the bottom and I'll try and color-match the paint to touch up the spots here and there. It was ~only~ 20 bucks! A steal for solid wood furniture!

At another sale, we picked up the items you see on the shelves: sweet vintage tin cake carrier with an asian design on it, promoted by Uneeda Biscuit Co*., which later became Nabisco (*see bold lettering). A near mint vintage Fisher Price clown car pull along toy (I'll sell that later), and a cookie/candy tin to add to my collection of english-made tins. At the same yard sale, I found some extra nice children's clothing for Fall/Winter for only 50 cents apiece, and a brand new Discovery Toys Labyrinth game. Looking forward to playing that with the kids.

At a different yard sale, I scored 11 of these great Hazel-Atlas half-gallon canning jars! $7 for all of them and I'm pretty pleased about that! They sell half-gallon Ball jars brand new for about $10 each around here. I don't actually can with these, but I use them for juice, teas, wine and syrup in the fridge. I'm really trying to use less plastic for food storage and these jars will sure come in handy for that.

The last yard sale we went to felt more like a museum than a yard sale. I didn't have my camera with me at the time or else I would have taken pictures. Everything was vintage and in near-mint condition! The people must have spent years collecting the stuff, and they were either down-sizing their collections or running out of room and something had to go. There was a sweeeeeet mustang for sale that Andrew drooled all over, garage-kept and in perfect condition; lots of mint vintage games and toys, christmas decorations, collector's items models and posters and more. We enjoyed looking at everything, and I picked up a couple things-- chinese checkers in the original box, a box set of children's puzzles and christmas tree metal icicles. I think I could have easily bought more, but I have my own basement full of stuff that I need to get rid of.

I passed up on a lot of pyrex bowls and other glass dishes... I love them, but I really do have too many bowls. I sold quite a few of them on ebay and I still have more I need to whittle out and keep only my absolute favorites. We'll be having a yard sale of our own this summer, for sure!

Find anything good lately?

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Like New!

Remember this?

A steal at only $15, yes?

Finally, 2 years later, it has gotten a new paint job:

Ta-dah!

I am loving the new color! We have been working hard this year to make the house, yard, and garden all come together and look nice and so far we have been doing pretty well. This is another step closer to making our new patio area look good.

Now if I can just get the kids to stop pulling out what I've just put away and leaving it all around the yard!

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Lighting Up My Corner

Yard sale season is starting up around here and I am raring to go! We didn't get out much last summer-- money, gas, money; but this year promises to be a little bit better and I have plans to go yard sale-ing! I already had some good finds at the yard sales last Saturday, and I found this little gem of a lamp:

It's the nicest glass lamp I've seen in a while and I just love it! It was in a box all jumbled together with other stuff and when I pulled it out, it had $3.00 written on a piece of tape stuck to it. I picked out something else and asked the guy how much, and he shrugged and said "a dollar?" Sold!!

Not bad for 50 cents, eh? Look at the pretty detail in the base.. I thought I might need to rewire it, but the cord is sound and it looks like someone else rewired it 20 years ago or so... So all I needed to do was find a shade for it.



Perfect! I have been looking for just the right lamp for my nightstand, and have been changing out the lamps for quite some time now. I think I must have gone through 6 or 7 of them so far, none of them feeling quite right.

Here's a corner shot.. I think it looks perfect!

It takes me quite a while to decorate, I have to live with the space to get a feel for it and then I can decide what I want to put there. I still have a couple of items I want to hang on the wall, but I need to finish them first. It is slowly getting there!

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Find anything good lately?

Work in Progress...

This is my latest project:

The coolest couch ever! We picked this up at the thrift shop last week, for a mere $40 WITH 2 matching side chairs. YES, a 3-piece set for only $40. How could I pass that up?

We happened to be visiting my Mom in Virginia, with the van, so we had to hurry home so Husband could return with the truck. My original intention for going into the thrift shop was for another dehydrator-- but you know how it is: when you want something, you can't find it; when you don't need it, there it is!

It's solid wood (hickory?) and after bringing it home and looking it over, we discovered a date:: 1934! The original nails are square! It's in really good condition, only a little loose on one side, which I spent the afternoon tweaking and tightening and one of the arms was reallllly loose, the brace underneath was about ready to fall off, so I made a new brace which now makes the whole couch quite solid now.

The springs are SHOT! I have a re upholstery book that tells me how to fix this, but in both of the side chairs, someone removed the springs and put boards across. It works well, so in that same afternoon of tweaking the frame, I removed all the old springs and cut out boards to fit. I wouldn't have been able to fix the springs anyway, I discovered, because several of the braces underneath each row of springs were completely broken off.

The cushions, I'm not sure if they are original to the frame, but they are recovered and inside them are also spring cushions. I have plans to replace them as well, but they do alright for now. Much better, actually, since I put in the boards on the bottom. You can see the color of the cushions in the top photo on the bottom right corner. The cushions are heavy! wow! I may call up a reupholsters place and ask if they know the history of such cushions and see if I can figure out if they are worth saving or at least the date of them.

The set looks really good in the living room, and I can't wait to show the final project, after I get the cushions done. Now I have the fun of looking for fabric!

From This, To That!

We are working hard to clean up and get rid of the clutter around here. It's not as easy as one might think, because as soon as I get one surface cleaned off, in come 4 little ones with their (pick one) puzzles/books/drawing paper and markers/barbies/etc., which then get dumped on the formerly clean surface. *sigh!*

I started with the basement and got new cupboards to help corral school supplies and craft supplies, but then we moved my Mom's things into the basement and I cannot get into the cupboards anymore. So I need to set up a new school area upstairs. We have a fairly large living room, so I'm going to use a corner for keeping school supplies handy.

Now... what to keep the supplies in. Hmmm...

I found this nice, old wire basket at a yard sale a couple weeks ago. It looks like it would be just the right size...

Voila! A handy dandy carrier for keeping markers and construction paper all in one place! I'll be adding a recycled, cleaned can to the corner and attach it with wires, to hold scissors and glue sticks. I so love it when I can re-purpose something like this into something I need.

Now, if I can just re-purpose something to make a bounce shield for my clean surfaces so that when the kids put something down, it'll bounce right off! :o)

Thrifty Finds

We went to the thrift stores, yesterday and today, hoping to score another dehydrator for my apples. It'd be nice to have two dehydrators going, working twice as fast. We found one, but it only had two trays and they were asking a bloated $25 for it. bah! I got the two I have for way less than that. I'll just keep looking and hope I can score another dehydrator soon.

I have been on the lookout for the Bobbsey Twins books. I read the whole set when I was about 8 or 9 and then moved onto Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Oldest is a voracious reader and I am trying to get her some classics and other stories for her to read. The used book store we frequent sells Bobbsey twin books for $5 apiece (too much!). I found a flea market that was selling some for $2.50 each (eh). Then today, at the thrift shop, I found 9 books for $1 each (whoo-hoo!)!! I bought them all! I am so excited and can't wait for Oldest to read them! I may read them with her!

I also found another Bobbsey Twins book (not pictured) at a yard sale for 25 cents, so that gives me 10 books in all.

At the same yard sale where I found the lone Bobbsey Twins book, I found the complete set of Childcraft books at a yard sale for $10! I was so excited! They had lots and lots of older books and vintage children's items, and I think I would have bought more if I had the money, but I was pretty satisfied with finding the whole set of Childcraft. This is a great asset to our home schooling lessons.

At the thrift store yesterday, I came across THREE of these Texas Ware melamine splattered mixing bowls! They are so hard to find and go for a pretty penny on ebay, so I was really happy to find these. Especially 3 of them! After I got home and washed them, I discovered a crack in one of them, so that will be my new scraps bowl. I'll be posting these for sale in my etsy shop this week. *Teena, you want one?? If you do, I save it for you and sell the other one.*

Flea Market!

We went to the local flea market on Saturday. I can't tell you how much I love that place! It has grown over the years and now there are also a ton of little cafes that pop up. These little cooking trailers that travel from place to place and they set up tables under a canopy so you can eat in the shade. One of them was all mexican food and I really want to try them one day.

Before we had kids, a bunch of these cars would have made their way home with us. Hubby loves old toys and cars and through him, I have learned to appreciate them as well. We have a nice little collection of cars, so no more for us.

I love the pattern on these punched tin cabinet doors. If the price was right I think this may have been mine on the spot, but they were asking a lot and at this point, I don't need any more furniture. We need to have a big yard sale of our own and clear out some stuff in the basement. But still.. if money was not an issue, this would have looked nice in the dining room with the yellow walls.

Don't you just love, love, love this chair?! Oh my gosh! This is so cute! I gushed over this-- a bad thing to do if you want to haggle the price down-- and it was a perfect fit for all the kids, but we don't need anymore kid-sized chairs. It was just so cute, though! Had it been an adult-sized chair, then that would have been a different story. I can just see that by my bed, sitting down to read for a bit, or using it for my future sewing room.

None of these items came home with us, but the girls all scored a bunch of barbie dolls to replace the ones the dog chewed up. There is always that one booth, though, that sells over-priced barbies and the girls beg and plead to get them, and then Hubby and I have to practically drag them away, kicking and screaming, looking for another booth selling barbies for $1 or less. They have to use their own money to get them so we are trying to teach them the value of money and looking around some more before buying the first thing you see.

Flea markets are so much fun! We get to go out and see all the stuff people bring out and it's a little history lesson sometimes for the kids. You never know what you'll find and we like that aspect of it.

New Old Bed

We moved a lot when I was a kid. Started out in Illinois, then to an RV in Louisiana, a condo and several apartments in Virginia, a house in Maryland, up until I went out on my own.

Living in a RV meant there was no need for furniture, so most of our furnishings were sold or given to my Grandmother to hold for us. 25 years ago, when we gave up the RV and moved to Virginia, my uncle sold us some of his furniture and we picked up pieces here and there. My mom liked to hunt for treasure in the trash and in the dumpsters, and living in apartments was a treasure trove of stuff. Mom found this old bed for me from one of her jaunts. It was painted this awful pale green color but I lived with it, then I moved out and went my own way and Mom kept the bed for herself after my parents separated. She painted it white and it looked so much better than that green that was on there.

Now that Mom's home is officially sold and her things are here, she has given the bed back to me to give to one of my girls. After much thought, I gave the bed to Middle. It seems to fit her the best, though there was much protest from her sisters.

The bed looks great in their room, the white pops against the pink walls and it truly seems like a princess bed as the girls like to call it. It could use a fresh coat of paint, but for now, it's perfect the way it is.

I remember when I slept on it, I would poke the paint out of the tiny holes in the headboard with a toothpick. I never finished and then after Mom painted it white, some of the holes are blocked up again. I told Middle she could finish what I started and she seemed like she would, but only time will tell.

Middle is happy to sleep in her "new" bed and I am happy to see it passed on. To whomever threw it away: You don't know what kind of happiness you tossed, but I'm glad to have it now!

Nails, Bowls and Flowers

How was your weekend? Mine? Let's just say it started out on the wrong foot- literally!

One of the advantages of living in a small town is that when you step on a nail and need to go to the emergency room, the small town hospital on a Friday night looks like this:

empty!

There were only 5 cars in the parking lot and I'm betting they all belonged to the hospital workers. The waiting room was empty and the nurses looked happy to have someone to attend to. Oh, how did I step on a nail? In the process of building our chicken coop, we have to take apart some pallets. One of the wood pieces had an old nail sticking out and it wasn't properly taken care of right away. You can rest assured that they will be now! Went right through my shoe! Ouch ouch ouch! I had to get a tetanus shot. Double ouch ouch ouch!

Saturday, even with a sore foot, I was determined to hit some of the first yard sales of the season. I'm so glad I did! The weekend was totally redeemed with this great set of mixing bowls.

Look at the detail! Lovely raised diamond motif with leaves and columns all the way around and scalloped edges. So nice!

Look at the pink one! Ohhh purty! It's not very often I can find a complete set of mixing bowls that date back to the 20's or 30's like these. Guess how much I paid for the set? $50? $25? Try $10! Eeeeee! Only $10! I could easily sell the set for ten times as much, but I think these will stay with me, at least for now.

We also got some garden planting done, a row of potatoes and peas went in. The coop made a little bit of progress and we did some burning around the edges of the property.

The girls picked flowers for me and there is nothing more lovely than daffodils in a mason jar while eating lunch. Just a little tip: be sure to check for spiders in the flowers before you bring them in the house!

The Yard Sale Gods Are Shining Upon Me!

I had very good luck at a yard sale this past weekend.

It was my first yard sale of the year and I really needed a fix.

I spotted this table in the corner, a yellow tablecloth on it and things piled high on it,

but the stripey green and white legs called out to me.

I lifted the tablecloth and I knew this was going to come home with me--

as long as the price was right.

It changes from a square table to a round one.

In fine shape but eventually I will have to re-do the top,

by way of removing several layers of paint and then repainting it.

The legs are in perfect shape.

I asked the lady, "How much?"

She looked at the stuff on it, made a face and then said, "10 dollars?"

"I'll take it! Add the tablecloth, too?"

I hung the tablecloth on the line when we got home, then it rained shortly after and all those stains you see on there? Gone! I'll wash it and see how clean it gets, but it's a lovely tablecloth, don't you think?