SLEEPY KITTIES AND THRIFTY FINDS

Since I have no memory to speak of any more I try to jot down a few words when I get back in my car after a sale, to remind me of things I want to include in my blog. But more than once I've found that my notes are too cryptic to jog any of the memory cells I've still got left.

The latest says simply: Wrong way.

No idea what it refers to. Did I see someone going the wrong way? Did I go the wrong way? Was someone doing something the wrong way, or did I overhear a conversation about some wrong way? But don’t worry, this will not drive me crazy wondering what the heck it was about, because about ten minutes after I write this I will have forgotten what I was writing about. My motto: embrace your geezerhood!

The first sale on Saturday was on Peace Street. Doesn’t that seem like a good place to start? Bought a big plastic container with many, many sheets of expensive scrapbooking paper. Not sure what I'll do with them (other than not scrapbooking) but it's really nice paper. I'll think of something. The seller told me she no longer does scrapbooking. I admitted it's one of those things I've never felt that I got. She said it seemed to her like the modern equivalent of a quilting bee; she must have been a social scrapbooker. She also laughed and said that it was one more thing for people to spend their money on, and that some of this papers originally cost a dollar a sheet.

I stopped at several sales that were fundraisers, the largest for a church preparing to send a group to Africa for a month. As I was paying for a couple of items, one of the men standing nearby grinned at me and said, “Your hat makes your eyes pop.” I was wearing my denim sun visor and yes, my eyes are blue. I laughed and batted my eyes at him. Then the phraseology made a cartoon character jump into my mind, so I used my hands to indicate my eyes popping out on stalks. Okay, you had to be there, but the amazing thing was that all of the 4 or 5 people listening got it and everyone cracked up. One of the other guys said, “You know, like your eyes stand out.” Which made me laugh even more. “That sounds more like the cartoon version,” I told him. The first guy said, “It was a compliment. Really!”

Across the street was a lady who really liked my car, especially the color (it's dark green). I told her I'd recently noticed that 95% of cars today are black, white, gray or beige. We looked around—the street was full of cars and yup, only mine and one other were not one of those colors. She said she was probably going to become obsessed with watching cars now. When I left she shouted, “Goodbye, Miss Hotrod!”

Around the corner I noticed a couple of those robotic sweepers, Roombas, on a driveway. I asked if they worked but the guy said they both had issues, and that sometimes people liked to part them out to build robots. Then he started telling me what a great tool it is. I wanted to run right out and get one—the company should film this guy. He said he’s an engineer, and he took his newest one to work to show all the other guys how it works. Can't you just see an office full of engineers excitedly gathered around a little robotic vacuum cleaner?

It was a low-pet day, but I had no trouble getting a picture of Arlie:

Her owner said she began setting up her sale at 5 a.m. and as soon as she put the sheepskin on the driveway Arlie had settled in and slept there ever since. I didn’t think the sheepskin would sell, because not only would no one want to interrupt Arlie’s nap, Arlie was not going to budge. I spoke to her and scratched her head, and all I got was eyes slightly open and a soft “Murp” before she went back to sleep.

I spent $18.75 and came home with:

A silk lampshade to try on the brass floor lamp we got a few weeks ago. Not sure this will work, but the price was within my gambling tolerance.
A few gifts—some cute flannel jammies...who knew Victoria’s Secret made flannel pj’s with dogs on them—

or that they have signature buttons?)…
…a copy of High School Musical for someone I know has never seen it…
…and a sweet vintage butterfly pin to put in my mother’s birthday card in a couple of weeks. Hey sis, don’t tell!
I picked up a couple of items for the children’s librarians I work with—stack of felt squares for making flannelboard stories
and a wonderful porcupine hand puppet.
These vintage linens all have spots on them, so I'm hoping the oxy cleaner stuff will work its magic. They were a quarter apiece, and no way could I leave them behind!

This one, the world’s largest dish towel, fooled me—I thought it was embroidery but the design is just drawn on. Heck. Probably won’t keep this.

Found a nice shirt for my husband, a brand he often wears. It looks much better on him that my dress form!
I'm going to put cooking oil in this little container to keep on the kitchen counter. I've been looking for something so I can get the big bottle of oil back in the pantry.
These sweet little note cards will come in handy—especially now that Hallmark is charging for most of its e-cards (dang it!).
This is the box of nifty papers from the former scrapbooker.
And for the first time in several weeks I scored a bunch o’ movies.

Aside from Arlie kitty snoozing, this had to be the cutest thing I saw all morning:
This little girl was enraptured by a music box playing a Christmas tune. She stayed perfectly still the whole time, her eyes glued to the box’s slow turns. When it finished she sat still for a moment longer, then carried the box back to where she’d found it.

A very nice child.