Greedy Dogs, Vintage Goodies, and a Great Bargain

I’m starting to worry a bit about that Red Hat Society. At least the local chapter. Seems like every estate sale we go to there are red and purple hats looking for a new home. Some of them are quite spiffy.

                

I don’t think you could help having a good time wearing the world’s most amazing hat band.

Friday’s estate sale had other nice hats too, but at eight bucks each Judy wasn’t really tempted.

This sale was run by the two guys I met at the grocery store at Christmastime, playing secret Santas. When we arrived the guy named Eldon assured me that for us, all prices were…doubled. I told him he was a heckuva salesman. Their sales are interesting because you never know how they’ll price something. Some items seem way high, especially by my standards, and then other things are more than reasonable. I ended up spending a big old $18; over half of that went for this paper shredder (the last one I got on a driveway died a while back)

which came with two forms of lubricant. None of us had the slightest idea that shredders needed lubricating. Wonder if that would have made the last one live longer?

The first thing I spotted was this mid-century coffee carafe. No markings, and the stand is some kind of plastic, but I love it.

Oddly enough, this morning I ran across a picture of a Ben Seibel-designed carafe (a Tempron Taste Tempter) that is quite similar. Different stand though, and wrapped with sea grass instead of what looks like cotton rope. Mine is probably the low-end copy. But now I have Another Collection!

At least if you believe that three of anything constitutes a collection.

On the same table I spotted something that will be handy, given that we have actual guest rooms that real live guests sleep in.

A bedside carafe! The lid is a drinking glass.

I feel so genteel now.

Back in one of the bedrooms I spotted something that made me laugh and was marked twenty-five cents, so I brought it home.

A state capital snow globe. The laughter came when I spotted the Godzilla-sized beaver poised to rampage through Salem, reducing all in its path to rubble. Most likely with its tail, though beaver teeth are quite impressive too.

The kitchen yielded something on my must-buy list.

Mine got broken recently by a certain black-and-gold dog named Edward who pulled it off the kitchen counter and then ate the homemade baklava he found among the glass shards. I was horrified that he may well have eaten broken glass (you can’t x-ray for it, glass doesn’t show up) but the vet was more concerned about all the butter in the baklava, which can cause pancreatitis. Edward is doing fine after recovering from his tummy-ache, and I am doing fine now that I’m pretty sure he isn’t going to be felled by eating broken glass. Rest assured I will never give him a chance for a repeat performance!

We were on our way out when Judy spotted a bundle of linens and pulled out a cute tea towel. She decided she didn’t want it so I added it to my pile. The linen felt so good in the hand, and I love the colors.

We told Eldon it was the only thing in the bundle we wanted, and he said, “Just take it.” (So much for charging us double!) It wasn’t until I got home I realized it’s a Vera.

I also picked up a couple of rolling plant stands for the deck.

Eldon assured me there would be no extra charge for the cobwebs. He’s generous that way.

Later on Friday my SIL Linda and I were putzing around downtown and decided to go the Humane Society thrift store. Neither of us found anything we wanted, but we were having a good time chatting with other ladies there and looking at clothes. Found a wonderful reversible jacket -  periwinkle blue on one side, black on the other, hand-stitched buttonholes, and the fabric was a blend of wool and angora. I spotted the lady we’d been talking to about never paying retail for clothes, and took it over to her. “This jacket is fabulous and we think you should try it on.” She did, and it was clear we’d made a sale. She was still wearing it when we left the store.

Saturday morning, Linda and I decided to try our luck at the only sale listed on our end of town. Turned out to be stuff from an antique mall that had closed down and nothing we were interested in. We headed home just in time to pass a young woman putting up a yard sale sign. We careened around the corner and found the sale, run by a very friendly woman who talked and talked and talked. Nothing there I wanted either, but as we were leaving Linda commented that since her sewing machine hasn’t been working for a while she wondered if she should consider the one there.

“What sewing machine?” I hadn’t even noticed it. We stopped to look – a new looking Singer, no price marked. We asked. The lady said she just didn’t know, that it was a $500 machine and she’d used it once and decided it was more complicated that she wanted to deal with and she was hoping someone would come along and tell her what it was worth. We made a note of the model and when we got home Linda did a little research.

Seems like most folks who have one are pleased with it, so she went back and offered the $40 she had with her…and they said yes! I told her to tell them she’d give it a good home, and I’m sure that’s what did the trick. I think what impresses me the most is, it threads the needle all by itself. Not sure I would use over 200 stitch patterns, but automatic needle threading – bring it on!