Home of the Tiny, Land of the Free

Oh dear. It sounds terrible to say I brought home 23 things from yard sales this weekend. If you told me you brought home 23 items I would totally be picturing your home as piled to the ceilings with narrow paths winding through the tottering stacks. We haven’t reached that stage of hoarding, rest assured.

Of course I do have 14 foot high ceilings in the living room. If I ever 

start actually hoarding I have plenty of room to go up.

But we’re not there yet. And much of the new-to-me stuff is small. And 40% of it was free!

Went out on Friday with KK, meandering through South Salem. Then on Saturday my SIL Linda & I hit the 31^st annual neighborhood sale in the Eastmoreland area of Portland. We aren’t sure we ever found most of the sales; we neglected to get hold of their map and may have just penetrated the outskirts. It was more an exercise in gawping at the gorgeous houses and landscaping. I managed to spend $3.50 up there, and she shelled out a big old two bucks.

Not bad for a morning of laughs.

The single most expensive item this weekend was a pair of Laurel Burch earrings for $2. 

The largest item this weekend was a white Corningware dinner plate. Sorry, no picture, it was just too plain to bother! Heavy white plate that can be microwaved, useful when dining on leftovers which we do VERY regularly. I shelled out a big old fifty cents there. Didn’t take a picture of the handful of padded envelopes from a free box either. “Everything on that side of the driveway, just take,” said the guy. As he said it he picked up more things from the ‘pay’ side of the driveway and moved them to the ‘free’ side. I helped myself to a nice cache pot. 

I picked out four movies priced at a dollar each at one sale 

then noticed a Pyrex refrigerator dish nearby. I offered four bucks for everything, so that makes the vintage Pyrex free. 

I think it was the same sale that had these wildflower seeds in their free box. 

They’re a few years old, but gardeners are hopeful folks. And some seeds can germinate after years of waiting. (Like this one, or this.) I scattered what was left in the nearly-full box on my cutting garden beds and my fingers are crossed that something may sprout. 

Even if they don’t I got a good laugh from the information on the box. “Shady Garden” it proclaims, but every single one of the varieties I checked had full sun in the description. 

Speaking of my cutting garden (a new venture this year), the first bloom has opened. 

I would have resisted this cute baby dish if the price hadn’t been fifty cents. 

The woman selling it shook her head when I paid for it. “That’s what I get for letting my granddaughter help price things,” she said.

“I wouldn’t have bought it if it wasn’t fifty cents,” I told her. She seemed astonished.  “It’s worth about twenty dollars,” she said. I figure if that's what it's worth, she could have changed the price at any time. My fifty-cent deal is now hanging out with Hansel and Gretel down in the children’s literature room.

KK was the one who spotted these Christmas linens. “Oh, my parents picked those up on a trip to Denmark back in 1971,” the gray-haired guy commented. 

There are six little napkins or coasters that I believe illustrate various Hans Christian Andersen tales 

and a small runner. Designed by Aase and Preben Jangaard. Hmmm, maybe these should go in the children’s lit room too. 

This fun switchplate cover was another free box find.

A regular cover wrapped with paper. Now all I need to find is a double switch in my house…I think they’re all singles or triples!

I actually have low expectations of this cork wine stopper, based on customer comments on Amazon.

But for fifty cents (not ten bucks!) I can try it out. This pink dachshund pen from the same sale is for a friend. (And I'm sure she knows who she is!) 

Linda found a gift for me at one sale, so I'm counting it among the freebies. A tiny bunny. 

Even though it's intended as an ornament, I think he’ll be fine hanging out with the other bunnies in my office. 

Scooter Bunny will be happy to take him for a ride. 

My last fifty cent buy was a trio of what are probably actually shot glasses, but look like little vases to me. 

One has a tiny chip on the lip, so it's going up in the window display of colored glass.

Another is helping these coleus sprigs sprout roots. A lady gave them to me Saturday when I admired her plant. 

Another lady gave me a handful of succulent pieces from the groundcover in her yard. 

“Stand back,” she said. “It grows like crazy.”