The Good, The Bad…and the Smelly

The fun started on Thursday last week, when I stopped at an estate sale on my way to the grocery store. The ad on Craigslist showed a lot of interesting items. However, there was no mention of the, um, well, very strong smell of cat pee in the house. Which didn’t seem to stop anyone (including me!) though I admit I hurried through more than I would otherwise have done. 

A quick perusal turned up only a couple of items that I thought looked fun, one being a very nicely framed print of a watercolor by Valerie Pfeiffer, called “Budgies Galore.” I thought Millie might especially enjoy it.

Her kitty box lives in the bathtub in an alcove of our master bathroom. We never take tub baths, just showers. So it’s the perfect spot for the box, containing all the inevitable litter that gets tracked outside the box. Now Millie has art in ‘her’ bathroom.

I also grabbed a couple of baggies with kitchen linens, which turned out to include some interesting vintage tea towels.

My favorite of the lot is this small towel hand appliqued with a farmer picking apples. I think.

Friday morning’s adventure began with another estate sale which mentioned art supplies in the ad. But again, the ad left out that the house had evidently been occupied by a chain smoker for the past umpty years. And while the kitty smell from Thursday’s sale was unpleasant, I’m actually quite sensitive to smoke, which gives me joint and muscle pains like having the flu. Normally I would have taken one quick peek and left, but this house was full of whimsical items that I could not resist looking at.

KK got a great deal on a bunch of oil paints and brushes. I was stopped in my tracks in the first room by…bunnies! I didn’t have my camera with me, darn it. This could well have been the best bunny collection I've encountered. But I was very, very restrained, being mindful of how many bunnies have already come home with me. But this little glass bunny won't take up much room, right? And he didn't cost much more than the dime I used for scale.

And what could possibly be more practical than a set of bunny tablecloth weights?

Which are at this very moment keeping the tablecloth out on my deck from flying away in the breeze.

I admit the first thing I did when I got home was give them a good scrub. You can see from this before-and-after shot that they needed it!

My favorite find was this fabulous bronze candle holder. Even though it was marked $10 (a huge amount for me!) I grabbed it.

Seriously, you couldn’t have left without these faces either, right? And the nice lady running the sale seemed happy to take a fiver for them when I assured her they’d have a good home.

They appear to be from the same maker as the bunny paddling a canoe I showed you a couple of posts ago. As always I did some online digging to try to establish value and where they might have come from. Didn’t find out much, but I was amazed to see a very similar pair on Pinterest, which led me to Etsy, where I saw that they had sold. And the asking price had been $110!

Plus, amid the bunnies I spotted something else that’s hard to resist, an acorn item. (What is it about acorns?)

A hand-painted trinket box, about two inches high. Which is now on my acorn shelf, holding – that’s right – a real acorn.

Bunnies turned out to be The Item of the Day. We saw them at every other sale throughout the morning. But none were tempting, and in fact neither of us bought anything else even though we stopped at about a dozen sales. I've noticed this phenomenon before; seems like if you get a really good score at the first stop you might as well go home because that’s all you get that day. But of course you never know, and garaging is a form of gambling after all!

So we were done with buying, but it turned out not with smells. Yet another estate sale, and the house was fine…but evidently the smoker in the family had gone out to the garage to partake. For years. And being a much smaller space the residue was even more intense. I really did have to leave that one quite quickly.

But it was the usual garage collection of tools and miscellany. No bunnies, no problem!

Dogs and Cups and Festive Eggplants

I’ve been a tad frustrated since I moved to Salem that I see way fewer pets when I’m out garaging. But I think I may have discovered the secret: you have to go garaging with at least two friends you made at the dog park for all the dogs to appear! Yup, piled into the car with Edward and Zoe’s Aunty Judy and Aunty Toni (your pets have aunties, don’t they??) and off we went, meeting dogs all along the way. Alas, some of my pictures didn’t turn out to be usable, like the lovely huge hound at our first stop and his little brother, some kind of poodly mix who had been rescued from a bad place and weighed only five pounds when he arrived. He’s still wary of strangers but up to a much healthier 17 pounds, and agreed he was a very lucky boy. I spent fifty cents at their sale on a Fisher Price Humpty Dumpty pull toy for my children’s literature room. He was quite, quite dirty

but nothing a little soap and water couldn’t cure.  I thought he looked quite relieved to get his face washed.

Then we ran across Josie

who is another dog park aficionado. Didn’t get the names of these sweeties

but the first two had a lot to say for themselves. Then in keeping with the dog theme of the day, we ran across a hotdog hat, which Judy kindly modeled (being our hat specialist).

The lady having the sale (yes, the one laughing in the background) said it was odd – everyone was picking up that hat but for some reason no one was buying it.

Can’t imagine why.

I did buy some Christmas ornaments there though. Really like the colors.

Though…don’t the purple ones look just like little eggplants? Such a festive vegie!

Toni and her dog Xanny have been doing quite a bit of hiking lately, and I got to give them a little backpack we found that’s perfect for carrying water and a handful of dog food. This is Xanny at the park.

She’s waiting for Zoe to drop her ball and give her a chance at it.

As if.

The backpack sale also yielded a cup and saucer that match a coffee pot bought I bought back in 2009. Winfield China, Dragon Flower pattern.

I ended up spending a whole three bucks for about $40 worth of merchandise. As far as I’m concerned, that’s more like winning a lottery than winning a lottery! And the time with friends? Yup…priceless!

Winners!

He won! Yes, thanks to your support, our Edward’s face is going to be on dog treats at our local pet store. How exciting is that? We really appreciate your votes and lovely comments. I believe Edward was the only entrant with votes from all over the U.S. and even other countries! Being the modest, unassuming fellow that he is, Edward is taking fame in his stride. I’m sure when the paparazzi show up, he’ll just ask them for treats and pose in a nice Sit. He’s that kind of boy. I’ll keep you posted when we get our hands on some of the dogs treats with his picture. Hmmm, I think my Christmas shopping is going to be easy this year!

I felt like just as big a winner as Edward this weekend. Yup, the garage sales have started in earnest with our lovely warm weather – and I scored practically an entire new wardrobe! I still can’t believe my luck. On Friday I headed first to an estate sale near home. I am still looking for a couple of mid century twin beds, so I always head straight to the bedrooms at an estate sale. No cool beds at this one, but I noticed that the closets in two rooms were completely stuffed with nice clothing. I peeked at a couple of pieces. They were MY SIZE. Since the sale had just started. clothes were priced at $3 for pants, $4 for tops, etc. Not bad, but even those prices add up. I picked out a few things, and when I paid, the cashier mentioned that prices would be half off on Saturday. She even said there was a bathroom that was closed off for the sale where I could try things on. I promised I’d be back the next day.

Went to a few more sales…and danged if I didn’t find another – a fundraiser for a youth group – with more clothes in my size. I picked up half a dozen pieces there. The rest of the morning yielded only a few small candles, but I went home happy and anticipating the next day.

I returned to the estate sale about two minutes after they opened on Saturday and headed straight for those closets. I could see that a few things had sold, but they were still packed with clothing. I started a pile, moved to the other room and added to it, then checked with the cashier to make sure it was okay to try items on. “Of course,” she said. “Use that back bathroom. We want you to be happy!” (I’d like her to give lessons in attitude to some other folks who run estate sales!)

I dragged my enormous pile of clothing into the bathroom, closed the door, and started in. About 10 pieces were weeded out for not being comfortable enough. I returned them to one of the closets for some other lucky lady to find, and went to pay for my goodies. I’m sure I was grinning ear to ear. I was excited on Friday over my finds, and to get more on Saturday for half price was the icing on the cake. I ended up spending a total of $72. See if you think I got my money’s worth:

four brand new pairs of Argyle socks (I’ve never owned any Argyles before!)

a nice selection of pants (Talbot’s, Coldwater Creek, Liz Claiborne)

shirts from Hawaii (you can still buy these…if you want to pay $95 each!)

a cotton eyelet overshirt, and two linen blouses

a couple of Ralph Lauren shirts

tees from Talbot’s, Coldwater Creek, Liz Claiborne

a traveller’s knit jacket (this style/brand currently retails for close to $120!)

 

and several sweaters. Three from an upscale store in Portland, knit of linen and rayon

one of fine gauge cotton, and a cashmere

a very pretty Christmas vest…I know these are no longer the fashion,

but this one is so nicely done, with its glittery trees on front and back

 

soft angora snow

and the fringe on the skater’s scarf and hat blowing in the breeze!

Last, a gorgeous hand knit wool sweater in a fine weight yarn.

This was made by a real expert. It has NO seams at all, so she knitted it in the round, with lovely details like a seed stitch bottom border and cables around the neckline and up the shoulder decreases.

I admit it…I keep walking into my closet and sighing with happiness! This garaging season is off to a fabulous start.

So Edward and I are both winners. But that’s not all. I found out this morning I won a cool blog giveaway! Ann over at All Things Paper showcases lots of fabulous paper art. A few days ago I left a comment saying since the giveaway drawing would be on our anniversary (number 41. No, I can’t believe it either.) she really ought to pick me. And she did!

I tell you, if I were the kind of person who buys lottery tickets, this would clearly be a good time. But if I did win some lottery money, I’d probably spend it on beautiful paper art, nice duds, and treats for Edward – and I’ve already got all that!

SILK AND JADITE

The crochet hook flew in and out of the bright red yarn, leaving a trail of shell pattern in its wake. The younger woman hoped to learn how to crochet by watching her grandmother. “I learned by watching this lady I knew,” the grandmother told me. “I was ten years old. She had a son my age, and he didn’t know it but I knew he was supposed to be my boyfriend. I told him I knew how to crochet even though I didn’t, that I just didn’t have my hook with me. So he handed me a hook, and I took it. Now what was I going to do? Somehow I started making a chain, so he was convinced I knew how. And after that I just watched and then I could do it.”

I told her the perfect end to the story was if they had grown up and she had married him. She laughed. “No,” she said, “that was in Texas, and then we came here, and I haven’t seen him for many years. But I still know how to crochet.”

I was a little surprised when I got home that I hadn't bought more stuff. Not that I didn’t pick up plenty! Found another huge neighborhood having its annual sale day, and I didn’t even get around the entire tract before I called it a day. I'm so proud of myself for not overdoing it. If you go to sales, you’ll know that they’re as addictive as a slot machine—though ultimately produce way more return for your quarters. (A lot of this morning’s deals were literally paid for with quarters. Somehow I had a whole bunch o’ change in my billfold and now it's down to a few pennies. And weighs about six pounds less!)

I doled out a total of $11 this morning, and came home with:

A cozy cotton velour shirt for next winter.

As I was fishing for money, the seller held this shirt and told me it always gets lots of compliments. “One guy I work with would always come up behind me and rub it and say it’s SO soft,” she told me. Hmmm, could be harassment, I said. She shook her head. “Nah, he was gay, he just liked my shirt.” From her I also picked up this cute little china chick.
“There’s another one like it somewhere, but we can't find it,” she said. No matter, two would be less perfect than one. I keep saying I won't get any more chickens, but I didn’t have a baby chick so I needed this, right? And it was twenty five cents. Even I can't get too guilty over a quarter. Also found two bottlebrush trees
and some kitchen/office scales. I was going to give them to a colleague who told me she’s looking for one, but my hubs took one look and claimed it for his office. Sorry, Cathy G., next one is for you!
Loved the colors in this silk scarf.
When I asked the price of this little Rubbermaid container, the guy joked, “Well it used to belong to the Queen of England, which makes it pretty collectible.”
I gave him my Queen of Fifty Cents calling card so he could see how appropriate it would be for the container to go from one queen to another. I think I'll use it to hold birdseed. A couple of weeks ago I hung up a bird feeder outside my window at work. Two purple finches found it the first week and told all their friends. Now the gang is consuming an entire feeder’s worth daily. I'm going to have to put the birds on a diet.

A large sale turned out to be two in one—the driveway and part of the front yard had wares belonging to a mother and daughter, and nearer the porch a couple of friends were setting up their display—tasteful china mostly. A couple of boxes in front of the tasteful china had odds and ends of kitchen stuff, and I pulled out this wonderful bowl.


He quoted me the stiff price of two dollars (okay, it's stiff for me!) but then because it was with the fifty cent stuff he said that was fine. Thank you, thank you--I love this! Perfect for waffle batter on Sunday morning with our new waffle iron from two weeks ago. He said he bought it at an auction in Iowa, which is the icing on the cake. A jadite batter bowl is good, but a jadite batter bowl from an auction in Iowa is perfect. When I got home it was the first thing I showed my husband. “Look! A jadite batter bowl!” He peered at it. “And that’s a good thing?” he asked. I assured him it is, and I'm sure he will agree at breakfast tomorrow. And at least he didn’t ask me where I'm going to put it!

I also scored on the mother-daughter side of the sale: three pairs of shoes! You know how I love Mary Janes, and to find sporty green suede ones, as well as flowered ones just really made my morning. The other embroidered shoes make me feel like an off-duty pasha in my palace.



Ironically, I had bought this cute pair of tennies at the Nordstrom Rack on Friday.

They had been marked down and marked down and were another 35% off which put them into my comfort zone, and are a perfect fit. And I know they’re really cute because while I was trying on the green suede Mary Janes, another shopper picked up my new tennie that I had just taken off and started looking for its mate! “Umm, that one’s mine,” I said, pointing to the other still on my left foot.

Besides all these great deals, this sale sported a handsome—and wide!—black Lab named Blue, who was giving his undivided attention to a sandwich (in the yellow wrap) being consumed over his head.
Little candles for the lanterns in the backyard.
Actually, there are lanterns in the front yard now as well. Good thing I keep finding candles at yard sales! My husband added a couple more in the back recently, and got shorter crooks to hang the furthest, so at night the yard looks longer than it really is.

The resident dog at this sale was Mack, a poodle-Maltese cross. He was a little shy but finally agreed to a bit of petting. Those Maltese genes have given him the most amazingly soft coat—almost as soft as our cat Mrs. Wilberforce!
On the same street I had a lovely chat with a couple of ladies who may have given me the deal of the day. Piled on a daybed were several packages of fabric. I told them I'm not crazy about sewing but I do love to look at this stuff. One plastic bag held a partially made silk kimono. “My mother was a seamstress, so she was either working on this or got it to use the fabric.” We looked shook our heads admiringly over the hand stitched seams. I was very tempted by a package of Indian fabric with horses hand embroidered on it, but I resisted. I stopped resisting when I saw the grocery bag full of wonderful textured silk.
All that plus the piece in the next picture. For a couple of bucks I have enough fabric for the curtains I've been needing in my home office, and possibly slipcovers for the rattan sectional as well. Woo hoo! Silk curtains! I hung some of it over the empty curtain rod so we could see how it looked.
“You got all that for two dollars?” my husband asked. I nodded. “Sure beats the ones we saw at Ikea the other day,” he said, “and I think we would have had to hem those as well.”

Now really. You just have to love being able to look at Ikea as the expensive option! But that makes me remember something the fabric lady said that cracked me up. We were talking about second hand clothing, and I said all mine comes from driveways because I think Goodwill is just too expensive. “Oh,” she said wisely, “you always have to remember—it's the name you’re paying for.”