SPREADSHEET TIME!

Hello, hello! Yes, I'm still here! Sorry about the long silence, but let’s just go ahead and blame it on 2020 along with so much else, right?

Actually, besides the dearth of sales and my inclination to keep myself separate, safe and healthy, I had a second knee replacement surgery in early October that put me out of commission for a while. Happy to say it went great, possibly even better than the first, and it's absolutely wonderful to be able to walk around without pain. And huge thanks go to my friend Marcia, who one again helped me through those first difficult days after surgery when I was hurting, grumpy and drugged!

Then there were almost no sales to go to, and the couple of estate sales I tried (run by well-regarded companies) were taking so few precautions for their customers that I decided not to participate for a while. I'm talking big crowds inside the houses, staff not wearing masks…as much as I love thrifting, it's not worth dying for, right?

But it is time for the annual spreadsheet review! Smaller numbers this year, but still had fun and found some great stuff. I can hardly believe I only spent $132.65 for the whole year. Three years ago that number was just under $1200. I brought home 111 items with an estimated retail value of about $2200. I'm happy with that kind of return on investment!

Crafting and gardening supplies are almost tied for the areas I spent the most ($27+ each). Picked up a few tools and several big pots for the thungbergia vines I plant to grow next summer. 

And under crafting came the twenty bucks for beautiful yarns that would have set me back well over $200 in a shop.

The category in which I brought home the most number of items was Entertainment, which included two dozen magazines to while away all the time this year I wasn’t going out and about. Most of them were even free, so the two bucks spent for the rest was well worth it. And I was able to share the gardening magazines with friends, so even more bang for the buck.

Best return on investment once again was clothing. Only brought home 13 pieces for $9.25, but they would have set me back over $600 in a store. Let’s face it, you just can't beat fifty cent jeans and brand new shirts! And I had a lot of fun improving this linen Coldwater Creek jacket (narrowed the collar and shoulders, added contrasting accents, better buttons).

One of the upsides to reduced garaging was a drastic reduction in my ‘category of shame’ Donations – those things I bring home then decide not to keep. Only four this year!

I was recently reading my earlier year-end-roundup posts and came across this line:

No matter what else happens, I can always look back at my garaging record and say without doubt that it was a very good year!

And I have to say, even in notoriously-awful 2020 that still holds true. I'm safe and healthy, my wonderful pets are all well and making me laugh, and the garaging was fun and worthwhile – as is the spreadsheet I've maintained now for fifteen years. That's a lot of memories and personal history.

In fact, my garaging spreadsheet inspired me this year to create one for another endeavor – my yard makeover. I've never been successful in keeping a garden journal; I tried a few times but it never lasted. But this year I started listing tasks I needed to complete in a spreadsheet, with a column for completion date and notes on the project. Instantly I had a to-do list as well as a list of accomplishments. Then I added another page for bloom times, and another for expenses. I'm not sure I really wanted to know I've spent almost $130 on DIRT since I moved here a couple of years ago (I mean, dirt!). But that’s offset by seeing the great deals I've found on garden tools and pots by shopping on driveways. 

And just like the satisfaction I get from the garaging spreadsheet, I'm amazed to see that I planted 184 things in 2020! (Okay, yes, I had some fabulous help, especially from friends Lysa and Briana!) Some are in the ground, some were in pots and my window boxes, but (so far!) most are still alive.

The end of 2020 will not bring instant change to the troubles of the world, as much as we might want it to. But I feel hopeful for good things in 2021, and I know that for me, some will be very thrifty and fun to find. I hope that’s in your future, too! 

A New Friend, A New Mend, & A Wooden Mystery

Sales were a bust this morning. February doldrums, I suspect, plus it did actually snow a bit. But lordy, the last couple of weeks have been so full of fabulous finds I can’t even care. In all the excitement over what we are calling the Kathryn Sale I haven’t even shown everything I did bring home.

Do you ever find something that’s quite absurd for you to buy, and yet you are absolutely smitten by it? We were at one of those sales that purport to be an estate sale and yet consist mostly of baby items, and KK handed me a colorful wooden object. “This is cute,” she said, and in two seconds I was a goner.

Evidently this is a ‘clutching toy’ - aptly named, because once I picked it up I couldn't let go. Made for babies to grab and pull and (knowing babies) chew on and throw. I simply fell for his adorable face,

and the fact that his hat looks like an acorn.

He sits by my keyboard and smiles at me all day. Best working companion I've ever had.

And he was but fifty cents—which puts a smile on my face very similar to his!

Speaking of the Kathryn sale, I didn’t mention the 25¢ pair of cashmere gloves before because almost the minute I brought them in the house I dropped one, which Zoë noticed and immediately chewed off the end of one finger. Bad dog!

But I can knit, and I appreciate a good mend. Which led me recently to look up Kintsugi (or Kintsukuroi), the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold. I spent a happy morning on Pinterest looking at examples.

A chewed-off glove finger seemed like the perfect opportunity to hunt out the gold yarn in my stash as well as the perfect wool

(fingering yarn, tee hee, thanks to my Vermont niece Kim who included this in her Christmas package to us). And voila, a Kintsugi-style mended glove.

This last item is one I need help with. It came from an estate sale around the corner from my house. I think everyone who went through the kitchen picked it up and said, “What the heck is this thing?” Judy and I had a whole horror-movie scenario going.

I went back the next day when things were half-price, and Mystery Object was still there. I couldn’t resist. 

The lady running the sale said that they had decided it’s for cutting strips of pasta, which was something I too had thought of. So maybe that’s what it is, but I haven’t even been able to find a picture of something similar. It's beautifully made, smooth to the touch, with the metal tines deftly inserted into the wood.

Does anyone know for sure? I'd love to know before I make that next batch of fettucine!

Summer Roads

I had to go down to the Corvallis area to pick up some plants at a nursery on Thursday. When I saw an ad on Craigslist for an “enormous estate sale” in nearby Albany I figured I might as well go there too. Of course I left the house a bit later than I'd planned and fretted that there would be a zillion people ahead of me for the sale. Fortunately I didn’t fret much, because when I got there (a senior condo community) there were only about six people waiting to go in. 

It was one of those friendly crowds with everyone chatting as we waited. I met two lovely women and we ended up swapping pet stories. One had lost her dog about the same time we lost Edward, and misses hers like I miss him. The other rescues Arabian horses and showed me pictures of the one who seems to think he’s a giraffe, stretching his neck out longer than you’d think would be possible for a horse.

She also tells a story about a dog that arrived at her house one day carrying a sandwich in his mouth. Isn’t that a great image?

Most of the sale was simply not my taste. But I had barely gotten in the door when I saw this cute vintage lamp. 

Looks like a cross between Bambi and Rudolph (covering all their marketing bases I guess). Hmmm, that would work in the children’s literature-themed guest room.

 

I picked it up to check the price. I liked the price.

It was at least 20 minutes later before I noticed the tail is missing, and by then we had bonded. (Even without a tail you can still have a tale and that’s good enough for me.)

Another room held hundreds of pieces of nice quality clothing. I went for this ankle-length linen dress to upcycle

because it came with a matching ankle-length skirt that I can use to embiggen the dress. I'm not sure why anyone would buy both pieces, but it works out for me.

I thought I was finished and headed out to pay—and found yarn in the garage. Picked up some Irish wool for a buck a skein 

and a little booklet that will be a gift. 

I’m sure the person it's for will guess she’s the recipient, especially when I point out that the pictures place its publication around the first time she taught herself to knit!

From the estate sale I drove to the nursery, then headed home. I decided not to go back to the freeway and headed north on the back roads I've used before.

Detour, said a sign, so I detoured. Drove several miles, then came to another detour. (I think they’re doing work on some railroad crossings in the area.) I detoured again. The back roads became really back roads (still good paved roads, but I had no idea where I was). 

My GPS said turn here, then turn there, so I did—and realized she was guiding me to the ferry over the Willamette River. Trouble was, the river is low this time of year and the ferry is closed. I turned into someone’s driveway and found the setting in the GPS to ‘avoid ferries’. She recalculated another route. Whew! Took a while to get home, but it was a beautiful drive.

I don’t get lost. I just take the scenic route!

Friday morning KK and I headed out early for another estate sale, one that promised art supplies. Again there were only a few people in line ahead of us. But one of them happened to be a large, rather nasty man who actually started a fight with another guy at KK’s own garage sale a while back. She thought she might have to call the cops that time. I got annoyed at him once we were inside this sale because even though the place was not crowded, he bumped me aside a couple of times lest I get to something before he could. Sheesh. 

But don’t worry, I'll get my revenge: I'll use him as a character in one of my books and give him an unpleasant fate. Ha, take that!

KK did score some art supplies and an original oil painting, and I picked up a bundle of vintage dish cloths. There are two kitty embroideries, 

two days-of-the-week, 

and this curiosity. 

I was semi-astounded when I undid the bundle, because my last house was in Santa Ana and I'd never heard of this air base. Turns out it existed from about 1941 to 1946, and the land now includes John Wayne Airport and the county fairgrounds. So this is a pretty old towel.

They are all in an oxy soak now!

We went to a few more sales but nothing was tempting enough to buy. (KK found the bracelet of golden bees for fifty cents before I saw it!) We paused to admire a wonderful picket fence, 

and had a good laugh over the straightforward name of this product.

When we finished, there were no detours to keep us from our favorite Thai restaurant for lunch!

Going Back for More, More, More!

Our adventures this week started on Thursday. I've signed up for emails from EstateSales.net, and when the listing arrived in my inbox for a sale with lots of midcentury stuff, I quickly sent a message to my posse. Judy couldn’t make it for our 7 a.m. start (she did go by later) but KK and I were there bright and early.

Big house (over 4,000 square feet) built in 1952, on almost half an acre. 

I’d love to see the place after it has been emptied. Because you really couldn’t see the house for all the stuff. It felt like a hoarder situation, except that everything was clean, nothing smelled musty (or worse), and things seemed to have been used and loved. They just really had a LOT of stuff. 

For instance, while waiting to go in on Thursday, we noticed the front porch was literally piled to the ceiling with vintage suitcases. Not only every room in the house but the front and back yards were full. It was incredible. We heard later that the estate sale company got rid of four of those huge dumpster trash boxes you rent before they could even start working on the sale.

Before we even entered the house I had picked out two things from the front yard. This piece of wooden art was made by Dave Criner, probably back in the Seventies.

A similar piece sold for over $400 on this site. Mine is missing one of the circles, so now I’m on a quest for something to fill in that space. But for a couple of bucks, I’m happy!

I spotted this game while we were waiting in line to go in.

Okay, I'm a sucker for toys! I just love it. 

But I need your help. What the heck are these things called?? I've tried every search term I can think of and the only thing that pulled up anything similar was “vintage five pin bowling toy.” As far as I know, the idea was to roll a ball and hit one of the pins and make it spin around to rest on top of the metal bar. Adding to the mystery, this one came with a handle that appears to be missing a piece from the end with a screw sticking out. 

The little tied-on whiffle ball is clearly an afterthought. Now I'm on the lookout for a suitable wooden ball.

Once we got into the house we ooh’d and ahh’d our way through the spendy stuff in the living room, including some MCM pole lamps and vintage metal art pieces on the walls. The lady of the house was evidently a notable seamstress, because there was a room full of sewing books and supplies, and downstairs was a room with thousands of yards of fabric. (Some of which was polyester double knit, so you know how long it had been there.) I picked out a few notions

and for a big splurge (five bucks!) I got this box

full of thread. Gütermann thread (voted the best sewing thread in the UK last year). Over 120 spools of it! 

Not huge amounts but the color range is amazing, and it includes ombres and metallics.

If you bought these puppies one by one in a store this would easily be over $200. So five ain’t bad, and now I should be able to do any top stitching I need for a long time to come.

Downstairs I resisted the fabric, which wasn’t too hard because it was selling by the pound. Five bucks a pound, which with fabric can add up really fast! However, somehow ten skeins of mohair yarn made their way into my bag. I'm not sure how that happened. Oh wait, I put them there! Nice yarn, fifty cents each! And in my defense, I knit pretty much every day. 

We were there a couple of hours, and by the time we left were reeling with sensory overload. I know neither KK nor I could have seen a third of what was in that house. But…we knew that Sunday they would be having a bag sale!

So yes, first thing Sunday morning, there I was again. We didn’t go together, but KK was there too. 

Now here’s where I have to confess, I have Taker’s Remorse.

Taker’s Remorse is related to Buyer’s Remorse, except the item was free. Free, so you succumb because your better judgment deserted you at that four letter word. So what did I bring home? 

Remember the vintage suitcases I mentioned earlier?

I brought home FOUR of them. And they are orange.

All in pristine condition. They don’t even smell musty inside and that is pretty hard to do with vintage suitcases. But by the time I got them loaded into the convertible I realized just how big they are. Even the carry on bag is roomy. However, I'm still thinking about how I might use them for storage containers (except they are so big!) or resell them or go on Pinterest to look for suitcase upcycles. Or maybe I could lash them together and live in them. (Okay, maybe they’re not that big.) If none of that works, I will donate them to the kitty thrift store and let them worry about it. If no one bought them I’m sure numerous kitties could live in them.

So I put my name on the suitcases (Amanda, the estate sale lady, practically begged us to take them so she wouldn’t have to deal with them) then headed inside. My first aim was to go through the sewing room again, where I started stuffing my bag. A cute little desk lamp

a DVD

some metallic gold yarn (for knitting Christmas ornaments)

a tea towel and an embroidered runner, both of linen

ribbon that I will use to make labels for my upcycled clothing (I'll use a Micron pen to write on them)

a large vintage tablecloth with dogwood blossoms (sorry about the wrinkles, haven't laundered any of this stuff yet) 

and an even larger linen tablecloth that I don’t think was ever used. It feels like it still has sizing in it. 

Downstairs I added a large piece of black wool fabric, and somewhere along the way I snagged a little poodle figurine because I remembered Judy saying she wants one for her midcentury house.

And finally, I picked up this vinyl tablecloth because I need to recover the seats on my front deck chairs. (Still deciding if the orange poppies work with the yellow chairs!) 

All that (and a set of LARGE suitcases!) for five bucks.

Hmmm, I'm hardly feeling that Taker’s Remorse at all now!