THAT MARTHA STEWART SURE HAS GOOD TASTE IN TEAPOTS!

I was bemused the other day when I ran across this picture on Martha Stewart’s website:

Dang, I thought, she sneaked into my house to borrow my pot!
This is an YiXing pot, picked up several years ago at a yard sale in San Mateo, where we used to live. The original owner said she made a trip to China right after it was opened to trade with the US, and this was the souvenir she brought back. We love this thing, which started us on our little collection of YiXing (pronounced ee-shing) pots, now up to four. It's one of the things I always look for at sales, and find so rarely. I'm guessing Martha probably paid more than two bucks for her pot. Of course, if she did sneak in to borrow mine, she also sneaked it back again. I'm betting Edward helped.
He's a very helpful boy. This is how he helps with the laundry.

Went garaging Saturday with two friends, Marcia and Diane, and we had a ball. Everyone found good stuff—Marcia bought a set of Mills Brothers albums and a lovely silver chocolate pot set; Diane scored big time with a nice end table for her living room, purse, skirt from France (more on that), framed picture…I can't even remember all she got. I came home with four new things; I'm happy to report that I was better at remembering my resolution not to buy every good deal this year. And thinking of the things I almost bought and didn’t…they were good things, but I'm just as glad I left them. Whew—no regrets!

The first sale was two-in-one—a nice young couple had their wares set up on the double driveway, and an older lady (perhaps the mother of one of them) was sitting in a chair on the lawn guarding a collection of clothing spread out on a sheet. She was a hoot—bright red dyed hair, rhinestone sunglasses—but perhaps not as ready to part with her wardrobe as she needed to be. Diane overheard her arguing with a customer about the price of a shirt. “Why, I paid $150 for that!” she exclaimed. Our reaction was 1) why would anyone pay $150 for a shirt, and 2) it's a yard sale!

We encountered the other end of the spectrum a few stops later. Not only were these people ready to part with their cast off clothing, they were ready to party with them as well. When we walked up, the husband of the original owner of this skirt was showing off the wares. In fact I think he would have modeled every piece of clothing on the driveway with the slightest bit of encouragement.
He was quite happy to pose for a picture, which I said was SO going in my blog. The paint-spattered boots are the perfect accessory, don’t you think?

After our photo session he draped the skirt over the side mirror on the truck parked in the drive. I sidled over to look at it—gorgeous light weight wool classic pleated skirt from France. Sidled back over to Diane and told her to take a look, seemed to be about her size. Price was a dollar—or if she would also take the guy who modeled it, they’d pay her twenty bucks. The two ladies having the sale swore he is a really, really nice guy. Diane, having a really nice guy at her house already, declined the offer (we didn’t have room for him in the car anyway). He professed disappointment both at not getting a new home and the loss of his pleated skirt, so I picked up another skirt from the pile on the driveway and handed it to him. He promptly pulled it on and began to dance around. As we left, they called out to come back soon. Not a chance! we called back, but we all waved to each other as we drove away.

I spent $4.00, but got twenty five cents back. The last thing I found was this box:


It's quite dirty, but I'm picturing it cleaned up and lined with some interesting cloth. When open, the lid looks like a little stage; maybe I can make it into some kind of art piece.
There was some random junk inside, including a handwritten note that says Pure Play (I'm sure that’s just red ink on it…) some Mardi Gras necklaces, and a quarter.
I have found money a couple of times while garaging, but I don’t think I ever bought something with money in it before. And yes, it's only a quarter, but remember, my husband’s Land's End cashmere sweater cost a quarter!

Also found another pair of embroidered pillow cases. These look like Grandma finished them and they were put away and never used, but rest assured they will be used now!


I was able to replace my hummingbird feeder, which recently bit the dust. We have quite a few hummers year round, and I've missed feeding them. Unlike buying a feeder in a store, this one came with handwritten instructions for making your own hummer food, rather than advertising pre-mixed sugar water.
I love hummers, and they do love to be fed. Last summer one day the feeder was empty, and a hummer kept flying back and forth from right in front of my face over to the feeder. You could practically see her hands on her little hips and her foot tapping impatiently. Come on, get the danged feeder filled!

I absolutely adore this piece, a two-inch high silver cat. Made by Dansk, wonderfully abstract—and heavy. Can't be solid silver, it weighs almost half a pound! It was pretty tarnished, so after taking the before picture…
…I went looking for the silver polish. Which is lost. How in the world did we lose a tin of silver polish from under the sink? Undeterred, I used my backup silver polish: toothpaste. Yes, my dears, it does a dandy job removing tarnish

and your shiny object smells pleasantly minty afterward as well!

I GOT GIVEAWAY GOODIES!

The package of goodies I won in Llyn M’s 200th Post Giveaway arrived yesterday! It was such fun to open the box and find not only the book, handsome bag holder, and vintage cake decorating kit that I was expecting,
but a lovely card (how did Llyn know what I look like?!),
ornaments, soap, note pad and candy as well, all beautifully wrapped in bright paper and cute little bags.


Llyn, thanks so much, this really made my day.

Now, if y’all will excuse me I've got to go bake a cake to decorate…

THE SURPRISE IN MY FRIDGE

I never thought I'd be one of those bloggers who writes about their breakfast, but there is a thrifting angle to it.

Opened the fridge this morning to pack my lunch, and found a surprise my husband left for me:
Fresh strawberries to dip in sour cream and brown sugar. Mmmm! What a wonderful start to the week. I go to work very early and usually eat something mid-morning, so I packed his surprise into a basket and took it with me.
Those strawberries were so, so good. And all day, whenever I thought of my surprise when I opened the fridge, I got a little glow. We’ve been married a long time—nearly 37 years—and he can still amaze me.

The thrifting angle? The dishes, of course. I picked up six of the little white ramekins a year or two ago, I think for a dollar. Wasn’t sure if they’d prove useful, but hardly a day goes by that we don’t use them for something. The oblong platter was one of the Winfield Pottery pieces I picked up last summer. (Sara G, you’ll recognize the pattern!) Even the notepaper was a Saturday morning find, bought because my husband tells a story about his dad as a boy that takes place by a windmill in west Texas.
I hope everyone had as pleasant a start to your week as I did. And take it from me, if you want to make your sweetie happy, a surprise in the fridge is a great start!

A NEW THRIFTING YEAR: LET THE GARAGING BEGIN!

Ahh, the first trip of 2009 in search of yard sales. Beautiful warm, sunny day, though windy. (Sorry, not trying to rub it in for those of you in colder climes!) And if the very first sale of the year is an omen of what is to come, I'm going to have to get more serious about my goal to be more circumspect in what I buy this year. Here’s what it looked like—part of it!

That’s just the stuff that was on the patio; there was also the yard and driveway. Lots of stuff was in multiples and much appeared unused. I asked the young woman running the sale if they had a party business or something. She said no, her mother had just loved to throw parties, there were twelve children in the family so there was always an excuse to celebrate something. And when her mom found something that she liked, she’d buy lots of them to share with the family. “Mom passed away a couple of years ago,” she told me, “and there’s so much stuff in there that when we come to visit Dad, we can barely fit in the house!” I tried to help her out by buying perhaps more than I should have, but dang, the prices were right! For instance, I got these four enameled steel tubs, some of which were never used, for a quarter apiece.


My first thought was to plant stuff in them (it always is) but I did so well buying pots last year that I don’t really need them. But they’ll be great for my children’s librarians; can’t you see them piled with puppets or reading prizes?

Later in the morning I thought I'd topped the family with twelve kids. I stopped at a sale where I recognized the dog (and the people looked vaguely familiar too). The parents are moving to Florida soon and some of the offspring are moving into their house. The daughter I was talking to said something about being the youngest of 26. What! You’re the youngest of 26? No, no, the youngest AT 26. Whew!

At one stop I had to park a bit further away because there was a moving van in front of the house having the sale. Two young men were unloading furniture, which was being set up to sell. The gray haired gent (who was probably about my age!) in charge was trying to glue an old rocker back together that had come partially unstuck. He had trouble getting the pieces to slide together so I helped hold things and we chatted. He said his son and daughter in law are moving in with him for about six months because they unexpectedly sold their house. I couldn’t help wondering how you sell a house unexpectedly; seems like something you’d pretty much have to be aware of ahead of time. But he went on to say that they’d had their house on the market for months and had given up on ever selling it, when suddenly someone made an offer. So he’s taking them and his two year old granddaughter in while they look for another house. He was very excited about having the granddaughter around; I bet they’ll have a good time together.

Another sale was pretty sparse by the time I reached it, but I picked up a small leather-covered box, about six inches long, and when I opened it saw that it's the inner box for a Rolex watch.

Beautifully made. The young man selling said fifty cents, and I said sure. Then he said that it had belonged to his good friend who died recently, and he started telling me all about this guy. You may have read about him in the paper. His name was Nick Scandone, and he won a gold medal for sailing in the Paralympics in Beijing last year. He had ALS, and his sailing partner was a woman who is a paraplegic. He also was named the U.S. Sailing/Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 2005, which I suppose is where my box came from. A couple of other people at the sale were neighbors and they all talked about what a great guy Nick was. His friend having the sale said that Nick had persevered and won his gold medal, and at the end he had gotten himself out of the hospital so that he could die in peace at home.

I spent a total of $7.50 this Saturday, mostly at that first sale. Along with the tubs, I came home with:

Some items for our baseball-themed Summer Reading Program
A red mesh colander
Some silly socks that yes, I will be wearing. Probably not to work though. After all, they go so well with the colander!
Two unopened packages of these spiffy rose lights. Can't you see them strewn through some plants in my garden? I may have to give a summer party this year to show them off! Hmmm, I saw replacement bulbs at the 99 Cent Store, maybe I should get some colored bulbs for them…


This coat rack was admittedly an impulse buy. Two of the lower hooks are broken but I'm hoping my husband has some in his hardware stash. But don’t you think it's cute?


Here’s another impulsive purchase, but hey, it was a buck, and again, awfully cute.

I'm thinking of taking down the hand-towel bar in my periwinkle blue bathroom and putting this up in its place. Towel & hairdryer from the two hangers, something decorative above. I'll keep you posted.

ALL of that (plus a green glass plate, maybe Depression glass, that I couldn’t get a good picture of) came from the first sale, for a total of $5. And my hands were so full when I went to pay that the woman asked if I'd like a box. Sure, I said, and she emptied out this 18 gallon tub and gave it to me! I told her I was thrilled to have it, and she said they have dozens. I think she was thrilled to have me take it!

The other $2.50 went for the Rolex box, and this Liz Claiborne sweater, which is destined for felting. I think it has a felted-bag feel to it. We’ll see what happens.
Also, got this cute bowl. I would so much rather eat from china that amuses me!
And lastly, from the youngest of/at 26, this kinetic frog thingie.


At the very last sale of the morning, one of the ladies was holding a baseball glove and laughing when I walked up. “Poor Amy,” she said, “she was the youngest kid and by the time she got this glove it had everyone else’s name crossed out.” Let me take a picture for my blog, I said, so she scrambled through several gloves to find that one.
Then she said, “Oh look, this was mine. What in the world was I thinking of when I wrote this on my ball glove?”

WEARABLE ART—FOR FIFTY CENTS!

Over the weekend I finally tackled a project I've been thinking about for some time. Inspired by a couple of projects shown in past issues of Altered Couture magazine, and encouraged by the acquisition of materials so inexpensive that it literally didn’t matter what I did to them, I've created what I think is a pretty amazing transformation.

From this:

To this!

And all for about fifty cents. Told you I was the queen!

The shoes came from a free box at a semi-annoying sale last year. The ad promised lots of fabric and craft supplies and even though it was off my usual path I decided to take a look. Unfortunately, while there was a lot of stuff on the driveway, it was overpriced and there was nothing of interest to me. Which was at least partially explained when I heard the seller bragging that she had let someone come a couple of days early and buy all her best stuff. Okay, I admit it was hers to sell, but doesn’t she realize there are rules? And that one of them is people who come early are cheating? (Yes, I'm joking. Pretty much.)

So I headed back to my car and noticed a box o’ free stuff nearby. And there was this pair of shoes in quite good condition that to the naked eye looked about my size. Okay, I can hear some of you going ewwww, used shoes! You don’t know where those have been! Trust me, you have no idea how many feet have been inside a pair of new shoes at the store either. And I know something about leather shoes that not everyone is aware of.

You can wash them! Yup, right there in your washing machine. I threw ‘em in with a couple of old towels and used the gentle cycle, then let them dry in the sun, and voila—clean shoes. Which, when I tried them on, fit perfectly. I could have polished them at this point but I just knew there would be something better to do with them.

Sometime later I scored two new packages of origami paper for fifty cents, planning to give them away.

One pack was indeed given. But then I was looking at that magazine and saw what they'd done with shoes, and thought of that colorful paper. And have been thinking of it for months. I have no idea what kept me from diving in, because once I got started it was a blast.

You need a lot of specialized equipment for this kind of project:

Yup. Scissors and glue. The magazine article said she’d used bookbinder’s glue. I looked that up, and basically it's white glue. Elmer’s. I cut the paper into roughly two inch squares,
spread the glue very thinly on the back with a folded out paper clip, and I was off. It was really fun playing with colors and patterns and shapes. I took my time, going off to do something else when I got bored. As I was working I remembered that my husband had picked up a little bottle of gold paint, like you use on a model, so I painted the heels with that. And rather than put the shoelaces back I used a couple of short pieces of black elastic. All told, the ingredients couldn’t have cost more than fifty cents.

So today the shoes had their maiden voyage; I wore them to work. There are a couple of spots I need to reglue, but I've got plenty more Elmer’s! And people’s reactions were fun, especially the lady at the restaurant where I had lunch who came up beside me and breathed, “Where did you get those SHOES?!”

ANNOUNCING THE TEDDY BEAR GIVEAWAY WINNER…AND A TEASER FOR TOMORROW!

I can certainly see why people use the random-number method of selecting a winner for their giveaways…this was hard! Little Bear and I enjoyed all the wishes you made on her (or his!) behalf. But—and I didn’t know this before—this bear has a definite literary bent and is well up on the bears of children’s literature. So the winner of this Little Bear is (drum roll) Aloha Jan, who wrote, "I have 3 wishes: to travel like Paddington, have adventures like Pooh, & find love in the arms of a child like Corduroy."

Pretty good wishes for anyone, bear or not! So, Aloha Jan, I'll be getting your bear to you ASAP. And I told Bear you’re a Hawaii lover, so he (or she) is expecting to go along on your next trip!

The rest of you wishers mustn’t despair. I have four more miniature bears I'll be giving away in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. And heaven only knows what I might pick up at a yard sale to give away!

Now, about that teaser…I did something rather fun over the weekend with a couple of yard sale finds—one from a free box, the other packaged in plastic; a bit of Elmer’s glue; and two short pieces of elastic. It's colorful and functional. Stay tuned tomorrow and see what it is—bet you can't guess, but I'd love it if you tried! (Okay, the whole truth is, I left my camera at work, and it has the pictures I need still on it.)

Meanwhile, let me close with my favorite line from another children’s book about a bear. Corduroy was not the only bear that Don Freeman wrote about. Some of you may remember Beady Bear, published way back in 1954, which ends with this wonderful sentence:
“Down the hill to home they went, hand in paw and paw in hand.”

WOO HOO, I WON A COOL GIVEAWAY!

Just got a message telling me I won Llyn M's fabbo 200th Post Giveaway! I'm so excited, isn't that the perfect way to begin the New Year? I'm always on the lookout for omens, and I really like this one!

I love Llyn's motto: ""Someday I shall burst my bud of calm and blossom into hysteria." Thanks, Llyn, you have SO made my day!