Saturday, June 6, 2009

CANDLES AND SCOOTERS AND LANTERNS AND SUCH


This was just one of the best garaging days! Neighborhood sale in a very nice area. Found some fun stuff, didn’t spend too much, got some good stories, petted some fine dogs. The best!

At the bagel store, the sesame bagels (my favorite, and of course you can never have too many sesame seeds scattered about your car, right?) were still warm from the oven, so I didn’t even have it toasted. Just schmear on that cream cheese baby. I gave the lady a twenty and asked if she could spare some ones in change. “Are you going to yard sales?” she asked, looking eager. “You bet,” I said, “and there are a lot of them out there today.” She gave me all ones, and I said the first one I spent would be in her honor. Which would be for…let me think…oh yes—a vintage scale. This one is for you, Cathy G.! Hope you’re still wanting one!




Isn’t this a fabbo car?
I think he said it's a 1927 Model A. The guy who owns it was on his knees in his front yard, cleaning the blades of a ceiling fan. Another old guy walked up to see what was for sale and commented with a twinkle in his eye, “That’s a nice sight, a guy on his knees.” “Yes, and he’s cleaning something, how cool is that?” I said. We all chuckled.

I saw the same old guy across the street a few minutes later at another sale and noticed he had a couple of bags with stuff in them. I asked if he’d found some good stuff. He beamed. “Oh, yes, my favorite thing.” He opened a bag to show me—old candles, partly used. “I melt them down to make new candles,” he said. Which I have to admit I'd never thought of doing, I just use them as is. “So you have, like, candle molds and everything?” I asked him. His smile got bigger; I could tell how much he enjoys his creativity. “You know what I use for molds? Pringles cans. Pour in the wax and just peel off the can when it’s cooled.” I may have to try that sometime—if anyone ever gives me some Pringles. I've never bought a can of them in my life.

I talked to two children on those little scooter thingies, Razors. The little boy was not quite three, and just learning to ride. As soon as I walked up he called, “Watch me! Watch me!” Of course I obliged, and off he went. In a moment his mom called him to head back and he did, balancing beautifully. We commented on how he was watching where he’s going and not looking at his feet. The kid will probably be swooping around on a skateboard before much longer.

Up the street I met a young girl, about six or seven, who immediately informed me that I couldn’t buy her scooter. I noticed it had a $3 price tag on the handlebars. “Oh, it's not mine,” she said. “It's for sale but I'm not going to give it up. I'm using it to cruise, that’s my plan.” By now I was cracking up. She was so articulate and so completely self possessed. I suspect she still has that scooter.

Met several nice dogs today. This lovely lady is a Viszla named Gita. She may have the softest ears on the planet.


Handsome Thor has just had his summer haircut.

I bought some fun socks from his owner, who told me she is a member of a Funky Sock Society—a group of women who do a sock exchange every month. What fun. Maybe we need to start something like that where I work. Funky socks can really brighten your day.

Doggie haircuts seemed to be the order of the day—Sierra the Springer had just had her summer do as well.


I have to admit I was especially taken with this sweetie pie, Gwennie.


Short for Gwendolyn. Short is the operative word here. My guess is she’s a corgi mix, maybe with Sheltie, though she has a blue tongue so could be some chow back there somewhere. She was a pound puppy, so who knows. “We got her right after 9-11,” her owner told me. “We were supposed to take a trip and it got cancelled, so we said okay, time to get a dog.”

When I left I petted Gwennie once more, and this time she fell over so I could admire her tummy and give it a good rub.

As I walked into one garage, the sale of this item was being concluded. I had to get a picture.
They were talking about putting it on their patio. Interesting patio!

A couple of items I didn’t buy…I thought this box was funny.
I particularly like the phrase “Space-saving Breakthrough!”

This hand carved cane with a dog’s head handle was too spendy for me.
The daughter of the house liked it too, and I hope she took it home.

At one sale there were several embroidery kits for sale, and the lady told me she was giving them up because of her eyes. I asked if she had embroidered the little framed picture I'd seen on another table. She said no, it was done by her mother in law, and she got a little misty eyed as she told me about her. We fetched the picture and looked at it, a wonderful little nighttime snow scene exquisitely embroidered on black satin.
Apologies that my photo isn’t better. I should have taken the time for a macro photo. The snow on the trees is composed entirely of tiny French knots, probably done with a single thread. The stars are single stitches. I was tempted to buy it. But the lady having the sale said she was a little sorry she’d put it out. Someone else conversing with us suggested having it made into a pillow top. I looked more closely at the framing. The mat was a piece of green paper, probably construction paper. I said that if she reframed it with a real mat and another frame it would be a wonderful thing to hang. She laughed and said her MIL had been a teacher, so it probably was a piece of construction paper. The embroidery dates from the Thirties, when her husband’s parents lived in the California Sierras, where he was a forest ranger. Once a month they would drive down the mountain and go to Fresno for supplies. She told me, “She had to drive herself to Fresno when my husband was born. Her sister was supposed to take her, but she panicked and couldn’t drive. The road’s still there. It's the worst almost-two-lane road I've ever been on in my life.” By the time we finished talking, the little snowy night picture was taken back into the house. I'm awfully glad she’s keeping it.

I spent $11.75 this morning. Found a nearly full roll of quilt batting for a project I've got in mind, but you don’t need a picture of that! White, fluffy, rolled up, in plastic bag. I'm sure your imagination can also picture a three inch high stack of index cards in several colors, which my husband likes for taking phone messages. You already know about the scale. These are my Funky Sock Society socks.
This little art project was only a quarter, akin to a paint by number, and I loved doing those as a child.
I was charged with finding a shirt or two for my husband to wear when he works in the yard. So I picked up this one—and it may be too good for yard work! He’s a redhead so green looks really good on him.
My supply of dish towels is pretty good these days, but I'm a sucker for stuff with wheat. 100% cotton, from France, even has a signature.


At the same sale I found these wind chimes. I actually bought them for the dangly part, not the chimes. I have some very nice chimes, but the windcatcher is long gone, so I'm hoping this will work.

I found some puppets to give to my children’s librarians—a set of community helpers, and a Wild Thing…



…and a book of flying dinos to keep some kids occupied after school someday…


…and big stack of wonderful handmade bookmarks.



This black pot will hold cooking utensils. I like the contrast with our colorful spatulas.

And a score for the yard—four brand new candle lanterns. Aren’t the little round ones adorable? Like old fashioned alarm clocks.
The best score of the week actually came several days ago. A house down the street has gone up for sale, and one day several pots were put out front with a free sign. So we strolled down to take a look, and brought these babies home. I added the geraniums!
A couple of days later we were leaving to go to a movie, and sitting out front with another free sign was this beauty. I love its weathered wood.


Let’s take it, we said, and picked it up to carry it home. Which is when we discovered that not only are the arms made of cast iron, so are all those slats in the back. The darned thing weighs a ton. But we huffed and puffed it down the street to our house, where it looks quite nice on the patio in the corner. We’ve been sitting on it every evening, and enjoying our view.

19 comments:

  1. You did get some great buys! You can't beat free on the bench.
    Glenda

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  2. All in all it was a very good day. come by Monday. I will be posting about a Wisconsin estate sale I went to today! It involves cheese boxes, but no cute doggies. xo Joan

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  3. Great buys. I did pretty good today too!

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  4. Great job as usual! LOVE the free stuff.......the best price of course :)

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  5. You finally found one! Thanks so much!
    Guess I better get back on etsy then!!
    love the neighborhood deals! I went to a sale last week and got a child sized quilt (newer made) of the Aunt Grace fabrics that I love, and got a neat clipping of a white geranium (zonal I think) with a pale pink edging. Owner of the house didn't even know that you can propagate geraniums by just putting them in the ground.
    Hope you can come to soft boiled grand opening on Monday! place looks good!

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  6. What beautiful dogs to encounter, especially that vizla! I love all the stories when garage saling and I am glad you encouraged that lady to keep the embroidered piece. I wish our Wild Thing was a puppet. I got lots of free stuff today as well which I'll post about Monday.

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  7. Wow! You made out like a bandit!! Very cool!

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  8. You find the most interesting things & tell the most enjoyable stories! I'm sure all those folks you visit love to have you come by. I'm not that talkative at my sales! :)

    Now, that bench was a real find! I'd love one of those.

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  9. I really enjoyed your adventures on garage sale day!! I can't believe someone was just throwing the pots and the bench away for free. Those are great finds. I just dropped by as I liked the name of your blog. Stop by and see me sometime:
    http://www.anntuckerblog.com

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  10. I love that bench...and free!!...what a deal. I have been keeping my eye out for a weathered bench like that for my garden.

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  11. I love how you tell of your adventures and encounters of some fabulous people and four legged friends while garage sailing. Great stories...fabulous finds :)
    Toni

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  12. Fun stories! I always meet a lot of doggies on adventures too.

    You found some fun stuff especially the FREE stuff! :)

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  13. Thanks for sharing your great finds, and wonderful stories. I have bench envy!

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  14. Two things: first of all, pizza flavored pringles is the way to go, if they still make them anymore. I don't buy pringles or any chips really for that matter, but back in college I LOVED them! And two, there's so many things to do with melted down candles! I don't need to buy any because I have so many already around the house, but last week I made some firestarters. Here's the post in case you want to check them out :)

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  15. wow you got a fabulous haul! I respecially loved those dish towels.

    Happy Hunting!
    Tina

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  16. Oh Queen of Fifty Cents, I have really enjoyed the finding of your blog recently! I even thought of you as I was out at garage sales on Saturday chatting with people and seeing some dogs. I really like how you tell us about the whole experience.

    Yea for starting the day out with a bagel! Yum! I saw a vintage scale this weekend too. It was a hanging one and was $10. I didn't think it was a bad price but also didn't have a compulsion to buy it. Was yours $1?!

    That's really interesting about the guy with the candles. Neat idea. Did he have all one color or lots of colors?

    The girls in my Bible study and I did a sock exchange at Christmas to be able to do a gift exchange but make it something people could actually use. Everyone wears socks, right? We had so much fun we did a scarf swap in January!

    The tv shelf is hilarioius! :) Quite inventive.

    I am soo glad that lady kept the embroidery.

    What GREAT puppets. Those librarians are blessed to have you looking out for them. Puppets are not cheap. I see some at our music teachers' convention every year and they're so neat but so expensive.

    I really like the candle holders too for the yard and yea for the free stuff! I had to do my own manuevering to get a big wicker chair home with me this weekend. :) Where there's a will there's a way, right? Have a happy Monday! Kelly

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  17. I love all of your treasures but my favorite is the story of the snow scene. Don't you know she just needed to share that with someone and she picked you. What an honor!

    Thanks for sharing.

    Charla

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  18. Oh I love those bookmarks!! Great deals.

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  19. Oh the Wild Thing puppet...thing of joy! My BIL and his wife recently had twin boys. I found a poster of the Imagination exhibit some years ago at the Kennedy Center that Maurice Sendak did so I'm sending that to them along with two copies of Where the Wild Things Are...and a nightlight covered with the print from the inside cover of the book. Guess I need to find a puppet.

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I really love your comments. Thanks for coming along on my thrifty adventures!

 
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