Good Ideas

The nose dive in the economy certainly had a lot of ramifications. One that hit us was the disappearance of long skinny notepads left on our porch by local realtors, which we used to receive regularly. They were perfect for grocery lists. I know, I know, in the face of the devastation faced by many over the past few years, who cares about a few notepads? (Well, presumably the realtors whose disappearing livelihood caused the lack of notepads!) But people face up magnificently to real trouble. It’s the little niggling details that can get you down.

But I should be set for a while. I scored a new pack of 5 x 8” index cards on a driveway this weekend, which will be cut in half and made into pads with hot glue. Perfect for shopping lists, and sturdy as well. Whew!

I imagine a lot of people discovered shopping on driveways out of necessity in the past few years. It’s certainly one reason we can live well in retirement. And I know I can go on ad nauseum about how much one can get for how little, but it amazes me that week after week I can find such great deals. This week I spend $17.35 – an amount that should tell you two things: I found a big ticket item, and something else cost a dime! I’ll let you guess on the dime item. The big ticket? That charcoal grill I’ve had my eye out for all summer.

We like charcoal for grilling much better than gas; more flavor. Can’t wait to fire this puppy up…but some cleaning will be necessary first. It came with one of those chimney thingies for starting the coals, which we love. A couple of sheets of crumpled paper and a match and in ten minutes you have starter coals ready, with no smelly lighter fluid.

Dang, I’m getting hungry. We’ve got several ears of corn in the fridge from our CSA share this week that are just crying out to be grilled!

So that was the big ticket. The littler tickets? On Friday I found this gorgeous (and probably new) Talbot’s blazer to resell. (Size 12, chocolate brown, 100% linen…holler if you’re interested!)

Saturday’s finds included a Timberland shirt for me

a package of 100 mini baking cups (I’m thinking truffles at Christmas in their own little papers)

a fun DVD I’ve been wanting to see again

and a lovely vintage paint by numbers.

If the info on one like it for sale on eBay is accurate, this is from the late 40s and was one of the first paint by number kits. Whoever painted this one did a great job; I love the brush strokes.

Even the back is fun – the frame has this insert encouraging you to Be Your Own Decorator.

I love knowing that the salesgirl could give me valuable suggestions. Wonder if they would have had anything to do with picture arranging?

I was leaving the last sale of the morning when I spotted a couple of rugs that I had missed earlier. Walked over to check them out, but they turned out to be not something I could use, nor a price I would pay. But laying by them was a gray…something. Picked it up and saw it was a large thick pad, evidently for a twin bed…or for the back of the car to keep it clean when you carry dogs around all the time. Though this wasn’t the ten-cent item, the price was pretty darned good, so it came home with me too. And evidently I chose well. When I spread it on the sofa to snap a quick picture, Zoe was up there before I could blink.

I was going to get it into the laundry, but she wouldn’t get off. She settled in for a nice nap.

She’s a dog with really good ideas.

Mark Them Off the To-Do List!

Just finished a major project, and I am jazzed!

Some of you may remember that a year ago in July, I scored a set of four Hans Wegner dining chairs. Mid century modern perfection…except that the seats needed reweaving.

Which I have just finished! My husband did the cleanup of the wood, and I wove the seats. A few days ago my SIL and I were looking at the three that were done and decided they look quite real.

So for the first time in over forty years we have an actual set of dining chairs. If we keep this up, we’ll make it into the middle class yet!

Till the Cows Come Home

Is there anything sweeter than hearing the words, “Let me tell you the story of that” as you are paying for a yard-sale item? Lots of times I can get stories because I chat up the seller and solicit the information, but every once in a while someone just volunteers. Happened on Friday at a moving sale for a retired couple headed for Arizona. We’d already gotten into a three-way conversation with another shopper because we all hailed from the same part of the country – Oklahoma and Texas. As we talked we found even more connections in Missouri and Arkansas. If we’d kept at it much longer we would probably have turned out to be cousins or something. But I had two restless dogs in the car, so I handed over a dollar bill for this vintage train case.

I wasn’t in the market for a train case, it just forced itself on me with cries of “Take me! Take me!”

Needs some cleaning up, and the inside is definitely on the scuzzy side.

But there are tutorials online showing how to refurbish these puppies, and I think some cleaning and fresh fabric and sitting in the sunshine will do the trick. In any case, I handed over a dollar, and heard my favorite line, “Let me tell you the story of that.” Oh yes, please, I said. “This was part of a graduation gift from my parents. They gave me a whole set of this luggage, and this is the only piece that’s still left. And that was back in 1964!” If I’d had my wits about me more, I should have asked where this little case has traveled over the years. Next time!

It was nice to get a story, because we seem to have entered the summer doldrums I’ve written about before. Seems like this time of year I never find much, even if the sales are plentiful. Bought nothing on Saturday, and my other Friday finds were two seat belt clips for the dogs (I fret over their safety in the car and want to get them in seatbelts, which we own but rarely use because they are awkward in our cars)

a book I’ve been wanting for some time

and a sofa pillow.

Looks like hand embroidery but probably isn’t, but I really like the design. The zipper was kaput, hence its fifty-cent price tag, but I just stitched it up. Spent $4.50 in all, not bad.

And for less than a fiver, I not only got an item’s history, I got to overhear a fun conversation. (Yes, I’m easily entertained!) At one sale I noticed in passing a framed picture of a cow. Not something I need (or want). A couple of minutes later I heard another guy who was shopping ask how much the cow picture was. “My daughter kind of collects cows,” he explained. The husband having the sale told him, “You can have the whole herd for a buck.” I immediately got a mental picture of several cows standing behind a fence.

Then the wife added, “That one was painted by my son’s first ex-wife.” My mental picture quickly changed to a herd of ex-wives behind the fence. I left before my big mouth could ask just how many ex-wives her son had!

 

Wizards and Trees and Pristine Type

Was it the shower rod…or the hat…or the handmade box that cost a quarter last week? You guys are good guessers – it was the hat, which actually got the most guesses! A week later I’m probably still most thrilled about the free curved shower curtain rod. Which is NOT installed yet, but you don’t want to hurry into these things. I did manage to get the vintage divided box cleaned up (and wow, was it ever dirty!) and put to use.

I lined the back of each area with related pieces of scrapbook paper (part of a score back in 2009, hundreds of sheets of fabulous scrapbooking paper for three bucks! Looks like it’s going to be a lifetime supply…) so the doggie things would show up better. I’m liking it on the display shelf over my desk. And should I happen to come across a few more very small dog things, they’ll have a place and I’ll be able to answer the “where are you planning to put it” question.

One of the things I learned during this weekend’s garaging is that Salem in not a very big town. Of course I’ve known that since a few days after we bought our house here. We literally knew maybe four people in Salem (our real estate agent, our contractor who was working on the house, and a couple of his carpenters). We went out to a movie on a dark, cold wintery Monday night, and a few seconds after some people sat down in the row behind us, we heard someone say, “Mr. and Mrs. Henegar?” And it was our contractor. So I wasn’t terribly surprised at the dog park last night when I saw a cute puppy, and realized it was this one I’d met at a sale last weekend.

And then this morning as I was leaving the first sale, I heard, “Hey, it’s the dog park lady!” And there was the owner of this puppy yet again. Don’t you wonder sometimes how many times your paths have crossed with someone’s before you became aware of each other?

I chatted a little with another lady at the first sale I stopped at on Friday, admiring her cute visor with the ladybugs printed on it. Saw her at a couple more sales during the morning. You know how that is, you’re chasing the same addresses. And I noticed she has a convertible like mine (but a different color). Then this morning at my last stop I heard someone say, “It’s me, without my hat!” and there she was. Gosh, I hope I’ve been minding my manners as I go along, there’s no place to hide in a town like this!

I only bought one thing this morning, but it occasioned my biggest laugh of the day. I’d been chatting with the lady having the sale about this and that. I was wearing my shirt with the chickens embroidered on it, and she makes embroidered clothes and liked my chickens. I noticed an issue of Threads magazine, which I always enjoy reading even though I don’t do much sewing.

We negotiated a price (fifty cents, what else) and she mentioned she’d ended up with two copies of the same edition. “So this one has virgin print in it!” she assured me. “My eyes will really appreciate that,” I said. And couldn’t help adding, “It’s been so long since they’ve seen anything virgin!” We both cracked up. I was kind of glad she’d told me her husband is a little hard of hearing – since this is such a small town!

Actually managed to spend a little more on Friday – a whopping $3.75. We’re getting the house painted later this month, and I think this mat will look nice by the front door.

These planter boxes came with adjustable brackets for hanging on the deck railing.

Hmmm, maybe I can use them for the sweet pea seeds my lovely friend Cathy G. sent me this week!

I was excited to replace my old VHS copy of The Wizard of Oz with this DVD.

And I’ll love using these two little wood-shaving trees at Christmastime…

…but what really made me pick them up was the adorable box!

 

 

Guessing Game!

“Be right back,” I told Steven. “There’s a bit more in the car.” I hauled in the second armful of garage sale items. “Okay, that’s everything.”

He looked at my finds. “All this,” I couldn’t help bragging, “cost…twenty five cents.”

 

I think he was impressed. I know I was! I didn’t have a lot of time for garaging Saturday, so I made four stops on my way home from the dog park. Strolled up to the first one, and the sellers called, “Everything over there on the grass is free!”

 

I immediately spotted a couple of things I could use and picked them up. Went over to see what was in the money-required section and thank them for the free stuff. The dad told me, “If you come back in about an hour, probably everything else will be free too. We just want it all gone!” I asked if they were moving. One of the teenage daughters said, “Well, we were going to move, so we started clearing stuff out to have a garage sale.” The mom added, “But by the time we got it all cleared out to get the house ready for sale, it looked so much better we decided to stay!”

 

I couldn’t help laughing. I actually read about people doing this in one of the books I looked at on how to stage your house to sell, last year when we were getting ready to move. I was a teensy bit skeptical about the writer’s claim that she’d had several clients decide not to move after she decluttered and staged their homes, but I guess it must have been true. Might be a lesson in there for all of us about the value of decluttering!

 

Didn’t find anything I needed on the money side of the sale, but as I headed back toward the car I spotted something else among the freebies I could use. And then another thing, and another. I was a happy camper as I put the stuff in my car and headed for the next sale.

 

At the second sale I spent a quarter (and nothing at the two after that.) So here’s the guessing game: which item did I spend cold hard cash for, and which came from the free pile? Was it the pair of red pillar candles that smell of cinnamon?

The very old handmade box that belonged to the owner’s grandfather?

The never-been-used curved shower curtain rod (an item I’ve been planning to buy for a year)?

The three globe light covers, which I will use for gazing balls in the yard?

The new-with-tags black wool hat (in my husband’s size!)?

Or the backpack that was instantly commandeered by Noll Baxter?

All for a quarter. And to think I almost didn’t go out at all!

Passing By

All these garage sales we go to…seems like many of them mark some passage in life. Sometimes it’s that the kids have outgrown clothes and toys, and it’s time to let those things go to some other family. I see lots of those, and sometimes I just drive on by. Since I no longer buy door prizes for children’s librarians, my need for toys has greatly diminished! Besides, there’s no need to tempt myself with too many beauties like this one…which I thought I might resell, but have not been able to part with.

Decluttering can definitely be a life event. Sometimes the decluttering is because someone decides to have a sale, and sometimes they have a sale because they decided to declutter. Either way, it feels good to lighten the load in our homes. I know that sounds strange coming from someone who goes out just about every weekend on a treasure hunt, but maybe that’s the key word…treasure. I bring new-to-me things into the house, but I’ve also sent boxes of stuff to the kitty rescue thrift store. I figure as long as something makes me happy I’ll keep it. Sometimes I’m quite surprised by what makes me happy though. Like this vintage mixer bowl, and a couple of 4” springform pans.

I can’t explain it. I pick up this bowl of heavy white milk glass and it just makes me smile. Perhaps it belonged to a very happy cook and absorbed those good vibes. And…it cost fifty cents!

One of my stops this weekend was an estate sale – definitely a passage. The things in the house had belonged to a woman who sewed, and made costumes, and kept children’s drawings. And she wrote notes about her possessions, like the lady whose rug now graces my kitchen. Didn’t buy anything at this sale, but I enjoyed some of the notes.

The most poignant sale was for an elderly couple who are selling their home of many years and moving to a retirement center. Most of the sale was in the garage, where various family members were handling business. They were a fun group. I heard a woman complain that someone had taken something from “her pile.” One of the guys told her, “Hey, you can just charge her for your personal shopping services.” She seemed to like the idea of leaving a sale with more money than when she arrived. I saw a sign that there was furniture inside the house, so I went in to see if I could find that last twin bed I’m looking for. Nope. But the elderly couple were in the living room where a sofa and some other pieces were for sale. She was on the sofa, and I asked if she were demonstrating the merchandise. She said she was, and invited me to help her, so I sat and chatted for a few minutes. They seemed brave and resolute, but I could tell this was a hard thing to leave their home.

Another couple I met was also having a moving sale, but they were at the other end of life’s journey, with a little boy about a year and half old. Some of their items had a midcentury vibe, like this gem

which I did not buy. I wonder how many baby boomers have horrible memories of bad haircuts given by well-meaning moms who believed the “if you can comb hair, you can cut hair” promise. In fact, wasn’t that a chapter in one of Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins books?

I got to talking to the couple at this sale, and it turned out they’re moving not terribly far from me, into a midcentury modern house! They got quite excited when I mentioned we’re starting a group up for MCM aficionados, and fortunately I had some flyers that we made up recently. Seems like they’ll be a real asset to the group, since they took a handful of flyers with the intention of dropping them off at cool mcm houses they encounter. I can’t wait to get this group going, because everyone who’s interested really wants to have potlucks and see other people’s houses – which is my idea of a good time!

Spent a total of $8.25 this weekend. The rest of my finds were some movies

a CD I thought my biker BIL might enjoy (I thought the disc label was too cool)

 

a handmade vintage apron with chicken scratch embroidery

  

a fabulous Pyrex dish with lid and teak-handled rack (can’t you just see it at a potluck with baked beans in it?)

and a tea cozy.

It’s very nicely made, and appears to be German.

 

Found it at my last stop, and I suspect it was still on that driveway because I was the only person who’d come along who recognized what it was. Kind of like the time I bought a darning egg (yes, occasionally I darn a sock) and the person selling it didn’t even know what it was.

Sounds like one of those life passages…being old enough to recognize a tea cozy!