Tid Bits

The weather here is finally near perfect and we've been enjoying a whole mess of sales.  I haven't been getting that many things that aren't to resell on Etsy, but I do have a few gems to share.

Firstly, when I'm at a sale, I like things to be marked with prices.  I loathe when you have to ask someone how much something is because the skeptic in me thinks that when you admit to your interest in an item by asking the price, said price enevitably gets higher.  I always try to ask a general question like, "So how much is all this stuff, nothing is marked!"  It's almost always met with a "Well tell me what you are looking at and I'll tell you how much it is."  I hate this.  Most of the time I just walk away.  Sometimes you get really, really lucky and you get a set up like the on pictured below.

 

It does not get better than this, folks.  An oversized pad of paper on an easel with color coded pricing.  With notes!

Next on the agenda: An interesting house.  I went to an Estate sale about a month ago.  This house had lots of treasures in it but that isn't what really caught my fancy.  This house was interesting.  The kind of interesting that only comes from being owned by a really interesting person.  And by interesting, I mean super eccentric. 

See what I mean?  Mirrored wallpaper.  Mirrored!  What is this?  A porno flick?  Who has mirrored wallpaper?! And this paper is pristine.  Like it was put up yesterday.  And it's in the dining room, of all places!

Then there is the yellow faux bamboo furniture to match the mirrored plaid wallpaper.  Good god.  Can you imagine trying to eat in this place?

And to top it all off is the vivid green carpeting.  Like new!  Did they ever even step on it?  Amazing matching green love seats to match.  This place felt like a hidden garden, plush grass underfoot.

And who doesn't like making wee-wee in a olive and gold forest of bamboo?

I'm telling you, this place was the tops.  There was a second bedroom with mirrored wallpaper but I didn't take a picture.  It was done up in browns and looked like the lovechild of the 1920's and a James Bond set.  If I ever become an art director of a film I'm recreating these rooms because that shit is memorable.

Next on the random things list is a picture of my lap at Easter.  I love the inside of that purse.  It's just plain white vinyl on the outside with a tiny bow.

Lastly, I'd like to leave you with these guys.  I don't even know what to say about them, really.  They are the epitome of greatness.  They are about 6" tall and made out of flocked styrofoam.  I found them at a yard sale.  They were stuffed into a basket of other, newer, easter grass and plastic eggs.  The entire basket was going for $2.  I asked the lady if she would take $2 just for the pair of chicks.  There was this awkward and monumental moment where the lady looked at me like, "I can't BELIEVE this woman wants to pay me $2 for these hideous chickens!" and I looked at her like, "I can't BELIEVE this woman is going to let me have these adorable vintage chickens for $2!" In all honestly this set is probably worth at least $25.  As they say these days: Thay Shay Cray.

 

So, in summary:

I Spurn Unmarked Items

Don't Decorate Your House While On Drugs

Can't Have Enough Poka Dots

Ain't It J?

May Days

Another day, another yard sale.  

The last neighborhood sale in April turned up these treasures.  Black ballet flats with rainbow colored beads for 50 cents. (Yes, they were made for children.  I have small feet, ok?  I narrowly avoided the Dora the Explorer sneakers.)  An adorable drum major (see what they did there?) vintage Christmas ornament to round out the dollar.  

To know me is to know that I love my marching band days.  I played clarinet for a while but after an entire parade of honking out "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" it was time for a change.  I then became a majorette.  Twirler.  Fire baton. That's right, you heard me.  And yes, it was that awesome. 

Anyway.  I went to a church sale on my way home from work on Friday.  One of the last things that I spotted was this:

Yes, that's right.  Kermit soap.  Not just any Kermit soap, either.  Hallmark, "Sailor of Fortune" 31 year old Kermit soap in the original packaging.  To be exact.  One dollar.  I cannot tell you the amount of will power it took to "poker face" my way through this.  But I did it.  Because I'm just that good.  What a prize for the Muppet Room!  Just a quick fyi - you don't want to be using this soap, because ol' Kerm over there smells something terrible.  Rancid old lady smell.  I'm going to pretend that it would smell better if it weren't 31 years old.  Hopefully someone over at Hallmark had better sense than to make a child's soap smell like an old woman.

Also, side note: If you feel like a good cry please head over to Netflix and watch "Being Elmo".  It's the story of Kevin Clash, Elmo's puppeteer. I already knew the whole story and was not expecting it to be so emotional.  Very interesting for a Muppet fan, but a great story for anyone at all.

Then a church sale on Saturday turned up all these goodies.  Tiny little Hallmark and Russ treats for my shadowbox.  The larger house is actually a little box, the roof comes off.  I think that the dressy Jack-o-Lantern candles might be from as early as the 40's.  Each piece was a quarter.

Then there's these Christmas cuties. Tiny guys for 25 cents each.

Lastly we have a jewel eye kitten for my jewel eye friend, a little frog that was supposed to be in the Halloween picture (for that is where he will be displayed), a vintage flower pin that I'll make into a hair clip, Hallmark spring chick with cart and yes, that's right...more Disney pins to trade!  I'm now up to 8 pins! Watch out Disney (in like, two more years) because I'm coming to trade!!

So, in summary:

Pyro Marching Band Geek

Victory

A Million Tiny Pieces

 Great, Now I Can't Stop Thinking About Disney