Muppetgasm 2012

Recently the Rochester Ronald McDonald House held it's annual sale.  This sale is huge.  I mean, the size of a warehouse, huge.  I've talked about it before. A huge pack of us go and then get dinner after.  It's an amazing night that is anticipated all year.  I usually get a goodly amount of treasure, but this year was different.  This year, I had what is referred to in my circles as "a hit".

I found armfuls of Muppets.  Armfuls.  I'll just let that sink in for a minute...yeah.  Exactly.

Now, this sale can be cut-throat.  I've seen people going for the same item many a time, sweat pouring off brows as they wonder who will reach the prize first.  A good natured head shake, a congratulations and the would-be scene is over before it starts.  The latecomer conceding to the victor, to whom I'm told go the spoils.

Facing a virtual wall of plush Muppet toys I knew I would not be a graceful loser.  I'd fight for these stuffed animals, these bits of fabric and fluff.  I'd scratch, I'd claw, I'd use every foul name in the book.  Because these Muppets belonged to me.  Mine.  I felt the Gollum like change come upon me as I began grabbing them from the shelves.  Mine.  My precious. 

At this point I already had a bag full of goods, so I'm in the toy section trying to scoop up all of the Muppets as fast as I can and just hold onto them.  Just get them.  I just needed to claim them and worry about how to transport them later.  So I'm there, buried under a mountain of Muppets, barely mobile, and some guy with his wife looks over at me with sort of a surprised expression.  "Oh, Muppets, eh?"  He looks interested.  Too interested.  I manage a muffled noncommittal "Mmm." as I turn away from him before he can move in for a better look, or, god forbid, touch one.  He might lose a finger.  Nothing to see here pal, move along.

Once the gawkers fade away I quickly bag up my booty, which is no easy task.  I float around the rest of the sale, just glowing.

Rizzo looks pretty bad ass in his black pleather coat.  Kermit is super adorable in his bunny ears, but I gotta tell ya, I have no idea why he's got that Easter egg in a terrycloth sack.  Seems kind of kinky.

Now, the untrained eye might easily confuse Easter Gonzo with Valentine Gonzo.  We experts know that Easter Gonzo carries a lily and has a green tie, whereas Valentine Gonzo carries red flowers and has a red heart tie.  I'm pretty sure that Pajamas Kermit is supposed to be a Christmas item.  Adjorbs.

The Valentine gang.  Kermit holding a real frame that you can put a picture of your sweetheart in.  Animal is dressed like an old timey prisoner and is attached to a chain with a heart at the end.  I'm trying to understand just what that means.  Love slave?  Jail...bait?  Oh wait, Prisoner of Love, right?  That's a thing, I think. And this Fozzie I've officially dubbed the W.C. Fields Fozzie.  You can't tell me he doesn't look just like W.C. Fields.  Slumpy top hat, big huge nose, bow tie and all.

Later on I found this vintage Miss Piggy Christmas figure.  For a dollar!  Admittedly, it is one of the uglier Miss Piggy items out there, but still.  A dollar!  The black cat is an Avon bottle.  I love her silhouette.  She'll go great with my other black cat fall decorations.

While in the knicknack section I found some weird dolls.  I almost always buy weird things in this section.  Note to self: Go there first next year.  Well, right after the Muppet toy area, obviously.

The ballerina couples are made of wire skeletons with wrapped and painted fabric on top.  They are seriously unique and quite lovely in their way.  The lady in the middle is a cancan dancer.  She seems pretty old (ya know).

I found this with the purses.

Confession: This is my third baton.  I have three.  I can't let them sit there, unloved!  I just buy them. I have to.  I'm compelled.  I was a majorette in high school and I love me some band.  Little known fact: I twirled the fire baton.  How rad is that?  So, I'm pretty much like a trained circus performer.

I like to keep vintage frames on hand.  These two lookers came home with me.  I'm not keeping the photo, but it's cute, no?  I also noticed that I have no drink stirs in the house.  Problem remedied.

I also found these gourds recently and just had to share them.  How adorable are they?  Little mushroom men wearing hats.  Come on with this.  It's like a 1up and a Get Big in Mario Brothers over here.

This one was birthed by my compost pile!  Thank you nature, for the awesome present!  I love decorative gourds! It's super awesome and looks like it's been sponge painted.

In a completely unrelated turn of events, I recently went on a wine tour.  I came home with a souvenir.  No, not a bottle of wine.  Not a t-shirt.  Not a corkscrew or wine stopper.  I came home with this.

A papier mache skull mask with rhinestones and a tiny top hat.  No, I wasn't drunk.  My only regret is that I didn't get two.

So, in summary:

Pretty Much All The Muppets

Tiny Dancers

Circus Freak

 Nature Gives Me A Present, Probably Because I Force People To Recyle

Therapy

My job has been pretty stressful of late.  While I'm there I need to take little breaks to give my brain time to decompress. I've been filling those breaks with therapy.  Retail therapy.

You may or may not know that I'm an Etsy junkie.  I have a shop, myself and I love to purchase items from other shops with my winnings. It's a glorious cycle.  There is nothing vicious about it.

Currently I'm obsessed with buying earrings.  Specifically, fall earrings.  Let me show you what I've found!

I call these the Haunted Mansion earrings.  They are super gorgeous.  It will tickle me pink to wear these in the Haunted Mansion next time I visit Disney World. Jessica of Chrome & Cotton was so sweet to make me a special pair since her first pair were sold.  They are a bit heavy, so if you have large holes, like me, you might want to use Lobe Wonder with them.  Seriously, that junk changed my life.  I can't tell you how amazing these look on.  Go visit Jessica's store for some seriously sweet jewelry.  It will remind you of summers on the porch, making jam and eating gorgeous pieces of hard candy from a special glass jar in your grandmother's house.

Next up we have the Autumn Leaf earrings.  These babies catch the light in beautiful ways.  They are exactly like a fall day.  They are plastic, glorious plastic and lighter than air! They are also presented on a vintage playing card.  I can't even stand it.  That has to be one of the most awesome ways of carding jewelry, ever.  Check out Little Lamzie for some kitschy fun!

Lastly we have the Candy Apple earrings.  Miz Lisa's Designs has loads of fun seasonal offerings.  These are a tiny bit bigger than I'd hoped, but super cute and plastic, one of my favorite things, ever. See how delicious they look?

There is no telling how many pairs I'll end up with before this big project at work is over...in December.  But if you all go shopping too, at least I'll be in good company.

One more thank you to the sellers of these amazing items, for making me a very happy lady with a lot less stress!

So, In Summary:

Goooooo Etsy!