The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Summer has finally arrived in the cold, dark, north!  One good thing about where we live is that when summer does come, it is very reliable.  You get lots of warmth and sun in June, July, and August.  Then it's right back to dark and cold.  Why can't our amazing summer last for 9 months out of the year, I ask you?  Then I wouldn't ever dream of moving elsewhere.

A few weeks ago I went to a sale that had some "new" jadeite.  I say "new" because this stuff is like nearly 15 years old at this point, so it's not brand new.  I was #13 in line.  On Friday the 13th. I figured it was good luck.  Double negative and all that.

The Jadeite was still present and I decided against a canister set (too $$) but I was able to scoop up these cutie patootie measuring cups for $5.  The earrings were $2 a piece.

I also scored this vintage felt Christmas tree skirt.  The details were just too adorable to pass up!  Look at the fringe on Santa's beard!  I just love stuff like that!  I also don't already have a Gurley candle tree, so I scooped one of those as well.

Check out the funky carpet that was in this house!  I'm always so amazed at the floor and wall coverings in these homes that have never been changed.

The day after this sale I hit up a church sale with Heather. (and her child and her mother) It was pretty sweet.  She passed baby boy off to grammie, and did herself some sale-ing.  Hard.  We were armed with our new foldable market baskets, and they came in mighty handy. One of us needed more room for all the stuff she bought.  I'm not saying it was Heather, but it totally was.  ;)

I found a Muppet!  This doesn't quite make up for not finding a single one at the Ronald McDonald House Charities sale, but it's a start.  I have this Miss Piggy in a larger size.  Always happy to find anything that isn't already in The Collection.  The 80s earrings are large and in charge and were only $1.

It's very hard for me to resist faux candy canes.  As you can see, I didn't. 75 cents for the lot of them. I mean, come on.  Look how great they look with Jadeite!  I can't not. The earrings are clip and look like little Christmas presents.  They were $1.  I'm so excited to have a few pairs of vintage Christmas earrings!

This Cavitt-Shaw covered dish was $2.  I can't find anything else on Etsy or Ebay in this pattern.  Rainbow confetti!  Come on with that!  It's so cute!  It's on the inside of the bowl as well.  I kept opening and shutting the dish and looking it over and over until Heather came over and said, "You better get that thing.  You keep picking it up and looking at it."  Check!

Until next time, happy hunting, kids!

Ronald McDonald Sale Spring 2016

In our city the Ronald McDonald Charities holds a five-day household sale in an empty warehouse twice a year.  People in the community bring in donated items, and then RMD sells them.  The profits go to the Ronald McDonald Houses in our area.  

If you donate items, you get a special ticket to get in on the first day. The donor day.  Only donors can get in on day one.  And you better believe I'm a donor.  I filled my car to bursting this spring, donated all of it, and got my "golden" ticket. (Insert horrific memories of Charlie singing about his golden ticket, here.)

This sale is epic. EPIC, I tell you.  Every. Single. Time.  The sheer size of it is befuddling, and add to that the insanely low prices, and the fact that it's for charity, and, well, like I said, EPIC.

I generally go to the sale with about ten people.  We all take at least a half day off of work for this sale.  Nobody has ever complained that it wasn't worth it. Usually we get in line about an hour early. This time, the line to get in was longer than I've ever seen it. The line is outdoors and the sales take place in May and October.  The weather in these parts is iffy at best.  So, we wait in the elements for an hour for the privilege of entering this sale on the first day.

To celebrate this event, which we all love so much, I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to tailgate.  In line.  Everyone brought snacks and drinks and we had a merry old hour.  There was a cheese plate, cocktails, and special cucumber sandwiches to die for!  

When the enormous line started moving we stashed our treats in our cars, hit the potties, and were ready to roll. This sale is a delight from start to finish.  The people who run it have their shit together, and are insanely efficient.  The line moves fast.  Inside everything is organized really well.  There are RMD volunteers at every turn.  If you have a question, you don't need to search for hours to find someone to help you.

It can be an overwhelming experience, for sure.  Especially for someone who doesn't often yard sale/estate sale/thrift shop.  But for us seasoned professionals, this is our element.  Our time to shine.

The first thing you see when entering the doors is the holiday section.  And if you know anything about me and my friends, you know that we love a holiday.  And we love to decorate for holidays.  So you can bet I fly into that holiday section like a bat out of Christmas town.  Swooping, scooping, throwing elbows, getting the job done like the professional I am.

I'm already starting to get worried about the amount of tins I've ammased.  Where am I going to put them all?  That's a problem for another day.  Right now we are celebrating the fact that I got these two matching, non-vintage, candy tins! ($2 together) The pine branch fabric is a tablecloth. ($4.50) There were two really great vintage Christmas table cloths and Heather and I each bought one. The wax tree is not a candle. ($2.50)  It's a vintage Wizard decorative air freshener and it's NOT TO BE EATEN. 

I'm glad to see this warning, honestly. I've wanted to eat these things my whole life.  My grandmother had some and they just look like delicious and adorable colored chocolate candy.  But they aren't delicious.  Trust me on that.

I swooped some Christmas odds and ends.  A Christmas corsage ($2), teeny Hallmark snow woman candles ($1 for the pair), a blown glass bell ornament with tiny, fragile, clacker ($2), and a large-ish bass drum drummer what has a drum for a body ($4).  The 60s was a tripy decade, ok?

I'm so very excited about scoring the 1986 Hallmark plate of cookies for Santa ornament!  How freaking adorable is it? Plus, the plate looks like jadeite!  Come on! ($2.50) The mouse in the tennis ball container is also Hallmark ($3) and the flocked mouse with wreath is just too cute (50 cents). The Hershey's ornament doesn't hang right.  It's very side-heavy. Pretty annoying. I'll just have to display it on a flat surface I guess. ($3)

This is the last thing I picked up in the holiday section.  This thing is HUGE.  Probably the size of an actual potted poinsettia. And it's in great condition.  It only needed a tiny bit of hot glue on the spine. $1.50

After holiday I generally go to the toy section.  I didn't find anything Muppets this time! Not ONE thing!  Blasphemy!  I think this is actually the first time that I didn't walk away with something Muppets.  And I've been going to this shindig twice a year for a long, long time.

Once I've riffled through the toy section I head over to jewelry.  The pickings are usually pretty fantastic if you are into big, obnoxious earrings. I bought all of these beauties for $9 total.  Check out the amazing and gigantic lucite circles with red and silver tinsel encased inside!  Swoon!  Those suckers are going to look amazeballs at a Christmas party lemme tell ya.

After I've bought up all of the earrings that nobody else would have touched with a ten foot pole, I wander over to brick-a-brack.  This year I could not find brick-a-brack!  I always score big in this catch-all, what-the-freak-even-is-this-I-guess-we'll-just-stick-it-in-brick-a-brack section!  I need the brick!  I want the brack!  I pulled a volunteer aside and she confirmed my fears.  The section had been abandoned and scattered to the wind. Bummer.

There was a newly formed stationary and party supply section, however.  I got a large bag full of gorgeous (non-vintage) paper lanterns for $2.  I don't need them to be vintage.  I just love paper lanterns.

I also found a small Wolverine shopping bag for 50 cents in the stationary section.  Odd, but I'll take it!  I'll go shopping with that hot piece of regenerating, cigar chomping, anger any time, bub.

I sort of round out the sale by checking out linens, which is always mobbed and I never find anything at anyway, and the little bathroom section, which contains vintage Avon bottles ( I found the ice cream cone for $1!!), and the outdoor section that has planters (shell planter for $2).  The little pumpkins are from the holiday area and were 50 cents for the pair.

After we are all done (at least three solid hours later) we all gather at a nearby pub and scarf down a meal while rehashing our triumphs.

Last week there was also a church sale that I go to each year.  Always the same week as the spring RMD sale. Blessed Sacrament.  I swear, Catholic church names kill me. 

I scored a J Crew wool plaid clutch for $2, a box of mercury glass ornament picks for 75 cents, a tiny weighted duck for a quarter and a pair of sweet vintage holly earrings for $1.50.

I also spotted this wardrobe. For $50. And let me tell you, I would have snatched it right up if I had a place for it at my house. It was gorgeous inside and out!  Just ridiculous.  Broke my heart a little bit to leave it there.

Until next time, happy hunting!

It Makes An Ass Out Of You And Me

I hit up a church sale just down the street from my house, with Heather, on Saturday.  It's a tiny church and they were holding it in their "field house" which is a small structure in the back parking lot, kind of like a big shed.  We arrived ten minutes early and there was a line.  A line forming at a shed looks pretty strange, let me tell you.  It was sunny but cold, so we opted to wait in the car.  Because, it was a tiny place, I mean, how much stuff could even be in there?  We thought it would be one of those sales where they have all these long tables set up and three sad things on each table.

When we got inside, that is indeed what it looked like. We thought we'd give it a quick spin and then get on with our day.  Plus, the place did not have heat, and it was about 40 degrees on Saturday.

But! You cannot assume things based on first glance.  One of the true mantras of a real treasure hunter is "you never know".  We give things a good look, we dig around, we notice boxes hiding under the tables and are brazen enough to look inside!

I ended up getting a bunch of good stuff for under $6.

This platter was $1.  It's not vintage but it's large and awesome and plastic.  And it will look great in my someday tiki bedroom.

This beauty was all the way on the other side of the room. Vintage hot pink Samsonite train case for $2!  In great shape, and has an insert that sits inside, for makeup and small things, I'm assuming.  The Snug Bungalow is very snug indeed so storage space is always at a premium.  We have one closet.  One tiny coat closet and that's it.  So, I store some off season clothes and socks and leg warmers and stuff in these vintage train cases.  Practical and pretty to look at.  

They had 80s earrings!  I got me some pastel beauties for 50 cents each!

The wire rack is for displaying stuff in the Muppet Room.  The small shadow box is because I'm running out of room in my regular shadow box for tiny holiday goodies.  These two things cost a total of 60 cents.

So, what at first glance looked like a turd of a sale, actually turned out to be pretty great.  And SO cheap!

Happy Hunting Kids!