Drip Drip

It's been rainy and cold for about a week. I'm so over it.  Four days in a row of wearing a scarf in JUNE?  No. Just no.

I went to a church sale and two neighborhood sales last week when the weather was nicer.  The church sale, as always, won out.  One of the neighborhood sales yielded nothing. Not a thing!  That's the thing with garage sales.  Your odds are not as good.  An Estate Sale is the life and times of one person or family.  A church sale is a whole community of people putting all their cast-offs in one spot.  A garage sale is just one family, picking and choosing things like a few old tires and some jar candles to stick outside for a fee.

The holiday stuff at a church sale can be off the hook.  Church ladies really like to decorate for a holiday.  I scored these Beistle die cut honey combs for a quarter each. I've seen really large versions of these guys, but never this smaller size.  They are about 4" tall.  The vintage "Trees" book will be displayed with my fall things.  It was a quarter as well.  Thank you, church sale!

Now, this tree is a real handcraft.  Crazy crocheted tree.  With random red pompoms.  It's made from variegated yarn, so there isn't much color continuity in layers. For some reason this tree really spoke to me.  It was a whole dollar, so I didn't think much about it.  Just shoved it in my bag.  

With a deeper inspection, I've realized that this tree reminds me of something that I've been attracted to for years, but that has remained quite an enigma.  What I'm talking about is this:

  

In the background of this scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (perhaps the greatest Christmas movie of all time), there is a ....festive...tree...ish....thing.  Is it a cake?  Is it a decoration?  Some kind of an advent calendar? A mock up of Mount Crumpit, where the Grinch lives?  It's a monstrosity, for sure.  But what IS it?  Why is it so intriguing to me? Why do they never once say anything about it the entire movie?  Anyway.  Yeah.  So this reminds me of that. I know, I know.  Enthralling.

I also got this Florida flamingo toothpick holder for the Someday Tiki Bedroom.  It was 50 cents.  The other side has a sailfish and the word "Florida".

I did not end up buying this.  It was $15 and that is just too much for a crazy cray shell sculpture, in my book.  Golden Jesus even seemed upset by the price.  

Onward, to our special feature:

"New In The Shop"

As always, click on an item photo to be whisked away to my Etsy shop!

An adorable Hallmark pin!  A tiny mouse in an acorn with a fall leaf. I'll tell you what.  It takes colossal willpower on my part, not to keep every last Hallmark pin I find.  But alas, the Snug Bungalow is indeed snug.  And I don't have room for all of the things, all of the things.  So, I allow myself to keep a few, and I have to pass the rest on to other collectors of cute.  The mouse is wearing the top of the acorn as a HAT, people!

Next up is another Hallmark pin.  I just love a Hallmark snowman, don't you?  They remind me of my childhood.  Everything was rounder and fatter back then.  We liked a plump character in the 80s.  Something huggable.

It's hard to tell but, these are Kool-Aid cups.  A set of three. The Kool-Aid man looks on whilst you guzzle a mug full of sugar and food coloring with a hint of water. Ohhh yeahhh! I can imagine that my favorite childhood flavor, Purple Saurus Rex would look spectacular in these cups, with some ice, and a hint of rum, maybe?  When there is a flavor that can only be described as a color, you know you are on to something good. Or, you could just give the cups to your kid, I guess.  For milk, or whatever.  Boring.

Until next time, happy hunting!