Sunday...At The Dome Arena...!

OK, so it was Saturday morning, but still. The Dome Arena has a nice ring to it, you have to admit. When I was a kid they would hold monster truck rallies and WWF matches there. (Dude, when I was little it was called the WWF and I refuse to call it the WWE or whatever it's supposed to be now. Long live Jake the Snake Roberts.) Now Roc City Roller Derby is held there. Hell yeah.

$2 to get in at 8:00 am. I'm guessing that right now you think there is something wrong with my brain. Waking up at 8:00 am and paying to get in to what amounts to a big yard sale. You're right. There IS something wrong with me. I'm a freaking genius.

I was working on a very limited time table of two and a half hours. This place was packed. I didn't end up getting that much, but my heart goes pitter pat whenever I step into a place that large packed with so much junk.

Check it:

The orange boots were the first thing I got. Right after stepping foot into the front door, paying my fee and getting my hand stamped with blue ballet shoes. (?) $1 for the pair. The purse is from the Gap. $5. The lady who was selling it had other great purses and a myriad of hand made hair do-dads. She calls her business "My Best Friend's Closet", which I think is adorable. The purse is in immaculate condition and I can't wait until summer so that I can carry it around.

I also bought a few things to re-sell on my Etsy page, of course.

Then there are these guys:

Lilah wanted the nun for $2. I'm going to put it in her Christmas stocking. This little sister will end up playing French music for a grouping of other nuns at my mom's house. She only has one poor, lonely friar, though. The Santy mug is for a buddy of mine. Looks like ol' Santy has a drinking problem with that nose of his. Stop spiking the eggnog that you leave out with the cookies, will ya? It's not easy driving a sleigh with 9 reindeer, especially when you are blowing a .08%


Speaking of blood alcohol levels...this set is also for Lilah. I mean, could there BE a cuter bar set? No. The answer is no. I'll save you the hassle of thinking for yourself. Check out those tiny top hats!

I wish I'd have gotten more of a chance to re-look around the place several more times. I would have made a run to the ATM and bought a bunch more stuff, maybe. But I console myself with the knowledge that it's happening again in January. It will be sub zero here then and nice and snowy. I'll be in need of a good hit. Get the tourniquet ready.

Ronald McDonald House Sale 2011

Now kids, before we jump right into the RMD sale, let me show you a few things I got at a sale a few weeks ago. It was a church sale that I'd never been to before (!!). I believe it was "Our Lady of Mercy" which is a lot better than "Our Lady of Eternal Sorrows and Sad Orphan Kids Out In The Snow" which I'm sure is a very happening parish around here somewhere. It was a rather sizable sale and I ended up getting a lot of good things for my Etsy shop. I only bought two things just for me, though.

Now, just in case you are looking at this chick and thinking that you could use a little Pepto Bismol to accompany the stomach ache that comes with staring at this shade of pink for too long, let me just enumerate the ways in which this pink easter chick rocks. 1- Pink, 2-Yarn, 3-Chick, 4-Wearing a hat, 5-The hat has flowers, 6-craft, 7-felt, 8-price (50 cents!!) 9-Yarn (yes, it counts twice!) and finally 10-Pink Yarn Easter Chick Craft Wearing a Hat with Flowers in it and having Felt Wings which are so adorable and the whole thing makes me want to cry with joy. I'm glad you see it my way.


See? I told you that you'd find pieces of silver (these for 25 cents each!) if you kept your eyes open! It seems like I find silver spoons the most. (Ooh! Silver Spoons!) Which is kind of ironic if you think about it since, you know, not everyone is born with one in their mouth, supposedly.

I'm currently knee deep in stalking this blog. Her paper flowers are swoon worthy, I'm telling you. I got all kinds of inspired and did a craft project! That hasn't happen in ages and I'm loving the result. Looka this! Wowzers. Can you believe these were originally coffee filters? Yeah, I know, right??

OK, I'm done with the catch up stuff. Now it's time for the main event. The Ronald McDonald House Sale. It only comes once a year and it's like Christmas, a marathon and a really great one night stand all rolled into one. Let me start by saying: Holy Crap. The line this year was worse than I've ever seen. Stretching on into oblivion. Everyone and their mother's dog donated this year, must be. Honestly. And it was raining. It took us 25 minutes to get in the door from where we were in line. It "stretched all the way to Terre Haute!" Wish I would have gotten a picture for ya, but you know how I get. The husband texted me just as I was entering the building, admonishing me to please "not buy anything back that you just donated". Smarty pants.

As I'm sure you surmised from the name of this post, all the money from this sale goes to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. It's amazing. People donate all of the items and then come back and buy other people's items and it must be a huge sum of money because it goes on for four days. Everyone knows it's best to donate and get your golden ticket to the pre-sale. Wednesday night. 4-8 pm. I learned my lesson well. Bring a snack and wear a tank top. It's so hot in there, no matter what it's doing outside. Hundreds and hundreds of panicked people trying to get the good stuff before other people get the good stuff. We all assume we have the same idea of good stuff. Obviously all the people are headed straight to the holiday decor made out of yarn, plastic and glitter!

I started in the Christmas section even though I really wanted to start in purses. The sale was in a different location this year and wasn't set up in it's normal pattern. So, I just had to go with the flow. I'm awesome at that, so it added another layer of stress/sweat. All told we were there for three and a half hours. I had rope burn on the inside of one of my hands from carrying a heavy bag with raffia handles. I didn't get to see everything/area. Then we gathered just down the road from the sale site at Rohrbach's for dinner. It was amazing. I came away with less than $30 worth of items in two giant bags. Let me show you:


Adorable Santa head mug with tiny candle: 25 cents, white ceramic teapot $3, vintage pepper shaker $4. I've been looking for just the right teapot all summer long. Turns out basic white is the perfect one for me.


Shazam! I must have been the first person in the Easter section! Because otherwise, obviously, these guys would have been snapped up. Look at that cute little couple of bunnies in the yarn basket. I mean! Come on now. It's been proven time and again that I can't resist yarn nor felt. If I was a super hero they would be my Kryptonite. Along with glitter. And plastic. 50 cents. The ceramic bunny pulling the egg cart (which is actually a legitimate antique stamped "Germany" and doesn't have yarn, glitter OR plastic) was 50 cents. Tiny plastic flocked chick, 50 cents. The corn handles are for the husband. A quarter for the whole set!


OK, now. Firstly I'd like to say that the little nudie angel isn't for me. It's to add to Sarah Mae's disturbing herd of freak babies. $1.50, which is too much to spend on a nude angel baby, but you do these kinds of things for your friends. The tall red one is for...I'm not sure yet. I sort of want to keep her, maybe? She's just so original and adorable. I can't find a maker tag on her anywhere. Her shoes and socks are molded plastic. $1.50 Now, the Christmas-ish mouse and baby I vaguely remember holding in my hand and being all kinds of distracted by the amount of things I still had to look at and the amount of things I already had ready to purchase. It was in this existential crisis that I must have put the mouse in my bag to purchase. I was totally surprised to find her in there today when I finally unpacked. 25 cents.


Goblet for a friend, $1. Set of 7 gold drink glasses for a newly married couple, 50 cents each. Plastic deer for a friend, 75 cents.

The first piece of my Boushh outfit! $1.50

And for all you fans of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia...AN ACTUAL KITTEN MITTEN! $1.50

Hobbiton Sale

OK, so it's not really Hobbiton. It's just a neighborhood in East Rochester that looks like it was built in Yore. Renaissance festival style. Pretty sweet lookin'. It was rather hilly and kind of a workout to walk it. Plus, my mom had lunch for us after, so we were working towards a goal.

There were a lot of new families and as you know, new families is not what we want when sale-ing. We want old people. We want moth balls, we want canes and walkers, we want orthopedic shoes! Because, as you well know, the oldies have the goods. The good goods. This is the reason I like to yard sale in Gates. Tons of old people. Tons of old people from different countries. So many amazing things!

I didn't get a whole lot at this sale, because of all the newbies. But I did find a few things. Behold:

That's right. Guns and glow bracelets. I had a hard time finding a water gun to spray paint for a Halloween costume a few years ago. I checked every store in a 100 mile radius. Nobody sells even water guns that look like guns in NY state. And glow bracelets. Always glow bracelets.


I mean, just look at this junk. If this sight doesn't make you giddy then you might as well just throw in the towel.


I'm pretty sure this acorn linen is a sampler. There are all types of stitches around the edge. I love things with acorns. The green linen underneath is gorgeous. I need another hankie like I need another root canal. But they were only about a quarter a piece! I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture but the second one is green with green trim. I love me some tone on tone. I think I like this one so all fired much because it reminds me of one of my all time favorite My Little Ponies. Medley.


Last but not least, beakers. For...science. I'm going to put a curly pipe cleaner in them and set them up in the fall/Halloween decorations like a mad science experiment. Mwaaa....mwaaaaahhh...muahhahahahaaaa!

Advent Sale 2011

I'd like to state for the record, that I get lost every single time I drive to this sale. It's in Fairport, or just outside of Fairport and I never go to that town. I'm not real versed in the East side of the city at all, to be honest. This year was no exception. It wasn't a long detour though, for which I and my passengers were grateful.

This is my pile of treasure for which I paid about $7.50 total.

Look at this little charmer. Note the googley eyes. 50 cents. I have a friend who loves elephants. I gave it to her. She loves elephants like I love mice/bats. I made the mistake of wrapping a gift in elephant paper at a party we both attended. She almost went after the spent paper in the trash can before I promised to frame a piece for her from my fresh stock, at home. It is dreadfully cute paper, so I can't say that I really blame her.


Here you can bear witness to one of the most girly pocket knives ever. Cherry red with white zebra-like stripes and glitter. I sharped it up and now I'm ready to cut you. "Oh yes I will, girl". It was $1. Then there is the bag of Disney pins. The trading kind. I know I've told you about those before. Four of them for 50 cents! They are worth $10 each, but in reality we all know that they are worth one Muppet pin each! I can't wait to trade them on my next trip!


This frame is lined in leather and was one dollar. You know I can't resist frames. The wooden thing with the metal hooks is a tie rack. Or a necklace rack, as I like to call it. I haven't installed it yet, but I have plans for it! Oh, yes. So what if I have a stack of things started for "the bedroom of my dreams" and no plans to move or renovate in the foreseeable future? It had inlay! What's a girl to do? NOT buy it? Right! It was only $1! The talc bottle is Avon (don't even get me started, you know how I can go on about Avon) and is gorgeous as is the box. 50 cents. The bedroom of my dreams pile grows larger.


Two gorgeous and vintage pillowcases for $1. I need to get new sheets. I'm not going to tell you the last time I bought a pair of new sheets. It would make you vomit and I'm not here to do that to you. So just look at the pretty, clean pillowcases instead, okay?


This ring is sterling silver. It was $2. No, I don't know "what it is". It has writing on the bottom that I'm fairly sure is middle eastern? One side of the ring is braided. It's awesome, fits me and was $2 so don't drive yourself crazy with unanswerable questions.

As you well know, tomorrow is the first day of September. That means fall decorating is a "go". Even though I'm not really ready for fall yet and still need a bit more summer. That is the first time those words have been pushed out through this mouth. I'm a fall girl and not just because my birthday is in fall. But we got royally ripped off in the arena of nice weather this year and I'm just not ready for cold weather to start again. Maybe if I decorate I'll get in the mood.

At any rate, I'm going to try to do something a little different this time and take pictures of what amy normal decor looks like before fall descends in all it's orange and black glory. A little treat for you. You lucky kids. (Shout out to my three readers: Heidi, Beth and Ann! The only people brave enough to put up with the torture.)

It's In The Air

Fall, that is. I whined and complained so much and so loudly this year about summer never starting and the rain and the cold and the cloudy sky that I hardly feel that I should be allowed to get excited about fall. My friend who is in love with summer says that fall is great, but it's sort of a like a book you've read a bunch of times that you know has a sad ending. Namely: winter. I can't get the slightest bit excited about winter yet. Maybe ever again. But never say never. Just think it.

But, I do love fall. And fall decorating time is nigh upon us. September 1st. But as for me, I'm going to try to drain the last little bit of enjoyment out of summer that I can. Watermelon, sundresses, flipflops and the like. Because, I also know that with fall comes the end of yard sale season. That breeds desperation and depression. We don't want to think about that right now.

This weekend Sarah Mae, Andrew, Alicia, the husband and I went to a sale in Chili. We almost always go to this sale, never on purpose, really. We just end up going. And we've gotten great stuff every time.

Sarah Mae wins the award for most and biggest this time. (every time??) OK, to be fair I think I actually win the award for most this time, but the items are so tiny it hardly seems to count. You'll see.


One thing Sarah Mae is queen of for sure: The $1 furniture. My mother used to be Queen of the Free Bin. She'd find amazing things in the boxes marked "Free" every stinking time. Sarah Mae, on the other hand can find an awesome piece of furniture and have it be $1 way more than is healthy. Just ask her husband. ;) Look at this cute thing! One dollar! Bow in reverence to her majesty!


Large LasVegas rainbow tote from the 80's. Vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy clock. The metal world flip calendar is Andrew's. It was like 10 cents.

Andrew got this hat. It was like a quarter. It has a pocket in the front. He also got some records.

Alicia got a set of neon screwdrivers for her new apartment ($2), a FREE vintage toaster cover for HB to maybe sell on her Etsy page and the big eyed sailor girl picture for fifty cents.


Here are my tiny treasures. I got the tin for a friend (25 cents). The tiny pink wooden hanger is for me (Free) It looks great against my sage bedroom wall. The chick couple and the bunny couple that match along with the small bag of flocked bats were a find, indeed! (50 cents) and I got the two gray bunnies (20 cents), Sylvanian families for my own doll house. After all these years I've decided to oust all those weird looking humans that never quite look like they aren't aliens and let the animals have it. It ups the cute factor of a doll house by at least 100% in case you've been thinking of making the switch.


Sarah Mae also bought us each a friendship bracelet. This seems harmless enough in theory. Although, she didn't know that I had just seen a picture of pre-teen Sarah Elaine and thought, "Wow, look at all those friendship bracelets. I'd wear those. I'd like to get some of those!" I mean, how could she know? So, having the one gave me an intense desire to not only have more, but to make them. (No smart remarks about how having one of something always gives me the intense desire to start a collection.) I used to sit for hours on end and pump these babies out. So, that's just what I did on Sunday. I got out all my embroidery floss and chose colors (pink and black for me) found a hook (the lock on our trunk that serves as our coffee table) and sat on the floor, weaving. While watching episodes of Dark Wing Duck. Just like the old days. In case any of you think that watching this show sounds like a great idea, let me dissuade you. It won't be as funny as you remember. I mean, it's not Thunder Cats bad, but it's not great. Watch Tale Spin instead. That show had some great writers and is still very much worth while. Just, don't watch it if it's that time of the month. It gets a bit sentimental, and then Kit Cloudkicker loses his cloud kicking board and it's all over.

This weekend coming up I'm in a wedding. I'm going to try to sneak some sale-ing in on Saturday but I'm not sure how it's going to work yet. I'm taking Friday off to go to one of my favorite sales, ever. I also am starting a mental list of things that I should show you all which do not have to do with yard sales. Imagine!

Until next time, fair reader.

Misuse Tissues

The title is just fun to say, isn't it?

I'm going to tell you a sad story, kids. I've got a cold. In August. It sucks for a number of reasons. Let me enumerate: you want hot soup, but it's 85 degrees out. You want snuggly covers on you, but it's 85 degrees out. You want to sleep, but you can't because it's EIGHTY FIVE DEGREES OUT!

Also, when you are a human bag of snot you miss fun activities like family parties and yard sale-ing. This makes you more depressed. So, in an effort to keep our spirits up let's review finds from a week ago and pretend that we aren't blowing our nose every five minutes and wearing the tender skin raw, shall we? These things came from a church sale (St. Pius X) and a neighborhood sale in Gates.

Sidebar: You well know how much I love Catholic Church names that seem to be the type that should dissuade people from attending their churches. For instance, Our Lady of Sorrows. Add to that list, St. Pius. St. Goody-two-shoes? St. I'll-Tattle-On-You-If-You-Do-Something-Even-Smacking-Of-Wrongness? What happened to St. Nobody's Perfect? St. We're All Human? I guess there is just something I'm missing about these names. One day, mark my words, one day I will understand!

Sarah Mae's finds first:

Sarah Mae has started an awesome collection of anthropomorphic goodies. We found this bag of plush Christmas ornaments in an unlikely box of old toys. It's never been opened and each little fruit man is wearing or holding a symbol of Christmas. The maroon dress was handmade in Greece.

Vintage soccer camp shirt, deer plaque, tiny I Heart NY plastic purse what hinges open to reveal a mirror, bag of plastic Halloween creepers and an awesome bright red vintage cardigan with yarn wrapped buttons.


A gorgeous hand carved and painted wooden frame with poppies on it. Vintage nut cups. I'll just let that one go on by. A small leather purse. A large partridge in a pear tree pendant and a small metal pin.


Sarah Mae loves midcentury modern. She got two great (and colorful) planters. OK, so maybe the lilac hippo isn't a planter. But, it could be!


This light was $3. Real wood. The lady practically gave us the whole history of the thing and we were thinking the whole time that she was going to tell us it was $50 or some such. But no. At the end of the spiel it was $3. Oh yes, this is a good one.


These are the terrors that flap in the night! (No wait, that's Darkwing Duck.) But these are terrifying nonetheless. Sarah Mae likes a frightening little baby every now and again. The star burst is a Christmas craft and the leather wallet is a map of Greece. (We were in a neighborhood with a lot of Greek people.)

This light was $1. I'll just let that sink in.

Now my finds:

I had this book when I was a kid. I have a real thing for kids books. I have a growing collection. The tray was FREE and I don't really have a place for it. Oh well!


Christmas delights! This was one of those every so slightly illegal make your own bags. You know, when all the bags are laid out and priced individually but you don't want all the other crap in the bags. What you want is five things from five different bags. So what you do is open all the bags, rearrange the contents and come away with a bag of stuff full of things you do want. Looking over your shoulder the whole time just hoping against hope you don't get caught. Oh, you don't do that? Hm. Maybe it's just me.

The frame is real wood. I have another like it that is smaller and pink. I'm sure I'll paint this one at some point, too.

Want a closer look at these goodies?

The earrings are vintage 80's. I don't know what's wrong with me.


The white tree is a tin.


$3 and brand spanking new! I can't wait to mix up something wonderful for a party.

Check out the colors in this French street scene. These shot glasses match exactly some juice glasses that we already have. They say Florida.


This is my favorite find. $1. It's missing the front door and the base has seen better days but whoever designed these things was a genius. I love them all. This one has taken up residence in my living room and looks amazing.

Now, to get rid of this cold and get ready for next weekend!

Do The Right Thing

It's finally happened. It's hot. I mean, hot. Like, cook an egg on the sidewalk hot. That could happen outside right now. For sure. Don't try it though, because that's just gross.

Even though we're spending most of our time powdering our sweaty crevices and considering cryogenics because freezing sort of sounds great right about now, we still hit the pavement and went yard sale-ing. Because we laugh in the face of pain. Or because we're delirious from heat.

Present: Sarah, Nick, Andrew, Sarah Mae

We only ventured to one church sale and a two street neighborhood sale, but got plenty of great things! Sarah Mae's finds:


Sarah Mae has a penchant for denim. This is her third denim purse. Not enough for a full collection, but it's getting close! The deer is cross stitched onto a vintage Levi's coat. I think the jacket was $2 and know that the purse was less than that.


She also loves elf style booties. And vintage insulated cups/mugs with raffia weave in them. $1.50 for the boots and cups. The genuine leather wallet is Andrew's. He bought two identical wallets. Just in case. $1 each.


She's also starting up a real nice collection of vintage elf dudes. Check out the planter. Some sweet paint by number pictures including what has to be my personal favorite. A 1950's street scene from the point of view of a church bell tower? Yep. Favorite. Then a little travel bag for toiletries. Everything you see here was under $5 including the thing in the next picture.


There are two of these. They came with clips on the ends. We speculated that they were for displaying pictures or maybe drying pictures in a dark room. Either way, they are magnificent and totally retro. I cannot wait to see what she does with them!


Who knew that the husband liked Fleetwood Mac? News to me. (25 cents) I'm all about these white enamel frames. (25 cents) And I have quite a collection going of mini headstones for the fall Halloween decor. (25 cents) The only thing that could be better was if they were replicas of the ones at the Haunted Mansion in Disney World. Don't get me started on Disney World. We don't have time for that right now.

I got this for myself for a quarter! It's a little boys shirt. So what of it? I think my inner geek is starting to show.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks dvd for $3. I love that movie. "Bobbing along, singing a song, on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea!" I'm pretty excited to watch it. The yellow bird is a vintage Avon bottle that a friend of mine will adore. (25 cents) The vintage Strawberry Shortcake doll is Apricot, I think. She's not in her right clothes. But, time will remedy that I'm sure. She also currently has a gum wrapper as a hair band. She's pretty creative and has her finger on the pulse of artistic innovative fashion. (25 cents) Now don't get all excited about my box of pink chicks. You get your own. (25 cents) If you remember correctly you already know I have a small box of yellow ones. Wahoo! These little pink tufts will be right at home with my spring/Easter decor!

We've also started watching our collection of hot weather movies. This includes Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing", one of my favorites "Fried Green Tomatoes" and Woody Allen's "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy".

It's too hot to keep writing. I'm going to go either stick my head in a bucket of ice or crawl into the freezer. Either way, stay tuned because next week we are going to the Renaissance Festival and you are not going to want to miss out on that report.

Back to Basics

The day after we returned from our vacation we went to a church sale. It happens every year as part of a church festival and it's usually pretty good. It's right in our neighborhood and the have night hours. Have you heard of this? Some of the larger church sales in my town have night hours. On Friday. So you can go after work! Someone was really thinking.

A vintage frame, a paisley pouch, corn...holders that cradle your corn ever so gently and allow it to steep in butter and a very heavy metal icon. If you know me you might believe that the corn cradles were my idea. I do have a very real and abiding love of corn. But, alas. It was the husband who found these gizmos and he who purchased them. We've used them already and they were very much worth the quarter. Everything we got totalled $4.50, including the following...


Here we have one of a set of eight glasses featuring a black horse and metallic gold designs. These are for a friend of ours who loves horses and barware. The thing on the right is a plastic floral pic. It's kind of hard to see all that's going on with it. And, there is a lot going on. So, I'll itemize the pieces and let the dramatic scene unfold. Now, please hold your applause until the end. (Just so you know up front, all the items are plastic and ... covered in iridescent glitter. )1-Three pieces of peppermint candy, wrapped. 2-One white apple. 3-White holly sprigs. 4- Two tufts of pink hearts on stems. 5- One large ice cream cone with pink ice cream. Now, the best part is that I know someone who will love this thing. To death. I actually took a picture of it before I bought it and sent it to her via text (I can do that now) just to be 100% sure. Turns out it wasn't necessary because she was more than excited about it.

Turns out happiness can be bought. And the price is a quarter.