Excuse Me While I Buy This Junk

It took a week of doing nothing but rearranging. I had help two days and not everything in the shop has been moved. There are still things not in place. And, did I say, it still took a whole, stinkin’ week! It whipped me. Mentally and physically. Kicked me in the shins. Made me rethink wanting to go to being an event only shop. Can I do that to the larger degree needed to have events? Can I handle it? I dunno. Maybe. As the days go by, the pain is fading. Like childbirth. We’ll see.

Here are some pictures of a few of the newly redone areas. Nothing as fabulously wonderful as Curious Sofa or many of your booths, but OK.

Somebody already wants to buy the flower at the left. I hadn't intended to sell it.

Hmmm…. It all looks better in person. I promise it does.

As promised — I’m really impressed with myself that I’m actually following up on this the very next day — here are pictures of the things we drug out from the junk yard. Somehow, I think I’m missing something. We had a trailer load and this doesn’t look like that much… Oh, shoot. I did forget to get a picture of a chair.

Yellow, metal tool carrier.

Mid century yellow chair with black wire legs.

It's hard to see anything about this, but it's an aluminum table. I've got it slid under some shelves and a pink cornice on the table's shelf. Trust me when I say the table's pretty cool.

Another metal tool carrier. This one's all rusty and stuff.

These are little roll around stool things.

Of course I got the bicycle. Sorry about the mess all around it.

Wire gym locker baskets. I'm in love with these! Love the look. It will break my heart to sell any of them, but I do believe one will be in the March blog give-away.

We’ve got to get back over there before it’s all smushed. Scrapped. We need to pull bunches of things for Jeri to eBay. That should be exciting. I know I want the little chair. Don’t know why we didn’t load that up the other day. I’m also wanting the F-O-R off the front of that truck piece in one of the pictures. That’s if we can get them off. Another thing I’m thinking about is all the painted, tin tool boxes. And there’s a metal cabinet or two and a chippy wood frame…. shelf…. kinda like…. thing. Oh! I can’t wait to get back over there!

I’m still in the middle of the erupted volcano I lovingly call The Rearrange. It takes me so long. I work so slow and deliberately. But it’s ever so tiring. Physically and mentally. I’m ready to get back to business. Sure, rearranging is part of the business and I do enjoy it – for a day or two. After that, I’m ready to move on.

Subtitled: Erin and Wanda’s BIGGER Adventure

Did I tell y’all my sister-in-law, Lisa, put her monogramming business in the shop with me? She did that last August, but is going back to work. Work that carries a regular, known amount paycheck and insurance. So she’s leaving me. I’ll miss her. I’d got used to her being there. Her leaving and taking her stuff home meant a huge, major, move everything around, marathon rearrange for me. Melanie helped me for a couple of hours on Saturday, Jeri helped Monday and Erin was coming up Sunday to give me a hand. But what did we do? Not a single bit of rearranging. Not one iota. We went galavantin’ off to Jeri’s dad’s place.

Jeri’s now deceased dad was… a collector. A pack rat. I refuse to use the word hoarder. Hoarder is a fad word that is hurtful and mean. I don’t like it. And really, what he had was more a junk yard. (3 actually.) He collected old school buses, trucks, parts and pieces, metal, wood, tires, this, that, t’other… I’m betting 3/4 of you are already salivating and wishing you could have gone with us. Am I right?

We brought my granddog, Ross, the white with black spots dog above and Jeri had her Nicky – or is it Nikki? – and oh, did they have a ball! It was a clear, almost warm, beautiful, day and while the doggies romped, we clambered. We poked. We peered. We pulled. We tugged. We lugged.

This post will be in two parts. This one, heavy on the pictures, is showing you just some of the areas we ventured into. So walk with me through this wonderland of junk……..

That’s all for today. Tomorrow, I’ll share what we drug out of there. Jeri came and helped me in the rearrange yesterday and I worked to finish the front room today. Got it almost there, but there are two more rooms to do. I’ve got complaints that I don’t blog enough. I know, I know! I agree. But if you could see what takes up my time sometimes… It can get really frustrating.

Oh! I almost forgot! If you’re still reading, I just created a Facebook Fan Page for Just Vintage. It’s brand, spankin’ new. I’m a little slow with doing it. Should have done that a long time ago. I’d love to have all my blog friends on there. You can find it here: Just Vintage Facebook Fan Page. I think.

We’re in the south. Sales never truly stop, but they do slow down toward the end of the year and the first of the new year. They are now beginning to pick back up. Last weekend was gorgeous and there were more sales out on Saturday.

So where’s all the good stuff? I found a precious few things last week.

There wasn’t anything going on to speak of Friday, so my friend Jeri and I went to a couple of thrift stores. All I purchased that day was gas.

Saturday, Erin came up and we went to a few sales in Birmingham. She was a step ahead of me and got the only good thing of the day.

This is an unflattering picture of two, mid century, atomic, bark cloth curtain panels for $3 that she plans to put on this chair she found Sunday for $12.00.

What did I come home with? This:

How sad is that?! Not that those are bad things. It’s just not very much. A little boy football planter by Haeger, a wood hanger, a pair of candlesticks (Designed by Lenox) and a box cutter. There was some little something else, but it was forgettable. I have no idea what it was now. I did get a couple of icky suitcases to tear the lining and pockets from. There’s a project in my head for those. Hopefully it’ll get done.

So on to Sunday. There was an invitation only sale near me. Now that’s exciting! Generally, this company’s invitation only sales draw a huge crowd. Like over 100 people, but this one didn’t. They were too far away from their regular followers. Too bad there wasn’t much at the house I was interested in. And again, Erin was with me and got the best things. Along with the chair above, here are her other finds:

Little, terracotta tiles.

Cute little tiled table. The base is heavy iron. Yes, she’s going to keep everything she bought. She also found this picture:

I walked in a bedroom she was already in and found her looking in the closet – the closet where she found the tablecloth. I spotted this picture on top of the chest of drawers and the following ensued:

Me: Look at this!

Erin: I saw that. Look on the back. Does that say $35?

Me: Surely that’s not the price. I think I’ll ask.

Erin: Gasp! (At which point she snatches it from my hands.) It’s a dollar! I saw it first!

Me: But you put it back. I was going to ask.

Erin: But I saw the dollar price. It’s mine!

We bantered back and forth, but of course I let her win. OK. So she won fair and square. But I’ll still say I let her win.

So what did I find at that sale?

A wood box, a scouring pad holder, a Brownie camera (I still remember the little scene Karla made inside an old box camera), a spike flower frog and a wooden box.

These little dogs are tiny. No more than an inch tall. I thought they’d be good for the free gifts that you get when you buy something off the web site.

What do you suppose this is? It’s only about 8″ high. Too small to be a puppy fence. It might hold a turtle, though. I just liked the look.

This cool, rusty, iron piece.

I also got a bunch of bottles and a Pepsi crate. Nothing exciting.

We were about to check out, doing the last run through, and Erin pointed this table out. I’d seen it and didn’t think too much about it, but she said, “You know Anthropologie would totally have something like that.” Why, yes they would! So it came to the shop.

And that’s all folks. Tomorrow, or the next day, or….. I’ll show you what we found at a holiday shop’s going out of business 80% off sale.

We had a birthday party /slash/ craft night before Valentine’s Day and I wanted to share with you some of the things we made and gifts that were received.

We made button flowers. These were fun and oh, so easy! The ones pictured above were mine. Melanie chose a red and white Valentine’s theme:

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of all the others. Melalnie was sitting next to me which made it easy for this lazy picture taker. I just got the picture of mine today.

Lisa, one of the birthday girls, got a print she was lucky to get home with. Every one of us was coveting that print. She was scared to let go of it for fear she wouldn’t get it back!

Our Tiffany is a sewing fool now that she’s learned how. Just look at the gift basket she gave Lisa. Yes, we were living in covetous sin again.

And she made this for her mother, but brought it to show us before she gave it to her:

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And a good time was had by all.

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Oh, my. I dropped the February ball. I’m behind again on both reading blogs and posting to my own. I’ve got nearly a thousand blog feeds to read and I do read. I don’t speed read or skip around. I just hate to get so far behind! Because I do enjoy reading all my favorite blogs and I enjoy finding new ones to read. Anyway, I’d said I’d try to have a give-away every month, but February will be combined with March. Still haven’t figured out what will go into the prize, though.

Whew! What a busy, hectic couple of weeks it’s been! I’m happy to say business in the shop has picked up, but that’s kept me away from the computer. And our internet at home went down over the weekend. It was in and out for about a week, but went kaput Friday night. We think it’s because of the rain. The internet was actually out here at the shop yesterday morning, too.

But onto more interesting things. Friday morning, I had a list of estate sales in the Birmingham area to attend. It looked good. The list. But I had a package to ship before leaving town. At 6:30 a.m., I pulled up at the shop. First thing I noticed was a 1″ x 2″ stake neatly leaning up against the side wall. That was odd. So out of place. I wondered what it was doing there? As I pulled forward, I could see something across the glass, front door.

We’d been having problems with that door lately. The oil had leaked out of the thing that keeps it from slamming shut, so that it slammed when people would come in. Lisa had opened it one windy day, and the wind caught it and blew it up against the building. It seemed to be scrubbing at the bottom, so she thought maybe it was bent and pushed on it. It came off in her hand. It was being held on by the thingy at the top. We had to call to get it fixed. The handy man fixed it temporarily, but was waiting on a part. So……

When I glanced at the front door Friday morning, I saw something across it like tape or a strip of something. I’d been gone on Thursday and thought maybe HandyMan had been there and put something in front of the door to keep us from using it. I got out and walked up, saw that it wasn’t tape, but was a strip off the door which seemed to be broken.

I’ve always read of your mind not being able to make sense of what it’s seeing, but that usually refers to carnage or mutilated bodies. But let me tell you, my mind absolutely could not make sense of what I saw. The glass was broken and lying on the floor inside the door. I still thought that somehow the wind had broken the door, so I stepped inside. It wasn’t until I saw the laptop gone that I fully realized what had happened.

I took off to check on things throughout. Everything in the shop looked undisturbed, but I heard a noise. Again a noise I couldn’t make sense of. I could see wind blowing through a window pane, but the noise (which turned out to be wind blowing on a Wal-Mart bag) scared me. I got out of there and called the police. It’s pretty boring from there on out, but turns out the thief had tried to get in the back window first and when they realized the metal grids wouldn’t let them, went to the front.

But here’s the amazing part. The part where I know God had His angels working in my behalf. That laptop? It was past its prime. I used it as a calculator and it would serve a purpose when we went on a trip since our other home laptop is now a lap-desktop. But they left easy money not a foot away. Money that will NEVER be left overnight again. Actually, it’s money that’s rarely even here at all.

How do I stop this from happening again?

Glass pieces after removing the chunks from the floor. The big chunks pictured below:

They had kicked the glass in, but unlocked the door to walk out.

You know what weirds me out the most? Knowing some crack head or meth addict was in My Space, messing with My Stuff. Ewwwwww.

Congratulations to Tracey of French Larkspur. She won the Vintage Valentine Giveaway. All your names were put into a list randomizer and Tracey’s came up on top. What’d she win? This:

If you haven’t visited Tracey’s blog, please do. Now. It’ll make your eyes happy. I promise. Beautiful!

That was fun! I’ll be plundering around to see what to give away this month, but it can start today. All comments left on this month’s posts will be entered.

Man, this week’s been hectic busy! Good busy for the most part. There’ve been a lot of people in and out of the shop. Some buyers and some chatters. But I’ve not had any blog time and it only takes a couple of days before I’m waaaay behind in reading everyone’s posts. That task lies ahead of me now.

Last weekend. Let’s see…. First sale was pricey and disappointing. I bought these recipes and charity cookbooks and paid too much, but I’m incapable of leaving hand written and clipped recipes behind. Definitely one of my weaknesses.

Next sale. I turned onto the road and thought to myself that I’d been to one on that road before. Pulled up to the house and walked up the driveway, but it wasn’t until I got inside that I knew it was the same house. But it was so weird. I didn’t remember any of the stuff. The house was exactly the same, but the stuff seemed different. Then I saw the living and dining room suits and knew it was the same. I’d bought the only things I was interested in before. This time I bought some pillows that I didn’t see before.

Next sale was a moving sale where I bought a new with tags Penta sweater and a Nugat sweater. I don’t have pictures of them, yet.

The next sale was, I believe, another moving sale, although it said estate sale. This is the only thing I got there. Sorry, but I’m keeping this one.

The last sale should have been the first. The ad said it had samples of candles and things like that. And it did. I was having so much fun. The prices were right and I was gathering lots of smell goodies. The young lady having the sale said I should have been there early. It was almost all gone when I was there. Pooh! But I still got some good things.

Soaps

Gianna Rose Atelier dog shaped soaps. They’re on eBay this week:
Golden Retriever Soap—- Cocker Spaniel Soap

Thymes Kimono Rose Foaming Bath, a lavender dream pillow, lotion and room spray. The Kimono Rose is on auction this week:
Kimono Rose Foaming Bath

Voluspa candles. The stacking candle is on auction here:
Voluspa candles

Seda France diffuser and candles and some coconut scent sample things.

That’s about it.

Oh! Last week’s patterns. I ended up with 197 and Erin had over 200. If you’re interested or just want to watch the auctions, they’re here:

My pattern auction

Erin’s pattern auction

Remember just a few more days to leave a comment to be entered in the vintage Valentine drawing!

So I was at one computer the other night, minding my own business when my husband rushed into the room and said, “Quick! Turn the TV on channel 40!”

Have you seen American Pickers on The History Channel? I don’t get excited about much on TV these days. I rarely even turn it on. Thursday nights with Community, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and The Office is the only night I get excited about. Other than that, it’s Ghost Hunters or some special on UFOs or Big Foot or something goofy. Mad Men, but it’s out of season right now. But I’m excited about this one.

It’s a new series and leaves Antique Roadshow and Pawn Stars In. The. Dust. This is us, ladies! Whether we’re dealers, pickers or hunter gatherers. This is what we do. They just do it on a much larger scale than most of us. They, the two guys, have Connections. They know People. They know Buyers of Certain Things. I don’t know about the rest of you, but the only people I know who say “watch for [this] for me”, the [this] will be a cup and saucer of a certain pattern of a particular company. The chances of me running across that certain pattern of the particular company and the specific piece they need is one in a million. The chances of me remembering that certain pattern of that particular company and the specific piece and even who wanted me to watch for it are one in 100 million. I just don’t have people wanting to buy old carnival rides. Not that I run across many of those, anyway.

Not only do these fellows have Connections and people calling them to sell them stuff, they’ll ride down a rural road, find a likely looking barn and go knock on the house door. They just ask the owner if they have anything they’d like to sell.

I’ve always wanted to do that, but don’t have the nerve. Or the money. You have to go with a fistful of dollars. Lena and I always talked about doing that. I told her I’d have her back if she’d do the talking. That was fine with her, but we never did it. Guess neither of us ever had the fistful of dollars.

The only thing that bothers me a little is they show us the buying price and the selling price. Now, it’s one thing to do that on Pawn Stars where the people brought the item to them with the amount they wanted for it in mind, but to go up to an 88 year old man’s house and ask to buy stuff, then get something for $75 that sells for wang-dang-doodle-dollars, I’m just not comfortable with bragging to the world about it. I hope they share some of that profit or have something worked out. Let me explain. I have no problem paying 50¢ for something and selling it for nearly $400.00. That happened to me once. I was expecting to get $10.00. However, I didn’t televise the results. I did not ask them if I could buy it and after it sold, I chose carefully who I told about it. Didn’t want it to get back to the sellers and have them mad at me. Yes, that’s unreasonable, but since when are most people reasonable when it comes to money? But how does that make the seller – the person who hadn’t even thought of selling anything – who was approached and asked if he’d sell stuff – feel? How about his family? Are they going to think they were being taken advantage of. All I’m saying is if you’re gonna broadcast the results and there’s a ridiculously huge profit margin, maybe share some of that. Sure you have expenses. I understand that. All too well. The difference here is between someone coming to you to sell something and you knocking on someone’s door asking them if you can buy something they hadn’t thought of selling and had no time to research to make an informed decision – and then bragging to the world at what a good deal you made. It just makes me uncomfortable. That’s all. Maybe they do share or maybe there’s more behind the scenes stuff we don’t know about. Like maybe they get paid for being chosen to sell stuff out of their barn. Or something. But I love the show and hope it has a long run!

When the show was over that night, Ricky came back in the room (we don’t watch TV together – don’t like the same stuff) and proclaimed, “That’s what WE’RE gonna be doing!” “Ok, honey. Sounds great to me, but you’ll have to be the one going up to the door.”

Sue at Vintage Rescue Squad wrote a good review of the show the other day. Check it out!

The fuzzy pictures are two places near me that have always intrigued me. Two places I’d love to plunder. But I could barely stop the car long enough to snap the picture. I was afraid someone would come out with a shotgun demanding to know why I was taking a picture of their junk.

OK. So it’s still not the most fabulous thing any of us have ever seen – unless your world is horribly drab and ugly and I know none of my blog friends live in that world – but at least it’s earning it’s keep and didn’t get tossed back out on the street.

The sofa fabric with all the other fabric things piled on it was too busy. Not soothing. At. All. So I threw some muslin over it. Didn’t even take time to press it. The muslin doesn’t have charming, crushed wrinkles, but has fold creases. I tried to hide them with stuff.

I did press the curtain panels and talk about stink! They were so musty and I’m sure you all know what happens with a hot iron meets must. Gag! They’ve been sprayed with a fabric freshener. I should have taken them home and washed the musty out of them… But I didn’t.

I haven’t found a place for that lampshade that ended up on the arm. And just look at that crooked lamp thingy on the right! LOL I tried to get it to sit straight, but when it wouldn’t cooperate, I lost my patience and left it alone. There are a lot of lamps here that need rewiring or a little work here and there. That’s a project for another day.

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Y’all know I don’t try to sell to you guys. Right? I’m not comfortable pushing my wares to my friends. If you see something you want to buy, well that’s wonderful! And I like to make it easy if you’re so inclined as to want to peruse the web site or my eBay auctions. But I never, ever, EVER want to be thought of as someone who’s always trying to sell something. I don’t want to be the friend you hate to see coming. I probably go to the extreme the other direction. I should do a little more than I do, but this is just one of my hang-ups. I’m terrible at self promotion. Maybe that’s a lack of confidence? Who knows where that comes from? But I feel I might be doing you a disservice if I don’t mention the auctions of the books bought at Saturday’s estate sale. Maybe not a disservice, but so many of you sew or are interested in vintage fashion, I just feel like I should mention them. I mean, what if you found out later I had just the book you’d been looking for and didn’t mention it?

We’re not listing the patterns yet. I’ll wait until Erin is ready and we can list them at the same time, so if it’s important to someone that they have all the patterns from one estate, they can bid on both. But here are a few of the books:

Fashion Design Drawing – 1972

Draping and Dress Design – 1941

1972 Spadea Pattern Catalog More about this one later. It’s kinda wonderful.

1978 Fashion Show Book

Oh, this will take all day. Here are all of them. Uh, would that be here “is” all of them? Here are all. Here is all. 9th grade English was a long time ago.