Excuse Me While I Buy This Junk

Ah, not much to report this week. This past weekend was a complete bust. Hung around town, didn’t buy a thing. But last week’s stuff still remains to be reported, so here it is.

It was raining. Again. I’d gone to the Birmingham area. Again. Went to two, count ‘em, 2 estate sales. The first was in a nice neighborhood, large, very nice house and expensive GOOD antiques. Good and highly sought after in the 1980′s. Traditional blue and white, traditional prints, just not very exciting, yet it was because I still don’t see things like that often. I left with a box full of old ephemera. I took a picture, but it turned out fuzzy, so I’m not showing it. But I’ll say more than one person has been the recipient of some of these cool, vintage paper items as their surprise tuck-in when they’ve bought something from the site. It was a good box of stuff.

I also got some DAR indexes and a few other things. It was all way heavy and the trip back to the car was about half a mile. Uphill. Literally. I was already carrying 30 extra pounds of fat on my body. Add to that 30 pounds of junk, it made for a long, grueling trip to the car. Worked off half of that morning’s biscuit. Yep. Sure did.

From that sale, I went to another sale on the opposite side of town, totally opposite circumstances. Bad neighborhood, house whose floors felt spongy like the carpet was the only thing holding us up. There were millions of NASCAR and Alabama collectibles. And a lamp.

My thoughts:

Hey, that looks like Arts and Crafts era.
Wonder why it’s still here?
Maybe it’s just somebody’s homemade lamp.
But those panels are glass. Not plastic.
Why hasn’t someone bought it, yet?

And I walked off to the other room. But I kept thinking about the lamp. Why was it still there? It was after lunch, for goodness sake! If it was anything good, wouldn’t a dealer have snapped it up? The price was certainly right. So what was up? I made the decision to spring for it.

And it was wise. Turns out this lamp normally sells in the $300 range. Of course, I get mine home and see that one of the glass panels is cracked and another replaced. It’s a bit wobbly and the wood needs feeding. And it needs a new plug. But hopefully, it’ll do well in spite. I’ll put it on auction once we rewire it, tighten it and feed it.

So what else came home with me that weekend?

(Really has a nicer tone than in the picture and it still needs cleaning. Badly.)

(The purse. Not the manni or fur. The purse is felted wool. Really cute.)

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Some of those things were bought on Sunday from the Good Sale. I’d gone back for half price day because a vase was haunting me. I was gonna make my week’s fortune with that vase. It was a milk glass vase that was painted brown with a picture of a dog with a poor, dead bird in it’s mouth. I should have bought it on Saturday. I knew I should have bought it, but I didn’t like seeing the poor dead bird in the dog’s mouth. So I left it. Stoopid. But it was there on Sunday. I headed straight for it. Carried it around the whole time, gathering up other things, hunting and hunting. Then stood in line, paid, drug it all out the door (I’d also bought a huge tub full of Christmas angels), stood waiting for the golf cart that would carry us up the long driveway hill, started to drag the tub over just a bit, tilted it up and the bag the vase was in – ON THE TOP – tumped over and the vase broke into a million pieces!!! Waaaaaaa! Do you know how hard it is to find this color milk glass things? And they always sell well. It’s something to look for in your travels.

As usual, here I am saying, “I’m still alive. Still here. Where does the time go? Blah, blah, blah.” Same old story. But what’s not the same old story is the one I’m telling today about the sales a couple of weekends ago.

Friday started out pretty awful. We, like many of you, have had our share of rain lately. Maybe more than our share. I got up that Friday morning and, it being rainy, I knew there wouldn’t be many, if any, sales going on locally, in the land of no garages and few carports, so I decided to go on to the Birmingham area. At least there were a couple of estate sales there and they are held rain or shine. Got off to a rocky start. The ATM was out of money. I had to go back home for something I’d forgotten. I tried to get a biscuit at McDonald’s, but the drive through line snaked out to the highway. Stopped at the next fast food place, ordered my buttered biscuit and they handed me a bag with a container in it. I looked at the window clerk and asked, “This is a buttered biscuit??” She said, “I thought you wanted a gravy.” “No, I can’t drive and eat a gravy biscuit.” She just looked at me. No offer to fix the mistake. No offer of an apology. Just a blank stare. I slung the bag over in the other seat and snarled that I’d just go somewhere else. Huh? How stoopid was that? So unladylike. So undignified. So….. unattractive. Not only did I look like an idiot, I felt bad about myself, I didn’t get what I wanted and was going to have to get it somewhere else, costing me another two fifty. Or whatever. I’m such a goob when I’m angry. But I did get my biscuit at the next McDonald’s and thought the day would right itself.

If I remember right, the weather held off while I was traveling and even most of the time spent shopping at the first sale. But that sale was boring and expensive. I tried so hard to find something worth buying. I even used my new phone with the eBay app to look up some things. But there was nothing. Nothing! And while shopping, it started storming. So I shopped some more. Surely there was something there worth buying. Nope. Just wasn’t happening. I finally gave up and with only a Wal-Mart bag for protection, faced the rain. I made it about 20′ out the door when lightening popped. It seemed like all around me. It was the kind where you don’t see the streak, you see bright light and hear the pop at the same time. It was. Right. There. I’m not ashamed to say I screamed. I screamed and ran back inside. Desperately shopped some more. Still nothing. When I finally got to leave that sale, I was so deflated all I wanted to do was come back home. Didn’t even try anywhere else.

But the next day…..

Hung around town. It was beginning to look like there was nothing to be had. Boring again. I was headed home when I saw some people putting up this sign:

Screeeeech! I’m there. Didn’t know about it. Actually, I don’t think they advertised it. There was a regular garage sale a few houses away. A sale that got lost in the shuffle of the estate sale. I kinda felt sorry for the yard sale people, but whatcha gonna do?

The family just wanted to sell the stuff. They were not trying to make money off any of it. Just clear it out. My favorite kind of sale. Here’s what I drug out (along with a box of old trains that aren’t pictured):

The sheep are on the site and are just $4.00 for all five.
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I might be keeping the Mother print.
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You can’t tell much about this light fixture, but it’s pretty cool.
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I have no idea what this is, but liked it’s shape.
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These light fixtures look like they’ll make great candle holders!
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The old sink is already sold. It’ll be planted full of succulents and sit in a garden.

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So that catches me up for two weeks ago. This past weekend will be posted later. Tomorrow maybe? I’ll do my very, very best for it to be one day this week!

Gasp! Do any of you follow shabbytownusa’s auctions on eBay? She has a gorgeous site, too. She takes beautiful pictures, her items are to die for and if they weren’t, the way she stages them in the pictures makes you want everything she offers. She has a great business to emulate. Hope she doesn’t mind my saying so.

At this moment, she has a heart shaped metal flower basket on auction. And at this moment, it’s up to $139.50!! I’d been out of the running at $10.00, but if anybody wants to buy it and give it to me…..

Bettye, of Dragonfly Vintage Clothing was the winner in April’s giveaway! Please visit her awesome vintage clothing store and her blog, Once I Saw A Dragonfly. She has a Facebook fanpage, too.

Remember, all you have to do to enter for the month’s giveaway is leave a comment. Each comment counts as an entry, so more is…. well… more! I realize I was a mostly absent blogger in April. Didn’t leave many things to comment on. I don’t know what happens some months. Sometimes, blogging just has to take a back seat.

May’s prizes will be announced in the next few days. As soon as I figure out what they are. If I don’t put it in a post, I’ll update over on the left column.

Thanks to all the commenters and readers since the beginning of the blog! You’re the best!

Sneak peek at some of the things I bought yesterday and today. But the best will come later.

An amazing thing happened this weekend. My husband went with me to a couple of estate sales — and had fun! The earth didn’t quake (or I don’t think it did), the sky didn’t fall. He even said he’d do it again. Gasp! Oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy! You see. we have very little in common. I’ve always tried to do the things he liked to do, but he never made the effort for me. Most of you have heard stories like that before, if not lived it yourself. But of all the things I enjoy doing, the one thing I’ve wanted him to enjoy with me is going to the sales. I mean, I need a partner. Someone who is looking for things we can sell. I enjoy going with my girlfriends, but they’re looking for themselves. I need another pair of eyes scouting for me so we can cover different areas at the same time. And no, we’re not the couple you hate to see because they scarf up everything desirable in nanoseconds. I’ve never been able to do that and having a partner won’t change anything.

What’d he buy? Tools, jumper cables, that kind of thing. We have a little booth in a new and used mall and he was buying with that in mind. Oh, and he bought some train stuff, some to keep and some to sell. At this one sale, we had several boxes piled full and rather than take out each hammer and every bauble, add them up then half that, they just gave us a price for everything. A really good price. We were well pleased. And had we known, would have piled up lots more. I was looking at each thing, debating if I wanted to spend a dollar on this, two on that or fifty cents on the other. If I knew we would be getting everything for one money, I’d have thrown in three times the things I got.

So what did I find? Here’s a small portion of the stuff from two sales:

The little lady, chalk ware figurine is only $5.00 on the site  here

The little kitty cat purse in the fourth picture is $7.00 here. The rose candle cup is spoken for.

I thought the yellow, green and red flowerpots were so cute! And most have a little rubber thing in the bottom for drainage. Haven’t got around to putting them on the web site, yet.

There’s a little creamer, a brown tile and an Italian dish with stick birds. Two rolls of vintage wallpaper, pink chenille trim and a group of things just for fun.

But the lamps:

What do you think? Really cool or really ugly? I just put them on eBay. I’m curious to see how the auction goes. Will there be any interest? Will anyone want them? Can I get my money back or dare I hope to make a little? The auction is here if you want to watch with me. They look, in shape, like some common lamps that are amber translucent glass. These are opaque glass. Quite unusual. But the gallery picture is so small, who’s gonna know without reading the title or description? We’ll have to wait and see. I might have to redo the picture. Somehow.

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make us smile. Of course, babies, puppies and kittens, but I’m talking about non breathing things. I was rearranging yesterday and combined these objects together. And it made me smile! I just enjoy gazing on it. So simple.

A little nativity sheep sitting on a spike flower frog, under a glass dome (probably a candle cup), all sitting atop a brass lamp base.

Darn. I like it so much it might have to go home with me. I’ll have to see if I can duplicate it quickly.

Then, I was wondering what to do with these different sized letters taken from Ford trucks at The World O’ Junk. Put them in the apothecary jar, stood back and smiled.

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On a not making me smile note, this happened first thing this morning. Not a great start to the day:

Oh, alright. Not really. I just thought the title sounded good. And it kinda fit. We’ve begun pulling out larger items at the World O’ Junk. The hardware store, spinning, nail bin thing won’t be mine. A brother has claimed it. To be honest, I’m rather relieved. It was going to be hard to find a spot for it. We can’t get to the really big things yet, but this is what came out today.

How cool is that? Red, tin, cubbies.

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Little, metal file cabinet.

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There were also some smaller, piddly things and an old, porcelain water fountain.

Have you seen Curious Sofa’s latest? Everything she showed pictures of from Texas, is in the World O’ Junk. Perhaps not exactly, but so darn close. I’m going to try to get most of it. Wonder if it will all live with me permanently? I’m not sure I want to sell any of it and I’m not sure anyone around here would want it. Maybe after I’ve kept it and played with it for a little while I’ll be ready to move on and let someone else play with it. But if you walk in and say you’ve got to have it? It might could be arranged.

But first, before the real, scouring, digging, getting nasty junkin’, I hit a few local yard sales. Nothing terribly exciting. I had to take a picture of the sale below, though. Why do you think I turned the car around and went back after I passed this sale?

If you guessed “the walker” you win! You win nothing but the satisfaction of knowing you have a true junker’s honing instinct, but you still win. You see, a walker could mean they have some of Grandma’s stuff out there. But it turned out to be a false alarm. Nothing of interest in the 10 items on the ground.

The only thing I got at the sales I was kinda excited about was this newer, made in China mannequin thing.

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(Warning: Lots of pictures today and I can never get the color right. I have to keep it towards the blue side when I’m taking them under the light tent, then I forget to change it when I’m in natural light.)

Jeri was to meet Tiffany and me at The World O’ Junk at 10:00. There was also some man meeting her and her husband there to have a look around. Pick it. Now, this is the 4th time(?) I’ve been through all this stuff. I never tire of it.

So what came home with me today?

Two truck steps. They just look like great shelves to me. You can’t tell from my crummy picture, but the one above is the best color of blue at the top. Or bottom. Depending on which way you look at it. Now the challenge is getting the brackets off that have stubborn, rusty bolts holding them on.

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One of those old step stools, but this one is dangerous. It will only be used for display.

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Car fan blade

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Rusty file drawers. Why? I dunno. Just because.

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Some street signs

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Some shop signs. Fashion, Homefest, another that says Apparel, a large one that says Gifts and another large one that says Nature’s Jewelry.

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Car horn and some springs an artist friend might be able to use.

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And this rusty fence/bed/panel/whatever-it-is thing. It needs vines growing on it, don’t you think?

And remember that guy who came to pick around? He pulled out things that actually had value. Things I/we never even saw! I went in with an eye for form and design. He went in with an eye for money. Pooh. That’s what’s wrong with me. I’m looking at the wrong stuff.

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And now that I’ve made you read all the way through that, the winner of the March give-away, the vintage locker basket  is……………………………………….

Sarah

Of Makin’ Projects/Mama n’ Jack fame! http://mamanjackjack.blogspot.com.

Congratulations Sarah! I know you’ll have many uses for the basket.

We’ve done the World of Junk behind the house. Several times. And will do it again tomorrow. But yesterday we checked out another site owned by the same family. They’re beginning to crush the trucks, cars and buses at this site, so friend Jeri took me out there before everything got away.

We searched and plundered. Walked the acreage. Watched the front end loader, or whatever that thing is, moving vehicles.

All that was fascinating, but not what we were interested in. This property isn’t the treasure trove the house property is. But not a complete wash, either. Here’s what I brought out:

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These things. What do you suppose they are? A guy would surely know. But more importantly, what do you suppose we can do with them?

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Rusty truck seat springs.

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And these things. What do you suppose these are? And more importantly, since there’s a whole box full….

What can we do with them besides…..

Make hearts on the floor?

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I did find an iron, outdoor chair and a metal double seater outdoor chair I want to get when we can get a vehicle in there. There is also a pile of bus seats I’m contemplating. One. Just one! Not the whole pile!

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I forgot to pick the winner of the locker basket today. Hopefully, I won’t forget tomorrow. (Everything I need is on the shop computer.) Also, hopefully, I’ll figure out what’s going to be in this month’s giveaway!

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I’m trying so hard to get caught up on reading all your blogs. It’s like swimming upstream. If I don’t check the reader ever hour of every day, before I know it I’m behind 300 feeds, then 500, then 800 and before I’ve blinked it’s past 1000. I want to read everyone’s blog. I enjoy reading everyone’s blogs. I want to comment on everyone’s blogs. But folks, I just can’t keep up. You guys are wonderfully blog-prolific! Just know I’m trying.