Happy St. Patty’s Day!

So, are ya? A wearin’ thuh green? I am. Wonder what my English, Scottish and German ancestors are thinking? Maybe they’re OK with it since the sweater does have pills under the arms and is a little too snug and too short to cover the tummy. Top that with a very bad hair day. Yeah, I look real good today. I kinda hope no one comes in. Now, that’s not good!

Here’s the last of the big load I got a couple of weeks ago.

Euro shams, smell good sachets, note cards and the flowers were all donated to the thrift store by the little gift shop that was going out of business. The basket came from my friend’s. I love the little card that says, “Faith Makes Dreams True”. I could preach on that one.

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I went to one estate sale this weekend where my GPS steered me wrong for the first time ever. Often, I argue with her, but she’s always right. This time I didn’t argue. I trusted completely. After all, I had no idea where I was. She told me to turn left. I did. She said I’d arrived at my destination. The road dead ended and I did NOT arrive at my destination. My destination was nowhere to be found on that part of the street.  She should have told me to turn right! Ha! She doesn’t know everything.

That sale was being handled by the family who seemed to think they had a lot of stuff. Oh, such… OK. Ignorance. They had no idea what a crappy sale they had. It was in about 3/4 of a basement. Looked like they’d probably thrown away the good stuff and kept their idea of  “the good stuff” to sell. But here’s what I found so interesting. The conversation among themselves:

First guy: People started coming at 6:30 this morning!

Lady: Oh, that was the dealers. And they walked in and walked out. (She sounded inexplicably smug when she said this.) And that one guy kept muttering something about buying stuff for a quarter.

Then the same lady, or maybe it was someone else, started talking about “The Cheapskate Lady”. By this time I’d found some candles I was interested in, but weren’t priced. I was scared to ask how much. Didn’t want to be the second Cheapskate Lady of the day. I thanked them for letting me look – Why do we do that? – and left empty handed.

These next two pictures are the findings from all the sales attended this past weekend. Not so much to look at, but a couple of things should sell well on eBay.

The dark thing in front is an antique photo album in such good condition I wondered if it had been recovered. I was pretty excited, but what’s happened while I wasn’t looking? These things used to sell for big bucks. Back when I could never find any that weren’t in tatters and even those were few and far between. Now I finally find a good one and they don’t sell for much any more. Oh, well. The crocheted thing holds napkins. Goofy, but I had to get it. The cake server has such a pretty pattern. The box was interesting, but the little book inside is a devotional. I really liked it because of the tiny locks of hair pressed inside. All those things are shop things. The wooden spoons might sell on eBay. They’re there, but whether they actually sell remains to be seen. The two books are city and county history books that should sell well.

And how about some crazy belts? Sticking my big toe in the vintage belt waters. They came from an estate. The deceased didn’t seem particularly young. She must have been a hoot! I mean, look at that one on the right with the grommets, studs and the zipper! I would liked to have met her.

Little shelves from “Mother’s”. A thick wooden box, a basket shaped napkin holder and a little dog key holder.

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A bagful of heater bricks. Nine, I think. From “Mother’s”. The wooden, stick on letters were from the thrift store.

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Antique medicine cabinet from “Mother’s”. Wonder who that is riding by in the red car?

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Hooked rug from an estate sale.

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Watering cans and well buckets from “Mother’s”

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Are those honeycombs? I first thought they were wasp nests, but they are flat and were stacked up, one on top of the other in the cemetery basket below. It had a cardboard like form to hold the flowers. The nests were inside it.

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Some old, iron, stove eye covers and a handle of some kind. I was most excited about the handle. It appeals to my creative side. (Don’t take much, do it? LOL)

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A mid century bullet planter from an estate sale.

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In this business I’m in, whether we call it antiques, junk or junque, we’re either in feast or famine. Last week was feast week. I absolutely have not stopped in a week and I still have piles of stuff to be priced and placed in the shop. It all started last Wednesday with a phone call from my second cousin once removed.

She said her sister-in-law was selling her mother’s furniture and I should give her a call to go see it. Why, of course I did just that! When I called Thursday morning, they were on their way to “Mother’s” old house. The one she hadn’t lived in in years. The house I didn’t know existed even though I ride past the drive-way several times a month. The one that had been ransacked, plundered and pillaged. They were ashamed for anyone to see it, but would let me if I wanted to see if there was anything I wanted. You betcha! An hour later, I was driving down the driveway I never new was there. It looked like simply a wide spot in the trees. About a quarter of a mile further, in a clearing, was a charming, old, one story, Walton type house. I found myself clamoring around the shed digging out old watering cans, rusty iron, and pottery. The vandals had already got the fancy pottery. After getting everything I found of interest, we went inside.

Oh, my. What a mess. And a little scary. I heard a scratching noise once or twice, but never saw any rats or snakes or anything. I left that place with a car load. Slap full. Trunk, back seat and passenger seat. Nothing great or earth shattering, mind you. Nothing I’ll be able to retire on. But it sure was fun!

Two hours later, I was on my way to a friend’s who is selling her collections. Hmmm. I don’t even have pictures of the things I brought from her house. But I got a little white table, sold already, a neat-o green basket, something else…

That evening it was back to “Mother’s” other house to see furniture. Bought a Depression era dresser that I sold this morning and another little table.

Friday, it was estate sales in Birmingham all day. Got some stuff. My goodness, I can’t even remember what!

Saturday it was to Erin’s where we hit two estate sales and a thrift store. In the thrift store we kept seeing things we recognized as coming from our favorite little gift shop. Turns out the gift shop went out of business! Boo-hoo, but boy, did we rack up. They’d donated what they hadn’t sold to the thrift. I don’t have pictures of all that yet, either.

Sunday, it was back to the friend’s house, this time taking Erin and Lena with me. We all bought fun things. I got a cute, vintage, yellow, alligator box purse, something else… and a stereoscope and cards. The cards are on eBay this week.

So. Without further adieu, I’ll start the pictures. I have 20 so far. Is that too much for one post?

The first pile from “Mother’s”.

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Flowers from the thrifted gift shop stuff.

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From inside “Mother’s” house. See the stuff peeking out?

An explosion of trim!

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Pottery from “Mother’s”.

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From an estate sale.

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Dolls from “Mother’s”

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Estate sale stuff

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Stuff from “Mother’s” and estate sales

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Homemade 1940s children’s coats from “Mother’s”

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That’s enough for one post. I’ll continue this tomorrow.

I swear, I’ve worked 12 hour and longer days this past week and am just now to the point I can blog. I really needed to get some of this stuff on eBay so I could start to get some of the money back. I overspent just a little last week.

I’m scared to see how many of your feeds I have to catch up on now. It’s over 500, I’m sure.

First, I want to thank everyone for your kind words and understanding. We’re still very sad, of course, but pretty much back to normal. Which means back to our regular routine of work. Werrrrrrrk, werk-werk-werk-werk-werk-werk-werk-werk….

Werrrrk-werk-werk-werk… You get the picture. I’ve realized I need two days off in a row if I ever want to get the house picked up, dusted and vacuumed, kitchen and bathrooms cleaned and clothes washed – ever again. I’m not complaining, because I don’t like doing all those things, but I’m at the shop working Monday through Thursday, then Friday and Saturdays are spent shopping for more stuff. Don’t let anyone tell you that ain’t werk. By Sunday, I’m zombied out. Monday would be the day I’d clean, but it’s back to the shop to begin working through the weekend finds. Sounds like I’ve got a nice excuse going on, doesn’t it? I thought I had a handle on the blogging thing again, but I missed a weekend, then a week, then another weekend and now I’ve got over 300 feeds to catch up on!! You girls are busy!

This weekend was not a bountiful one. We spent all day Friday and most of the day Saturday and I came out with this:

 

 

A small ledger, brass letters and some yummy, antique, green tiles. The picture doesn’t portray just how yummy they are. There are 9 total. I’m torn between selling and keeping them. I want to keep them just to posses them. I’d probably never do anything with them, but I sure don’t want to sell them for little or nothing.

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I thought that overnight case was fun. Looks like it’s from the ’70s. Those things in front of the case? Are they really cloches/bell jar/seed starters or are they candle cups? They’ll be cloches for me. Or the shop.

I also bought a few other boring things. Nothing worth mentioning.

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Then Sunday brought the “big” snow. Our first measurable in a loooooong time. It’s hard to believe this was just two days ago. It’s still chilly, but there’s no sign of white stuff anywhere to be found. The sun is shining brilliantly.

 

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I’ve bit the bullet and decided to open an eBay store to mirror the web site, so in addition to adding to the web site, I’m copying everything to put on eBay. Werrrrrrrk-werk-werk-werk-werk… LOL

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And I’m on FaceBook now! Like I have any extra time. Sheesh! What was I thinking? So if you’re on there, look me up!

Ummm… I can’t think of anything else that’s going on right now, so I guess I need to get – back to werrrrrk-werk-werk-werk-werk!

Wanda