Yippee!!! Going on vacation later this year.

I made reservations tonight to go on vacation in the fall. Going with my sister who is hitting a big birthday number. The diet starts tomorrow!

New Yard Sale Garage Sale Message Board soon

If you are new to my website, you probably noticed that the link for the Yardsale message board isn't working at the moment. I've been working on replacing it and I'm getting close to having it ready.

For those who were members of the old message board forum - the "back-up" message board link is over there to the left under Links.

Kickin' butt on Mother's Day

We didn't have any plans for today, so I suggested going bowling (I guess I had bowling balls on the brain). I have a some Banquet free bowling coupons and it does make me feel good to use them, rather having them go to waste. They expire at the end of the month - the coupons were on the packages of the cheap Banquet tv dinners. The total cost of kickin' butt? Priceless. But the monetary value was $0.00 (except for gas to get there). Free bowling and this particular bowling alley has free kid's shoe rental. Dh and I each have our own bowling shoes so no need to rent shoes.

Above is a picture of the butt kickin' I did to my family earlier today. I don't think 138 is a high score by any means, but it was good enough today.

Bowling Ball Fence - artsy craft project for old bowling balls

The other day I drove down a street in my neighborhood that I usually don't drive on, and for the first time saw this interesting use of old bowling balls. You know how you can always find old bowling balls for a buck or so at a yardsale? I wonder if that's how this fence got started. The yard is on a hill, so I wasn't able to take a picture of the entire bowling ball fence. I'm guessing they just got varying lengths of rebar (or similar) and put some sort of epoxy in one of the finger holes and just staggered them. Maybe someday I'll stop in and ask for instructions.

I just searched google for other bowling ball fences and none were as pretty as this one. I think it looks sorta artsy.

I'm sure you noticed the ugly "photo from yardsalequeen.com" across the photo. I did that cuz I am tired people taking my pictures and more without permission. And I figured this picture is a kind that someone (not YOU of course) would copy and put on a crafts website without asking permission. So I figure, I might as well get credit for it.

The other day I stumbled across a new garage sale website and saw that they copied word for word - about a half page directly from my website. And then on someone else's blog I saw a picture that I took - with no credit or mention of yardsalequeen.com Very irritating to know there are people who think nothing of taking someone else's work and claiming it as their own. Makes me want to come over and knock them upside the head with my bitch belt buckle (that is, if I could find where I put it.)

I am in need of an adult beverage.

Jacob had a dentist appointment today. One that I had been dreading. Well at least it's over. He had 4 sealants put on molars and they used laughing gas to help relax him. Well today I found out that he is one of the type of kids that laughing gas has no effect on. He kicked, fought and cried. At one point there were 4 hygenists in the room plus the dentist (and me). A few of the hygenists were just for keeping him immobile. My sister used a pediatric dentist who would "papoose" the difficult kids - basically put them in some sort of straight jacket and velcro them to the chair so they couldn't move. Jacob's dentist doesn't do any of that. She is really great - she makes me feel like she sees kicking and screaming every day and what Jacob does is typical. Hard to believe it was all done in about 20 minutes.

I managed to snap a pic on my cellphone. (I edited the pic for privacy.)

My other goal for the day was to get a Mother's Day card in the mail to my mom. I knew if I didn't send it today, it wouldn't get to NY in time. The past few days I looked and looked at various places for an appropriate card and couldn't find one. We are not the kind of family who sends sentimental mushy cards. I try to find a Mother's Day card that either revolves around liquor, gambling or having to pee. (The best card I sent a few years ago said "Cheers! It's Mother's Day! Not exactly a drinking holiday, but why not?")

But I was having trouble this year finding a good card. It seems that this year Hallmark is trying to cram $4.99 musical or record-a-message type cards down the everyone's throat. So...with all the space that those big $4.99 mushy cards take up, there was less space for a good selection of sarcastic or funny mother's day cards.

I ended up going to a small independent pharmacy and found this $2.29 card - which will do. (I took a pic with my cellphone before I mailed it off).



On the inside it said "That's how we remember it"

After I dropped Jacob off at school, and after mailing the card at the P.O., I stopped at Smile and saw this neat old banana seat bike (for $10). I didn't buy it but thought it looked cool. Of course I am too young to remember when those style bikes were popular ;)



Coming tomorrow on the blog - a project using old bowling balls (like the ones you find dirt cheap at yardsales).

p.s. Now is the time to buy some Forever stamps (at .41 each). The cost of a stamp goes up to .42 next week. So might as well buy some at .41 this week (assuming you mail stuff occasionally).

Happy Birthday George Clooney and me

George, I hope you are having a good birthday. We should get together next year at Lake Como and celebrate together (don't worry, I can leave the husband and kid at home).

Dierks Bentley Concert later this month in Solomons, Maryland

I am volunteering my time later this month at the local museum. I get such a sense of accomplishment doing volunteer work in the community. I will be a volunteer bartender. Yes, an important and needed duty. I will help to quench the parched throats of concert goers by serving them beer, wine, soda and water. (Bartenders do not receive tips - all tips go to the museum for their educational programs etc). The local museum hosts a few concerts during the year as a way to make money. And selling beverages at the concert is another way they make money for their programs. The next concert is Dierks Bentley (country music if you are not familiar with the name). I am not sure who is the opening act. Bucky Covington (from American Idol) has opened for some of Dierk's shows, but not this one. I like Bucky and would have liked to have seen him.

So anyway, I've been listening to some Dierks Bentley music to get more familiar with it. And believe me, I don't mind looking at the Dierk's promo posters that all the local businesses have plastered in their windows. Not bad to look at at all. See if you agree with my assessment...here is one of his videos.

The Smarter Way to Spend your Tax Stimulus Check

I just thought of this. If spending your tax stimulus check at yardsales is too much work for you, I have a better and smarter idea.....just donate/give it to me, and I'll do all the hard work of spending the money at the yardsales.

Here's a donation link to make it easy for you. (I'm so thoughtful!)

p.s. Sorry - but I can't figure out how to make all that white space above the Paypal donation button go away.

The Smart Way to Spend your Tax Stimulus Check

My sister sent me this via email. It must be making the email rounds:

As you may have heard, each of us will be getting a tax rebate check to
stimulate the economy.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China. If
we spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs. If we purchase a computer
it will go to India. If we purchase fruits and vegetables it will go to
Honduras, and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Japan.

If we purchase useless stuff it will go to Taiwan and none of it will
help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America. The only way to keep that
money here at home is to spend it at yard sales, since those are the
only businesses left owned by Americans!!

I love storage.

I love storage. I used have an ordinary, normal attitude toward storage, but now I love it. Anything that makes my *stuff* more organized so that I can go out and buy more stuff at yardsales makes me happy. The way I am going, an intervention with Dr. Phil in attendance may sooner than I think.

Today I bought two CD/DVD Sauder bookcases at a yardsale (both for $25). I justify it since they utilize space better and hold more than our old VHS bookcases. The seller had them marked $20 each but I asked if they would take $20 for both - they counter-offered at $25. This month I am going to have another yardsale so I will try to sell the old ones then. One is for holding our overflow of CDs (we have a different bookcase for the majority of our CDs) and the other went into Jacob's room.

Here are some "before" and "after" pics of Jacob's room:





And for our CD overflow:





It's hard to believe but it's the exact same # of CDs that are in the top old bookcase are now in the new bottom bookcase. But with the new bookcase, there is so much more room to add more.

And for me I bought this little trinket. I bitch belt buckle. Surprisingly, I didn't already have one. It was $1. Color looks a little weird since I took the pic without the flash. It's silver colored. Not sure what I will do with it.



My other buys for today included 3 packages of Axo Earl Grey tea (in cellophane) for $1 for all. For DH. I don't drink tea in any form or flavor. I also bought him a nice new Minnesota Vikings mug for a quarter - will put away for Father's Day - as a gift from Jacob.

I didn't really buy much today. I have high hopes for next Saturday. One of my favorite church's is having their annual sale. It starts at 6:30 a.m.

On a sad note, I am losing two area religion-based thrifts. They aren't thrifts that I would shop religiously at (haha) since they were both about 15 miles away (in opposite directions) but I would always try to stop if I was in their area. One is the Catholic Charities thrift (Faithfully Frugal) and the other is Beth's Reruns (a Jewish thrift). Both are closing within weeks.

What really makes me sad is that the Faithfully Frugal store is the store that I bought the Benjamin Moore Aura paint at (for $3). So now I am not sure where the paint store will donate the paint to.

.31 Ice Cream Scoop night at Baskin Robbins - STINKS

So yesterday I mentioned I was going to run out and get some .31 scoop ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Yeah right. Went around 6:45 and noticed that the parking lot was fuller than normal. Not a good sign. I parked and Jacob and I went inside Baskin Robbins and the place was packed. So I thought, geez, we'll go eat somewhere and come back in an hour or so.

And my local Baskin Robbins changed the time listed on their .31 Scoop advertisement in their store from 5pm - 10pm (what it was supposed to be) to 5pm - 9pm. Grrrrrrrrr - pretty sneaky. So we go eat at McD and Jacob had ice cream there for $1.06. For a buck, McDonalds has tasty icecream. For the heck of it, I swing back by BR to check (it was around 7:45) and the line was out the door! What the heck????

I started thinking, no way am I going to wait in that long line and actually have to pay. I think back to this past St. Patty's Day when I was in NY with Jacob and Stewarts had FREE ice cream and there was NO line! And here Baskin Robbins wants me to wait in that awfully long line and pay for it? I don't think so. I've had more free ice cream in my life than the average person so I am not waiting in a Baskin Robbins line with a squirmy 8 year old. My brother worked for many years as an accountant at an ice cream factory in NY and every week he got to take home free ice cream, as a benefit. I remember counting something like 16 half gallons of ice cream one time in my parent's very large extra freezer.

Now don't misunderstand - I didn't say I would never eat BR ice cream again, I'm just saying that I'm not waiting in some long line. I'll take Jacob with one of the Buy 1 Get 1 free coupons that I have. We do have an awfully nice Baskin Robbins in town - it even has a view - of the dump (trash transfer station). Here is a pic I took earlier this year when my husband and I got Buy 1 Get 1 Free sundaes and we sat outside enjoying the ice cream while watching people throw away their garbage. And to think people complain that there's nothing to do in our small town.

Disneyland Frontierland Exhibit shirt (and more)

Yesterday was a pretty hectic day so I didn't get a chance to leisurely blog. I forgot to mention that I went to the dentist yesterday to get a filling updated (my dentist really likes to replace *old* fillings it seems). And since I have the dental insurance why not. I always try to make the dental appts on either a Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday since that is when the nearby VV store has their .35 clothing days.

I normally don't look too much at flannel type shirts but this one caught my eye -


And then of course, looked at the label:



After a little bit of research I found out that Disneyland used to have a Pendleton Mills Frontierland store and all the clothes sold there had that label. It will go up on ebay eventually. Darn. I was kinda hoping it was some sort of a one of a kind costume from Disneyland that appeared in some show or was worn by Elvis or someone. I think though that some Disney collector would enjoy it.

Also for .35, I also bought Jacob a Target brand lightweight jacket. I just looked in his closet and now he has a pair of identical Target lightweight jackets. Oh well.

Today at Smile for $2 I bought myself a nice desk lamp - and that $2 price even included a compact fluorescent lightbulb.

During this past weekend's yardsale finds, I mentioned that I needed to get rid of the cubicle type storage that I had going on in Jacob's room and replace it with the $2 shelfing unit I purchased on Saturday.

Well here is the "Before" pic (6 wire cubicle things that don't want to stay together and not sturdy - bought at thrift for a few bucks. I am sure I can re-purpose the metal grates for something.)



And here is the "After" pic. The shelfing unit holds tons more and I won't have to worry about it falling apart if I put something heavy on it.




Gonna go to Baskin Robbins tonight for the .31 scoop of ice cream. In reading the fine print, it says you are limited to purchasing 10 scoops per person! wow. I doubt I will buy myself 10 scoops, that would be too much. But 7 or 8 should do the trick :)

p.s. I remembered that tomorrow is May 1st. May Day. The day that some of the students at the *sorta* nearby St. Mary's College go for a naked bike ride around campus. However, tomorrow I have to be someplace that is probably a good 40 miles away and combined with the logistics and the price of gas, I don't think its gonna be worth the trip to gawk.

p.s.s. No I am not turning into a cheap old fart (although I am cheap and I do have a birthday coming up). I did see Big Brother's Adam Jasinski nekked this week on Showtime After Hours. Yea for DVR and the ability to freeze the screen. I never realized until this week how clear the pictures come out if someone was to take digital pictures of a tv screen and turn the flash off. So I got my gratuitous nudity fix in for the week (and didn't have to waste any gas doing it).

p.s.s.s. Yes, that is a Dora blanket on my son's bed. There is nothing wrong with a boy liking Dora.

This date in history....

...I was eating wedding cake and doing the dollar dance among other things. My DH even had flowers delivered today to commemorate the event (I wasn't home for the delivery, I was out shopping). 19 years. Hard to believe my parents allowed their 8 year old daughter to marry. I was advanced for my age.




Yippee - I finally figured out how to take pics using my cellphone and actually get them onto my computer. I know the phone came with an instruction manual but who wants to read that thing.

Here is a pic I took the other day with my cell. I thought plain green bagels were funny.

Leaning Tower of Paper Clips

The other day, I dropped off the big box of free pens that I got at Staples (in the picture below) to the receptionist/secretary at my son's school and she really appreciated it. She said that people were always walking off with the pens in her pen cup.

Today I sent in to the school the above bunch of assorted paper clips etc. Got them last week at Staples. They were on clearance for .50 each so buying six of them came to $3. I paid with one $3 inkjet coupon so I didn't pay anything for them (except of course, the $1 I spent to get the $3 coupon).

I wasted gas for this???

Yesterday I was planning on going to some yardsales (well, of course) and saw one that started at 7am so I decided to change my driving routine and hit that one first at 7am. What a waste of gas. It was so sparse that I felt compelled to take a picture (the seller had gone back inside). When I stopped I thought, well there is probably stuff inside the garage too --- nope. And it wasn't like this was the end of the day and this was all that was left - it was all they had planned on selling.

Did manage to find some other stuff at some sales - a plastic storage bookcase thing for Jacob's room ($2) - the cubicle thing I have now in his room is not working out. Will have to add pics later to this blog entry. Also bought some new/sealed VHS tapes at .10 each for my technologically-stuck-in-the-80's brother.

I am compiling a list of my Top 10 Favorite Yardsale Buys of 2008 and I think so far I have 4 items on the list (no new buys got added yesterday). This list is due to change.

1. North Face fleece jacket at thrift ($4 - even though a thrift store is not a yardsale it's still one of my favorite buys)
2. mini trampoline for jacob ($3)
3. set of Henckels knives $5
4. set of 8 Waterford Crystal glasses $5

Tonight is the finale of Big Brother. I am rooting for Adam to win. Didn't like him at first but he grew on me after a while.

Yardsalequeen in the news

The yardsalequeen website has appeared a lot of different places recently. I got my copy of David Bach's book, Go Green Live Rich - the one that said I was featured in.



Well here is my big feature on page 91 (He also mentions some lesser known websites such as ebay.com and craigslist.org - maybe someday those too will become household terms - haha)



The other week I was interviewed for an article for USA Today - you can read the entire article
here You would think I would have gone out and bought a copy of USA Today that day - but I forgot.

Then this morning I was interviewed on the Air 1 Radio Network Its a network of radio stations all over the country. Radio interviews make me nervous. I am very bad about talking when others are talking.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Recycling at Staples

Someone commented the other day asking about how to recycle inkjet cartridges at Staples so I thought I'd explain it (to the best of my knowledge). So if you don't ever shop at Staples, just skip this entry. Staples recently changed their inkjet recycling policy. Now the way it works is that you bring in your HP, Dell, or Lexmark inkjet cartridges (limited to recycling 3 per day) and hand them to a cashier. The cashier will then ask for your Staples Rewards card (like a frequent shoppers card) and you will be given a $3 credit per cartridge to your Staples Rewards card. If you don't have a Staples Rewards card and you shop at Staples, then you are not taking best advantage of the system. The money credited to your Staples Rewards card will be sent you to once per quarter in the form of check, that you'll be able to use at Staples to buy stuff.

However years ago, Staples used to be much more generous. You used to be able to bring in 20 cartridges per day - any make or brand or even generic cartridge and get a $3 coupon for each cartridge you brought in. Those were the good ole days - I would buy my generic inkjets for my printer on ebay dirt cheap and then get a $3 coupon back on each from Staples. It was like I was printing for free. The coupons would expire 3 months from the issue date and you could only redeem three coupons per day ($9 value).

Then about a year or two ago they changed it to only accepting HP, Dell and Lexmark brands and I think they changed to a 10 cartridge per day recycling limit.

When I was at yardsales or thrift stores, if I could buy cartridges for .50 or $1 each, I would buy them and then bring them to Staples for recycling. I then got into buying cartridges right on eBay - I would buy used cartridges in bulk (like 100 or 200 cartridges at a time) paying about .50 - .75 per cartridge. (I would buy from sellers who offered free shipping).

Matter-of-fact, yesterday I was at a thrift and I purchased four HP brand cartridges - still in the package for $2 (.50 each). However, I think I can sell these on ebay and make more than the $12 credit I would get if I took them into Staples.

When Staples changed their policy a few weeks ago, they did away with giving coupons and just credit your Staples Rewards card. In a way, its better since you can accumulate more money to put towards a larger item. Now when I shop at Staples, I am always trying to get near the $9 or $10 mark so I can use three $3 coupons and pay practically nothing. However, since I spent money to get the coupons, it may only look like I am paying .51 cash, but I did spend some money to get the $9 worth of coupons.

So for people who still have the $3 coupons (like me), they are still good until the coupons expire - which is 3 months from the issue date. And since Staples stopped giving out coupons on March 30, the latest that people have to use the coupons is June 30, 2008.

Since on my Staples Rewards card it appears that I spend a lot (over $1000 per year) that qualifies me as being a "Premier Rewards" member. So I get free shipping on all my orders at Staples.com (as long as I continue to spend $1000 per year). So I will have no problem using all my remaining coupons since I can type in the coupon codes and redeem the coupons thru Staples.com. I think I probably have at least 50 left - since when I found out about the Staples policy change, I went to ebay and bought 70 coupons for $70 (with free shipping. Yes, there were lots of ebay sellers who would sell their Staples coupons. But now since they aren't giving out coupons, the amount of Staples $3 coupon auctions are drying up. Now the ones that are listed on ebay are going for a little more than $1 per coupon plus shipping.

.31 Ice Cream Scoop night at Baskin Robbins

Next Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - there will be a .31 scoop night at Baskin Robbins. Here is the Link if you want to read the details. Now that we have a Baskin Robbins nearby, we'll probably go. But I wonder why its not a .28 Ice Cream Scoop night. The last time I checked, Baskin Robbins only has 28 flavors.

Pink Confetti Everywhere

There are still cherry blossoms on the trees but now the yard looks like its full of pink confetti.

Had a good visit with family and they left a few days ago. On Saturday I took my sister yardsaling and we found a few things. I got this set of Henckel knives for $5 and she got a cute Stone Mountain purse in new condition for $1. At my next yardsale I will sell our current two sets of non-Henckel knives which are about 20 years old. This picture doesn't do them justice - they look almost new.



I got some bad news thru the thrift store grapevine. Yes, there is a thrift store grapevine. I heard that the Catholic Charities thrift in a town about 12 miles away is closing at the end of May. And of course, that is the store that I found the awesome Benjamin Moore Aura paint at. Because of it's location, I didn't shop there on a routine basis but I always stopped by if I was in the area. Tomorrow I am paying someone to smush my boobs (I know what you all are thinking - Chris, you look waaaayyy too young to need a mammogram) so anyway afterwards I will stop by Catholic Charities since it's on the way and see if there is anything good left.

I got a good deal at Staples the other day (I am still using my $3 inkjet coupons.) I also had other coupons to use - like get a free two pack of Delta Elite pens and a free box of 60 cheapo pens. My total came to $19.76 but I actually only paid .51 The Sour Patch Kids are for me. The garage sale labels are going to the winner of the contest that I had in April. A new contest will start in May. I think I am going to drop off the cheapy pens at my son's school.

Update for the past few days

Just a quick note to show you what my flowering cherry tree looks like. And yesterday I went to the Baltimore Aquarium and saw some cool creatures.

Benjamin Moore Aura paint - quite possibly the best paint in the world

The next few days will be a cleaning whirlwind. I am having family visiting this week sooo.....its time to clean the bathtub. And about a million other things. Yes, the yardsalequeen is not afraid to get her hands dirty. And I am going to do more painting today with my fabulous Benjamin Moore Aura paint that looks like coffee with cream.

In my post below, if I sounded like I thought $55 a gallon was ridiculous for awesome Benjamin Moore Aura paint - you were mistaken. It is money well spent - and actually I don't understand why it's ONLY $55 a gallon. It's like buttah. It practically throws itself up on the wall on its own.

p.s. If you think this sounds like I am shamelessly trying to get Benjamin Moore Aura paint to be the official paint of the Yardsalequeen Castle, you would be right. Whaddaya think I'm doing this blog for? My health? I gotta try to get some sort of bennie out of it. Benjamin Moore - contact me, I'd be glad to work out a deal for you to be my official paint :) Oh and I like the 3M blue painter's tape too. And Lindt Lindor Truffles to snack on while I am painting. Now if only I had a Bose Wave Radio with CD player to listen to while painting....

p.s.s. bennie - my slang for "benefit"

It's been a busy week

Last Saturday I had a yardsale ($5 space rental if you bring your own table) and made $151. Top photo is a pic of my junk before I set it up. It was a little hard to see the Power Wheels go ($20). Jacob loved that thing and rode it way past the age it was intended for (1.5 years to 3). There were a lot of other sellers but didn't find much to buy from the others. When I was packing up, I boxed about half of leftovers for donation to the Purple Heart organization. I like that this organization will come to your house to pick up donations and leave a tax receipt. I also donate to Smile but I prefer not seeing "my stuff" again when I shop at Smile. And then I wonder why no one is buying such and such of mine. So when the Purple Heart organization takes the stuff away, I know I am not going to be seeing it again.

Plus, it's much easier to leave the donations in my driveway than loading up the car with the stuff and then lugging it into the donation center at Smile which is sometimes a pain because of parking.

So when I told my husband the Purple Heart people were coming on Friday (yesterday) for donations, he decided on Thursday night to clean out his side of the closet for the first time since around 1990. I should have taken a picture of the mountain of clothes he wanted gone, it was probably 4' tall. It was at least a dozen garbage bags full of clothes. About half went to Purple Heart and the other half - went to the textile recycling/Planet Aid.


Donations waiting to be picked up. Can't see it but there is a big box underneath full of stuff.


Bags of clothes to be taken for Planet Aid/Recycling

I went to a few yardsales this morning. Got a few good things. I got a mini-trampoline for Jacob for $3. I had been looking for one and came really close to buying a new one from Walmart for around $20. Glad I waited. He played a lot on my 1980's era mini-trampoline. I had gotten it back when they first came out and they were the latest exercise craze. Well it finally started falling apart about 6 months ago so now it's gone.

Also got a set of 8 Waterford crystal champagne glasses for $5. I can't remember the exact name off hand. I bought $11 worth of stuff at that sale. Also got a nice wall mirror for $1 (a Queen can never have enough mirrors - haha). And a couple of DVDs for $1 each and some other stuff. At another sale I got a big Yankee candle for $1 (it is slighted used but not much) and a Bath & Body Works wallflower refills for $1 each.

Now that yardsaling is done for the day I am thinking of doing some painting. I bet you didn't know I was an artist too. Yep, my goal for the day is to paint the upstairs hallway. At a different thrift a few weeks ago, I saw they had a small paint section with new cans of paints - like where someone had picked a color and changed their mind so the hardware store donated their mistakes. Well anyway I bought two quart cans of Benjamin Moore paint in eggshell color for $1 each and bought a big gallon size can of something called Benjamin Moore Aura paint (in a tan-ish color) for $3. Well doing some searching online I see that Aura paint sells for $50 - $55 a gallon. Do people really pay that much for paint?

It's a miracle - I can see my dining room table!!

And not only that - the french doors now have Roman shades. It's only taken 15 years to get some sort of covering on them. It's hard to believe but we've been in this house almost 18 years and the french doors went in a few years after we moved in. I convinced myself that they were ok without any covering. A while ago (a few years?) I bought 5 Roman shades. So now 3 are up and we have two left to put up. It isn't too hard to believe but I am curtain/shade impaired. I hate dealing with anything window related. (Personally I think my husband installed them too close to the top but I kept my mouth shut). The shades were on clearance at Lowes for about $13 each, which I think was a good deal. I don't price shades very often (since the thought of dealing with curtains and shades gives me the willies) but for the heck of it I just browsed the roman shades at justblinds.com website and getting a similar shade in the size I needed would be $126 EACH there.

But of course the big story is that I can actually see my dining room table now. I found a home for all the miscellanous crap that I had been storing on it. Will have to deal with that later but at least now we can actually eat food there if we want. Disregard all the junk that is in the corner (that's gotta stay there for now). Would love to get rid of the exercise bike that is in the corner that my husband had to buy NEW many years ago. You can't see it in the picture, but to my left is our treadmill. Doesn't every dining room have an exercise bike, a treadmill and a carpet cleaning machine?? And he doesn't think we need a larger house.

Only one week left to enter contest

If you haven't done so already and want to, there's only about one more week to enter the contest I currently have running. And if you don't win this one, don't worry, you can try again in May when I start a new contest.

My swag from the hair salon - including some hemp seed

As I said yesterday, today I was going to stop by a new hair salon that advertised an open house, door prizes, etc. The above is the swag I got in a little goody bag. I am curious to try the Australian Gold Blazin' Tingle Bronzing Hemp with Hemp Seed. I am looking forward to tingling.

I did the special accordian fold to my entry for the door prizes so I expect a call any moment now announcing that I won a ton of stuff and services.

Tomorrow I am selling at an indoor yardsale. Hope to make some money and find time to shop at it.

Whiskey as a Pirate

In a McDonald's Happy Meal recently, Jacob got this teeny tiny pirate hat which apparently is only good for kids with a small head or dogs. Way too small for Jacob but I thought Whiskey might look good in it.

Recent Bargains. Now I have a dolphin in my car.

Last Saturday was my first real yardsale shopping experience for 2008. And this Saturday I am selling at an indoor yardsale (where space rental is $5). They say over 30 sellers have signed up so it should be very good - but probably crowded as far as how much actual space everyone will get.

Here's a couple of pics from my buys on Saturday. Most expensive thing was the brand new $5 golf cart (has a $59 price tag on it).

On Wednesday morning I went to Walgreens - since they had a special one day promo for a free inkjet refill. Well giving away the free refills is a smart move on their part. They lured me in the door with their free inkjet promo - then they said they didn't refill my particular brand of inkjet - and then all the bright lights and fancy displays enticed me into buying stuff I didn't know that I needed. Like a glowing blue dolphin for my car. It was $2.50 on clearance. And I ended up buying an additional $15 worth of stuff and no free inkjet refill for me.



Then on Wednesday afternoon, had lunch with my husband and then stopped at the little independent grocery where I got all those bottles of adult beverages. I wanted to see if they put anything else on clearance. I walk in the door and see a grocery cart with a sign ".50 each" Ended up buying nine .50 items. Bought a cheap pair of sunglasses, pizza cutter, multipack packages of gum and the below anti-perspirant and mousse for .50 each.



Tomorrow I need to get ready for the Saturday yardsale. But I will find time to pop into a new hair salon that is having a grand opening tomorrow. Supposed to be door prizes and free consulations, food etc etc. Maybe I can win a free haircut or something.

Go Green Live Rich by David Bach

So the other day I am reading my email and see that someone at Random House emailed me to let me know that financial guy David Bach has mentioned yardsalequeen.com in his upcoming book, Go Green Live Rich

It was a total surprise, the purpose of the email was to get my mailing info to send me a free copy of the book. Will post when I get it to give more details about the contents. Majority of the time I know about when the website is going to be mentioned somewhere. I've seen the guy before on Oprah. And now he knows about me (since I am sure he spent hours reading this exciting blog and finding out all about me). And maybe he'll tell Oprah about me and she'll want to meet me and we will be best friends forever. Hey, it could happen. I just realize now that makes me just two degrees separation from Oprah!

Crap. I just remembered that I forgot to look at the All You magazine when I was at Walmart today. I was interviewed for an upcoming article - the article is supposed to be in the May issue, but when I was in NY, I saw the May issue and there was no yardsale articles in it. So I am wondering if the April issue is still on the racks at my local Walmart. And I forgot to look.

Dollar Tree Shopping near the cemetery

I had a dentist appointment today. The dentist office is near a lot of the shopping I did today (Dollar Tree, Walmart, Target, Lowes, Staples etc etc). When I was at Dollar Tree I remembered I had my camera in my purse so I took a pic of a real cemetery which is right next to the Dollar Tree. (I couldn't get a good pic of the Dollar Tree sign next to the cemetery without standing in the parking lot) but just imagine a Dollar Tree to the right).

This may sound strange but after yesterday, I was really looking forward to going to the dentist today and just relaxing. Yesterday, I spackled, I sanded, I painted, and cleaned the floor and basically didn't sit down all day. We've been in this house almost 18 years and when we first moved into this spanking new house, I said "No need to paint right away even though its the cheapest paint the builder could find. Let's just wait a few years and then we can paint." And here it is 18 years later and there are still parts of this house still showing the cheap contractor paint. How sad - LOL! Oh well, there are more important things in life than painting the walls. Like going to yardsales.

My husband is out of town but coming back later tonight. Whenever he goes out of town, I start projects around the house. Today I went and bought two new toilet seats and a new faucet for my Spongebob bathroom. Did you know you can go to Lowes and get a coupon for 10% off your shopping trip?

I will have to post pics of my "before" and "after" of my bathroom. I came up with a cheap way for some Spongebob art for the bathroom wall. I bought Spongebob placemats and stuck them up on the wall. I think it's cute. I didn't go totally Spongebob though, I still kept my shaving brush collection up along with my vintage nasal douche.




I also stopped at VV and bought these vintage risque glasses for .35 each. Scene on left - at first I thought it was a woman about to John Bobbit the guy in the tub. But in studying it, its a woman putting a notch on her bedpost while the man collapses in the tub. Middle scene: woman in a wedding gown saying "Just think in a few minutes he'll know I'm not a blonde" while the mother of bride looks shocked. Scene on right: a prostitute on strike with "Unfair" sign. She is looking at a building that says "Do it Yourself HQ"

My Bargain Booze

While in NY, I did some regular store shopping (hit the Kohl's near my mom's) and the megasized liquor store. It's the only liquor store that I know that routinely gives out samples while you're shopping. I spotted this cheap wine on sale for $4.34 a bottle. And if you bought 2 bottles, you could send in for a $5 rebate. So that works out to be a little over $2 a bottle. Blush and white wine all pretty much taste the same to me so no use wasting a lot of money on good wine for me. (I have had the Two Buck Chuck wine before and thought it tasted good - but I don't have a Trader Joes nearby. The nearest Trader Joes is 50 miles away and they don't sell wine at that location).

Then yesterday I was at a little independent grocery store which is remodeling and I saw they had crates of miscellaneous beer and wine for $10 a crate. I am not really a beer drinker but the crate with Mike's Hard Lemonade in it caught my eye. So I bought it. Here's what I got for $10 plus tax



Also yesterday I went to the recycling center and spotted this cute empty Heineken mini-keg so I took it and delayed it's recycling for a while. Will have to think of some sort of crafty thing to do with it. If you have an idea what I should make with it, feel free to leave a suggestion.



Well gotta run, all of a sudden I am feeling thirsty.

Nipper and more Nipper

Well here he is, Nipper in all his glory. You know, Nipper the world famous advertising icon for RCA. The biggest Nipper in the world. I remember driving past it in the family car as a kid. He even has his name on his collar.

If you're curious where he is in the photo further below, look at the center, and then up a little (look for the beige building with what looks like windows on the top).

Re-cap of my trip to NY

Jacob and I spent the week before Easter at my mom's in upstate NY. Got there on St. Patrick's day and found out the local chain of convenience stores were giving away a free ice cream cone to anyone wearing green. There are two Stewart's within a half mile of my mom's house. wink wink.

Oh I forgot to mention - on the drive up, I tried taking a picture of one of my favorite signs. It says "Gross Used Cars". Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of the sign I wanted to, instead I got their other sign.



It was still winter in New York and they still had lots of pretty winter snow scenes.


Kids still had school there, so I was able to take Jacob to kid-related places and not have a mob scene. Went bowling (using the Banquet bowling coupons), Chuck E. Cheese and Jeepers

And Easter in NY wouldn't be complete without getting Paska bread from the Polish bakery. Here's pics of other stuff they had for sale: