Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas - and for those who don't celebrate Christmas - happy Tuesday.

gone jellyfishing (well not really but I just wanted to say that)

I learned something about my camera the other day so I thought I would try it out (it had to do with photographing in low-light situations). Here's a pic I took today (no flash) while I was at the little local aquarium that we are members of Calvert Marine Museum

Finally arrived - Christmas card from my card-aholic friend

I was getting kinda worried that I hadn't received my annual handmade Christmas card from my cardaholic friend. She likes scrapbooking and stamping stuff as much as I like going to yardsales. She is nuts. My card finally arrived yesterday. If you go back in the blog archives, her 2005 card is shown in Dec. 2005. I must have dropped the ball last year since I didn't post a 2006 card pic. Hard to tell from the photo, but there is about 6 layers of paper on the front of the card, along with some sparkly paper and a ribbon embellishment. I am scrapbooking impaired but I know how to toss scrapbooking words around like "ribbon embellishment".

Bargains at CVS today

In the newspaper there was a CVS ad (not the regular sales flyer) and it had a coupon to save $5 off a $15 purchase. Since the coupon was only good for 3 days, I went today and bought some stuff. For the stuff in the picture above, I paid $7.34 The cashier took off my $5 coupon PLUS he scanned some other coupon that he had at the register and that took ANOTHER $5 off. He was busy talking on the phone as he was ringing me up and I asked "was that some special coupon?" and he just said "yeah" and went onto the next customer. So I have no idea why I got the additional $5 off. Ok, so I paid $7.34 for the stuff above (some stuff was Buy 1 Get 1 free) but the best part was that many of the items were items that had "extra care bucks" with them. (If you aren't familiar with CVS, Extra Care Bucks are special coupons that print out on your cash register receipt to use the next time you shop. Sorta like free money. So with what I bought today, I have an additional $9.46 to spend the next time I shop at CVS. (For example, the Tylenol was $2.49 - BUT on my receipt today I got a coupon to save $2.49 on my next CVS purchase).

My Christmas Collections - kneehuggers and now trolls....

I didn't know this until this year but the little elfs I've been collecting for years are called "kneehuggers" since they hug their knees. I've just been calling them vintage felt elves. I don't think I found a single one at a yardsale this year. But of course, I had fun hunting for them.



The other day I started a new Christmas collection. Tacky Christmas trolls! I saw them at Smile for .50 each and had to get them all. So that will be something *new* for me to look for when I go yardsailing in 2008. I think starting a Christmas troll collection is fitting since my very first garage sale buy ever was a troll when I was about 5 years old. And I still have it.

Me as an Elf

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1442901078

My $1.50 Blue Faucet Light from the thrift store

At the thrift, I bought a faucet light for $1.50 I had never seen it before but the package was new and it looked like fun. I see it cost $16.95 plus shipping Faucet Light But I like that I only paid $1.50 for it at the thrift (no tax and no shipping).

But now, I want to go to Lowes and buy a new fancy faucet to replace my old builder's grade faucet that came with the house 17 years ago. So I bet my fancy cheap blue light is gonna end up costing me a lot more - haha. I made a Youtube video to show it in action.

Yardsalequeen.com Stamp = .06 (I love Staples)

My love affair with Staples continues. They sent me a coupon for $25 off any $25 or more purchase from their Copier and Print Department. Well I already have two different sets of business cards from them (also bought cheap with coupons) and I didn't need any photocopying done or big enlargements etc. So I ordered a self-inking rubber stamp for me to use to promote the website. I can stamp it on all my outgoing mail and packages etc. I could have put extra lines of type on the stamp, but I just wanted it to be simple with just the website address. Since it was $24.99 and my order had to go over $25 for me to use the coupon, I had them add one photocopy to my order. I stamped the receipt with my ysq stamp so you can see what I got.

So the cash I had to pay was .06

My eBay Auctions

I sorta have a lot of auctions currently running - well its a lot for me anyway. To see the sort of awesome stuff and/or junk I have for sale, check out my auctions (ebay seller: yardsalequeen.com)

Yardsalequeen.com Auctions

(You have to be a registered user of ebay and logged in for that link to work.)

My Little Merry Monster and the Whiskey dog

I bought this hat at Smile awhile ago (.50) specifically for the dog and couldn't remember where I put it. Well I found it. I also finally got my Christmas decorations down from the attic and saw the "Merry Monster" I bought last year after Christmas clearance at CVS for about .50 When I bought him, he didn't work but I figured it was due to dead batteries. I replaced the batteries and he still didn't work. Of course I didn't throw him away, I just stored him away in the attic for the past year. Well that did him some good, since the other day when I tried again, he worked! yea!

I think its almost time for an intervention....

My son's closet had gotten out of control, so I went into his room with a garbage bag today to sort thru his outgrown clothes. One garbage bag barely made a dent. Ended up with 5 garbage bags of clothes - for a future yardsale. I will eventually put the name brand clothes (Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren etc) up on ebay. Along with the rest of the clothes that I have been saving since day 1. Yes, you read that right, I probably still have 90% of the clothes he has ever worn. That's why I mentioned needing an intervention - eventually. I have it all under control now! hahaha. Out of all the clothes I went thru today, I found one that will be thrown away. See? I can throw things away. (Well not really since the shirt with holes in it is not exactly going in the trash - I will take it to our local recycling center for their "textile" recycling). It may look like a lot of clothes, but keep in mind nearly everything, with the exception of a few gifts from family, was bought pre-owned at a garage sale or a thrift store (even the dress shirt that is still in the package)

Yardsale Buys today - yes, its December and I went yardsailing!

I saw two yardsales advertised for today, plus a nearby church had a rummage sale/Christmas Bazaar. At the first yardsale, I bought a big armful of clothes for Jacob for $2 (Old Navy, Levi's, shorts, Abercrombie & Fitch etc). Not $2 each, $2 for the whole armful. At the church sale I bought a new 4' tall inflatable Santa for $2 and a bunch of other stuff. I will add a pic of what I bought in a few days.

Then at the other yardsale I bought the above big picture (with custom framing) for $2.

While going to the yardsale, I passed this tree that has the directional signs of the residents. Even though I don't like the thought of nailing stuff to trees, I thought it was neat.

Yardsalequeen for President in 2008!

You know, I'm really not into politics at all.... but if you all wanted to start a grassroots write-in campaign to elect me, I wouldn't object. You know how they do an annual Easter Egg Hunt on the grounds of the White House? My agenda -if you elect me - would focus on holding weekly yardsales on the grounds of the White House. I would sell all that stuffy old furniture and replace with a bunch of cool Ikea stuff a lot more cheaply. The profits would go back to the great people of USA! Once I ran out of furniture to sell, I would open the grounds for table rental space.

Buying Kid's School Pictures - such a rip-off

I didn't buy my son's school pictures this year. Gasp. I just didn't like them that much, plus the cost was ridiculous for what you got. Instead, last night I took my son to Target - with my $7.99 coupon in hand, and bought their package of photos, using a plain background for the photos. Plus I got to pick out the photo I liked the best. The photographer was great and we were done in about 5 minutes. It took longer to fill out the registration form and to pay than it did to take the photos.

And I don't know when this all started, but schools around here now take photos at least 3 times a year. They do the fall traditional pictures in September, then in November they do it again - if you want - for a package they call the "Grandparent's Package", then in the spring they do one with a fancy background.

Had to say goodbye to The Witch today

I didn't leave the house today so I have no bargains to report. I did however have to say goodbye to my The Witch cup, because it finally developed some cracks. It had sentimental value (yeah right). My thoughtful husband gave it to me as a souvenir of one of his golfing trips to Myrtle Beach. The Witch was the name of a bar at one of the golf courses. The following year he brought me back a souvenir t-shirt from a strip club there. (I actually wore it when I had one of my yardsales and had a male customer say "Hey, I've been there!")

Added a Shoutbox over there to the left

Just wanted to mention that I added a *shoutbox* chat thing over there to the left. So if you have a question or comment or whatever, feel free to post it over there and I'll respond. I know posting comments on a blog is sometimes a PITA (Pain In The butt) but writing on the shoutbox is super easy. Plus, now the way it is, if someone here posts a comment or question on a posting I did weeks ago, chances are I won't see it since I usually don't go back and look at old postings. But I won't miss something on the Shoutbox.

I survived the Black Friday Sales

I enjoy going out and shopping on Black Friday. My husband is usually home from work that day so he stays home with Jacob. (There is no way I would take Jacob out shopping on Black Friday with me). Since I live an hour away from a regular shopping mall, I stick to the local big box type stores: Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Old Navy, Staples, BJ's Warehouse etc. Also went to JC Penneys, Bath & Body Works and two CVS stores. Yes, I went to all of those yesterday along with two thrift stores - they had .35 clothing.

I didn't make any big purchases, just some little stuff. I bought a bigger memory card for my camera at Staples (for about $10 after they deducted my $9 worth of inkjet recycling coupons) - I think with it I'll be able to make some short videos of my yardsale buys and post them on YouTube. I already have some short videos on Youtube but with the bigger memory card I can make longer ones. We do have a regular Sony videocamera but I'm not sure how to make videos on that and since I'm lazy, I don't want to learn :)

Here's a link to my YouTube videos: Yardsalequeen Videos (so far they aren't yardsale related)

Bath & Body Works had some sales, plus I had a $10 off a $30 purchase coupon. I bought all of the above for $22.84

Happy Thanksgiving

I'll be cooking my own big bird today. I have a 12 pounder that I've had in the freezer for a good 6 months. Bought it on sale but never felt like cooking a turkey in the summer. Paid $4.65.



I normally just buy a turkey breast since its really on the two of us, since Jacob doesn't eat turkey. But at that cheap price, I couldn't pass up getting a whole turkey.

I plan on doing some shopping tomorrow - so I have been looking at the sale ads, but this year I don't see anything I really have to buy and stand in line to get. Last year I was at Staples at 6am for a GPS for my husband. But this year, I will go out early, but not super early.

gotta free rose today

I got my hair cut today at a fancy place in town - they charge $40 for a haircut (but there was a $10 off coupon), so it was $30 plus tip. Whenever I am in NY visiting family, there is a hairstylist that I go to (and pay $35 plus tip) for a haircut. But here in Maryland, I can never find a good hairstylist. Or if I do, it turns out to be their last week of work before moving out of state. I did like the cut I got today, so I will definitely go back (and hopefully with another coupon).

After my haircut I got my camera out and snapped some pics from an arms length away - so I updated my photo to the left.

Then after my haircut I went to the nearby florist and got a free rose (pic above). This florist always sends out a coupon for a free rose, so I usually pick one up.

In looking at some older photos - here is a pic of my free rose that I got in September:

Tag Sale Maps - Find Yardsales in your area

Yardsalequeen.com has a new advertiser and I wanted to mention it - Tag Sale Maps - Find sales on a map - search by zip code. Advertise your sale up to 7 days for only $10. Tag, estate, moving, garage sales, flea markets, thrift & antique stores.

I practically live in East Podunk, and just checked my zipcode there and found a sale I didn't know about!

Big Bird in the Backyard

Some sort of hawk. I took this photo this morning. I saw that he was eating something - and I really don't want to know what.

Well I did go get a replacement driver's license on Tuesday....

I thought I lost my driver's license (it's been a good two months since I remember having it). So on Tuesday, I gathered up my birth certficiate and two forms of residence (like utility bill and credit card statement etc) and went and paid $20 for a replacement license. (That $20 is what financial guy Dave Ramsey would call paying a stupid tax. The tax you pay for being stupid - LOL!)

Well guess what I found today? My old license. And its almost embarrassing where it was. Basically right in front of my face - on my computer monitor stand is my where I had put my business card case. Today I look inside, and oops, there it is. The bad part is that I can't even use the old one for legal stuff (like if I got pulled over for speeding since technically it is voided now). But on the plus side, my picture is much better on the new one! LOL! The last time I got my pic taken for it, I had helmet-hair from riding to the DMV on the back of my husband's BMW motorcycle.

And it could be worse - on Monday I was packing up some old clothes and shoes to donate - and as luck would have it, I just happened to look inside one of my canvas type beach shoes - and found a $10 bill in it. I don't remember putting $10 in my shoes, but its something I know I would have done when I was at the community pool or something.

Splurged a little yesterday and got a manicure & pedicure

Even though I love finding a bargain for cheap, my life is not all about squeezing a penny til it bleeds. Yesterday I went and got a mani-pedi. But of course I did it cheaply and went to a place that has a Monday special for $30 (plus tip of course). It was my first time trying this particular place and I will be back, despite being basically told I am fat.

The guy did my nails and toes and I was sitting there drying them before I left, and a female worker came up to me and showed me a box of some sort of Japanese diet pills for $66. And tells me how they really work and she sells many boxes of the stuff. HUH??? Do I look like I need diet pills??? (well yes, I probably do, but geez, I don't need some stranger telling me that!).

It was almost as bad as the time - about 5 or so years ago when I was at a yardsale and the yardsale seller says "Are you going thru menopause?". Huh???? Don't I look WAAAAYYYY too young to be going thru menopause? Then she continued on "Because if you are, these chocolate soy bars really helped me". No lady, I am not going thru menopause and I won't be buying any of your leftover soy chocolate bars. Ask me again in 20 years.

Today I am going to go get a replacement driver's license. Since sometime in September I haven't been able to find it. I think I took it out for something and never put it back. I am sure it will eventually turn up, but for the $20 fee, I'll just go get a replacement and have some peace of mind (and stop along a couple of thrifts along the way).

Speaking of being fat - one thing I am grateful for is that the DMV office does not have a scale to weigh people to make sure they are telling a little fib. I don't think my weight on my driver's license has gone up in a good 20 years. That's my weight loss goal - to weigh 10 pounds more than what my driver's license says that I do ;) Cuz I know getting down to what it says would be too hard of a goal.

I was looking at one of my old diaries from high school the other day, and I read something like "Uggh, I weigh 103 pounds. I want to lose 5 pounds before such and such". And to think back then I thought I was fat!

Some of my yardsale and thrift store buys from the last week

I bought the little blue suitcase ($1) which in in immaculate condition to store mementos and such. After hearing about all those awful California fires, it made me realize that if I had to evacuate quickly, I don't have all my sentimental stuff in one easy location. So I think I'll use the small suitcase - which would easily fit under a bed to store a bunch of my stuff. For instance, I have CD-roms full of pictures of Jacob when he was younger (and deleted off my computer), and even made back-up copies too. And I have no idea where any of it is.

Now, all I have to do is somehow find room under a bed to store it. I like that the logo emblem on it is "Lady Baltimore"

Also in the pic is a fog machine light. When I first saw them I thought they were so neat, I guess I'll see if it lives up to my expectations. It was marked $8 but I got it for $5. I remember seeing them in Antique stores (the kind of antique stores that sell new stuff too) for about $30 or $40.

I bought for $3 the Black and Decker jar opener to give to my mom. She probably won't use it but complain about her arthritis anyhow. I did test it out and it does do what its supposed to. But the place where you put the jars, is pretty narrow. A wide bottom jar would not fit. How stupid, those are the hardest to open!

Confession: sometimes I don't think used.

Yesterday we had two sets of doors replaced - here is one of the doors with "Before" and "After" pics. Didn't want to buy used doors for the home improvement project. I may have mentioned on the blog a few months ago that I broke one of the doors back in August. (It took a while to figure out who we wanted to replace the doors and then it took a while to figure out what we wanted and then place the order and then schedule the installation).

There are many choices when replacing doors - the doors we replaced were the original cheapest sliding doors possible that the builder put in. Hopefully the new doors with be more energy efficient. I am just glad to have a door that actually works as a door now! For the past 2 months, one set of doors was not useable. We also replaced the sliders off the kitchen.

Did trick or treating with the boy last night. Took him to a strip mall where the businesses just position someone out on the sidewalk to give out treats. Then had a late dinner at Chick-fil-a. It used to be he was happy with a 4-pack nuggets kids meal. Then he graduated to the 6-pack kids nugget meal. Last night he enjoyed a 6-pack nugget meal and then requested more nuggets, so I got him an 8-pack. I don't mind though - I tend to think of Chick-fil-a chicken has healthy food. Much better than some of the other junk he likes.

Think Used!

Last week I drove by this car junk yard and the thought the sign was very insightful.

Taco Bell Tuesday 10/30/07

If you happen to be by a Taco Bell this Tuesday between 2-5pm, swing by and get a free taco. Click here to read about it: FREE Taco Bell taco

Happy Halloween Saturday

Yesterday was the first Saturday in a long time that I didn't go yardsailing. It rained all day on Friday and rain was forecasted for Saturday morning so I slept in.

In the afternoon Jacob and I went to the annual trick or treating at Annmarie Gardens. It was $1 per person and lots of businesses and community groups line the walkway giving out treats (and info to the parents about their business etc). Many businesses decorate their area with Halloween displays etc. Last year Jacob really liked the one business that had upside down kids planted in the ground (top picture was taken last year and the bottom pic I took yesterday during a lull in the crowd - the pathway gets very crowded with kids, adults, costumes and strollers.) And yes, that is the SAME fireman costume from last year.

In the past, there was a Girl Scout troop that would set up Fortune Telling Booths - they would accost people on the path and ask "Do you want your palm read?" and then they would take their victims to their booth where they would take a red ink pad and stamp your palm red. LOL!

The Whiskey dog worked the crowd tonight

I saw that there was going to be a free rabies clinic at the local firehouse tonight so I took the ole Whiskey dog to get a shot (my bad - he was due in 2006 for another). Well anyway, he is now good until 2010. The local SPCA runs the free clinics here and you can give a donation. All the volunteers and workers fell in love with him. I am not exaggerating, I didn't see any of them fawn all over other dogs as they did with the Whiskey dog. For some reason I always add the word "dog" when talking about the Whiskey dog. Or else I refer to him by his full name: Whiskey Weiner with the Weird Wild Hair. I had to show proof of a prior vaccination and when I was pulling out rabies receipts for him from 1994 and 1996 etc, the volunteer looked at me and said "this can't be the same dog - he is too young". And I had to tell her that yes indeed, he is an approximately 14 year old give or take some years. (He was a stray that we got around 1994 or so).

Then went thru the drive thru at Burger King for two Whoppers (using a Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon, total $2.93 for both). I have a bunch of Burger King coupons listed on ebay right now -
Yardsalequeen Auctions - a real money saver if you plan on eating at Burger King within the next month.

Then drove thru the KFC drive thru to get Jacob something to eat. (He is a very picky eatter so there are only certain foods he eats, and Burger King isn't one of them). So his three KFC chicken strips came to $4.09. Doesn't seem right that a meal for a 7 year old should cost more than mine.

Update for the last week or so

Well it's Wednesday, so that makes day number three of having lasagna for dinner. Aye yi yi, I made a monster sized lasagne on Monday and now on day 3, it's about half gone. I need to find (at a yardsale) a smaller sized lasagne pan. Someone should invent a lasagne pan that is just as long as a noodle is.

A quick update on what's been going on. Last Friday my son (and husband) had the day off from school/work so we went to the mall. Didn't buy a thing. Also test drove a Honda Ridgeline truck. My husband already has a truck (about 10 years old with only 40,000 miles on it) but was looking for an upgrade. My husband's other vehicle is a motorcycle so he drives that half the year or better. Ain't buying a Ridgeline. Crappy mileage and plus it was expensive ta boot.

On Saturday I sold junk and stuff at the local fairgrounds flea market. I figured it would be last chance for the year to sell at that one since the next two Saturdays I have other plans. I signed up to sell stuff at an indoor yardsale in December ($5 space). That will be a good one since people will be out Christmas shopping etc and many of the vendors bring crafts and stuff.

I made $125 on Saturday and then afterwards I went shopping at a huge flea market in another town. At the huge flea market there are a lot of professional vendors etc, most of them are not selling the stuff they got out of their basement. More like all the Made in China imports and knockoffs etc. There is a Farmer's Market part of the flea market too. The pictures above are pictures I took on Saturday.

If Heather from Lusby is reading this - I know I missed your yardsale on Saturday - I couldn't go since I was busy with my own at the fairgrounds.

Didn't do much on Sunday.

Monday is when I made that big ass lasagne along with a big batch of meat sauce. Then on Tuesday I made several (small) trays of stuffed shells and put them in the freezer. Today (Wednedsay) I did some grocery shopping and some other shopping.


I had a particularly good coupon day at Giant today, so I'm showing my receipt above. Most items were free cans of dog food that I had a bunch of coupons for.

Also went to Staples and bought 3 packages of Sharpie markers - amount paid: 0.00. The sale was a 5 pack of Sharpies for $3, so I bought three for a grand total of $9.00 plus tax, but after they deducted my three $3 Staple Ink Jet recycling coupons, the total went down to 0.00 and since there is no tax on 0.00, I didn't have to even pay tax.

Some of the Sharpies may be put towards a "prize pack" - I think I'm going to have my first ever contest on the website soon so I've been putting a few things together for a prize.

A few of my buys from last Saturday

I tried doing a blog posting the other day, but apparently blogspot was having technically difficulty so I gave up. So here's a few things I got last Saturday. $3 Plastic Storage drawer thing, $2 vintage old trunk, $3 set of brand new Martha Stewart flannel sheets for the guest bed. Also bought this ginormous fake ring for .50

Weather permitting, I'm going to go up to the Fairgrounds this Saturday and rent a yardsale space ($10) for the day and try to get rid of some stuff. I'll probably mark that trunk $20 and see if someone buys it for shabby chic decor.

Dawn over at Frugal For Life Blog "tagged me", whatever that means. I'm not sure really, but I'm guess its like the kids game of tag, where I become "it" and now have to "tag" someone else's blog. Hmmmm...I guess I will just tag Frugal For Life Blog back. She has a ton of links to other blogs - if you are into frugal/thrifty living, it will keep you busy for quite a while.

I think today was the day that Hell froze over....

My husband had the day off today so we did some shopping - had a $10 Best Buy Rewards card to use, and we also went to Staples, Walmart, BJs Warehouse, Lowes and Target. Well the reason why I think hell may have frozen over is that my husband bought a country music CD. Wow - I never thought I would type those words ever. He is someone who is totally stuck in the 80's as far as music is concerned and says he hates country music. At Target he picked out a Martina McBride greatest hits CD ($9.99) and said he liked a few of the songs on it. Then we had lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. They really re-designed the restaurant - no more crap and junk thrown up on the walls anymore. (Hmmmm...makes me wonder what they did with all that stuff - it better not have ended up in a dumpster!) Thankfully they still had my Carolina Chicken Salad on the menu.

Ok, now I am going to type something I never thought I would. I own a William Hung CD. NO NO NO, I did not pay retail for it. Bought it this week at $1 at one of my thrifts and comes with a DVD. (I didn't even know William Hung had a DVD).

The most crazy statement I heard last weekend at a yardsale.

I spotted a tiny Longaberger basket at a yardsale. The owner messed it up by trying to put a regular nail thru the back. I asked how much it was and her reply was "It's a little damaged, so I'm only asking $10 for it." Yeah right, only $10. I guess she didn't know I find nice, undamaged Longabergers for $1 at yardsales.

Did more thrift store Christmas shopping

The other day at one of my thrifts I saw a shirt that is perfect for my brother. I don't understand of fascination of watching cars driving around and turning left, but it's one of my brother's hobbies. His favorite Nascar driver is Matt Kenseth. At the thrift I saw an incredibly gaudy Matt Kenseth shirt in my brother's size, for $1 so I had to buy it.

My earrings from the Silver Jewelry club came in and I've been wearing them. They don't look exactly like they do in the picture, but not a bad buy for $5.99 - will post a pic of them soon.

Great News!! Had dentist appointment today and....

After my dentist appointment today I went searching for recently opened Tuesday Morning store that is in a shopping plaza I don't normally shop at. I like browsing at Tuesday Mornings but the nearest one is at least a good 50 miles away, well not anymore.

But guess what was right next to Tuesday Morning, with a big grand opening sign?? A DOLLAR TREE!!! whoo-hooo!!!!! How the hell did I not hear about a Dollar Tree coming to our area?? As I have mentioned before on the blog, I love the Dollar Tree! This is so awesome. So now I won't have to stock up on graham crackers and batteries when I visit my mom in NY and shop at her Dollar Tree. Now I have my own!

Now if an Aldi's opens up anywhere around here, it would be like I died and gone to heaven.

PRAD Parade - Solomon's Island Maryland

Speaking of senator Bernie Fowler, here is a pic I took today, he was the Grand Marshall of the Prad Parade, as usual he is dressed in his standard overalls and hat with flag. I hope I'm that lively and vibrant when I'm in my 80's. The YouTube video is a part of the Shriner's portion of the parade - I purposely taped it so you will have the song stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

The parade wasn't as big as last year (an election year), when there were a bunch of local politicians and politicans wannabees working the crowd etc.

Yardsale season slowing down

Yardsale season is starting to slow down a little - probably went to about 8 sales today. I could, of course, gone to more but didn't want to drive far.

As it turned out, the last yardsale I went to was the best, I spent a whopping $4.50 and got a ton of good stuff. It was at a waterfront house so an added benny was that Jacob got to have fun and throw crabapples into the Bay.

I haven't taken a picture of my buys, but here is what I got: .25 an Ikea cat tent like the one pictured above (no I don't have a cat but my brother and his wife have several so I will give it to them). $1 - set of cabinet drawer cubbyholes. You know how some cabinets (like kitchen sink cabinet) have the fake panels that look like drawers but in fact its not? Well these are little cubbyhole things that you can add to the fake panels to make them actually useful.

Also bought: $1 a two-pack of Fix-a-Flat. .25 large Tigger mug, .25 cute glass fan shaped vase, $1 little step stool. In my bathroom at the sink, I currently use my old step-aerobics step for Jacob to use to stand on. It does the job, but takes up a lot of room, I think this little step stool will be better. Free Burnes of Boston picture frame, .50 license plate frame that looks like little soda bottle caps all around it. But the best buy was a $2 two drawer filing cabinet.

I forgot to mention this but I had a good buy yesterday. Something I had been looking for since June (when I found out my son was going to a new school this fall). I wanted to buy a logo t-shirt from his school (but of course, not pay full price). Yesterday I found several at the thrift for $1 each, but only bought 1 since the others were too small.

In the afternoon I went to the Calvert Museum for their annual PRAD Festival It was nice to by myself and leisurely look at all the exhibits and the craft show. Will go back tomorrow with Jacob to watch the parade. Got to meet (again) former Maryland Senator Bernie Fowler and had him autograph a souvenir poster (a freebie) for Jacob. As he was autographing a poster for someone else, I noticed he didn't have a good pen, so I gave him the Sharpie I had.

Bam! Bought a $5 apron; Bam! Found the Bam Margera t-shirt

Started doing my yardsale Christmas shopping. People who receive gifts from me don't ask where I bought something - they know better. Yesterday as I was at the thrift getting my free Panera leftover bread and muffins, I saw a "like new" Emeril Lagasse BAM! apron, marked $5. A little high, but the money goes to a good cause plus I had taken a bag full of free bread. I bought it for my mom who sort of collects aprons and is a big fan of Food TV. The Bam! aprons on the Emeril website sell for $19.99 plus shipping. I would take a pic and show it but heck, its been a whole day and who the hell knows where I put it.

I haven't given an update on my "get rid of playpen full of toys by October 1 or else it's going to the dump" challenge. Well the pack n play playpen full of toys is gone (technically speaking). The playpen is history. I donated it to my thrift (and they took it) but I didn't see it for sale, so maybe it got tossed. I don't think it was recalled or anything, just not very current and a PITA to put together. The little battery operated ninja 4 wheeler was in a different location when picture #1 was taken. That is something I will sell at a yardsale or put in the Pennysaver - BUT we have to find the battery charger for it. I know its around here somewhere.

And as I was cleaning out the toy area, I came across a bag of purchases I had made months ago. I love it when that happens, it's sort of like Christmas...opening up a bag to see a nice surprise of a long ago thrift store shopping experience. (Actually I get that feeling quite often - I squirrel stuff away and then I come across it months later.) I found a Bam Margera t-shirt that I bought at the .35 clothing thrift sometime last spring, to give to a friend who has a crush on Bam Margera.

I went to the dentist this week. I always schedule my dental appts to coincide with the .35 sale days at VV (which is near the dentist). So anyway, as usual, when the dentist can't find anything wrong, they go with the "some of these old fillings need to be replaced" spiel. So I am going back to the dentist next week to get some filings replaced - on a .35 shopping day at VV of course.

$5 Zipline works pretty good

Back on the blog entry from June 30, I posted a pic of the $5 Funride (zipline) that I was excited to find at a yardsale. Well this weekend we finally put it up. Of course my husband didn't like my choice of locations for it so I let him put it up where he wanted to (gotta pick your battles and I didn't mind losing this one since he did the majority of the installation work).

So I made a little YouTube video to show that indeed it does work (and yes, it is higher when he starts off and just gets slowly lowered to the ground).

So, here is the $5 yardsale Funride in action, which would have cost around $79 if I had paid retail:

My eBay Listings

I have a set a new personal record - my highest amount of auction listings going at one time. I currently have 68 auctions going! I know its a lot, but I think I'll be able to handle it. The big rush is always packing stuff up and going to the Post Office. But since a lot of the auctions will end on Sunday, and the following day Monday is Columbus Day (a postal holiday), I won't be going crazy packing stuff up since there won't be a need to rush to the Post Office on Monday. Check out and see my auctions - something for everyone from Little Tikes to Playboy software and everything in between!

Yardsalequeen.com Auctions

I see dead people's clothes

While at Smile on Wednesday, as I was standing in line to check out (I've seen the line to check out be 20 people deep on a busy day; they just have two cash registers). Well anyway I was in line with one of my yardsale buddies. We got to talking about buying men's clothes at thrifts and my friend said "My husband doesn't like clothes from a thrift store, unless they still have tags, he thinks of it as dead people's clothes."

So I said that I didn't think of it that way at all, I think of it as people who either got too skinny or fat and can't wear the clothes anymore so they donate them.

Then yesterday I was at a different thrift (a non-profit that benefits low cost spay and neuter programs). Another shopper there recognized me and comes over to say hi. I didn't recognize her off the bat, she was older, slurred her words and walked with a cane. Then I recognized her from someone I used to see on occasion while working at the nuke plant. She told me was suffering from terminal lung cancer. Then she added "When I decide to go, I'm going to tell my husband to donate my clothes to this thrift, to help the animals". Boy did that shoot my fat/skinny theory down the tubes!

Speaking of Staples, look at what I bought for .53

At Staples today, I saw they had a bunch of stuff on clearance, including the rolling storage crate for $9.50 (reg. $19.99). So after my inkjet recycling coupons were taken off, I paid a whopping .53 So now I have two of them (you may remember that in my Aug 30 blog entry, I show my other one I bought for $2 being used as a kid transporation device).

My thrift store buys today

Had a good day thrifting - here's part of what I bought (didn't photograph any of the clothes, bought myself a $1 Crazy Horse sweater, a boy scout uniform shirt (.50) and some vintage Izod shirts with the alligator (.35 each), a Tommy Bahama t-shirt for me (.35), and probably some other clothes but can't remember offhand.

My other buys:
$1.50 each - two black storage boxes (when I was at Staples today I see they sell for around $16.50 each)
$3 - tall funky Ikea lamp
.50 Saab repair book
$1 - brand new looking lifevest for Jacob
$3 - Piglet costume
.25 each - promo pirate banners
.50 set of travel curlers
.75 - set of Kids K'nex
.50 - new (I took the lid off for the pic so you can see the seal hasn't been broken) jar of Avon Planet Spa detoxifying body mask
.50 Candy Land electronic game. At that price, I can't pass it up, especially when they have batteries already in it.

Bought myself new earrings today

Oval Cut Genuine London Blue 2.00 Carat Total Weight Topaz Loop pure Sterling Silver stamped .925 earrings, to be exact. I've been waiting to see the blue topaz ring I want on the jewelry website (I have linked on the side) but then I realized, I have no idea of my ring size! doh! I know its gotta be bigger than some of the size 6 rings they have, but I will go to a store and try on some rings to figure out what size range I'm looking for. BUT today I spotted the above earrings for $5.99 (that's the total cost - including shipping) and thought they looked nice. I'll let you know when I get them and what I think of them and see if they look like they do in the pic.

More on Gretchen Wilson concert

It was a lot of fun *working* at the concert, selling beer, wine and sodas. Volunteers got free soda & water. Prices were ridiculous, of course. $4 for wine, $4 for a cup of beer and $2 for cans of soda or water. So doing the math was pretty easy - and having my tons of yardsale experience in wearing a carpenter's apron and making change came in handy. The really ironic thing was, people were actually buying the $2 cans of soda and water. If they walked 30 feet away, there were two soda vending machines, selling large 16 oz bottles for $1.25. All the tip money went towards one of the museum's restoration projects. I was at a BJ's warehouse today and saw that a CASE of water, 35 bottles cost around $6.00. At $2 a bottle, that same case would have sold for $70 at the concert.

I definitely want to volunteer at future concerts. I couldn't sign up for the last one since Jeff was out of town on business (so no one around to watch Jacob).

Near the stage, there was a walkway allowed for taking pics close to the stage. But of course, getting a good concert pic is difficult at night with a little Sony digital camera, but I think these came out pretty good, considering. Afterwards I was kicking myself though - I should have taken Gretchen some flowers! A local florist has a coupon for a free rose with all the bells & whistles. I am sure Security would have let me hand her the rose (which of course I would have attached one of my yardsalequeen.com business cards). Oh well, next time, next concert I will think of that!

clips of Gretchen Wilson's performance at Solomon's Island Maryland 9/23/07

Here's a couple of short clips of the concert tonight that I took while on break - but believe me, right afterwards I got back to my volunteering and helped to quench the thirst of people in need of a cool beverage.

Junk, volunteering, and Gretchen Wilson

Here's pics of the junk I bought yesterday. One yardsale seller had a ton of older software at .25 a box. I bought a bunch of Playboy software thinking I can ebay it, and if it doesn't sell there, I know I'd be able to sell it at a yardsale for more. Sex sells baby. In the other pic are two Yankee Candles at $1.50 each, bottle of Liz Clairborne Realities .50, a couple of Pooh Brown Bag cookie molds .50 each, a Showbox photo frame $1 (for Jacob), .50 and .25 - two pieces of vintage Hull pottery, .50 each - two large storage bags.

Today I plan on doing some volunteering. I bet you didn't know that about me - that I volunteer. Oh yes, I believe in giving back to the community. I'm going to be bartender. There are so many thirsty people in the world that need my help - and I plan on helping them. The money raised will help benefit the Calvert Marine Museum in their educational programs etc, so basically you can say that I am helping to Save the Bay, one beer at a time. Please please - sit down, no need for the standing ovation.

My bartending skills (or lack thereof) will be during the Gretchen Wilson concert today that will be taking place at the Museum parking lot. I think I would rather be bartending than being packed in like a can of sardines. Here's a pic of a previous concert and how they set it up.

My favorite yardsale buy - Continued....

I'd like to introduce you to Rocky, my pet rock. Shhhhh...he's sleeping. I can tell that by the way he lays on his little kleenex blanket (when his original owners couldn't keep him any longer, I adopted him at the yardsale and he came with his little kleenex blanket). I am not like that - I think a pet should be a pet for life, you know a "forever home". Please forgive me for not using the politically correct term "animal companion" instead of "pet" but I don't think the term "animal companion" applies in this case.

Big Brother Finale tonight

Tonight is the finale for Big Brother - I think I mentioned this a while ago but I am a big reality tv addict. Dick & Danielle were not who I would have wanted as the final 2 by any means, but nothing I can do about it. I am hoping Dick wins and gambles it all way or spends it all on ciggys and beer.

One of my favorite yardsale buys - ever!

Just thought I'd share a pic of one of my favorite yardsale buys. Next to it is a penny to give you an idea of the size. I paid .33 for it.

It's great, isn't it!!?? I bought it about 10 years ago, at an indoor fundraising yardsale, I picked up three items (with this being one of them) and the organizer said it would be $1 for all. I can't remember the other two items I bought that day, but this is definitely a keeper.

Afternoon at the lighthouse

This weekend in Maryland was the annual lighthouse challenge. Its where people who are crazy about lighthouses plan to see all of Maryland's lighthouses in two days. Sounds pretty ridiculous to me - I mean if you are really into lighthouses, then wouldn't you want to spend more than a hour (or so) at each one before you have to hit the road again to see the next???

Anyhow with that going on, it means one of the lighthouses near us that is normally closed, was free and open to the public so Jacob and I went to it. We went last year for the first time. Above is a pic I took today. They plan on renovating the actual lighthouse keeper's house to rent out, like a B&B. But geez, the whole grounds is surrounded by a chain link fence with barbed wire on top. I think they would have to do something about that - otherwise it would seem like you are paying big bucks to stay at a prision (with a pretty view, except for the chain link fence)