Thursday, August 30, 2007

Yardsale Buys from last Saturday





Here are a few pics of stuff I bought last Saturday. One of the sellers I bought stuff from reads this blog from time to time, so I figured I'd show some of her former stuff in use. The vintage white handled curling iron was .50 and I have it displayed in my bathroom with others I have (one of which belonged to my mom). Also bought the rolling storage kid transportation device for $2.

Yes, those are red shoes for girls in the pic above. No, I won't make Jacob wear them (not his size anyway....). The brand name is Born and they are going up on ebay. They were $2 (a little "pricy" but I think they will sell for decent money).

Inside the wooden box is a bunch of Betty Crocker recipe cards from 1971 ($1 for the wooden box with the cards). Wow - what were they thinking when they photographed some of that food - really ickky looking. There is a website that is devoted to ugly pics of food that has appeared on these cards Ugly Food Website

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I love Staples

Yes, I know I sound like a broken record, but I love Staples (boy, a statement like that makes me sound like I'm ready for the nursing home!) Today I got free colorized business cards, a $29.99 value. I had a coupon (that they mailed me) for 100 of the new do-it-yourself business card maker that they have.

I still have lots of my other free 1,000 business cards that I got from them, probably over a year ago (I blogged about it). But those I just use as *advertisement* for this website to put up on public bulletin boards and such, they don't have personal info like my email or address on them. So the cards I got today are more personalized. Got them so I can put them in the fishbowls at restaurants and win free lunches. Or if I'm at a cocktail party (hey, it *could* happen!) and someone asks "So what do you do?" instead of my usual "As little as possible", I can say "I am a Queen" and hand them my yardsale queen card.





Here I am as I would appear if I lived in Springfield (is that a thrift store I see further up ahead?? It's like a bad dream, I keep walking but never get to it). Know nukes!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Time for New Years Resolutions

Well today is the beginning of a new year - a school year that is. Today is the day I was to have my nose to the grindstone, getting the house in order, list a gazillion things on ebay and work on my grand plan to create world peace. Oh well, none of that got done. My friend called me at 10:30 (a friend who also sent her kid off to school today after a long summer) and we talked about going to out lunch. I told her not today since I was going to get my nose right on that grindstone.

Then about a half hour later, my husband called to see what my plans were today, since he was thinking of taking half day off from work, and did I want to go to lunch. Sure, the grindstone will still be there waiting. Went to Lonestar (one of our lunches was free since I have a lunch card thing that was fully stamped). Thankfully, there was no crying baby convention going on there.

Then I remembered seeing an ad for JC Penney's, some clearance sale. So we went there and didn't find a thing for me or Jacob, but my husband found three $4.97 shirts for himself. Also stopped at Food Lion and bought some of the Kid's Wonderbread and luckily it was on sale for $1.89. I hate paying full price for bread. Jacob hasn't eaten a PB&J sandwich all summer, but today he checked to make sure he had one for lunch.

The grocery stores I normally shop at are Food Lion and Giant (and sometimes Shopper's Food Warehouse if I see a particularly good deal on something). There is a Safeway about 15 miles away but I normally don't shop there since its location is usually not in the direction I'm going. But last week they had Skippy PB on sale for .99/jar and I had $1 off 2 coupons. So that was a good deal... paying .49/jar for peanut butter. I got the maximum allowed, 6 jars at .49 each.

Someone left me a comment a while ago on where to get coupons. I know some people buy extra copies of the Sunday paper, but that seems pretty wasteful. For almost any coupon that appears in a Sunday paper, there usually be people selling that coupon in groups of 20 on eBay. There are also coupon message boards like
Refund Sweepers where people post lists of coupons they have to trade or sell. I remember back a few years ago when Banquet had those free bowling coupons on the packages of tv dinners, I bought about 40 coupons for like .05 each from some lady on there. There are also coupon cutting websites where you put in an order for what coupons you want to buy multiples of, like Coupon Clippers

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Queen gets a new throne




Yes, I know its Saturday, but I will save my discussion about my yardsale buys til another day.

Today's blog entry is brought to you by the letters J and Y (I think an O is still lodged in the toilet). Big news this week was that the queen got a new throne. I caught Jacob playing in the bathroom the other night (making quite a mess with throwing toys in the bathtub and seeing how big of a splash he could make) and right afterwards I got a funny feeling when the toilet wasn't flushing right. I plunged and plunged AND even stuck my hand down there! (yes, I know that's something a queen should never have to do), but I did it and thankfully I didn't find any surprises.

However, I do like having a toilet that actually flushes (I'm funny that way), so I had my husband remove it and we dug around in there and that's when I found the foam - supposed to float - letters J and Y after wrestling with that beast turning it upside down and backwards. I thought I saw another letter, but either I was just imagining it or its really really stuck good in there. So we were going to put the toilet back on, but then noticed we broke some dohickey piece inside the tank. So that's when my husband said we should just go buy a new one, that way we'll know it definitely is not clogged and will work than have to go buy replacement pieces etc.

Regarding the pic above. Who would have known that where a toilet sits could be so damn dirty? And am I the first person to house the elusive dust bunnies that are able to climb the walls?

So on Friday we go to Lowes. And wouldn't you know it, he wants to buy the cheapy $77 WHITE generic toilet. No, that won't work for me. Especially when I know he bought the $200 Super Deluxe Wide Butt model for his bathroom about 6 months ago (yes, incase you didn't know, they make an extra wide model). A $77 white toilet would have looked just great next to the beige tub and beige sink. I settled on a $139 beige beauty with special antibacterial glaze or something. NOT a big butt one. If I don't post for a while, that is because I am busy bedazzling....

So you know how everything happens in "3's"? The week before, one of our sliding glass doors broke, so we have to get that replaced. Then my toilet. And now I am just waiting to see what else goes.

Speaking of Friday - was it "Take Your Crying Baby Out to Lunch at Applebee's Day" and I didn't know about it until it was too late? Aye yi yi. Man, it was like a crying baby convention going on.

Monday, August 20, 2007

last few weeks




I went to upstate NY the week before last - stayed with my mom (at my childhood home). They have a lot of yardsales on Fridays there, but the Friday I was there, it was pouring rain. The garage sales were still held anyways, we just took umbrellas.

I mostly bought a bunch of books. One of my better buys was a Longaberger Berry Basket with protector for $1. It had a big ugly ivy in it so I think a lot of people who saw it didn't realize it was a Longaberger. I was going to throw the ivy out, but my mom wanted it.

Also bought the above vintage lamp $2 and the set of four vintage glasses ($1).

I got to visit with everyone I wanted to: family, one of my old high school friends and one of my old coworkers. This same time last year when I visited, I went cold turkey without internet for over a week, but this time I took our laptop. It was a rude awakening when I found out that you have to pay for wireless at McDonald's and Borders. I thought it would be free. No problem tho since a Moe's Southwest Grill is nearby.

I also did all the regular retail shopping I wanted to do:
Christmas Tree Shops, Aldi's and Dollar Tree , Toys R Us, and Kohl's. Where I live, the closest Dollar Tree, Toys R Us and Kohl's is a good hour away. (Yes, the Dollar Tree is a dollar store, but I think its nicer than your average dollar store).

As usual, I took Jacob to Chuck E. Cheese (twice) and found a new place to take him to called Jeepers It was $14.99 for one hour of all you can play games and indoor rides.

One day after I visited my brother who lives in Albany, I drove downtown (to see my old office building) and to see what has changed etc. I snapped a pic of the capitol building which is near my old office building.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Returned home from Upstate New York yesterday

Did you miss me? I just got back yesterday from spending a week in upstate New York (Clifton Park, Albany, Saratoga Springs area). So that is why I haven't posted lately. Will write again soon and tell about my trip.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

World's Longest Yardsale - Highway 127 yard sale - Garage Sale America



Alas, another year is over and once again I have missed the World's Longest Yardsale (it ends today) World's Longest Yardsale. A few people on the message board are at it and posting about their experience. There is always next year, August 7-10, 2008 to be exact. But geez, I am a little spoiled, I don't like to yardsale when it's a million degrees outside.

And plus, I sorta feel like I've already been to it without having to sweat or drive forever. I have my copy of Garage Sale America by Bruce Littlefield, and in it he details his adventure and treasures found during his roadtrip to this annual cultural event. There's also descriptions of some interesting people in the world of yardsales/garage sales. Like me on page 46 - hehe (end of shameless plug). Click the link above to read more about it. You can also see if your local library has it. You can check out Bruce's website at:
Garage Sale America




My pickin's from yesterday were pretty slim. Bought an already built, Build-a-Bear ($1. Don't worry, I don't have a house decorated with a zillion build a bears or plan on giving it to my son (as I've said before, he prefers Dora the Explorer anyway). It will be put on ebay eventually. .50 Chick-fil-a cow as Santa beanie, a sturdy Fireman's hat .25 (Jacob has been a fireman for Halloween and for the hat he usually just wears one of those flimsy freebie fireman's hats that firemen give away when they visit schools etc.. BUT they are too small for my kid's noggin. This one is sturdy AND its adult sized. $2 Purple Dragon thing that twirls and lights up. The seller said her son bought it at a Disney on Ice show for $16., $1 pair of brass bunnies, .50 bottle of Avon perfume in pretty bottle, $1 - red ball - that folds flat, so you can throw it like a frisbee then while its flying, it converts to a ball.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

I won a $300 Sailing lesson (unfortunately it's not yardsailing...)

I don't think I mentioned this here on the blog (but I think I mentioned it on my message board). Earlier this summer we went to an Open House for a new sailing school that opened nearby. Not yardsailing, regular sailboat sailing. I won their giveaway of a 2 day sailing course for beginners, value of $300. Since the class is only on Saturday and Sunday, that would seriously put a cramp in my Saturday routine. I have to think about priorities, you know.

My husband was actually interested in taking one of their more advanced sailing class (cost $400) so I asked if I could put the prize value towards an advanced class for my husband. They agreed. Today I dropped off the paperwork and paid the additional $100, so now my husband is set for the class in a few weeks.

In today's mailbox, there was a surprise. A card I had sent to an elderly friend in California had been returned and marked "not at this address". It was a Christmas card from December 2006. (The woman had been put in a nursing home in the fall of 2006 and I didn't know about it). I wonder if the card took a world tour or something.

p.s. Yes I know *yardsailing* is not word that the average person uses or spells, but I think it's my mission on earth to get it added to the English dictionary; so the more times I use it, the more the world will see it and someday my mission will be accomplished. I like to think of it as sailing through people's yards, looking for treasures.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Funny remark overheard at a yardsale

"All money raised is going to the Shave the Whales Foundation. This Sunday we're going to round up as many whales as we can and shave them".

I overheard this a while ago, and since I am a sensitive and caring person and an animal lover, I think I bought something. If I remember right, it was a 4 pack variety of hot sauces for $2.

Happy August! That means school starts in 22 days, not that I am counting or anything.