Friday, September 28, 2007

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!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

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!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

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.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

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.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

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.

Monday, September 17, 2007

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.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

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)

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Another Saturday, another yardsale



I had another yardsale today - so that makes it two Saturdays in a row. After having the highway yardsale last Saturday, I decided to check out having a yardsale at the local fairgrounds. Every Saturday the county fairgrounds turns into a combo flea market and yardsale, and they charge a $10 fee. I normally don't *shop* at it since it's a little out of the way for me and I prefer to go to regular yardsales at people's houses.

This past week I sorted thru my yardsale leftovers from last week and donated a bunch of stuff to Smile. Then yesterday I went around the house finding *new* stuff to add to my carload of stuff. I had left my table and yardsale supplies in my car from last week so I didn't have to unload and reload.

Today I made $112.One of the best things about today was that I didn't have to pay the $10 rental fee! The woman who collects the money came around and told everyone that because the weather wasn't that great this morning (it was overcast early on but turned sunny as the day wore on) and because they will be closed for the next three Saturdays due to the actual Fair going on, she didn't think it would be right (or fair - haha) to collect money this week. Works for me!

There is a dirt walkway that customers stroll down - people's space includes space on both sides of the walkway. Here's a pic of some of my junk - I liked the way I could see the hay bales in the distance.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Like jewelry?? Check out the ad on the left

Yesterday I found out about a place online that has pretty jewelry - and all you pay is $5.99 for shipping. One of the blue rings caught my eye and I was going to get it but I totally missed out - when you're on the website you can see the upcoming jewelry. And I saw the pretty blue ring but I misjudged the time. I will definitely get it - will have to watch for it again. And since they take Paypal it's will be convenient for me to pay. When I was in NY this summer, the stone came out of a ring that I bought in St. Croix - I can't remember the name of the stone but it looked like turquoise but it was bluer. I did save the silver band so maybe I can sell just the band to a silver dealer or something.

Actually with this jewelry, I'm thinking at that price, I may buy a few pieces to sell at a Parks & Recs yardsale that is planned for December. I could buy pieces for $5.99 and then mark it up to $10. I have a ton of fancy jewelry boxes (that I bought at a yardsale) so its something I'm going to think about doing.

Update for last two weeks


Sorry I've been neglecting the blog. I should start writing a little every day just to make it a habit. In the past couple of weeks: I did a "highway yardsale", went to yardsales, shopped at my thrift, did some Staples shopping and BJ's Warehouse shopping. I stopped at BJ's to see when my free 60-day membership expired - the free membership I wrote about here a little while back. I remembered that I never posted a pic of my wonderful pic on the BJ's ID card, so here it is. I have not edited the pic at all, that's how it appears. As it turns out the membership is good until the end of September, which I think is longer than 60 days. I may join on October 1st, I got a notice that my son's school is doing a fundraiser, join for $35 and get 15 months and the school gets a kick-back.

And as I was walking out BJ's I passed one of the lottery scratch off machines and saw a lottery card sitting there in the slot. (Maryland has some self-serve scratch-off lottery machines - you put in your money and you choose what type of scratch off you want). Anyhow no one was around, so I took it. I won $3. (And someone actually paid $3 for it and left it there - or maybe they were doing a random act of kindness, who knows.)

At Staples, I bought Jacob a nice backpack for school. Price: $39.99, sale price $29.99 - $20 rebate brings it down to $9.99. I used three $3 inkjet cartridge coupons to pay for it. So after the rebates, the cost will have been $2.04 (ok, I did spent .75 per $3 coupon ($2.25) so really it will have cost me $4.29. But I will be getting a % back of the $29.99 cost with my Staples Rewards Card. Actually it think I paid .60 per coupon, I can't remember but I know it was cheap. A while back I bought about 200 used inkjet cartridges on ebay - then I just take them to Staples for recycling and get the $3 coupon in exchange.




Last Saturday I did a "highway yardsale" - where people just set up mini-yardsales on the little deadend roads next to the highway. Got rid of some of the toys from the playpen. And last Saturday there were some EARLY yardsales starting, I went to one at 6am! and another started at 7:30. Then by 8am I was set up on the highway. Glad I went to the early yardsales. I bought a very nice almost new panini maker with a Williams & Sonoma panini cookbook for $5, a big McCoy bowl for $4, a trumpet for $10 and a bunch of cds for .25 each. I didn't notice the trumpet had a big dent in it, I sold it that very same day for $15 at my own yardsales and many of the CDs sold for $1 each.

Oh and I wanted to share these pics - when I was at the 6am indoor yardsale at a community center, I could see the sunrise so after I left, I drove to the beach and took these pics.



Monday, September 03, 2007

Happy Labor Day



Happy Labor Day (well what's left of it anyway). It was a crappy Saturday for yardsales (as I thought it would be). On Sunday we took the Metro in DC for the day. Jacob has never ridden the Metro, or seen the monuments. And we didn't see many of the monuments anyway since they are so far apart. Mainly we just walked passed the Washington Monument, to the WWII Memorial (which I had never seen) and then walked thru most of the Museum of Natural History. And when I say "walked thru", I mean it, we walked through and barely stopped to look at anything. Amazing how he's Mr. Slow Pokey while walking from place to place outside dragging his feet, but then once we get inside a building, it's an instant transformation into Speedy Gonzales.





I made an agreement with my husband the other day - a contract of sorts. By 9/30/07 (yes, he was sure to specify the year), that by that date, I will have gotten rid of the playpen full o'toys that resides next to our dining room table (which we never use since its full of other type of clutter - but that's another subject for another day). So....I have my work cut out for me. Wish me luck - I need it. Here's my "Before" picture: