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.