Now THIS is the last bloggy post for 2009

I am in New York living it up for New Years Eve. Yes, I am right in the middle of all the excitement that New York has to offer. Clifton Park, New York that is. Panera bread to be exact. Who needs liquor when you can have bread! Yum.

All I want for Christmas is a cardboard box

This may be my last post for 2009. Oh well, it doesn't look like I'm gonna complete a task I wanted to do this decade. It was to refinish a small nightstand.

From my Blog entry dated October 25, 2004:

"Anyhow, to change the subject, I did go to a few yardsales this past weekend. Favorite buy was a very dirty, cobwebby, musty nightstand for .25 (pictured below). I'm going to refinish it - hopefully sometime this decade - and I'll post an "after" pic once its done."


So for those who have been waiting since 2004, please be patient. I promise to get to it during the next decade or two.

Happy Festivus

Hope your Festivus was a good day full of feats of strength and airing of grievances.

I bought my DH the above Festivus CD (at Borders on clearance during the summer) and of course, forgot to give it to him today. So it will be a Christmas present. I hate it when I forget to do stuff. I lugged some big heavy packages today shopping retail. And why does my house keep shrinking?? And I hate that I have to drive 75 miles to get to an airport. I'm irritated that my favorite thrift is closed for winter break until January 6. And I'm also po'ed that schools were closed 2 days this week. Maryland snow removal sucks. Traffic at the shopping centers irritated me today. And the stores were out of Festivus poles.

Man, too bad Festivus only comes one day a year! I am pretty darn good at airing grievances.

Newsflash: Dave Ramsey says I am a Winner

But of course the Queen already knows that. But Dave Ramsey says so too. In case you aren't aware of Dave Ramsey, he is a financial guru guy that has a radio show, books, does seminars etc etc etc. Visit his website Dave Ramsey I get his email newsletter - I love hearing the stories of people's stupid taxes. That is, the *tax* you pay for doing something stupid.

Anyhow he's been doing daily giveways for the past 20 days or so. Things like $5000 cash, $2000 cash, a trip to the Bahamas to attend one of his seminars and so on. So today I get the email that finally, I won one of his contests.

Drum roll please........I won......please contain your excitement....a FULL 3 month membership to his message board.

So it's only a matter of time before Dave discovers the wisdom of the YSQ and asks for yardsale advice, to include me in his next book and so on. I just know it.

Thrift Store Waterford Crystal

The day I found the hairnets, I also picked up this bauble. I didn't mention it since I hadn't taken a pic of it. It's a 1999 Waterford Crystal Ball Ornament - I paid a whole $2.50 for it. In researching it, I see it sells for $279 on the Replacements website but also see that someone is currently selling one on ebay for $25 and it doesn't have any bids. Too heavy to hang on a tree and it doesn't even do anything. It's definitely not as cool as my American Idol ornament that says "THIS is American Idol".

Lots of snow predicted for tomorrow so definitely no yardsales. Which is fine. Having a yardsale break is good once a great while. It gives people time to go spend their money at the retail stores to buy pricey gifts. And many of those gifts will undoubtedly show up at springtime yardsales with little pieces of gift wrap still attached and I'll pay a dollar for. So it all works out.

Remember how I mentioned buying someone's old slides from the 60's and 70's? They were all on round carousel trays. I had about 6 or 7 trays full of slides and since I didn't have a carousel projector, I went thru every tray and removed all the slides and then donated the empty trays to the thrift last week. I borrowed my parent's regular slide projector so I'll be able to view them.

So...guess what I see at my thrift the other day? A brand new (vintage) Kodak Carousel slide projector in the box for $8. Crap. I didn't buy it, but should have (I see they sell for about $80+ on ebay). I checked and someone bought it already. I need to trust my judgment better - when it doubt - buy it!

Would you pay admission to a Hairnet Museum?

The reason why I ask is because I think I may start one. But only if it will make me a ton of money. I bought the above hair nets for .25 each today at my fav thrift. I saw them and into my shopping basket they went without me even really looking at them. It wasn't until I got home that I saw that one or two are missing the actual hairnets. But really, I just bought them for the graphics on the packaging anyway. Of course my favorite is the Royalty hair net - since it is fit for a Queen. After the pic was taken I removed all the thrift store price stickers to prevent damage. The sooner you get stickers off things, the better. I also heated them briefly with my hair dryer to soften the glue in the sticker so they came off easily.

You would be proud of me, even tho I bought some things today, I donated way more than I bought. I cleaned out my closet big time - look at all the empty hangers.



I did buy this LL Bean jacket for myself though - it was $6.00



And I passed on buying this gadget - you program it to display different things. I don't think the thrift store volunteers really took time to read thru all the sayings after they plugged it on and had it on display.

Dexter - Wow. Good Morning America - ugh.

I've trained Jacob that we watch Good Morning America in the morning from 7-7:30 and then he can put Spongebob on until it's time for him to get on the bus. I've trained him so well that if I even attempt to put on The Today Show or something else during that time frame he'll say that he wants Good Morning America on. I think mainly its because during the local traffic updates etc, they sometimes show "the point" and I hear him say "Look - there's the point!" every time. The point - as we call it here in the castle, also goes by the name the Washington Monument. Pic above.

Anyhow, what I came here to say is, I was ok with Diane Sawyer leaving to go do the news. I would get sick of getting up that early everyday too and would want a change. But Chris Cuomo leaving too???? What??????!!! My eyes glaze over every time George Stephanopoulos speaks. I think his wife is great, but he does nothing for me.

Tonight we caught up on Dexter's Season Finale. OMG. Didn't see that coming. I didn't start watching Dexter until Season 2 - in the off season, I should watch Season 1.

Mall Shopping

We spent last night at the free hotel - went swimming, I did some faux gambling (made about $8). The dock was deserted - what a difference a few weeks make. There were probably only about a dozen boats left. If you look way in the distance (click on the pic to enlarge it), you can see across the Chesapeake Bay to the eastern shore of Maryland. No easy way of getting there - except for a 3 hour drive, or by boat. This morning after eating the free breakfast and going for a quick swim in the indoor pool, we checked out and went to Annapolis. The hotel is located about half-way there, so we only had to drive about 25 miles to get there, as opposed to driving 45 miles from our house.



I'm on the mailing list for Victoria's Secret and the other week they sent out a coupon to save $10 off anything in the store. They had a lot of body sprays and stuff 50% off so I picked out a $22 one and paid $1.06 for it.

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This shirt caught my eye at my thrift store the other day. Oye. It's so sophomoric.



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Christmas is sneaking up too fast. I gotta get my tree up and some decorating done. After my current ebay auctions end, going to take a break and get back right into selling in early January.

JC Penneys Retail Shopping Today: Spent $0.00

JC Penneys has done it again - sent out a flyer with a free $10 in it, but in talking to others, I know some people's ad said free $10 with the purchase or $25, while others was a free $10 off a $10 purchase. I don't understand the rhyme or reason behind it.

I got a $10 one - and therefore found a $10 item to buy. Didn't even have to pay tax.

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Been trying to do some declutterizing - I have a big box in the garage full of about 8 trays of someone's 1960's & 1970's slides. As its pretty cold out in the garage, I want to keep them inside the house. So I started taking the slides out of the bulky round slides tray thingies and I will just donate the empty trays and keep the slides. I borrowed my parent's slide projector the last time in I was in NY, so the voyeur in me wants to look thru them all. Some of the ones I've looked thru (just by holding up to the light) are pretty funny and interesting. The clothes, the cars etc etc. There's one of a fat baby toddler sitting on a front porch with a pipe in his mouth. Once I get the pics projected on a screen, I can take a digital pic of the more interesting ones and show you guys. I also spotted several slides of the construction of our local nuke plant. I have about 7 more full trays to go thru.

Yardsale Results and Buys

Well my indoor yardsale wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - I made $155, mostly by selling .50 and $1 items. Got rid of a lot of stuff and I will donate some of the leftovers before the end of the year.

I like being able to shop at the other sellers at these sales. I bought this new birdfeeder for $3.


.10 for vintage Coleco baseball game
.25 small canoe planter
.25 bobblehead pen
.25 USS Alamo ashtray
.05 tape measure keychain

And the best of all - that beat up copy of The Jungle Book Sing Along Songs on VHS ($1). With Jacob's love of the Jungle Book, I spotted this video on eBay recently and almost bought it. I'm glad I waited a bit and found it myself.

I think that is one of the best feelings - finding something you've been wanting to buy, for cheap, at a yardsale. And that's why I like selling on ebay too, sometimes you get a nice email from the customer thanking you for selling the item - saying it was exactly what they wanted etc etc etc. Just got a nice feedback from a buyer who said I made a ton of Boy Scouts happy with the vintage Semaphore flags I had sold him.

Speaking of ebay, check out my Enema Man Superhero that I have currently listed (link over there to the left) ...bet you don't have one of those!



I also went to one garage sale that was open until 2pm - I bought a $3 printer which came with 4 used inkjet cartridges. Also bought a nice Bath & Body Works canvas tote bag for .75

I will e-recycle the printer and take the 4 cartridges to Staples and get $12 worth of credit.

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Was going thru my pics and here's one of my huge HE Dryer (or washer?) that was in my house for like 10 minutes.


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And more proof that I don't buy something just because it's on clearance. Here's a bunch of sale chicken livers.

December 1st came and went

I told DH I would have Jacob's room cleaned out and organized by December 1st. Around November 30th, I said I needed an extension due to extenuating circumstances. Our 19 year old dryer broke last week. And our 2 year old washer had something wrong with it too. So we bought super fancy Dryer #1 (and new fancy top loading washer) - and it was delivered the next day. It didn't fit so the delivery men took both back. Those high efficiency monstrosities are designed for someone with a laundry room, not a closet. But DH had checked the dimensions and thought they would fit. Wrong. Since the washing machine was out in the garage (I helped move it), DH saw what the problem was and fixed it in 2 minutes. Then back in the house it went. The next day, he goes to Lowes and buys Dryer #2 - and get this - doesn't measure the width, he only measured the depth. He buys it and brings it home himself. As the old broken dryer was sitting next to Dryer #2 in the garage, I could tell just by looking at it that Dryer #2 was wider. Yep, by two crucial inches. He thought they were all standard sized. We lug it into the house, and surprise surprise, it doesn't fit. Back to Lowes to return it and buy Dryer #3. Third time was the charm.

My 1990 house is not designed for modern day appliances. When we replaced our fridge, and wanted a stainless one, we had once choice that would fit and that's it. The cabinet above the fridge was too low.

Our washing machine and dryer sit in a big closet behind bi-fold doors in the kitchen. So there is just so much room for them. As you can imagine, I have a ton of stuff stored in that area which I had to remove for dryer #1 - which I knew would sit up higher. So I cleaned out all the stuff (except for top shelf) and figured I might as well spackle the holes, sand it and paint, so I did that too.

Anyhow, what I want to ask is, if you are a woman and reading this, how many times have you helped your DH or significant other lug washers and dryers out of your house? My husband thinks that women seem to do this all the time and I should just stop whining. I told him to ask his female coworkers how many times they've help lug washers and dryers out of their house and most likely their answer would be 0 or once at most. I lost count of how many times we did it last week. First to remove the broken dryer, then he tinkered with it, and then we moved it back in to see if it was fixed. Nope. So back out in the garage. Same with the washing machine etc etc. It was just constant back and forth it seemed. Buying new appliances, returning them etc etc etc. Glad I finally got a new dryer that fits and works. And get this, there is even a light inside the dryer. For the past 19 years I've had a dryer with dark enamel interior and no light. Now I have a dryer with a white interior and a light - it's a million times better.

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I signed up to sell at an indoor yardsale this Saturday (you are all welcome to come buy my junk at the Southern Community Center in Lusby from 8am to noon). But I think it will be my least organized yardsale ever. Tomorrow will be a busy day for me pricing stuff, finding stuff to sell and loading up the car.

I won fudge!

Well I haven't started my Alli diet yet, good thing, since I won the above fudge from entering a bloggy contest The blog may say Bittersweet Punkin, but I know her as Schmoopy from my message board. Check out her blog - she's doing a different bloggy giveaway once a week until Christmas.

I had my choice of fudge flavors, and I chose peanut butter (since peanut butter is full of protein and I'm all about eating healthy).

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I had fun shopping on Black Friday - and this time next year, I'll be able to include Kohl's in my Black Friday shopping itinerary. (Our new Kohl's should open within 6 months). Even though the nearest mall is an hour away, I am not hurting for Black Friday shopping opportunities in my local area. Last Friday I hit: Staples, Lowes, Hallmark, Walmart, Bath & Body Works, JC Penneys, 2 CVSs, Dollar Tree, thrift store, BJ's Warehouse, Walgreens, Chick-fil-a.

More on Chesapeake Bay Spa & Hotel

Ok, here is the infamous pool/restroom area where I got locked into the men's room by myself. Up those stairs is the mens and ladies room. Jacob and I were the only ones in the pool area (no lifeguards - swim at your own risk etc). I left Jacob by himself in the pool (yes I know my bad) and told him to stay on the pool stairs cuz I had to run to the ladies room. The ladies room was nice, with a changing area, lockers, showers, and a sauna. The door to the restroom didn't click behind me but I didn't think anything of it, nor did I read the sign that said "You must take your room key with you to return to the pool area".

So I went back out and Jacob was there still on the stairs like I told him to stay. I decided to take a peek into the men's room just to make sure there was a sauna in there too, so I could tell my DH. Well I open the door and yell inside first to make sure no one was in there and go inside - the door clicks behind me - and I see the sauna and go back to leave. The door is locked - then I saw the card key reader. I yank on the handle of course and it doesn't open. I start to freak out - I'm locked in the men's room and my son is alone in a swimming pool. I start banging on the door and yelling for Jacob to open the door and he hears me and opens the door. What a relief.

But afterward I see why there was a card reader - there was a second exit to both bathrooms (and no key required) but it took you to the main part of the hotel. So I could have gotten out if I had walked thru the entire restroom area. So they have the card reader on the pool door to prevent random non-hotel guests (there is a hair salon, meeting rooms etc in the hotel that is open to the public), from using the pool.



There is a small museum next to the hotel (has odd hours during off-season so it wasn't open). I've been inside before - it's the original train station back when Chesapeake Beach was a popular resort area for Washingtonians and Baltimorons. There are lots of framed old postcards of the area - one I thought was particularly funny - it read something like "Hi Mabel - having a great time in Chesapeake Beach. I hope to see you again before I die". You can tell it was meant to be a joke between friends (at least I think).


I like walking on the pier and seeing the variety of boats, and reading their names.

Standing on the Dock of the Bay

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. As I mentioned last week, I have 4 free nights at a nearby hotel and last night we used night #1. Was foggy last night and foggy this morning. Went swimming yesterday (and this morning) in the indoor pool, my Finnish DH was in his glory at the sauna (Finns have a thing about being in a sauna). He pronounces it sow-na, not saw-na like it's supposed to. And I make fun of it every time he says it. It was our first time staying at this hotel. Even though our room was free (yes, absolutely free), we were upgraded and had a room with a balcony with a water view (I noticed that not all rooms have balconies). It wasn't waterFRONT, but we could still see and hear the water. Plus, in looking how the hotel is laid out, there are only 12 waterfront rooms, (the bottom floor is doesn't have rooms). The shampoos/soaps were all from Bath & Body Works and there was a complimentary (I asked just to make sure) large bottle of Saratoga Water which is cool since Saratoga Springs NY is my old stomping grounds. Free continental breakfast in the morning.

Only downside is when I locked myself in the men's bathroom, meanwhile Jacob was alone in the pool. I sorta freaked out. Will tell that story later plus add some more pics.

Gotta go check on my bird in the oven.

Me? Decluttering?

I promised my husband I would declutterize Jacob's bedroom - and I said I would have it done by the end of the month. Stupid me, I should have said I would have it done by the end of November. That way, when I didn't finish it, I could have said I meant November 2010. But you would be proud of me, I have a full heavy garbage bag full of games/toys that are either broken (i.e. one-armed Spongebob) or missing pieces or otherwise unsellable/un-donate-able. I think the last time I decluttered his room was when we sold his baby furniture. So it's been a while.

There were about 3 or 4 yardsales last Saturday. My best buy was this lot of Kitchenaid/fake Kitchenaid accessories for about $2 (I bought other stuff and my total at the sale came to $5 so I'm estimating this was all around $2). Only one piece is marked Kitchenaid but it all fits on my $8 Kitchenaid mixer.



This is all thrift store buys from last week. Catholic Nostalgia game $2 - probably an ebay dud cuz it's missing some pieces, $1 book (keep), $3 vintage Samsonite case (keep), $1.50 candle, $2 corner shelves, $2 Nintendo DS accessory pack (probably a dud - I have it listed on ebay now to get rid of it), .25 Japanese prints coloring book, .25 Imperial China book, .25 vintage Christmas decorations, $1 new window birdfeeder (keep).



At a yardsale: free big pig. Has a big hole in the side unfortunately. Had .13 still in it - even with the hole on the side, it was difficult to get the change out, $1 small washboard, $1 green depression glass. I'm thinking of filling the big pig with dirt and half-burying it in the backyard as a funky lawn decoration. What else can I do with it? Except bring it to the dump? If you have suggestions, please do tell.

Finding Jewelry at Yardsales - Tips

Because my blog is so hugely popular, I've decided to enter the world of bloggy advertising. Don't worry - there won't be any pop-ups ads, and probably no sex ads. (But I haven't totally ruled that out yet - haha).

Just a few unobtrusive ads that may appear from time to time on the side of my blog. And my first blog advertiser is over there to the left (and above). His name is Dan and he's been a longtime message board member - he buys gold and jewelry - primarily stuff that people find at yardsales etc etc. Even if you don't have any gold to sell, check out his website for pages of tips on being a smart yardsale shopper when it comes to buying jewelry and gold at garage sales, yardsales etc.

Faux Casino - here I come!

I can't get my browser back to normal. Somehow I accidentally deleted the place where you type in URLS and also the back & forward buttons are gone too. I will have to get my long suffering unpaid personal computer technician to look at it.

In other computer news, I bought the $40 Lexmark printer/scanner/fax/copier that was on sale at Target this week. My old printer - did the same stuff but my DH bought like 5 or 6 years ago and I think he paid like $200 for it. Now you can find printers that are so cheap and do the same stuff. So I will (of course) empty all the cartridges out the old and then e-recycle it.

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Man, did I get some good junk mail yesterday! Back in the spring/summer you may have remembered me blogging and winning real money at the faux casino that is semi-nearby (about 30 miles from my home). Well in yesterday's mail, I got a holiday newsletter from them detailing their giveaways and events going on over the next few months. Well long story short - the casino is part of a complex with a couple of restaurants and a hotel. And as a valued customer, I can get 4 free nights (one night a month - Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb).

So today I called and made my reservations. It will be nice to have a change of scenery and do some indoor swimming in the middle of winter. Or walk on the beach etc etc. I even asked the clerk "what's the catch? How much will taxes be?" and she said $0. The only stipulation is that upon check-in I show the flier I got with my address printed on it, my frequent gambler card, and a photo ID. At the faux casino, they don't know how much you won or lost - since you don't insert your gambling card in to the machine - instead you just scan it once an hour at a machine near the cashier.

Yard Sale Buys

I didn't go yardsaling yesterday so this is all from last week. I paid $2 for the coin bracelet. I like real coins as jewelry. My favorite necklace is a square nickle coin pendant that I bought in Aruba in the 80's. I will add a pic of it later. I don't think I paid much for it (since the coin is only worth a nickle and someone just soldered a loop onto it). But it is unusual and people always ask what it is. I put it on a silver chain I already owned. It was sold by a street vendor and I couldn't understand them and I was in a hurry so I just held out a handful of American change and let them pick out what they wanted.

In the second pic: new makeup travel case .50, $2 JC Penney Chris Madden candle, .25 old Nintendo Super Pitfall game (Jacob liked playing regular Pitfall on Super Nintendo so maybe he may like this game), .75 ceramic Grandchild Change jar. Will use my labelmaker and put a "for Jacob" label on it and give it to my mother for Christmas, because I'm generous that way.

$1 bunch of enamel pins. The one on the right caught my eye and the seller told me to pick out a bunch and she would make a deal on a lot.

How I save $$$ with my cell phone using T-Mobile

I know other people do this same thing so many of you already know this. I used to have a monthly very basic cell phone plan with T-Mobile. It was like $20 a month (which is $240 a year). I just wanted a cell phone so in case one of Jacob's teachers needed to get in touch with me while I was thrift store shopping, they could.

So then my husband heard that if you just used the T-Mobile To Go, you don't need a yearly contract, since you basically pay as you go. And if you loaded your phone with a $100 refill card (worth 1000 minutes I think) - all those minutes would be good for 1 year. And if you reloaded again with another $100 card before the old minutes expire, those unused minutes would rollover onto the next year. Clear as mud, right? So instead of paying $240 for a years worth of service, for the past several years, I've only been paying $100 a year (the cost of the prepaid minutes).

As I said, I really don't use my cellphone much so I really don't know how good this would be for someone who uses their cell a lot (I used my cell for a grand total of 262 minutes in the past year and I don't text). I really shouldn't say I don't use my cellphone much, cuz I do. It's my clock and my camera for taking pictures of food in grocery stores. I just don't talk much on it.

Where did this week go?

This week has just flown by and I've just been real busy so not much time to blog.

I think I spent practically all day Monday at Shoppers Food Warehouse for their triple coupon deal. Well it may not have been the all day, but it is very time consuming looking for brand name items that Shoppers Food Warehouse may or may not even sell. Then if you do find the particular brand, then you have to do the math to see if it's a good deal or not with the triple coupon. And then I have to think - do I really need this anyway?

I paid $65 for the cart full of pre-packaged foods. Total before coupons deducted was $181.82. Not bad savings considering the coupons had to have a face value less than $1 to be tripled. (So a .50 coupon = $1.50, a .75 coupon = $2.25 but a $1 coupon is worth just a $1) In the past, they've had double $1 coupons and that really was a good savings. I was too lazy to show a good picture of my buys, but you kinda get the idea. Mostly bad-for-you pre-packaged foods.

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Today I signed up for a December indoor yardsale organized by our local Parks & Recs department. Somehow I still have a mysterious $20 credit on my account with them so I didn't have to pay the $5 space rental - they just deducted it from my account. They scare me a little. Here is a pic of their bookshelf for the public to take brochures etc.

Movie Prop Sale

Man, if I was in the Los Angeles area this weekend, I would be going to a movie prop sale (after hitting all the yardsales first of course). But I'm 99.9% sure I won't be in Los Angeles this weekend. So my loss is your gain.

here's the details: (their website is Premiere Props)

MASSIVE 2 DAY MAJOR FILM AND TELEVISION STUDIO LOT SALE WITH 10,000 PLUS DESIGNER CLOTHING (POLO, RALPH LAUREN, ARMANI, GUCCI, MARC JACOBS, AND MORE), TONS OF BRAND NEW FURNITURE, HOUSEWARES, APPLIANCES AND MORE ALL AT UP TO 90% OFF RETAIL! ITEMS COME DIRECT FROM THE SET OF HIT TV SHOWS AND MOVIES! SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14 AND SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15 FROM 8:00AM TO 4:00PM. DOORS OPEN AT 8AM!

THIS IS OUR BIGGEST SALE EVENT OF THE YEAR WITH THOUSANDS OF ITEMS ON SPECIAL! EVERYTHING MUST GO!

PREMIERE PROPS
128 SIERRA STREET
EL SEGUNDO, CA 90245
(310) 322-PROP

p.s. If anyone goes to this and can find a nice quality Bad Mother F*cker wallet for cheap (like the kind Jules used in Pulp Fiction) - you can gift it to me so I can then re-gift it to my DH for Xmas. He's been mentioning he wants one but they are $25 on ebay. But I have the feeling I'm gonna have to fork over the $25 for it. I already bought him the Bruce Willis Kangaroo caddy which I found at a thrift for cheap. But I know my church run thrift wouldn't sell that particular wallet.

Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy

Here it is on a Saturday night and I'm being all happy about going grocery shopping in a few days. How sick is that? Man, I remember a time when on a Saturday night my friends and I would be discussing on our landline (of course) phone which nightclubs we would be hitting later that evening. Now in 2009, I want to get my coupons organized.

Our Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery store is tripling coupons (up to .99) until Wednesday so I gotta get prepared. Will report back my bargains.

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I heard from Leslie, the Zhu Zhu Pet contest winner and she received her Zhu Zhu the other day. She even blogged about winning - see her blog at Sandfordy She does the same thing as I do - I check the expiration date on EVERYTHING I buy while grocery shopping in order to get the freshest foods. Ok, so canned veggies aren't exactly fresh but I would rather buy the cans (for instance) that expire 11/2012 than the ones that expire 10/2012. That is one of the reasons why grocery shopping takes me so long.
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I went yardsaling today and it wasn't too bad, considering it's November. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful either. Will post my buys later sometime.

Cramping my Shopping Style

Dh needs to burn up some vacation before the end of the year so he took yesterday off. So....I didn't go to Smile. Having DH home, kinda puts a damper on my out of control shopping/acquiring/collecting. Instead we did some other shopping together and did lunch etc. And today he took half a day off so I just did a quick run to Smile (bought some vintage Maryland magazines for .25 each).

But I guess my real bargain today was at Walgreens. I had heard that this there is a good deal going on with Almay cosmetics but was skeptical it would work. But it did. Bought an Almay foundation and an Almay mascara - Mascara rang up as half priced. So before taxes I paid $13.48 for both. BUT I got $15 back in Register Rewards. I also bought two Arizona Teas for .99 (for DH, cuz he likes them. I think iced tea is gross).

I cleaned up my desk area today and found my Hit Clips (all bought at a yardsale of course). Here's a pic just to make you all jealous. Who needs an Ipod? I got my Hit Clips! Note to self: search the stores for an Orianthi Hit Clip.



And here is a fuzzy little caterpillar guy I found this morning out on our deck. Growing up, I always remember seeing tons of caterpillars. I rarely see them anymore. I moved him to a safer location.

Yardsale Fate or Karma or whatever you call it

I just love yardsale karma, or fate or whatever you call it. I swear some days, I should just stay home and "shop" at my own house and see what I can find.

The other day I was looking high up in my cupboard and spotted this Jungle Book plastic glass that I forgot I bought years and years ago. It was one of 8 glasses put out by Burger King in 1994. The other glasses in the series depict Snow White, Pinocchio, Aladdin etc. I remember being at a yard sale and this other woman and I were looking at the various glasses that the seller had but nothing was marked. When the seller said they were .25 each, the other woman started taking a bunch and I just managed to get the one Jungle Book one, where it has sat in my cupboard for the past decade or so.

So get this - Jacob's *new* favorite movie is The Jungle Book. He watches it over and over and replays his favorite scenes. (Personally, I have never watched the entire thing).

I just find it very cool about yard sale fate - that years before my son was born, I manage to get the ONE glass from that yardsale seller that he would LOVE. And stranger still is that I actually found it while he can still enjoy it, rather than waiting until he outgrew his Junglebook phase and then finding it.

It's gonna be wrapped up for Christmas.

Boo! (hoo) - no yardsales for me

Didn't go to any yardsales yesterday. I got up early anyway and got caught up on my Oprah watching. I still have to watch Friday's Regis & Kelly. Their Halloween shows are a favorite of mine (although I am a Halloween scrooge in real life). We then went to the Family Day at the Nuke Plant. After I had Jacob in 2000, I remember going back to my old job and showing him off, having lunch with friends in the cafeteria etc. But since 9/11 they definitely made it more difficult to drop in for a visit.

So yesterday was my first time back in the buildings in 9 years. Some things are different but some things exactly the same. Above is one of the hallways in the office area near where I worked. No pics were allowed in the secured area - so no pics of me hugging the containment (the big concrete buildings where all the magic happens). But a family photo was taken at the event, so I may add it later, depending if it's up to the Queen's standards or not. There was also pumpkin decorating and snacks and treats for the kids.
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I passed this house the other day - and saw what looked like the entire contents tossed out on the driveway. If the people knew they were getting evicted, why didn't they try to make some money by having a yard sale rather than having it all thrown out like that? The pic was taken while driving so its not great (and doesn't show the entire contents). I didn't stop. Had there been other people snooping around it, I probably would have. But it didn't look like anyone was around.

Thrift Store buys from this week

The above pic is the stuff I bought yesterday. Sweat pants for Jacob $1.50, Tiffany tray $2, bag of thread on wooden spools $1, baggy of 4 matchboxes .25, Starbucks mug .50, Wits End sign .50

When I was around 12 or 13 I started collecting matchbooks. That was back in the good ole days when restaurants and weddings used to give out matchbooks. Weddings?? If you don't remember that - a lot of wedding couples would have personalized matchbooks. Some matchbooks had a line where the bride would write on them for the guests to use as a place card. (It was mostly the high class weddings had personalized matchbooks, and the super high class weddings not only had personalized matchbooks, but a polka band as the entertainment. I will have to show you my wedding matches someday. Jersey Polka Richie rocks!)

So needless to say, I have tons of matchbooks. New advertising type matchbooks are pretty hard to come by since businesses just don't do that anymore. So even tho I don't necessarily collect matchBOXES, I bought them since they were only .25 for 4 (and a couple were advertising ones)

My collection is just stored in various (and numerous) shoe boxes. Back in 1990 when my DH started work at the nuke plant, the company paid professional movers to pack us up in Charleston SC to move to Maryland. When the movers were packing up my kitchen junk drawer, they got my attention told me I had to remove the 2 or 3 matchbooks I had kept in the kitchen to use to light candles etc, since they couldn't move them.

I remember thinking "I hope they don't start looking in those shoeboxes!". And they didn't. Oye. Thankfully, nothing bad happened.



And on Wednesday I found a bunch of vintage postcards at one of my other thrifts. They were .25 each - including the booklets of postcards. Some of the postcards include Marineland, University of West Virginia, St. Augustine Florida, Story Book Land in PA

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I am feeling stuffed. Pigged out totally at Cheeseburger in Paradise I'm on their email list and got an invitation to go to tonight to sample their new menu (free of charge). They just kept bringing out food and drinks, and more food, more drinks. Jacob mainly only eats chicken strips when we eat out in restaurants so we asked to start a tab for that and they covered that too.

My Alli diet has got to start soon.

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Went to Smile today and bought a Starbucks Washington DC Cherry Blossom mug for .50, baggy full of thread on wooden spools $1, a ceramic sign with an arrow on it that says "The Wit's End", a small Tiffany tray in Tiffany felt bag for $2

Hoarders TV Show

A few months ago I mentioned a new show on A&E called Hoarders. Hoarders Website

Out of the blue, they sent me an email the other day. Their new season is starting at the end of November and they wanted to know if I knew of any yardsale people who have turned their collections into hoarding. They are particularly looking for yardsale people on the younger side (like 20's, 30's) but I think they would probably be interested in hearing from all ages.

Hoarders Submission Form
Hoarders Main Page

I would so do it if I thought I had a problem with hoarding. But I don't. I swear. So what that I have several tubes of Super Poligrip and a ton of cat treats in my house. And I don't need either. But they were free, so how can I turn it down???? And that my son is 9 years old and I still have 99% of the clothes he has worn from birth til now. That's normal, right? Just say yes.