I heard this song today in Walgreens.....

The Wedding Song by Paul Stookey. I was getting my daily dose of Walgreens shopping in. I also heard it 20 (!!!!) years ago today in church, when I became a Mrs. Wow - 20 years - that was before I even started dreaming about building my glorious yardsalequeen empire.

I don't have any wedding pics handy to show you, but maybe this will do. Impress me with your geeky knowledge and leave a comment if you know where this picture came from: (my message board people should know this for sure!)



p.s. Haven't forgotten about posting the answer to my What Is This? post. will do it soon.

Yardsale Buys Saturday and Etc.

There were a lot of yardsales in my area today. It was a rough start and didn't find anything at the first few yardsales (which is a bad sign, since normally early on you have the best selection). Saw a lot of overpriced stuff and just stuff I didn't need or have a use for.

Like a working McDonald's sign for $125. Jacob got excited for a second when he thought a new McDonald's had magically appeared in our neighborhood. I had to deliver the bad news that it was just a sign.



And this is what I ended up buying. Everything ranged in price from .25-$1.00. Except for the still-new-with-tags Bath & Body Works gift set which was $4. Jacob is invited to a girl's BD party tomorrow and hadn't gotten a gift yet. So this is good (original price was $16.50)



If any of you subscribe to the Bottom Line Personal newsletter, I'll be in the May 15 newsletter. Bottom Line Secrets have been around for years and years, they publish books and newsletters - and according to their website, use the info from their enormous team of America's leading experts in everything. That describes me exactly - a leading expert in America. But why should I limit myself to just being a leading expert in America, when I'm sure there are yardsales in other galaxies that I have yet to discover? The title of the article is The Yard Sale Queen's Guide to Getting Cash for your Clutter. It's a good thing that they just wanted a pic of me for the article and not a pic of the inside of my house.

p.s. The funny thing is, is that the cover article is from another Marylander. Maryland - home of the cheap!

Thursday's Freebies

Today in my neighborhood, I spotted a rare site - someone had placed things by the side of the road with a free sign. That is rarely done around here. Whenever I drive to my sister's house in NY, I can't drive thru her neighborhood without seeing someone trying to give away something at the end of their driveway.

Here's what I scored today, a very nice child sized golf bag for Jacob and a bigger bike (6-speed) for him. DH will have to give it a tune-up and put the chain on (chain is loose).

Thrift Store Buys and my Cherry Tree (and buy my stuff)

This is what I bought today. Some books at $1 each. A new, unused shadowbox ($5 but it was new) I want to do a crafty wall decoration with a bunch of Jacob's baby stuff in it - like the pregnancy pee stick and other sentimental baby goodies. I tried to save his umbilical/belly button gunky black thing, but it dropped off of Jacob's tummy and Whiskey (my old dog) ate it. No lie.

$1 Furreal dog and a $1 Folkmanis turtle puppet (that will go on ebay, eventually. I know I have other Folkmanis puppets that I should list). Comic book Bible was .50 and the vintage Russian/English children's folk tale book was $1. Vintage Kentucky ashtray was .50 and the package of thank you cards were $1.

Speaking of my junk, I listed some stuff on ebay yesterday - to see what I have listed on ebay click here

My cherry trees in my yard are in full bloom now, and they will be gorgeous for about the next 2 weeks, then the yard will be filled with pink pedal confetti.

Anyhow, I want to introduce Bob.

Oh I forgot to mention, I got a new dog. His name is Bob. He looks amazingly like my old dog Whiskey. Here is his picture. This is not Whiskey, it is Bob. Maybe they were twins separated at birth. I will take Bob to get a free rabies shot (I think its due soon anyway) and a $5 dog license, as Bob, of course, since that is his name. And microchipped as Bob, the next time I see some humane organization holding a microchipping event. That way if *Bob* ever winds up at that awful animal shelter, he will be looked upon as a first time offender. Not a repeat offender, which causes the reclaiming fee to skyrocket the more times he is reclaimed. I wanted to name him D'ohji (spelled d-o-g for short, but DH doesn't like that name. He is not crazy about the name Bob either, but he'll come around.

The Tri-County Animal Shelter in Hughesville, Maryland SUCKS

Just a quick post to say how sucky the Tri-County Animal Shelter in Hughesville, Maryland is. It's antiquated, it's stinky, it's loud and depressing. And whatever employee I talked to on Monday April 20, who said that no dog fitting Whiskey's description was there, should be fired. She also asked me if he was micro-chipped, which I thought was strange. Since they should not have ANY dogs that are micro-chipped, since they should be scanned when they are taken in.

If the person said they had new animals come in within the past 24 hours and was unsure, I would have been there. But no, she told me that no dog fitting Whiskey's description was there and I could look online at pictures of the strays (there was no pic of Whiskey). I knew that if someone found him, they would call the # on his tag. The pic below with his ID was taken just last week.

I posted on the Lost & Found on our craigslist and another popular regional website in their classifieds. I put up a lost dog sign, drove around the neighborhood etc.

The shelter is located in another county - about 30 miles away. My neighbor, the one who watched Whiskey when we were away, stopped by the shelter and ta-da found Whiskey.

I was happy and shocked on one hand, and furious with the Animal Shelter on the other hand for lying/being incompetent. And something is waay too fishy with how by coincidence his tag is missing. I think whoever in the neighborhood called to report a dog running (walking) loose, removed the ID tag to be mean.

Still driving me nuts after all these years.....

Who??? I'll give you some clues, he's tan/brown, he's losing his teeth and is currently on his way home from a stay at the hell-hole known as the Tri-County Animal Shelter in Hughesville, Maryland .....update to follow later...

Come home Whiskey!

My pain in the butt dog Whiskey is MIA again. You would think a 14 year old dog would take it easy in his old age and stay close to home, but he is up to his old tricks. At least I hope. He is so so skinny now (Vet said normal muscle loss associated with old age) so I think he is able to slip thru our fenced yard a lot more easily now. Last night he got out and I picked him up from him visiting his other family in the neighborhood.

But this morning he was gone again. And he was not at his other family's house. Maybe because he is just practically a bag of bones now and so old, I don't feel good about him being gone for so long. Don't get me wrong, I never felt comfortable with him strolling the 'hood unattended but over the years, I learned not to freak out since he is such an escape artist and scrappy streetwise dog. Here's a pic I took with my cellphone when he was running errands with me last week. (Running errands - is a euphemism I use when I really mean "going shopping") I will call Animal Control tomorrow and see if he got picked up, again.

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Here are my yardsale buys from Saturday. Bought a bunch of books on CD for $1 each, from Recorded Books Their distribution center is nearby and I think the employees get a huge discount. I love it when I come across a Recorded Books employee having a yardsale. The boxed thing up front is a $2 new hand/nail spa kit for me. I got the Texas Instruments graphing calculator and that little silvery bowl for free. The Lexmark printer was $1 (and had a inkjet cartridge inside that I will recycle for $3 in Staples money. DH plans to recycle the printer at Staples for the $50 rebate when you buy a new printer.

Solomons Island Tiki Bar Reopening

Just got back from having a little afternoon cocktail at the infamous Tiki Bar of Solomons Island, Maryland. DH had half the day off, so we did some shopping/lunching and then stopped for an adult beverage (Even tho their specialty is a Mai-Tai - I prefer a drink they serve called a Kokomo). We couldn't make it an entire afternoon/evening of imbibing, since we have to be home to get Jacob off the school bus. Well theoretically, DH could have left me there and he could have gone home to get Jacob off the bus and then picked me up later. Or I could have found a way home. Not that I even considered doing that, of course. Well maybe a little. Or maybe a lot. Priorities - priorities - I have to have a clear head for tomorrow morning anyway. Yardsales, you know.

The place is a hole in the wall outdoor bar that is open 6 months a year and every year on the third Friday of April, they reopen to a very large crowd. Today is that day. A few years ago, it even was featured on the front page of the WaPo newspaper.

I even got carded today. Woo-hoo!!!! I am still young! I can still be mistaken for an underage 20 year old! I guess I should mention tho, that they did card everyone. But I just know those 24 year old bouncers would have carded me anyway, since I look so young and vibrant.

Surprise, surprise - I did not run into any of my yardsale buddies there. I did see and chat with some people I know from the nuke plant.

Here are pics from earlier this afternoon:

the crowd is still very sparse considering how crowded it will get later (the poor kid in stroller bottom left, can't see a thing). The orange barriers normally aren't there, but they had to re-direct traffic today, hence the barriers.


Across the street, where the boats park:


Driving up to the Tiki, my view on the back of the motorcycle:


Another view on our way to the Tiki (the pic is not bad considering I was on a moving motorcycle)


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Here is one of my retail purchases from Myrtle Beach. A shabby chic wall hook thing. Original price $15. I paid $2.59. There was a store at the outlet mall that had stuff really reasonably priced.



And since I was taking pics off my cellphone, here is a pic from the other day. A lamp so ugly I had to take a picture of it. And they priced it at $40!



I am anticipating a good yardsale day tomorrow - weather is perfect, and since I was away the last 2 Saturdays, tomorrow will be like the start of the season for me.

p.s. thanks for all the responses about guessing What My Thing Is. I think someone got it right. I won't say who yet. Will post an update soon.

What is this thing?

I have no idea what this is, but I bought it anyway. I figured it was for storing something (probably something I have too much of). Has a door hangy thingy on it, so I know it goes on a door. And it was .50 at VV, so how could I go wrong?

Anyone see one of these in a catalog or own one and know what it is? Or have a good guess?

The Millenium Hotel - Durham, North Carolina - yuck!

Ok, I've dragged out talking about the Myrtle Beach vacation long enough, but I just want to mention the Millenium Hotel in Durham, North Carolina - the hotel we stayed at during our drive home, to warn people to avoid staying there if possible.

I had never stayed at a Millenium hotel before and from the outside it looked nice - there were doormen, fancy looking lobby. But then we got into the room. Yuck. Made me wish I was back at the Country Inn & Suites. The hotel room looked old. But not in a cool, antiquey type of way. None of the drawers in the furniture slid out right (not that I was going to let my clothes touch the inside of the dresser). The heating/AC unit looked old. We had an addition put onto our house in 1993 and for the extra room we had a hotel grade heater/AC unit installed. The one in the hotel room looked much older than ours. With taxes we paid $105 for the night. And no free breakfast. Their breakfast buffet was $12.95. And no warm cookies in the lobby either. Never again.

But what really got me was the bathroom. Here is the infamous toilet seat with the chips in the paint. This throne was definitely below the queen's standards. And it wasn't just the paint chips, the paint on the back of the seat looked like it was starting to bubble up and buckle (my other pic doesn't show the hideousness of it well, so I won't post it). And for your viewing pleasure is just one of the many long black hairs that were on the bathroom ceiling.

Myrtle Beach Vacation (still)

Ok, sorry for that interruption. Now, back to talking about my vacation. Cuz I know you just love to hear about the details of my life.

One day we went to Apache Pier ($2 to park, but it was free to walk the pier since I had free coupons) - normally they charge a $1 to walk the pier. It was very windy that day. While up on the pier, you could just see the sand storm happening below. I have no idea who these ladies are, but it was funny to watch them get caught up in the sand storm. They packed up soon after.



There was a small playground for us to use steps away from our condo:


Another pic taken from Apache Pier. On my message board someone jokingly referred to Myrtle Beach as the Redneck Riviera. I have no idea why they would say that. Just look at these fancy trailers and RVs parked at the campground at the beach.


A view of the condo from across the park/lake.


View of the condo from on top of a parking garage. Picture was taken during one of my morning walks with Jacob. What I really liked about our place was the large patio. As you see in the pic, most people's patios were tiny compared to ours.


The pier at Myrtle Beach State Park


Picture taken by Jacob. I have no idea who these people are but this gives me hope that Jacob's photography skills are improving. It's pretty ironic though, since I have the exact same outfit that that woman is wearing, but in a smaller size, of course.



This is what most of Jacob's pictures look like. I'm afraid he may have inherited the finger-in-the-picture gene from my mother.


Jacob on the large playground that was across the street in the park (a different playground than the one pictured above)


The park had a bunch of these exercise stations, which was cool for me to look at and read about.


In a candy store at Broadway at the Beach. The tubes are all filled with different colored M&Ms. Makes me wonder how old the candy is. I had Jacob hold the big lollipop for the picture. Of course since I am cheap, I did not buy him the lollipop. Just kidding. I bought it but now he has to do his own laundry for the rest of his life (hey, he agreed to it).



Jacob at the beach. As a helicopter parent, it killed me to be this far from him (DH was there and he told me to relax. yeah right. Vacations are for doing, not relaxing.) But Jacob only went up to his waist since the water was like 33 degrees.



In front of the condo. See the green lights? At night the colors would gradually change about every 5 seconds. I took the pic because of the full moon.


Another view of the complex. There were several fountains that were pretty.


On the last day I finally spotted the outdoor chess game.


One day we went bowling at Waccamaw Bowling. Never again. Although they had a special - bowling was only .25 a game, the place is very smoker-friendly. I guess I've just lived somewhere so long that is not smoker-friendly, that I've forgotten what it is like to be indoors at a public place that allows smoking. The below pic is proof that I can still beat my son at bowling.



Yet another view of our condo:


Just so you know I didn't spend the whole time taking pics of the condo, here are some other things we did: went outlet shopping at a Tanger Outlet There were 2 Tanger Outlets in Myrtle Beach but we only made it to one. Yes, you read that right, I shopped retail. Will show what I bought in another post. Bo Bice was going to be giving a free concert at the outlet, but we missed it by a day or two.

I did a little bit of shopping at the resort. Here is the website that shows a lot better pics than mine Market Common Myrtle Beach On my message board a while back, I posted a link to get a free tote bag from Victoria's Secret (the offer is now expired) - so I was able to get my totally free $19.50 Think Pink tote bag. I bought some crepe mix at Williams-Sonoma. I tried on $36 bras at the Soma store. Bought a cupcake at Barnes & Noble. Bought some Cold Stone Creamery. I think that was about it.

Went to Myrtle Beach State Park twice, using the free passes provided by the resort. Went to Toys R Us and bought up the 90% off Valentines Strawberry Shortcake bubblegum for .18 a package that Jacob likes. Also bought him two new PSP games. I have a Toys R Us Visa card that often sends me $10 gift cards based on how much money we've put on the account. I also had a coupon to save $5 off a $25 purchase. So it was good to use all that up, since our nearest Toys R Us is about 45 miles away and we don't get to it very often. Also did some Bed, Bath & Beyond shopping (with coupons of course). Strolled around Barefoot Landing and Broadway on the Beach. And of course did some mini-golfing and DH did some real golfing. I hit one Flea Market that was near the resort. We only had 4 full days there, and we were constantly busy so the time flew.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update - the end of the trip with my review of the Millenium Hotel Durham (don't let those swanky pics on their website fool ya, I have others....)

p.s. If it looks like I made Jacob wear the same green shirt all week...you are right. haha.

Pardon me for the Travel Blog interruption.....

I need to interrupt this wonderful and entertaining travel blog of Myrtle Beach to do a quick post on what I bought at Smile today.

$1 Wilton tool box. I guess it's for cake making supplies but I'm going to make it into a tool box. Because I can never find anything on DH's workbench, I started my own tool box for around the house. Currently I'm just using a tote bag to contain everything and stuff sinks to the bottom. There is some sort of spash of paint or something on the front, but I know I can clean it up.

$4.50 (a little high but hey, my son is worth it) - a big new package of surfer dudes wall stickers/decorations. Original price from Bed, Bath & Beyond was $29.99 Seeing that my son just turned 9, I know in about 6 or 7 years, I'll have to begin thinking that he is starting to grow up so I'll have to consider taking down his Toy Story wall decorations and doing something different. So I will put this away until then.

.50 each - two plastic mini crates (you know, since I love storage)

.25 each - two educational booklets - Know Your USA (learn facts about your state and all 47 other states) and the other is a Star Wars book about space.

Resort Quest Myrtle Beach Vacation

We stayed the bulk of our vacation at Resort Quest Myrtle Beach When DH said he wanted to go somewhere on vacation in April, I just started looking on the net for possible places to go and I found the resort. I knew I wanted to stay somewhere that had 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, was within driving distance, and the fact that the resort was running an awesome special made it a no brainer. The condo we stayed at normally $149/night plus taxes plus a linen fee. Because of the special, we paid $95 a night including all taxes/linen fees.

The place was gorgeous - it's in a new (less than a year old) planned shopping/entertaining/living community. The place I booked had a HUGE patio that Jacob really enjoyed. Free Wifi, washer & dryer, full kitchen, 3 flat screen tvs. Ginormous closets. Matter of fact, the first night, Jacob woke up at 4am and went out to the patio to check if Piggly Wiggly was closed (it was within view of our patio) and when he wouldn't go back to sleep in the bed, I told him to lay down in the closet - and he did. It was not on the beach, but included was unlimited free passes to go to the nearby state park which had a great beach/bathrooms etc etc.

Patio view of park (and PF Changs is there on the left)


Other side of patio view:


Another patio view:


The closest thing to camping that Jacob will probably ever experience (The Queen doesn't do camping)



Master bedroom (hutch has flat screen tv)


View of the lobby area. The nice thing was that we didn't have to use keys the entire time (so it was nice not worrying about losing/misplacing keys.) To get to the lobby from the sidewalk, you type in a code in a keypad by the door. That let you into the lobby area (below) then you could use the elevator to get to your condo (which also uses a keypad entry). Our condo was above a jewelry store. And there was a webcam near the keypad, so you could tune to a particular tv channel and watch who is coming into the building. Having that locked lobby was a good security measure, since it helped to keep my paparazzi away.



Kitchen/living room:



Kitchen island. I wish I had taken pics when we first walked in, before we junked it all up with our stuff.


Two lazy-boy type chairs with a red couch (which was a sofa bed too) Besides the 3 tvs, there was also a DVD player and stereo.


Jacob's room



Jacob's closet. Look at all that empty space! All I needed was a spare $20, a week at some good thrifts/yardsales, and I could fill that sucker up!


View of *our* building. More pics to come later.


View of the PF Changs (where I spent $27 on 2 dinners for us and DH was still hungry afterwards)


View of the Piggly Wiggly from the patio (where I bought myself a souvenir $5 "Get Your Pig On" t-shirt)


Picture at night from patio. The Grand 14 - is a movie theatre. It was next to a Cold Stone Creamery.


DH was very happy with the place too. The first day, he says to me "HOW much did we pay for this??" I know he was expecting me to say a lot more. It was bigger than our first apartment when we lived in Charleston. And heck, even the bathrooms and closets are bigger than what we have now!