My Washington DC weekend adventure at National Harbor (no yardsales - ackk!)

Back in January, I went to a fundraising auction where I bid and won a 2 night stay at the National Harbor. And since the expiration date on the certificate said it expires 9/1/09, I figured we better use it. So we spent this past Friday and Saturday night there. It's a little over an hour's drive away - a shopping/eating/living planned community. One downfall, in my opinion, is that there is no free parking anywhere - even though it's kinda out in the middle of nowhere. The nearest subway stop is about a 10 minute drive away. There were parking garages everywhere, which I thought ugly-fied the area. I guess I was comparing it to the planned shopping/living area we stayed at in Myrtle Beach - they had free parking garages which were pretty well hidden - not obvious.

So on Friday after Jacob got home from school, we checked in and did a little bit of swimming. Then walked around the fake town - all the restaurants were busy so we ended up eating at a Potbelly sandwich shop. Then afterward we walked around the beautiful Gaylord National Resort and rode the elevators and watched the water fountain show (I took some videos for Youtube). The place was overrun with Red Hat Society ladies all dressed in purple and red for their annual convention. There was even red hatter overflow staying at my hotel - which was right across the street from the Gaylord. The red hatters all knew better to try to recruit me since it will be decades and decades before I would even be eligible to join.

So on Saturday we rode the subway all over DC (bought a pass good for all day travel). If you've ever been to DC to see the monuments etc, you know how much walking is involved. I started off with going to the Eastern Market and the Eastern Market flea market (the website says its open on Sunday, but it was open last Saturday too). I bought a diet coke.

The strange thing is, I went to the market by myself. When we first got on the subway, DH realized his cell phone battery was dead so he wanted to go back to the hotel with Jacob for a replacement he had. So I stayed on the train and went to the Market and Flea Market by myself. I was just thinking how riding a subway early on a Saturday morning alone to a new destination that I've never been to before is definitely not a typical Saturday for me.

The grossest part of the day was seeing all the bird poop along the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial. I took pics. We just went to one museum and that was because we stumbled upon it during our route - we went to the Corcoran Gallery I didn't know anything about it, but wanted some air conditioning bad. And as luck would have it, it was a "free" day - they normally charge $10 admission (eek!!! there are plenty of free things to do in DC without paying admission). I would have liked to have gone to the Smithsonian's American History Museum (I've been there before but now they have new exhibits like Julia Child's kitchen) but we didn't have time nor the energy.

Late Saturday afternoon we went back to the hotel for a swim and to relax a while. And by relaxing, I mean walking around the Gaylord hotel again so Jacob could ride the elevators again and we took a walk at the Potomac waterfront. My legs are killing me.

Saturday night we took the train back into the city and had dinner. Sunday morning we rode more elevators at the Gaylord and saw more purple and red.

We checked out and went to a Chuck E. Cheese that is on the way home. Today is laundry day.

Check back for pics.

10% off Lowes coupon - save money on your home improvement

go to Lowes Moving to sign up to get a 10% coupon off your purchase at Lowes.

There are people on ebay who SELL these coupons - so I thought I would tell you all where the sellers get them so you can get them for free - like the way you are supposed to.

Bye bye almond colored self-cleaning stove with regular burners

It was bye bye today for my 1990 era Kenmore stove (pictured above). A little sad to see it go, the end of an stove era for me. But I won't be sorry to have to clean the stove top ever again and the spillage that seeps under the burners. And I won't miss cleaning those darn burner pans (I had black ones to hide the gunk better). We have our eye on a Frigidaire flat top model (or whatever it's called) that will match our refrigerator. It's been almost 2 years since we had our fridge makeover Lowes now has free removal of old appliances and free delivery but I figured since the stove still works fine, someone would want it for cheap. Sold it today for $30 to some craigslist person. But the way I see it - the stove was basically free - the $30 goes to me for my time invested in cleaning it up.

I think I've mentioned this before here (but I know I mentioned it on the message board). If you have a large purchase to make at Lowes, go to Lowes Moving and sign up to get a free 10% off your purchase at Lowes. People sell these certificates all the time on ebay. So there are obviously people out there that don't know about this Lowes website. I'm going to do a separate posting so maybe it will show up in the google searches.

Wine, Steve Miller Band, Hogettes and Junk

I forgot to mention some other stuff I've done in the past few weeks. I completed (almost) the Patuxent Wine Trail with my MIL. Too bad there is not also a Rum & Diet Coke trail. The above pic is of Steve Miller and the Steve Miller Band practicing before the show. Now there is a man who is not afraid to show off his fish-belly-white legs. Sorta hard to tell where the legs end and the socks begin. This was the first time I actually saw the artist practicing before the show - mostly I just hear the "Check 1 2" guys.



Steve Miller link

And speaking of celebrities, I took my MIL to see some pig celebrities that were appearing in beautiful downtown Lusby - the hogettes



And with Jacob back in school I may have stopped at a thrift store or two today. I found a few things to buy. Also went to a farmhouse that is some sort of consignment store with junk everywhere. I think the owner lives there and doesn't mind people walking thru the kitchen and seeing the old style sink full of dishes. It was a little different. On one side of the kitchen is the guy's canned goods, and the other is a shelves of stuff for sale. Well I think the stuff was for sale.







And here is what I bought today (majority of stuff from Smile):



.25 each - Valuetale books
$1 tank top for me
.25 Graham Kerr dough gadget
.50 vacuum cleaner bag
.25 Bath & Body Works hand pampering thing
.25 small vintage Springbok puzzle
.75 Bath & Body Works tube of lotion
$1 Spongebob valance
.50 repro Route 66 sign
.50 vintage Hazel Atlas Ranger Joe mug

"This is a nice piece of cardboard"

Back to school day for Jacob today. DH had to take his mom to the airport and was able to take the rest of the day off. So we did a little bit of shopping today - we went the whole summer without bbq-ing since our gas grill died. At Target the grills were 50% off and found one we both liked. With our old old gas grill I cleaned it out (relatively speaking) and filled it with potting soil and use it as a potting plants/gardening station (I saw the idea to do that in a magazine). I will dispose of our latest dead gas grill (our landfill has metal recycling so I think it would go there). Hmmmm...but maybe I need two gardening stations.

So anyhow the gas grill came in huge box with tons of inner boxes etc. I found myself saying "This is a nice piece of cardboard" (and saved it to use for ebay packing). I find myself saying odd stuff that in my previous life, I would never have thought of saying.

Speaking of saving cardboard, here is a new show my Dh told me about. Hoarders

Crappy Yardsales Today

I went to some pretty crappy yardsales today. I mean, they wouldn't have been crappy if I was looking to clothe a newborn baby girl and/or become a lizard owner but I don't plan on doing either anytime soon.

But I will be cleaning my bathroom with my new $2 Mr. Clean Magic Reach starter kit.

And maybe kicking around a lime green $1 soccer ball.

Steve Miller was good last night. Too bad the weather wasn't. Will add some pics soon.

Last week of summer vacation

This is the last week of summer vacation before school starts. My MIL is visiting from California. California - the state. Not to be confused with the huge metropolis known as California, Maryland. There was a store in Annapolis that she wanted to shop at (and since it wasn't a thrift store, I wasn't interested). So I dropped her off to let her shop. Then Jacob and I headed to Chuck E. Cheese to play for a while then picked her up after an hour. Afterward, I drove to downtown historic Annapolis and we walked around a little bit, but Jacob wasn't into it.

Speaking of Chuck E. Cheese, here's a pic I took of a game that is at the Chuck E. Cheese near my mom's. It has life-like violence mild. And speaking of my mom, here is an abstract picture that Jacob took of her. My grandmother was called Baba - and my mom didn't want to be called that when she became a grandmother. Jacob calls her Baba.





Friday night I'll be doing my volunteer bartending at a Steve Miller concert. And I'll be able to get there early for my free shrimp roll. Things should be back to normal next week.

And when things get back to normal, I'll be able to tell you about my new pet - Mr. Squiggles. He's so cute.

Yard Sale Theft

The Yardsale Gods have been angered. This article was in our local newspaper the other day (our local newspaper only comes out twice a week). The Yardsale Gods are now after the above suspects and one way or another, sooner or later, they will be punished for their evil deeds. But geez, you'd think the local paper would at least say what town this occurred in.

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I went out yardsaling yesterday and of course, bought some stuff. Nothing major. I was home by 9:30. I stopped by the local big dump to recycle my newspapers and saw these turkey vultures eying me. I've been there and saw the mega sized seagulls picking around but they must have the afternoon shift and the turkey vultures work the morning shift. Icky. I normally go to the smaller recycling center where I don't see flying animals but yesterday this location was more convenient to me.



Then driving out of a neighborhood wide yardsale (there were exactly 2 yardsales) I spotted some deer. Only got a picture of one.

JC Penney's Bargain

I did some shopping today - I'm going to another bridal shower this Sunday. But anyway last week JC Penney's sent out yet another coupon to save $10 off a $10 purchase. I bought myself a $49 frame (supposedly - I can't see anyone really paying $49 for this) for $2.11 using the coupon.

For the bridal shower I bought a cookbook and a gift card.

Yarsale

Here's a pic from a few weeks ago (I just didn't have time to post it until now). I think I just bought one of their yars for $1 at that sale.

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I am proud of myself. Today I made coffee for the first time in my life. I don't drink coffee. Neither does DH. My MIL said it was good after she added 4 cups of additional water to the coffeemaker.

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I am mourning the loss of the Crummy Church Signs Blog. I spotted one the other day that read "For all you do, His blood's for you". Playing off a Bud beer ad doesn't seem quite right to me. And this one I was going to submit to the site but now I can't. Compromise causes colapse of character. I wonder how they feel about poor spelling.

Garage Sale buys

This is the stuff I bought while in NY. Most from garage sales. Made a few buys at a Salvation Army and a thrift store. Not all is pictured - I left a small portable $3 DVD player with remote at my Mom's (she doesn't have a DVD player and has no interest in learning how to use it but it will save me from having to bring our little portable DVD player the next time we visit and someone wants to watch Spongebob). The $3 DVD player is the most expensive thing I bought. I see one thing I paid $2 for (one of the Schmid music boxes) but most things were $1 or .50 or free. I didn't take the time to display the stuff nicely. Just laid it all out and snapped some pics. The one bottle of cologne that you can't read the label is Ralph Lauren (price was .25). I think the Little Golden Book was a mistake buy. I really don't remember buying it...I think I picked it up with some other books I was buying and forgot to put it back down since there is nothing special about that book. That jewelry box was only .50 so I couldn't pass it up. I know I can resell it at my own yardsale for a little bit more.

The day before I left for the trip, I checked that area's Craigslist postings for garage sales and made a list. My mom gets 2 newspapers but I wanted to hit as many as a I could. Checking the craigslist worked out since I know there was at least 1 good sale I made it to that was not in the newspapers. And since they didn't advertise and hadn't put their signs up yet, I was their very first customer (not an early bird) and got lots of great stuff. The seller said she was grateful that people read the Craigslist ads and when I told her I drove all the way from Maryland to visit her sale and showed my car with the Maryland tags, she was impressed.

Trip to the airport today was fine. I'll be flying to upstate NY in September (I made my reservations last night on Southwest $49 each way). The main purpose of my trip to NY last week was to attend my niece's bridal shower and next month is the wedding. I'm going stag. Woo-hoo!!! Paaaaarrrteeeeee. Ooops, maybe not so much. I think I'll be in charge of chauffeuring my mother so I gotta keep a clear head. BUT I do have 6 free drink coupons on Southwest - coupon booklet bought at a yardsale for $2.

Here's a snyposis of my visit to NY:

Wednesday: drove 497 miles to NY
Thursday: Chuck E. Cheese in the morning, bowling in the afternoon (I had signed Jacob up for Kids Bowl for Free and since there are no bowling alleys near us participating, I signed him up for free bowling at the lanes near my mom's house. Also in the afternoon I hit the 2 thrifts. Visited my cousin Laura in the evening.

Friday: went garagesaling in the morning. Visited my sister in the afternoon. Went to Kohl's in the evening since they were open until midnight (and its only about 3 miles from my mom's house)

Saturday: garagesailing in the morning. Bridal Shower in the afternoon. My friend Bev visited in the evening.

Sunday: back to Chuck E. Cheese. Visited my cousin Caroline in the afternoon. Went to a playground and then went to Aldi's.Bought some non-perishables and a $2.39 pineapple to take home. Then loaded the car up.

Monday - drove back home.

Back from New York

Jacob and I went to upstate NY last week (Clifton Park, Saratoga etc) and just got back yesterday after driving 497 miles. They have great garage sales up there. Today is my day to "relax" and by that I mean doing laundry, unpacking all my new junk and cleaning the house. Tomorrow I drive 1.5 hours (each way) to the airport to pick up my MIL who will be visiting for a few weeks. It does suck that we live so far away from the airport.

More later (I hope).

Saturday's Yard Sale Buys

I've been real busy the last week with Jacob's end of camp and this week is going to be another busy week. And then I got a lot of stuff going on next week too.

And Jacob is addicted to Google Maps now, so he's been on my computer a lot lately. You know how Google Maps has the "street view"? He likes looking at the maps and using the roads to see where they go. I put in an address in Long Beach, CA for him and later in the day, he was somewhere in the desert in Arizona. We bought him a NEW computer a few years ago, but there is something wrong with it (it won't power up). So now that Jacob is back into computers, DH is going to get Jacob's computer fixed.

I went to several yardsales yesterday but didn't find too much. At some sales, I left without buying anything.

$5 - sealed Lego Batman (for ebay. This particular Lego kit sells for between $75 - $149 on ebay)
$1 each - Franklin Mint The Simpson's plates. Will probably keep but not sure what I will do with them. The one features the episode with the 3-eyed fish from the nuke plant so I had to buy it.
$2 cigar case with torch lighter (will put away for Xmas for DH)
free - cigar box
.25 Super Mario big glass
.50 Staples Easy button
.10 each (10 cents!!!!!!) DVDS (some sealed). At that price, I bought all they had (just 4)
.50 vintage pyrex dish
$1 each - two new sets of dishtowels & pot holders. I like the potholders with the alumium-y backing on them, I never see them anymore in the stores.