Jacob's Television Debut with the Platt Brothers

For those who blinked while watching American Ninja Warrior recently on G4, here is Jacob's television debut. Very impressive, isn't it? Don't answer.



And of course, here's a shot of me going incognito, with my trusty Sony Cybershot.


It snowed all day yesterday. I put out some of my homemade birdfood today and it attracted a bunch of cardinals.


And this huge bird. Which I think is not a vegetarian.


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If you live near a Chick-fil-a, make a reservation to get a free spicy biscuit next week Get Spicy Biscuit. You know I did.

If I don't blog for a bit, don't be worried. I got some places to go and people to see. And stuff to buy.

Merry Christmas, part 2

Our Christmas is pretty low key here at the castle. It's not until later when I will see a bunch of friends and family. Anyhow, I was just checking my overstuffed email box from fans wishing me Merry Christmas and I was thrilled to see one from my boyfriend David Cassidy, wishing me a beautiful holiday. And in the email he quoted "the late, great Maya Angelou." Ooopsy, someone better go check on Maya Angelou.

Crap. No yardsales today. Merry Christmas.

I hope you are all having a Merry Christmas or a Happy Saturday (for those who don't celebrate Christmas). No yardsales today and all the thrift stores are closed, but don't worry about me, I am having a great Christmas. I am thinking about all those gifts being opened up today that are the wrong size, the wrong scent, the wrong whatever that will show up at the spring yardsales for $1. And I got all those after Christmas sales to get to soon!

And more good news, Christmas won't be on another Saturday until 2021!

Happy Festivus

I don't have much time to blog, since I am busy performing feats of strength, but I wanted to wish you and yours a Happy Festivus.

I spent part of today at our local Chick-fil-a getting free food (using coupons and redeeming my free nugget tray win). MMMMMMMM Chick-fil-a.

I witnessed a Christmas miracle today

What happened to me today can only be explained as me being a part of a Christmas miracle - no other logical explanation is possible. I live in a land where the only NFL merchandise to be found for hundreds of miles is either the Washington Redskins or Baltimore Ravens. Today I found Minnesota Vikings sleep pants for Jacob in a retail store. You have no idea (unless you live in the DC/Maryland/VA area) how unusual of a find this is. Minnesota Vikings sleep pants just don't show up at a JC Penney's in Maryland out of the blue. Unless of course, it's a Christmas Miracle.

I had a coupon to take $10 off a $10 purchase at JC Penneys so today I used it. In the boy's section they had sleepwear for 50% off, and on the bottom rack, hidden behind sets of PJ's were the boys Minnesota Vikings sleep pants priced at an even $20.00. I thought I was hallucinating. Having it priced at $20.00 is another anomaly - since they price a lot of things at $19.99. So since it was $20 and not $19.99, at half priced it was $10.00 which meant I could use my $10 coupon on them. If they had been $19.99 reduced to $9.99, then the coupon wouldn't have worked.



Total spent? 0.00. Since I didn't go to any yardsales yesterday, getting something free today made up for it. And probably no yardsales next Saturday either. But you never know. haha

Decluttering Christmas

Today I did some Christmas decluttering. Last week both Amvets AND the Purple Heart organizations called looking for donations to pick up. Since I already said yes to Amvets, I told Purple Heart that I didn't have anything this time around. They haven't called in YEARS, so it was strange for them to call again out of the blue.

Back when I was child-free and the dang internet didn't suck up all of my free time, I used to decorate the outside of the castle for Christmas. I used to put up 10 wreaths just on the front of the house. I would hang them from the tops of the windows with ribbon, so it involved removing all the screens from the windows before I could hang them. Since my DH is scroogier than me, I handle the set-up, the installation and de-installation of any and all Christmas decorations. And re-installation of the window screens.

It all looked very nice, but well those days are over. I have pictures somewhere, if I ever find them I'll post a pic. Makes me tired just thinking of doing that again. Then have to un-decorate and store them 11 months of the year? The wreaths and a bunch of other miscellaneous goodies are going away later this week to Amvets. I also went thru the coat closet and donating a bunch of coats. And of course I always have books to donate. Speaking of used books, I think now I have over $200 in credit at the used bookstore.
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I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get another replacement driver's license. I still can't find the last license that I lost and I thought it would turn up somewhere by now but it hasn't.

Here's a pic of the free flip-flops I mentioned getting a little while ago. My Dh bought a pair of sneakers at Famous Footwear and got on some mailing list. Well they sent him a "we want you back - here's a $10 off coupon" coupon. So I used it to get these $10 flip flops for free. Just plain dark grey. I am not a flip flop fan but I guess I may wear them to the mailbox or something.

Very tranquil - except for the gunfire

Here's a picture I took Saturday morning after enjoying another free night at the hotel. We go again in January and again in Feb. In the morning I asked one of the hotel employees what the "banging" sound was, and his guess was that it was from duck hunters. I am known for complaining about the neighbors who live near the castle (boy could I tell stories), but at least I don't hear gunfire in the morning. And at least I haven't paid a ton of money for waterfront Chesapeake Bay property and have to listen to gunfire during hunting season.

I got an early Christmas present, a bread hook for my vintage Kitchenaid mixer and used it today for the first time to make bread. Of course I have a bread machine - since I love all things bread, but haven't used the Kitchenaid for bread making. I made ciabatta bread, it was a 24 hour long process. Ciabatta bread is a rustic bread with a bunch of little holes throughout. But why settle for little holes when you can just do one major hole:



I guess I need some practice, but it still tasted good.

some random pics

Here is a mishmash of pictures I've taken over the past week or so. In no particular order.

I was at the Dollar Tree (love the Dollar Tree) and saw this Smart Fit Button. It's for when you are too fluffy and can't get your jeans to button, you just add a button and it extends your jean size about a half inch. No, I didn't buy it but had never seen it before so I took a pic.



I saw Elvis at a local Christmas parade. It was so damn cold. The boy scouts were very zealous in their candy throwing. If I go next year, I will bring a bag of candy and pelt those boy scouts right back!


There was a porta-john truck decorated up for the Christmas parade (don't you see that red ribbon on it?). Woo-hoo I got a coupon for $5 off a Porta-John rental!!



How many copies of Titanic on VHS does one thrift store need?


I bought this vintage Trouble game, just because. Jacob does like playing Trouble and the graphics are different. I hate that the thrift writes in black marker the price on the box.


I went to a store that had a "Going out of Business Sale - Everything must be Sold!!!"They had a measly 10% off of crap. Sheesh. And I mean it was total crap. I hadn't seen these cheesy pre-filled type of stockings in years. I looked at the expiration date that was on it for the candy and it was December 2009.


I really don't see these types of wide open spaced stores anymore. I think there's a reason, they look like they are in a time warp.


But as I was leaving the store - and since I wasn't buying anything - I left thru an empty cash register lane and found a $5 bill on the ground.

I stopped into one of my thrifts and saw they moved the thrift store guy to a new couch.


I took this picture at CVS, They have this cat toy there that retails for $9.99. I don't want to reveal any Christmas secrets, but if you are related to me and live in upstate NY and just got a kitten within the last few months, there's a good chance your kitten will be getting this identical toy. But I only paid .50 for it at my thrift store. And it doesn't have the original packaging. And it only has 1 one of the balls inside. But hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

Happy American Ninja Warrior Day

Here is a future competitor:



speaking of TV - Dexter fans - wasn't the episode the other night a real nail biter?

18 days

18 days til Christmas. Sheesh. I know it's 18 days until Christmas because of the countdown clock on ebay. I guess again time is running out to get things listed to sell before Christmas. But that's ok, it's not like I don't have a bajillion other things I can be doing besides packaging up things to bring to the Post Office.

I did sell at an indoor yardsale last Saturday and made $136. But didn't find much worthy of buying from other sellers. I spoke with one seller who had the worst breath I've encountered in a long time. It was so bad that I just wanted to get away from her.

On Sunday, a very windy and cold day, I took Jacob to a Christmas parade. I've only seen the Christmas parade once, by accident, about 15 years ago. Way too many firetrucks, from all the different little neighboring towns. Even Jacob was bored (and cold) and wanted to go home. I made him suck it up and stay and have fun. haha.

gotta run and watch Pawn Stars.

Didn't we just have Christmas????

Yea! My computer works. Actually my DH fixed it soon after I did that last post. Apparently somehow the memory card in my computer got loose. Thankfully DH isn't afraid to remove the cover off the computer and fix whatever needs fixing. If it was left to me to fix, I would just cry and call the Geeksquad or something.

Well my post that I started writing the other day about Thanksgiving just had a couple of photos that I took during our free hotel stay at Chesapeake Beach Resort & Spa. Pics below. Both DH and I both got the promotions flyers, so we each got a free night for Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb. Not sure if we will use all the nights or not.

I am so not ready for Christmas. Didn't we just have Christmas not too long ago?? And I'm not quite ready for the year to be over - I promised DH I would have my computer area cleaned out and while I've made a lot of progress, I still have a lot to do before the 31st.

And I have to get organized for an indoor yardsale for this Saturday.

Today I took another box of books to the used bookstore for credit. I currently have about $170 in credit at the bookstore. I would have had over $200 but DH used about $40 of it to get some books for himself. So basically we are just exchanging the clutter for other clutter.

I did some black Friday shopping but not much buying. I wasn't impressed with the sales this year. But somehow I managed to leave the house a little after 5am and not get back home until after 1pm.

It's Cyber Monday - and my computer is dead

I am typing this from Jacob's computer. Our internet went down last night so I shut my computer totally off. This morning when I tried to start it up, it sounds like it's starting but all I hear is a beep.........beep.........beep.....etc. And a blank monitor screen. I hope it's something simple and stupid.

Anyhow when we lost internet last night I was right in the middle of posting a new blog post. I swear. Was writing about my free hotel stay (again! yippee!), my black Friday shopping (yes, I like to go Black Friday shopping just so I can see what people are buying that I will be seeing at the spring yardsales. Only half kidding - I made my first purchase myself that day at 5:45am.

Today I had an eye exam and picked out new glasses.

I also went to Famous Footwear today and walked out of the store with a brand new pair of flip flops and paid $0. I really dislike flip flops in general, but hey, they want to give them to me, I'll take them. Maybe I'll just sell them at my next yardsale. Which is this Saturday. It will be an indoor yardsale that the Parks & Recs department organizes. So this week I will be getting ready for that.

When I got home today from the stores/eye exam there was a message on our answering machine saying I won a tray of spicy nuggets from our local Chick-Fil-A. On Black Friday morning, I stopped in to get a free soda and free biscuit sandwich (I had coupons) and while there filled out a entry blank to win the nugget tray. mmmmmm Chick-Fil-A. If you don't live near a Chick-Fil-A, I feel sorry for you. Also while there, I bought a $6 2011 calendar so I will have coupons for next year (calendar has 12 yummy coupons for free food).

well I better run for now. I hate not having my computer!!!!!

Another Royal Wedding Date: April 29

Apparently Kate and Prince William have taken my advice and wisely picked the date of April 29 to wed. There is a history of successful royal weddings on that date (for instance the date of April 29, 1989 is ingrained in the YSQ's brain). I like how William gave Kate a used ring - they are my kinda people!

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So anyway, it seems like I have a bunch of stuff going on. Today I had some blood drawn - I have a doctor's appt next week and they doc wanted to run blood tests to check everything out ahead of time. I am fine (knock on wood) - just a regular physical which I haven't had done in forever, so they better not find anything.

I am wearing a temporary crown - so I gotta go back and have the permanent one put on in a week or two. I need new glasses, so I have an appt for an eye exam. So after I get my new glasses, THEN I will go get my driver's license replaced. (The second one that I've lost and still have not found.) I think my eyes have gotten worse so I'm afraid if I go now and get my license replaced, I'll fail the eye exam. I probably wouldn't but I don't want to take that chance.

So after having my blood drawn today, I stopped off at a nearby thrift (didn't buy a thing) but saw this (for $2)







Ahhhh...the good memories of looking at a scary mean looking tribal guy who looks like he wants to want to boil me alive.

#1 Yardsale Blog in the Universe

According to someone who is obviously very wise and is an aficionado of yardsale blogs - yardsalequeen is the #1 yardsale blog (in the universe I suppose) - click here for the list There may be other yardsale blogs in other galaxies but until I have proof of them, I will assume the title of the Best Yardsale Blog in the Entire Universe. I wonder what I win.

But enough about that, let's talk about me.

I did go to one yardsale today. I could have gone to more but didn't feel like traveling. I bought two $1 CDs (a fairly recent That's What I Call Music CD and Colbie Caillat). Finding good CDs is going to be my problem in the future. Too many people are downloading their music and not buying as many CDs as they once did. So therefore, less newer CDs will be showing up at yardsales. Waaaa. When I say new, I mean music that's come out in the past 5 years. I don't need another Chumbawamba or Spin Doctors CD, I have those. Hey, I just thought of something really crazy, *I* could go out and buy CDs in a store. That is an interesting concept.

Free Champagne & Shrimp - can't beat that

A local jewelry store had their annual Christmas ladies night tonight. Free little sandwiches (not in picture), ginormous shrimp, desserts and champagne. Yum. Looks a little barren now, but they kept replenishing.

And they best part is that the jewelry store doesn't try to guilt you into buying anything. They just want to you make a list of what you want to buy so then they can hound your significant other to buy the stuff on your list.

Personally, I just want to win the big door prize they will be giving away on Dec. 24th.

Adios bachelor pad cheap laminate wood over particle board coffee table - hello $15 newish looking coffee table

So you could say we are a little bit lazy when it comes to re-doing stuff around the house. I seem to be lacking the redecorating and crafting gene - so what. We've been needing a new coffee table for quite a while. My husband's bachelor pad coffee table is now finally history after 20+ years of hard service. Neither of us drinks coffee but we do enjoy other adult beverages - and in the past decade or so we've been sorta neglecting the use of coasters. Over the past several months, its gotten really bad - with actual particle board showing. See pic below.

We even looked around in actual furniture stores for a replacement, but none really jumped out at me and the pre-owned ones I've seen always had some sort of problem. I mean, we could afford new, but why buy something and pay retail for something I didn't totally love? The wait has paid off this week when I found the deal I was looking for. A coffee table that looks brand new, has a drawer for storage (I love storage) and had an awesome price of just $15. And it matches the rest of the furniture.

The old, embarrassingly crappy coffee table:


The new and the old side by side, (the price sticker is still on the new)


I wish the whole thing had drawers but oh well, you can't win them all.


The old coffee table was so bad off that I just hauled it straight to the dump. I think our county has a very reasonably priced trash / recycling program. As residents we are allowed to throw away our household trash / recycle for free if we bring it to one of the recycling /trash centers (however I think we are charged about $80 a year but that just gets added to our annual property tax. ) So it's free to throw away furniture and household stuff - except you do get charged a fee if you throw away stuff that is supposed to be permanently attached to your house (like a door or a toilet, but even then the cost is very low.)

So since I was throwing away something big, I had to take the coffee table to the junk mountain, which I normally don't go to. You will be proud of me - I resisted the urge to pick up a few stray soda cans I saw on junk mountain and put them in the recycling bin.

Dog at Yardsale

I forgot to post this yesterday, about the dog I saw at a yardsale. It was at the yardsale where I bought the mystery $1 item In case you're wondering, it's an outdoor game called washers. I've never heard of it or played it. The seller said they called it "redneck horseshoes". I figured for a buck, it would give it a try. It came with a baggy of big metal washers, that you throw from a distance and try to get into the coffee can.

Anyhow, the seller had this dog with a coat of many colors. It had to be the oddest looking dog I've seen in quite a while. I asked what kind of dog it was, expecting to hear it was a mixed breed (which are pretty much the best dogs around) only to hear the seller say "Australian Shepherd". Just another reason yardsales are so awesome - for the educational factor.

Selling at the Live Auction

Ok, I know you all have been patiently waiting to hear the results of my junk for sale at the live auction house (no I didn't go to it, but maybe I should start since stuff sells so cheaply there -haha! I used to go all the time pre-Jacob, the auctioneer was very entertaining back then. But now the auctioneer they have is more serious.

After the commission was taken out, I ended up with a check for $75.XX. My awesome vintage telephone gossip bench/junk magnet that I couldn't stand having in the house any longer sold for a whopping $5 (paid $1 at a yardsale). The highest thing sold for $35 and that was that little dark wood vanity (originally I paid $5 for it at a yardsale).

Today after hitting a few yardsales and an estate sale, I met up with the local collector guy who buys local vintage memorabilia. I had various things I had been collecting for a while (stuff bought at my thrift and at yardsales), including the vintage postcards I had from the area. But guess what? He didn't want the postcards I had, since he already had identical ones. But he did pay me $80 for all the other stuff I had that he wanted. Heck, that's more than I got from the stuff I took to the auction house.

Here's one thing I bought today that reminded me of my mother - for many reasons. It will be a Christmas gift, cuz I'm generous that way:



She and I are both Taurus's (our birthdays are just one day apart).

And at a yardsale, I bought this pair of things. Sorry for the bad lighting (morning sun at weird angle). Make of 2 x 4's, carpeting and big empty coffee cans. I paid $1. I know what it is (since they told me) do you?



I dropped off another box of books to the used bookstore (my 4th box). My first 3 boxes got me a $120 credit! I did "buy" two books with my credit, one of which is



Thrift Score by Al Hoff. It's an older book but looks interesting.

And I stopped at a thrift (didn't buy a thing) and saw this:



I don't remember ever seeing a mannequin in a reclining position. But very true to life, since there was a remote in his hand

Tony DeFranco is about to leave the castle

This is what I uncovered today in my stash - two 45's of Tony DeFranco and the DeFranco Family. Since Tony wasn't about to make me big bucks on ebay, they are being mailed off tomorrow to one of my good friend's in NY who was a big fan.

If you weren't lucky enough to be around in the 70's, here's some of the stuff you missed.

Some of the junk has left the building

Last week, I dropped off a bunch of stuff to a local auction house to sell. I have to wait until this Friday to see how much money I made.

Here's some of the stuff all set up at the auction:

Little vanity, bench, and metal chair. One of the workers saw me take a picture of the little vanity and said that he planned on bidding on it. I loved that little metal chair (very sturdy) but don't have room or a need for it.



Jacob's little desk (with chair) that I painted green and blogged about back in 2006


They put all of the "small" stuff that I brought in right on the front table in front of the auctioneer. I hope that's a good sign.


Brand new chocolate fondue fountain that I bought at a yardsale for $5. What was I thinking? I don't plan on having an event where I need a chocolate fountain. And I don't want to even think about what a PITA it would be to clean it. Old metal oil can and watering can (one I bought at a yardsale and one belonged to my father). Hopefully someone who is into those kind of vintage pieces were at the auction. Tray of old radios and tray of old cameras. Bunch of vintage decorative empty liquor bottles that I bought a long time ago (pre-Jacob I think) at a yardsale. I remember paying $20 for all the liquor bottles but it also included a bunch of other stuff in that lot. The TV was not mine.



3 barstools that I got free at a yardsale. When we had the addition put on the house back in 1993, we had planned on having a bar built (even paid to have water pipes installed in the crawl space so we could have a sink for a bar - since of course we would be doing all kinds of entertaining). Well then the whole internet came along and the corner meant for the bar became my computer area. So I don't need these old freebie barstools anytime soon. Plus now, I'd rather go out and buy some cute ones, rather than clunky old wooden ones if we were to have a bar.



Yesterday there weren't many yardsales nearby so instead I went to the flea market that I occasionally sold at. What do I see? Some of my junk that had just sold the previous night at the auction. (I didn't go to the auction so that's why I have to wait til Friday to see what stuff sold for). Here are some of the liquor bottles:

Adios Gumby

Here is what I decluttered today. Bye bye Gumby. DH won Gumby for me at a carnival sometime in the 80's when we were dating long distance (at the time we were dating, he was in the military so he had to move to where ever they sent him). Then when I flew home, Gumby was my carry-on and I walked thru the airport with it (I did not buy Gumby his own airplane seat).

And actually today I donated more stuff than what the picture shows. I tell ya, having an organization making a house call to pick up donations is definitely the way to go. No loading up the car and lugging the stuff into the thrift store donation center and then unloading it. I also got rid of a table lamp that I received as a bridal shower gift back in '89. I was just looking at it the other day and thinking how outdated it looked, not cool vintage look, but just an outdated '80's look.

Speaking of outdated, here's a picture of my foyer that I took the other day:



It's an early american style (i think??) wooden telephone gossip bench. My mom was at a yardsale where the seller said to "make an offer", so she did - one dollar - and the seller said ok. It needed to be refinished, which I did. My guess is that I've had it and used for over 15 years. It became a junk magnet, coats and crap piled on it and magazines stored below.

Today I took it to the auction house where it will be auctioned Friday night. So maybe I will get some money for it.

And here's my foyer now. In it's place is my cool, vintage $10 1967 Lane cedar chest. I love storage. (Just pretend you didn't see the large ceramic crock overfilled with toys. Or the 20 year old linoleum flooring.) I have material and will sew a cushion for it. Of course it's longer than the chair it replaced, but it's about the same width. And it's actually more comfortable to sit on (even without a cushion).

Having a Kodak Moment

Everyday in my decluttering efforts I am finding all kinds of things. Here is my first camera - so even though I am still very young, cough cough, it was not a digital. It initially belonged to my mom until I started using it. Can't remember the last time I saw it.

Now...what to do with it? I remember taking this on my 6th grade field trip to Boston. Someone has an identical one on ebay with a Buy It Now price of $9.99 so it's not valuable, money wise. . I am trying to declutter but when it comes to stuff I had as a child, part of me wants to hang on to stuff even though I know I will never use it again - and I don't have a place to display it etc etc. Just because my mom used it and I used it, doesn't mean I need to hang on everything, right??? So should I just mark it $1 and sell at my next yardsale to some camera collector?

The local Parks & Recs is having an indoor December yardsale - so I'll be signing up to sell at that one. It's a good one to sell at since people are out doing a lot of shopping in December.

And in going thru my large stash of books, I found an old paperback that I could have mailed to some boy in the armed forces, but the book was in poor condition so it went to paper recycling.



More stuff left the house than came in, so it was good day.

Having a great time in Maryland - wish you were here

I am getting ready to contact one of my local buyers - it's a person who collects local memorabilia and buys stuff that I find. I knew I had some vintage-y postcards from this area so I dug them out. Here is one with a scary tall clown and a crying toddler. Yeah, that really helps sell the area as a vacation destination. I bought an entire shoebox of postcards for a few bucks at a moving sale a while ago. Some were used, some unused.

Front of Postcard:



Back of postcard:


Here is one they sent describing Las Vegas in 1967 (a person could probably write the exact same thing in 2010!)



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I am not the best housekeeper in the world but I have a laundry tip to share: Make sure when you load your washing machine that a wire hanger hasn't accidentally fallen in the washing machine. The clothes will turn out all wrapped up around it in a big tangled ball. You're welcome.