The Yardsalequeen Roots - Albany NY in the 80's

Ahhhh, this takes me back to the glory of Albany, NY in the 80's. The clothes, the music, the hair! I could watch this all day long. But a disclaimer to others not from the upstate New York region: I am not responsible if your eyes and ears bleed afterward. I cannot even name my most favorite part - too many to list - we got Nipper, we got a woman in a crown (that is not me, by the way - that is a Tulip Queen), we got a priest wearing a Michael Jackson glove, we got a "insert Governor here" sign, we got Mike Tyson (who I did touch while in a bar in Albany but I digress), we got Dick Wood (yes, that is the name of one of Albany's local celebrities). It's so perfectly 80's.

Kim in Florida won the Chicken Soup book

Hi - just a quick note to congratulate Kim in Florida who won the Chicken Soup for the Shoppers Soul, which random.org picked her entry as the lucky winner. The book is already on its way to her. The thing she is looking for is Serta Sheep. That is one thing I look for too at yardsales - they are plushie counting sheep that people can buy at Serta Mattress stores - (for some reason I'm also thinking you get one free if you happen to buy a mattress but I could be wrong).

The sheep all have a different #, and each # is only available for a certain length of time. I was at one yardsale where I bought two number 13's - and sold them on ebay for $20+ each - in checking ebay now, they don't go as high. My mom mentioned she liked the sheep with braces (I guess she saw him in a commercial) and I was lucky enough to find the exact sheep at a yardsale one year. The sheep I am looking for is a huge one - the kind that sell for $75+ on ebay.

It only took 12 years but...

I finally qualified to be an eBay PowerSeller. And I hit 2000 in my feedback. I joined ebay November 1998. I can't even remember when I hit 1,000. Seems so long ago that I don't even remember it.



Jacob and I went to Rita's Italian Ice for our free ice today (every year on the first day of spring they give out a freebie. I got the strawberry and Jacob got the Cotton Candy flavor. I think next time I will get the cotton candy. When DH drove by later, he said there was a long line so he didn't stop. I guess I just lucked out and hit it when there was no line.

Even tho its spring, here's an article from last month that appeared in the Washington Post. I mean, if you are so concerned about dog being stuck, wouldn't you try to go help it rather than calling animal control?

Walgreens Grocery Shopping

I stopped into Walgreens today (I was thinking I had a $2 Register Rewards expiring soon but I must have used it). But I saw that they are reorganizing their frozen food section and had clearanced a bunch of stuff, including some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. (But alas, the Ben & Jerry's flavor that was on clearance for like .82 had been cleaned out).

I did buy several tubs of .55 Coolwhip, $2.19 Bertolli Lasagnas (normally $7.99 each) and .75 Gordon's Fried Rice Shrimp bowls for me. No one else in the house will eat food that can swim. I even had some .40 coupons for Gordon's so after coupons some were only .35 but others I did pay the *full* .75 each for.

I also stopped at Hallmark for a free kid's card The cashier told me to come in once per day (really she did) and get one free everyday until 4/4/10.

And in today's mail I got a coupon from Food Lion for a free can of dog food. As if I need it. That is one downfall of those shopper rewards cards, it knows what you have bought in the past and frantically wants you to keep buying the same stuff, even if your dog has died. But you know I will get the free dog food and probably give it away. I mean, I can't not use the coupon. I got to.

Yardsalequeen Give-away Contest

I gotta declutterize!!!! My house is bursting at the seams with stuff that I have to clean out. I have tried to be good lately and list stuff for ebay.

Anyhow, this giveaway is for a copy of the book Chicken Soup for the Shopper's Soul. It was a duplicate Christmas gift (yes, Kathy, if you are reading this, I didn't want to mention it at Christmas, but I already had the book).

So to enter this contest, just leave a comment here on this post and make sure if your email isn't obvious, I have a way to contact you if you are the winner. Tell me the one thing you really really want to find this yardsale season. Contest ends midnight EST March 23. USA only (sorry rest of the world) - since the book will be mailed via cheap Media Mail within the USA. Cuz I am cheap that way. One entry per person. The winner will be randomly selected on March 24 and contacted on March 24.

BONUS: If you are one of the first 10 people to enter, you get a bonus entry. Just come back before the contest ends to enter a second time.

And if this book doesn't tickle your fancy, stay tuned. I will be running another contest soon to win some awesome sassy yardsale or garage sale signs courtesy of Sassy Signs

I found the commercial online

Yardsalequeen: The Early Years

Boy, I haven't written in a long time. Nothing much is happing. I did come across one of my secret diaries today and thought I would share a part of it - you should feel honored because it's my super secret diary from 1978 and no eyes besides my own were to ever see it. It details all the exciting things that were happing in my life in the early years.

Note: the "diary" was actually a 1976 calendar/address book that I bought on clearance in 1977 at K-mart. So this particular page of the diary is at the end of the book where the address section was located.

On that particular day I bought two shirts because they had holes in them for .50 . The store was called Korell's and was located in Mechanicville, NY. It wasn't a thrift store but looking back on it, I think it was some sort of factory-seconds store. I remember as a teen buying a red satin bridesmaid dress there for $5. Just because I wanted to. I did wear it to a Halloween party years later. I've since cut it up and now sometimes use the material as a backdrop for ebay items. For instance, you can see the dress in my Waterford Crystal auction Which by the way, I reduced the price to only $100, so now is the time to buy this bargain. Red dress not included.



Speaking of bargains, I got some free medication the other day. I haven't figured out what ailment it cures. As I was picking up a juice box that someone had carelessly thrown in our yard, I came across this little baggy of someone's medication. Now why would someone throw their medication out the window of a moving vehicle???? And what a unique little package, looks like someone recycled the cellophane off a cigarette pack to put their medicine in. Nice way to reduce/reuse/recycle and save the planet. Except for the whole littering aspect of it all.

My Whiskey Dog Reincarnated

I saw a commercial today which had the spittin image of my beloved Whiskey Dog in it. I think the commercial is for State Farm (I took a pic of the TV). Here is the Whiskey dog lookalike actor dog:


And here is (was) my Whiskey dog below (his hair would get all crazy and long like the dog/actor above, but I would trim to make it more manageable).

Oscar Night

Tonight is the Oscars and I cannot think of the Oscars without thinking back to Oscar night 2000 when I gave birth to Jacob. He's not 10 yet, the Oscars in 2000 were held late in March.

Of course I have not seen a single movie that is nominated. I can't remember the last movie I saw at a movie theater. Pulp Fiction? Titanic??? We don't have any good theaters nearby with stadium seating - have to drive a bit. Then I hate dealing with people talking in theaters, people sitting in front of me etc etc. The general public, in general, drive me nuts. haha.

Here is my debut on Great Day Houston with Deborah Duncan. I haven't gotten the guts yet to really listen to it. After I heard myself say a few "umms" I turned the volume down. There was a sound problem so that's why it wasn't done via Skype.

I did a little bit of grocery shopping today. $2 worth. I am loving the double .75 coupon policy that my grocery store has. Bought a ton of Quaker True Delight rice cakes (hey, I figure if they are bad, the squirrels can eat them). The store basically paid me .50 per package to take them. They were on sale for $1 each - and with my .75 coupon doubled, it took off $1.50 per package. So I had to buy other stuff too so it wouldn't be a negative number at the end.

Queen for a Day

Well today I had my interview on Great Day Houston a morning tv show in Houston, Texas. I was supposed to appear via Skype but there was some technical difficulties so Skype couldn't be done. Good thing I didn't waste money doing some emergency liposuction. But at least now my teeth are white with my Crest Whitestrips, my greys are Miss Clairoled and I'm wearing nail polish AND earrings.

I'm not sure when it will air. They normally have the shows live, but today they had a rerun and they first told me that it would be shown tomorrow but it won't be streaming since is taped. I guess I'll just have to watch my website hits to see if there is a spike in traffic. I even remembered to say yardsalequeen.com in the interview, so that is a good thing.

The first interviewee on the program was Heloise - she's been around for years writing tips books covering all sorts of subjects. I was on her radio show a few years ago and I broke out the rum and coke before that interview to calm my nerves.

5 Years Ago Today

5 years ago today, I was shopping at one of my thrift stores. I remember because it was the day my dad died and I got the call while I was standing in line to pay. Hard to believe its been 5 years already.

The phone rang again this morning - early. 8:10am. I don't like getting calls that early, it seems like it's gotta be an emergency or something bad when someone calls that early. It was an automated phone call from ebay saying that there was a one day sale on listing fees today. ebay calling at 8am!!!???!! Good thing I wasn't sleeping. Well I'm gonna run and list some stuff on ebay. My Dad would approve - he had the most rock solid work ethic I've ever seen. I just wish more rubbed off on me!