Like a blind dog in a meat market

I stopped into my favorite thrift today and an older customer standing next to me said "it's like a blind dog in a meat market". Basically what he meant was that all of us customers were just fumbling around, bumping into everything and smelling/touching everything. Yep, that's about right.

Here's what I bought for $2. A set of brand new melamine dishes by Thomas Paul. I thought they were too big to be dinner dishes but that's what they are. If you like them, you can buy your own set for only $40 on Amazon (I'm keeping mine.) $10 each for melamine plates?? Yikes!!!

I won FIRST PRIZE in the Academy of Country Music Awards contest!!!!!!!!

A while back I entered an online contest sponsored by Dr. Pepper & Arby's to win a trip to Nashville to attend the Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony. It was right up my alley, since walking the red carpet, posing for the paparazzi etc, is the sort of thing as yardsalequeen, I am used to doing constantly. Well guess what??? Today I got notification that I won FIRST PRIZE!!!!!!!!!

And as a First Prize winner, here's what I won. A t-shirt. Then I saw an envelope and it felt like there was a gift card inside. Nope, I also won a 5 free song download. "Congrautlations" to me. It was the grand prize winner that got to go to Nashville.



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I go to the doctors later this week for a checkup so I've been walking on our dining room treadmill. Everyone has a treadmill in their dining room, right? I despise running, so I only use it for walking. I've been doing more walking than usual (my normal walking routine is from the parking lot to the store and from the store to the car) so my doctor better be nice to me. 95 minutes spent walking today with NO buying of anything! That has to be some sort of personal best.

Ta-da! My re-purposed swing/glider bird feeder revealed!

And here it is, in all it's glory, is my new bird and/or squirrel feeding center. I love how it turned out. And the best part, years from now when maybe it gets rusty or falls apart, I'm sure I can find a cheap replacement at a yardsale. Heck, I see an old dirty swing sitting on my neighbor's porch right now so there are tons of them around. Other benefits: it's portable so I can move it if I want to rake under it or move to a new location. When it rains, I won't worry about it falling over, like those stupid shepherd hooks seem to do. You may have noticed my new suet feeder is not in the pic, I plan on putting that one off our deck since it doesn't create a mess, like sunflower shells do. There is still room for more feeders and I will probably rearrange them from time to time.

Here's a reminder of what I started with (my old rusty swing with missing back, cushions etc)



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No yardsales yesterday so no yardsale bargains to talk about.

My DIY Repurposed Glider Patio Swing Makeover into Birdfeeder Station

Today was the day I planned for my glider/swing makeover into my birdfeeding station. So it's 95% complete - the only thing left to do is fill and hang the bird feeders. Once I get the bird feeders up (and before it becomes covered with bird poop) I will post an "after" picture.

So here is the official "before" picture, taken in it's natural habitat. Notice the missing back, missing cushions and rust.



Step 1. Removed the swing part. (On the unused part, I tore off the rest of the fabric and will take the metal to the metal recycling place).

Step 2. Used a wire brush and scrubbed the rusty parts to get the rust flakes off.



Step 3. Dug around in bathroom closet to find my unused metal shower curtain hooks. Spray painted them green. Ever since I bought my awesome shower curtain, I didn't need the hooks anymore (but of course didn't even consider throwing them away). The shower curtain hooks are what will hold the feeders onto the frame. At first I thought about buying "S" hooks at the hardware store, but then I checked the price. For a big S hook, they wanted $1.59 or so EACH. I don't think so.



Step 4. Spray painted the swing frame green (I used some expensive Krylon Fusion paint which I had on hand. I bought several cans dirt cheap at a yardsale). The fusion paint is for plastic but it said it was good for metal and wood etc. Notice my current bird feeders in the background. Ever since I decided to make my bird feeder station, I've neglected filling the feeders.




So here is my "before" pic of my current birdfeeding situation mess. (yes, the squirrels opened the light green birdfeeder on the left).


Stay tuned to see my new birdfeeding station complete with birdfeeders.

Got my gutters decluttered

Yesterday was a rare day, I spent an entire day at home. No Walgreens, no CVS, no trip to the Post Office, or grocery store, nada. But I did manage to spend money.

The castle's gutters needed decluttering. Badly. The castle is multi-leveled. That's a fancy way of saying part it's part one story and part two story. It's the two story part that needed the work of a professional. (Yes, I love going up on the roof of the one story part and cleaning the gutters!)

The last time I was quoted a price for gutter cleaning it was $100 (didn't get it done, I just asked a handyman who was doing work at a neighbors for a quote). The second floor gutters hadn't been cleaned in many years. I called a company that advertised $65 gutter cleaning. I figured it would be $65 and UP, but on the phone they said it was a flat $65 and they would clean up the mess and be there the same day. And they were. Sorry for rambling on about gutter cleaning but I am so happy to find a gutter cleaning place who doesn't get scared off when they see how tall our house is. There's no way I would walk around on the roof of the second floor part ...and then stand near the edge and actually clean the gutters??? No way. With their leaf blower they even cleaned the leaves off the back deck which was not even part of the mess they created with the gutter junk. Sorry I don't have pics to show, I didn't want the gutter guys to think I am weird.

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The other day I was at one of my favorite grocery stores (the old Food Lion) and on the way home, I passed a storage facility place and saw cars parked up and down the road and people milling around. So it dawned on me - storage auction!!!! I hit the brakes. Unfortunately I was too late and missed the auction but I did pick up a schedule for future auctions.

Speaking of my fav grocery store, here it is on a typical busy afternoon.


Oh and I got some good news today. It may be good new for you too (if you are a Walgreens addict like me). The manager told me that the store is being re-done on the inside - no more tall aisles filled sky high, it's going to be "low profile". So they will be doing a lot of clearancing over the next several weeks. I don't know if the change will be in all stores nationwide or what. So your mileage may vary.

Decluttered Christmas Tree

So here's what I decluttered the other day - donations ready for pick-up by AmVets. I even asked if they wanted old computer monitors and they said yes. I love that they pick up right at the door and leave the tax receipt. No lugging stuff to the thrift store. I declutterized our Christmas tree, some clothes and miscellany. I think I bought the tree at 75% off clearance at CVS several years back (regular price $59.99, YSQ price: $15). It was pre-lit with clear lights, which worked great, but the tree itself looks nothing like the photo on the box. The tree had lots of big gaps in the branches and overall so-so. So this past January I bought another clearance Christmas tree also at 75% off (so about the same price as I paid for the other one). But it's a Rite-Aid Christmas tree with colored lights. I doubt it can be any worse than the other one. I'll know once December rolls around again, which will be here before you know it.

One thing I always do is go over all junk mail pretty thoroughly. Cuz you just never know when a good coupon may be hidden somewhere. Last week in the weekly sales ads, there was a separate coupon for Ace Hardware. But the coupon wasn't good for last weekend, it was good for THIS weekend (Fri, Sat, & Sun). So I'm sure many people saw it and just threw it out or set it aside but then forgot to use it. The coupon was good for 50% off one item (less than $30). So I bought the below birdfeeder (suet feeder) not for $24.99, but for $12.49 plus tax with the coupon. I have an Ace Hardware store close by so it's not out of my way to go there. I was able to find a second coupon so today I bought an 8-pack of suet blocks for $3.99 (not $7.99) PLUS I found a dollar bill on the floor while shopping! And I know a lot of people didn't use the coupon since when I handed the cashier the coupon (today was last day to use it), the cashier had to consult with another cashier on how to type it into the cash register. I have a ton of birdfeeders (most from yardsales) but every once in a while it's nice to get a spanking brand new one that I don't need to clean out someone else's rotten birdseed out of.



So pretty much my goal in life is not to pay full price for anything if at all possible. Just the other day, long suffering Mr. YSQ was lamenting the fact that I never buy him his favorite Dove Chocolate Easter eggs until Easter is over. (Duh, winning!) But I was successfully able to prove him wrong this year (and that's what marriage is all about, right?) Here is my evidence:



Dove Chocolate bought the other day for Mr. YSQ for .06 (it was on sale for $3, minus $1 coupon that the CVS coupon center printed out for me combined with the $2 Facebook CVS candy coupon.)

I did hit one yardsale yesterday but it wasn't blogworthy to talk about.

Here is a TV

or this other tv




Feel fee to disregard this post. We are thinking of buying this tv so I wanted to do an affiliate link for myself, so that way when if we buy it, I will get my kick-back and I'll use this link to buy it. Just wanted to make 200% sure I'll get my kick-back.

My Future White Trash Birdfeeder Stand

Pictured above is our old falling apart deck swing, AKA my future birdfeeder stand. It originally came with a canopy for shade, which I think lasted one year before the fabric started disintegrating from the hot summer sun. So that got taken off. Then the cushions started falling apart so those got thrown away (I modified other outdoor cushions for it.) Then finally the fabric on the actual swing started decaying so I tore off the fabric on the back part since bits and pieces were falling off and making a mess. I figured someday we'll spend an hour or so and take it to metal recycling and maybe get $3 for it. But then it dawned on me that it would make one helluva bird feeder stand. I just need to remove the swing part. All those swirly things at the top will be able to hold a ton of different type feeders. And since the frame is sturdy, it won't start leaning like my current shepherd hooks do under the weight of 8 lbs of sunflower seeds. So stay tuned, this is the "before" picture. And I plan on spray painting it since there is some rust going on.

I am a surprised that a few of you actually liked that old wheelchair! Yes, I agree, it would be a neat thing to have as a spooky Halloween decoration or part of a haunted house display. Personally I don't have room to store it. Plus, they wanted like $35 for it. For $35, I could buy 70 .50 items at a yardsale :)

Now here's something I wanted to buy but didn't. I just loved this coffee table but I have no room for it and it needed to be refinished. But it was solid wood from Lane, and had an awesome Mid-Century modern look to it. It was $15.



Instead, here is something I bought. An empty box for .25. It's small and doesn't take up much room. I sort of have a collection of vintage bathroom products. Funny how it has laxative action. I guess somehow years ago, nose and butt problems were related.



Still no new car for me. I swear, we have definitely spent more time looking at new cars than we did we bought our house. (We spent a grand total of about 8 hours house hunting before we bought our house). And geez, once those car dealers get your info, they call every other day wanting to help you.

I am on a drug, it's called Yardsale Queen.

Well no yardsales today, but I did go to an outdoor shopping venue that wasn't even a flea market. More like a monthly outdoor craft show with high prices. I bought nothing.

Speaking of not buying things, here are some things I saw at one of my thrifts recently but didn't buy. I am very disappointed in this store lately, it is getting overly crap-filled with high prices. For instance, shoe prices used to be .50 or $1. (I once bought a very nice pair of Dansko shoes for $1 there and re-sold them for $100+.) When I recently checked their shoe prices, on some I saw a $9 price tag. For a pair of nothing special used shoes. No way.

They had a very old wheelchair (who would buy something like this?? I mean, if you needed a wheelchair, you wouldn't use one that was built in 1940 (or whenever). And I don't see it as being something someone would buy as a collectible.)


A shelf for your monitor. I bet the company that makes these is out of business.


$5 for an 'NSYNC bear. $5??? I wouldn't buy it if it was .50.

In honor of my Dad

who died 6 years ago today, here is a polka for your listening and viewing pleasure (it's a cover of Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band; a good polka band will have the ability to take a song from any musical genre and turn it into a polka.) My Dad probably would have known half the people in the video. This video was filmed at his favorite polka place, and the site of my wedding reception (which of course the father/daughter dance was a polka).



p.s. hey, I just saw someone I know in this video - a cousin and her husband. They are self-proclaimed polka chasers. You know how some people who are into the weather go out and chase tornados? My cousin and her husband go out and chase polkas all over the country.