Thrift Store Pet Peeves Arg!!!!

I had a bit of a problem with my computer last week but thankfully I am semi-back to normal. The only issue I have now is with my camera and getting new pictures on my computer.

Sooooo....until that is fixed by some miracle, I will have to go thru the thousands of my photos already on my harddrive and pick something out to talk about.

Today I pick: Thrift Store Pet Peeves. I have a bunch I could talk about, but here is one that really irritates me. Why do workers in thrift stores (and yardsales) put price stickers on things in very conspicuous places that may end up damaging the item when the label is removed?

Here is a picture of some vintage Charlie Brown & Snoopy plaques I bought a while back. I was tempted not to buy them since the store put large price tags right on the artwork which is just made of paper. The thrift store could have chosen to put the label on the back of the item, but no, they put it right smack dab on the front, where it can damage the item. Arg!!!!!



I knew because of my years of experience and mad skills I have in removing labels, I could probably remove the labels without damaging the plaques. Here's my plan of attack:

1. Start removal process very soon after acquiring object. The longer the sticker remains on, the harder it is to remove.

2. Summon my lady-in-waiting to retrieve hairdryer and official Tweezerman tweezers from royal bathroom.

3. Plug in said hairdryer and turn on low heat and aim it at label. After a few seconds, try to lift off a corner of the sticker with tweezers (while maintaining low heat on hairdryer). Once a corner gets lifted up, pull very gently to remove the rest of the label.

4. Have a drink and celebrate your success.

Well anyway, that's how I remove a price tag sticker. Your results may vary.

Adult Field Trip to Washington DC - National Air & Space Museum

Well again, there were no yardsales this past Saturday. Woe is me. But I managed to survive the day by drowning my sorrows at the open bar at a party hosted by my husband's place of employment. They know how to put on a party. This event was held at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC.

There were tons of things to do and not much time to do it. Eat, drink, be merry, see museum, watch Imax movies etc. All free, of course. Like I said before we thank you Lord for nuclear power! And since it was held in the evening when the museum is closed to the public, didn't have to deal or mingle with pesky tourists.

Looking down on the band and dance floor. This was early in the evening - people were too busy eating to dance - the dance floor filled up by the end of the night.




First thing I ate was a lobster lollipop.


This was called Shrimp Ouchy. It was shrimp yummy.


Risotto bar




omg - the desserts!!! Note to self - next time, line my large handbag with an empty gallon size Ziplock baggy. Or two.























Outside of the musuem

My old mirror mirror that is on the wall

Since I will be doing some minor remodeling to our powder room, I took some "before" pictures. It's very Circa 1992. We bought the house new in 1990, so I think I finally got around to taking down the crappy builder's grade medicine cabinet, adding the oh so fancy lighting fixture, painting, and putting up the dollar store peel n stick border around 1992 or so. And haven't done a thing since. I mean really, why mess with perfection? ha. But now the mirror is starting to age, at the bottom you can see where the reflective part of the mirror has gotten weird. It's like some cleaning chemical or something got behind the glass and started eating away at it.





I am keeping the sink and cabinet. I can never figure out why people go with those pedestal sinks. Not me. Where do they hide all their crap????

Mirror mirror soon to be on my bathroom wall

Here's one of my thrift store buys from the other day - a huge mirror for $10. I had better things to do today, so of course I asked my Lady-in-Waiting (having a Lady-in-Waiting is just one of my benefits of being Yardalequeen) to take the photo. So those muscular, well toned legs wearing fashionable grey pantaloons, fuzzy socks and thrift store Merrell brand shoes belong to her. Not me, of course.



It's been a good 20 years since our downstairs bathroom has had a facelift. So it might be about time for some minor remodeling. Like replace the lighting and the mirror, electric cover plates, remove the peel 'n stick wall border that I remember buying at a dollar store close-out etc etc. And it wouldn't hurt to give the bathroom a new coat of paint. (I bought a $5 gallon of a neutral colored Oops Paint at Ace Hardware.) Hey and guess what? The mirror looks all big and heavy in a cast iron frame, right? But it's not, it is big but not heavy - the frame is plastic! But I swear, it doesn't look like plastic and you can only tell if you touch it. And really, how often do you go around touching people's mirrors when you visit someone's house?

The Great Yard Sale Season of 2012 has officially opened!

I went to my first yardsale of 2012 (last weekend) so I know the yardsale season as officially begun. For $3 I bought a leather Stone Mountain handbag. Yes I know I already have the best handbag ever made which I currently still use and love but for $3, it doesn't hurt to have a little variety now and then.



And tomorrow I will shop at an indoor church yardsale, but then I have a feeling there may be a dry spell until springtime. But you never know.

I had a few other buys this week - from a thrift store. I was looking at our old rubbermaid kitchen sink dish drain the other night and thinking how old and gross it looked. And ta-da, just the next day I spot a brand new, never used one for $2.50.
I wish I had instead been looking at my old and gross mini-van and found a new one for $2.50.

Did anyone catch Storage Wars the other day where Barry Weiss found some old glass collectible fly catcher jars? The day after watching it, I found a blue glass fly catcher jar. The cashier had no idea what it was. I don't think it's old but for $1 I had to get it.

Oh and I bought an orange chair for $4. Depending on how the pictures turn out, my plan is to use it as a backdrop for when I take pics for ebay.

Cheers to a Great 2012!

I've been away. I would like to tell you I was visiting a vineyard and winery in the Tuscany region of France.





But I honestly cannot say that I was. I did however go to a local vineyard with a friend. Of course I used a coupon for a free wine tasting for 2 plus free wine glasses. The place and the grounds are much prettier when it's not wintertime and raining. Wine is not my adult beverage of choice, but I can manage to choke some down from time to time.

And I just got home from visiting my family in upstate New York for a while after Christmas. Plus I may have stopped in to their Salvation Army once or twice, just to browse, of course.