Results of my pink shoes experiment

A few months ago I mentioned here that I couldn't resist buying a pair of pink suede shoes for .50 - for my son. They looked just like a similar beige pair that he likes and wears often. They are definitely not pink anymore. I put both liquid shoe polish and waxy shoe polish on them so now they are a one of a kind creation.

Got Free Sierra Mist at Food Lion grand opening

A new Food Lion grocery store opened up in our town earlier this week so I stopped in. While I'm glad I have a new store near to my house (3 miles away), there's another Food Lion that is 5 miles away. So that means they are ony 2 miles apart. I know in big metropolitan areas, having multiple grocery stores near each other is common, but geez, this is a pretty podunk area that I live in.

Anyhow at the store there was a display, "Free Samples Sierra Mist" and the Sierra Mist guy was stocking it up and told me to "help myself to as many as I would like". I questioned him what he meant by that and he reiterated that I could have as many as I want and that he had a lot to give away. He really seemed like he wanted people to take a lot. He commented something to the effect of the quicker he could give it away the better for him or something. So I helped myself. Do you remember that Sierra Mist commercial where the dog is laying in front of the air conditioner with it's legs spread? I think my dog Whiskey looks just like that dog.

Stay in School, don't loose your education!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll notice that every so often I find a funny ad that I want to share. Usually it's an ad that I found funny (especially when it wasn't intended to be funny) or just weird. Well the above ad is sort of sad in a way, bad spelling for a local educational supply company that calls themselves "the learning experts". Their ad states: Your child may loose 80% of what they learn in class while away from School." So they used "loose" when they meant "lose" and they capitalized "school" when it shouldn't have been. Plus, the sentence just sounds bad to begin with. They should have said "Your child may lose 80% of what they learn in school over summer vacation". Or something like that. (Anyhow, I heard that 63.9% of statistics quoted in surveys are made up. See I even made that up! :) And yes, I know I have typos in the title for this posting - I did that on purpose.

Attempted Child Abduction at Yardsale

Someone emailed me this story about a man who tried to abduct a child during a yardsale: Attempted Child Abduction at Yard sale

free garage sale classified ads

Since it rained this morning, I had some "extra" time today so I finally got around to making a place on my message board for people to post free ads for yardsales and garagesales. Personally, I have no idea how successful it will be but I know in the past people have advertised their yardsales on my message board. So now there's a specific place for yardsale ads. The link to my message board is over there on the left.

We had a pretty big storm last night so I think that scared a lot of people into not having a sale today. Only found 2 yardsales in my area, which typically I would find a dozen or so. Where I live a lot of people don't place an ad in the newspaper, they just put up signs around their neighborhood in strategic spots. Didn't buy anything exciting today.

Been spending money left and right

Well my son graduates from Kindergarten on Monday, so I've been spending this week doing a lot of thrift shopping and real store shopping. My son doesn't handle thrift shopping very well, so I don't thrift shop much during the summer (I still yardsale tho).

Got the AC fixed (service and diagnosis was $95 flat, I was expecting extra "labor" charges). Turns out our thermostat was bad so tonight I bought a new one on ebay.

I joined BJ's Warehouse again. Ok, I know I mentioned in a previous post that it was silly to join BJ's when they keep giving free shopping days. Ok, well they haven't done any free shopping days in a while and they sent me a free $10 off coupon on re-joining. I still hadn't planning on joining but then they sent me a save $20 coupon on re-joining. So I did re-join on June 1, so that means it will be good till the end of June 2007. So even though it's a years membership, I'll really get 13 months. Then I'll let it expire again. I've found that many companies really don't do anything for their long-term customers, they are more interested in getting "new" customers or pursuing former customers. Another example would be one of my newspaper subscriptions. They always have "deals" for new customers but the old customers get screwed regarding the rates. Sometimes it works out to be cheaper by letting subscriptions expire for a bit and then getting it again as a "new" customer.

When I was at BJ's, I did buy my husband his Father's Day gift, they have a huge bucket of David's Sunflower seeds for $19.99.

Found a rare Friday yardsale (moving sale) today. We don't have many Friday sales around here. Bought 5 bottles of stuff for the yard (Roundup, concentrated weed killer, gallon of deck cleaner and some other stuff), all for $2. I've found that when people have moving sales, they rarely want to pay to "move" household stuff like cleaners and they are usually *dirt* cheap.

Man, it felt like 1972 for a little while today...

Our internet went out for a few hours today, and also our cable (both supplied by Comcast). So no TV and no internet. Since we live in the boonies of Maryland, there are no "local" stations, so you have to have cable. Or else have a huge ugly antennae on your house to maybe get a fuzzy station or two. And to top it off, something is wrong with our air conditioner. So no air conditioning. Will be paying a HVAC service technican $95 to walk in the door tomorrow and diagnose the problem.

There's a reason kitchen rhymes with bitchin'

It's Memorial Day weekend so I wasn't expecting many yardsales, but there were a bunch. I was the first person at one sale and bought a ton of stuff, including some Hallmark Maxine items. The seller told me that Hallmark no longer makes the Maxine stuff. Along with the magnet I bought - pictured above (I paid either .50 or a .25 for it) I bought a Maxine teakettle for $2 which I'll put on ebay and a Welcome mat for $1 which says "Welcome to my home. Don't touch anything." Probably keep that for myself.

Bought a new Elvis Presley Zippo lighter in a tin for $1, and ton of CDs for only .10 each. Nothing was marked at the sale so I kept loading up an armfull of stuff finding out the prices, paying and putting it in my car and going back for more. I picked up 3 CDs that I wanted (including Clay Aiken Measure of a Man). When she told me the CDs were .10 each, I had to restrain myself from jumping up and down. So I calmly paid, loaded up the car and went back for about 30 more CDs.



Took this pic yesterday, thought it was funny. I'll be putting a larger version of it on my website.

Oh I don't think I mentioned this but I did "splurge" the other week and became members of a local museum. Joined during a half priced membership day, so a years family membership was only $25. The museum is the Calvert Marine Museum It's a small museum but they have a few fish tanks and a kids room etc. One of the highlights of the museum is the Drum Point lighthouse which you can climb up into. The museum always has a few "free" days a year but I figured for $25, it would be nice just to stop in whenever we want and not pay anything. I plan on taking my son there a lot over the summer. Since becoming a member, we have gone once a week.

End of school year coming up

The end of school year is coming up so I've been busy trying to run of bunch of errands now rather than having to do them with my 6 year old. Things like oil changes, hair cut and of course thrift shop. My son is not a good shopper, so I definitely scale back my thrift shopping in the summer.

The above pic is of one of my recent favorite yardsale buys. The basket on the bottom is my "new" vintage basket, paid $5 for it. The basket on the top is the one I bought a few months ago and blogged about. Made by a company called Redman in Peru, Indiana.

Yea for Taylor Hicks. I liked Katherine McPhee too, and also Elliot Yamin but I'm glad that Taylor won. It would have been neat if Elliot won since he really did not have any singing experience other than karaoke (unlike Katherine and Taylor). I am a big reality tv show junkie. So after the Apprentice ends in 2 weeks, there will be a lull until some new ones start up like Big Brother.

Voted for Taylor Hicks

Just a quick note but I'm hoping for a win for Taylor Hicks tonight.

been busy

My mother-in-law has been visiting this week so really haven't had much time to blog. Had a few awesome buys last week that I will post about when I get a chance.

Arrested Development Yardsale

Now that the tv show Arrested Development is no longer, they are having a yardsale (kinda) of stuff used for the show. If you are in Los Angeles, here's how to check it out:

Estate Sales Los Angeles is pleased to announce that it will conduct an exciting prop house sale of the contents of one of Twentieth Century Fox Television's favorite television shows of the past decade “Arrested Development”.

Spectacular array of items will include several periods of furniture, magic show accessories and artifacts, interior décor items, art, books, kitchen appliances and kitchen ware, interior/exterior lighting, office furniture, extensive entertainment memorabilia and too much more to itemize.

Don’t miss the opportunity to own a piece of this show.

Sale location:

La Trova House
2032 Stoner Avenue,
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Sale dates: May 19 – 21, 2006
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

For more information, please contact info@estatesalesla.com or visit
Estatesalesla.com

Yardsale Liquor - .25 each

At a yardsale yesterday I was digging thru a box of stuff marked ".25 each" and among the used McDonald's toys and baby rattles I found these two little mini bottles. Was hoping to find more but only found the two. I figured I was doing my good deed of the day by buying them - rather than some kid finding them.

Also at a yardsale I bought an old printer with 10 cartridges of ink - all for $10. I can recycle the printer at our local recycling center and then turn the 10 cartridges into Staples and get $30 worth of Staples coupons. (Bring in any inkjet cartridge to Staples and they give you a $3 coupon good towards anything in the store).

Well I know my website (and blog) gets fewer visits on the weekend soooooo I've decided to keep my Botox Donation Fund open if anyone still wants to donate to this worthy cause.

Did a couple of radio interviews in the past few days. Radio interviews make me nervous. One was on Friday for a Columbus Ohio radio station and the one today was one in Detroit and that one lasted about a half hour.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hey, it's my birthday! And I can't think of a better way to spend part of it than going yardsaling at my favorite church yardsale. They price things at .10 and .05

Since it's my birthday - show me some love by signing my blog OR by making a little contribution to my Botox fund (any amount will do, like $100, $250, $400 etc :) Your choice! For your convenience, I've included a little handy dandy Paypal donation link:

Lots of *new* shoes

Went to VV this week and bought a several pairs of shoes for .50 each including that pair of navy blue ones for me and pink suede ones for my son. Before I went to VV, I went to Smile and found the sneakers on the bottom far right (those I paid $1 for since Smile's prices are a little higher).

Before you think I am totally crazy for buying pink shoes for my son, I figured for .50, I would try putting some liquid shoe polish I have and see what happens. They are very similar to beige pair he has and likes, so I'd figured I would take a chance. I'll post a pic of the 'pink' shoes, when I finish my experiment.

Tomorrow starts my gift receiving season - anniversary, birthday and mother's day all once a week for the next 3 weeks. But I bought myself my bd present the other day. I got a good deal on a 19" flat screen monitor at Staples. My husband said it should knock out at least 2 out of the 3 gifts. It was cheaper and nicer than the monitor I bought my husband for Christmas last year. I think I even blogged about it - back on Black Friday when I was waiting in line at Staples at 6am to get it. What a difference a few months makes.

I'll post a pic of my cleaned-up dog soon. Yes, he is a scrappy dog even when clean. Here's the story behind Whiskey:

About 12 years ago, Whiskey was a stray that one of my neighbors was tossing food out to but was skittish and could never catch him. The first time I saw him, I could see even from a distance he had a flea collar on. Well one night, my neighbor and I managed to grab him and it appeared that the flea collar had never been loosened and was starting to cut into his neck. So using a knife, we cut the collar off. Well the next day, he was like a new dog and we've had him ever since.

Well anyways Whiskey has always been a little troublemaker - never listens and loves to dig holes to try to escape from the yard (I heard that the terrier breed are known for being "escape artists". On one of his escapades, another family a few streets over fell in love with him so now when he manages to escape, I know where he's headed. The other family doesn't want him permanently, but likes to get visits from him.

Whenever he's over there, I let him visit for a while and then go pick him up. One night (it was an election night), I went to the other family's house and got him (the parents weren't home). So then I drove to the school to vote (Whiskey likes riding in the car.) At the school, I see the parents on the other side of the parking lot. Since I wanted them to know I had picked up Whiskey, I yell "Hey Dawn, I have Whiskey in the car". Since she didn't acknowledge that she heard me, I yell a little louder in the school parking lot "DAWN, I stopped and got Whiskey - I have Whiskey in the car!" I didn't realize until later, how that must have sounded to the voters going in to vote. (But anyone who knows me knows I'm a rum drinker).

Update on dirty dirty dog

Ugh - he got dirty again! Sometime in the middle of last night he tried digging out again but gave up and came inside and the mud dried on him. So he got another bath.

Today I cleaned up and painted an old school desk that I got from my mom's cellar. She had a friend who worked in a school district who would get the discarded school desks and chairs (for free) when new ones were bought. The paint on it was all banged up and lots of little pieces of tape all over the desktop. My mom had about 5 to choose from, so I looked them all over and I'm happy with the one I took. So I cleaned it off and painted it a dark green. Not the greatest pic, but here's what it looks like. It's going in my son's room and I plan on selling the small toddler sized table & chairs that is currently in his room.



Oh I forgot to mention my site was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal last week, here is the link
Wall Street Journal article

Free Scoop day at Ben & Jerry's

Hey, if you live near a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop, you can go on Tuesday April 25 and get a free scoop. Make sure you check out the details (note the time restriction): Ben & Jerry's You should also check the store locator to make sure the scoop shop near you is participating.

I don't live near a scoop shop, but both my brother and sister do.

Dirty dirty dog

Went to a few yardsales this morning and then it started raining which lasted most of the day. My dog freaks out during heavy rain and thunderstorms and he tried to dig a hole to run away. I used to freak out whenever he did, but not anymore. He's sort of become the part-time dog of another family in the neighborhood. So when he gets out, I know where he will end up. He is fixed so he's not out cruising for a date. He was unsuccessful in his attempt today to get loose, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

My big buy today at a yardsale was an outdoor canvas swing, the kind you have to hang from a big tree branch. It looked new and I paid $5.

I am getting a large number of hits on my website this week...if you are reading my blog for the first time, please leave a comment and let me know how you found my page. I think it was mentioned in a yardsale article in the Wall Street Journal the other day. Over the next few months my website will appear in some pretty well known publications: Woman's Day, Woman's World and Better Homes & Gardens.

Went to NY for Easter

I've been busy this week - and last - so I haven't had time to write. My son's school spring break was last week and part of this week so I went to upstate NY to visit my mom and family. I still haven't caught up on all my tv watching when I finish writing this, I'm going to watch the latest Sopranos episode that I missed when away.

There's a Chuck E. Cheese (CEC) not too far from my mom's house so I took my son there twice and used free tokens that I had gotten off packages of Koolaid Koolbursts and my sister gave him a large quantity of tokens for his recent birthday. Every once in a while Koolaid Koolbursts will have special packaging advertising CEC and have a token coupon worth 10 free tokens. It's really a good deal since I can buy the Koolbursts for .99 and get $2.50 worth of free CEC tokens. Well on my way there, I noticed smoke in the distance and as I got closer, I saw a car was on fire. It was kinda weird since traffic was still going by etc, it didn't look like anyone was trapped inside considering someone opened the trunk. But I'm thinking "I know I moved away from home a long time ago, but have things changed so much that cars just catch on fire and no one does anything?? I was stoppped at a red light when I snapped this pic. As my light turned green, I saw the firetruck arriving.

Whenever I visit my mom's, there are 5 places I try to go (make it 6 if I include Chuck E. Cheese. But I read that a CEC may be opening close to our house which would be great). The other places are: Aldi's grocery store, a Dollar Tree dollar store (which I think are better than your average dollar store), the Freihoffer bakery thrift store, the Salvation Army and a community based thrift store. Oh and I left off another place: The Golden Krust bakery in Cohoes. Unfortunately this time I couldn't do that since it burned down to the ground a little while ago.

My bargain at the Freihoffer store was on Boboli pizza shells at .75 each (still with good expiration dates). I've had them years ago when I bought them in a regular grocery store using a coupon and on sale. But haven't seen them on sale in a long time. If I was to buy them around here, I'd be charged the full price at $3.69 and really, I don't think they are worth that. And since I stocked up on sliced pepperoni ($1.39 for 8 oz at Aldi's), I am set!

I still have more to write about my trip, but the Sopranos are calling!

Another Saturday of mediocre yardsales

It started pouring today at around 10am, so not many people had yardsales today. Only went to about two and two more had signs posted with their raindate on it.

At one yardsale they had a big rubbermaid type tote full of free live white mice. They were giving them away. The seller took one out and it jumped out of her hand and their cat got it. I know Petco and other places sell white mice as food for snakes and stuff, I just don't want to think about it (or see it happen in front of my eyes). Ok, I know I am a wuss. I think we have or had mice in our attic and even then I don't want to see a dead mouse and just put out the Decon poison rather than seeing a dead mouse in a mousetrap.

My good bargain of the week was a free haircut (no, I didn't do it myself!) A coupon booket came in the mail earlier this week (coupons for various local businesses) and the coupon for the hair salon said first three haircuts on Friday are free til the end of May. So since I needed a haircut, after my son went to school, I got in my car and drove to the hairsalon. Got there about 20 minutes before they were set to open. The parking lot was deserted so I knew I would get the first free haircut. Did give the stylist a $5 tip.

Another freebie I got the other day was some free digital pics at CVS. They had a 5 free print offer this week.

Did (of course) do some shopping at my thrifts this week. Can't really remember what I bought except for a few DVDS for $2 each (Bridget Jone's Diary and Forgiven).