Yardsale Buys from last Saturday

Here are a few pics of stuff I bought last Saturday. One of the sellers I bought stuff from reads this blog from time to time, so I figured I'd show some of her former stuff in use. The vintage white handled curling iron was .50 and I have it displayed in my bathroom with others I have (one of which belonged to my mom). Also bought the rolling storage kid transportation device for $2.

Yes, those are red shoes for girls in the pic above. No, I won't make Jacob wear them (not his size anyway....). The brand name is Born and they are going up on ebay. They were $2 (a little "pricy" but I think they will sell for decent money).

Inside the wooden box is a bunch of Betty Crocker recipe cards from 1971 ($1 for the wooden box with the cards). Wow - what were they thinking when they photographed some of that food - really ickky looking. There is a website that is devoted to ugly pics of food that has appeared on these cards Ugly Food Website

I love Staples

Yes, I know I sound like a broken record, but I love Staples (boy, a statement like that makes me sound like I'm ready for the nursing home!) Today I got free colorized business cards, a $29.99 value. I had a coupon (that they mailed me) for 100 of the new do-it-yourself business card maker that they have.

I still have lots of my other free 1,000 business cards that I got from them, probably over a year ago (I blogged about it). But those I just use as *advertisement* for this website to put up on public bulletin boards and such, they don't have personal info like my email or address on them. So the cards I got today are more personalized. Got them so I can put them in the fishbowls at restaurants and win free lunches. Or if I'm at a cocktail party (hey, it *could* happen!) and someone asks "So what do you do?" instead of my usual "As little as possible", I can say "I am a Queen" and hand them my yardsale queen card.





Here I am as I would appear if I lived in Springfield (is that a thrift store I see further up ahead?? It's like a bad dream, I keep walking but never get to it). Know nukes!

Time for New Years Resolutions

Well today is the beginning of a new year - a school year that is. Today is the day I was to have my nose to the grindstone, getting the house in order, list a gazillion things on ebay and work on my grand plan to create world peace. Oh well, none of that got done. My friend called me at 10:30 (a friend who also sent her kid off to school today after a long summer) and we talked about going to out lunch. I told her not today since I was going to get my nose right on that grindstone.

Then about a half hour later, my husband called to see what my plans were today, since he was thinking of taking half day off from work, and did I want to go to lunch. Sure, the grindstone will still be there waiting. Went to Lonestar (one of our lunches was free since I have a lunch card thing that was fully stamped). Thankfully, there was no crying baby convention going on there.

Then I remembered seeing an ad for JC Penney's, some clearance sale. So we went there and didn't find a thing for me or Jacob, but my husband found three $4.97 shirts for himself. Also stopped at Food Lion and bought some of the Kid's Wonderbread and luckily it was on sale for $1.89. I hate paying full price for bread. Jacob hasn't eaten a PB&J sandwich all summer, but today he checked to make sure he had one for lunch.

The grocery stores I normally shop at are Food Lion and Giant (and sometimes Shopper's Food Warehouse if I see a particularly good deal on something). There is a Safeway about 15 miles away but I normally don't shop there since its location is usually not in the direction I'm going. But last week they had Skippy PB on sale for .99/jar and I had $1 off 2 coupons. So that was a good deal... paying .49/jar for peanut butter. I got the maximum allowed, 6 jars at .49 each.

Someone left me a comment a while ago on where to get coupons. I know some people buy extra copies of the Sunday paper, but that seems pretty wasteful. For almost any coupon that appears in a Sunday paper, there usually be people selling that coupon in groups of 20 on eBay. There are also coupon message boards like
Refund Sweepers where people post lists of coupons they have to trade or sell. I remember back a few years ago when Banquet had those free bowling coupons on the packages of tv dinners, I bought about 40 coupons for like .05 each from some lady on there. There are also coupon cutting websites where you put in an order for what coupons you want to buy multiples of, like Coupon Clippers

Queen gets a new throne

Yes, I know its Saturday, but I will save my discussion about my yardsale buys til another day.

Today's blog entry is brought to you by the letters J and Y (I think an O is still lodged in the toilet). Big news this week was that the queen got a new throne. I caught Jacob playing in the bathroom the other night (making quite a mess with throwing toys in the bathtub and seeing how big of a splash he could make) and right afterwards I got a funny feeling when the toilet wasn't flushing right. I plunged and plunged AND even stuck my hand down there! (yes, I know that's something a queen should never have to do), but I did it and thankfully I didn't find any surprises.

However, I do like having a toilet that actually flushes (I'm funny that way), so I had my husband remove it and we dug around in there and that's when I found the foam - supposed to float - letters J and Y after wrestling with that beast turning it upside down and backwards. I thought I saw another letter, but either I was just imagining it or its really really stuck good in there. So we were going to put the toilet back on, but then noticed we broke some dohickey piece inside the tank. So that's when my husband said we should just go buy a new one, that way we'll know it definitely is not clogged and will work than have to go buy replacement pieces etc.

Regarding the pic above. Who would have known that where a toilet sits could be so damn dirty? And am I the first person to house the elusive dust bunnies that are able to climb the walls?

So on Friday we go to Lowes. And wouldn't you know it, he wants to buy the cheapy $77 WHITE generic toilet. No, that won't work for me. Especially when I know he bought the $200 Super Deluxe Wide Butt model for his bathroom about 6 months ago (yes, incase you didn't know, they make an extra wide model). A $77 white toilet would have looked just great next to the beige tub and beige sink. I settled on a $139 beige beauty with special antibacterial glaze or something. NOT a big butt one. If I don't post for a while, that is because I am busy bedazzling....

So you know how everything happens in "3's"? The week before, one of our sliding glass doors broke, so we have to get that replaced. Then my toilet. And now I am just waiting to see what else goes.

Speaking of Friday - was it "Take Your Crying Baby Out to Lunch at Applebee's Day" and I didn't know about it until it was too late? Aye yi yi. Man, it was like a crying baby convention going on.

last few weeks

I went to upstate NY the week before last - stayed with my mom (at my childhood home). They have a lot of yardsales on Fridays there, but the Friday I was there, it was pouring rain. The garage sales were still held anyways, we just took umbrellas.

I mostly bought a bunch of books. One of my better buys was a Longaberger Berry Basket with protector for $1. It had a big ugly ivy in it so I think a lot of people who saw it didn't realize it was a Longaberger. I was going to throw the ivy out, but my mom wanted it.

Also bought the above vintage lamp $2 and the set of four vintage glasses ($1).

I got to visit with everyone I wanted to: family, one of my old high school friends and one of my old coworkers. This same time last year when I visited, I went cold turkey without internet for over a week, but this time I took our laptop. It was a rude awakening when I found out that you have to pay for wireless at McDonald's and Borders. I thought it would be free. No problem tho since a Moe's Southwest Grill is nearby.

I also did all the regular retail shopping I wanted to do:
Christmas Tree Shops, Aldi's and Dollar Tree , Toys R Us, and Kohl's. Where I live, the closest Dollar Tree, Toys R Us and Kohl's is a good hour away. (Yes, the Dollar Tree is a dollar store, but I think its nicer than your average dollar store).

As usual, I took Jacob to Chuck E. Cheese (twice) and found a new place to take him to called Jeepers It was $14.99 for one hour of all you can play games and indoor rides.

One day after I visited my brother who lives in Albany, I drove downtown (to see my old office building) and to see what has changed etc. I snapped a pic of the capitol building which is near my old office building.

Returned home from Upstate New York yesterday

Did you miss me? I just got back yesterday from spending a week in upstate New York (Clifton Park, Albany, Saratoga Springs area). So that is why I haven't posted lately. Will write again soon and tell about my trip.

World's Longest Yardsale - Highway 127 yard sale - Garage Sale America

Alas, another year is over and once again I have missed the World's Longest Yardsale (it ends today) World's Longest Yardsale. A few people on the message board are at it and posting about their experience. There is always next year, August 7-10, 2008 to be exact. But geez, I am a little spoiled, I don't like to yardsale when it's a million degrees outside.

And plus, I sorta feel like I've already been to it without having to sweat or drive forever. I have my copy of Garage Sale America by Bruce Littlefield, and in it he details his adventure and treasures found during his roadtrip to this annual cultural event. There's also descriptions of some interesting people in the world of yardsales/garage sales. Like me on page 46 - hehe (end of shameless plug). Click the link above to read more about it. You can also see if your local library has it. You can check out Bruce's website at:
Garage Sale America



My pickin's from yesterday were pretty slim. Bought an already built, Build-a-Bear ($1. Don't worry, I don't have a house decorated with a zillion build a bears or plan on giving it to my son (as I've said before, he prefers Dora the Explorer anyway). It will be put on ebay eventually. .50 Chick-fil-a cow as Santa beanie, a sturdy Fireman's hat .25 (Jacob has been a fireman for Halloween and for the hat he usually just wears one of those flimsy freebie fireman's hats that firemen give away when they visit schools etc.. BUT they are too small for my kid's noggin. This one is sturdy AND its adult sized. $2 Purple Dragon thing that twirls and lights up. The seller said her son bought it at a Disney on Ice show for $16., $1 pair of brass bunnies, .50 bottle of Avon perfume in pretty bottle, $1 - red ball - that folds flat, so you can throw it like a frisbee then while its flying, it converts to a ball.

I won a $300 Sailing lesson (unfortunately it's not yardsailing...)

I don't think I mentioned this here on the blog (but I think I mentioned it on my message board). Earlier this summer we went to an Open House for a new sailing school that opened nearby. Not yardsailing, regular sailboat sailing. I won their giveaway of a 2 day sailing course for beginners, value of $300. Since the class is only on Saturday and Sunday, that would seriously put a cramp in my Saturday routine. I have to think about priorities, you know.

My husband was actually interested in taking one of their more advanced sailing class (cost $400) so I asked if I could put the prize value towards an advanced class for my husband. They agreed. Today I dropped off the paperwork and paid the additional $100, so now my husband is set for the class in a few weeks.

In today's mailbox, there was a surprise. A card I had sent to an elderly friend in California had been returned and marked "not at this address". It was a Christmas card from December 2006. (The woman had been put in a nursing home in the fall of 2006 and I didn't know about it). I wonder if the card took a world tour or something.

p.s. Yes I know *yardsailing* is not word that the average person uses or spells, but I think it's my mission on earth to get it added to the English dictionary; so the more times I use it, the more the world will see it and someday my mission will be accomplished. I like to think of it as sailing through people's yards, looking for treasures.

Funny remark overheard at a yardsale

"All money raised is going to the Shave the Whales Foundation. This Sunday we're going to round up as many whales as we can and shave them".

I overheard this a while ago, and since I am a sensitive and caring person and an animal lover, I think I bought something. If I remember right, it was a 4 pack variety of hot sauces for $2.

Happy August! That means school starts in 22 days, not that I am counting or anything.

The rest of my buys from Saturday

Here's more of my buys from Saturday (and that's not even everything since some things didn't make it into the picture - like a box full of +30 vintage souvenir glasses (some Hazel Atlas) for $10. And a vintage 1942 Baby Brownie camera for $2.

Paid .50 for the Do Not Pee on the Floor sign, .10 Maryland stoneware mug, .25 ice cream scooper for my collection, .25 big bottle of Jean Nate (I add various scents to my laundry water), $1 wooden box (similar to two others I have), $1 Trak car cover (new)...I don't *need* it but couldn't pass it up for that price, $5 Funride cable outdoor toy, .50 bottle of plant food, $2 stack of Nick kid's books.

My favorite buy was the Funride Deluxe for $5 - the box is banged up but it has never been used. I actually wanted to buy one for Jacob - since it would be good for upper body strength (he sees an occupational therapist at school for his "low tone"). On ebay they sell for about $75, but websites like this Fun Ride Deluxe they sell them for around $89.

I think next summer I am going to sign Jacob up for a summer day camp. He is wearing me out - everyday he wants to go somewhere. And it's not thrift stores he wants to go to. We usually end up at the local museum (where we are members of so we don't have to pay admission). We did go out on one of their boat rides the other day and it spoiled us, we were the only passengers! They usually do a 2 o'clock boat ride, and then if that fills up to capacity (45 passengers), they'll add a 3:10 boat ride - regardless of how many passengers they have. Well the other day, their 2pm boat was full, so they announced a 3:10 boat ride. Jacob and I signed up and paid $11 for both and we had the boat to ourselves.

One yardsale buy and one freebie

Here's a pic of two of my recent acquisitions from Saturday. In the top pic, the lamp was $3. And the glider was FREE. I want to replace the lamp in our living room - a lamp from my husband's bachelor's days since the glamorous goldtone on it isn't as shiny as it was back in 1988. Will keep the shade tho on the old and put it on the "new".

The child sized glider rocker was a freebie at a yardsale. The seller saw me looking at it and said I could have it for free since it needed work. The original chair pads were N-A-S-T-Y. I even stopped at the landfill to throw them away before I took the chair home since I didn't want them coming inside the house. I ripped out the material which was covering the metal supports - which I had to hammer back into place. Then just heavy duty stapled a piece of material I had laying around (actually it was an old dishtowel but I thought if I called it a "piece of material" here it would sound nicer..haha). The purpose of the material is mainly just to keep kids from sticking their hands underneath - since the metal support rods are the main support for the seat.

Then, since I am not about to start sewing cushions, I just threw on some extra couch pillows on it, so Jacob can use it. Will keep my eyes peeled for "like new" replacement child sized glider cushions at a yardsale. They gotta be out there in yardsaleland, right? Until then, Jacob is content sitting on it with the couch pillows.

"...more disturbing than porn"

I forgot to mention this til now. My recent college graduate smarty pants niece got an awesome job at this little place called the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. So during the big move, my sister (who was helping with the move) stumbled upon a local magazine with a silly garage sale article in it. Just what I need, my older sister having new fuel to tease me. Here's the article: Rochester Magazine Article. I responded to the editor pleading with him to publish a correction; I am no where near mid-50s (and that if you squint your eyes a little and stand 100 yards away, I could be mistaken for a woman in her late 30's, or even mid-30's.) Anyhow he responded saying that when he said "almost all", that he of course, did not mean me who is obviously much younger. Phew. I also told him that I am not Machiavelli's grandmother, but more like his cute younger sister.

It really was a fluke that my sister came across the article. Makes me wonder how often the site gets mentioned but I never hear of it. Any publicity is good publicity.

I just heard back from the English teacher in Japan - he wrote a book about everyday English, in order to teach Japanese students how regular Americans talk. And portions of this blog are appearing in the book. I hope he uses a part where I say "anyways". Someone wrote to tell me that anyways isn't a real word. Anyhows, he said the book has finally been published and is in the mail to me.

Went to Baltimore today (translation: Balimer to the locals)

I told myself when I joined as a member of the Baltimore Aquarium, I would take Jacob there by myself periodically. It's been a while since I've driven to the Inner Harbor but made it there and back without any big problems (hate all those one way streets downtown). The food cafes at the Aquarium are definitely overpriced. I saw that at one cafe they sold popcorn at $2 a box (which I thought actually wasn't that bad) and I mentioned to Jacob if he wanted some popcorn. At the time he didn't want any but later when we were near the other cafe, he mentioned it. Acckk...at that cafe all they had was the teeny tiny bags of Smartfood popcorn at $1.50 a bag. A bottle of Diet Pepsi was $2.50, but then I saw some vendors outside so I figured once we leave, we'll get a soda from a vendor and walk around the Inner Harbor some before we left. (I am so addicted to diet pepsi that I had some in a cooler back in the car at the parking garage but wasn't about to go get it). I was surprised that the vendor ALSO had $2.50 for a bottle of Diet Pepsi - but then I saw her shirt, she worked for the Aquarium. Bought it anyway.

Forgot to mention what I bought at the yardsales last Saturday, here's a few pics. Lots of DVDs for $1 each and my favorite buy was the vintage Saltines tin for a quarter. The shirts I got for Jacob were a quarter a piece. There was a small spot on the pink shirt I wanted to see if it would come out before taking the pic (that's why it looks wet). The seller said her son never wore it.

Free Clothes from JC Penney's

A few days ago, a JC Penney ad came in the mail that had a $10 coupon in it. Not one of those $10 off $50 purchase, it was a $10 off $10 coupon. I found a pair of brown shorts for Jacob that were marked down to $12.99 - so I figured they would be $2.99 plus tax. But they rang up for less so since the coupon stated that you must spend a minimum of $10, I had to run back to the racks to find something to add to the shorts. I saw some t-shirts marked down to $2.97 so I grabbed one of those. As it turned out, THAT was on sale too. To see what the total was after coupon, look below.

My son's free Motorola two-way radios

Remember in early June I mentioned how someone littered in my yard - a lunchables box that inside was a winning gamepiece for walkie talkies? Well I sent away the gamepiece and they came the other day. Not too shabby! They have a longer range than another set we have.

Vacation to Horseshoe Bend Arkansas and surrounding area

Ok, I finally got my pics semi-organized from our trip to Arkansas. Above is my favorite pic that I took of the scenery. Unfortunately that spot was probably an hour drive away. Where we stayed the roads all looked like this:



The reason for the trip to Arkansas, was to visit my Father-in-law who now lives in Horseshoe Bend. Lots of retirees there. It was kind of like a throwback in time, no pay at the pump gas, no credit card payments right at the cash register at the one grocery store in town (the cashier would have to walk it to the store's office to swipe the card). No liquor stores (it was a dry county). Nearest McDonald's was about 20 miles away inside a SuperWalmart. There was a nice golf course in town so my FIL and husband got lots of golfing in.

The first day of our vacation we drove to Knoxville and stayed at a nice Holiday Inn near the highway. There was a flea market down the road so I was able to shop there a little the next day. From the man wearing the mankini top, I bought this super tacky religious dangling decorative CD to put on a rear view mirror. I overpaid $2 for it, I figure it will be good for a laugh when I give it to my mom for Christmas.





We then drove to Nashville and stayed overnight at my cousin's gorgeous house in Brentwood. I also drove by my aunt and uncle's old house in Nashville just to see it from the outside - when I was a teen I spent a few summers in Nashville and even worked one summer at Opryland.



Then we drove onto Horseshoe Bend, AR. The town is in the middle of nowhere. As fortune would have it, there was a place in town that had free Wifi. Thank God! We had our laptop with us so I was able to log in to check email etc.







Because there are no real hotels in the area, we ended up renting a house on a lake. The house turned out to be pretty nice, considering I didn't know what to expect. One day I went to a town about 40 miles away - Hardy, AR. An old quaint town full of antique stores. I didn't buy much stuff there, but I did find two thrifts on the way there. I bought a Saladmaster food grinder for $5. I know Saladmaster is a name to look for at thrifts so I thought I would take a chance. It will go up on ebay eventually. There weren't many yardsales going on but I did make it to two. Bought a tablecloth with zodiac symbols on it for $1 and some old Flicker razors for .30 each. I haven't seen a Flicker razor in a long time so I figure I'd buy them for "investment purposes" - haha.

One day we drove to Mountain View, Arkansas. Which I guess is known for hillbilly music, all kinds of hoedowns and jamborees advertised in the area. That's where I bought my Nose Flute or as the cashier said a "Snoot Floot". I am kicking myself that I only bought one.





In Mountain View, we got a bargain .25 car wash. Then we drove back thru a pretty small town called Calico Rock (where I took the pic at the top of this blog). We stopped at a combination shoe store and lunch counter. Bought some food but no shoes.

Back from Vacation - Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas

Yes, we went to Arkansas (on purpose) for vacation. Just got back last night so that is why I haven't blogged lately. I still haven't gotten my pics organized so when I do, I will write about the trip and some shopping I did while there. (My computer is not liking one of my memory sticks with a ton of pics on it, so I need to get that fixed).

I have been neglecting the blog lately....

but will post again in a few days.

BJ's Warehouse

My BJ's membership expired on 6/30. A little while ago there was a coupon for a free 60 day membership for new members. The coupon expired 7/7. So on the 4th of July I went to BJ's and stood behind a woman renewing her membership. I could tell she was renewing since she was already holding a membership card and the employee told her it would be $45 (the regular price of a yearly membership). Her membership probably expired on 6/30 too.

Well after she finished, it was my turn and I just handed over the coupon and said I wanted the free 60 day membership and showed my driver's license - which she keyed into the computer. She took my pic and handed me my new card (oh I need to scan it, it's ridiculous). She then mentioned they were running a special - get a 15 month membership for only $35. So I said I would think about it.

Meanwhile, don't forget, the customer ahead of me renewed for $45 for 12 months. Crazy, that's why it doesn't pay to renew. Wait for things to expire and then companies will try to win you back (well most times anyway).

Happy 4th of July

No big plans for today. Maybe do a little traditional shopping at Staples and Target. Jacob is afraid of fireworks but I think our neighborhood is going to get a better view of them this year due to the positioning in the Bay of the fireworks barge.

I took the above pic over Easter vacation when I visited my mom. I meant to post it on Flag Day but I forgot.