It's Cyber Monday - and my computer is dead

I am typing this from Jacob's computer. Our internet went down last night so I shut my computer totally off. This morning when I tried to start it up, it sounds like it's starting but all I hear is a beep.........beep.........beep.....etc. And a blank monitor screen. I hope it's something simple and stupid.

Anyhow when we lost internet last night I was right in the middle of posting a new blog post. I swear. Was writing about my free hotel stay (again! yippee!), my black Friday shopping (yes, I like to go Black Friday shopping just so I can see what people are buying that I will be seeing at the spring yardsales. Only half kidding - I made my first purchase myself that day at 5:45am.

Today I had an eye exam and picked out new glasses.

I also went to Famous Footwear today and walked out of the store with a brand new pair of flip flops and paid $0. I really dislike flip flops in general, but hey, they want to give them to me, I'll take them. Maybe I'll just sell them at my next yardsale. Which is this Saturday. It will be an indoor yardsale that the Parks & Recs department organizes. So this week I will be getting ready for that.

When I got home today from the stores/eye exam there was a message on our answering machine saying I won a tray of spicy nuggets from our local Chick-Fil-A. On Black Friday morning, I stopped in to get a free soda and free biscuit sandwich (I had coupons) and while there filled out a entry blank to win the nugget tray. mmmmmm Chick-Fil-A. If you don't live near a Chick-Fil-A, I feel sorry for you. Also while there, I bought a $6 2011 calendar so I will have coupons for next year (calendar has 12 yummy coupons for free food).

well I better run for now. I hate not having my computer!!!!!

Another Royal Wedding Date: April 29

Apparently Kate and Prince William have taken my advice and wisely picked the date of April 29 to wed. There is a history of successful royal weddings on that date (for instance the date of April 29, 1989 is ingrained in the YSQ's brain). I like how William gave Kate a used ring - they are my kinda people!

==========

So anyway, it seems like I have a bunch of stuff going on. Today I had some blood drawn - I have a doctor's appt next week and they doc wanted to run blood tests to check everything out ahead of time. I am fine (knock on wood) - just a regular physical which I haven't had done in forever, so they better not find anything.

I am wearing a temporary crown - so I gotta go back and have the permanent one put on in a week or two. I need new glasses, so I have an appt for an eye exam. So after I get my new glasses, THEN I will go get my driver's license replaced. (The second one that I've lost and still have not found.) I think my eyes have gotten worse so I'm afraid if I go now and get my license replaced, I'll fail the eye exam. I probably wouldn't but I don't want to take that chance.

So after having my blood drawn today, I stopped off at a nearby thrift (didn't buy a thing) but saw this (for $2)







Ahhhh...the good memories of looking at a scary mean looking tribal guy who looks like he wants to want to boil me alive.

#1 Yardsale Blog in the Universe

According to someone who is obviously very wise and is an aficionado of yardsale blogs - yardsalequeen is the #1 yardsale blog (in the universe I suppose) - click here for the list There may be other yardsale blogs in other galaxies but until I have proof of them, I will assume the title of the Best Yardsale Blog in the Entire Universe. I wonder what I win.

But enough about that, let's talk about me.

I did go to one yardsale today. I could have gone to more but didn't feel like traveling. I bought two $1 CDs (a fairly recent That's What I Call Music CD and Colbie Caillat). Finding good CDs is going to be my problem in the future. Too many people are downloading their music and not buying as many CDs as they once did. So therefore, less newer CDs will be showing up at yardsales. Waaaa. When I say new, I mean music that's come out in the past 5 years. I don't need another Chumbawamba or Spin Doctors CD, I have those. Hey, I just thought of something really crazy, *I* could go out and buy CDs in a store. That is an interesting concept.

Free Champagne & Shrimp - can't beat that

A local jewelry store had their annual Christmas ladies night tonight. Free little sandwiches (not in picture), ginormous shrimp, desserts and champagne. Yum. Looks a little barren now, but they kept replenishing.

And they best part is that the jewelry store doesn't try to guilt you into buying anything. They just want to you make a list of what you want to buy so then they can hound your significant other to buy the stuff on your list.

Personally, I just want to win the big door prize they will be giving away on Dec. 24th.

Adios bachelor pad cheap laminate wood over particle board coffee table - hello $15 newish looking coffee table

So you could say we are a little bit lazy when it comes to re-doing stuff around the house. I seem to be lacking the redecorating and crafting gene - so what. We've been needing a new coffee table for quite a while. My husband's bachelor pad coffee table is now finally history after 20+ years of hard service. Neither of us drinks coffee but we do enjoy other adult beverages - and in the past decade or so we've been sorta neglecting the use of coasters. Over the past several months, its gotten really bad - with actual particle board showing. See pic below.

We even looked around in actual furniture stores for a replacement, but none really jumped out at me and the pre-owned ones I've seen always had some sort of problem. I mean, we could afford new, but why buy something and pay retail for something I didn't totally love? The wait has paid off this week when I found the deal I was looking for. A coffee table that looks brand new, has a drawer for storage (I love storage) and had an awesome price of just $15. And it matches the rest of the furniture.

The old, embarrassingly crappy coffee table:


The new and the old side by side, (the price sticker is still on the new)


I wish the whole thing had drawers but oh well, you can't win them all.


The old coffee table was so bad off that I just hauled it straight to the dump. I think our county has a very reasonably priced trash / recycling program. As residents we are allowed to throw away our household trash / recycle for free if we bring it to one of the recycling /trash centers (however I think we are charged about $80 a year but that just gets added to our annual property tax. ) So it's free to throw away furniture and household stuff - except you do get charged a fee if you throw away stuff that is supposed to be permanently attached to your house (like a door or a toilet, but even then the cost is very low.)

So since I was throwing away something big, I had to take the coffee table to the junk mountain, which I normally don't go to. You will be proud of me - I resisted the urge to pick up a few stray soda cans I saw on junk mountain and put them in the recycling bin.

Dog at Yardsale

I forgot to post this yesterday, about the dog I saw at a yardsale. It was at the yardsale where I bought the mystery $1 item In case you're wondering, it's an outdoor game called washers. I've never heard of it or played it. The seller said they called it "redneck horseshoes". I figured for a buck, it would give it a try. It came with a baggy of big metal washers, that you throw from a distance and try to get into the coffee can.

Anyhow, the seller had this dog with a coat of many colors. It had to be the oddest looking dog I've seen in quite a while. I asked what kind of dog it was, expecting to hear it was a mixed breed (which are pretty much the best dogs around) only to hear the seller say "Australian Shepherd". Just another reason yardsales are so awesome - for the educational factor.

Selling at the Live Auction

Ok, I know you all have been patiently waiting to hear the results of my junk for sale at the live auction house (no I didn't go to it, but maybe I should start since stuff sells so cheaply there -haha! I used to go all the time pre-Jacob, the auctioneer was very entertaining back then. But now the auctioneer they have is more serious.

After the commission was taken out, I ended up with a check for $75.XX. My awesome vintage telephone gossip bench/junk magnet that I couldn't stand having in the house any longer sold for a whopping $5 (paid $1 at a yardsale). The highest thing sold for $35 and that was that little dark wood vanity (originally I paid $5 for it at a yardsale).

Today after hitting a few yardsales and an estate sale, I met up with the local collector guy who buys local vintage memorabilia. I had various things I had been collecting for a while (stuff bought at my thrift and at yardsales), including the vintage postcards I had from the area. But guess what? He didn't want the postcards I had, since he already had identical ones. But he did pay me $80 for all the other stuff I had that he wanted. Heck, that's more than I got from the stuff I took to the auction house.

Here's one thing I bought today that reminded me of my mother - for many reasons. It will be a Christmas gift, cuz I'm generous that way:



She and I are both Taurus's (our birthdays are just one day apart).

And at a yardsale, I bought this pair of things. Sorry for the bad lighting (morning sun at weird angle). Make of 2 x 4's, carpeting and big empty coffee cans. I paid $1. I know what it is (since they told me) do you?



I dropped off another box of books to the used bookstore (my 4th box). My first 3 boxes got me a $120 credit! I did "buy" two books with my credit, one of which is



Thrift Score by Al Hoff. It's an older book but looks interesting.

And I stopped at a thrift (didn't buy a thing) and saw this:



I don't remember ever seeing a mannequin in a reclining position. But very true to life, since there was a remote in his hand

Tony DeFranco is about to leave the castle

This is what I uncovered today in my stash - two 45's of Tony DeFranco and the DeFranco Family. Since Tony wasn't about to make me big bucks on ebay, they are being mailed off tomorrow to one of my good friend's in NY who was a big fan.

If you weren't lucky enough to be around in the 70's, here's some of the stuff you missed.

Some of the junk has left the building

Last week, I dropped off a bunch of stuff to a local auction house to sell. I have to wait until this Friday to see how much money I made.

Here's some of the stuff all set up at the auction:

Little vanity, bench, and metal chair. One of the workers saw me take a picture of the little vanity and said that he planned on bidding on it. I loved that little metal chair (very sturdy) but don't have room or a need for it.



Jacob's little desk (with chair) that I painted green and blogged about back in 2006


They put all of the "small" stuff that I brought in right on the front table in front of the auctioneer. I hope that's a good sign.


Brand new chocolate fondue fountain that I bought at a yardsale for $5. What was I thinking? I don't plan on having an event where I need a chocolate fountain. And I don't want to even think about what a PITA it would be to clean it. Old metal oil can and watering can (one I bought at a yardsale and one belonged to my father). Hopefully someone who is into those kind of vintage pieces were at the auction. Tray of old radios and tray of old cameras. Bunch of vintage decorative empty liquor bottles that I bought a long time ago (pre-Jacob I think) at a yardsale. I remember paying $20 for all the liquor bottles but it also included a bunch of other stuff in that lot. The TV was not mine.



3 barstools that I got free at a yardsale. When we had the addition put on the house back in 1993, we had planned on having a bar built (even paid to have water pipes installed in the crawl space so we could have a sink for a bar - since of course we would be doing all kinds of entertaining). Well then the whole internet came along and the corner meant for the bar became my computer area. So I don't need these old freebie barstools anytime soon. Plus now, I'd rather go out and buy some cute ones, rather than clunky old wooden ones if we were to have a bar.



Yesterday there weren't many yardsales nearby so instead I went to the flea market that I occasionally sold at. What do I see? Some of my junk that had just sold the previous night at the auction. (I didn't go to the auction so that's why I have to wait til Friday to see what stuff sold for). Here are some of the liquor bottles:

Adios Gumby

Here is what I decluttered today. Bye bye Gumby. DH won Gumby for me at a carnival sometime in the 80's when we were dating long distance (at the time we were dating, he was in the military so he had to move to where ever they sent him). Then when I flew home, Gumby was my carry-on and I walked thru the airport with it (I did not buy Gumby his own airplane seat).

And actually today I donated more stuff than what the picture shows. I tell ya, having an organization making a house call to pick up donations is definitely the way to go. No loading up the car and lugging the stuff into the thrift store donation center and then unloading it. I also got rid of a table lamp that I received as a bridal shower gift back in '89. I was just looking at it the other day and thinking how outdated it looked, not cool vintage look, but just an outdated '80's look.

Speaking of outdated, here's a picture of my foyer that I took the other day:



It's an early american style (i think??) wooden telephone gossip bench. My mom was at a yardsale where the seller said to "make an offer", so she did - one dollar - and the seller said ok. It needed to be refinished, which I did. My guess is that I've had it and used for over 15 years. It became a junk magnet, coats and crap piled on it and magazines stored below.

Today I took it to the auction house where it will be auctioned Friday night. So maybe I will get some money for it.

And here's my foyer now. In it's place is my cool, vintage $10 1967 Lane cedar chest. I love storage. (Just pretend you didn't see the large ceramic crock overfilled with toys. Or the 20 year old linoleum flooring.) I have material and will sew a cushion for it. Of course it's longer than the chair it replaced, but it's about the same width. And it's actually more comfortable to sit on (even without a cushion).

Having a Kodak Moment

Everyday in my decluttering efforts I am finding all kinds of things. Here is my first camera - so even though I am still very young, cough cough, it was not a digital. It initially belonged to my mom until I started using it. Can't remember the last time I saw it.

Now...what to do with it? I remember taking this on my 6th grade field trip to Boston. Someone has an identical one on ebay with a Buy It Now price of $9.99 so it's not valuable, money wise. . I am trying to declutter but when it comes to stuff I had as a child, part of me wants to hang on to stuff even though I know I will never use it again - and I don't have a place to display it etc etc. Just because my mom used it and I used it, doesn't mean I need to hang on everything, right??? So should I just mark it $1 and sell at my next yardsale to some camera collector?

The local Parks & Recs is having an indoor December yardsale - so I'll be signing up to sell at that one. It's a good one to sell at since people are out doing a lot of shopping in December.

And in going thru my large stash of books, I found an old paperback that I could have mailed to some boy in the armed forces, but the book was in poor condition so it went to paper recycling.



More stuff left the house than came in, so it was good day.

Having a great time in Maryland - wish you were here

I am getting ready to contact one of my local buyers - it's a person who collects local memorabilia and buys stuff that I find. I knew I had some vintage-y postcards from this area so I dug them out. Here is one with a scary tall clown and a crying toddler. Yeah, that really helps sell the area as a vacation destination. I bought an entire shoebox of postcards for a few bucks at a moving sale a while ago. Some were used, some unused.

Front of Postcard:



Back of postcard:


Here is one they sent describing Las Vegas in 1967 (a person could probably write the exact same thing in 2010!)



=============
I am not the best housekeeper in the world but I have a laundry tip to share: Make sure when you load your washing machine that a wire hanger hasn't accidentally fallen in the washing machine. The clothes will turn out all wrapped up around it in a big tangled ball. You're welcome.

More indoor archeology (decluttering and de-hoarding)

Every day that I take out more stuff out of the house than what I bring in, is a good thing. I did go to my fav thrift today but mainly went just to look to see if they were throwing away any good boxes. I have to pack up some stuff for donating and need boxes. Today I also brought another box of books to the used bookstore (a person is allowed to bring in one box per week maximum). Out of curiosity, I asked how much store credit I got for the box of books from last week - I was shocked at how much store credit I got. $53.25! I can buy a lot of books with that! haha. And none were books that would have sold for a lot on ebay.

I also declutterized towels and donated two large garbage bags full of bath towels, dish towels, washcloths to a local animal rescue organization. They said they can use towels of all sizes; they use the big towels for use in the puppy pens. 20 years ago when we were first married, we bought some Lands' End towels that are virtually indestructible. They never got thin or holes but after 20 years I was tired of looking at them and some had gotten bleach stains/discoloring so out they went. I even donated some towels that I remember buying, with my employee discount, when I was single and living with the parents and worked part-time at Bradlees.

Here's a few of the puppies that may be enjoying my Lands' End towels soon:




Today I also went to a rare Friday garage sale. The seller is an avid couponer and I've been to their sales before. I didn't buy anything (there wasn't anything I needed) but I took this picture:



It's a ton of cat treats. There is a saying that goes something like "Quick nickels are better than slow dimes". A long time ago, in the coupon inserts there was a coupon for a free pack of the cat treats (I remember that coupon since I got a bunch too!) So this seller got a ton of the cat treats and had them at their last yardsale marked high (maybe $1 each?) . So instead of just selling them cheap to get rid of them, they hung on to them and hung on to them, and now they are all expired and marked .25 and no one wants them. Cats are finicky, they will know the cat treats have expired. If the seller had marked them cheap to begin with, they would be a lot easier to sell unexpired. It just seems kinda greedy to have high prices on things at a yardsale - especially when it's something that was free.

I spotted this truck in the parking lot of my fav thrift. Grass growing in the back of your pick-up truck may be good for the environment, but probably not so good for the truck.

This is so bizarre

I came across this sign for an upcoming bazaar. I'd like to think someone misspelled it on purpose as a joke, but I doubt it.

Hey, I have some good news and bad news. The good news - the queen is getting a new crown!! Yea!!! The queen likes new and shiny crowns. The bad news, I have to wear it on an upper molar - right hand side to be exact.

In other good news, out of the blue, Amvets called today to say they would be in my 'hood soon to pick up any donations I may have. Years ago, I was on the calling list for the Purple Heart organization and they would call about every 6 months asking for household/clothing donations but then they stopped. This will be my first Amvets donation. They better bring a big truck. Saves me from hauling the stuff to the thrift store. And it also saves me from having to look at my old stuff when I shop at my thrift store, since when it gets picked up by an organization it goes far far away.

I'm going to be re-decorating soon and using my Lane cedar chest as a bench in our foyer. I will do some before & after pics. I think I will either be craiglsting my existing gossip bench or bringing it to a local live auction. I spent too many hours refinishing that thing to just give it away.

Jehovah's Witnesses, Peeing in Public, Yardsale

I decided to do one last yardsale at the fairgrounds for the year ($10 space rental). Sorry I don't have a "before" picture but here's an "after" shot. And I use that 4 shelf plastic thing to display stuff on (it's not for sale). I sold a lot of stuff cheap today and made about $200. One of my last customers was a nice lady who told me how she is new to the area yadda yadda so I talked with her a while. Then she handed me a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet "Awake! Unemployed? How You Can Live on Less". Here's one of their cutting edge money saving tips - "Stock up on items that are on sale or in season." Wow - I would never have thought of that. Puhleese.

I sold a huge Corelle covered casserole dish that I received as a wedding shower present many moons ago - that will free up a big portion of a kitchen cabinet. I used it occasionally (maybe like once every 2 years???) but really I can easily live without it. I should go thru my entire kitchen and get rid of a lot of stuff. Since it's only the 3 of us, I generally don't cook large portions of food. And if I need to bring a covered dish somewhere, I'll be bringing my tortilla roll-ups or something else that is easy to make. Not something in a huge Corelle dish.

Then once I closed up shop, I walked around to see some of the other sellers that I hadn't had a chance to shop at. One woman shopper was oblivious to her young son peeing about a foot away from some other seller's table. And the seller didn't see it either. It was like the boy had done it a million times before and didn't see anything wrong with peeing in public.

Looking forward to next Saturday - no trips planned and not having another yardsale. I want to shop! I am going to go thru my yardsale leftovers and will donate a bunch of good usable items to my thrift. Some stuff I am keeping (like brand new toys) since if our Parks & Recs has an indoor yardsale in December, that sort of stuff would be good to sell.

The Decluttering Workout

The last few days I've been doing a lot of decluttering. I did some browsing at my thrifts but didn't see anything I had to have. I did like this large terracotta planter but I am not paying $10 for a dirty planter.



Today I re-donated Springbok puzzles to my thrift. Certain Springbox puzzles sell well on ebay. I bought them all cheap (like .25 or .50 each) with the intention that I would put them all together, take pictures and put them up on ebay and people would go into a bidding frenzy over them. I'm a slow learner but I finally realized that the time it would take to put the puzzles together would seriously cut into my internet/shopping/sleeping time. So back to the thrift they went. No more puzzles for me unless they are sealed, priced cheap, and is one that people will want. After Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin died, I read that Crocodile Hunter stuff would jump in value, hence the two pre-owned Croc puzzles. Which are not sealed. A sealed one didn't even get a $5 bid on ebay. So not gonna waste my time or waste storage space that could be used for something more profitable. No, I don't have a storage unit - I'm just talking about garage shelf space.



I also dropped off a few magazines/cardboard etc to the paper recycling. Walking up and down the stairs to the paper recycling dumpster lugging armfuls of magazines is a good workout. I also dropped of a box of books to the second hand bookstore for store credit and dropped off 2 boxes of books to the library for their used book table.

One magazine that is not getting thrown out is a defunct magazine named Domino. I will be listing on ebay a group of about 6 issues of them soon.



And bags and bags of clothes that got donated:


I also went thru my bathroom and practically filled a garbage bag full of old makeup, old lotion and miscellaneous crap. I found some baby lotion that I bought BEFORE I had Jacob. Hey Johnson & Johnson - what's the deal? You can't you come up with a baby lotion that smells good after being opened for only 10 years???

With all this decluttering I am unearthing things I forgot I even had. My mom gave Jacob one of those commemorative coin collection of the 50 state quarters. I found that in my bathroom closet.

I want my Criss Angel corvette (even if it is standard transmission)

So I get a call tonight from someone in Las Vegas calling to verify that I entered the drawing to "Win a Criss Angel Corvette" contest that was going on at the Luxor Hotel. My heart starts pounding and I excitedly answer "yes yes yes!!!!" There was a pause, and then the caller says "well we just wanted to let you know that the winner will be picked later this month, but in the meantime, we want to offer you this amazing deal to visit the Luxor again and stay for 3 free nights and all you have to do is listen to our 1 hour presentation on an amazing vacation opportunity blah blah blah blah.....

What a day. Almost got killed or maimed by clutter. In my decluttering efforts, I was carrying some heavy boxes down the stairs and whoopsie, almost broke some body parts. Luckily it was early in the morning and I hadn't started drinking yet, otherwise it would have been bad.

Weekend trip to Philadelphia - Rocky Steps, Philly Cheesesteak, broken bell

We went to Philadelphia over the weekend since Jacob had Friday off from school, DH was off work, and Jacob kept saying he wanted to go to there for some strange reason. So we drove up on Friday and came home on Sunday. No need to do that ever again (crappy ride, tolls, got stuck in Obama traffic in Wilmington DE etc etc). And no yardsales for me. Waaaa. But got to cross two things off the bucket list - eat a real Philly cheesesteak and run up the Rocky steps. Thankfully I lived to tell about it. Rocky is probably the Queen's fav movie of all time (Pulp Fiction would be #2).

So on Friday we ate at Geno's and on Saturday we bought a $10 family tourist bus pass and went to the Rocky steps, Constitution Hall and saw the Liberty Bell for about 2 minutes and did some other stuff. Here's random pictures in no special order:

Love Park - DH was sitting on a bench while Jacob and I went to the artwork so I could take Jacob's picture. Some other tourist offered to take our picture together. Here's his handywork:


Geno's. Afterward we walked thru South Philly and eventually made it back to our hotel. Streets were lined with various street vendors. Stores that sold live poultry etc etc. Did not buy any live poultry or pineapples.


Walked thru Macy's, it was across the street from our hotel. This eagle is pfamous in Philly


Dangerous stuff being sold in souvenir store near the hotel - careful kids - that's a real keychain there!


Lines were horrendous all day long to see the Liberty Bell - there was no line about 5 minutes before they closed to we were able to grab a quick looksee.


Someone about to get hitched:


View from the Rocky steps:


Jacob watching his first protest parade. They held up the tourist bus - boooo hiss to them!


In south Philly - $1 Pineapples!!!!!!!


Some sort of freaky artwork near the $1 pineapples.


Constitution Hall - isn't it gorgeous??? Inside a Park Ranger gave a very entertaining talk about history stuff and I got to see some antiques that were not for sale.