"Woman Overwhelmed by Parcels Still Outruns the Yard Sale Police"

This has to be one of my least flattering pictures of late. This was taken at the largest annual church sale ever. They even had a photographer for their yard sale! My mom and I went together and this was our "booty" overflowing our carts. I will post later some of the things that we found there! Just had to share this picture since the church just e-mailed it to me. Although it's goofy, at least I look happy AND like a professional thrifter! I'd love to hear some headlines for this picture...if you have any, leave a comment! The current headline is from my friend, Michelle!

I learned from the Best...Church Sale Part 2

Well, hello all...I've been "under the weather", but am finally feeling better and ready to get to part 2 of the first church yard sale of the season! Here is Part 1 and now Part 2 is all about my mom's goodies. Remember, we were overflowing both of our carts and had to have 2 men help us carry things to the car for us!

Here is my mom's sweet cart!

She got hers for only $2 awhile back and after making the liner and even her name tag, this was the first time for putting it to good use!

(By the way, I am seeing these carts everywhere, but am not letting myself purchase anymore, unless someone requests that I purchase one, b/c although I love my cart, I need a free hand to grab with. Though, I do have a feeling that if anyone actually wants for me to find a cart for them, it is certain that I will never find one again. :0)

Many Many Goodies for only $14.30!

Here we go:

• $5.00 medium sized black framed mirror


• $2.00 pair of blue twin dotted swiss bedspreads


• $1.00 Big Ben alarm clock


• $1.00 beautiful thick gold scrolly tablecloth


• $1.00 pair of aqua pillowcases


• $1.00 peach three tiered dish


• $1.25 three muffin pans


• .75 three saucepans


• .25 Longaberger tote bag


• .25 milk glass table lamp


• .25 green jewelry box


• .25 grill basket


• .10 cake decorator with tips


• .10 tiny roses oil lamp


• .10 box of light clips for outdoor lights

Wow! What a bargain!

And yes, I learned from the Best! Love 'ya mom!

Passing down the ART of REPURPOSING

OK, so I LOVE to think outside the box these days...always trying to figure out another useful purpose for a .25 item. Well, it seems that my darling daughters have also learned the art of repurposing. Just look how they're using my new table that I wrote about last week.

While I never pictured it as anything more than a table,my sweet little ones decided it would make a great ocean for their Barbie doll cruise. Boy am I proud!

But seriously, here is a great blog entry about repurposing:

http://etsycottagestyle.blogspot.com/2008/05/art-of-repurposing.html

and within the next month, I'd like to have some pics of things repurposed around my house to show. Also, for a challenge...try thinking outside the box and post a comment telling me what YOU are repurposing!

The Cutest Kitchen Things at the Target Dollar Spot

To those of you who don't think I shop anywhere but Goodwill and yard sales (and you know who you are), I do every once in awhile get out to Targé!

Are these things cute or what?!Although these cuties were in the Dollar Spot, they were $2.50 each. Now don't get me wrong, I still think these were a great deal...but why is it called the Dollar Spot when half of the things cost $2.50 now? Well, if you're interested in these things, you better go to your local Target and scarf some up because, if gas can go up to $4.00 a gallon and a gallon of milk to $5.00, then surely inflation will force the Dollar Spot to become the Four Dollar Spot very soon!
Au Revoir!

See what this girl can do with $21! A Church Sale Part 1

Do I love a good church yard sale! My mom and I arrived at this wonderful church sale when it first opened at 7:00. And boy do I love to see a church hall full of sweet elderly people selling their old (and new) treasures. Mainly because they just want you to be able to have whatever you want for however much you want to donate to the church. And they want you to have it all...for little of nothing! We took my mom's re-vamped shopping cart and once that overflowed, we happened to spy another old metal shopping cart for me! You can see that one after it's makeover down below. Well, we overflowed that one too. I keep wanting to say overflew, but I'm pretty sure it's overflowed. Here are my treasures for the day (the metal cart is covered up, but you know what they look like).

The metal shopping cart was $5 and we didn't even notice it at first because it was full of walking sticks (they tried to make us take all of the walking sticks that filled it too), so make sure you look at everything twice b/c you just might see a "diamond in the rough" that you didn't see the first time. The pink corduroy jacket and pumpkin fleece were $1 each, the white scallop trimmed linen tablecloth was $1, the beautiful rose scarf (not vintage, but looks it) was .50.

Tupperware...don't really need it, but I just can't pass up Tupperware for .10 each! There is a yellow cream pitcher and an olive green pickle container. Also there is the cutest Tupperware jello mold set that was $1. For .50 I got this Land 'o Lakes recipe box (I believe from the '80's) full of recipe cards, some hand written. The bread box was $4.00. The new American Girl bookmark with charm was .25. I had to get that to make my oldest daughter, whom I was sure would be quite peaved not being able to go with us, happy. Didn't work.

My favorite finds for the day were these 2 bracelets (.50 each). I have seen these at local shops for $30.00 each! I also like the vintage rhinestone bracelet and the new sterling earrings (each .50).

These are beautiful pink and clear glasses. Love them! Only $1 for the set of 2! As a matter of fact I think I may have a wine spritzer in one right now!

This is such a cute old Thermos brand cooler ($4). I may use it as a magazine rack or to hold flowers. Any other ideas? And yes, I know that I can use it for it's intended purpose, but I'm trying to look outside the box (or the cooler) here.

Here is the metal cart after I painted it and my mom sewed the liner for it. I've used it a few times already! You get a lot of attention with one of these along for the hunt with remarks like, "You really look like a professional!". So I hold my head up high and think to myself, "I'm proud to look like a professional "junquer".

This made my whole weekend! And for only $21 (well $20.95 + .05 donation)! HALLELUJAH!

Thrifting in the Genes? Not so much!

To put it in my youngest little rugrat's princess' words, "What the....?". In case you haven't noticed...I LOVE getting a bargain! I am so PROUD of my little girls when someone compliments them and they say with enthusiasm, "Mama got this from Goodwill" or "Mama got this for $1 at a yard sale!". And I think that most of our family and friends have gotten over the shock of hearing my two sweet little angels admitting to this and now come to expect to hear about the latest thriftiness. Anyway, so when my first grader came home from school with these lil' pieces of hideousness this lil' treasure saying that she owed another little girl in her class $5 for it...I was appalled! I mean couldn't she have talked her down to 25 cents or somethin'? I mean it's in like 10 pieces and they're not even all there AND it's missing an eye (I was told that the lil' salesgirl plucked an eye out b/c she thought it was her birthstone and wanted to keep it). So, of course (after taking a picture), I told her that she would have to give it back to the little girl and tell her that she's not allowed to purchase things from other classmates (unless it's a bargain ;0) . Well, then she tells me that she got it out of the trash after the the lil' salesgirl threw it away! Now doesn't that beat all?!

For the Love of Jesus

A couple of weeks ago my hubby and I started out the day by going to our local Goodwill auction. It was quite impressive, but we were outbid. There were over 400 things up for auction, so who knew that we would be outbid on the 3 things that we wanted?!
So on to The Love of Jesus Thrift Store where I found just the coffee table I was looking for.

This one is very well made, heavy and HUGE! It will be perfect to play board games on during family fun nights. Well, when I went to check the price, there wasn't one. The other (ugly) tables around it said $40-$65, so I almost didn't ask the price. I was finally able to catch a young man to ask him how much and he said, "I don't know, how about $25? Well, as a matter of fact, I'm not supposed to do that, so how 'bout you go over and talk to the guy in the black shirt." So I went over to him, thinking that he would never say under $40 and guess what?! He said, "How 'bout $25?". I tried not to jump for joy, but was thrilled and on the way out picked up this cutie-patootie set of 4 plates for $3.00.

Guess who's lovin' Jesus now!

Gotta Love Estate Sales!

It's not very often that I'm able to go to an estate sale...there just doesn't seem to be very many around our area. This one particular day, though, I was able to leave work on a Friday and get to the sale before too many people had pounced on the goods. I picked up the two rectangular pillows below and the owner told me that if I bought the 2 of them for $8.00, then I could have the square pillow for $1. Don't ask my hubby, but I think they were a good deal. Don't ask him because,...I washed them when I got home (because I wash EVERYTHING) and one of the corners ripped terribly on one of the rectangular pillows. And it went downhill from there because, the fringe that was on the corner ended up clogging up the washer (which took my darling hubby about 45 mins. to unclog...but he fixed it...and didn't break it further, which is quite an accomplishment). Thankfully, it didn't burn up the motor or else I would have to think that being thrifty doesn't always work out so well.

Although, I love the pillows, they were not my favorite finds for the day. But these vintage hooked rugs

and this boudoir chair were!

I could swear that the rugs were the "booby prize" of the day or the one thing that the owners never thought would sell. I'm sure they thought about putting them in the trash, but then decided to see if anybody would ACTUALLY buy them...for $5 each! I wish they could see them now! These rugs are a good 3'x5' size and were incredibly DIRTY! I wish so badly that I had taken "before" pictures. After taking them outside, scrubbing detergent on them, and power washing them with the waterhose, they look MUCH nicer. I figured for $10, it wouldn't kill me if they ruined, but *I would only suggest this method as a last resort*. Now don't get me wrong, they are still somewhat stained, but they definitely are usable.

The chair was originally $65, this included a long window valance (that an ottoman will be covered with as soon as I can find the perfect one), and the pillows to match. I thought this was a little too high, so I went back on the third day hoping to get it half price...well it was marked $50 and that just wasn't good enough, so with 1 hour left of the sale, I talked them down to $35! I left there a very happy girl! My dear & wonderful hubby cooperated beautifully while helping to load it into our minivan and only asked where I would put ANOTHER chair.

Mother's Day

I hope every mother out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! Mine was a perfect day...starting with breakfast by my oldest daughter along with cards made by both girls and my husband. My mother was able to join us for our breakfast of cinnamon buns which was wonderful.

Then came about 30 minutes where I just sat by the river with my coffee and magazine.

And look what my mom & dad gave ME for Mother's Day...
...many, many treasures handed down from my Grandma Claire and my mom, along with a few things found in thrift shops. It was so special and so much fun to go through! The tin and box also hold little saucers. It's so beautiful all put together in the metal tub that I kinda hate to "undo" it. At least I have the pictures, right?!

A great picture of my Grandma Claire & PawPaw.

And you just have to see this sweet little cupcake plate that my mom made!
She took a votive holder (upside down) and glued it to the bottom of the glass plate and added a cheese dome (the glass domes that come with the cheese boards). Too cute!

Here I am with my mom and dad.

This is what we gave my mom for her porch at the river.

What a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day!