Oh, what a beautiful weekend!

I just cannot believe what a gorgeous weekend it was! Usually in August, we are sweltering and drowning in pools of perspiration while at the river, but it has been unusually nice the last few weeks! And thank goodness for the rain this morning! Not that it was much, but every little bit helps these days! I've just totally given up on one of my flower beds that is now skeletal and my 4 tomato plants produced a total of 6 tiny tomatoes.

So back to the weekend...it was cool and breezy and fall-like, just perfect! Saturday morning, my mom and both daughters went yard-saling...big surprise! We found the most perfect yard-salingmobile...too bad my hubby can't build me one of these! And the couple that built it is selling it for an enormous price- we were told! Oh well, I didn't need "helmet hair" anyway... The first sale we went to was right down the road from us and belonged to a very nice family. The sweet man there had made planters (this small one was $10 and he had large ones that were really sweet for $25). The beach chairs were $5 each and the covers come off easily for washing...so comfortable for the river. The sheer aqua floral shower curtain was $1, the vintage set of 3 lingerie/jewelry bags were $5.And look...can you believe we found another cart? This one was $2, the hanging pot rack for The Porch was $10, the wastebaskets were $1 (we'll paint these), the set of 4 plates were $1, each of the 3 lamps were $2, the Time Out bench was $2, the old cheese box was .25.Mom bought the cutest sewing basket full of great stuff for $3!! The Fiskars are worth that alone!Our neighbors at the river gave us this gorgeous birdbath! These same neighbors have given us so many wonderful things since cleaning out their grandmother's old homeplace.While out and about, we found this wonderful Mint & Honey Tea by Sweet Leaf, you oughtta try it!So in the afternoon, my (firefighter) hubby and I took the girls to a parade in Callao. Again, I just love small-town parades! Here is a beautiful vintage firetruck with the cutest...ahem...dalmation. One day, my firefighter and I want to get an antique firetruck to carry to parades maybe in a few 20 years or so.Of course there were the civil war soldiers and the colonial dressed ladies (the little girl was so cute...she kept waving to us).My firefighter's volunteer company engine... and here is a grumpy looking Smokey Bear.After the parade, since we were just 15 minutes from the marina where my parents keep their boat that's now for sale (on the Potomac), we decided to ride there. It's so pretty there...look at this sailboat, would 'ya!My girls and I love to collect old beach glass and we found about 2 lbs of it in 30 minutes here at the marina beach! Ok, on Sunday, mom and I decided to go to the local auction again. This time we were there for 3 hours and because of the influction of antique dealers, only came away with this too cute vintage doll crib for $5. My hubby and oldest daughter were extremely patient during these three hours! Oh how I wish I had won the big pink wooden umbrella-like drying rack!

So it was quite a busy weekend and busy it was for the seagulls who were flocking to our pier and all of the piers nearby! You have never seen so much seagull poop in your life! Do they even do anything else? We actually woke up to the sound of seagulls in the mornings. Look closely and you can see the pelican that flew right into my picture! I've tried for two years to get a good picture of this pelican and I can not believe that it flew right into my picture without me knowing it!Here are a few miscellaneous pics from the weekend:

In trying to get over my arachnaphobia, I thought since these big fat spiders were all over the end of our pier, that I may as well photograph one...

There are so many apples on our tree and I never got a chance over the weekend to make anything with them! The weekends just roll by so fast!

I'll leave you with this beautiful sunset at the river Sunday:

My Saturday FIX

I'm bound and determined to get this on here before Saturday. This is last Saturday's goods from another sale at the river. This one was held in a field near a shopping center and although the sign said that they started selling at 9:00, we, along with about 75 others were there at 8:00! I'm guessing by 9:00, half of everything was gone! My mom and I just kept making a pile and adding to it as people donated new stuff throughout the first hour. Of course, we missed out on some good deals, but we did end up with quite a bit of stuff!

The double rocker is for my front porch...this thing was wanted by many a yard saler! So, I asked the guy working there how much it was. He answered $15...and even though I thought that was a great price, I had to do my thing and ask if he'd take $12. Well, I felt stupid when he said, "Honey, this money goes to our church!" This was a church sale...in the middle of a field and we had no clue, no wonder everything was such a good price! Needless to say I was happy to pay $15. I think I saw the man cringe a few times whenever I came towards him with a new item, but really it was just to ask the price as they were not ready with everything priced yet.
Yes, this is giant pom pom fringe...the pom poms are about 2.5" big! We had to get this just to draw attention at The Porch if nothing else. It was .50...I don't know how anyone could pass this up!
The shutter screen is to make shelves out of for The Porch (which my dad promptly did). It was $2. The shabby green shelf is to go atop the table that it is on as a potting area on my porch. It was $1. The teal linen tablecloth was $1.00, the new in the package book fairy was $1, and the 2 oval bird prints were $1. The milk glass cake plate was also $1!Sorry this is a horrible picture, but this is like 20 lbs. of silverware of all sorts. My mom scored this for $8! There are probably 300 pcs. here!
The table with the drawer was $5...it now sits in my mom & dad's river cottage.
This little oval table had beautiful detail work. This one was $8! The crocheted tablecloth is beautiful and was $5.
This is my soon to be potting table to go on my porch. I will paint it, of course. This was $3!
This silver bracelet (which just needed a good cleaning) was .50.

Last, but certainly not least, was this set of 3 heart boxes. They are brand new, but are made to look vintage. They all have hinges on them and are lined. The stickers on the bottom added up to $56! I bought them for $1.50! Yay for me!

This may be the last of the summer sales for me because we have SO MUCH to paint and get ready for The Porch now! Well, we'll see...

G.I. Junk Reporting for Duty...

Thought I'd give you a giggle for the day...

When I saw this picture of myself, I immediately thought I looked like a comic book character named "G.I. Junk" or something similar. I obviously take the job of junking seriously!

Anyhow, let's get down to business here...I've got to do a lil bit of braggin' because I had an AWESOME Saturday! My mom, mother-in-law, and oldest dd went with me to a church yard (benefiting the Knights of Columbus) sale in Tappahannock near where our river houses are. We'd been waiting all summer for this one because we've had good luck before. We got there in time to wait in a long line for 15 minutes before they let anyone pounce on the goods. And by the way, don't bother humiliating yourself by asking to see the goods a few 14 hours early at a church when there are like 12 sweaty men setting up the yard sale. Been there, done that, didn't work and got yelled at, by I think all 12 men, to boot!

Well, back to Sat. morning at 8:00. Although there were about 70 people shopping...we made out like bandits and even found another cart to fill up...it was pretty cute seeing my oldest daughter pushing a cart! Here are all of the things that we bought there!

3 tiered standing metal shelf $3

Old hand painted Niagara Falls fan .10

Retro metal recipe box .25

Corn on the cob salt & pepper shakers & napkin holder .10

Roll of old floral wallpaper .25

Adorable handmade apron .10

Cherries plate & small floral platter .10 each

Lobster dish towel .10

Retro ice cream scoop .05

Set of 3 napkins w/ embroidered flowers .10

Vintage glove w/ nosegay & button .05

Set of 2 blue floral napkins .10

Large oval white lace tablecloth .10

Pink floral pillowcase .10

Retro colorful flowers flat sheet .10

Framed picture of grapes .75

2 alum. cake pans .10

2 small lamp shades .50

Vintage 8x10 frame $1

Long pc. furniture trim .10

Retro fabric Christmas tree .50

Primitive stuffed snowman .10

2 Cornices $1

Set of framed girl & boy pictures $2

Floral plate .10

Beautiful Limoges pink roses plate .25

3 tiered shabby chic corner shelf $2

Tiny floral glass .05

Set of retro recipe cards .15

Vintage square plaque w/ girl .10

Wooden shelf w/ drawers .75

Aqua china creamer & sugar dish $2.

Tiny silver picture frame .10

Glass salt & pepper shakers .10

Set of 6 coasters .25

Framed floral picture .50

Aqua Towel .10

Set of 3 dressed bunnies $1

Basket of candles, fruit, & veggies .50

Bird feeder .25

Set of 6 red & white demitasse cups & saucers .50

Pastel quilted design round tablecloth .10

4 small handmade pillowcases .10 each

Bright floral pillowcase .10

White damask round tablecloth .10

Set of 2 blue floral pillowcases .10

Metal shopping cart $2

Knitted daisy afghan $1

Vintage square sheer tablecloth w/ pink embroidered flowers .10

Dirt Devil $2

Norman Rockwell framed plate $1

Ramekins w/ rack .25

4 retro orange cups .50

"Haley" pencils .10

Dish shelf .10

2 metal pot racks .25

Flamingo sweater $1

That's 58 items for $28.05!!!!!!

So, it's only 9:45 AM and do you think we were ready to go back to the river? Heck no! We decided to go to a local auction, not expecting to actually BID on stuff! Well, boy did we!

In this pic, I look like I'm gonna kick somebody's butt if they touch any of our stuff! My mother in law got the old school desk ($5) and clippers ($12), my mom bought the beautiful old table on the right ($25), and I bought the box of 9 aprons ($4) for my dear hubby (and I promise I bought them first, before I knew that I was going to need him to come pick up all of the furniture that I would buy!), the 4 adorably shabby green chairs ($20) that are now on my porch, the black cottage bookshelf ($3), and the very shabby bookshelf ($1)!
My 9 yr. old vintage-loving daughter actually got upset thinking that I would paint over the wonderfully chippy green paint on the chairs, but I won't anytime soon b/c I love it too!I originally bid on this table to go in our booth, but then mom decided she wanted to buy it for their river cottage. Look at the beautiful detail:
Here are all of dh's aprons after washing. $4.00! Btw, he loves to continue his family tradition of helping the fire dept. with making & selling brunswick stew, so I thought these would be perfect. *disclaimer* I promise I did not intend to buy these for "sucking up" purposes...it just happened that we needed help with furniture hauling!♥ Thank you darling!
So guess what we found when we got back to our river houses, that my father-in-law had picked up for FREE at the dump! This canopy that was perfect for covering our furniture since there was a chance of rain!and my hubby from the sun while chipping brush! What an awesomely thrifty weekend! Wish you coulda been there!