L*O*N*G Sunday multi-purpose post...

Blogger finally updated...after 2 days of "old news"... I was able to read today & check out everyone's great weekend finds! If we could get all of us together in one place for a sale, what a sale it would be!! Actually, that's part of the reason for today's post. My shed overfloweth, my barn is groaning and I'm almost feeling guilty going thrifting & sale-ing. Not a huge problem, but here is THE problem. When we lived in downtown Orlando, I would have a sale 2 or 3 times a year, and do really well $$-wise w/o even running a print ad. Now, we're out in the boonies and my last sale, after paying for the Pennysaver ad, netted me a whole $4, for all my time, sweat & backaches. Need I say, NOT worth it. Okay, so I keep reading about these "Occassional" sales, and I'm intrigued. Steph & I have great stuff to sell, but our last place of re-sale ended sadly with little profit & having to lug all the goodies home to be stored again. So...I'm asking for your comments, advice...whatever you can tell me that can help us figure out how to best approach & solve this dilemma. If your help seems too long for a comment, feel free to email me...els54@earthlink.net. We know a couple of antiques people that may be able to assist w/ a space, but I'm a little shy about approaching them. {I can hear my husband in the background saying..."YOU, shy?!!? HA!"} Any way, I'd love to hear what ya'll have to say ... My next part of this is to show off my "Old School" Vintage Back 2 School window that I put together for the shop I manage. We had a big Merchant Open House last night to welcome back our local university & try to get local school parents out of "Wallyworld" for at least a part of their back to school shopping. Also had a downtown Cruise-In for classic cars. And, if that wasn't enough, our local newly reno'd theater, "The Athens" was hosting a Woodstock 40th bash! All of this was under the heading of "HOT August Nights". We were all hoping for a great turn-out, and it was good, but the weather had other plans...Rain...Rain and then some more Rain...We were joking about doing the Woodstock chant of "No Rain. No Rain. etc" We all know how well THAT turned out! When it rains in Central Florida in the summer, it washes out outdoor events w/o a worry or care. On a happier note, my window was a huge hit, although my boss was a tad skeptical...she's still not sure of the appeal of cool old cra...er...stuff. I'm slowly winning her over, either that or she's just tired of my yakkin' about cool old stuff. If you click to enlarge those pics, you can see how much stuff I lugged from home!! The 3rd, and final {I think} reason for today's ramble is to give a little hint of a new Monday post I'm going to start tomorrow, which, by the way is also our 35th anniversary. Joe & I were married in a beautiful little church in Marion Massachussetts on August 17, 1974. I'm going to try to find a pic that's not scrapbooked already, just to remind myself how incredibly young we were then. Okay...hint for the Monday post...I recently noticed I had a lot of a particular "thing" showing up in my yard. I started to take some pictures, and ended up with fodder for at least 10 posts, and that was just in the front yard! Last part of the hint...it starts with the letter "M". Actually there is a 4th reason for my Sunday ramble on... I noticed this morning that I am getting very close to my 100th post. Only took me 2 years to reach this lofty #! With all the talking I do, I should be closer to 200! Also, I saw that I now have 30{!!!!} followers! I'm in shock & awe!! I know there are plenty of blogs that have so many followers they can't count them all. I'm just thrilled that there are 30 folks out there that actually read my ramblings, check out the pics and are still interested enough to leave a comment. So...without too much fanfare, I will be having a giveback {yeah, I 'borrowed' that from some other blog, I just can't remember whose}. It may take a couple of weeks to reach 100, but rest assured, when I get a teeny bit closer, I will announce all the details. In the meantime, I have been wandering the house, & the barn & the shed in search of the perfect goodies. I think there will be more than 1 winner, mainly because I have so much cra...er...stuff!! I'm not gettin' any younger & it's really past time to lighten the load. I'd like to keep this giveback just for followers and folks I have "met" this past 2 years. Are you on my Morning Coffee bloglist?? Keep reading, okay? You read, and I'll keep "home shopping". This could be a lot fun! So...I think that's it for today...are you still with me? Tell me I didn't put you to sleep at your computer desk. I'm off to post some pics, probably in the wrong order :o}, but I'm gonna give it my best shot. I'll be back tomorrow with "M----- Monday" Joe & I are off to the beach early in the morning. That's one of our favorite places to be together, so seems fitting for our anniversary...can hardly believe that it's been 35 years, actually plus 2...we were together 2 years before we got hitched! Okay...that just made me feel ancient! Sorry about the crazy color combos...just felt like trying something different today! Wore a rainbow swirl tie dyed T-shirt for the open house last night, so it must be a residual effect from that! :o} Happy Sunday evening to ya'll...see you Monday! *elaine*

Junk shed explosion....

Junk...as far as my eyes could see!

Inside...during reorganization...whoops! Buried the washer...again!

Cool junk...I forgot I had that little red table! Oh, and that adorable child size folding chair...still needs a seat!

New piles...at least now I can see what's there!

My little work area...I can actually find a phillip's head screwdriver!! I'll show you all the goodies in that old muffin tin in my next post...junk heaven!!

Well, it didn't really explode, but my hubby said that was what the back yard looked like when I got this out-of-the-blue burst of energy on Memorial Day. Actually on Sunday, I had to get a suitcase and a potty chair out of the shed, and risked life & limb to do so! The suitcase was W-A-Y in the back and I thought I could just dig down to it...yeah, right! The piles started to shift and slide, so I grabbed the case and slammed the door...until Monday morning when hubby asks "Are you doing laundry today?". Long story short, I headed out to the shed with said laundry in basket, and opened the door , only to be reminded that I could not get to the washer! Damn!!! So...it was either reorganize the shed, or toss in one short stick of dynamite! Within 15 minutes it looked like my shed had exploded, spewing furniture and junk all over the yard! Spent 3 hours emptying, tossing and restacking, while along the way getting reaquainted with some pretty neat things that I had totally forgotten about...one of the bad parts of being a packrat AND getting older, you forget what you've dragged home! Took a whole load of stuff to Goodwill on Tuesday , and put out a pretty good pile by the side of the road for trash day on Wednesday. My hubby was impressed, although he still thinks there's way too much stuff in the shed....but hey, it's my shed and now I even have a place to work on some little projects...I'm impressed!! I found all kinds of neat little things that were tucked here and there, and I can hardly wait for my next day off so I maybe can actually create something instead of just messes! Hope you had a great weekend...bye for now. *elaine*

junk bonanza!!

Ohh...the yard sales were good to me this week, and I wasn't even trying. Didn't look any ads up in the local Pennysaver...and left the house on Friday morning with very little cash. I hit the jackpot at my first sale...1st sign said "yard sale", but the sign out front said "Estate Sale"..hhmmm. Little old house with lots of junk...er...cool stuff in the carport, so I hit that, the laundry room and the back shed before I even went into the house. All the good stuff was in the shed!! Found the red & white enameled basin, the galvanized milk box, and the turpentine pot...$1 each!! Score! Now, in case you're wondering "what in heck is a turpentine pot?"...it's the tall clay pot that looks like a flower pot, but it's not. It has no hole in the bottom, but does have a hole in one side where it hung from a nail on a pine tree and collected sap, which was then made into turpentine. They were made of very poor quality local clay, so very few have survived intact. This one is in beautiful condition! I saw my first pots like this at a small museum of Lake County history at our local court house. That was about 18 years ago when we were buying our property, and I decided that I had to find at least one of these pots. In 18 years, I've only come up with 6...so they're not easy to find. Most were left behind in the woods, and many of them ended up in bits & pieces. So... there's a little Central Florida history for you! The other goodies in the photos were found at my favorite thrift shop...the checkers and the cool dice...$1.00...and at one yard sale that I went back to a second time this morning, cause he said he'd have more out today. Don't usually do a second trip to the same sale, but was glad I did...found the cute Noddy Elve books, the metal milk crate, and the old rusty iron this morning. Spent a whole $4.50 at this guys sale...oh, also the little cardboard boxes with vintage dividers, and neat letters. Two sizes, 2 colors with punctuation and stars, They were originally marked $3.50 a box and I got both for $1...fed my letter obsession and saved some cash! Takes so little to make me happy! Oh...see that rounded rusty thing on top of the green and brown pot?? Anyone know what that might be? It has holes in it, so I was guessing a strainer of some sort, but it doesn't have much of a handle to hold onto. Whatever it is, it's wonderfully rusty and a steal at a dime! So that's the junkin' for today! My son's coming over for chicken on the barbie with homemade coleslaw, and some wonderful candy corn that's been popping up at our local market...Yum! If we don't get the grill going, we're gonna be eating just the coleslaw for dinner!! Time to fire it up! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend...Enjoy! After dinner I'm going to play with my new letters...I'm seeing maybe a sign for the 4th of July...with the red and blue letters and the stars? Now I'll have to go raid the chippy, peeling wood pile in the shed. I'll let you know what I come up with!! *elaine*