Reasons Why...

...I haven't had time to blog for over a week. Alexandria & Gramma had lots of gardening to do...

Then we extended our sleep-over weekend to Monday to include a trip to the beach....

Then I had to switch over all my junk to my awesome new purse I won from B's Purses last week...

Then I had to figure out how to get to the washing machine with all the yard sale stuff in the shed that is stacked to the roof...

Then I had to water all the poor plants that were drooping all over my yard, because someone has not told the state of Florida that it's October for crying out loud and it should not be 95 in October...

Of course, in the middle of all that, we had one of our busiest weeks at work...the homecoming parade was today {forgot the camera} , cleaned the house, did laundry, went grocery shopping and all the other stuff that filled my week so full I am not sure where the whole week has gone!! Tomorrow is Saturday, gotta work one more day, then on Sunday try to get all the stuff ready to move to my boss's house for my yard sale next Saturday. Whew...I'm tired just thinking about it!! Hope you all had a good week and found lots of good junk. I have a couple of sales to check out in the morning...oh, wait, am I not supposed to go yard sale-ing if I'm having a sale? Oh well, a couple sound too good to pass up...just don't tell my husband!! :o} *elaine*

LAST weekend's finds

Bumper pool balls? Great red & ivory color! 10 cents each. Frames, record book & tea tin...50 cents each. Funky green pencil sharpener for my workbench $1

The balls ended up here, after a good cleaning, in a bowl made by oldest son, nestled among the pinecones.

The 50 cent mirror, before cleaning and adding ribbon...great green color on the record book...another 50 cents...I thought "Journal!" as soon as I saw it. It has lined pages that are alphabetized, missing A & B, but all the rest of the pages have no writing...a fresh blank slate!

Mirror in it's new home, in the company of a great red framed beveled mirror from a trashed train case, and my favorite framed photo of my Grandma Amy as a young woman. Click to enlarge...the dress she's wearing is just amazing.

I am so behind on posting my junk finds, I don't think I'll ever catch up. The sales have been pretty good lately, not awesome, but good. I usually lug the treasures home & stash them in the shed until inspiration hits. But this week a lot of the new finds have found their perfect places in the house or yard almost immediately! We have a new Thrift Shop that just opened last week, and it's been wonderful! I told the manager that I'd probably be there every other day, as it's right on my way to work, and so far that's how often I've stopped. New stuff every day, and true low thrift shop prices. All proceeds benefit a local residential home in town that cares for physically & mentally disabled kids and young adults. Great cause...don't feel quite so guilty when I'm buying another pile of stuff. None of the stuff in the pictures is from the new shop...I'll try to get some pics of those things tomorrow. In the meantime, all of the goodies were from one yard sale and one church sale. The prices were sooo low...less than $5 for all. I love the mirror...old, handcarved and very unique. All I did was give it a bath and add the wired green ribbon to hang by. It seems quite happy in the arrangement on the wall in my "studio". The tall skinny 6 drawer chest came from a sale the week before,$3, and holds all my chipboard letters for scrapbooking. I've been getting so organized lately. Not usually a summer project, but it's just been so hot this summer. A couple hours in the morning is it for me to work outside, and then it's back in the A/C for most of the afternoon, so organizing stuff in my room is almost fun!! Okay...my eyes are getting tired & I keep making typos, so I'm off to post my pics, and early to bed. Have a great weekend!! *elaine* PS I was thrilled to click on my blog tonight and see that I have 28 followers! I know there are many other blogs that have many more than that, but when I started this blog I didn't have a clue where it would lead, and it's just really gratifying to have all these folks follow my meanderings! Still not sure where I'm going, but the trip is never boring! G'night!

Favorite Finds For Less Than $5.00

Very cool plumbers galvanized tool box...$2...now home to my metal flower frog collection.

My all time favorite chippy red metal stool...$5...bargained down from $8. Saw one in a Junk book years ago and was thrilled when I found this one!

Fabulous green glazed yellowware bowl...$3...yep, $3! Lady at the yard sale said it was her Grandma's, and the color was wrong for her house. HUH??? This bowl is in perfect condition...no chips, no cracks, no flea bites...wrong color? No Way!!

My all time favorite yellowware bowl...huge, one tiny flea bite on the inside & cracled glaze...$5. Found this at a yard sale wrapped in a plastic WalMart bag. Thought at first that it was a big plastic bowl, but when I opened the bag I was thrilled to see this, with a little orange price tag that said "five dollars" in spidery old handwriting. Be still my heart!!

Adorable little chippy green shelf...$1...apparently it used to have a door, but minus the door served my purpose better. My family is from the New Bedford area of Massachussetts, and my mother collected many things nautical to reflect that. All of these things were hers, except for the scrimshaw piece that I found here in Central Florida.

Had an unexpected day off today...WooHoo! Thought we would go to the beach, but we have a 70% chance of severe thunderstorms. So scrapped the beach, and decided to clean...not something I do with any regularity! :} While dusting, I came up with this idea for a new post when I realized that some of my favorite things have come from yard or estate sales and cost $5 or less. So, with no further rambling...here are some of my very favorite finds. Do you have some all time favorites that you have paid less than $5 for? Maybe a good topic for when you're having one of those blah blog days and you can't think of anything fun to post about...have a great Thursday. *elaine*

Cool Finds

Yard sales...rummage sales...trash piles...and boxes galore at the local thrift! Must be Spring in central Florida...Yeah!!! This is the best time to be in this area of the country. Everyone seems to be cleaning & organizing, and the sale signs are popping up like weeds in my garden! Only got to 2 on Friday morning...had to work, and got caught in road construction that took at least a 1/2 hour off my "shopping" time. One sale was so worth the stop, and made me wish I had been there earlier...all the above goodies set me back a whole $3, and I am loving the sweet little Singer sewing machine!! Found it in a box of junky old curtains, and the guy running the sale said .50 cause it was rusty. I have the shining perfect condition twin to this, including the box, that a friend gave me several years ago. Too cute to pass up! Got some neat pieces of barkcloth, small but I love the colors...and the tablecloth and piping at the same sale. The cute little strainer came from the TS, and as soon as I saw it I knew it had to be a planter. Has a small Penta in it now, and I think it'll look even cuter whe the plant gets a bit bigger. Well...I certainly have rambled on about next to nothing, but at least I'm posting again. Still feeling a bit blah...but am working my way out of it. Hubby & I are heading off to the beach this weekend, and that never fails to recharge my spirit. Have a great weekend. *elaine*

Renninger's part 3...Ki & Me & Stephanie

Okay...I'm sure you've all been waiting for my final installment on the EXTRAVAGANZA. A couple weeks ago, I found out that Ki Nassauer of Junk Camp & Junk Revolution, and formerly Junk Market style and Country Home Junk maven was coming to Florida. I've loved her stuff since I saw the premier issue of Junk Market Style in 2006. So, I commented on her blog, cause I live just 30 minutes from Renninger's where Ki planned to be on Friday. Long story short, if I can, we planned to meet there and after a few calls back and forth my friend Steph & I tracked down Ki at one of those cute little trailers where they sell HOT coffee & bacon 'n egg sandwiches. Most definitely our high point of the day!! Ki has got to be one of the most down to earth, real women I've met in a long time. After Hello, and a hug, you feel like a friend. We spent close to an hour talking, taking pictures and feeling like I had my own private meet 'n greet. So...the last couple of pictures are self explanatory, and the pie birdie and the rusty star were my only 2 purchases of the day. Renninger's has so much awesome stuff, great dealers and a wonderful site for a market like this...but a lot of the antiques and even collectibles were a bit out of my price range for the day. That's okay...we had a blast, and maybe, just maybe, on an upcoming junk quest I'll run into that familiar smile again...after all, we're in Florida, where the yard sales go on all year and the flea markets are abundant, even in January!! I'm blogged out! Gonna upload some photos, and go pull some weeds...they're abundant too...even in January! *elaine*

2 teeny sales...getting stuff ready for resale!

Planned on NOT going to any sales this weekend, but 2 just jumped out on front of me on my way to work! Found some rickrack at one, along with the very funky lime daisy...1.25...and the 2 little peeps chickens @ the other for a whopping .50...had to bring them home for the spring re-do of our re-sale space. Had a slow start for February after a terrible January...just made the rent on that one! Checked the shop on Friday, and we had been cleaned out! WooHoo!!! So...I've been accumulating spring stuff all month, and spent a good part of the day cleaning & pricing, so we can get things in place for this week. Busy tourist week here, w/ the Daytona 500, so hopefully we'll be busy all week. Also put together another little vintage sewing stuff frame, so I'm going to put that in and see how folks like it. Have 6 more pairs of vintage "crane scissors" and once they're gone I'll have to come up w/ something else. Don't want to dip into my private stash of sewing goodies...has to be new found materials. Am also finishing a cute wood sign...done on old cedar paneling. I made 1 as a secret santa gift, and the lady in Ohio who received it was thrilled, so painted another on a smaller scale. Don't have much of the cedar left, so had to cut down on the size. So, that ends my 2 day weekend...probably won't have another for a couple of weeks...damn!!! Seems like there are not enough hours in the day to do all the things that are rolling around my brain! Need to retire soon, while I have the energy to do all this stuff! Lotto rolled over to 34 mil...now that would be a nice retirement fund, huh? have a great week, folks...*elaine*