Upgrade

 Time to upgrade!  

I had a very old iron, it would steam stuff but often with obnoxious water spots...rusty looking...I usually used a pressing cloth (an old white dish towel)  not sure how old it was but I used it to starch and press Far Guys military BDU's many years ago.  At that time a new iron was much cheaper than sending his uniforms out to a laundry.  The cord had been replaced once...

I traded Jen an old white desk top rotary phone for the iron at the garage sale!  Win win.

Far Guy and I had a quiet Sunday, we listened to church and in the afternoon we went for a Sunday drive to our favorite Mexican place for lunch/supper.   One more day of no cooking sure works for me. 

Our area is experiencing wildfire smoke...it is awful...it even smells inside the house. We have two air purifiers going.

Goodbye August and hello September!  The construction on our road to town was supposed to be finished...it still needs lines/lanes painted...it was Sunday and no one was working...so we took it anyway and ignored the detour. 

Far Side

Finds

 Zippers and yarn oh my. Remember when I said no more zippers? Well I lied cause I found a whole bunch for 2$  and the yarn was too good to pass up. Also found a book for the Great Grands, some swim shirts and trunks for hey Mikey and a coke a cola bucket for Far Guy and some brand new receiving blankets for the new baby coming in late June. 

Spring has sprung up north. Jen’s Bleeding Hearts are blooming. 

We are off to some more sales today…never can tell what kind of treasures we will find.

Far Side

Backroad Sales

I spent the weekend in my garage…by choice.  Cleaning and organizing and trying to get ready for a garage sale.  Time is getting short and if I am going to have a sale then it better be soon!  My garage needed a good cleaning anyway…sale or no sale.

During a break Far Guy suggested we take a trip over to the Flea Market and see what Sam had for sale.  I found a few pieces of glass and some dice. 

We saw a garage sale sign on the way back home.  

It pointed this way.

A road through the swamp.

Getting closer.

We finally arrived.  Sometimes getting to a sale is just as much of an adventure as seeing what is for sale.  She was a very talkative lady…with eleven outside cats…Chance enjoyed Cat TV whilst we wandered through the sale…outside and inside the barn.  I found a few treasures…a music box that Adam will find entertaining and a couple of wooden puzzle blocks that will be a challenge for the boys.

35 cents

I might be the last of the big spenders. We attended an Estate Sale at Hazel’s old house.

I bought some Hazel’s to add to my Shiny Brite collection. 5 cents each

Two Shiny Brites.

One ornament marked West Germany.

It was a fun estate sale I got to visit with an old friend and met her husband.

These are a few of Hazel’s hankies that came home with me.  The two on the right still have their old labels and were made in Switzerland. 5 cents each and I bought four.

I did buy some other stuff…but they are gifts for other people so they don’t count.

I knew Hazel from the time they moved to Ponsford in the early 1950’s.  Ernie used to work for the County and Hazel worked at Ringer in town, they had three children and the middle child Janet and I were good friends. She was a year younger than me. We rode the same bus driven by Ivan until the route changed.  We went to the same church and were also in the same Confirmation Class.  I liked to visit on the nights that Hazel served flat bread and broasted chicken…she was a really good cook.  Hazel died this past winter she was 87 years old, I was unable to attend her funeral. It is hard to be in two places at the same time and sometimes you have to take care of those closest to you.

Made in Poland

I had some good luck at a garage sale.  I peeked into a box of old ornaments and found five made in Poland Ornamants. Polish Ornaments are glass and hand painted. They were imported into the United States probably in the 1950’s.

They weren’t marked…so I asked.  25 cents each…well alrighty then!  Should I tell her thay are worth much more than that?  Nope…I am keeping my big mouth shut.  A fair value is somewhere between 6 and 10 dollars each.

See how Poland is stamped on the cap?  That is how you tell it is what collectors call a polish.  These five were probably part of a set of twelve.  The seller stated that they were ornaments her son and his wife wanted to get rid of.

Polish ornaments are cousins of Shiny Brites.

One of the ornaments was a Shiny Brite…it is called a Stripe.

These are not old they are new, but for 10 cents each they came home with me.

Here you can see how small they are compared to the polish.

It was a good day going to garage sales throughout the city of Menahga.

In the pink

Here is my glass hoarding collection area.   All this glass was bought at garage sales or given to me by friends!

Far Guy gave me an area in his greenhouse/woodshop where I can spread “stuff” out and decide what goes where. 

I wanted to make a few glass towers. 

I made this one and gave it to Jen…that is one of her creations on the left.

It is a fun way to use chipped glassware.  It gives me something to search for at garage sales.

A Big Fight

One day we went to a garage sale back in the boonies.  A gentleman was in charge, they weren’t real organized.  Nothing was marked I suppose if you drove a fancy car they charged more or perhaps they were lazy garage salers.  There was a sign that said most things 25 to 50 cents.  Well ok. 

I kept asking him the price of “stuff.”   There were two hat boxes, he said they are 50 cents each.   I told him fine I will take them.   I kept piling stuff on his table…THEN…his wife came out… UFFDA.

She wanted more for her “stuff” she was angry that he quoted the wrong prices…loudly she said “I told you I wanted more for those hat boxes.”  He shook his head and said “I already told her a price.”  She got very angry… God forbid that someone stroke out over hat boxes.   I said “Forget the boxes.”  She grabbed them off the table and marched them back to the shelf. 

You could tell the gentleman was embarrassed…but I just wanted to avoid a knock-down drag-out fight or WW3.   I am certain she gave him the “what for” after we left.  I felt kinda sorry for him.  Far Guy said “She is a piece of work.”

I found this little Homes For Sale sign there…a perfect replacement for the Easter Bunny that has been on this wreath since before Easter.  It was 25 cents.

Spring Sales

We spent the day yesterday looking for treasures.  Never can tell when you will find something that you cannot live without.  The little town of Menahga had city wide sales.  It was a cool day so Chance went along to supervise from the car.

I have some lawn art designs running around in my head.  Not sure if any will pan out or not. Going from my brain to a finished project is an adventure.

Some people collect the darndest “stuff.”

Anchors ??  I guess. 

My husband bought a wood carving and a fan. He is the last of the big spenders.

Of course I bought junk supplies for the projects in my brain and several Corning Ware pans and some pretty boxes…who can resist boxes…not me.

Birthday Adventure

I suppose you are curious about the adventure I chose for my birthday?

Highway 38 between Grand Rapids and Effie Minnesota was the route for 47 miles of garage sales.  It was advertised as “Sales are great along Hwy 38!” From what I understand it is an annual event the third weekend in September.

Far Guy, Chance and I took off on Friday morning.  We headed to Bovey MN.  They have a cute little antique shop/cafe there called Annabellas.  We looked around and had chili and cornbread for lunch. 

The picture Grace was taken in Bovey Minnesota at the Enstrom  Studio.  It is the official photo of the State of Minnesota.

From there we tried to find a couple more antique shops only to discover that they were closed.  We stopped by the Proven Winners Trial Gardens at U of MN Grand Rapids…more on that another day…there were Mum trials and Hydrangea trials!!

We headed to Highway 38 for the rest of the afternoon, we got a taste of the garage sales, I purchased some old photographs…imagine that…some marbles..imagine that…and even some dice!

Chance was unsure about the motel and he was thankful that there was no elevator…he doesn’t like them.  There was a nice grassy area for us to play ball.  He is usually a real good boy…but then there was a knock on the door…it was some of his favorite people.  Andy, Jen and the boys…so he barked a couple of times.  Andy took him for a run!

Saturday we garage saled all day long…the boys had a mission to purchase items that they could use to build robots…they found some real cool “stuff.”  We had lunch in Marcel MN and trudged along all the way to Effie ( some garage sale goers don’t make it that far).  We did it!  There were hundreds of sales…some off of Hwy 38.  I wish we had counted how many we stopped at…some sales were in clearings with many many sellers. 

Oh and at one of the sales a fellow gave me a box of Shiny Brites!!  I also got a real good start on collecting glass for the new glass flowers I will make next spring. I also picked up another blue bowl…Far Guys Mom always used to whip cream in hers…so now I have two.

Pyrex made a set of nesting mixing bowls in the 1950’s.  The bowls were yellow, green, red and blue.  I had a complete set…one day a shelf came down in the laundry room…you guessed it my set of bowls was on the shelf.  So now I have Far Guy’s Moms blue bowl and a 50 cent garage sale bowl. Eventually I will find the complete set again…just like I found the first set..at garage sales.  Some times it is all about the excitement of the hunt!

It was a fun day…we got lots of walking in…and played musical vehicles…so we could visit with everyone.  We headed home a different route after the 47 miles…it was a great adventure!

For my birthday I got those Pentel Automatic Pencils I really really like to use from Far Guy and Chance! Along with garage sale $.

Cabin Fever

The weather turned colder and cabin fever returned. 

We HAD to get out and about.  There are a limited number of antique shops open in the area.  We headed north to Bemidji for a huge indoor garage sale.

This is my 50 cent candle holder.  Not certain what I will do with it.  It was filthy..so I washed it!  We won’t talk about the other three or four that I have.

I  am a box hoarder.  Big boxes, little boxes, hat boxes any kind of decorative container and I am a goner.

This is a homemade wooden box.  Someone named Liz painted it in 1982. The inside is as pretty as the outside.

It has one small imperfection…see that pin hole in the blue coat?  I can live with it!  This wooden box will probably hold Christmas Ornaments.

I saved a few more old photos at an antique shop and Far Guy bought a transformer for one of his trains.  We are anxiously waiting for warmer weather in May and June when we can frequent the garage sales…not that we need anything else.  We can also get ready for a garage sale of our own!  We haven’t had a garage sale in four or five years, it is a great way to visit with the neighbors.

Three weeks and sales

I have three weeks left!  Ten working days, I have some extra days off because of times I was supposed to have a day off and no one could fill my shoes.

The end is in sight.  WHEW!  I have no plans yet of what I will do when the doors are closed for the winter.  Sleep most likely.  I am still real tired exhausted.  I will work for the Museum over the winter just differently, my office in town is moved upstairs in our home.  Email, regular mail, blog posts, research questions and phone messages will be dealt with in a timely fashion…most of it can be done in the time it used to take me to travel from home to town.

We went to some garage sales last Sunday.  I used to think our yard looked messy.  We were at one house that raised a dozen turkeys right next to the house…the smell was overwhelming and two little boys were sitting there eating lunch.  Coulda gagged a maggot for sure.  The lady had gardens all over and buckets of plants sitting here and there and about 100 lawn ornaments in the form of exercise equipment and old appliances…it was a sight to behold.

I bought three dice, a frog and an old bell…that is all from the entire day of shopping!  I know …last of the big spenders!  The dice will go into the dice collection jar and the bell needs some work, it might have a half way decent patina when it is cleaned up.  I may hang it next to the door.  Not sure where I will put the frog yet.  I am struggling NOT to start a collection of frogs:)

Good Intentions

I had really good intentions… about buying stuff I don’t need = “more stuff.”

Then we found a whole town of garage sales.  Uffda…I was thinking about what I could get rid of or at least move into the garage.

Could I pass up two boxes of Shiny Brites in their boxes??

Blue..they were all blue…oh I so love the blue color.  I could have resisted them if they had been green..but they were blue.  And at 50 cents a box..I could not resist. This has been a really good summer for finding Shiny Brites..I have found four boxes now…plus the box that Chance bought!

A few weeks ago I bought the bottom of a Depression Glass butter dish for 50 cents.  Yesterday I found the top for 3 dollars..it must have been meant to be??

Pretty isn’t it?  So I will dust this pretty butter dish for a few years..and then sell it.  I am certain to get more than my original investment. Maybe I can even double my money!

Far Guy bought a couple of things too..oh and I bought some more old photos..they are small and lay flat and hardly take up any space at all.

Soon it will be winter and there won’t be any more garage sales..by then maybe my good intentions will resurface:)

Spring Might Be Here

I think that spring might be here. Not only have the beautiful little yellow flowers appeared, spreading their sunny dispositions all over. The first garage sale sign appeared in our neighborhood. Well not quite our neighborhood but nearby, it was only 8 miles away at a church.

Cookbooks and paperbacks were ten cents each..who can pass up a Michener novel , or a Nicholas Sparks that I have not read, or Charles Kuralt's America ( The one where he visits Minnesota) OR cookbooks..I just love reading cookbooks. It was a great day..I got a 1971 local hospital cookbook from when they were fundraising for their new Cardiac Care Unit it is called RX for Good Eating, and a Cookbook called Recipes from Ed and Eleanor's Catering..this one has Large Quantity Cooking..so IF I am ever having over fifty guests at once..this could come in real handy for Far Guy.

I also found this interesting item...If anyone has seen these before, or knows anything about them, please leave me a comment!

Black hand painted nesting boxes, on the bottom is a gold circle with four symbols..and around the circle are the words Lenghing Foochow. I have no idea if it is Chinese or Japanese. But they spoke to me, not loud, but like a nagging whispering..three dollars..are you curious enough? They are wood, a very thin wood. Two of the boxes have small chips, and show some wear, they are dirty, I need to clean them up, but the smaller boxes are perfect. I searched the Internet..maybe they are not old at all..but they are mine now, I have no idea what I will do with them..or the four Santa's that just happened to end up in my pile, along with a cute little photo frame and an aluminum salt shaker..and a couple of cobalt blue plates for Far Guy.

Spring just might be here..other than someone said we could get some SNOW today. IF it snows I will take a photo and then a nap..and I am not getting up until the snow is gone:)