Count Your Pennies

Sometimes you look at the pennies that pile up at the bottom of your purse or the cup holder in your car, you wonder what the heck good are they? What will you do with them. Today I found out.

Linda and I started out bright and early this morning for the Salvation Army, they were having their early "Black Friday" sale, everything in the store was 1/2 off...you know we were there when they opened the doors. But as you would expect, so were about a hundred other people. In the end, I didn't find anything too notable, but we did come across these two lamps that stopped both Linda and I in our tracks, startled at the sheer size and realism of these luminaries...
...both are ceramic and several feet high, and I don't know which makes me smile more, the boy in blue or the two squirrels fighting over a nut.

We'd planned on just going to this sale and then home, but since neither of us found any great treasures, we just couldn't turn back right away. Then I remembered a church thrift store about 15 minutes away I hadn't shown Linda yet, so we headed there. And I'm glad we did. I found this beautiful chenille spread - oh, how I love a pretty chenille spread.

Still not completely depleted of the urge to pick through stuff - although depleted of any more cash -- we stopped at a little shop crammed full of goodies on the way home. Neither Linda or I had ever been there before, but my Aunt Joan had been telling me to stop there for years, but it had been closed whenever I went by...not today.

Today it was open and we found lots of great things - a new spot to explore, yay! When I came across a tin bread box I just had to have it to put in my etsy shop, so I brought it up the the counter and whipped out my debit card, everybody takes those now...apparently, that's not so. Not wanting to leave empty handed, Linda was kind enough to empty her pockets and add it to the meager pile of coins in mine. As the woman behind the counter watched, we scooped the piles of pennies at the bottom of our bags and came up with the exact amount we needed.

The woman was still sorting our change as I walked out with the bread box under my arm.

Silly Rabbit...

It was a slow day in the pursuit of vintage stuff for my etsy.com shop. I did make it to a Salvation Army who was having a 1/2-off day, but I got there too late and there wasn't anything left on the shelves of interest to me.

I did sell two items from my shop and updated some listings that were about to expire...bookkeeping, packing, but nothing too terribly exciting.

I did, however, notice at the Salvation Army that there were several weird looking rabbits on the shelves - why this particular Thrift Store attracts them, I do not know (maybe they multiply there at night)...but here's two...

Poking Around on a Monday

My primary focus today was packing up seven items to be shipped to customers, some laundry and run an errand or two...and while I was out, I had to pass a Salvation Army store anyway, so...

I ended up poking around and finding a few nice things to put in my etsy shop, I also found a little bit of strange. I noticed these busts of children and was first struck with the thought that they looked like they would have come off the set of a Steven King movie about children in an attic. Then I looked at them a little closer and cracked up right in the middle of the store...the boy is playing an instrument and the girl is holding her ears and looking tortured. I found them both funny and creepy.

But luckily for me there was more there today than just weird statues of children.
I found a great danish modern gravy boat in stainless steel and a vintage Haeger vase.


The laundry only got half done, but I got to put a few more things in my shop - the laundry will be there tomorrow, and the next day, and the...

A Perfect Saturday Morning

I feel a little bad...and strange...about saying this morning was about as perfect a Saturday morning as I could imagine. Bad, because I wasn't with my family - which would have made it more perfect -- and strange because I didn't picture the perfect morning as lying on a tropical beach or being served breakfast in bed.

But it was near perfect to me because it was an absolutely gorgeous fall morning and the other blond and I drove over hill-n-dale, the countryside spread out all around us, to find a little country church that was chock full of fantastic old stuff. Heaven.

After two trips to the car, Linda and I closed the doors on the van and went back in one more time, this time for the homemade pancake breakfast being served to raise money for the church. The conversations around us as neighbor met neighbor and teased each other about the things they bought and the things they donated for sale, was worth the trip in itself.Above is a picture of the things I found in this steepled treasured trove.

My favorite was this really big Santa head pitcher made in 1973 (it was etched on the bottom), such a cute vintage decoration for the holidays...and to pour your neighbor an eggnog.

A Little of This and a Little of That

You always want to find that one great thing hiding among the cra...old things on the shelves of the thrift stores or the folding tables at someone's yard sale...and I have found a few, enough to make me keep going back looking for more.

One of my best finds was this super cool child's booster seat I found at a yard sale just on the other side of town. I bought it for $2 at 8:05AM and sold it for a whole lot more by 11:30 that morning to a man in Italy.

Or the set of three 1940's Pyrex bowls I found in perfect condition and bought for $3 and sold a few days later for $45 - maybe not a fortune, but enough to keep me hooked.

But the truth is, I end up making most of my sales on smaller items...twelve dollars here, ten dollars there...it adds up. Again, not a fortune, but enough to keep me going back like Pavlov's dog to yard sales and thrift stores scanning the cast-offs.

So while the single larger sale is great, and needed if you're going to stay in the black, it's the accumulation of smaller sales like this vintage Lefton planter shaped like a bowling ball I bought for a quarter and sold for $12.And the beat-up old suitcase I found at a church sale for a dollar and sold for $15 a week later...those are the sales that build up little by little in the old Pay Pal account like little nuts getting stored up for the winter.

Think Real

A few months ago I was walking around a beautiful shop in Philadelphia admiring their very pretty, and very expensive wares, when I was struck with how much an antique-looking enameled pitcher (like the one pictured above) looked like one I had just seen on etsy.com from a seller of vintage items.

When I reached up on the shelf to take the pitcher down and look more closely at it, I also noticed there were about six behind it exactly like it. Mass produced pitchers made to look like an authentic one-of-a-kind one from the past...and more expensive than the original.

Here is one (pictured below) I found in an etsy .com shop that got its chips and character by being passed around the family table on a farm for a generation or two (or three). And it costs less than the imitation.


And there are so many choices, too, and you won't find any two exactly the same. Here is an adorable one with a Pennsylvania Dutch design, and it's only $10!

So when you are looking for something special to decorate your home or give as a gift, consider something authentic. It doesn't take any more time to go onto etsy.com than on crateandbarrel.com, or go to a local antique shop than the Pier One store - let yourself be delighted and surprised at the really special and beautiful things you will find.

Santas, Santas everywhere

Just like the retail stores, the thrift stores are gearing up for the holidays and putting out all their Christmas paraphernalia. I was struck today by the sheer volume of Santas on the shelves, I swear there were almost a hundred old St. Nicks staring back at me.

One even looked like he was getting goosed by one of the other elves.

I think my favorite grouping, though, must have been done by someone who'd never heard of King Arthur and Merlin the Wizard...he got shelved among the Kris Kringles...how embarrassing for such a famous wizard.

I was able to make my way through all the Santas to find a wonderful travel trunk, complete with drawers and a hanging rod on the other side and brass fittings, all for a little over $20...it was like Christmas had come early!

The $40 Room

I mentioned in yesterday's blog that Linda found a great couch (couches, I guess, as its in two parts) and a coffee table at a thrift store, and got it all for $32. Today, I went with her to pick it up and deliver it to her mother's breezeway, where they will temporarily reside.

Sometimes you buy something and are so happy about it, but you go back to get it or look at it again and wonder why you were so excited; it's stained or cracked, or just not what you remember...not the case today.

The furniture is even nicer than we remembered and looks great in her mom's house - Lee has threatened to hold it hostage, it may not have a chance to get sold! The fabric on the couches is still a vibrant orange and the table has a label on the bottom showing it was handmade in 1960.

So, even with the accessories in this room - all yard sale or thrift store finds - the entire decor totals $40. I love it. Recycling at its best.

Plus, the dog in the background was free.

Spontaneity

I can read about a yard sale on craigslist.com..."Moving sale, everything must go, super cheap! Lived in Sweden during the Danish Modern period, and I have Eames chairs in every room I'll sell for a dollar" (OK, that last part would never happened)... sounds great and I head out of the house by 7:00AM to be the first one there.

I'll drive a half-hour to this place only to find one fold-out card table with a broken crock-pot and an old curling iron for $20 a piece. The words "best laid plans" runs through my head as I open the paper and hope there's another sale somewhere in the area so I can redeem my morning.

Yet on other days, like today, I can wake up with every intention of staying home and to get some laundry done, pack up some things that already sold on etsy.com and take them to the post office, and then maybe I'll stop at one of the thrift stores while I'm out anyway...and maybe I'll call the other blond and her mom to see if they want to ride along. No biggie, quick trip to York and home, no expectations.But Linda, Lee and I don't even get out of town when Linda yells for me to stop the truck, there's a metal cabinet that's been put out for the trash (yeah right, they know some crazy person is going to come along and take it away long before the trash men get there - oh yeah, we are those crazy people). Above is the cabinet with Linda pointing to her favorite drawer...don't worry, she has the other door.

We get back on the road and make it halfway to York when Linda remembers another church thrift store we'd just discovered the week before. All three of us leave with our arms full. Here is my favorite thing from there, an old Rand McNally globe.

When we finally make it to the thrift store we'd been aiming for in the first place, there are more wonderful things inside and Linda ends up buying a gorgeous mid-century couch and coffee table all for less than $35.

I didn't do as well as Linda, but I did find a couple neat things, my favorite is this metal record stand probably from the 60's.

Once again, just letting life happen, seems to be a good plan all on its own.

The Place Where I Live

I was born a Jersey girl, and there is a permanent part of my heart that will always be a Jersey girl. My birthplace reveals itself in my penchant to drive a little too fast, laugh a little too loud and wear my clothes a little too flashy...this can make you stand out a bit amongst your Pennsylvania Dutch neighbors here in Southern York County, PA, where slow, steady and understated are more the credo.

So, I get nostalgic for the place of my birth occasionally, and probably paint a rosier picture in my memory, forgetting the very good and real reasons we moved to Pennsylvania in the first place. But recently, I have discovered yet another fringe benefit of this journey I have embarked on to hunt down vintage items to sell...I am falling in love all over again with this place we have chosen to live. It is really and truly gorgeous, and I get to be out and about in its beauty on my hunt for stuff for my etsy.com shop.

I was so taken with the morning light on the turning leaves and the scenery around me last Thursday morning as I made my way to a yard sale, that I had to pull over and take a picture.


Then I came across this little one-room school house and had to take a picture of that too.


These sites are only about 12-miles from my home, where I enjoy a fairly suburban existence with food stores, Targets, Malls and friends a quick bike ride away for my kids, but look what is right around the corner.

Yes, Bruce Springsteen will always play on my radio, but there is a beauty and breathing room here I have come to cherish, more and more.