On the Road Again

Oh how I love spring with the fresh scent of yard sale signs in the air...ahh, the long, cold winter of only auctions and thrift store shopping is over.

This morning Linda, her mom Lee and I were out and about in the big, blue van and didn't know which way to go first. There were multi-family yard sales, and estate sales and garage sales in every direction. We settled on heading fifteen-minutes north to an area that listed several multi-family yard sales, hoping we could have as many sales as possible in close proximity.

Of course, we didn't even make it out of town without spotting one that looked too good to pass up...so we didn't. And I'm glad. I found a couple really neat things, like this 60's mod picnic basket. Only 9" x 6" and it holds complete place settings, bowls, cups and utensils for four - and just so funky looking.








When we got to Jacobus, we found a development having a community sale, but there wasn't much but newer, plastic items, or over-priced antiques.

Then we found a few more in the area and our luck changed. I bought a whole box of blue-glass mason jars that someone might like to buy from my etsy.com site as vases for their outside wedding (this is becoming popular).
After several more stops, it started to get late and our purses were getting depleted, but we decided to stop at one last sale. And we were all glad we did, especially Lee, who we decided was the "winner" for the day with this great 50's drink mixer she found for $2.
Tomorrow morning, two church sales...oh I do love the spring.

I did it, again!

I know there are people who do miraculous things every day without even thinking about it. Doctor's save lives, teachers change lives, farmers feed us - the list goes on.

So in the big scheme of things, raising my hand with a numbered piece of paper at an auction really isn't earth shattering...but for my simple life, its a challenge I'm happy I met.
My Aunt Joan and I were just going to stop at Wehrly's Auction for a quick visit, maybe a cup of homemade soup and poke around the tables and boxes and see what goodies were going up for bid. Turned out there was a lot of great stuff and both of us were just curious enough to see how much some of these items were going to go for, so we decided to get a number and stay awhile.

Neither of us were sure we wanted to bid on anything, most of the items we liked were very collectible and there were a lot of dealers in the room, so we figured the bids were going to be a little rich for our blood. But since both of us have etsy.com shops that need inventory, we decided it was a needed learning experience - not to mention entertaining.

We went back and forth between the room with the tools and box lots...this is where I did raise my hand and purchased this adorable Cosco stool (much to the surprise of the woman next to me who had bid on it also and didn't think anyone else really wanted it - but I did)...and the room with the higher-end collectible items. I did raise my hand again in that room too and bought this antique blue mason jar made in 1858. Couldn't pass it up.

It was almost like my hand had a will of its own. The auctioneer was doing his hundred-mile-an-hour rattling of numbers and some remote part of my brain registered that I wanted the jar and the price was very good, and the next thing I knew my hand was up and the auctioneer was pointing to me and saying "sold." Yay me.

And when they were selling box lots for a dollar, but I was feeling shy about elbowing my way into the crowd to get an old vanity mirror I'd spotted, my aunt grabbed my number and was kind enough to go up to the table and stake a claim on it for me. Yay Aunt Joan.
So my afternoon was spent having a hot dog with my aunt and two of her friends she ran into at the auction - both also are artisans and antique dealers (super interesting people, great conversations) -- purchased three nice items for my etsy.com site, and conquered my fear of the auction once and for all. May not have performed brain surgery or saved the world, but not a bad day at all.


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