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.

Beginnings, Endings, Beginnings

I feel like finding vintage things for my etsy shop is part of a cycle. The things I hunt down were once new, treasured, then became "old" and unwanted, tucked away in the corner of the garage or attic, and then years later are taken out again to either have a little sticker with ".25" stuck to them or put in a box for Salvation Army. But then they are rediscovered, bought again by someone who treasures or collects that exact vintage thing-a-ma-bob.

On this rainy, gray Monday, I finished putting together a cover letter, synopsis and manuscript for a publisher. This is the last manuscript I finished and one of the last publishers I plan on approaching for awhile, so in some ways I'm feeling like I'm in a cycle myself. Putting aside what I have been pursuing for the last several years to explore new things, but I still have hope someday I'll rediscover my passion when the time is right.

So on my way home from the post office, I stopped at the local Goodwill just to poke around. In addition to finding some great old enameled refrigerator tins (just put them up in the etsy shop)I also found - I hesitate to say "strange thing" because I think it's great - not Monopoly, but...




The game was sealed so I couldn't peak in, but reading the side it looks like it was a fund raiser for a Temple in Baltimore.

A Rainy Thursday Morning in Brogue, PA

It was such a rainy, gray morning, perfect to stay in the house and tackle Mount Laundry that had piled high on my family room couch...but there was an ad on Craigs List for a garage sale, rain or shine, in Brogue, which is just a mere 18 miles away. Can you guess which activity won out?

Lucky for me, I convinced Linda that this would be worthwhile trip and by 7:30AM we were making our way in her van to the wilds of Eastern York County. We did find the sale, which was being hosted by a very nice lady and her granddaughter, and we did find a few things. Linda got a big, oblong, rusted tin basin that would be great as a planter.

I can't decide which of my purchases I liked the best. I found a desk lamp and alarm clock from the 70's that was never used and still has the instruction book, very minimalist looking. But I also really like a pair of tin lidded canisters - big ones - that have an Amish design, probably 70's too. They'll both be on my etsy site in about an hour.

Now, for the strangest thing of the day, found at another Salvation Army store...who wants to curl up with the cute and cuddly teddy bear made of sharp sea shells?



OK, now to fold and put away Mount Laundry, but tomorrow morning...