...one! Two!! THREE!!!

VERA that is!! Friday I found Three VERA for .50¢ ea on a 'JSR'!!

I'm just relaxing (and playing 'catch-up) w/ a Cup of Joe after a busy weekend with my parents in town...

'Confetti Mug' found on Friday for .25¢ .

Not sure what my sudden fondness is for the vintage 'confetti bowls' that are so popular now, but it is what it is. At the prices I have been seeing them going for, I think I will have to just settle for this mug (for a while...)!

Pattern for the bridesmaid long-dress that I wore in 7th grade for one of my older brother's wedding (with piece of the teal fabric pinned to upper flap). Yes, I know that I am dating myself with this one!!

If there was ever any question of where my 'stuff' gene came from...

My Mom has been cleaning out, and this weekend she gave me this pattern that she recently came across!

2 new dishtowels with tags (.50¢)

wood 'porch' bird (.05¢)

glass shamrock suncatcher (.05¢)

6 pins (.50¢ea.)

My parents love 'saling' almost as much as I do, so I was Very excited to find TWO rummage sales scheduled for Saturday morning!! The first one always has Great Stuff - Dirt Cheap, and thus has an extra long waiting line... opening promptly at 9am! Imagine my surprise, when we arrived 20 minutes early, to find they were letting people in already - and we were a few of the first!! I got two boxfuls and M/D got one... for about $14.00 - Gotta Love it! I just photo-ed some of my favorite 'goodies', so as not to bore you TOO Much 8-) !

From Sale #2 - A GREAT picnic basket with solid wood 'sliding' top - complete with another interior basket to hold dishes, service for 8 of red melmac dishes and stainless flatware ($5.00).

A mix of things from Sale #1 & #2...
Molded plastic Retro sunflower napkin holder (.15¢)
Paper Mache' and wood dress form (.50¢)
Heavy metal 'Crawdad' for garden ($1.oo)
New package of modeling clay (.50¢)

Hallowing chalice (.05¢)

I couldn't let this one sit all alone on the table at the sale... ~The attendants for our Oct. 27th wedding all had these glasses for 'The Toast'. (It was done as a joke - poking fun at my LOVE of Halloween and Fall!!)~

Bag of plastic white (glow in the dark) stars, red balls and metallic blue balls wrapped in a FUN wire design ($1.00). I'm thinking July 4th!!



Sale #2: 30" high, styrene?, hanging wall shelf ($3.00). I'm picturing a coat of paint in the garden...

Okay. I think that is the highlights.

Now I must go be productive... I was in the basement this morning and spotted this pile of 'seeding supplies' that I have been gathering... waiting for "8 weeks prior to last frost" to start them seeds inside. I think it is time!

...Christmas in...

MARCH?!! Stopped by the thrift the other night to drop off a couple of bags of 'stuff' - picked up this little tiered dish for a few dollars. My sister-inlaw collects NIPPON, so I intended this as a start for her Xmas package, but now I've checked out the prices that they are going for on E-bay and it may be for sale soon!! 8-).

...stuff shortage??

No, NOT at 'MY' house !!

I had to drive myself to work on Friday, as the person I normally car pool with was observing 'the holiday'. ~SO~ since I was in the area, I had to do 'the junk shop run (JSR)' after work.

~WARNING: TEDIOUS BACKGROUND INFO TO FOLLOW!!~
... I live in town 'A', commute 30min/20miles to the west to town 'W'... if you continue another 10min/9miles to the west you reach town 'G'. 'G' has (1)consignment shop -LE, (1)church thrift -CC and (1)Junk Shop - SHS. Usually a fun way to spend some time and get a good fix, but nothing earth shattering or worth the gas$$ of driving 40min... UNLESS I happen to be more than half way there anyway!! Enroute from 'A' to 'W' is 'S'. 'S' has a church thrift -HC and a Salv. Army - SA. The JSR can include 5 venues! 'A' (my town of residence) has a Volunteers of America - VOA, Salv. Army - SA and a Rescue Mission - RM. that generally aren't included in the JSR!
~BACK TO OUR ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM~

so, after work I did the JSR - cut short by 3 because of observations of the 'holiday'! The ones that were open had many EMPTY SHELVES!! I was talking to one of the workers and she said donations were WAY DOWN and they just weren't getting the stuff in! Will this change when warm weather arrives in CNY? Is everybody hoarding in fear of the financial market? Is it all being sold via cyber-land and Junk Shops are heading toward extinction? Not Good. Not a Good Friday.

That's not to say that I didn't manage to come out with a few goodies!

'V' - you can never have too many 18"tall, 3D, chunky resins of your initial! Only .29c !

I knew when I picked this .25c pillow case up that the design had to be a VERA... but where was the signature? Can you find it??

A cute .99c square, silk VERA



-Metal, Retro 'candelabra' (.35c)... I'm thinking spray paint... porch... fun BBQ dinners...

-TINY Craftsman 10' tape measure fo $2. - I always carry one in my purse, and I try to keep a stash for when they get misplaced, broken or 'borrowed'!!! Not easy to find!

What finally put the 'Good' in my day was returning home to find this on top of my stack of mail....

'REAL', 'HAND MADE', SNAIL MAIL!!

I am all about the tactile, the way things feel to hold in your hand - the weight, the temperature, the texture. The handwriting - the way people form letters, the type of writing instrument they use & it's color, the pressure used in writing, the layout... Unconsciously I always try to calculate who a letter is from without the aid of the return address label. First identifying the writing, if that doesn't work the post-mark is usually a good clue. This card startled me at first glance! The way the 'S' was printed was that of an old high school 'Best Friend' that I have been out of touch with for 14 years! I was wrong (Hmph! That must be a first - ha, ha!!). It was from Sweet Shara at Monkeybox!! This woman is in the middle of a Flood - Garage Sale - Holiday, and she still found time to make (and mail!) this adorable card - complete with Glitter!! THANKS SHARA!

Completely off 'any' subject... can anybody out there give me the sequence/combination of keys to type a 'cent' sign??????

ANS: Were you able to find the VERA signature in the pillowcase?

Hope the Easter Bunny treats you all well 8-)!!!!

...out with the new

...and in with the old! As many of you have seen in my previous posts, my Green/brown MacKenzie-Childs pedestal cake plate is the center of most of my baking endeavors. Circa 2002, bought 'new' at one of their yearly barn sales, it is one of my few MK-C pieces. DH hates the stuff, and particularly hated the green/brown in our Red/black kitchen. He has been after me for ages to 'replace it'. At antique shops I would always point out $$$$chrome/glass pedestal$$$$ cake plates and tell him that if he wanted to buy me one of those, we could get rid of the MK-C! This morning I walked into the Salvation Army, and there it was - $5.99 . I don't think it's VERY OLD, but it is in very nice condition! The MK-C is just on 'vacation' until I 'bond' with this shiny one with the HEAVY glass cover!

Here are a few of my weekend finds... The Rummage Sale Sat. morning was kind of beat, but I did drag one of my fellow kronies up at the crack of dawn to go to 'The Market' with me, and we found LOTS of goodies...

Can you tell that I am anxiously awaiting warmer weather and yearning for flowers??
(3) 1930's Magazines with cheery covers, SYROCO wallhanging flower basket, (2) floral hankies, Retro floral mug and Flower Power Pin.

Red silk scarves, crochet doilies and an older tin (Crisco?) - my Grandmother used to have one like this in her cupboard that she kept popcorn in!!

Mushrooms! Couch/recliner arm caddy, necklace and pendant/keychain.



Some things that just made me smile... Old tin plate with blue puppy, Canadian Pottery MONTREAL 'Easter Duck', Lemon/Lime Pyrex dish, Chartreuse ribbon with white polka dots, tall/skinny hot pink shade (maybe with a border of the ribbon?!), l-o-n-g Italy 'belt' scarf and a little plastic thatched roof hut with palm trees Letter/napkin holder!

Last... but FAR from least... a .75c Art Pottery Vase - looks like Haeger, but it is unsigned and I can't positively I.D. . Really doesn't matter - I like it. AND Four (4!) matching VERA napkins!!!



'New to me' Cake plate displaying some Easter 'sprinkles'.

Okay... so maybe it's starting to grow on me !! 8-)

...HAPPY ST. PATS SATURDAY!

"THERE'S NO BETTER PICK-ME-UP THAN TO SURROUND YOURSELF WITH FRIENDS AND FLOWERS" (BH&G magazine, March 2008)

(MORE of those 'wonderful sprinkles'!!)

...the flowers aren't too abundant in Upstate NY right now, but this weekend 'friends' are!! Later this morning I'm meeting up with a few college buddies (now scattered all over NY state) to attend the annual St. Pat's Day Parade in Syracuse! Okay, so maybe we'll decide that it's too cold and just watch it on TV from the warmth of the living room with a few bottles of wine, or maybe we'll end up going shopping... Our intentions are always good! Oh, for a good 'flower dose' check out this blog entry!!

~AND~

Enroute to meet 'the crew' is a Rummage Sale! It's going to be cutting it close, and I'll have to plan this carefully... Sale opens at 9:30, meet the girls by 11:00. Sale is 1/2 hr away from 'meeting residence', big crowd at this 'bag sale' - so allow time to check out... I've only been to this $3 bag sale once before, and I got some goodies, but it is a MAD HOUSE!!!! I Must get there at least 1/2 early in order to be one of the first 50 in line!! Within an hr. the place is Emptied!!

Now, where did I put my 'heavy duty, lightweight' shoulder tote bag?? (it's been a LONG winter...). I'll report back in a day or so!!

...Popsicle Toes

No, I'm not Irish, but I do love the accent and Jameson Whiskey and I HAVE kissed the Blarney Stone...

I sorted my snail-mail from last week and found coupons for Fashion Bug - $10 Off any purchase of $10 or more!! So off I went... to see what my $10 would get me...

~Background info: Being a NE girl all of my life, socks are a 'must have' part of my wardrobe!! Everyone has always made fun of me because I tend to be particularly anal about MY socks... a whole drawer just for them, folded neatly (NO folding the tops over - that kills the elastic top!!), arrange by color... and Holiday. Yes, I confess I DO wear Holiday socks... for the ENTIRE month of the Holiday. Halloween I have almost enough for a different pair each day, Christmas I can do about two weeks without repeat, Easter I only have a couple of days and until now Valentines and St. Pats were non existent ! I DO HAVE STANDARDS for my Holiday socks - the main criteria being that they must extend up past my ankles - none of these Peds/Keds things that barely cover your heels - I'm in the NE - I wear socks 'cause it's cold!! ~

So anyways, you guessed it. I scored St. Pat's socks - YIPPEE!! Yes, I did get a few other things along with the socks for my $10 - but they pale in comparison, so I didn't bother to photo!!While I was out doing my Fash. Bug shopping, I had to go get a 'FIX' at the thrift, and guess what was waiting for me...... .99c VERA!!

Before we left on vacation, we were out to dinner and they had 'Live Entertainment'. The guy was singing this song that had a verse that sounded something like 'popsicle toes'...??? I came home and checked it out - VOILA! Here is a link to a video (I don't know how to post videos directly to my blog yet, but this will do!) POPSICLE TOES - not by original artist, but you will get the jazzy/blues feel!

During our vacation I missed the sunscreen on a couple of spots on the top of my feet ('It's all fun and games until somebody burns their feet.') - now, just 4 days later I have Popsicle toes AGAIN, and I'm out buying SOCKS!

... from 10 to 84 in less than 12 hours

Oh, the magic of FLIGHT!!

Last Thursday we went from 10 degrees at 6am in Upstate N.Y. (photo taken Wed. afternoon!)...



To...


84deg @ 6pm (Dominican Republic)


It was 'almost' a full week of stuff withdrawal, but not quite...

I did pick up a few things.

Before I left I had done my homework as to what kind of jewelry the area is known for. I adore jewelry (what female doesn't... right?!), and it is one of my favorite souvenirs while travelling!! The Dominican Republic is the only place in the world where LARIMAR is mined. They also have quite a bit of AMBER.


VERY Successful!! And VERY INEXPENSIVE...

Starting on the left is a sterling 'HAPPY HOUR' ring... 'TWO FOR ONE' reversible stone with a LARIMAR on one side and AMBER on the other ($15 US). Next is a regular sterling LARIMAR ring and a sterling LARIMAR necklace pendant (2/$16 US).




Also had a few 'cheapie trinkets' handed to us on the beach by locals trying to get us to visit their 'huts'... pink beaded necklace, 'hand carved' sea turtle and tiki on black neck chords.

A WONDERFUL trip, but as always, GOOD to be home 8-)