... 'They say...'

As 'THEY SAY...' "When it rains, it pours" - oh how true it is! (...and I'm not talking that wet stuff from the sky.) The thing that REALLY worries me is if "April showers, bring May flowers" (so to speak), then I may be in REAL trouble!!!

GARDEN/YARD: Shabby Tin Garbage can destined for some plantings in my garden (.50c) and Tacky Coconut Monkey to join the Ranks on our Summer Porch (.50c)

When I left the House Fri. am, I had T.W.O. bags -o- stuff to drop off at the Thrift. I've been doing good on that half of my New Years Resolution!! I had even planned ahead for a Rummage Sale advertised for Saturday! Now as for the 'Purge 211 a Month' portion of my New Year Resolution... I'm still working on it - REALLY I AM!... but I did fall a bit short in March. Oh well. I am going to keep plugging along.

~BACK TO THE GOOD STUFF~

SCARVES / LINENS: Yes. I am a scarf junkie. ECHO. PAOLI. and my belove VERA! (2011 #7 & #8) - .25¢ ea!!

Friday surprised me with TWO unexpected Estate Sales!! One that I stumbled upon on my way to work (Early Bird Gets The Worm) and the other I got to just 1/2hr before they were going to close - after finally making connections w/OODLES to find out the locale of her '7~APRON' Sale - being the last day everything was 50% OFF (Second Mouse Gets The Cheese) - AND Barbara left me some VERA!! THANKS BARBARA!

BLING / SHINY METAL: Gems galore!!!

Between the three sales that I went to Friday and Saturday, I pretty much got my fill of all of my basic 'food groups'... and for once I'm NOT talking VERA~HAEGER~SWEATER CLIPS! I'm speaking a bit broader and more generic... 'GARDEN / YARD'.... 'SCARVES / LINENS' .... 'BLING / SHINY METAL' ... 'POTTERY' ... 'RETRO THREADS' ... 'MISC USEFULS'.

**NOTE: These comprise the majority of 'MY' basic 'food groups' ~ I realize these will vary for each individual (Thank Goodness or Oodles would never share estate sale locations with me!)

Look at this 'COPPER CRAZINESS'!! It's like I was destined to have it, and that 50's confetti bracelet in the middle... 8-)

The jewelry at the Friday morning Estate sale was A-Maze-Ing!! Sat. was their 50% off day. I ended up stopping back Sat. morning, enroute to meeting 'The Crew' (College Girlfriends) for a retail shopping trip at a nearby Outlet Mall!

SOOO MANY of the pieces of 'BLING' I bought with the intention to sell, but I think that I may need to give them a 'little lovin' first! The Rummage Sale Sat am had tableS of jewelry in a DARK corner - 'Everything .25c Each Unless Marked' (basically nothing was marked). It was sooooo dark that you could hardly see though! One of the 'usual gold diggers' (Picker who dives for the jewelry table with his loupe in search of anything that he can sell for the gold or silver value) was there with a flashlight. I was just grabbing anything with an interesting 'shape' (for a quarter, what the heck! I can sort them out at home.). I liked the 'square-ish' lines of this bangle - imagine how excited I was when I discovered the marks on it at home !!! THE first piece of Tiffany that I have ever owned 8-)!

POTTERY: Ben Seibel for Iroquois, McCoy Cookie Jar, USA Cat planter, Bennington studio piece, Handpainted JAPAN and Shawnee

MISC USEFULS: New Rolls of Easter fabric wrap (.25c ea), New Packs of Spring Napkins (.25ea), Box Lot w/ new X-acto knives, Swingline stapler, misc (.50c all)

RETRO THREADS: FUN! Clothes Day... $6.50 total= BC Ethic Retro Atomic print shirt; KaLani Hawaii Shirt; Retro Swim & Sun DeWeese Design Dress; Teddi of California Shirt

I had a hard time finding anything of interest at the outlet mall after all of these 'one of a kind' finds at unbeatable prices!! The shopping company at The Mall was beyond compare though!

...interesting.

I was one happy 'saler' , as I was momentarily blinded by the glare of the sun reflecting off of the stomach of this

METALLIC PURPLE BUDDAH

While regain your composure, I will give a slightly more detailed recap of our 'interesting' weekend adventures....

DH and I roadtripped to the NYS Catskill Mts. for the weekend to visit friends and attend niece #3's graduation. Sat. morning we met up with friends who took us on a saling adventure that we all agreed could only be summed up as 'interesting' (picture 4 'adults' - *one of which is carrying a purple Buddah* + 3 under eight and the havoc that can be raised on a beautiful Spring day!!!)... Some of my more 'palatable' finds include 2 VERA scarves (2010 #14 & #15), 1 ECHO scarf, 1916 Miami Beach Coconut Head souvenir ($1), 2 Chalkware Mask WallHangings (.50¢ea), Watercolor painting ($1.), and a set of Fiesta-Stone dishes....


Okay. Back to my shining, bald, Charmer. Oh, how I need to come up with a Buddah-Belly-Cam ~ a way to catch that initial look - that mixed look of Shock!-Horror!-Disbelief! that people have when they first lay eyes upon my Glowing-Guy. All eighteen inches of him only cost me $2 - the reactions have been priceless. THANK GOODNESS, as a seasoned saler I am thick skinned though!! I have taken abuse beyond belief - not only from the expected (family members, friends, etc...), but from little old ladies walking down the sidewalk making comments regarding my personal interactions with Big Buddah... "You gonna rub his belly?" and small children question my motives "Do you Really like Him?". Luckily DH was not quite such a hard-sell, armed with the ammunition that this could replace the concrete PINK CAT yard statue that recently was decapitated (beyond repair!!) while 'somebody' was mowing the lawn... . Actually, he said later, that he knew from the moment he saw it in the driveway (long before I ever saw it) that it would be going home with us. Now that I have gotten it home and cleaned up a bit, I realize that he is chalkware/plaster and He will deteriorate in one season if placed where I had originally planned (exposed to the elements)... so a Porch sitter He shall be - handy, so that I can rub his belly every time I walk by!

...'HAVE FUN'

My heart hasn't really been into it this weekend, but these two Coconut Heads (yes, newer; $1 for pair) followed me home on Friday and made me smile.

I also stopped at a small greenhouse to pick up some Basil (been craving pesto in a BIG Way), and to check out what they had along the lines of 'different herbies. Their herbs all looked great and they had FIVE different kinds of Basil!!!

... 69... 45... 27...

...AND THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN!

We don't subscribe to any of the local newspapers, so on Wed. or Thursday each week I go online to check out the Garage Sale Ads. Beside the link to the ads, there is a total of the number of classifieds in each category. A few weeks ago, the GARAGE SALE category had a whopping '69', last week it had dropped to '45', and this week it was down to a measily '27'! Another sign that Fall is rapidly approaching here in the NE.

But hey, definitely better than Nothing! Look at this hot 'Hawaiian Stud' that followed me home!!!

On Saturday the weather Gods were not cooperating, and it was 'almost' a wash out, but I did come home with FIVE items.... and there was a blatant theme!!!

SURFS UP!!

I think it is carved in stone, next years porch will have a Hawaiian Twist! Complete with Surf / boogie board ($1) and a stack of vintage Hawaiian Cocktail napkins (.10¢)! I think my coconut heads will feel right at home!

There was no Haeger, no VERA and no sweaterclips to be had, but I did grab this sweet 'glass chain' to add to my other half dozen ...

Less to unpack, clean-up and find homes for (or list on e-bay), that is for darn sure!!

Hope everyone is surviving the Hurricane impacts in their part of Blog Land!!

... and THREE makes yet another...

Saturday was a WONDERFUL fix!

I got to the SPCA rummage sale 15 min. before it was to open, and there were already about 50 people in line.... Yes it has been a L~O~N~G Winter here in the NE!! I didn't have my hopes too high, but was pleasantly surprised!

These were just TOO Cheery to pass up on a cold winter's day! Measuring spoonholder is plastic and the two ashtrays are china.

-SORRY NO PHOTO-

A lovely lot of 30 Hankies!

'Charming' solitaire 'mad cleaver yielding chef' and an unsuspecting elf posing in front of a nice Brush-McCoy Pot!

Last but not least, THREE unused, Large size scented candles - not Yankee, but still good ones from Maine! When the house is sealed up tight all Winter it is fun to have a yummy smelling candle lit!

ALL of these goodies for $5 - gotta Love it!

As an added bonus, while out running some errands Sat. we stumbled upon an estate sale. It was later in the day, so just as we got there they were lowering everything to half price!!

Does anybody know if old, 'new' in box paint by numbers of Clowns do anything in the resale market? I did a little research, but haven't had much luck!

FUN finds! Two metal lined trash cans that I think may sell nicely when title Mid Century Moderne (who am I kidding, I'm already picturing the metal liners different colors and which rooms I could use them in!!)! AND a few 'summer porch' additions - Coconut Pirate Head, Clay hanging planter with a goofy Monkey and an older pottery Kahlua Tiki! At .50c each, how could I go wrong?!

Now is probably the perfect time to introduce you to our PORCH. We do not have a typical front porch, but rather a secluded back porch. Full width of house x Approx. 10' deep. We LOVE the porch and we spend WAY more time there in warmer weather than inside!! (warmer weather being above 40 degrees!!) The porch usually consists of a table and 4 chairs, and 4 comfy chairs, an ottoman, a couple of small wicker end tables and a couple of tall iron shelves for plants. Each year it is decorated in a 'coastal motif'or 'warm motif' (depending on recent vacations/finds!!). Some years it is done in SW hazy orange browns & Donkeys (ie Arizona or Mexico), some years Maine Coastal Salty fishermen and Lobsters , some years a Tropical Motif of colorful birds & flowers, OR often my own blend of 'D. All of the above'. Of course porch season only lasts April - Nov (in a good year!), and then it ALL gets packed away to the depths of the basement, so that those nasty Arctic blasts that dump the snow on the porch don't ruin everything. Packed away until that long awaited first warm spring day when... The fiberglass 'wind block' panels from either end of the porch get taken down! A good sweeping! ... a few pieces of furniture in place! ~sorry, I'm daydreaming. we have a LOT of cold weather before 'that Spring day'!~

In the past year I have picked up two coconut heads... just because 'they spoke to me' and were too funny not to pick up! They ended up getting positioned on one of the joists of The Porch. Saturday, I found another. That makes three. It's 'Not really' another collection, is it?!

8-)