Saturday, April 30, 2011

More Garage Sale Finds

I went to a citywide garage sale today with my aunts, it wasn't as exciting as I thought. My aunt said there were quite a few less houses doing sales, and a lot of the houses this year were mostly baby clothes and toys.
Here's what I got:
a 1950's dictionary for $.25, two hankies the one with pink flowers and the one with blue flowers and tatted edges for $.25, an altoids tin with the paint already burned off for $.25, a tiny sun stamp for $.50 and a dragon pendant for $.50

I was really excited about the Altoids tin because the paint was burned off. It was in a tub with a ton of other tins, that still had paint on them. I like decorating them for art, and I don't have a gas stove to burn the paint off anymore.


A heavy glass sugar bowl for $.50, a pair of pink clip-on earrings for $1.81, and underneath everything, there are 2 scarves which were $.10 each.

I'm looking for good clip-on earrings this year. I bought a pair of black flats from Wal-mart and have decided to spice them up with clip on earrings. Unfortunatly I don't think there are really big gaudy ones, I put the pink ones on my flats today, and they're a little small. They do look cute though.
I got really excited when I saw the hankies, the one with the blue tatting was really cute, though I think I like the one with the pink flowers better. They were bundled together with a tag that said $.25 for both.
The dragon pendant has a broken tail, but I still think it's cute.

I was soo excited for today. We hit quite a few garage sales, but like I said, they were mostly kids clothes and toys. I think I was really excited because I read of other people that go to these events and come out with such cool things, but I don't seem to be finding anything really cool. Maybe what other people find are just cooler because it's not what I find.
I also decided, it's fun to go with other people. I wish I had a garage sale buddy. Course, like I found out today, they don't always want to go where you want to go. One of the schools in my area was having a sale last night and today, and we got back to town before they were done, and I asked if my aunts wanted to hit that one real quick, but they said they wanted to grab something to eat and go home. I think we spent more time eating than it would have to go to the sale. I guess I should have gone to it last night.

Wednesday, we're going to an outlet center where I'm looking for some cute shirts and a nice summer dress. I hope to hit some sales next Sat morning, but we're leaving for a wedding shortly after lunch, so they'll have to be close.

Any good finds in your neck of the woods?

Friday, April 29, 2011

Saddening News

I read quite a few blogs. One of them, Brynwood Needleworks is about Donna, her family, her two dogs, and her quilting.
Today, she lost one of her dogs from complications in a surgery.
I feel very sorry for her, and hope you all could give her a little blog love.

Farewell Fezzik, we'll miss you.

First Garage Sale Today

I'm going to a neighboring city's garage sale day tomorrow, so I was hoping I could visit a few here today. This one started at 8AM today. Here are my great finds:
A couple crocheted(?) items one was free, the other $.10, a cute embroidered piece that was free, the saucer was $.25 as well as the tea cup.
I have put the big piece under my silver items, the snowflake has been put in with Christmas stuff, not sure what to do with the embroidered piece, it looks like it needs some color. The teacup and saucer have been filled up with leftover Easter candy.

A Smurfette doll for $.25, and a two headed dragon for $.50, anyone know what it's from?

I picked up the Smurfette and had to have it, even though there wasn't a price on it.

I picked up this box for $2.00

And inside was a variety of crocheted(?) snowflakes and a couple decorated Christmas balls.

They have all been put into my closet until next year.


My grand total at this sale was $3.40. I loved the prices at this sale, there were a lot of 5 and 10 cent items. And lots of cute stuff.

I'm planning on going to another sale after work tonight, but that will all depend on how tired I am from work. Stay tuned for another post if I do go, if not I'm sure I'll have one up tomorrow with the sales I visit.

Yummies and plans

Tonight, I made these:
Stuffed Jumbo Pasta shells. I followed the recipe and then added my own stuff, so there's ricotta, spinich, chicken, parmesan, and mushrooms in them.
Here's what they're supposed to look like:

I thought they turned out pretty well.


Today, I've already visited a garage sale (post to follow), I'm going to work, and then planning on visiting another sale tonight.

Tomorrow, my aunt and I are planning on going to a neighboring town's garage sale day. Of course I found some more sales here in Ames, so we'll see how many we visit.

Next Wednesday, my aunt, dad and I are going to the Tanger outlet stores in Williamsburg, IA. I'm hoping to find some cute shirts and maybe a dress or two for the summer. I'm also trying to find something to wear to a wedding next Saturday.

And then that weekend, I have a wedding of my brother's best friend when he was a kid on Saturday, we'll be staying overnight and then on Mother's Day, traveling to my mom's side of the family for our celebration.

And on May 9th, I get to play with these cuties. I can't wait.


So, quite a few fun times coming up, what's going on in your life?



Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!!!

So, I took Carrie's advice from my Brightening up post, and opened the Christmas presents for my Ex that I wanted:
It's a bunch of Hotwheels cars, no big surprise there. The other presents are some magazines, that will be going to the magazine exchange at the library, and some Oreo cookies that I will also take to the library.
Here's the Easter basket I put together for myself:

There was chocolate, some Peeps, some bubbles, a foam stamp set, a chick bank, an angry looking chick keychain, and a blue monster.


I plan to use the same Easter basket next year.

Have a good Easter everyone!!!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Easter Candy Swap

My last Easter swap came, and it was so worth the wait, thank you Kim.
This beautifully wrapped basket was in the box.


Here's the basket without the polka dots:


And here's my great haul:

A notepad, lots of chocolate including Snickers, Milky Ways, 3 Musketeers, crunchy eggs, colored balls, and some cute candy bracelets, rings and lipsticks, there was also a cupcake looking container of lip gloss.


And the Reece's Pieces, how could I forget about those.




I have quite enough chocolate to last me for awhile. Thanks again Kim.

Garage Sale Finds

I didn't find the sales too exciting this week. Here's what I got:
This is from the last sale, the plate is more of a celery green, that was $.50, and the bear was just cute for $.25
This sale, I thought a lot of the prices were a little high, but I did find this cute set of cut metal egg ornaments for $2.00, and a pack of mini Winnie the Pooh cards for $.25. For not decorating for Easter, I sure am getting a lot of decorations this year.

This was from the first sale, it was advertised as a bake sale and HUGE sale. I didn't find it that big, it was mostly clothing. The bake sale was just cookies and cupcakes, and I wasn't really interested in them, so I didn't buy any.
What I did get was a small vase for $.25, an old first aid ki for $1.00, this game maker for $.25. I'm not really sure why I picked it up, I was thinking the clay would be fun to create with, but I do have a bunch of clay in my art closet. Anyone want some clay?

Here's the inside of the first aid kit. It was pretty cute, I'm not sure what I'll do with it either.

And then I got these 4 bags which were in the bag in the next picture all for $.25, I didn't realize there were so many bags in the first one, I doubt the people selling them knew.

Anyone need some cute bags? I'll probably use them in either giveaways or swaps.

Here's the cute bag they were in, I was thinking of making it my new purse.

My grand total for the day was $4.75, I didn't even break my $10 or my $5 bills. I just took out all the ones I've been saving, and spent those.


Tomorrow's Easter and I will show you what I bought for myself for my Easter basket.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Brightening Up

So, I've been doing a little redecorating with springy and eastery stuff including some of the stuff I've gotten in swaps.
This is a picture of one of my bookshelves: You can see the Easter basket from Michelle, the stone easter egg, the pink bunny and the bunny in the striped sweater I bought at the estate sale last week, There's also the captured chick from Kim, my easter basket for me shaped like a bug, a white 'lantern' and a blue egg I bought years ago in high school. They were bought when I was in an anthropology class in high school and a few of my friends and I for a project had to go to a town that was x miles away with x many people living there. And since I always love to buy things, and I figured it was a good way to see how they treated outsiders, I bought those as well as a porcelain rose. There's also another blue egg with legs in there, that I'm planning on decorating for a hostess gift for my aunt who's hosting Easter on Sunday.
There's my Easter basket again, a green bunny rabbit I bought on clearance, a blue flower candle holder from Hobby Lobby, two pink candles (one from a swap), A smiley face creature (I bought it for a swap, and then decided the items I had put together were enough), an egg with Godiva truffles in it, those are also supposed to be in my Easter basket, and the matching bunny with a sweater to the one in the last photo. OOOPS, almost forgot the sheet of stickers that are for a future swap in my collage ATCs group.

Here are a couple bunnies sitting on my kitchen window sill.

Here is my shelving unit that you see when you come up the stairs. It's got a bottle I recently covered with dictionary pages with a Hawaiian looking flower sitting in it. There's the lamp finial that I bought at a garage sale last year, a frog, an angel from my friend, Karli. The plate I got in a swap is there, as well as a little red bear, another frog and a piece of rock with fool's gold on it. The sailboat is made out of forgeign Coke cans, I bought it in D.C. years ago. Behind it, you can see a feather, it's a pen, that my friend Kim made. There are two wooden roses that my Ex bought for me at the State Fair a few years back. There's also a metal platter with a ship on it (can you tell I like old sailboats?). And behind the bottle, there is another bottle with fabric roses, a couple metal roses, the porcelain rose I mentioned above and a purple pinwheel I got in a swap.

I collect roses that last forever, so I'm hoping to add quite a few more to my collection in the coming years.

This is the top of my old entertainment center, since I got my new flat screen TV, it doesn't fit in it anymore, so it's become another piece of furniture to decorate.

The green cup, and blue bowl I bought at the antique mall along with the two doilies underneath them. The white bowl I bought at the Octagon Art Festival last year. The bottle was from a garage sale, the bird from a local store. You can see the crocheted flower and card I got Sarah. There's also a pom pom caterpiller in there.

And here's where my TV would sit. The dog, ladybug, leopard, monster, and lion are all things I bought for Valentine's Day this year. The piece of rock is from Hawaii. The purple guinea pig, I bought here on Etsy. The picture frame is from one of my last swaps. The seahorse is also from Hawaii. The charm bracelets and necklace are from swaps in a Yahoo! group called the Sum of All ATCs. And the branch was cut off of one of our trees in the yard quite a few years ago, I grabbed it and varnished it, and it has been a nice decorating piece since.

Here are a few more shelves in the entertainment center. There is a cute flower candle holder from Hobby Lobby, the butterfly card from Whitney, a felt turtle from Jo-Anns, the white dish is also from Jo-Anns, and the bunny rabbit from the estate sale last weekend.

This is the top of my radiator. You can see a scarf I bought last year at a garage sale. The clover pin, green sundae dish, sugar bowl, pink depression glass glass, pink creamer, tiny bottle, and the pins on top of the clock were also bought at garage sales last year. The egg in the sugar bowl is from Sarah in a swap, the brown/gray bird is from a Christmas Swap, the mouse behind it as well as the bunny on the clock, the baseball bunny, and the bunny in front of the clock I bought at the estate sale last weekend. The little silver box I've had for years.

These little guys, I bought myself for Easter, they're called Squinkies. They came in little plastic eggs (you can see them in the blue bowl in one of the previous pictures), they are little tiny rubber animals, not more than an inch in height. I had wrapped them for Day 7 of the Easter swap I participated in, as Day 7 got sick, but I couldn't wait and opened them yesterday. I am having way too much fun with them.

And here's the rest, there were 16 in the container. I had thought they were $5, that was part of the reason I bought them, they were actually $10, but I thought they were way too cute by the time I was paying for them. I have no idea what I'll actually do with them, but who cares?


I was hoping to post my last Easter swap gift package today, but I got an email last night saying she mailed it yesterday and hopefully it will be here tomorrow. Now, don't get me wrong, I love doing these, but we were supposed to have them mailed by last Sunday (4/17), and she waited until the last possible minute to mail the package. I do appreciate that she told me, then I won't be wondering where it is, but I'll be really annoyed if it's not in tomorrow's mail.


In other news, I'm going to my aunt's for Easter on Sunday, I have filled some plastic eggs to hide, I've never done that before, so I'm really excited to see if the little kids are excited when they find them. I'm also thinking of taking a few plastic frogs to hide for them to find as well.

I'm trying out a new recipe to take (I always have troubles spelling recipe, it never looks right to me), it's essentially a green bean casserole with mushrooms and a bread crumb topping, I got it out of a diabetes cookbook from the library. Most of the time I check out cookbooks just to look at the pictures, so no I don't have diabetes, the chocolate cake on the cover looked yummy.

I'm also planning on making lemon bars and putting them on a cute Easter-y plate to take.


I'm also planning on going to a couple garage sales tomorrow, one started their ad with bakesale, so that's a definite way to get my attention.


I applied for a position at the library that will definitely pay more but be less hours. I was informed yesterday that they're doing interviews soon. It will be a position that won't interfere with my hourly work there, but like I said I'll get more $$$. I'm hoping to get it, I know I wasn't the only one that applied and there will be more than one person in this position, but I'm a little worried about the interview. Cross your fingers.


I've been a little depressed lately, I'm not sure exactly why, but I think because next weekend would have been my 4th anniversary with my Ex. I signed up to work on May 1st so I won't be at home by myself all depressed. I do remember thinking this year that May 1st would be on a Sunday, and my Ex would be able to spend the day with me. So much for that idea.

I'm wondering how long I should keep his Christmas presents, before opening some and keeping them for myself. There are a few hunting magazines that I will definitely be throwing away (or just taking back to the library where I picked them up), but there are a few things in there that I would have loved to keep for myself. There are some boxes of Oreos that will go bad some day and I'm planning on taking those to the library, so I don't have to eat them.

I've never been in this kind of situation, so I don't know how long you wait. I haven't heard from my Ex since he sent the text message over a month ago. I don't plan on calling him, his number's still in my phone only so I can ignore him if he plans to call me. I'm pretty sure I won't be getting any stuff back from him, and I'm ok with that, there was one thing, but I don't need it back. I'm also wondering how long before I can get rid of the TV he left here. I would love to stick it out on the side of the road, because it's taking up space in my closet, but I don't know if I'm allowed to. I figure I can wait until fall, if he doesn't express any interest in stuff by then, I can get rid of it.


Let's end on a happy note. Only 2 more days til Easter, I can't wait to get my last swap package, finish the 9 days of Easter, open my Easter basket, hang out with family and hide plastic eggs.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Monday, April 18, 2011

I tried

My plan was to open my Easter swap packages on Easter. I really tried to stick to that plan, a package was sitting under my mailbox today. But, when I also got the rest of the statements from my insurance company from when I had my pink eye, and found out it will cost me more than when I had my finger sliced open, I decided I needed to open it. On top of the package was a nice card from Sarah:

And this was under the tissue paper:

Here's what was in the package, a crocheted (?) flower hair pin, a plastic egg full of chocolate M&M's, 4 glass (?) eggs in a nice variety of colors and a package of Lindt bugs and bees.





Thank you to Samantha for hosting this swap.


I also figured since I have an Easter basket, the last gift in the 9 Days of Easter swap, maybe the other gift from the Candy Easter Swap, and maybe something from my parents to open on Easter, as well as going to my aunt's for Easter, I had enough things to open on Easter.




I had another surprise for me today:

This is the zinnia plant that Whitney gave me in the spring swap. I can't believe it's actually starting to grow. I'm not good at growing things, that means I already jinxed it and it will now die.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Estate Sale

I had a hard time deciding whether or not to go to this sale today. The apartment building just had a sale last week, and from what I had heard, it was going to be a lot of Christmas stuff, I finally figured I'd never know if there was a great thing unless I went. Here's what I got: A salted nut bar for $1.00, a cute vinyl bag for $.10, and a stuffed bunny I was thinking about last week for $.25 An Amber Hocking Fireking dish for $.40, a triangular dish for $.75, a porcelain bunny for $.50, and a tiny glass swan for $.75
Today's grand total was $3.75


There's another sale in my block tomorrow, that I figured I'd stop by before work. There was one last week as well, but because they had put their sign up where it wasn't supposed to be, I decided not to go to it. Do any of you do things like that? I've also noticed that if a place has quite a few sales a year (one place last year seemed to have one every weekend), I won't go to it either. Plus, if it was a bad first sale I went to, I mark it in my head not to go back to that address. I'm ok with 2 sales (or three like the apartment building I went to today) a year, but more than that, I just get annoyed. I don't know why, it just bothers me.


I've also noticed most things I buy are $1.00 or under. Almost like it's better that way, though if I stopped to think about it, I probably buy more because I think I'm getting a deal. Who knows? I have been known to buy stuff that's priced more if I think it's worth it.


And I did bypass a few things I could have used in my art. So, I'm sorta sticking to my rules. I found a cute double deck of cards with 1950's art on them, that probably would have looked really cute on something, but I do have other 1950's art and cards here that I don't use. I also found a little cardboard box that I could alter, but I do have a whole suitcase full of alterable things.

I have found myself buying more decorative things, especially springy things. I'm drawn to those more this year.

Also, looks like there will be a lot more garage sale posts on here, now that garage sale season has started.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Spring is in the Air Swap

I received my packaged for the Spring is in the Air Swap, hosted by Nicole at Flip Flops and Combat Boots. My swap partner was Whitney at Everything Happens for a Reason. Here's what she got me: A cute butterfly card,
A zinnia growing kit, a 3pack of bubbles (I bought one of these for myself for Easter), A lindt ladybug full of chocolate bugs, a butterfly shaped sprayer, and a cug kit for Easter eggs.
And a picture frame
I am totally loving everything in this box. I put the picture frame up on a shelf and wish I had a great picture to put in it. I've already had one of the chocolate bugs, but am going to put them with the rest of my Easter stuff. Plus, I've made a bug, with a plastic egg, but still. I'm actually going to have to get a little creative with the bug kit, as we all know hard-boiled eggs go bad eventually, and I would like my bugs to last, I'm thinking of using rocks, but I also think it would be great to have a whole variety of bugs made out of things.


I also received the gifts below for my 9 days of Easter swap. 9 people joined and made gifts that we are to open the 9 days up to Easter. Unfortunately #1 dropped out and #7 got sick. Our hostess added something for #1, and if #7 gets better she was going to send along her stuff, I added something I bought at Walmart yesterday as #7.
If you want to come along with me on this journey, you'll have to go over to my art blog, The Frog Palace, as these were all supposed to be handmade. I will be doing a post everyday (at least that's my plan, cross your fingers).


I have 2 more Easter swaps I signed up for, that I will be mailing today. I can't wait until I get those packages. I haven't decided if I should wait until Easter to open them or not.


And remember how I said garage sale season opened last week, well I'm thinking of not worrying about it this week. Since for my schedule, I work 1-6 Friday night, plus there's a pizza party and movie night for library employees afterwards, and I work 10-3 Saturday, I think it's just not worth it. Plus, the local newspaper stopped printing The Advertiser (a weekly free paper to non-subscribers that had classifieds in it) sometime during the winter, I would have to scrounge up the actual newspaper to find the sales. And it is VEISHEA weekend, a student run festival on campus, that is generally pretty big, I'd think it'd be kinda silly to have your sale compete with that.

There is an 'estate sale' at the same place I went to last week, that I may check out in the morning tomorrow, we'll see. The lady I talked to last week, said it would be more Christmas items and furniture. Course, I'll never know if there's not something great there if I don't go.


Get anything exciting in your mail?

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Book Sale

So I spent about $10 at the book sale yesterday. Here's what I got: The Penguin Book of Women's Lives for $.50, Helga Hanson's Hotflash Handbook for $.50, A cookie recipe book for $.50. I thought the women's lives book would be interesting, the hotflash book is humor, and do I really need an explanation for the cookie book? A math book for $.50, Mass Murderers for $1.00, Crime and Punishment for $1.00, Dream Cars for $2.00, Hometown Memories for $3.00 and The College Humor Guide to College for $1.00. I've been on the lookout for math books to help me be better at math, I love adding to my true crime bookshelf, there were a lot of great cars in the Dream Cars book including a 70's Challenger, the Hometown book just looked cute, and I love a good humor book.
I also bought quite a few good things at the bake sale Friday and Sat, but I've eaten them now, so I can't show them to you.


I was trying to look up garage sales the other day, except I was informed there is no longer an Advertiser with all the classified sections anymore. The Tribune's online garage sale page only has address and date, so I guess I'll be looking through their regular in print classified sections. I also realized, maybe I shouldn't bother so much as I work Friday afternoons 1-6 until June 1st. But I don't always work Saturdays, plus some people do theirs on Thursday afternoons as well. I guess it just means I won't be spending near as much money, which isn't a bad thing.


Any good sales in your area?

Friday, April 08, 2011

First Garage Sale of the Season

At least in my opinion it is. A neighbor was having one of their great sales of the year. It's an apartment building with 7 floors of apartments, and most people there are retired and have quite a few things, so they usually have about 2 sales a year. Three this year, as they are having an estate sale next weekend, because some people are moving into assisted living. So, here's what I got: A dictionary from 1924 for $1.00 A stone egg for $1.00, a tiny glass cup(?) for $1.00
Two bags of Spring/Easter animals for $1.50 each, a pink egg candle in a tiny tin pail for $0.35
A plastic bunny egg for $0.25, two bunnies with sweaters for $1.50, a bunny dressed as a fairy for $.50
That's a grand total of $9.60. Perfect for the beginning of the season. I had $20, and I didn't want to spend more than that. Some of these items I fully intend on using in my Easter swaps. I try to buy items that I think people will enjoy and that I can use on future swaps when I go to sales, so I'm never just buying for me.


Tomorrow is the Library book sale, and this year we're doing a bake sale with it, I totally plan on buying baked goods, and hopefully some books.

OK, I take it back the book sale is tonight, tomorrow and Sunday. I generally try to go on Sunday, as it's half off day, but looks like I'm working on Sunday, so I guess I'll have to pay full price. It benefits the library so I'm not complaining.


I can't wait for more sales.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Stuff?

Remember how I said I was going to try and save money? Well, I'm doing a pretty poor job at it. Partly because I keep signing up for swaps where you send your partners gifts. I signed up for 2 Easter swaps (technically 3, but the other one I made something), and a Spring swap. And then I went to Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's to make sure I had sufficient items for the swaps and spent a bit at Hobby Lobby, because they had they're "summer" stuff out, and that wasn't on sale. This first picture is an idea of what I'm sending someone for one of my Easter swaps. It's only an idea because we haven't gotten partners yet. This one is what I'm sending my partner in the Spring swap
And here's the box for my other Easter Swap.
Obviously you can't see much, but I needed pictures for the post, and the last box is not filled with lifesavers gummies. And this time, I did not go over the spending amount. I've done that a couple times in the past and haven't been as excited with what I got back. My gifts are just as equally exciting this time, I do have stuff that I would like to get, but maybe not as stuffed to the gills as other times. Though, I would love to keep all this stuff to myself.

Anyways, back to saving money, I've decided not to enter myself in anymore gift swapping ones, I should get into the more handmade ones. I really want to spend more money at garage sales. Course this year (hopefully), I won't spend on craft supplies, because I have tons of those, I won't be spending on a boyfriend, cause I don't have one of those. But, I do plan on spending on homemade goods (maybe not as much, because it will just be me eating them), I love buying goodies at garage sales, and I haven't met a goodie that I didn't like, so they've all been money well spent.

I'm especially excited about this weekend, I've decided it's the official start of garage sale time, a neighbor is doing one, and theirs are always great, plus the library is doing their book sale this weekend and this year they're selling baked goods as well. Unfortunately, that's tomorrow, I have to wait until then. Sigh.

I will not be going to the antique mall until garage sale season is over. Two reasons, one I don't need to spend money both places, and two, I haven't found anything really good there lately, it's the same stuff over and over again. And, garage sales usually have cheaper prices for some of the same stuff like hankies, tea cups/glassware and jewelry. Those are my favorite items. Might have to find some room for them, but I can handle that.


I did realize yesterday that since it's warmer I will be doing less stuff than last year. I just don't have anyone to do things with. I'd love to go hiking and swimming, but once again, no one to do it with. Though, I'm thinking of asking some of my work buddies about going to the aquatic center this year. It still looks like fun, and I'd love to do it with friends.

I will be going on vacation in early June. My parents, aunt, and uncle and his family and I are planning a battlefield tour in DC. I am really excited to go on vacation. My last vacation was last January, and I can't wait. Hopefully going to battlefields will mean I'll spend less money on souveneirs, probably just postcards, which are cheap.