Friday, May 24, 2013

Interesting day

I left my house kinda early this morning, hoping to make it to a sale that said Pyrex in the ad. I got there and didn't find any. I'm not a big fan of the Pyrex containers, but I got a mixing bowl a few years ago, and I love that, I keep hoping to find more.
My next stop promised antiques and vintage. There were a few old bottles, but I didn't really think there was that much to put in the ad. I did find a few things to buy though:
 A Thank You book illustrated by Mary Engelbreit, a snowman candle, a cute horse, a star, and a primitive looking angel. I haven't been in any swaps lately, but everytime I go out shopping, if I see something that would be good for a swap, I buy it. I should stop. The candle was for me, because I totally don't need more snowmen. The horse is also for me, I have a tiny collection. The star and angel are for my mother, it's never too early to start shopping for Christmas. I find if I do it throughout the year (and wrap them), I'm less stressed by the time December gets here.
The next sale, I thought was on the other side of town, I'm so glad I stopped and looked at my map. I also walked by a park that used to have a pool in it that I spent many years in as a kid. I knew they had closed the pool, I just wasn't aware they had taken it out already, I was kinda bummed to see that.
The pail is for my mother, the purse and candles for swaps, and I just couldn't resist the cute frog bag.
The bowl says Japamese porcelain ware decorated in Hong Kong. The utensils say silver plated, Italy, the fork is pretty tarnished. I love the tarnish on silver, I think it adds character. I thought they were actually silver when I picked them up, but they're still cool.
The last sale I went to claimed linens in the ad, I didn't see many of those.
I LOVE the DREAM piece, I still haven't found a place for it. The elephant is stone, I have a collection of those too. And the tiny stamp is a bee. The person had some kind of app on her Ipad to figure out totals. I decided it was a total fail, or she wasn't quite sure how to use it, because she told me the wrong total. I corrected her and paid her. I'm not great at math either, but this was pretty simple.
I figured with all my walking today, I walked over 30 blocks, I don't know how many miles that is, but I think I should pack water next time.

After, I had to go to the grocery store, as I'm waiting to check out the lady in front of me is getting scratch tickets, multiples. So, the clerk's helping her, and then another worker comes up and tells her to stop saying the lady did the same thing in a town over and the routing number on her check had been changed. She said her kids did it, got a little flustered and when he called the manager over, she left. So, not only are you passing bad checks, you also blamed it on your kids, I'd love to be in your family. Of course, people will have their kids get library cards and rack up overdue fines and lost items on them so they go to debt collect and get credit reported without a second thought. Sometimes I just don't trust people.

Monday, May 20, 2013

This weekend

Not much for garage sales this weekend, which was weird because it was a beautiful weekend. I did find some things to buy though.
Four scary movies
 I hadn't planned to spend so much at this sale, but once I saw the green glass piece, I had to have the rest. I love the orange one, it looks like a bunch of glass mixed together, I thought it was stone at first.
 I don't need more glass products, but when they're tiny and cute, I can't pass them by. I certainly don't have room for them.

Sunday, we had an Edible Books Festival at the library. I decided to decorate a cake, so I came up with this:
It's the Rainbow Fish. I started out with a small white cake that was already frosted, added the round pieces for scales. I then added a pop tart for the top fin and a candy bar for the tail and covered them in frosting to match the side fins.
There were 12 submissions, three of them being the Very Hungry Caterpillar. One was even made out of green and red veggies/fruits, very cool. Mine won Best Use of Color.
We had to hurry the judging, because there was a storm in the area. Once everyone had won something, we scurried into the bathrooms because a tornado had been sighted in the area. We did take some of the edible works, and read books in the bathroom. It was one of my more interesting days at work.

I have a question for my readers. I see Google reader will be gone in July. Does anyone have a recommendation for a substitute? Thanks

Last week

A few highlights from last week. Here's the tag I made for my mother for Mother's Day:
 After lunch we went to a local garden, where they had an exhibit with lots of sculptures and tulips blooming. I loved this grasshopper.

 

 Here are a couple of the tulips I liked. If anyone knows what kind they are, can you let me know in the comments? Thanks.

 This tiny gnome is a permanent piece.
 This piece looked like it was metal with an iridescent film over the top.
 Another cute tulip
 These were the coolest sculpture. From across the gardens, you could see the white side and I thought it was a swan, as we got closer, you could see they were two whales. The white one is made from plastic, the black one is rubber.
 Wednesday, I went to the mall to try and spend my Christmas gift certificate from JC Penneys. I found these neat shirts in the guys section. My favorite is the giant skull.
 When I got to work, I found our summer reading program shirts had come in, so I picked mine up.
I shouldn't complain about not having cool shirts now.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

It's finally garage sale season

This might be kinda long. Garage sale season has finally hit my town. This weekend, there were quite a few in the paper. I only went to one yesterday, and today, I went to a citywide of a neighboring town. Unfortunately, I feel there were less this year than last year.
The one I went to yesterday, has a sale twice a year, and I make it a point to go every time. It starts at 7:30 on Fridays, unfortunately, this year I had to be at work at 8, so I had to wait to go until I got home. When I did, here's what I got:
 A very cute quilted wallhanging, a Dr. Seuss book, a Pfaltzgraff platter. I am loving quilted pieces lately, but they're generally pretty expensive, I understand why, but I can't afford them at that price, this wallhanging was the perfect price, plus it's all ready to be hung up. One of my co-workers just had twin boys and we didn't get to have the baby shower before they were born, so I've been on the lookout for books lately. Though I noticed when I looked at it more carefully at home that someone had written inside the front cover, I'm trying to figure out how to cover that up nicely. And I love the platter, I have Pfaltzgraff for my dinnerware (though it's getting old, so I'm looking for new dinnerware), and this platter was beautiful, I'd love to use it for Thanksgiving.
 A truck book , a bag of Easter stuff, and a bag of butterflies The truck book is for my co-worker, though a little old for her boys, I'm sure they'll like it once they reach the age of 3. The Easter pieces are miniature bunnies and eggs, way too cute to pass up. The bag of butterflies, I basically bought for the foamy looking ones, I figured I could use them in my art, I also love the lacy one.
Today, was the date of a city wide garage sale for a neighboring town. This is the third year I've gone, I went with my co worker last year, we had a blast and decided to do it again this year. Again, I think there were less, here's what I got:
 a few packs of burlap tags with paper, four hankies, a cute wall hanging/plaque, some plastic raspberries, and a cool tag. There's this cute little antique store in this town and it has some wicked cool stuff in it. I bought the hankie pack just for the blue iris one in the corner, it looks to be hand painted.
 Another place, an art studio, the owner was closing and had a bunch of her stuff sitting out for free, and who passes up free? The background piece is actually more pink than it looks here, I don't know why it turned out so coral-y. I have no idea what I'll do with these pieces, but they just jumped out at me.
 Stamps, bunny, eyelets, and bunny stickers. I have the hardest time passing up bug stamps, I don't know why, because I sure don't need more stamps. The bunny was from the art studio, again, I just loved it. The eyelets are the same size as I used in my fabric book, I figured if I made another one, they're a nice size. And I just liked the bunny stickers, but I sure don't need any more stickers. I have a ton of art supplies as it is, more than I even use, so I try not to buy more, but if I'm going to, I'm sure not paying new price for them.
 A Splat the Cat Christmas book, a 4th grade activity book, and a squishy fish book with accompanying fish. The fish and the cat book are for my co worker, the other one is for me, I find these fun to do.
I was so excited to find some vintage-y lacy pieces, that I kinda went crazy. Once again, I sure don't need these, but I have a hard time walking away. The bunny hot pad was originally for my mother, but I might keep it, I found something else she'll love today anyway.
A bib, bear, pig on a stick (my favorite purchase of the day), snowman , smaller snowman and rocks. I couldn't pass up the extremely cute embroidery on the bib, especially for a quarter, I figured if I ever made another fabric book, that was going in it. I couldn't resist the bear, plus free. I love the pig, I don't know why, I just think it's so cute. Once again, I don't need another snowman, but I loved this one and the round one was free. And I can't pass up rocks, though now I think I should have, they're not that cool.
A couple other things that didn't make it in pictures, I got a large metal frog for my mother to put in the garden and some zucchini bread for tomorrow.
Tomorrow the plan is to go to brunch, then our local gardens, and then to the Iowa Arboretum. My parents 40th Anniversary is tomorrow and they got married in the arboretum.

What exciting things did you all find this weekend?

Friday, May 03, 2013

Are you sure it's May?

On Tuesday, it hit 80+ degrees, I went shopping for shorts, and even got to wear them. Tuesday afternoon, my dad gave me his bucket of change, which turned out to be over $80, so I went shopping. At one of our consignment stores, I found this great apron for eight something, and the cute bunny music box. I LOVE this apron, I have no idea what to do with it, but the moment I saw it, I knew I had to have it. Normally, anything over $5 is too expensive for me, but I just wanted this apron.
Wednesday, the high was in the 50's and we were getting snow that night. Thursday when I woke up, it was snowing very big flakes. I soaked my feet on the way into work. We were supposed to get 3-5 inches with another 1-3 that night. I don't know how much we got, but I am not happy. I had to dig out a second comforter to sleep under last night. When I woke up this morning, it was very pretty out, the snow coating the trees, so they looked like they had been dipped in it. When I got home from work, I had to shovel. I AM NOT HAPPY. It's supposed to rain for the next week or so, so it won't stick around but, snow in May?
So, I'm predicting no garage sales this weekend. I did see a few in the paper, but they weren't close, and it's supposed to rainy and cold, no thanks.

On another note, I need some advice. My parents' 40th anniversary is next weekend and I don't know what to get them. Any ideas?