Junkin in June

Yesterday, my mother and I went to an event called, Junkin in June. Basically, it's a bunch of little antique stores that are open special hours around central Iowa, see my post from last year here.

Our first stop, was a place called Junk Refunkery in Boone. I found a few things there to buy:

 A tiny plastic camel, a tiny plastic piece that says "no sweat", two metal leaves and a plastic dog.
The next place was called Red Barn Rustics, I remember going to it last year and finding so many cool things, this year not so much, I don't know if it's because I had been there last year or what. I did find this tiny bunch of cards showing the views around Abraham Lincoln's cabin:

 The next stop was at As The Crow Flies, last year I bought some cool stuff there. This year, I thought things were a little pricey.
The next stop was Red Granite Farm, a plant farm that had some antiques on site as well.

 I bought this cute "Hope" magnet, and a tiny poodle plate,
Our next stop Bittersweet N Berries, was very nicely priced, I get so spoiled by garage sale prices that I forget what reasonable prices are.

 Frog, hankies, tiny plastic bunnies, two pins.

 Bird cup, frame, my mother actually bought all these as a birthday present for me. Now, I feel I need to get her something as cool.

After that we went to Gilbert, which is north of Ames, a couple shops had flea markets in their yards. Our first stop was the one that was selling food, by that time it was after 12, and we were HUNGRY. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything to buy at that stop.
The last stop was JB Knacker's, which is the place that arranged the whole event. I found a few pieces at her flea market:

 Fabric piece, it's torn in the middle, I figured it'd work great for another fabric book. Magnets, glass stopper, tiny utensil piece, glass square, and tiny flower pin, bottle

I'm getting quite a collection of elephants. I also think he was the best buy of the day, but I wasn't too excited about anything I bought.
I think it was much better last year, but I also believe the first time I experience things is the best time. This year I kept waiting for an exciting purchase and I didn't find anything really great.
Later in the afternoon, I went out with my friend, we went to Micheal's and I found some stuff to buy there as well.

Some 3D embellishments, some burlap stickers, and some metal gears. Everything was on sale, so I feel good that I didn't buy anything at full price.

My birthday is Tuesday, I'm turning 30. I'm pretty excited about my birthday, maybe because I'm having a party. I haven't done big things for my birthday in awhile. The last time I had a party two people came. My ex and my best friend and I had a picnic at a state park. That was quite a few years ago. This year, I'm having a dinner party with six people and me, plus they're bringing me presents. Who doesn't love presents? I keep worrying about having the food ready on time, the weather, and just stuff.
My mother's birthday is Wednesday, I won't tell you how old she is. I feel I always share my birthday with her. We always go out to eat one night a week, usually where she wants to go. This year, she suggested that, since I obviously can't do it Tues night, but I work late on Wed and Thurs, so those are out as well. I said we always do that, I also feel a little gyped that we never go where I want. So, she suggested, we do one this weekend, and one next weekend. Works for me.

Have a good weekend all.

Pillsbury Doughboys

I walked 9 miles between my 2 days of garage saleing, unfortunately, there wasn't much to find. Friday, the first sale I went to, I found these two Pillsbury Doughboys:

 The one on the left is a cookie jar, the one on the right is a bank. The cookie jar is quite big, so the lady put them both in this box:

 which measures 15" tall and 14" square. So, I spent the majority of four miles walking around carrying this. I went to four others and didn't find anything to buy. My aunt collects Pillsbury Doughboys, though I'm not sure she'll want these. I don't know if she has any cookie jars, but the bank is missing it's "Pillsbury" circle at the top. You can tell it's a doughboy, but it's not all there.
Saturday, I had quite a few on my list, I set out, at the first one I found:

 A blue and silver tablecloth, and some doilies/napkins, glass clock, butterfly. After purchasing my items at this sale, I freaked out and got some more money and then didn't find anything at the next eight sales.

 And then I found this great paper pack, a few cards and a cute shirt. I didn't spend any of the extra money I picked up.
And then I had to go to work for 5 more hours. At the end of the night I was so ready to sit.

I'm joining in Sir Thrift A Lot's linky party today.
Find anything good at sales in your area?

Party Favors and stuff

for my birthday party, but we'll get back to that. A little filling in from the past few weeks.

Remember when I went to the art walk and found nothing to buy? Anyways, one of the stores we went into had this beautiful desk. If I had the money and some place to put it....

 This past weekend I went to one sale and found nothing to buy. Saturday was my first Saturday off in probably a month, I decided to spend the day doing things for me (it didn't work out that way). My plan was to go to our downtown farmer's market, and then to a local flower shop to pick up some flowers, to a local chocolate shop for chocolate, and finally to a bakery for some pastries. That didn't quite work out either. I did go to the farmer's market, but I found pastries to buy there.

 This is a napolean, and it was great. When I was a kid, we went to Washington D.C., to a open air market. My father and I shared a napolean, and while I'm not entirely sure I remember the taste anymore, I'm still looking for it. The one above was really good except for the powdered sugar part. Powdered sugar and I don't get along very well. It was extremely rich, and the pudding was wonderful, though I couldn't get the puff pastry to cut, so I ended up eating every layer separately.

 This is a fruit tart, I had one at a restaurant a few weeks back, this one was really sad.

 A mixed berry pastry, also not so great, way more pastry than fruit.

 These were from a different vendor. It's hard to tell, but the first one is rumchaka, the second is lime coconut and the third Snickers. I wasn't very impressed with these, I loved that the frosting was a cream cheese version, but the cupcakes weren't that good. The Snickers one I gave to a friend, she said it was good.

So, like last year, all I bought at the farmer's market were sweets. I really shouldn't go at all, I thought I'd check it out this year. I don't cook with fresh veggies/fruits, so farmer's markets don't really work for me, I'm more of a boxed meal person. I wasn't extremely impressed with the pastry vendor, she wasn't very open toward me. Part of the small vendor thing I figure is to be open and talkative with someone whether they buy from you or not. There was one vendor that had these beautiful peonies for sale, we have some, so I didn't buy any, but I would definitely buy from her in the future if I needed to. The cupcake lady was nice to, but like I said, I wasn't very impressed with her cupcakes.
I made it to the flower store, but not anywhere else.
I have decided I need to go out to the garage sales even if I don't buy anything. I don't exercise much, and going around to the sales gets me off the couch and walking. Also, I need spoons, I bet I could find those cheap at sales.

And onto the party favors. Like I said before, my birthday is coming up and I'm doing a dinner party with my friends. I decided I needed favors.

 So, everyone's getting a candle, a wooden rose, a pinwheel, a glow bracelet, a bottle of bubbles, hand sanitizer, a squirt animal, and some chocolate. I haven't bought the chocolate yet.

Here's what they look like in the bags. I'm thinking of folding the tops down and threading the rose through some punched holes to close them.

My friends don't read my blog, so I'm not worried about that. Do you think I need something more?

A little help, please

OK, So anyone reading this know anything about the blog layout? I've noticed on this blog at the top on the right column, there's the About me button. And it says my name which you can click on, but the google+ button covers up my name, so you can see it. You can still click on it, but I don't know how to change it so that icon doesn't cover my name. Any suggestions would be great. The buttons are the same as on my other blog, and I can see my name fine. It's a different layout, so that might be the problem.

Help, please

Life

So, it's my birthday in less than a month, 3 weeks from tomorrow actually. I'm planning on having a dinner party with my friends on the corner of our porch

Anyone have any ideas on how I should decorate? I was thinking of using a mix of my teacups for drinks. I think it'd be cool to decorate with my vintage stuff.
I'm turning 30 this year, I'm not sure how I really feel about that. I don't have a salaried/benefitted job. I'm working a little under 30 hours a week right now, and I figured out this morning, I have to keep working that much to stay ahead. According to some law that went into effect this year, hourly workers can't average more than 30 hours a week, or their company has to provide benefits for them, and since that isn't going to happen, I have to stay under 30. I LOVE my job, I really don't want to find a new one, but my health insurance keeps going up every year, and I can barely afford it this year. Plus, if my parents ever move out of the house above, I'll have to find a new place to live and pay rent. I'm working on not spending money on things I don't need, but it's hard.
I wish people would send me cool stuff for my birthday, but I probably won't get much. My mother says she'll resize a ring so I can wear it again. I know I won't get anything really cool. But, if people want to send me something, let me know. I would totally repay you on your birthday.
My ID expires this year, so I have to get a new one, which wouldn't be that bad, but I found they're instituting a new ID that's better for security purposes and in order to get it, you have to provide a goverment certified birth certificate. I only got the hospital one when I was born, so I had to ask for one, that cost a pretty penny.
I have so many worries bouncing around in my head lately, I really want a break from my life. Of course, after that break, I'd just be coming back to all my worries.

I didn't buy anything this weekend. Friday, there was an Art Walk downtown. Basically the stores are open late and they bring in local artists, and you can buy their artwork. I really wanted to buy something, unfortunately, I couldn't find anything I wanted. I really want to invest in more artwork.
There weren't very many garage sales this weekend, so I didn't go to any. Hey, I'm saving money already.

Cupcakes!

...and garage sale finds

Remember, when I took my cake to the edible books festival? Well, it won best use of color and with that I also got a gift certificate for 6 cupcakes at our local cupcake emporium. I picked them up on Friday:

 Don't they look yummy? They are red velvet, strawberry rhubarb crumble, cosmic brownie, Reese's Pieces, white chocolate raspberry, and peanut butter cup. I now have 2 left. The strawberry rhubarb was awesome, it was like I was eating strawberry rhubarb shortcake, I gave the brownie to a friend, the Reese's Pieces was good until I got to this glob of sweet chocolate in the middle I didn't like that, the raspberry was ok. I've had the other two before and know they're good, I'll probably finish them today.
That afternoon, I went to a few garage sales, and of course my pictures are backwards, I really have to pay more attention to how I put these in. Anyways, I set out for 5 sales, not very close to my house. The first was kinda interesting. I didn't find a ton I wanted, I did find a cute Easter table runner and a vintage Mickey Mouse stuffed animal, and some doilies. I'm doing horribly at not buying fabric. Now, that I have one fabric book done, when I look at fabric and doilies and stuff, I think would that look good in a fabric book, if the answer's yes, I buy it. The Easter runner has a cute embroidered bunny plus some cute Easter eggs at the bottom. One of the doilies, which I should have taken a better picture of, has these white stars crocheted together with yellow thread. And vintage Mickey for a quarter.

Easter Egg table runner, vintage Mickey, doilies

The next sale was a bit out, but I passed it because they had a dog running around in their yard. I really don't want to deal with really excited dogs when I'm out, plus it was kinda creepy looking, and no sign to tell you it was a sale.

The next was full of vintage toys and records, they were probably well priced, but I didn't want to pay ten dollars for wooden toys. I did pass up a cute Halloween wall hanging, mostly because I didn't have a place to put it, plus it wasn't quilted. I want quilted items, but I don't want to pay a lot for them, so I've been keeping an eye out at garage sales. I did find a neat spatula that has snowmen and snowflakes in it. After paying for that, I was about to leave and then decided to buy a Iowa State basketball player bobble head for my dad for Father's Day. He's always so hard to shop for.

spatula, bobble head



The last two sales were kinda close together. The first one, the lady gave me the wierdest look when I walked up and she saw my plastic bag of purchases from other sales. Apparently you can't bring your purchases with you, I walk. I didn't buy anything at her sale, mostly because of that look, also because the stuff I was looking at, wasn't priced. I don't like that, I don't want to walk over to the pay table every time I find something I like, their loss.

The last sale was promoted as a bake sale for something. When I got there I was kinda disappointed, I didn't see the cookies until I paid. I did find a cute sundae dish that matches one I already have, and an owl to add to my collection.



cookies, book, sundae dish, owl

 

Saturday, I switched shifts so I could go to a co-worker's sale, though it wasn't as exciting as I hoped, probably because another co-worker beat me there and bought all the cool stuff.

The first sale was promoted as a block in my neighborhood, when I got there, two house had stuff out, the first, there wasn't even anyone around. The second had boxes of stuff and it wasn't priced individually it was $10 for this box, I didn't want a box of stuff, especially when I walk.

My co-worker's sale was pretty interesting, I was hoping for more craft stuff. I did find some. Because I have way too much as it is, I justify buying more as long as it's not full price. That means garage sales, or sales in the store.

 Bag of misc, bag of chipboard, round tins

stingray magnet, card kit, flowers, hankie

This next sale was quite a ways from the other one, I had gone to this house another year and was scared off by the people putting the sale on, they were kinda creepy looking, so I wasn't sure about it this year. By the time I got there, I just figured I could look, because I was already there. Then I got distracted by the stuffed animals, I have way too many already, I'm not supposed to buy any, but I saw the dog, and it went downhill from there. Plus, they were sooo soft. And the lady did give them to me for a pretty good rate, but I really shouldn't have bought the hamster and caterpillar.

 bear, hamster, box

stuffed animals

My garage sale money comes from saving over the winter. Last winter, I decided to only save five dollar bills (I read somewhere it was easier to save those than other bills), but I'd gotten so used to saving one dollar bills from before, I ended saving both. In the future I'll only do the one dollars. I like that method better. The first year I started garage saleing I withdrew money from the bank every week, that was a BAD idea, especially when I went through at the end of the season and saw how much I spent. This way it's like extra money.
Speaking of money, I'm kinda freaking out. I got paid on Friday, it was a small check, and was gone Friday afternoon. I hate bills. And because of some new law, I, as an hourly worker can't work over an average of 30 hours a week or my employer has to give me benefits. And since that's not happening, I can't work more than 30 hours a week. It's not helping that my health insurance goes up every year, and now it's at a point that I can hardly afford it. I'm trying to work about 29 hours a week to get my paychecks, and trying hard not to buy anything I don't need, but it sucks. I'm hoping that when I start at the bookstore in August, that law doesn't apply to temp workers, but I don't know. I wouldn't be as bad off, if I didn't pay so much on my credit card bill, but I always think I have to pay over what I charged that month (which is a good thing, but not when you don't have the money), and I did, and that took most of my paycheck.

I can't wait until this Friday, there's a thing called an art walk downtown. Basically, the businesses host local artists and you buy their work. That money is coming from my saved five's so it won't be coming out of the bank. I know I shouldn't spend any, and I may not, I bought one thing for $2 last year. We'll see.

I'm also trying NOT to drink pop. I hate it. A couple years ago, I quit as a New Year's thing, I went three months without a pop, and then I drank one, bad idea. And then I fluctuated between drinking pop and not. Then awhile ago, I decided I couldn't unless someone bought it for me, that didn't work. Now, I'm trying to quit altogether, problem is, I get sick of water and milk. Anyone got any alternatives for me? I like juice, but I drink it way too fast. I've tried all kinds of the water drinks, some I like, some I don't.

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.

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.

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?

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?