Fun Finds

This picture belongs at the end, so imagine it's there. These are the last books I bought at the library book sale. Again, a couple math books, a Cricket magazine (love these), a word search book, and a Look for Laura book.

OK, so they're a little late. I apologize. I've been pushing 30 hours at my job for the past 3 weeks or so, so I'm just so tired everyday. I know I shouldn't complain because there's people out there working so many more hours than me, but I'm not used to so many hours (it's a part-time job, and I'm technically not supposed to have more than 20 hours a week), and I'm not complaining about the hours (especially when I get that paycheck), but my feet aren't that happy.

Anyways, here are my cool finds from yesterday:

I love this artist, Lisa Victoria, I bought some of her stuff last year, and decided I was buying more this year. I also learned that she had her artwork at a local cafe, and had a poster up at the library, I saved the poster because it was so cute. The print at the top is what was on the poster, I was telling her the story, so she gave me a free print of it. I'm sending the grouchy looking fairy to a friend. She had the Fairy Monster in a frame and it was $40, I really wanted a magnet of it, but I'll settle for the card, she said she may make him into a magnet in the future. And I just love the multi-colored angel magnet.

This was such a cute elephant container that I couldn't pass it up

The booth I bought these at had handmade books, and then these collage packs, I think they are just her leftovers from the books.

After getting home last night (and it was over), I wished I had bought a pink plastic fish, but oh well, maybe next year.

I also stopped at the library book sale, Sunday is half price day, I always try to go on Sunday.

The Law and Order book has pictures of their crime scenes and explains what they did to create them. The Iowa book has such great pictures of Iowa. I just found You won't believe your eyes interesting. I have been reading in random places about how cool the Rachel Ashwell book was.

I once again couldn't resist the holiday activity books, and the postcard books I figured I could use the images in art.

I didn't realize that said Mensa IQ, but I thought it would be a fun book to look at. I love the weather magazine, and the two books on the bottom looked cute too.

Because I suck at math, I've been trying to buy cheap math workbooks, so I grabbed those two up, the Women book looked fun to read (I took a couple women's studies classes in college), and the Christmas book just looked interesting. It actually does have some pretty cool things in it and I think I will try some of the recipes.

This book, I saw laying on a table and didn't know what it was, so I opened it up and saw this:

It's got a lot of great pictures in it, I thought they'd be great backgrounds for my art work.

So, that's 22 books for about $12, pretty good deal, I think. Of course I had to carry them all home, I never think about that when I'm loading them up.

Now, I totally don't want to spend money for awhile, though I bet that won't last long. I do have to find a birthday present for my brother for this week.

I totally just failed on that, I went to Lisa's site and bought more stuff. Someday, my fridge is gonna be covered in her magnets.

Any good finds for you all out there?

Garage Sales

I went to an estate sale today, that was mostly fabric. In the picture below you can see tables filled with boxes of quilting magazines and books. There's also two rows of tables covered in fabric.
And behind those, a row of tables next to the house covered in sewing notions, bits of lace and quilts

This was a table full of glassware and religious items

The table in the front of the picture was covered in yarns, afghans, and sewing notions. The table behind it was mostly kids stuff, and the table behind that was a TV and some movies

These were the cutting tables they had set up, just like a fabric store

And here's what I bought from my sales:

This first picture is from the estate sale, the big piece in the background, my mother hinted at it being a great present, the pink piece and butterfly were already pieced together waiting for something. At the bottom is the pile of lace and trims I bought along with a doily and a cute red cow. You can't see the afghan I purchased, it's being washed.

These were from another house sale. The couple had already moved out and the house was filled with everything they didn't want to take with them. There's a cute angel for my mother, two vases, some Christmas ornaments and a couple bunny rabbits.

Here is a mug, a vintage fork, a cute glass whale, and a container of fabric leaves

I spent just over $20 at the 3 sales I went to this weekend, I think I got a good haul from them.

What did you all find?

Also tune in tomorrow for my finds at a local art festival and half price day at the library book sale.

Would You Buy It Wednesday

I saw this old typewriter at a sale today.
Would you buy it? I always see all this cool stuff made out of typewriter keys, and would love to have one, but the price was a bit high for me.

Linking to Would You Buy It Wednesday, here. Go see what others may or may not have bought.

Something new and exciting

This is all Carrie's fault. I updated my OKCupid profile a few months or so ago, with no intention of becoming interested in anyone. I originally put this picture, and didn't get anyone interested in me.
So, I changed my profile picture to this one:

And now I've got more people interested in me. I've been chatting in Yahoo messenger last week with one of them, who just sent me a message yesterday that I should text him, I'm not completely sure I'm up to that point of him knowing my phone number yet, but I'm giddy about it. I got another message from a guy yesterday interested in chatting with me. And I messaged two guys today. I get sent 'matches' every day by a program on this site, and I decided to look at them today (I generally delete them), and messaged two of the guys. I'm giddy about that too. I'm really excited that guys are interested in me (even if it's just through a website), because I've never gotten much interest from guys before. And everything in my profile is all me, I didn't type anything in because I thought it might interest a guy. I've said how I love action/violent movies, that I read true crime books, that I love muscle cars and shooting.

Thanks a lot Carrie.

I'm also massively nervous about posting this, I don't know why.

More Stuff

I spent less than $25 this weekend. I started late Friday afternoon this time, there were 2 sales that didn't start until 4, and I wanted to get to those as well as a couple that ended at 5 and 6.
My first stop I picked up a bunch of stuffed animals and some grab bags of stuff. Both of the cats, I had versions of when I was growing up in the 80s, this sale had a ton of stuffed animals from the 80s, she even had a set of the Berenstein Bears with all but Sister bear.
The book is called "What Puppies Do", I couldn't pass up the title. It's a bunch of cute puppy pictures. The beads and bunny were in one of the grab bags from the first sale I went to. The snail stick pin was at a sale at a house I had visited earlier in the summer.

These are all from one of those grab bags at the first sale, I love the stone items.

I thought I had the exact green cup in another color, but when I got home, I realized, they're a little different. The 12 ball I found in the grass as I was going to a sale. I decided today that I didn't need anymore books, and then I bought the dictionary on my way home. I have a tendency to pick up dictionaries if they are under $1 (I use them in my artwork), I have eight dictionaries from the 1950's or earlier.

I loved the turtle/frog figurine, the yellow and white crocheted thing is to cover a round table I have (I never measured it, but this one was finally the perfect size), the cup is part of a Christmas present I'm putting together, I gave the butterfly piece to my mother, and I couldn't pass up the embroidered lady.

I picked up some yarn for a friend, and this cute little frog can come out of his snowsuit and has a cute pair of striped underwear underneath.

And, my personal favorite, jewelry, I can never pass this stuff up. I believe I spent $8 on the jewelry, my grand highest for a sale this weekend. I swear I'm like a magpie, I can't resist the old sparkly ones.

What exciting things did you all find?

New Things

Wow! It's been awhile since I posted. I guess life's just been busy. Let's see, the week of August 22nd, I was working at the bookstore again for 3 days. I ended up with 2 eleven hour days between my two jobs, that wasn't fun. On the 25th, I got to play with my friend's puppies, that was a great deal of fun. On August 27th, I had a booth at the Lincoln Highway Days flea market. I didn't sell much, I think I made about $20, and that was all on jewelry or buttons. I had a whole bunch of jewelry and glassware and vintage handkerchiefs from my garage sale finds, but it seemed people didn't really want to buy much. I even walked around and all I bought was food and a couple of tries with a game.
It was a fun experience, and I'd do it again, just not too soon. Course now I don't know what to do with my things I was ready to part with. Maybe I'll list some of the buttons and jewelry on Etsy.
August 28th, I had a city picnic to go to, and then it's this past week, which was just work. I caught some kind of flu/cold this week and for the past few days I have been feeling pretty crappy. Then on Friday, I worked until about 3, so I didn't have a lot of time to hit sales before they closed for the day. I did get to one.
Yesterday, I decided to brave the weather and head out to some more. That was a bad idea, when I left it was sprinkling kinda hard, after getting to 2 sales it started pouring, and I got drenched. I got halfway to the third sale and decided to look at the time, and I found my phone in a puddle in my bag. I decided to go buy some rice and go home. Next time, I will head to the sale I want to go to first and then to the others.
Here's what I got this weekend:
This is the third one of these sugar bowls I have, I love the heavy glass look. The first one I bought has an etching in the front. But, I love these.

This bunch of jewelry I picked up on Friday, my favorite is the lion 'door knocker' earring. I plan to do something with it in my art.

I also picked up 3 movies: Desperado, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Fight Club.

The weather has finally cooled off a little, it's only 59 right now. I told my mother I would mow the lawn today, but I really don't want to. My nose is still plugged up from this cold thing. My phone is still taking a rice nap, I couldn't remember if it was 12 or 24 hours I was supposed to leave it in. I love the quietness here. I did tell my parents it was out of order, but I don't think I hear the buzz when it rings, and I don't check it all the time, I think I'm a little more mellow without it. I am a little worried though, when I checked it yesterday (after picking it out of the puddle), the front screen was not working, and some of the buttons weren't working. Course, we're out of our plan, and my dad keeps saying he's gonna sign a new plan, maybe this will get them going.

What's been going on in your lives?

This weekend's finds

I was not very interested in garage saleing this weekend, but a friend talked me into one sale, and I decided since a few more were close, I'd check them out. And then I went to our farmer's market.
At the farmer's market I bought 3 cake pops (one strawberry, once carrot cake, and one funfetti). I love cake pops, I only wish people would put less of the candy coating on the outside. I also bought a bag of snickerdoodles.
These are all from the sale, my friend talked me into, I actually walked right by it and had to go back. I'm keeping a few of these pins and selling the rest next weekend.

This bunch of stuff was in a bag, that I only wanted for the button collection at the top. There's doilies, fabric roses and some hearts

I think this cute pig was my find for the weekend, he's just so cute. Speaking of pigs I've started a collection, I have 3, there may be more coming.

I also bought some greeting cards, a bag of beads and a couple more pins

What did you guys find this weekend?

My purchases.

I didn't plan to spend so much money, but since I hadn't gotten the job/promotion I applied for at the library, I did decide I was spending money on myself and I wasn't going to worry about it.
Here are the two notecards I bought at the art gallery, the bag of button , for a closer look at them, check out my art blog, the egg fabric
Here are the two linen pieces I found and the flower frog

Here's the two shirts I got at the consignment store. I had found quite a few cute shirts, but these two fit the best

And two Okoboji shirts, because you have to buy some of those while you're there

Now, you can't see the bag of candy I bought at the sugar shack, because that's gone.

I think I bought some great things, I just wish the weekend lasted longer, or that I got to have more time up there. I felt like we pushed a lot into the weekend and it would have been nice to spread it out and relax more. But, that seems to be the norm when I go up there lately. When I went with my ex three or four years ago, we had to be back by Tuesday afternoon, last year I had to be back by Monday afternoon and this year by Tuesday night.

Day three

All the pictures in this post are of chalk drawings from a contest in Spirit Lake, it had actually happened during the weekend, and we got to see these beautiful drawings when we were there on Monday.
It was a very relaxing morning on Monday, we all got up when we felt like it and just lounged around the condo.

At about 10AM we went mini golfing at Treasure Village, my mother felt sorry that my brother wasn't up there yet, so she decided to play a round with me (she never does that). We decided not to keep score and it was pretty fun. By the time we finished it was lunch time.

We went to a close town, Spirit Lake, and drove through looking for a place to eat. We decided to got to a little bistro called Rebab's. It was pretty good, I tried a pesto chicken sandwich, and it was great.

After lunch we went to another art gallery and were blown away by the gorgeous photographs. Mom and I loved them so much we bought some notecards.

We then went to a quilting shop, where my mom had tons of fun. I found a cute egg fabric to go with some bird images I had at home.

We then went to a consignment store where mom and I found a couple pieces of clothing. I also found a few linen pieces that I couldn't pass up.

After that, we went back to the condo and proceeded to pack up for the next day.

And that is the end of our short exciting weekend. Tuesday, we got up, packed the rest of our items and left.

I had taken over $100 with me and spent about $80. Between the sugar shack, the flea market, a t-shirt store, the art gallery, the quilting store, and the consignment shop, I spent that much money. You will get to see my purchases in the next post.

I was kinda disappointed that my brother couldn't make it up to spend some time with us, but we all know how work goes. He is up there now, and will be there til the end of the week.

My trip, Day one and two

I went on vacation this past weekend. My parents and I went up to Lake Okoboji, in Iowa. We have a timeshare there, and we decided we could take a long weekend. We left shortly before noon on Saturday and arrived there shortly after 3:30PM.
Our first stop was to go to a consignment store we'd been going to for 27 years, only to find out it had closed. Next we went to the mall that's right next door to our condo (we had time to kill as we couldn't check in until after 4PM), and had to stop at the Sugar Shack. It's a store that's all candy. I only bought somewhat healthy things this year (chocolate covered nuts are healthy, right?). We traveled down to the amusement park and past some cool cars. By the time we got back it was time to check in. Here's part of the view from our deck:
We decided to go to a local ribs joint across the street for supper. My mother was not impressed with it. When we got there, there were only 3 seats at the bar and it was sit yourself place. So, we're all crammed into the bar, with a big gap between the bar and us, it was a perfect setup to spill all over yourself.
I'm trying to be more healthy lately and drink only water, milk and the occasional adult beverage, but I almost stopped that night. A root beer float just sounded so great, fortunately for me, they were out of root beer. After supper we traveled back to the condo and relaxed for the night. It was pretty hard for me to sleep. I was in the smaller room with 2 single beds, I hadn't been in that room since I was there with my ex.

The next day, we got up early and went to our favorite place for breakfast, The Koffee Kup. Then we decided to walk off the calories we'd eaten (I don't think we even got close). The original plan was that my brother would be coming up on Sunday and we'd have a few days with him and his girlfriend, but work got in the way, and he wouldn't be arriving until Tuesday, the day we were leaving.

We weren't really sure what would be open on a Sunday, but we had seen an ad for a flea market on Tv on Sat night, so we went out to that. There was a lady selling buttons, both mom and I had a blast picking throught them. I also bought a flower frog, I've been wanting one of those for awhile. You'll see all my purchases in a later post.
This is a weird backpack I found in one of the stores. It wasn't much more bigger than a basketball, but cost over $30.


By the time we were done with the flea market, it was lunchtime, so we went to a local park and had a picnic. Afterward we went to an art gallery and then to the Barn Swallow for shopping.

After shopping, we decided to take an evening cruise on the Queen II, we got there a little early, so had to get some ice cream to pass the time. After the cruise we were all tired and went to bed.