Suicide, The Gold Rush and Jealous Onlookers!

SWEET MARY, MOTHER OF GOD!!!! TODAY WAS GREATEST YARD SALE DAY EVER!!!! Well, maybe not ever but up there in the top 10!!!! And to think I almost didn't go! Last night hubby's work gave him two tickets to the Chamber of Commerce's Annual Oyster Roast downtown. I'm not much of a seafood lover but an open bar with an amazing band overlooking the Cape Fear River was worth the stench of low tide any day of the week! So, as you can imagine Rule #1 had to be broken (especially since it didn't end there but at a local bar 5 houses down from my own!). Jane had mentioned that she MIGHT be joining me but I didn't believe her. When she texted me this morning I thought for sure she was crapping out on me but oh no! The one time I wanted to get some more shut eye, Jane's a player. And I'm freakin' glad she was!!!!!!

Our first stop was at a church. We got there early but they were adamant that the doors opened at 7. So there we were with the usual carnie freaks waiting on line in the dark and in the cold. Luckily I was still half asleep or I would have started a ruckus with a rather large gal who cut in front of us. The way she bolted up the steps we both just assumed that she was a worker. No. Just a trashy junker getting a head start. I did think evil things of her but knew I could take her in a foot race once we got inside so she got her way. Finally, the doors did open and just as I thought, I zigged around the hoodie clad pachyderm with great ease. I got a great rusty old garden orb base that will look great as a candlestick holder, a scrabble game, a much needed basket for my upstairs bathroom, two decorating books and an old 60's knitting basket stocked to the rim with supplies. I know you're probably sick of hearing me talk about how I'm going to learn to knit this winter but now I REALLY have to. I have enough yarn to make everyone I know a lovely new scarf that they will hold on to a while but then sell at their own yard sales. At least I'll have something to keep me warm on my lap in this drafty 100 year old house of mine. I just hope you don't find me hanging from one of them come February. I'm sooooooo not a cold person!

Well, on that happy thought......moving right along, we went to a sale put on by a dance school and I got my wonderful daughter a great pair of boots and 9 funky articles of clothing that she's currently parading in, in and out of this room as I type. I wonder how many more years I have of getting away so cheap? Please tell me it's not months! Maybe I can find a ticket gun at one of these sales and stretch this out a little bit more. Oh yes! That will work superb!

After that, we went to a sale at the American Legion and that was where I scored most of my mother load!! My first purchases were a giant wooden seahorse, a brass compass and a brass anchor. I was so tickled with those that when I saw two AMAZING McCoy vases I got excited but just assumed they were some dealers and they wanted a ton of money for them. Imagine my chagrin when the lady said $2.50! FOR BOTH!!!!! I almost wanted to give her more because I felt terrible but then it passed and I wished her a good day! They are soooooo awesome! Then I got a great lone glass that I'm not sure why I love it but I just do, I got a pink glass water pitcher where the glass sits on the top for beside your bed, I got an awful wooden wishing well that will shabbitze nicely (remember to insert jazz hands!), I also got a super cool cotton Mammy doll (LOVE THESE) and last but not least a pink depression glass bowl! Man, what a stop!!!!!!!!!!! This is the high the 49ers must have felt! Or Yukon Cornelius!!! We struck gold!!!!!!!!

After that my poor Jane had to go home to be a mommy. Luckily my wee ones stayed over their Nana's so I could continue my quest. My first stop was a bust but at number two I got a new Coke cookie jar, Star Wars Bubbles for my son (Christmas is just around the corner!), an old jar with a red lid and my fav of the day......a red metal rack that gets mounted under a cabinet with 16 jars that screw into it who's original purpose was to house and organize nails and screws but I think she will look SPECTACULAR as a spice rack!!!! Everyone who has seen it has gasped with excitement! Oh yes indeed! Envy me! Envy me!!!! It's really THAT cool!!!

Now after that I got two t-shirts for my boy, a dresser I really don't need hovering over me insisting that I paint it any time soon but it was just too cheap that I couldn't resist it. The lady at the sale offered me a munchkin too and how could I walk away after such generosity?

So, at that point, it was getting late and I was about to go home when I remembered an earlier sale where I was looking at old Nancy Drew books (I just love the colors of their jackets!) and when I asked her how much she said, "Oh, whatever you want to give me." Well! Jane and I spent quite a bit of time going through them and when we went to pay she told us $2 EACH!!!! What the hell?! Obviously we dropped them like an early morning calculus class but I just couldn't get them out of my mind. So began the obsession! Sure enough when I got back they were all still there along with a TON of other books and I got her to come down to a little over 43 cents each for all 23 of them! I know I can bunch 4 or 5 of them with some pretty ribbon and sell them for a nice profit! That is if I can part with any of them. It seems those pretty little books can fit anywhere in my decor like they've always needed to be there. I'm so excited! Remember a few weeks ago when I claimed I was going to try to live more minimally? Just kidding. I'm Christine C. and I'm a junker! Always will be!!!!! What can I say, I've got dust in my veins!!!!!