Of Jiffy-Lube and Pink Aluminum

Since starting back to school, I haven't had much time for thrifting or garage sales. It's been mostly go to class, go to work, homework, sleep, rinse, repeat.

But last Thursday, as I was returning from work, I saw a sign from the heavens. Well, ok, it was a sign on the Jiffy-Lube marquee. But seriously, when do you see an estate sale advertised at the Jiffy-Lube? It was meant to be. The sale was to begin Friday morning, early, before my 1st class. A quick call to Mom to mapquest the route and time from the college and I figured I could make it there and back before school.

I didn't find a lot of things, but it was definitely worth the trip. First, there was the red dinette table for $20. When my brother heard about my yellow one, he asked Mom to look for one for him. It's very faded, and the chrome needs a good cleaning, but it's really solid, so I hope he likes it.


Then there are the books for a friend of mine whose family is very involved in Scouting: a 1968 Boy Scout Handbook and a 1948 Lion Cub book, 25c each. They threw in the first aid book for free. The Pyrex butter dish and coffee cup were 85c. And that aqua gadget is a Popeil Chop-O-Matic for 75c.


This pretty peacock couch scarf was free. I really like peacocks and this one's gorgeous. Here's hoping I can get the stain out.

This was the most surprising find: ~23 pair of vintage knitting needles for $8 (35c/pr). It wasn't surprising that I found them; I've seen them before at estate sales. I just had no idea how much they cost new.


You see, I don't knit. Mom doesn't knit. But my sister knits.

Apparently so does Dad. Or at least he learned how. It seems the cool thing for boys to do in 3rd grade in small town North Dakota in 1959 was to use sharpened pencils and cotton string to make an oh-so-hip washcloth. And the boys in my school thought learning to play the recorder was lame. Ha!

Anyway, my sister knits. So when I saw the knitting needles, I called Mom, and she said to buy all they had as she was sure we could find $8 worth in the lot. When my sister came over to have a look at them, she was thrilled. Almost every size... circular ones... double pointed ones... whatever the heck that all means... It turns out it would have cost more than $80 to buy all of them new!

I just liked them because they were pretty pink and blue and gold colored aluminum. And Mom thought they might make nice vegetable markers in the garden. Needless to say, my sister took them all away.

There's one more thing in that first picture that I haven't mentioned. It was in the free pile. And it's my favorite thing. Can you tell what it is?


This is what it looks like on the inside.


It's a West Bend pink aluminum grease can. And it matches my canister set! It really WAS meant to be!

Or it did match when they were all new, before the black coloring flaked off the lids. I intend to clean them up and paint the lids black. It appears someone has already done that to the grease can.


Sorry, blogspot rotated my picture and I'm not savvy enough to fix it.


We first saw these canisters at an estate sale back in August, but they wanted $10 for them and that was double what we wanted to pay.

Then, a few weeks later, they advertised another sale - $5 /box.
So I hurried over, and there they were, waiting for me. I figured anything else I put in my box was free.

Here are some of the "free" things I got. A Polaroid Colorpack II Camera - I've wanted a polaroid camera since I was six years old. This one appears to work, but the film is expensive so I haven't tried it out yet. Joke cocktail napkins, a baby ben clock, some vintage maps for the 1962 world's fair, a number of sewing notions, transfer patterns, etc.

Not shown are vintage linens and aprons, a staple gun, drinking glasses, a pair of military issue 1950s "birth control" (ask Drew Carey) safety glasses, and two dozen assorted melamine dishes that went to the nursery at the church for the kids to play with.


I did keep this divided bowl, creamer, and sugar. I don't think you can tell from the picture, but it's tan with tiny speckles of red.

That melmac was actually put to use by the Associate Pastor's six-year-old daughter. She made this lovely tablescape at which the younger children ate their goldfish crackers.

When I asked her what the blue thing in the center was, she gave me a patronizing look and announced it was the "decoration." Obviously, she has skills I didn't have when I was six.

I'm linking this post to:
Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday
Thrifty Thursdays at Bloggeritaville
Garage Salen Party at DebbieDoos