A Gift For M. E. Monday

It's Mary Engelbreit Monday at Cherry Chick's blog.

As I said in my earlier post today, I haven't done much thrifting lately, but I did receive a thrifted gift last Wednesday. Mom and Dad had to take a day trip out of town, and on the way home they stopped at a Goodwill and found me this:

This cute tin stands not quite 4.5 inches tall, is 3.5 inches in diameter, and was made in 2000. I'm sure they paid less than $1.00 for it. It is very sturdy, and will be quite useful for storage, though I'm not yet sure for what.

I would also like to share some more from

this book.


I'm partial to pictures of redheaded children.

I love the details in this drawing. I love the Scottie dog dress and the little tea set, and the bunnies on the doll quilt. And I particularly like the art deco flower panels, so reminiscent of stained glass.

Click on this link and see what others have posted for ME Monday.

Pink and Yellow (and Green and Blue)

It's Mary Engelbreit Monday at Cherry Chick's blog, so it's time to show you my recent ME finds. I just love the $1.00 ME items at Michaels.

Yellow cherry socks.

Pink flowered socks.

Some for me and some for my niece.

And if $1 isn't thrifty enough, I can use my 40% off one item coupon that comes in my weekly email from Michaels.com.

Speaking of $1,

I found this well-loved blue Pyrex primary 401 bowl at an estate sale. Now I just need the 402 red bowl to complete my set.

I also found this pretty blue divided server,
with a not-quite-matching clear 2 Qt casserole lid for $2.00. I think the pattern is Blue Horizon, but since it didn't have the patterned lid, I'm not sure. The actual color is more of a cadet blue than the blue in the picture.

Some day I hope to have a pink and yellow kitchen of my own, so I am always on the lookout for pink or yellow kitchenware.

14 inch Boonton melamine platter - $1.50.
Isn't that a cool shape?

Pearlized white and yellow Tupperware cold cuts keeper with 2 deviled egg trays inside - $2.25.
I already had one of these, but not in this dreamy color. I can't wait for picnic weather.

And my Mom found these cute little juice glasses for $4.00.

I couldn't get a picture that didn't distort the lines; they really are straight.

This green cake plate was $3.00. It's not vintage, but I really like the color.

These last three are for my mother.

She didn't need any more depression glassware, but she has a soft spot for grill plates, and these were only $5.00 for all three. The pattern is called Florentine No. 2, made by Hazel Atlas between 1932 and 1935.

The weather has been really cold here lately,
so I'd like to leave you with this sentiment.

I'm linking up to the following parties:
Mary Engelbreit Monday
Thrift Share Monday

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Not Without Your Ticket

One of the first things I blogged about finding (and arguably my favorite) was my Remington Quiet-Riter typewriter. I found it at a church rummage sale for $5.00. When I was about four years old my sister had a typewriter. I couldn't tell you what brand it was, but I used it to type up "movie tickets" that I would slip under my mother's and sister's bedroom doors on Saturday mornings, inviting them to watch various Disney movies with me, usually The Little Mermaid. I was a very insistent child and, at least once, refused my sister access to the living room because she had left her "movie ticket" in her bedroom. I also would consistently deny tickets to my brother and father because we were watching The Little Mermaid which was a "lady movie" and, seeing as how they were not ladies, it was not for them to watch. At least once my mother told me that I had to show a "boy movie" so that they could watch too.

Recently, multiple friends of mine have expressed interests in owning typewriters and, me being the thrifter, I offered to find them.

This is an Olivetti-Underwood Studio 44 that I found at the Goodwill bins for my friend, Michael. He is very pleased with it and for a small price he became the proud owner of a mid-60's typing machine.

Not shown in the picture is the very nice vinyl case that came with it.

In news of other things I've found at the Goodwill bins, this lemonade glass was sold by Dollar Tree stores everywhere (except of course where I live).
I saw a picture of them on someone's blog a while ago and have been wanting some to go with my Pyrex lemonade carafes. Now I own two. If I'd been able to find them at our local Dollar Tree they would have cost me $1.00 each. At the bins they cost a mere $0.25 each.

This Mary Engelbreit tin is the first M.E. item I've found at the bins so far. It's slightly dented up, and had an original Goodwill sticker price of $0.99 on it. We got it for $0.76. A pretty good price if I do say so myself.


And because it's Mary Engelbreit Monday and still February, here are some fun love-themed prints from the little book I showed last Monday.

I'm linking up to these parties:

Mary Engelbreit Monday
Thrift Share Monday

Click on the links and join the fun.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is Mary Engelbreit Monday at Cherry Chick's blog and I thought I'd show you a couple of Valentine's themed Mary Engelbreit pictures

from this little book of quotes and themed prints.
I found it at an estate sale on half price day for $1.50.

About half the pages are like the one above with full prints, all of them with quotes included, and half of the pages are full of quotes and small illustrations like the one below.

See the girl with the heart?

She's from this Mary Engelbreit print. I have it on a square tin that my mother gave me a few years ago for Valentine's day. She had bought it with my birthday in mind but decided to use it early. It's one of my favorites.

Here are some of the gifts I gave for Valentine's Day this year.

For my boyfriend, I thrifted an apothecary jar ($1) like the one pictured, decorated it all over with glitter and pink and girly things (how do you even make Valentines look masculine?) and filled it with candy-conversation hearts, pink and red m&m's, lollipops, pocky, and even some chocolate covered strawberries that I made. I forgot to get a picture of it before I gave it to him but he loved it.


Some of the strawberries made their way into a thrifted red and white tin and into my mother's hands.

The little jars of what looks like pink goo are full of homemade sugar scrub for my female friends who will make good use of it.

And look who wanted in on the picture! It's Bernice the Dragon. She was a Hallmark plush for Valentine's Day, 2008. I found her at Goodwill for $0.99 and couldn't resist bringing her home. When you press her foot she flaps her wings and sings in a bubbly little voice: "La La La La La, Hug Hug, Kiss Kiss!" to the tune of the Blue Danube Waltz.

I gave my boyfriend his present yesterday and today I got mine from him. Or as he says "It's only the beginning"... oh goodness. Anyway, he got me a tea rose plant and this Snoopy cup that...

lights up!

I hope your Valentine's Day was lovely!

I'm linking up to Mary Engelbreit Monday at Cherry Chick's blog.

Click on the link to see more Mary Engelbreit inspired posts.

The Princess of Quite-A-Lot

Today is Mary Engelbreit Monday at Cherry Chick's blog.

My first recollection of Mary Engelbreit was the 1997 "My Checkered Past" calendar. My mother had it hanging in the kitchen, and I would look at it every day as I ate my breakfast. If any of you have ever seen that calendar, you know it has some beautiful illustrations, most of which are considered 'classic' Mary.

At the age of six, I was sure that I was a Princess. When I asked my mother what my royal title was, she told me I could be "The Princess of Quite-A-Lot."

"The Princess of Quite-A-Lot" was the calendar illustration for the month of April (my birth month) . So I promptly asked Mom for my helper monkey. 'Cause what little girl doesn't want a helper monkey to bring her a milkshake, burger, and fries?!

I think that may have been why I was so taken by Dora the Explorer
when she came along a few years later.

She has a best friend who is a monkey.
She also gets to go on adventures and talk to anthropomorphic gates and boats, etc. She speaks Spanish, and her map and her backpack sing to her. What's not to like?

So I was very happy to find a Princess of Quite-A-Lot plaque hiding out in the wood aisle at the Goodwill on Thursday.
I loved the "The Princess of Quite-A-Lot" when I was little. Besides having an awesome fez-wearing helper monkey, she had red hair like my Mom, she sat on a comfy throne all day, eating ice cream and reading books, and she had the cutest kittens ever.

Follow this link to see more ME inspired posts at Mary Engelbreit Monday.

I Hope You're Not Too Tired of Christmas

The day after Christmas used to be a big shopping day for my family. We would head to the Mall to take advantage of the deep discounts on clothing, gift wrap and Christmas decorations. My parents used to give me cash for Christmas instead of buying clothing at pre-sale prices. But this year was different. Because of the economy, retailers started discounting things early. There was no need to wait for sales. And because of all the thrifting I've been doing, I didn't really need any clothes. The only place I needed to go to was Wal-Mart for a year's supply of scotch tape at 3 rolls/$1.

So Mom and I decided to check out the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores for 50% off Christmas items. Here's what we found:

Okay, so Pyrex isn't a Christmas item, and the big ornaments were found a while ago, but I needed another color to break up all the red, and besides, everything goes better with Pyrex, doesn't it?

I was hoping to find Mary Engelbreit Christmas items in particular and I wasn't disappointed.

A cheerful mug and a small tin pail were 50c each.

Here's a close-up of the pail lid. Aren't those expressions wonderful?


And this little elf was $1. His "hair" is a piece of rabbit fur.



Mom found a large poinsettia tablecloth for $3.50. It looks like it's hardly been used.

And this happy spaghetti Santa was $1.50. He's a bank. We had never seen a Santa like this, so we checked our favorite online source for all things vintage - ebay. We found several similar Santas, some banks, some not. Apparently this design was very popular. According to one seller, this particular Santa is a "Santa Saver" made in 1960 by Napco, intended to be sold as a souvenir at the Santa Claus Museum or one of the other attractions in Santa Claus, Indiana.

I love his fat little mustache and his spaghetti trim. The green paint on the holly leaf has flaked off some, but I kind of like him that way, as if he's been well-loved for 50 years.


I'm thrilled to finally find a glass tree topper. Original store price - $12.95.
Salvation Army price - $1.

But the best bargains were found a week later at the Goodwill Outlet. Glass items are sold for 39c/lb, so I got 4 dozen small red glass ball ornaments for 36c.

And the 7 tiny glittery pastel ornaments were...



wait for it...



one penny!

There was also a lot of tinsel and garland and many boxes of brand new glass ball ornaments I left behind. If I were a crafty person, and wanted to make ornament wreaths

like this one by Laurie from Magpie Ethel, or

this one from Sonya at Dime Store Thrift,

I would be checking the Goodwill Outlet regularly from Dec 15th - Jan 15th. I could probably find enough supplies for several wreaths for only a few dollars.

Also found at the Outlet that same day was the yellow Pyrex mixing bowl. Mom saw it from across the room, and time seemed to stop for a moment. She couldn't believe it was there, or that one of the dozens of bears people tearing through the bins hadn't grabbed it.

As you can see, it's VERY scratched up. It's also one of the older, thicker bowls, probably close to 60 years old, and still fully functional. Everyone should have a big yellow Pyrex mixing bowl. Outlet price - $1.35.

I'm linking up to the following parties:

Mary Engelbreit Monday
Thrift Share Monday