The Week in Thrifting: Feb 22-28

 Last week I did a small amount of thrifting and spent very little but was very happy to find some things I had been specifically looking for.

I have a friend from church with two lovely little boys and my boyfriend and I had wanted to thank the family for help with something recently so we've been on the lookout for a toy and a book for their 2 year old that the infant can enjoy when he is the right age.

There is a small independent thrift store in town that I hadn't been to in about a year so we stopped in last week and discovered that two days a week everything is 60% off and we were there on the exact right day!

 

 

 Everything in this picture was $0.98!  The Brown Bear book and the Fisher Price Corn Popper were bought for our friend's son and he loves his "pop pop" toy. They cost a total of $0.25 because you get a free toy with each purchase.  We will definitely be going to this thrift store more often.

 

This Bear Scouts book was only $0.25 and begs to become a spiral notebook.  There are some really great illustrations inside including Father running from alligators.  (I love alligators).

This little made in Japan Christmas Pixie had a friend who was broken beyond repair, which was disappointing, but this one was only $0.40 and I brought him home for Mom. 

 Later in the week my mother spotted a Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox in the photos of an estate sale and called my boyfriend to see if he would want to go look for it as a surprise for me.  (You can read about my Strawberry Shortcake Dollhouse here)  He blew the surprise with good intentions and we went together to find it.  The lunchbox was gone but I did get some treasures. 

 

Each item in this photo was only $0.50 totalling a big $2.50.

The pastry blender and cupcake papers are just because they're useful while the measuring spoons and strange brown and orange thing are for a swap I'm involved in on Ravelry.

 

These little beauties are wine charms that will eventually become stitch markers or adorn a charm bracelet, whichever I need wine-themed charms for first.

This "strange orange and brown thing" is a handle-less Terra Pyrex mug.  Terra is an uncommon pattern of Pyrex, produced in a matte finish.  It is a chocolate brown with concentric circles of burnt orange throughout.  These handle-less mugs are 13 oz and Terra is the only pattern they were produced in.  Several years ago I found one of these at a Goodwill in the next city over.   I was overjoyed to find it at this sale as my swap partner's favorite color is orange!  The large size makes for a great pen holder if she doesn't want to use it as a mug.

The next sale was a blessing to find!  My mother found an estate sale listed online with photos of HORIZON BLUE PYREX BOWLS.  I have been looking for Horizon Blue Pyrex for several months as a wedding present for a friend.  The shade of blue it comes in is very close to her wedding colors and she only learned this year that Pyrex ever came in colors!  

The last time I found Horizon Blue in the wilds was November 2011 and I passed up a small casserole thinking I would easily find one at a lower price.  Boy was I wrong!

My church has an annual regional convention (4 churches in the area meet at my church for sermons and to discuss upcoming camps and other events in the greater church organization) and this year's convention fell on Saturday.   I went an hour ahead of the sale and was the first person in line.  I was late to church by about 20 minutes but it was worth it since I only missed the greetings!

 My usual price for a 4 bowl set is $20 so when I found only the two smallest bowls for $10 I grabbed them.  Even without the larger bowls I think they make a lovely gift.  The heart shaped jello molds came along for the ride at $2.00 for 8 of them.

Isn't Horizon Blue just such a lovely pattern?  It's a shame that Horizon Blue and it's sister pattern Friendship are so hard to find.

Here's a picture of a set of Friendship cinderella bowls courtesy of the internet.  If I could find it more easily and inexpensively I think Friendship would be MY pattern. 

My father came to the same sale, was in line a few people behind me, and went home with a few small things, all for $2.00.  The two paper fans are from Taiwan.  I lost the cord to Mom's 70's slow cooker a couple of weeks ago, so Dad found a replacement.  (Ssshh... don't tell him I found the cord a few days ago.  He's a hero.)  Not pictured is a large vintage Farberware skillet for my mother.  She is so tired of teflon!

The week was very productive with a grand total spent of $17.48 and having found a few things I've been on the look out for.  What have you been looking for lately?  Perhaps you will find it at the next sale.

I'm linking up with these parties:

Show and Share
Thrifter Share
Vintage Bliss Tuesdays
Roses of Inspiration

An Estate Sale Adventure and The Naked Boob Hour

Mom and I went to our first estate sale of the year a few weeks ago.  We are fortunate to have a very cool local website where we can see what estate sales are coming up and what things will be for sale.  They usually have lots of pictures.  Even if the sale is too far away or we're too busy to go, it's fun to look through the pictures. I guess it's like thrifter p*rn.

We hadn't been to a sale since summer and we could tell from the pictures this was a great one. Going through the pictures is sort of like our version of playing I Spy.

  

I spy something Pyrex! Ooh... three partial sets of mixing bowls.  Maybe they will have the elusive red bowl.

I spy rooms and rooms of craft supplies... yarn... crochet thread... ribbon... I bet there are zippers,,,

And look,  that sign says everything is 25c!

Yarn...

 More craft supplies...

I spy toys and board games... I wonder what's in that box for $10...

 I spy enamelware in the basement... Ok, you find the craft room, I'll take the basement.

I spy... what the heck IS that cherub feather thing?  A lamp?

 We also spied shiny brites and a Disney Snow White toy ironing board, and horrendously loud 70's clothing, and so much more.  We weren't planning on buying everything, but hoped to see lots of it before everybody else bought it.   We figured this would be a popular sale, so we'd have to get there early.  We might even have a sighting of the elusive Magpie Ethel.  This was just her kind of sale.

 Early Saturday morning  we gathered our coats and umbrellas and set off across the river.  We arrived more than an hour ahead of time, but there were already dozens of people in line and they kept coming.

And you can see from the picture that this was an old house; the kind with narrow hallways and steep stairs leading to tiny rooms, so they couldn't let everybody in at once. 

The first customer was in and out before we even got in the door.  As he came out all of us waiting were anxious to know what he had bought.  He stated proudly that he had gotten the aluminum Christmas tree for $100.  Wait... what? There was an aluminum Christmas tree?!  That wasn't in the pictures. And I didn't even get to see it.  Drat!  But I did see that he was carrying the cherub feather lamp thingy.  What the heck?  I figured he was a dealer, so did that mean that weird thing was valuable?? 

After we got in, I headed for the basement, but the enamelware was all snatched up already and there was no toy ironing board in sight.  Then I went to the dining room to see about the Pyrex and there was a crazy lady sitting on the floor surrounded by mixing bowls growling nastily at anyone who came near and mumbling something about "My Precious."  Ok, not really, but almost.  She was actually on the floor, totally blocking traffic and trying to lay claim to everything Pyrex within her sight.  I dared to pick up a bowl that was out of her reach and she yelled at me that it was hers until she said otherwise.  One of the red mixing bowls was actually sort of an orange color so she held it out to me and said, "Here, this is good enough for you."  I thought to myself, "They're ALL good enough for me," but didn't really want to fight a crazy woman, so I just said, "No thank you," and went in search of the craft room.  

When I got to the craft room, there was only one other person in there: Magpie Ethel.  You can read her post about the sale here.  All was quiet as we each shopped.  I got some beads and a large knitting needle and a Tunisian crochet hook.  Everything really was 25c :)  

Then I moved into the corner where the piles of yarn were.  I didn't want to block traffic, so I set my large bag down a few feet away.  I grabbed a few skeins of yarn and turned to put them in my bag, when two women with toddlers in tow barged into the room and pushed past me.  They proceeded to pull out large garbage bags and loudly announce how wonderful it was that they were going to get ALL this yarn.  A few other women had come into the room at the same time and tried to get to the boxes of yarn , but they were not about to share.  I moved on to the crochet thread, but couldn't help hearing them yelling at their poor kids not to touch anything and crowing about how much yarn they were getting as they scooped it all up.  "I can't believe I got 95 skeins of yarn."  "Well, I got over 100." They were so obnoxiously greedy that I wanted to grab one of their bags and hit them with it, then give them a piece of my mind, but I didn't want their children to have to witness that.  They looked miserable enough as it was.

Meanwhile, Mom was looking through books and games and other craft stuff.  There were a lot of craft supplies all over the house.

Here's some of what we got - pinking shears, vintage hair shears, craft punches, a 1930 edition of Nancy Drew (these were my favorite books growing up and I'm quite pleased to have found a clothbound edition), a nice vintage ledger, some cowboys and army men...

 

bags of beads and a couple of cute jars with plaid lids...

 

 crochet thread, yarn, the needle and crochet hook...

 

 a spaghetti kitty and a little dog...

  

 a colorful 70's domino set...

 

and a 1966 version of Milton Bradley's memory card matching game.  

Mom liked the graphics on these two games, but was surprised to find that the Memory game is quite popular on ebay, selling recently for $35, even with some of the cards missing (we're missing a card, too)

We had a good time going through the house in spite of the behavior of some people.  Most people were very patient and polite.   We also found some recipe pamphlets and books. 

By far, our favorite book is this one, because there is a family story to go along with it.  

About twenty years ago, we lived in an apartment.  Free cable was provided to all the tenants, but it was only 13 channels.  During Christmas vacation, they gave us free premium channels to try to entice us to sign up for the pay service.  So one evening, after the eleven o'clock news, Mom and my then teenaged sister decided to see if they could find anything good on HBO, Cinemax, etc.  Hoping for a movie, they tried HBO... half-naked people making out... Cinemax... more half-naked people making out... Showtime... even more half-naked people.  And by half-naked, I mean mostly naked boobs.  "This is ridiculous," said Mom.  "Apparently, eleven o'clock is the beginning of The Naked Boob Hour.  I give up.  We'll go to Disney Channel.  At least they won't have naked boobs."  So she turned it to the Disney Channel, and there was baby Perri, the squirrel, being nursed by her mother.  Even on the Disney Channel, there were naked boobs!  Granted, they were squirrel boobs, and you couldn't really see much, but come on!  Needless to say, we did not get premium channels that year.

We did not buy this pink poodle with real bright pink rabbit fur, but she was awfully cute.
I'm not sure where bright pink rabbits can be found.  Maybe the same place that pink and blue poodles can?

We spent almost two hours going through the house, and just as we were leaving I remembered that I wanted to take a picture of something else we didn't buy...

this hilarious robe made out of bath towels.  Apparently such robes were a fashion statement in the '70s.  I believe the exact statement was, "What the frickety-frack?"

You can tell this one was extra special because they used fringe on the collar and sleeves.  I'm really glad I went back because that was when I saw the chenille bedspread.

I love chenille and have always wanted to find a bedspread.  This one is peach in color and is worn in places, but I plan to cut it and make pillows or something.

We stopped at one other estate sale, but only bought a sweater and some boxes of Little Debbie brownies.

 We did, however, see this terrifying ashtray...

and this adorable felt on cork giraffe.  

Mom remembers assembling several of these art kits back in 1968. 

On our way back home we stopped at Wendy's for chicken sandwiches and discovered a very nice deal.  This year Wendy's is selling plastic key tags for $1 ($0.90 of which goes directly to the Dave Thomas Foundation) that entitle the cardholder to a free junior frosty with every purchase for the duration of the 2015 calendar year.  We each bought one and I'm very satisfied with the deal and highly recommend it to anyone who likes frosties.

Our first estate sale of the season was a success. How has your thrifting been lately?

I'm linking to the following parties:

Show and Share at Coastal Charm
Vintage Bliss Tuesdays
Thrifter Share
Tweak It Tuesday
Roses of Inspiration

I'm Back.

I haven't been able to post on here in a while or even go to estate sales or thrift often since I started my job in March. I work Fri-Sun from 6AM until 6PM so it makes estate sales pretty much impossible.

Just before I stopped posting, I showed you this:

Turquoise Snowflake Space Saver Casserole!


But since then, Mom found this at a thrift shop in another town. It was hiding on the bottom shelf behind a bunch of junk - $0.89.

A space saver lid!
It's got lots of chips that need to be smoothed out , but she was delighted to find it.

Then I found this matching 943 1.5 quart oval casserole at Goodwill - $3.00.

And Mom had this cradle for the 943, found in the same out of town thrift store - $0.89.

See how cute that looks?

So, even though there hasn't been much thrifting, there has been Pyrex. Even these Town and Country fridgies that I can't stand. Mom found them at an estate sale and wanted them because they're a full set; I'm trying to convince her to trade them away, but so far, no such luck.

I've finally gotten a hold on my schedule enough to hopefully post at least once a week from now on and maybe get an Etsy shop running. Thank you for reading and sorry it's been such a long time.

-Betty


I'm joining Leigh for Thrifty Thursday,



and Diane for Thrifty Things Friday.




Click the links and join the fun.

Maps and Such

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post much but I started a new job last week and I haven't been out thrifting very much so there hasn't been much to blog about.

For as long as I can recall, I've loved maps - maps of anything. And even more than maps, I love globes. I especially love raised relief globes, the kind you can run your fingers over and feel the mountain ranges on. Double axis globes are even better because you can flip them upside down and sideways and get a closer look at the countries.

Every time I go to Goodwill, I lust after globes. Sadly, most of them are either not quite right or too expensive. Often, they are broken AND expensive. Finally, after months of wanting and hoping, I found one that was not broken, AND half price ($3.78). It got to come home with me and sit on the "buffet" (translation: dresser) in our living room until we can find it a permanent home.


It's a beautiful raised relief globe with a double axis, exactly what I wanted! The globe does have one condition issue, but it's a small one. The equator tape is missing. But I've always been bothered by the tape covering up names and places, so I'm not sure I would replace it if I could.

Here's a bit of the South Pacific. You can see from the glue residue that quite a few islands are hidden by the tape, including, ironically, Howland, the island Amelia Earhart never found.

Did you know that unlike maps, globes don't usually have a date on them? You have to examine the globe and look for name changes or border shifts, and things like that. For example, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, a lot of new countries were formed.

As you can see, my globe has the U.S.S.R, so it was made earlier than 1992.

A close look at Western Africa shows the countries of The Ivory Coast and Burkina (Faso). The Ivory Coast became Côte d'Ivoire in 1986, and Burkina Faso was known as Upper Volta until late 1984, so I would date this globe to 1985.

If you have a globe you'd like to date, HERE'S a webpage with a list of things to look for.

Did you also know that the airplane was invented long before the Wright brothers were born? I know, because my 4 year old self told me so. She knew that there had to be airplanes so that cartographers (she loves big words) could see what the coastlines looked like. She also told me that France is supposed to be pink in every atlas, but some people do it wrong. Nice to know.
But I digress...

Not too long after I found the globe, my mother was at an estate sale and found a bunch of National Geographic maps.

There were two giant political World Maps, and more than a dozen assorted other maps.

I've thought for years that colorful maps would make great wrapping paper. I'm sort of a "wrapping paper snob" and terribly particular about the weight of my chosen gift wrap. Maps are just heavy enough to stand up to the rigors of wrapping and not be torn easily or by accident. My father has been receiving National Geographic magazine for years and has painstakingly saved every map, but NO, we couldn't possibly use any of HIS maps. They must stay untouched. In their GIANT envelope. In the drawer of the desk that no one touches. Just because then he'll know they're safe.

So when my mother found these maps, she bought the whole lot for $1.50 to use as wrapping papers. In addition to the world maps and a map of Europe,

there are country maps, state maps,

historical maps,

blue and green maps,

brown maps, charts, illustrations,

even dinosaurs! These will make for some very cool packages.

And then we made a trip to the Goodwill Outlet where we rescued this huge book from the landfill.

It's 19.5 inches tall, 14 inches wide, and full of maps from The National Geographic Society.

The folio was bound in 1957, and consisted mostly of strips of gummed paper, to which individual maps were to be glued, as they were printed and issued by The Society.

This book contains 51 maps,

almost a full set,

dated between 1958 and 1965.
Each map measures 20" x 25". We paid $2.00.

It appears, according to the list in the front of the book showing what maps you could have, that not all the maps were put into the folio. We seem to be missing three maps: the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and Western Africa.

I'm not sure yet what to do with this book because I can't bring myself to take it apart and they're not the right weight for wrapping packages. I just couldn't let it go to the landfill. I would consider putting it on Ebay but they don't seem to sell. I guess I'll just save it until I have an idea.

Does anyone else collect maps or globes or have a special place in their heart for them? The Holy Grail of maps for me would be an old pull down map from a school. I saw one at the bins recently but had to pass on it as I just don't have a place for one.

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


Click on the links to join the fun.