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

Jim the Pyrex Man and the great Pyrex-palooza

Everyone has connections. Some people have a computer guy, some people have a car guy, when I was working at Disney World I had a free ice cream guy. Yesterday my mother and I met our Pyrex guy.

I was doing the requisite weekend searches for estate sales (on craigslist) and trying to pick one or two to hit up. A little bit frustrated with the lack of early postings close to my home, I decided to just search "Pyrex" as a keyword in all for sale.

It turned up a hit for a man listing lots of bottles, jars, pans, and TONS of Pyrex. He even had prices listed and they were GOOD. He didn't seem to know patterns but at least two things were pink. I just had to see his stuff!

I called the phone number he had provided but had to try a few hours later to get hold of him. When I got him on the phone he gave me the directions to his house and Mom and I were off - another trip over the river and through the big city (to Pyrex Jim's house we go).

When we got there he had his garage literally stacked floor to ceiling with boxes and boxes, mostly of canning jars. Right after we got there, he started to pull out the Pyrex (which he had stashed all over) and he had beautiful pieces. Most of them were patterns that I recognize because they're fairly usual but he had some pieces I had never seen before.

He told us that he goes to Estate Sales (only if they have pictures online so he knows what is there) and just buys all the Pyrex they have for about $1-$2 each and then sells it on craigslist for not much more.

Here are the things we bought from Pyrex Jim for a total of $24.00


1.5 QT White Daisy on Pink oval casserole, no lid.
2 QT Verde oval casserole, patterned lid.
1 QT Gooseberry Pink Bake-Serve-Store, clear lid.
1.5 QT Friendship (promotional?) divided serving dish, clear lid.
1.5 QT Promotional Yellow with Gold leaf Floral pattern, clear lid.
1.5 PT Delphite Blue glass with Gold Leaf Grapes Cinderella handled bowl.


The yellow oval casserole is a pattern not available at Pyrex Love and I'm dying to know what it's called. If someone can tell me, there may be a Pyrex themed prize in it for you!!


This lovely blue bowl, after some research, has been deemed a chip and dip bowl. Or half of a set anyway. What kills me about it is that Pyrex Jim told us that he'd had the 4 QT in that pattern and a woman had bought only the big bowl from him about two months ago. I don't get why she would have bought one without the other. And chip and dip sets aren't common, so I doubt that I'll ever find the big bowl for this one.

Pyrex Jim assured us that the red divided dish was just a primary color serving dish, but we were pretty sure it was the elusive friendship pattern, missing the decorative lid. Even without the lid we were very pleased to have it.

Pyrex Jim also said that if we just emailed him with a list of lid sizes we were missing (numbers and dimensions) he would hold them for us when he found them! We're also welcome back any time (as long as we call ahead) to check out his Pyrex finds.

After we left Pyrex Jim's we debated about stopping at a Goodwill that we don't often get to. We had gotten a pretty good Pyrex fix and were thinking that Goodwill prices were never going to seem good enough again. But we stopped anyway and look what we found.


My pattern - Spring Blossom!
4 QT Spring Blossom Cinderella bowl
Spring Blossom loaf pan
2.5 QT Friendship oval casserole, clear patterned lid. (there's some wear on the lid but it's the first piece of friendship pattern I've ever seen at goodwill!)

The large Spring Blossom bowl, by some act of God, was only $1.99 (usual Goodwill price would be $6.99) while the loaf pan was $3.99 (but obviously we paid that anyway). My mother was especially happy to find a piece of Friendship pattern with it's matching lid. The lid even fits on the Friendship divided dish that we bought from Pyrex Jim! (Well, it slides a bit - apparently the divided dish is just a bit different in shape, but almost a perfect fit.) How awesome is that?


And to think that we almost didn't stop!

Today, after getting all that Pyrex yesterday, I wasn't even looking for Pyrex when I went out to estate sales. I was finding great sales but not much that I couldn't live without. And then, at the third sale of the day, I saw them. They were just beckoning to me from the table in amongst the Tupperware.

The sale I was at was a late starter at around noon and I pulled in at 12:02. I got out of the car and as I walked toward the sale I headed for Tupperware (always looking for deviled egg plate inserts). There on the edge of the table was the Pyrex.


Daisy pattern: Lasagna pan, brownie pan, loaf pan, 1.5 QT oval, and a small round patterned lid (the matching bake-serve-store in the photo I actually got at Goodwill on Wednesday)
Spring Blossom pattern: 1.5 QT oval casserole with patterned lid.
Verde pattern: 2 QT round casserole (lid borrowed for photo purposes).
(the Butterfly Gold fridgie I got at a later sale for 10 cents!)

I immediately just grabbed all the Pyrex in sight and set it on a table in the garage (next to a large assortment of Pyrex mugs in Butterfly Gold and Autumn Harvest) while I called my mother on the phone to make sure she wanted it. Eventually, after she didn't answer for about ten minutes, I just bought them all anyway. Most of the items were $1-$2.


Do you ever have those times when you just can't stop finding the best stuff? And of course you're afraid that if you stop looking, you'll miss the most amazing thing of all? I'm still out there searching for a lid to the margarine tub. What is it that you've been looking for forever that you feel you're bound to find some day?

Don't forget!! If you can find out the name or more information (year, etc) on the yellow oval casserole with the gold leaf floral design on it, there might be a special Pyrex prize in it for you!! If you want another picture of that dish alone just ask and I'll take one!

I am thinking this post to:

The Garage Salen Party @ Debbiedoos
Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm