What the Frickety-Frack? Friday

Welcome to what I hope will be a regular feature on my blog, "What the Frickety-Frack Friday," where I share the weird, unusual, creepy, puzzling, or even downright terrifying things I've seen offered for sale or just around town.  The things that make me say, "What the Frickety-Frack?"

Today was the grand opening of a new Salvation Army Thrift Store.  They closed down the old store a few months ago and moved to a new location very near my house, and I have high hopes for this new location.  The store was very crowded.  I guess the opening of a thrift store is the height of the social season in my neighborhood.  I didn't buy anything, but I did get into an altercation with a woman who thought she owned the aisles and was incensed that I didn't jump when she barked.  And I do mean barked.  She even growled a little.  When I refused to let her run me over with her cart, she told me that I needed to go home and take some prozac so I wouldn't be so "rude."  I guess someone's on medication, but it ain't me.

So she qualifies as weird, and a little terrifying.  I don't have a picture of her.

 

But she looked kind of like this.

Except with a really bad page boy haircut.

Like I had in kindergarten.  Thanks, Mom.

I did sign up for the drawing for a free flat screen TV, an autographed Mariners' baseball and an autographed Trailblazers' basketball.    It appeared the Trailblazer organization may have donated a bunch of Blazers gear, including shorts, jerseys and shoes.  My boyfriend saw the first rack of shoes and exclaimed "Look, they have real shoe sizes!"  He is six foot seven and wears a size 14 :)

And then we saw this.

What the Frickety-Frack?
It appears to be two dragons made from shells.  And they are about to KISS!
Dragons making out in aisle five.  Yours for only $14.79.

But wait!  There are more!

And they are even weirder.
In this version, one dragon appears to be kissing the other dragon's tail.

Perfect beach cottage decor, right?

If you like the second one, there is a third that is a mirror image of it.
Bookends!
No wait, a three piece set for your mantle.
"Romantic" Shell Dragon Statues.

Would you have bought them?

If after seeing these pictures, you absolutely feel that you cannot live without them, they can be yours for the grand sum of $44.37 plus tax, shipping, and a fee of $50.00 to cover my pain and suffering should I be recognized purchasing such atrocities.  Before you ask, NO, I will not split up the set.


I'm linking up with these parties:

Show and Share
Thrifter Share
Vintage Bliss Tuesdays
Roses of Inspiration

But Really, No More Baby Planters

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that my mother and I share a fondness for vintage baby planters. I've blogged about our collection before, here and here.

So you'll probably understand why I was surprised last month, to hear Mom say "I think we may have too many baby planters."

Too many baby planters? Is that even possible?

The plan has always been for us to find a shelf unit for the bathroom and display the planters on it. Mom was looking at the wall in the bathroom and imagining what that shelf would look like, when she realized not everything we owned would fit.

So it was decided that we would lay off the baby planters for a while.

Until we find a shelf to put them on.

Or until Mom saw this at Goodwill the day after Christmas.

An Elephant! On a flying carpet!
Okay, it's not really a flying carpet, but Mom likes to think so.

But really, no more baby planters.


Until I saw this at Goodwill two days later.

I had to do a double-take to realize that this was indeed a french poodle pulling a carriage.
Pulling a freaking carriage!

AND the carriage has a giraffe on it. I love giraffes.

When I was very little, I thought French Poodles came in four NATURAL colors: white, black, pink, and blue. And I wanted a pink dog. Badly. So I had this obsession with poodle things and therefore wanted a poodle skirt. Apparently, even as a child, I belonged in the fifties.

Some poodles might consider pulling a baby carriage a demeaning job, but not "Jean-Luc Picard the Poodle" (Yes, I went there, and it's still it's a cool name). He holds his head high and takes his responsibility seriously. No doubt he's had to take a bit of ribbing from the fellows. Judging by the little scars on his face, I'd say he's been in a few fights.

If you look closely enough, you can see his mustache. I have a slight fascination with mustaches. I'm not sure if it's healthy or not, but they make me so darn happy.

So apparently the short-lived moratorium on baby planters was over.

This cute little boy came from an estate sale. I love the politically incorrect boxing gloves.

This cowgirl and boot came from The Salvation Army. Mom and I had each seen it on separate trips to the store, and decided against buying it. It's bigger than most, and we were trying not to buy more planters. But we were intriqued by the unusual cowgirl theme, so when it was reduced to half price, Mom brought it home.

She seems to be wearing a denim diaper. Ouch, that would chafe. I think she may eventually end up in North Dakota, when the next girl cousin is born.

That's one of the nice things about baby planters. If we really do have too many, they make good gifts.

But really, no more baby planters.


I can't say I've been terribly tempted lately.

Not all planters are cute.

Some are downright scary.

I seriously thought that was a chainsaw in his hands at first.

Which means the red stuff would have been...

Never mind.

I'm joining these parties today:
Thrift Share Monday



Follow the links and see what cool things others have found.

Would You Say "No" to a Grouchy Ladybug?

Here are my thrifting finds for the week.

First up is an estate sale find - a Sunbeam 12-speed Mixmaster in harvest gold, circa 1973.

It's a bit grungy, but should clean up nicely, and was a measly $3.00.
This is for a friend of mine who has admired my 1957 pink model.

It was half-price day at another estate sale, so I bought a number of small things.


Nothing special, but some useful stuff, and I couldn't turn down the 2 for a nickel price. The gloves were 50c. The tall wooden thing is a "Peppy" pepper shaker. It's very well made with a screw on lid. Too bad there was no "Salty" to go with it. The toy is an Eric Carle Grouchy Ladybug finger puppet from McDonalds. They issued six toys in 1996 based on his wonderful books, and we collected most of them, but this is one we missed.

Also from the estate sale are a large storage jar and a collapsible aluminum drinking cup with lid.

I have a couple of plastic cups like this, but this is my first aluminum one. My parents tell me that having a collapsible cup to drink from in elementary school was very cool in the 60s. A simpler time. I'm sure it would have gotten me nothing but ridicule in the 90s.

The Pyrex is from Goodwill. I didn't even know they made cheese servers until someone blogged about one at The Pyrex Collective. The casserole is marked Pyrex England. That is not the lid. I just borrowed it for the picture. I paid so much I'm ashamed to tell you.

I also got a few more VHS movies.

Most of them were from The Salvation Army Thrift Store for 75c, but the Disneyland one Mom found at an estate sale for 25c. It's a souvenir tape from the 1990's that visitors to the Park could buy to take home with them.

And my last find goes with that tape.

A Disney 3D pin of Minnie and Mickey on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
When I worked at Disney World I acquired a lanyard full of pins, but the 3D ones were rather pricey. Disney pins are actually quite inexpensive on ebay today. I found this one at Goodwill for $1.99.

Time to put on my lanyard full of pins and take a virtual trip to Disneyland. Now where did I put my Mickey Mouse Ears?

I'm joining these parties this week.
Follow the links to more thrifty finds.

Thrifty Thursdays @ Bloggeritaville

Junkin Finds Friday @ A La Carte
Thrift Share Monday @ Apron Thrift Girl
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm

Yaaay Thriftstores!!!

If you know me personally, you'll know that I love a good velvet painting. It's a secret dream of mine to own a velvet Elvis or other socially acceptable velvet painting. I once had the chance to have a paint-your-own velvet peacock at a friend's garage sale and now wish I'd bought it. I don't see velvet paintings often and when I do, they're usually the ubiquitous southwestern sunset or waterfall. Last Monday, I saw two velvet paintings, TWO...

My family lives just outside of a large metropolitan city where my Father works. Last Monday my mother woke me up early by knocking on my bedroom door:

Mom: (knocking)
Me: What?
Mom: Get dressed. We have to go to Dad's work.
Me: Why?
Mom: He left his phone at home.
Me: Smooth, Dad. Why do I have to go?
Mom: You don't. But since I'm going into the city, I figured I'd hit a few thrift stores...
Me: I'll be ready in ten.

Before going to see my Dad we had to stop at the Salvation Army. Locally, the Salvation Army is having a 50% off sale every Monday till September. Their everyday prices are so high, we only go when it's 50% off. While there, we found some good things; a few blue glass jars, a nesting shelf set, and some others. We also saw some really great things that we couldn't buy.

Like this Ironrite presser. I think it would be just the cutest thing in someone's laundry room. Ignore ugly sink.

They were asking $100 for it, or $50 at half price. This last Monday it was still there. I hope someone finds it and takes it home soon.

After the Salvation Army, we drove across the bridge to my Dad's work, delivered his phone to him, and set off for an adventure in the city! We turned on the trusty GPS, found a thrift store we'd never been to, and set off. As it was lunchtime, We kept ours eyes out for someplace to eat.

Soon, we saw this.

The name, "Ole Frijole" loosely translates to "Yaaay Beans!". (Not to be confused with the "Yaaay Beer!" sign at our corner Gas 'N' Git) We drive by it fairly often when in the city, and it always makes us laugh, but we have never eaten there.

It was wonderful. It's a little bit ghetto looking outside but it had delicious Mexican food at decent prices and we ate on real plates. From now on, when we say "Yaaay Beans!" we'll mean it.

The new thrift store was quite small, was run by two very fun older ladies, and had great prices. We got a Tupperware Hamburger Press, a salad tossing fork that matches my silverware set, a few pretty pink plastic hangers, a Lilo and Stitch toy, some very pretty vintage linens, and five large Laura Ashley curtain panels. The curtain panels are going to be turned into liners for our two wire shopping carts.

After that store, we drove around and found a very cute "antiques" store (mostly mid-century stuff) and had a lot of fun browsing. They had everything you could expect:

Webbed lawn chairs

swag lamps (sorry for the terrible pictures)

Loud couches,

And, of course, lots of Pyrex! Bake-Serve-Store dishes, butter dishes, margarine tubs, divided dishes and more.

In many different patterns; verde, spring blossom, square flowers, and butterfly gold, etc.

Some had their cradles! There was even Fire King.

They had so much beautiful Pyrex I just wished I could take some home with me. The best piece of all was this:

The spring blossom clear juice carafe! It was just oh-so pretty. Spring Blossom is MY pattern. At $16, I couldn't afford it, but a girl can wish, can't she?

The store also had lots of other nice and fun things:

This cute picnic basket

A beautiful Society china service for ten in the Larchwood pattern.

My mother's favorite thing was this lovely arts and crafts style rocking chair. She's always wanted one like it. This one is made of beautiful red-blonde oak and is in wonderful condition. My mother just wanted to stand there and stare at it forever, I had to peel her away from it slowly.

We bought several vintage postcards, mostly from one young woman's trip to Europe, but also one of a hotel pool in Hawaii, from a woman who commented that it was 80' and too hot; they needed some rain. I thought when you left the Pacific Northwest and went to Hawaii it was to get AWAY from the rain.

We saw tons of other great things in that store and had lots of fun. After that store, we made our way to an Antique mall, one we hear a lot about, and saw some fun stuff including some gorgeous quilts,

A whole spoon rack full of handkerchiefs! Who doesn't want one of these?! I didn't even know I wanted one before seeing this.

I didn't even know they had made a gooseberry fridge set let alone think I would ever see one!

And now for the velvet paintings. I saw one at each antique store; one very well painted and one not so much. First the bad:

Then the not so bad:

Disclaimer: The rating on this picture has been changed to PG-13.

I have never before seen a nude on velvet but according to my mother, the results are often much more like the painting of the tiger.

We had a great adventure filled with lots of "OOOH, look at that!" and "Really? You like that?" and "Mom... turn around very slowly and tell me if you see what I'm looking at". We came home with some great stuff from the first two places and lots of pictures from everywhere else. I hope my Dad forgets his phone at home again soon.

I'm linking this post to:

Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm