Aloha

My friend Gail is here visiting from her home in Baja, Mexico. We've been yard-sailing together for years. We can drive by and make snap decisions about stopping just by looking at the way the proprietors are sitting or the way things are piled out on the grass. We saw some today, looking a bit too desperate. We've come to know one particular "Estate Sale" con artist who we affectionately call "Liar Boy." He has tried to scam us a time or two in the past. He just moves his collection of stuff from yard to yard, and he always has Hawaiian shirts that he wants way too much money for. He gets a little surly with you when you put things back: you probably know the type.



So when we read in the Penny Saver that there would be great deals on Hawaiian shirts in a back parking lot nearby we were wary. We often see Hawaiian shirts for sale, but sometimes they're really cheesy. And of course, there was the possibility of "Liar Boy". But we were pleasantly surprised! There was a very nice gentleman sitting outside of his little vintage shop with racks of shirts and other goodies. The shirts were all excellent quality: Reyn Spooner, Toes on the Nose , Pierre Cardin, etc. We bought four shirts for the three men we live with: in fact, two of them will be birthday presents for a certain someone. And the little Mexican cerveza sign was too perfect to pass up. It actually looks like a scene from Gail's house.

Four shirts and one sign: $35.












We also bought two bags full of boys' clothing for Gail to take to her friend in Mexico. Some of it goes to her own boys and some to her resale shop. In this neighborhood you can always find good kids' clothes for pretty cheap. We got 30 items for $6, or 20 cents each.





Other little goodies: a box of good blank cards from Papyrus, and other sweet little note cards for $1. Five CD's from a self-proclaimed OCD music buff who had hundreds of them alphabetized in a very orderly fashion. $1 each. More classroom books, including this beautiful old book of Aesop's fables. 25 cents each. And my favorite find of the day: a navy blue cashmere sweater from Neiman Marcus in perfect condition: $1. That one's for me.

Aloha.

Flower Frogs and Other Fabulous Finds

Now that it's time for me to go back to school, we are finally having summer. Today was a rare sunny morning. Perfect for a little sailing! My friend Nancy is here visiting for a few days, so when Carol came by we were three. We had a lovely morning, but we had to leave a lot of great buys behind. We saw a beautiful old dresser and mirror set for $35, but no one was really ready for a big furniture purchase this morning. Later we left a very nice set of redwood patio furniture for some other sailor. But we still managed to bring home a trunkful of treasures.


Here is the entire haul: purchased for a collective total of $66. Carol & Nan bought hats for $1 each, and the little director chairs are Carol's. She also bought both of the little spice racks and the flower pots. Nancy found this antique rack from an old train car for $4.












For me? Cushy red pillows for my TV-watching couch, a pink leather bag from the Gap for $3, and a magazine rack (yes...another one, but better this time!) for $5. My favorite finds this morning are the flower frogs. I haven't seen any like these before. I got all three of them for $9. I have sort of a collection of them now, as you can see, all from garage sales. ((That's the white ceramic one, filled with little geranium blossoms.)








Last, but not least, a nice big watering can. ($1) I bought this little white one a few months ago, but it's a little bit too small. This one's more functional, and I'll keep the other one because it's so cute!

Happy summer (finally!).

Coincidence, or something more?

I'm reading a great book right now called Crow Planet, which is a kind of guide to discovering nature in your urban surroundings. Author Lyanda Haupt makes the claim that studying a certain subject somehow allows you to encounter that subject more often. I have definitely found this to be the case. My own explanation for it is that we are probably just more aware of something we wouldn't otherwise notice: it was there all along, only now we can see it.


So, it's the end of summer, and I'm starting to get mentally prepared for being back in the classroom. I always have an "Author of the Month." Some authors are so perfect for this grade level that I include them every year (William Steig, Patricia Polacco, Chris Van Allsburg, Roald Dahl)...but I always like to try some different ones, too. I was just researching two authors yesterday: Patricia MacLachlan and Russell Hoban. I have lots of their books, but haven't "studied" either one. (In one book, All the Places to Love, Maclachlan describes crows as "swaggering like pirates", a line I always think of when I see them crossing the neighborhood sidewalks. But I digress.) This morning I found Sarah, Plain & Tall (by Maclachlan), and Monsters (by Hoban) along side James and the Giant Peach ( by Dahl) at the same garage sale. Coincidence?

My students also have a unit on biographies sometime mid-year. I had the Amelia Earhart book in my hand at Border's yesterday morning and then decided to wait on that one. And this morning, there it was for 25 cents instead of $4.00.



There were lots of other unexpected treasures this morning. More Beanie Babies, for one thing, and this time they were only a quarter! That's the cheapest I've ever found them. I've reached my quota for this school year, but if I see them for a quarter a piece again I don't think I'll be able to pass them up!




The best finds today were at sales in a really excellent neighborhood. I know some of you might be squeamish about clothes and shoes from garage sales, but if they're in good shape I'm happy to snap up a good deal. This morning I found a cozy, like new Gap Body sweatshirt (so soft!) for $5 and a pair of black "Cloud 9" Nine West shoes (also in perfect condition) for another $5.


I also got these woven placemats, mostly because they are my favorite colors and go with everything else I own. And the Christmas stockings were just too nice. Every year I hang stockings for anyone who happens to be joining us for the holiday. Some of those old stockings are just too cheesy. These are way cuter and were probably ridiculously pricey when new. I got all four for $20.










Here are my favorite finds of the day: this little hammered metal tray ($3) and this necklace of silvery-gray beads with a beautiful little silver & garnet clasp ($15: a bit pricy, but just too pretty to pass up.)

Think good thoughts and study up. Maybe it'll bring you some little treasures.

Making a list

Often on Saturday mornings I leave the house with a shopping list. It's remarkable how often you're able to find exactly what you're looking for. Last Saturday, for example, Emily and I set out to buy a couch and a floor lamp: and, voila!


Today was a little different story. I set out this morning with my good friend, Carol, hoping to find a perfect chair. Al, (Carol's "significant other"), is learning to play a new keyboard and needs a chair to go with it. Alas, no such chair appeared on our horizon this morning. But of course, we did not come home empty-handed. Carol found a few treasures. As for me, for under $25 I dragged home:

• a little, funky magazine rack & table (it will work somewhere)
• a very nice squarish basket (always useful)
• two blue glass bowls to replace ones that keep disappearing from my kitchen
• a blue glass 8" square baking pan (much needed...the one I've been using is nasty)
• a Crate & Barrel green ceramic tray
• books for my classroom: classics! Captain Underpants & the Bunnicula series. Brand new, too. No child ever even looked at these books, something which will definitely be remedied by my third-graders
• 17 Beanie Babies
• a book by Thomas Friedman that it turned out I already owned (rats)
• a lemon zester, which I did not own, but Carol insisted I absolutely need

I know what you're thinking. "Wait a minute...did that say, '17 Beanie Babies'?" Well, yes. I use them for prizes in my classroom. I started it last year after finding a bonanza of beanies for cheap (they're always cheap!) at a garage sale. When my students learn all their times tables and can successfully complete a series of 2 and 6-minute tests in multiplication and division, they get to choose from my "Big Bag o' Beanies". It is quite a ceremony. Everyone stops what they're doing to watch as the child chooses. They name them and then leave them sitting on their desk like little colorful trophies. It has turned out to be a pretty powerful incentive. So I'm replenishing my supply for my upcoming class. Remember the Beanie Baby craze? People were going to re-sell them to pay for their childrens' college educations? Well, it turns out they're really only worth about 50 cents a pop. But to kids who just learned how to multiply and divide, they're priceless.

Black & White & Cozy All Over

Emily has moved to Tucson, taking most of the contents of her room along with her. Since I knew this was coming, I've been watching for things to re-do her room for the past couple of months. I found a set of black & white linens, including bed spread, dust ruffle, & pillow shams for $5. Then I came across these two big, framed prints, along with some smaller black & white photos in frames (although those didn't really work in this room.) The little black "Paris" rack with hooks is something Emily picked up and then decided to leave with me because it was too cute with the black & white theme.

Remember the little black "berry basket" from a few blogs back? I thought I was going to use it for plants, but it's pretty cute in here for guest supplies.

The old folding chair under the window is one of the very first garage sale purchases I ever made. I bought it in Long Beach when I moved into my first apartment about (gulp) 37 years ago. It came out of an old theater that was torn down. I've dragged that little thing from house to house since 1973.

I have to say that even though all this stuff came from garage sales, I was actually inspired by my friend Cynthia, whose guest room is unbelievably cozy and beautiful, and filled with black & white accents. The photo below is just one of the guest rooms in her house in Arkansas. Most of those little plates over the bed have a story attached to them. But I think at least some of them

came from garage sales!

Every time I stay at Cynthia's house I come home with an itch to reorganize and straighten things up! She is so classy. This photo doesn't do the room justice. When you get to her house, you feel like you've arrived at a first-class hotel: luggage rack, fluffy white bath robes, and a tray full of fresh fruit & flowers. Last time there was even a bottle of Jack Daniels! I love this woman. My black & white guest room is a little tribute to her.