Rainy Saturday

It rained most of the night here. Even though it had stopped by morning, I figured there wouldn't be anyone selling things out there. So I'll share an oldie-but-a-goodie with you.

Three or four years ago I bought my living room furniture at a garage sale. Leather couch, chair, and ottoman originally from Crate & Barrel: $210. (The chair & ottoman were $60, the couch $150.) We dragged just the chair home first, and then realized that we were nuts to leave that great couch behind, so we went back and got it, too. They're some of my favorite garage-sale finds. Comfy, classic, and a screaming deal.

Think I'll get a book and go lie down on that couch right now.

Happy Saturday.

Spring Fever

There were three of us this morning: Carol, my friend Cynthia who is visiting from Arkansas, and me. It is unbelievably beautiful weather here today, which makes for excellent saling. The birds are singing, the ornamental plums in the front yard are blossoming, and I must have a touch of spring fever. I got two gardening things today: another good gardening hat, which cost me a dollar. It's a Walleroo. I looked them up: quite pricey. And evidently good for sun cancer protection. I also bought this cement urn-looking thing, thinking it would be nice with succulents in it. $5. If it turns out successfully I'll post a photo.













It was a great day for school stuff! I bought 23 classroom books for $2. Fabulous deal. I could easily have bought 50 more, but I worry about shelf space. I also found these poetry and proof-reading posters: six posters for $1. I have a crowd of kids that I call my "independent workers". They already know how to write haiku, but the rest of these will be fun for them, especially the one titled "Things to Do When You're Done." One of these (that you can't see in the photo) is how to write limericks. We'll have to be careful with that one: There once was a man from Nantucket...




One more purchase: another little lamp for the black & white room. Cuter than the last ones, but with the exact same shade. $5. I like how it looks like its hands are on its hips.













Cynthia bought a bright pink fuzzy bathrobe from Joe Boxer. Bright pink is definitely Cynthia's color. Carol bought these lovely prints, two for $10. Here's what happens: she says, "Do you think I should buy these?" and I say, "If you don't I'm going to." This is the way things end up in the car. Cute little sconce she found, too, eh? That one I didn't see until it was in the car!

Happy spring!

Heavy, Metal

It was very slim pickings this morning. I bought three things, coincidentally all metal.

This little blue bookcase is going to go in my classroom. I need a just-right shelf to sit on the side of my desk to hold my massive collection of teacher's manuals. It came from a house around the corner that Roxie and I often pass on our walks. A very sweet old lady, also named Jean, lived there. She was 95. Whenever we saw her she always had a big smile for our Rox. As soon as I saw the garage sale I knew she must have died. So my little blue shelf will be a small, functional memento of sorts.

The two candle holders are very heavy. Too bad there wasn't another one of those tall ones. Oh, well. It will work somewhere.

Total expenditure this morning: $8.

Since the take is so very boring today, this is as good a time as any to show off my Long Beach Veteran's Stadium Flea Market finds. I spent a Sunday morning there last month. Even though I lived in Long Beach for years, I had never been to the legendary flea market. It is huge and also ridiculously crowded. I actually got a bit overwhelmed and didn't even make it through the entire thing. I bought these three little goodies: a pretty little white nightstand from the '40's, which set me back $35. Thankfully, it has wheels, so I was able to rumble it back to my parking space through the sea of cars waiting to exit and enter. The little green stoneware pot was too much money ($10), but it's very pretty and I couldn't resist. Likewise the little rabbit. He, too, is made of metal. Very sweet.

Off to work!