Excellent finds

Carol has asked me to post photos of her excellent finds this morning. That way she can share things with her sister and get opinions. So here goes:

A beautiful photograph of NYC, Carol's hometown. At first glance, she immediately started pointing out places where she had lived and gone to school. I convinced her she had to have it: $15. A couple garden goodies; sturdy tools & little planter: $2. A pretty little magazine rack and a Williams Sonoma pasta sauce book: I'm not sure about this. I think the book was free and the rack was $3. A sweet little pine dresser for $25 which is going in her guest room. And finally, a soft & beautiful quilt that she bought as a house-warming gift for her niece, Molly, who recently bought the house of her dreams (or at least Carol's dreams) outside Chicago: $30. (It's draped over last week's Adirondack chairs in this photo.)

We met some really lovely people this morning. Some of them are down-sizing, something Carol & I talk about constantly and never actually do anything about. One couple told us they were moving a few blocks away because someone came to their door and offered them cash for their house: evidently an offer they could not refuse. This is going to become my new fantasy.

Then we met another lovely woman (a landscape designer, golfer, & volunteer for Meals on Wheels), also down-sizing, who was selling beautiful things that had belonged to her mother. The pine dresser & magazine rack came from her house. I bought these three beautiful etchings for $75. The photos don't do them justice. They are really elegantly framed and tinted in soft shades of green and brown. The smallest one is Salzburg. I'm not sure about the other two. The woman got tears in her eyes when I carried them away. I told her I'd take good care of them. I came home and immediately took things off the walls in the living room to rearrange. Very nice.

Two other small finds for me this morning: a box of sturdy champagne flutes (11 total) for $5. Useful for Easter brunch mimosas and big family gatherings! Also an old wooden tote made from a piece of an old Jap Rose Soap box. Such a terrible name! Fortunately you can't really see the script unless you really look closely. The woman shows up nicely, though: $2.

Excellent finds.

Happy Saturday!

Saling Once, Saling Twice...

I was prepared to stay home this morning. Rain was forecast. Also, after digging, planting, and dragging pots around the back yard last weekend, I had wrenched my back pretty good. But good old Carol was here at 7:30, the sun was (sort of) shining, and we went out anyway.

Here are the finds:

A fish plate: $1. I love this fish. I'm going to hang it up, I think. I have another deeper blue fish plate it will look nice with.

Blue bowl, tray, and basket: $1. The bowl was being used as a planter & was half full of dirt. I saw the tray first & thought it would be a nice bird bath. Then when I went to pay for it, the guy said, "Oh, here's the pot that goes with it." Now I'm not sure if they're bowls, pie plates, pots or what. Pretty, though.

Another little goofy cement thing for succulents. I have a pretty big yard with lots of corners to stick things into. This one with the three cherubs (note the one on his back underneath) will fit in some corner somewhere. It was also $1.

A wicker basket which Carol convinced me would be perfect for storing my Beanie Babies at school. $3. The Beanies inside it were a gift from Carol, who is on a mission to clear things out of her garage. Ooohhh! Lots of new prizes for next year's math students! The basket is way better than the funky paper sack I have them in now, I must admit.

A brand new set of Mexican train dominoes. If you haven't played, you are missing out. My dad used to love this game. $2.

And last, but definitely not least, the "Nutshell Library" by Maurice Sendak. This was thrown in with the fish plate, basket, and dominoes and therefore came home for free. It is one of the sweetest little sets of kids' books ever produced. Maurice Sendak. I love him.

Maybe Chicken Soup with Rice for dinner this week.

Garden Goodies

It might still be winter across most of the US, but here in SoCal it's definitely spring. I have the gardening bug. And now that it will be lighter at the end of the day, there's more time to putz outside. So I was on the lookout for garden goodies.


Here's what I found:


Adirondack chairs. Complete with table & cushions. For sale from a lovely Irishman who insisted that we girls (Carol & I) were not goin' home without these chairs. He said, "Look. We've distressed them quite nicely for you. Took years to get them this way." Maybe it was the accent. In any case the chairs did, indeed, come home with me. $40 for the set. I replaced an old, funky glass table that was sitting on the porch and Carol took the four little chairs that were out there to give to her daughter, Ana. I'm trying not to bring in anything new unless something old goes away!



Three lovely iron wall planters & one Italian pot. $11. At first the guy said, "These came from Roger's Gardens (famously gorgeous and pricey nursery here in Newport). How about $30 for all three?" I made a face. That was pretty much all it took. $10 for the three, and a buck for the clay pot. Here are the before & after shots. I just dug some stuff up out of the yard and stuck it in there. We'll see how it does.

This photo is funny because everything in it came from a garage sale. Hidden in the background is a little cement Sleepy (from Snow White) who was here when I moved in. I didn't really understand what he was doing here before, but these day his yawning presence pretty much sums it up. In fact, after all this garden putzing and a cold Stella, I was feeling exactly like this little guy.














An artist's chair. For sale from a sweet old lady who was also selling many water colors. At first I thought I'd really use it for drawing (I mean, my iPad can even fit in that zipper pocket). But when I got home I dragged it out in the garden (as you can see from the potting soil all around it) and it worked perfectly. $5.



One funny side note. Remember this stuff? Those round-faced children wearing brightly colored clothes and happily riding bikes or playing tunes or whatever? We saw what appeared to be knock-offs of them for sale at the first place we stopped. Then we went around the corner and there were a few more of them (the exact same knock-offs) dragged out on the driveway. Unbelievable.


And, since it's a gardening post, here is the little pot I bought a few weeks ago. Like the other ones, I filled it with cuttings from stuff in the yard. Now I just hope for survival!

Hope you get to be outside!

Dollar Days

Carol & I were back at it this morning after two rainy Saturdays. There were so many sales today that we couldn't make it to all of them. It was a day of DVD's, kids' games, and many kitchen gadgets. Carol found the microwave oven (for her daughter) that was on her list. And the one thing I really needed, a little "lift" for my new LCD player on my school computer (you know the kind: sort of an open rack for stacking things in cupboards) was sitting on the driveway at our very first sale. I love it when that happens. I also bought a really nice copy of one of my favorite books: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. (Possibly the best opening chapter ever written.) I was just recommending it to a friend of mine last week. Now I have a copy to give her. Everything cost $1 today. The aforementioned rack: $1. Book: $1. Two little bottle green candlesticks (I know...what do I need more candlesticks for? But how can I resist my favorite color? At this price I can give some of my others away): $1. A "Toes on the Nose" hoodie for chilly weekends: $1. Another lamp (yes, I can hear you, "Another lamp?" But look how cute!): $1. A way nicer enameled white colander than the one I am currently using: $1. Two pretty, red mosaic picture frames, brand new: $1. (The original price tag is still on the 4x6 box: $19.99. Remember what I told you about never buying new picture frames?) And finally, tiny and adorable shamrock cups: 4 for $1. St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, what can I say.