Now we are ... much more than six

School starts September 1st! I haven't been anywhere near my classroom. I have been having too much fun gardening, reading, and drawing. Now I have to get serious about getting my room organized. I will be out there Monday, and these two bright little stools (purchased this morning) will be joining me. They will be perfect in my "library", which is built from funky little shelves that are very close to the ground. I always assign jobs in my classroom, and the "librarians" can use these when they reshelve my books. So cute! $3 each.



I bought this little tank top with Emily in mind, but I really bought it because the tag was so cute. $1. Want it, Em?

We visited the jewelry lady again today. Carol found a lovely bracelet for her sister, and I bought this one to go with the earrings I got last time I shopped there.
The tag says $35, but I paid $10.
Very pretty.

Another picture frame. Sometimes I think that the reason people are selling picture frames is that they can't get the TJMaxx tag off the glass! This one was brand new, marked $4.99, and I used a squirt of Goo Gone (if you teach little kids this is just something you know about) and voila!
Nice frame for...well, for free actually, because the guy threw it in with my favorite purchase of the day, which is this Winnie the Pooh print. $5. Carol and I could not leave it behind.

It might go in my classroom...but it might have to stay here with me.

Happy "Garage Sale Weekend!"

In a whirlwind 40-minute tour of the neighborhood this morning I managed to find several very nice little items.

A plain, red quilt: queen size and in perfect condition. Very nice for a change in winter. Even if I decide it's not so good in our room, it will look pretty across the end of the bed in the black & white guest room. $10.

Three lovely blue glasses. I often find glasses or plates in groups of three. I think that's why people get rid of them (because there's not four anymore!) My dishes are all just a big mix of styles and colors, so it doesn't really matter. Plus, we break things a lot. All three glasses: $1.

Three more books. (Look, Em: more George!) The woman who sold me these had lots of great books, but most of them were ones I already own. She sighed when she sold me these and said, "Nobody reads books anymore." I do! I loved Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, so I'm looking forward to Summer. The Phantom Tollbooth is one that my girls loved when they were little, and this one is a great, illustrated, like-new edition. Three books: $1.50.

A beautiful little sterling silver and garnet bead necklace: $2.

And last, but not least, this wire gizmo. Every year at Christmas time I pore over those fat Pottery Barn catalogs, not so much to actually buy anything, but just to see how they're decorating for the holidays. I've been tempted to buy their long, wire card-holder for a couple of seasons now, but I could never justify the $40 plus it would cost. Well, here it is! (Actually, here's one end of it...the entire thing is not quite five feet long.) I have lots of places in the living room where it might work. I think it actually looks sort of interesting even if I don't stick any photos or cards in it.

The best part? One tenth the PB price: $4.

Everything from A to Z

Emily headed back to Tucson this morning. It was a badly planned flight: leaving at 10:00 am on a Saturday morning, meaning she'd have to get to the airport early enough that any saling beforehand was out of the question.





So I dropped her off at John Wayne and headed out on my own. My first stop turned up these cast iron A & Z hooks, complete with hardware. $2. Useful. And cute!



These next little items are definitely not for me. My daughter Sara has been creating interesting little nail "art" lately. These were a quarter a bag...so I bought her a couple bucks worth of goodies to play with.





The yellowish leather purse was $2. It had so many cute little zippers and pockets that I couldn't pass it up. Plus it fit over my shoulder like it had been there before...you know how that is. How can you resist? The red dish rack behind it was also $2. That one is for school in our teachers' "lounge". The word "lounge" is a tremendous misnomer here. For one thing, no one is ever "lounging" in there. No one would want to: it is pretty disgusting. The dish rack (which most people ignore, just leaving their dirty dishes in the sink...such pigs!) is old and nasty. Maybe this bright red one will get noticed and people will actually use it. But enough of this rant...





My last purchase was this lovely crock. This garage sale had quite an interesting array of items, including a pretty nice leather sofa, some antique tools, & some "vintage" patio furniture. There were two fairly large boxes full of rubber stamps, which I always check out for use at school. And then there were the crocks. This one was the prettiest, but it didn't have a price tag. As soon as I asked about it I knew I was in trouble. The woman said, "That is a lovely (yes...I see that it's "lovely" or I wouldn't have asked) French (uh oh) piece of crockery. It's about (about??) twenty dollars." So I said, "OK. Will you throw in these two rubber stamps with it?" That threw her for a loop. She said, "Oh. I don't know. Just a minute." She goes over to her friend, and they whisper to each other for about three minutes, and then she reluctantly says, "OK. But this is really worth about seventy five dollars. You're really getting a great deal."





I said, "Thanks!" and hit the road with my (French) crock and my two rubber stamps. I don't know if it really is worth anything, but it looks very pretty on my kitchen counter.


I think the real deal was probably on the stamps. They still had price tags on them: $4.00 for the hummer, and $5.50 for "I really love to read!" Hope you are enjoying your weekend!





Next week is National Garage Sale Weekend! (According to my local Pennysaver). So go forth and find stuff!