Set Out Finds!

Like I said on Monday, Junk Set Out was not as extensive this time around.  This is pretty typical for the winter set out.  Fall and spring are always going to be bigger.  The only time the winter set out is really spectacular is when we have a really mild winter.  Nevertheless, I did find a couple of good Mazda-loads of stuff.  Honestly, as long as I can find even a few things that will sell. I think it's worth it.

Everything went right to the mall, which is where I took these pics. As usual, I only took pics of the highlights.

I kept running across safety cones in various piles, so I decided that I needed to grab a couple.  The tall one in the middle has been signed by a lot of people for some reason.  The white and black thing on the right is a pan drawer from an old stove.  I thought it was interesting.  The small black table had pebbles or tiles or something glued on the top and then removed.  I figure that makes it a good DIY project.

Nearly everything in this photo has already sold. Right after I took the pic, I went to the restroom.  When I came back, the blue folding chair was gone.  Someone had bought it.  I did not need another trunk, but I can't resist them.  Not only has it sold, but one of the other ones I had at the booth has, so now I actually need some!  I always grab media racks.  Even in this age of streaming and downloads and clouds and such, there are still people who own and use physical copies of media.  Many of them shop at flea markets.  The suitcases were all nested inside each other, along with a matching purse and the keys for all of them.  Out of this whole lot, the only things that are left are the largest suitcase and the chair on the left.

A crate of old counter-weights for doors.

I am always excited to find a wheel or two.  A guy came by and bought this one right after this pic was taken.

It is probably too early for orchard-style baskets, but I found five in various sizes.

The basket on top is not as old as it may seem, but it has sold. I love my large spools, even when they are plastic.  You need to enlarge this pic and read the painted sign in the middle.  Apparently, someone gave the kids the ends of trim from a project to decorate, which is cool. I found a whole batch of these.  I did not even see the Fleur-di-lis on the cutting board in the back when I picked it up.  The old brush was buried in a whole bin of toys I picked up.  The silver bowl was the first thing I picked up.

It has these little engraved tabs around the edge.  I thought at first I had some kind of vintage cigar ashtray, until I realized the  engraving includes a web address.

Drawers, gates, and fruit crates--oh my!  I needed drawers, too.  Sadly, there were no windows and I really need those too.  The black chair was the only find (other than a bunch of reno debris) from the house at the bottom of the hill which usually always has a HUGE pile of stuff.  The tee-ball stand is Little Tikes--my old friend.

Final find--sweet blue chairs with woven seats.  These were sitting on the curb in the rain.  I thought the seats were never going to dry out so I could put them in the booth.  It took three days!

And that wraps up this set out.  Now to count the days until June!

No Ramble Today!

Sorry, everyone, but I won't be rambling this week due to EXTREME busy-ness.  Due to partly to circumstances I could not control and partly to my own poor planning skills, I am smack dab in the middle of Junk Set Out AND a massive booth re-do.  I barely even know what my name is right now.

I'll get some first looks at the booth re-do and the first finds of the set out later this week.

In the meantime, enjoy this little bit of booth staging humor:

Also, here's the latest odd couple to cross my path:

When I bought the bird hatching figurine, the cashier told me that I would never sell something that ugly.  In one of those wonderful twists of fate and junking, she was the cashier who rang it out a week later to a customer who was totally tickled to find it!

I guess I can also give you all some music for Monday:



Hope your week is filled with happy teddy bears, decorated wig heads, and--of course--the right shoes!

See ya!

PS Lok at it this way:  It may not be rambly, but it is on Monday!  Woo hoo!

No Ramble Today

Kinda busy right now.

And there's still at least two days to go!

Continuing

Some of the bigger freebies this time around.  Smalls tomorrow.   You'll have to forgive the pics.  Everything is all at the booth.  I'm pressed for time.  No time to stage.  Or even take decent shots.

Hauling it all in by the cartload!

I have been out of windows FOREVER, so finding them has been a real priority for me.  They were pretty scarce this set out.  I was beginning to despair over the situation when I found five.  They're all single pane and the same size.  This one was the only one with any hardware.
 

Bird cage and small vintage wooden chest from the store haul.  The top to the chest is off the hinges, but I love it anyway.

Fun yellow wicker chest I found in a construction dumpster.

Yellow crate that I almost had to fight someone over.  I was there first, dammit!

Odd blue wooden box that I found last Saturday in a junk pile while we were on our way to lunch. It's got outlets on it and a wire coming out of it, making it too intriguing to pass up.  Any wooden item that is this shade of blue seems to sell for me.

Poor Emma!  Someone set her stool on the curb in a pile of junk.  Judging by the cobwebs that were on it, she hadn't used it in a while.  This is a really nice paint job, by the way.  Whoever did it remembered to seal it or wax it or whatever.  it was so filthy that it was almost black from grime, but it cleaned right up really easily with no loss of color.

Handmade yard stuff, barn red even!  

Small, handmade wooden media shelf--really solid.  From the store stash.

Small round table.  It looks like it was made from a cable spool, but it's not.  It was manufactured that way.  Definitely a project for some talented soul.

It's covered in band stickers and graffiti about Courtney and Kyle and their undying love.  I blacked out the last names just in case someone might recognize them.

This cute little table came from three houses down.

C'mon!  Who doesn't need a painting of one gigantic strawberry?  From the store haul.

The one lone shutter I found this time around. In front of it are tools and ski poles from the store haul.  Of course, I would grab the ski poles.

Somehow we ended up on the same street as two scrapper trucks, but were in front of them, so I got these cool metal garden chairs. They are seriously sturdy and high quality.  There was a matching table that was way too large for Mazda, so I had to leave it for the scrappers.

The gas can is from Belknap, a now-defunct, hardware and tool company that was based in Louisville.  Their stuff is very popular with collectors in these parts.  I love selling stuff with local ties.

Still more to come tomorrow.

Freebies

Time to start sharing stuff and telling stories, I guess.  I'm getting behind and still need to get some pics of some stuff.

The first rule of Junk Set Out is that you don't talk about Junk Set Out.   Oh, wait.  Wrong movie.

The real first rule of Junk Set Out is that it's not really, officially Junk Set Out until you see the first toilet!

This one gets bonus points for being tipped over!

The second rule of Junk Set Out is:  "Sometimes you find porn."

Just laying right in the top of a trash can like that!

I left that where I found it.  It wasn't the only porn I found, either.  The "other team" was also represented, so to speak.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's begin.

I found three complete season sets of Friends and one that was missing two discs.  Seriously.  I also got a bunch of kids books and Disney DVD's and VHS tapes at that house.  I'll be keeping a few of the Disney DVD's.  Classic animation never goes out of style.

Christmas tree cut from a pallet. Safely stored until next year.

Painted primitive chair from the freebies at the store closing.  There was a group of folks standing around waiting for new stuff to come out, which was happening all the time.  I spent the whole afternoon there, between the parking lot and the inside room/.  I also bought a few things, because 75% off is close to free.

Anyway, I came out of the store with an armload, and this chair had been added to the parking lot pile.  I grabbed it and some dude tried to tell me it was wobbly and didn't sit right.  I told him that it was steady enough to sit on a porch and hold a large fern this summer.  Keith told me the guy looked at me like I was crazy.

Since I'm sharing freebies, another vendor gave me a box of vintage dishes recently.  I'm selling the box as a set, except for these four cups.  You can't really tell from this pic, but these are actually the size of more modern mugs, as opposed to typical coffee/tea cups you find in vintage sets of dishes.  I've priced them separately, because I like the look of them and I think someone will like the size.  Now, that's a morning cup of coffee!

More to come.  I'm putting everything out at the booth today, so I'll have a lot more pics to share tomorrow!

The Best Thing I've Ever Found

Well, to date anyway.

Junk set out is a lot like trick-or-treating.  You tend to remember which houses are the good ones.  Of course, they don't always deliver a fabulous trove of goodies, but the odds are more in your favor when the house has a good junk reputation.

After a while, you also get the feel for which houses consistently set stuff out early, which is helpful in planning your routes.  A good house that sets stuff out early is like extra icing on your cupcake.  Or something.

Which brings us to the house about five blocks from us that always has a huge pile of stuff that shows up two or three days early.  This year it was a total dud.  It was nothing but pieces of old paneling, ugly cabinets, and hunks of drywall--the downside of renovation junk.  Not a window or a door or anything even remotely interesting.  And no boxes of small stuff like past set outs either.

No this is not a story about this house, except to say that it broke my heart in 17 places this time around.  (Does anyone get that reference?)  This is a story about the house next door.

Someone at that house got clever and pulled a trick that I also like to use--putting all the metal stuff in a separate pile from everything else, so that the scrapper won't make a mess when they come through. It does work.  (So does sitting in the backyard and screaming "Clean up your mess!" at the scrappers.  I scared one to death one year doing that.  He hadn't seen me sitting there watching him make an ugly mess of my neatly stacked pile of stuff.  He cleaned it up.)

The non-metal stuff was all broken furniture and crap, but the metal pile was pretty cool.  Out of that one, I nabbed:

An old metal toolbox with a broken latch which would make a cool planter.  ALREADY SOLD
A really rusty cast iron skillet ALREADY SOLD
An old adding machine that looks cool, but doesn't work

AND THE BEST THING I'VE EVER FOUND:

It's a cast iron decorative seascape with cut outs in the form of clouds.  I cannot find anything else like it online, but I'm pretty sure it's a heating vent.

This is a closer look at the part with the lighthouse.  It's pretty detailed.  Many of the clouds kind of resemble the outline of Kentucky, which was what actually caught my eye first.  The vent was on the bottom of the pile and all I could see was the cut outs. I thought it was some kind of mold for Kentucky-shaped biscuits or cookies.  I was kind of shocked when I got it uncovered and saw what it was.  I've never seen anything like it, but I am kind of sheltered.

As far as I'm concerned, this one set the bar pretty high for future junk finds.  I can't wait to see where things go from here.

If anyone has any other/better info about this one, I am all ears.  My searches have turned up nothing, and I'm really just guessing about what it is.

Monday Rambles

THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND

My glasses broke the other day, so I'm back to wearing contacts, which I haven't done regularly in years.  I've kept my prescription up to dote, but I've gotten to the point in life where I want getting ready in the morning to be as easy as possible, so the hassle of contacts has been just one more thing to do that I don't really want to and so I haven't.

The nerd glasses didn't really go with the longer hair anyway.  They'd work if I were planning to actually go the man bun route, but I feel like I am too old and fat for that.  I'm actually working on more of a loose, hippie ponytail.  I think little, gold-rimmed specs would look better with that.

Without my glasses, I think I look like my mother with a goatee, which kind of makes me nostalgic for my childhood days with the carnival, when I would watch Mom primping and combing her beard before going on stage to do her act is kind of unnerving.  Even worse, Keith keeps telling me how much he likes the way I look without the glasses, and in the back of my mind, a little voice is going, "He thinks your mother with a goatee is hot."  I think I need therapy.

FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES

I had a great conversation yesterday at the mall with a 12 year old boy looking for Spider-Man comics.  He told me he was looking for "older ones."  I said "Old for you?  or Old for me?"  He had to think about that for a minute, then told me he meant 90's.  Old for him, then.  I told him to keep checking back and would do my best to find some.

I actually do need to carve out some time for a bad movie/comic bagging marathon.  I've been selling a lot of those boogers lately.

SPEAKING OF THE BOOTH

It feels like tax season is finally upon us.  Sales are picking up all the time.  The weekends have been gold rush city of late.  Saturday was my second best day ever.  The gravy is flowing and the small furniture is flying out of the door. So is the pricier stuff.  Saturday some dude came in and bought all of my vintage metal lunchboxes.

IT'S JUNKER CHRISTMAS!

This is junk set out week for the next neighborhood over from us, which means that we are next.  We've already got an early start on our set out pile going.  You're not supposed to do that, but my neighborhood ain't much on rules.  It's the first time we've ever tried it, though.  Watch us get cited for it, while the folks down the street who have had the nasty couches sitting on the curb for a MONTH, get by with nothing.

I made two "practice runs" last night.  One to a pile in the other neighborhood.  Got some small stuff, but nothing notable, except for two old fishing poles.  The other stop was at the magical house down the hill that disgorges all kind of interesting stuff every set out period.  They always start early and will be putting out crap right up until the garbage trucks come.  Last night it was a bunch of old religious texts and prayer books.  SCORE!

There's also a new renovation dumpster on our street, two doors down from us.  I told Keith that it was like having junk delivery!

All this is to say: 

IT'S ON BABY!

MUSIC FOR MONDAYS

And finally, to set you on your way:  The Carolina Chocolate Drops!

Photo Catch Up

So, I stayed in and out of the snow for yesterday.   Sadly, I have to get out in the cold today, as there are booth things that have to be done.  I'd much prefer to stay in and out of it all again.  Oh well.

I managed to get quite a bit done during my mini-sojourn in the warmth, including sorting some photos on my phone.  I had a whole bunch of stuff taken throughout November and December, but never got around to posting.  Despite my best intentions and because of my somewhat less than best efforts, I managed to fall into my standard pattern of spending December overwhelmed and under-blogged.

Or at least, that's the story I'm telling the people.  The truth is far, far darker.

I was in jail for molesting a Wise Man in public at an outdoor church Nativity scene.  Oh, the shame!

Actually, that's a cover story concocted to conceal my activities as Spider-Ed from my enemies.

Or I could just be clowning around as usual.  Take your pick.  The Spider-Man mask is for sale at the booth.  I was testing to see if it really was one size fits all.  By the way, do not that the proper spelling of "Spider-Man" includes a hyphen.

As for the Wise Man incident, we were out at our favorite holiday activity, when I decided that I was finally going to see what those amazing Nativity figures were made out of.  Every year for as long as I have been in Louisville (30 years as of this fall), they've been placed in front of that church.  I imagine they're even older than that, since it would be kind of pretentious of me to assume that they just started using them in honor of my arrival in town.

Turns out, they're blow molds!  I've never seen any like that anywhere else.  They are so incredibly detailed and well made. 

Curb finds!  Some former neighbors of ours operated a restaurant not far from us that was a combination BBQ joint and (over-priced) junk store.  They closed the whole operation down recently and have been placing things out on the curb, bit by bit.  And I've been picking them up, bit by bit.  This was a recent batch.  Like I'm really gonna pass up a feather boa purse!

The little block is filled with craft supplies.  I gave some to another vendor and have been selling the rest.  I got so excited about all this stuff that I almost forgot to pick up a prescription!  Keith actually saw it all before I did and just automatically pulled the van over.  He used to ask if I wanted to check things out.  Now he just stops.

A little bit of my Christmas display.  I hit the vintage flocked reindeer jackpot this year.  Most of them came from one sale where a guy was selling things from his aunt's estate.  He said that she loved Christmas and had 8 trees in her house every year!  She must have used the same set up every year, because all the things I got from that sale were labelled as to where they were put for Christmas.  The white reindeer (love them!) went on the mantle, while all the red ones went on the TV.

I do not know why I'm sideways here, but I can't make myself stop doing it.  Maybe it's the Spider-Ed powers kicking in.  I just wanted to show how much my hair has grown out.  I plan to start rocking the most awesome ponytail you've ever seen soon.  I'm holding that brush because I was interrupted while doing my Rhianna lip sync routine performing my nightly brushing ritual.

Every now and then, I have two cancer treatments in one month.  December was like that.  Lily came to visit during the first one.  She always come right to us and spends the longest time with us. 

The second treatment was on December 27.  Since the center had been closed on the 26th, they had a huge amount of people to see that day.  Instead of going to the usual clinic floor for my infusion, I was sent to a kind of ad hoc treatment room they set up to accommodate the extra traffic.  It was cold and very noisy in there, but we got in and out faster than we ever had before.

If you follow me on Facebook you've seen this Christmas Eve pic, but it's one of the best selfies we've ever done, so here it is again.

And that is as good a note to end on as any!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like.....You Know.

Not meaning to work anyone's nerves or anything like that, but the hustle/bustle is upon us!

Here are a couple of pics of unseen finds that might help get you in the mood.

These guys were a curb find.  They were part of a larger decoration that would have included all the reindeer and the fat guy in the sleigh.  This was all I found, but they're still awesome!

I've never seen a sweet little angel blow mold/choir girl like this one before.  Isn't she a doll?  She's dated 1972.  Wouldn't it be something to have a whole bunch of them?

What holiday treasures have you found recently?

How about some stuff?

Earlier this month was our junk set out.  Due to the ongoing booth battle, I was unable to devote whole days to the hunt like I normally do.  I was stuck with doing all my picking in the morning and evening, before and after the booth.  I was afraid that I wouldn't really find much because of this.

Thankfully, it only rained one day early on, which meant stuff was dry.  Also, the garbage folks got way behind  on the pick up.  Usually, we have a weekend to set stuff out (Fri-Sun), and they pick it up during the next week (Mon-Fri).  By Friday evening, it's all gone.  Sometimes, they're still picking up that next Saturday, but that's as late as it has gone.

However, this time they were still picking up on the first three days of of the next week.  There was stuff still sitting out on Wednesday!  Plenty of days to pick.  Since people often add to their piles until they get picked up, that meant lots of stuff to look through.  Woo hoo!

Let's look at some pics.

 I honestly found this stuff sitting out in a junk pile.  I don't doubt that sometimes people people put out old out of date groceries, but this is the first time I've ever seen a few, unopened, in date items just sitting in a box.  I left it all for someone else, who must have come by, because this stuff was gone by the next day.

BLOW MOLDS!  There's another one I found, but it is still waiting to be cleaned.  That awesome cart they're sitting on was not a curb find, but a bargain I nabbed at the mall sidewalk sale.  It's already sold.

I fell in love with this rusty, crusty, industrial-looking plant stand.  I also found a lot of old jars filled with dry tempera powder at the spot where this was.

  Old desk drawer with dividers.  I think it would make a great shelf.  There were two of these.  I actually found several more drawers this time around.  There were so many that I had to stop picking them up.

Cute Sesame Street organizer.  These pics are all from the booth, by the way.

Most everything you can see in this pic was found on a curb or dumpster at some point.  The wood box on top and wood spool on the bottom came from this particular set out period.

Finally, a perfect project chair and  mod looking wall shelf. These came from a HUGE pile down the street from us, outside a restaurant that just closed.  The owners also fancied themselves to be re-sellers, so the place was also filled with (mainly over-priced) junk.  I went back to this pile four or five times, finding stuff every time.

That's most of the big stuff, I think.  Well, except for the trunk that sold before I could clean it.  I'm still working through the smalls, so there might be more to come!