Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Weekend Finds

Welcome back to the internet's worst junk blogging finds rundown.  You know the drill:  pics on the fly, no staging, crappy lighting, etc.  I forgot to get pics of the stuff I left across the river on Saturday, so many of the interesting things from the Mazda shot are not even here.  Sorry about that.  I had a lot of smalls, so I only included the ones that I thought were interesting or blog-worthy.  A couple of things I saved for future posts, because some things just deserve it.  A good day junking should keep on giving, as far as the blog posts go!
Small brown tables with retro desk lamps

Saturday was one of those odd days where the peak came at the very first sales and then everything else was downhill from there.  Whenever that happens, there's a weird vibe that results.  I almost lose the thrill of the hunt as soon as we finish that first sale.  It becomes a struggle to keep going.  Add into this my stress over booth sales and situations, and I was having a really hard time keeping the momentum up.  Nevertheless, I persevered!  Shop on, I say!

So what was that first sale that was so very freaking awesome?  Why, the one put on by my very own neighborhood association!  They rent out spaces in a vacant lot not too far from the house and wonderment ensues!  It's always a good sale and there are bargains galore!  I made three trips back to the car before I finished the first row of booths.  I look forward to this one every year.  It's the sale that sets off the home stretch of fall sales for the year.  There are one or two other awesome mega sales coming and then the season will be over.  Sigh!

Painted shadow box
I had intended to set up at this sale this year, but starting the new booth kind of torpedoed those plans.  I'm starting to realize that I might not get another personal yard sale in this fall either.  Well, there's always next year, I guess!

Many of the large things in the Mazda shot came from this sale, including the orange top tables and the blue wicker bar stool.  They're all set up at the new booth.

Back to the yard sales.  After making like a jillion trips through the neighborhood lot sale, we set off to tackle my list.  Next stop was one that included this tantalizing phrase in their ad:  "vintage(?) comic books."  You know I was there!  I walked off with the whole lot after this little dialogue:

SCORE!  Good stuff in here and I got to take the tub too!
Seller:  Comics are a dollar each or three for two dollars.
Me:  How much for the lot?
Seller:  Count them up.
Me:  There's about 16 dollars worth in this stack.  (I counted by threes.)  The other stack is about the same size.  Could I get them both for $20?
Seller:  Can't do that.  I'd do $25.
Me:  SOLD!

That is how negotiations should work, my friends.  Bulk Buy Offer. Counter-Offer.  Boom!
Tin picnic basket.  Repro?

After that, it was hit or miss.  The next few sales yielded little to nothing.  The peak had been reached.  It was 9:30, and we were heading downhill quickly.  And there were too many choices and uncertainties.  Do I go with neighborhood sales that might waste time?  Or drive way out of my usual way for sales that might or might not be good?  I had a real battle with indecision going on.

In the end, I targeted a large adoption fundraiser sale and a small street sale as definite stops.  The adoption sale yielded a cheap Ikea end table and some smalls.  You can see the Ikea table in the Mazda shot post.  It stayed at the new booth, too.  Leaving it we saw a sign for a sale that I had considered going to, but thought it was too far away.  We followed the signs and found two sales.  I piled up so many cool things at one of the sales that the seller stopped totaling me up at 20 bucks and just threw the last four of five things in.  Love it when that happens!

Hulk like Elmo!
One of the things I got there was a very large stuffed Hulk figure.  A woman asked me what I was going to do with it.  Her daughter looked at her and said:  "I would throw it at people on Halloween."  Seems like a good idea to me.  Watch out on October 31!

Across the street, I bought a really odd (for me) item--a weight bench.  It's just one of those plain ones that you lay on and hope you don't end up dropping something very heavy on your throat.  It's totally not me, but it is something I can place other things on it for a display.  It also has no moving parts, so customers won't be tempted to do stupid things in public on it.  And it was only a dollar.  Okay, so that last bit may have influenced me more than a little bit.

On way out of this neighborhood, we stumbled across a fundraiser sale for a Doberman rescue group.  I got a huge pile of enamelware dishes there (most with lids).  Happy dance!  The last sale was a vintage junkie kicking the habit.  I got some nice things there, but there were a couple more things I wanted (chalkware Madonnas!) and she wasn't budging on the prices.
Love the red one! All have lids, except the top one.

We rounded out the day trying to pick up a free sofa from a work friend, only to find out that our wondrous Mazda does indeed have a limit.  Just wasn't going to work.  I ended up putting it on Craigslist for her and hauling it to the end of her driveway.  It's gone now!

Oops!  I am out of things to say.  Photo parade from here on out!

Betty Boop Witch


Love the old hymnals!

Palm Tree Candle Holders

Crafty filled light bulbs

Awesome Oreo tin

Sweet vintage Madonna
Bar stools are quick sellers for me.

Hand-painted wooden elephant/pull toy

Finding Peanuts collectibles is always a plus!
More Peanuts stuff and a Fisher-Price repro


Linking up with:  Thriftasaurus!

5 comments:

Linda @ A La Carte said...

It sounds and looks like you did well in your sales. LOVE the enamel ware!! Wowsers!
hugs,
Linda

Donna Wilkes said...

I love to bundle deals. Love the round tables with the retro lamps, the hymnal (I collect those), and the weight bench would be great fot the Hulk. BUT most of all I love, love the enamelware.

Joy@aVintageGreen said...

Really great stuff for you last weekends finds. Deep breath. Remember to take good care of YOU too. Hope the repairs outside of your main booths shop are finished soon. That really slows down sales. Happened to my reselling mall when the grocery store across the street burned down (arson). Took 2 years to get it rebuilt and open and sales did drop over those 2 years. Now we have serious union strikes that are holding buyers back from shopping for 'luxury' items (not food/gas/etc).
Joy

svelteSTUFF said...

A FULL day of sales - OH.THE.FUN!! It's been a l-o-n-g time since I've done one of those ((sigh)). You got some GREAT 'stuff' GOODNESS!

Judy said...

Oooooh! Love the enamelware.