Coconut's Birthday

Saturday...the last weekend of July and a beautiful day for saling. The humidity had finally dropped from oppressive levels, making it pleasant outside. Monica's sister and nephew were visiting from Florida so there was a family barbecue planned for the afternoon and it was also Coconut's birthday! Coconut is Monica's niece's stuffed monkey. During the week, while looking at the monkey's tag, Monica's niece had discovered that Coconut had a birthday...and it was July 27th. Everyone was expected to bring cards and presents! But first...off to the sales!

The first of our three stops. There was not a lot to choose from this week and we knew our saling time was limited so we picked three stops and hoped for the best. This was an estate sale run by the family of the person who lived here.

Monica...behind the candelabra! There was a lot to look through and there was a lot of old things but not a lot of things that are our style. We did get some great records and a nice vintage apron! And on the way to the next sale, we came across a garage sale and we decided to take a look at what was for sale. It was all newer kids stuff and everything was 50 cents. We got some great magic sets for our nephew and some doll clothes for our niece. Oh...and we got a few things for us. :) 

So off we went to the second sale...

Our second stop was at our garage sale that always advertises vintage things and always, always has them too! The woman running this is the lady we exchanged phone numbers with a few weeks ago. She has a few sales each summer to try to get rid of a lot of the stuff she collected. The last time we were here, we were discussing old chalkware mermaids, fish and bubbles for the bathroom and we both had some. She told us she sell hers to us if we were interested. Unfortunately, hers were a little newer than ours (early 1970's) and not a great match for what we already have so we passed on those. We did get a few good records and some cookbooks!

Our third and last stop...and as the sign said....

"Estate Tag Sale Today!" 

This sale was run by a new company that we discovered a few weeks ago. They told us about the sale we were about to visit back then. "A home from 1956 virtually untouched by time". We had to wait on line outside as they were only allowing a certain number of people in the house at a time. This is the first time we have waited on a line since probably March. It was a short line and we were inside in about 15 minutes. Well, the house was definitely built in the 1950's and there was some 1950's furniture inside but it was not all we had hoped it would be. 

Though there was this very cool refrigerator

The folks running the sale recognized us and told us that a lot of things were sold earlier in the morning. That could very well be but you can could tell that a lot of the things in the house were newer. It was still a fun time and we did get some nice things at a very, very low price (just like the other time they had a sale, their prices seem to be excellent).

Here are some of the things we got today:

Some 10 inch records and some 7 inch records

Some record albums...

...and some more record albums

Miscellaneous items including some spare old chair legs (you never know when a replacement is in order), lots of old cocktail swizzlers and some other items

Some cookbooks

A Handyman magazine from 1966 and a "Guy Lombardo's Photo Scrapbook" from the late 1970's.

And this great vintage apron for Monica! Pink and blue elephants!

After a great day adventuring together, it was time to go to the barbecue and celebrate Coconut's birthday too. We did remember to bring a card and a present! 

Our nieces and nephew helping Coconut open her presents! 

Children's Festival and Safety Day

Saturday was the Children's Festival and Safety Day, an annual outdoor festival featuring free rides, free food and entertainment for the kids and family. We have been going the last few years with Monica's family. Since it started at 1 pm, we knew our saling would be limited today which was okay because the actual number of sales out there were very limited. Temperatures had been in the mid-90's the whole week with the "real feel" temperatures over 100 degrees because of the humidity. It was just too hot for anyone to have any outdoor sales and, unless the air conditioning was pretty good, indoor sales were even questionable. We only found two sales that both showed any potential and fit our route and schedule limitations. So...we decided to load Rob's car with Thrift Shop donations (the remaining leftovers from our June garage sale) and go there first...

A funny thing happened on the way to the Thrift Shop. We saw an "Estate Sale" sign on the way so we followed the sign and ran across a small outdoor sale. There were not a lot of items here but we gave the woman a lot of credit for braving the brutal outdoor temperatures. Rob picked up a couple of items but before we could get a price on them, we overheard her tell a customer something that no one ever wants to hear..."eBay is selling this for $25". Ugh...one of THOSE people...the ones who check eBay for every item they have and make note of the prices that are being asked for them. Most of the time, it is the ASK price they see, not the BID price. There was a really cute bride and groom salt and pepper set (marked "Japan") that we wanted. She wanted $5 for it stating "they are going for $25 on eBay". Rob tried to talk her down but she would not budge. In the end, we left that item behind but did come away with two cool old matchbooks and an old set of dice. 

Our next stop was our original destination, a Thrift Shop who readily and happily accepts donations. Monica is doing the "Bigfoot Step" in the picture. ha ha! After buying a Monty Python shirt for Rob, we emptied our car of our donations and set sail for planned Sale #1. 

We arrived at our first planned sale. The sign told us a familiar face would be running the sale. This Tag Sale company is run by a nice guy who always seems to wind up running sales in homes ravaged by Hurricane Sandy and without air conditioner. Luckily, the air conditioning was working well. There was not a lot here but we did walk away with a few small things.

This was the house where our final sale of the day was held. We think the people running this belonged to a new Tag Sale company but we were not sure. They had a mailing list sign-up in one room but everything else about the sale pointed towards family members selling off a family member's belongings. They did not have any clue as to what price to ask for anything. There was very little here for us but we did come home with one Tiki mug and one can opener.

Our small accumulation of stuff for the day:

A set of old dice, a Tiki mug, a Thanksgiving salt and pepper shaker (missing its mate) and a can opener from Ballantine Beer.

An "ART-EE-FUN" drawing book, an old stain removal guide and a couple of old matchbooks.

So it was off to the Children's Festival and Safety Day. We were meeting Monica's sister and Monica's brother and their families and we got there about half hour late because we were stuck in traffic behind a massive accident but we eventually arrived.

The line for the free refreshments were not long at all. There were free hot dogs (Rob and Monica's brother-in-law had three apiece), lemonade, cotton candy. pretzels, popcorn, ice cream and more! It was much more crowded the last few years but the intense heat limited the crowds. 

Monica wore her hat! She was the only one there with a hat like this!

A pre-gubernatorial era Arnold Schwarzenegger balloon?

Shannon loved the rock climbing and was so good at it! 

Looks like Peter just finished some blue cotton candy! 

Marissa just finished her turn on the bouncy ride

Shannon enjoying the slide

Peter loved the slide too...

...and so did Marissa!

Peter ringing the bell in the "strong man" attraction

There was a magician entertaining the crowd in a suit! His tricks were amazing but perhaps his best trick was not sweating in that suit on such a hot day!!!!!

There were balloon makers making balloon animals for the kids. Monica's sister, Marissa and Peter are awaiting the finished product.

And there it is! Peter showing off his balloon giraffe. From a side view, he looked a little like Homer Simpson.

Monica brought her hat and her parasol. Rob just simply brought Monica. It was a great day together!

Hazy, Hot and Umid

Yes, we know...it's hazy, hot and Humid but Rob never says the "h" in "Humid". Never. It is a running joke. Rob says "it's humid". Monica says "humid with a 'u'". Ha ha. Rob is starting to say "muggy" instead of "umid" now. It truly is hazy, hot and er...muggy and has been for about three weeks with no end in site. Today was no exception and we are starting to notice how well the air conditioners work when we go indoors now!

We had a large number of stops picked out for today with no clear cut "sure things" but we did have a feeling about some of them and we made them our priority. So, with our list of stops in hand, away we went!

Our first stop... a sale advertised as having 50 years worth of stuff. Maybe there were some 50 year old books but it was just some stuff in the garage and that was it. A complete bust.

On the way to the next sale, we ran into this little guy in the middle of the road. Rob got out of the care to take a picture and he waddled right up to him to say hello!

Our second sale was indoors and had a few great items. We spent about 30 minutes here and bought a few fun items.

It started to rain which cooled things off a little but not too much. This is a close up view of Rob's windshield fluid shooter. He was not needed today but he was awake and ready to help when needed.

We arrived at our third sale and it was an outdoor sale that we had been to twice last year. Lots of vintage items, some overpriced, but we made friends with the lady who was running it (she recognized us from last year) and exchanged phone numbers and she gave us a great price on the items we chose and they were GREAT items. 

Another view of the third sale. You cannot see it from these pictures but most of the stuff was in a big garage. After this sale, we stopped for lunch. We normally get breakfast on Saturdays but we both had a craving for turkey sandwiches so lunch it was! 

Our fourth sale. Monica was waiting for me to hurry up inside. 

This beautiful refrigerator was downstairs. The family told us that it was originally white but that her family had it painted in the 1960's. Nice choice. It was beautiful!

They also had an old dryer, the exact same one that Monica had in her house as a kid!

A closer view of the knobs on the dryer.

It's a Solid State! 

And there it is...the pencil sharpener in the basement which is where all old pencil sharpeners should be mounted! The people here were very nice and we found some fun items here!

Our last stop. Monica is making her her way to the door to wait for me. This sale was run by some dealers. They said hello as they recognized us from other sales from the past. Interesting house but we did not find much except for some great old children's 7-inch records which we bought. They gave us a great price since it was almost time for this sale to end! It was a tiring day, we had found lots to make us smile and we decided to call it a day (and go home to take a nap together which we did).

Here are some things we brought home:

Some books and a green stamp booklet with a list of stuff we can get when we redeem our green stamps!

Some records

Some children's records

Some more children's records

Some Christmas items. We liked the tree skirt very much!

Halloween items...some unopened Halloween "Party Ensemble" packages, an unoped package of trick or treat bags and a couple of plastic Halloween masks, all from Woolworth's from the 1970's

Some miscellaneous items...a ceramic monkey cup marked Japan, a "ponytail" travel case, some new parasol picks for tropical parties, a record holder for 7-inch records, a pink ceramic candy dish and orange salt and pepper shakers.

A barbecue tray and bottle opener

An atomic serving tray with diamond shaped glass inserts. 

A bi-level lampshade as a backup in case any of ours get damaged.