Beat The Clock

The holidays have passed even if the uncertainty of the weather has not. The snow of last Friday is a distant memory. Temperatures were in the 40-50 degree range last Sunday and Monday and that was enough to melt all but the largest of the snow piles. We did have very, VERY cold weather midweek with temperatures hovering in the single digits but the snow stayed away with the exception of some flurries on Friday. The number of sales being offered has increased slowly. This week, we had five sales on our list which is not normally a daunting task to accomplish but we had the clock against us. First of all, there were three distinct clusters of sales with three being in one area and the other two being in two separate and distinct areas with a little travel time involved. The fact that it was raining did not make traveling any easier...and we were supposed to have periods of torrential rain! Secondly, we had plans for the evening. Monica's uncle is in a physical rehabilitation facility following his recent hospitalization and we wanted to visit him. Monica's sister thought leaving at 5 pm to make the trip our east (a good one hour ride) was a good target time. We were determined to follow through on all of our plans. We just had to beat the clock.

We decided to tackle the "cluster of three" sales first. Although the other two sales seemed to hold the most promise, one of these had the earliest start time and we figued this would be the most efficient route. We arrived at the first sale which boasted a "lifetime of treasures". We recognized the people running the sale. We had been to one of their sales recently and Monica got a couple of beautiful vintage dresses then. While there were plenty of rooms, there was not much for us. We walked away with one vintage tablecloth. The next sale was only a few blocks away and its only attraction was that it said it was getting rid of some vintage furniture for free. When we pulled up, the house was desolate...no cars around...not even in the driveway. We did not even get out of the car. 

The third stop was about 10 minutes away and the address did not come up on GPS but the directions in the ad gave us a pretty good idea of where to find the street. Not far from our destination, we saw a sign that said "Thrift Shop Open". We followed the sign.

This was a thrift shop that neither of us knew existed. It might be new. They were having a sale and the people who ran the thrift shop seemed really nice. The timing was perfect because they were moments away from packing up their Christmas items until next year. They were in bins ready to be boxed. We found some great old Christmas items made in Japan and, while going through the rest of the store, we found a great pair of squirrel salt and pepper shakers, a ceramic pixie case, an old vintage suit jacket for Rob and a sweater for Monica. We decided that this will be a regular stop on our thrifting circuit and that the next set of donations we have will go here. When we left, we went onto the planned third stop and it was a bust. There was nothing for us but we were glad we made the trip because we would not have found the thrift shop otherwise!

We made our way to planned stop #4 (about 30 minutes away) and stopped for lunch. We normally have breakfast out during our Saturday adventures but it was a little later and we thought it would be a nice change of pace. We were trying to beat the clock and Rob thought having Russian (rushing) dressing on his sandwich sounded like a good idea  ("Rob will appearing nightly...all week...two shows...no rotten tomatoes will be allowed in the door"). Anyway, while there, it started raining...torrentially. The rest of our travels would be slow but we were determined to beat the clock!

By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped for awhile which was good. The sale was run by a Tag Sale Company that we knew. 

The house had a downstairs bar which Rob thoroughly searched...

and the bar countertop wasn't quite boomerang but it was a really cool pattern nonetheless!

A search of the house found us carrying out a vintage outdoor patio table, some cookbooks and some very old unopened Good Humor wooden ice cream sticks.

Our last stop would normally have been 30 minutes away but it took us much longer to get there because the parkway, on which we traveled, had a major accident and we were stuck in traffic. We did arrive and, as we pulled up, it started to rain again. Monica was rushing ahead to make sure she stayed dry!

This last sale was also run by a Tag Sale Company we knew and they were glad to see us. Even though it was late in the day, we found a lot of great stuff buried here, most of which were vintage Christmas items made in Japan. We also found a few records and a few other things, all at a great price!

Here are some of the things we got today:

Two Christmas albums and a 7-inch record called "The Wedding Album"...we figured we may need this in the future. 

Some cookbooks and a book on dinosaurs that Rob had as a kid.

A vintage Christmas tablecloth

A vintage suit jacket for Rob. The label says "Robert Hall", a clothing retailer that went out of business in 1977. There was one in Rob's hometown and his earliest suits were bought here (and at Sears). The suit above is probably from the 1960's.

A vintage metal patio table. We will repaint it. We are leaning towards turquoise

A pineapple knife made in Japan, two plastic domos (for free) and a bunch of plastic photo viewers. Originally, we picked up a couple for Rob's brother-in-law but, since then, Monica has developed a passion for them so some of these will remain with us. 

Some Christmas ceramic decorations made in Japan

More Christmas decorations made in Japan. We already had two sets of the salt and pepper shakers on the right but, this time, we got them in the original box too!

A ceramic pixie case, a large rooster salt and pepper shaker (missing its mate), a set of squirrel sat and pepper shakers and some old Good Humor wooden spoons unopened. Based upon the lack of a zip code on the Good Humor packaging, we suspect that these are from the late 1950's or very early 1960's

By the time we left, it was raining pretty steadily and it took us an hour to get home. We were about 15 minutes late for meeting up with Monica's sister for the trip out east but we all piled into the van and braved the torrential rain, intense fog and dark roads. Monica's uncle was happy to see us and after the visit, we all stopped for dinner. Finally getting home after 11 pm, we sat down and breathed deep. It was a fun day spent together and with family and...we beat the clock!