April!

April had arrived and just in time! On the last day of March, we had a surprise snowstorm that even caught the meteorologists completely off guard. There was no snow in the forecast but there was five inches of snow on the ground! By the afternoon, temperatures climbed into the 50's and most of the snow melted. Goodbye March. Thanks for the joke! 

Now that it's April, we can start to expect, when the weather allows, lots of signs for garage sales which present us with unexpected extra stops in our Saturday travels. This is always fun because it adds that little extra element of surprise to our day. Being that this was only the first weekend in April, we did not expect to see a lot of signs so we would rely on only the list we compiled from the advertised sales. The list was short...just three sales. Three is a lot better than none so, with hope in our hearts, off we went!

Although you couldn't tell from the ad, our first stop WAS outdoors, our first of this calendar year. It was one town away from us and we recognized the hosts right away. Last year, we had run a garage sale just to divest ourselves of things we no longer wanted. Our hosts today were amongst the first arrivals at our sale and spent over $75 at our sale; a significant amount considering almost all of what we sold was set at a price of a dollar or two. This sale was to get rid of some of the things their late mother had owned. There was not much there but they did have a box of Christmas items marked $1 for the entire box. There were eight vintage Christmas items that we liked and bought those for $1. It was a good start. 

We saw another sign for a garage sale in the area so we followed that sign and made an unscheduled stop. We were there 30 seconds. It was terrible. That's another good thing about garage sales...if the sale is terrible, you will know it right away. It doesn't take up a lot of your time!

Our second planned stop was 25 minutes away. It was described as "vintage to midcentury" in the ad. It was run by a tag sale company whose prices are sometimes a little steep. 

 The house showed many signs that the ad might just be right. Look at this great stove!

The dials on the stove were really cool! 

Look what we "saw"! There were lots of tools here but none that we needed. There was a great vintage men's bicycle that really needed a lot of work. They wanted $100 for it and that was about $75 more than Rob was willing to pay for it. Still, we did find a record, some vintage Christmas items and a few other things for a grand total of $5. It was another successful stop! 

Our third and final planned stop was about 40 minutes away. The flowers growing in this yard, around the corner from our final destination, spoke of a Spring that had arrived. The flowers were growing even if the grass wasn't. 

The outside of a house holding a sale described as "vintage, vintage, vintage"...and it was!

The basement bar was amazing! Look at those bar stools! Monica was very happy!

Behind the bar was this cool bar sink! It wasn't only the bar that made this basement special!

Look at the basement! A great floor! Knotty pine walls!

Another view of the basement. Imagine the parties that must have been had here in the 1960's! By the way, look at the cool metal chairs!

A third view of this great basement. The wall alongside the stairs has great shelves!

And Rob found his favorite basement floor design of all time...

...a clown!

The floor also had playing cards...

...and music notes

There were two pin-up cowgirls on the wall

Here is the other.

We had so much fun in this house and this basement is amongst our favorites of all time! We didn't leave empty handed either. We brought home a small vintage barkcloth curtain, some St. Patrick's Day decorations, some New Year's Eve noisemakers, a couple of records, some vintage warmers a few other small items.

Here are some of the things we brought home with us:

Some records

Some books. All of the bowling books are from between 1959 and 1963

Vintage atomic barkcloth curtains

St. Patrick's Day decorations

Vintage noisemakers. Many of them have wooden handles

A pair of vintage dish warmers

Some old lei's, a turquoise pearl necklace, some cocktail stirrers and some coasters

A "pep" pepper shaker (missing its mate) and a vintage glass. 

Christmas stencils and a Christmas stocking

Gurley Christmas candles, a plastic sleigh and some Mica houses

Snowman ornaments and sputnik ornaments

There weren't a lot of sales but they were fun sales. With Spring in the air, Rob's thoughts turned to hamburgers and we decided to go out to eat Saturday night at a hamburger place that is decorated to look like a vintage restaurant, although it is only a few years old.

We love the way it's decorated and we have been here a few times before. The food is good, the atmosphere is great...

...and, although the prices for the hamburgers are not 29 cents, it is a fun meal made more special because it is time spent together and that is always so very special.