In The Zone

Setting our routes for our Saturday saling adventures isn't always easy. The area that we are normally willing to cover stretches about 90 miles from east to west and another 25 miles from north to south. This covers three counties. It is a big area. After gathering our list of potential sales, we have to prioritize them and then figure out a way to maximize the number of stops we can make in the time that we have. Do we target one sale on the edge of our area or do we forget about that sale and five or six other sales that are closer to each other? The decision is not always easy. 

This particular week found us considering four sales and, luckily, they were in one zone. We could make all four easily. Of course, selecting the order in which to visit them is another challenge but we manage to come to a consensus before our journey starts. The zone in which these four sales resided was perfect because Monica's mom was scheduled to come home from the Rehab Center that morning. If we were needed to help her father, we would be no more than twenty minutes away. This was good! With the volume turned up on our cell phones and with a route in place, off we went!

We arrived at stop #1 and, for the second week in a row, encountered the dreaded line. It was not totally unexpected. Since we wanted to be ready to respond quickly if Monica's dad needed help, we wanted to get into the zone early and we arrived at stop #1 a few minutes before it opened. The sale was described as the sale of "the entire contents of a 1954 home". This caught our attention and it was, by far, the most intriguing description on our list. We also knew that there would be a line because there was a wide variety in old car parts in the basement which we knew would attract dealers and classic car enthusiasts alike. The line outside was a little misleading as we found out that they had actually opened the sale up a few minutes early and the first wave of people were already inside (some lined up as early as 4:30am to get first crack at the car parts). We waited patiently for about thirty minutes and got our turn inside.

There were several floors to search and we began in the basement. The floor was old and we like seeing things "untouched" from the house's original birth. This floor was a quick visit. The basement was almost entirely filled with the car parts that drew so many early birds. We found only one or two of things of interest here.

This is one of the bathrooms...a sea of green broken only by the pink of the toilet

The other bathroom was yellow. A close examination of the counter top and...

Boomerang! 

We spent an hour in this house and searched everywhere including this attic which was too small to stand in. We had to climb up a ladder and squeeze into a small doorway to get in! When our search of this house was over, we found a package of party lights, some Thanksgiving candles and honeycomb decorations, a record and some books. 

After stopping for some breakfast, we got the call. Monica's mom was home but we would not be needed. She was tired and just wanted to sleep. It had been about six weeks since she had been home. She was entitled to rest in her own home at last and we were so happy that she was there! 

So we moved on to stop #2 which was simply a garage sale that mentioned "vintage Christmas". It was as advertised. Although it was a quick stop, it was a productive one. We found a knee hugger elf, an elf girl made in Japan, a set of vintage Christmas curtains and some Christmas cake toppers from the 1970's, still in their original packages.

Stop #3 was also a garage sale and mentioned the word "vintage" in their ad. There was not too much there but we did get a wooden tiki to hang on our wall.

Stop #4 stated there was "vintage throughout the home" and it was run by a tag sale company that we know. There were no great pictures supporting our feeling that we should go here other than one picture that showed us that the house has a lot of clutter throughout. Clutter often means digging. This is good!

The pictures in their ad did not do this house justice. There was a lot of clutter in the basement.

The basement was really cluttered...

Really, REALLY cluttered

We did not have much time to work. We arrived at 1:15pm with an expectation that the sale was going on until 3pm. The sign on the door told us otherwise. It was ending at 2pm and we had a lot of work to do. We did the best we could in the time allowed. We found lots of vintage greeting cards, some books, some Lake George souvenirs and a few other things. It was a shortened day but a fun day and we found a lot of fun things to bring home.

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

A record

Some books. The designer's handbook on the upper right was still in its original mailing envelope (bottom right)

A Better Homes and Gardens magazine (Christmas edition - 1955) and a Keyboard Fun book

Some Peanuts paperbacks from the 1960's

Some Lake George souvenirs from the 1960's. Rob went on vacations here when he was a kid. We will go there soon together

Birthday cake toppers and candles

A wooden tiki that stands about two feet high. Monica named him "Trader Rob"

A set of party lights that is still in its packaging

Two decks of cards, two old picture viewers, a giveaway plastic bonnet, an old ruler and a great plate

Vintage Valentine's Day cards

Vintage baby cards

Vintage anniversary cards

Another vintage anniversary card

Vintage birthday cards

More vintage birthday cards

Some more vintage birthday cards

A few more vintage birthday cards

And a few more vintage birthday cards

A pair of full-sized plastic Halloween trick or treat bags

Two small Thanksgiving honeycomb decorations and a pair of Thanksgiving Gurley candles

Various cake toppers

Christmas cake toppers and a small bottle brush tree

Christmas cake toppers still in their packages (made in Hong Kong) and two elves (both made in Japan) 

A set of vintage Christmas curtains

A vintage Christmas flyer, a Santa die-cut giveaway from a bank and a vintage Christmas card

We knew we would spend a lot of our Sunday doing errands and household chores (and we did) so we decided to do something fun Saturday night

We went out for dinner at a local Chinese Restaurant. It has been around a long time but little remains of its original dining area now

There were some fun decorations inside though...

...and a funny looking dragon keeping watch over the dining room

The menu told us that exotic drinks were ours for the asking (we knew this in advance)

There they were! We ordered a scorpion and a pineapple passion, both of which we shared. These were legitimate scorpion bowls! We peaked at the bottom...Orchids of Hawaii...made in Japan.

It wasn't our favorite Chinese Restaurant but they DID have great scorpion bowls and Monica DID get to wear the drink umbrellas in her hair. More importantly, it was a night out together and that is always reason enough to smile.