So Many Choices...So Little Time

This was one of those Saturdays that had a list of potential stops that far exceeded the amount of time that we would have. We had a barbecue to attend on Saturday afternoon so our saling was restricted to a much smaller window than normal. There were eleven sales that had potential and that number, even if clustered together, was just not possible. None of the sales were amazing so there was no one sale that we would use to build a route. Instead, we had to choose a route that would give us the greatest number of possible stops. We, very optimistically, narrowed the list down to eight sales based on their proximity to each other and hoped for the best. We had reason to be hopeful. 

 WE found this in our garden during the week. No...it's not a four leaf clover. It's a FIVE leaf clover! Extra good luck, we hoped! 

We started our saling nice and early and arrived at sale #1 just after it opened. It was run by a tag sale company whose sales we have visited before but not in almost a year. The description of the ad described as an older house with lots to pick. We hoped so! 

There were three floors and a garage to search but there really much in any of these places. The upstairs did have this cool sparkly tile. In the end, it was a fairly quick stop but we did leave with one old squeak toy, a 1970's Santa shopping bag and a few pamphlets. Onward we would go!

Sale # 2 had a big sign! We hoped it would big things for us. It was an older home and was described as a "digger". We hoped so! 

There was a pencil sharpener mounted in the garage and this is almost as good as when a pencil sharpener is mounted in the basement! Unfortunately, it really wasn't much of a digger and this stop was pretty quick too. We did sign two old tupperware containers and an old gardening book so the trip was not a waste.

Our third stop was a garage sale that was described as having vintage things. Well, it did have a few and we would have been interested in a couple of things if everything was not so overpriced. It was a really quick stop that found us leaving empty-handed! 

Stop #4 was described as 65 years of accumulation and this sounded pretty good to us. As you can tell, Monica was pretty excited!

There really weren't a lot of rooms to search and there were plenty of things that were not our style, though this screen door was mighty cool! In the end, we found a pair of salt and pepper shakers, a vintage pin and some great old cookbooks. It was our best stop thus far. 

Stop # 5 was an outdoor moving sale with "50 years of accumulation". As we drove by, we could see that everything was packed in boxes on the porch and that there was no sale today. It rained in the early part of the morning and we guess that they changed their mind on having the sale. Oh well...off to stop #6. 

Our sixth stop was a garage sale with "50 years of accumulation". There wasn't that much to see but we did find a record, some pamphlets and some old New York City subway coins. We were happy that we stopped by.

At this point, it was getting a little late and we decided to forgo our last two stops. We had a barbecue to attend but...

...we did have time to make a quick stop at a thrift shop down the block from the last sale. We have been here many times before but not recently. Monica is peaking out from the entranceway. There was nothing for us today but we still enjoyed the visit.

It was a modest day for finds but we did not go home without anything. Here is what we found today:

Books, booklets and cookbooks

Pamphlets from the 1960's. The ads for the restaurants were the best part. We both remember so many of them from our childhood. Monica's dad remembered them all!

A  record

Vintage Tupperware

A vintage pin for Monica

Old New York City subway coins. They date between 1953 and 1985

A pair of salt and pepper shakers (marked Japan) and an old squeak toy

A shopping bag from the 1970's. In New York, who could forget the commercials for dialing Santa! 

We scrambled when we got home to wash up, change and make our way to the barbecue. Our friends, Michael and Pam, were in for a limited time from Utah and Michael's brother was hosting a barbecue in their honor. We have known them both for thirty years! 

Of course, we both appreciated Michael's kind gesture of hunching over for the picture since no one else here is 6'7" tall! 

We spent Sunday doing our errands and chores so we could relax in time for the last episode of Mad Men. We decided to honor the last episode by trying to make a mid-century modern dessert. After searching through the cabinets for available ingredients, our final decision was so very easy. 

Orange jello plus fruit cocktail plus one vintage jello mold = one perfect mid-century modern dessert! 

Another week...another beautiful week spent together. Mad Man? Mad Woman? Simply madly in love with each other...always and forever. 

Cinco de Mayo Weekend

Every year, we host a Cinco de Mayo family party at our house. We don't have it on May 5th unless it falls on a Saturday. We always have it the weekend before or after. This year, our party was scheduled for Saturday, May 9th and we spent a very busy week preparing everything for the party so that we would not have to scramble on the day of the party...and so we could try to get in a little saling early in the day.

While dusting Friday night, we discovered that the second of our latest container of Mexican Jumping Beans had hatched. You can see him in the upper right hand corner. Chicharito II had hatched over the winter. They only live for a few days as an adult and they don't eat as an adult. We let him go downstairs in our house to spend his remaining days. Our newest hatchling was lucky. We were able to let Ricardo Montalban fly away outside. Another Mexican Jumping Bean had hatched. That seemed like a good sign on the night before our Cinco de Mayo party.

Saturday morning arrived and our sights were set on saling...at least for a little while. The party was due to start at 4pm but we only needed about an hour to put on the finishing touches. There were not a lot of sales from which to choose. It was Mother's Day weekend and many of the estate sale companies took the weekend off. It was not a popular weekend for garage sales either. There was one sale described as "60 years of accumulation" but it was an hour away and there were no pictures and no more detailed decription. On a day when our time was limited, we ruled it out. Instead, we chose four sales that were pretty close to home even if they didn't seem all that promising. With hope in our hearts, off we went!

Our first stop of the day was the second day of a sale run by an estate sale company that we had only recently discovered. "Vintage Christmas" was listed in the description and that was a good enough reason to check it out. Once inside, it was clear that this was a home ravaged by Hurricane Sandy a few years ago. There wasn't much here but we did get two old plastic Santas for $1. 

Our second stop was at a family run estate sale. We had no idea what we would find as the ad was very nondescript. It was fairly close so we gave this one a shot. It was a backyard garage sale with plenty of things but nothing at all for us.

Our third stop was also an "estate garage sale" and was on its second day. In the pictures, we saw two tiki mugs and two old Christmas reindeer. When we arrived, the tiki mugs were gone but the reindeer were still there. $1 later, they were ours.

On the way to the third sale, we passed an outdoor sale at a library and decided to stop on the way back. We did not find any interesting books but we did find a great, old double picture frame and, for $1, it belonged to us.

We decided to skip the last sale on our list. It did not look promising, it was midday and we figured that we might just have enough time for a quick one hour nap before finishing our party preparations. We were right and we did! 

Before moving on to our party, here are the things we found saling:

This old double picture frame with its original store display pictures...MGM stars Tony Martin and Susan Hayward! 

Two old red reindeer and two old plastic Santas

It was a modest day of saling but we had fun and our Cinco de Mayo party was just ahead! 

We tried to put fun Cinco de Mayo things about the house...like this dream pet donkey...

...maracas, a ceramic donkey and a noisemaker which an appropriate picture...

...mariachi ducks!

We put Mexican themed records in a tension pole record holder...

...and in this one too! Our favorite is el Bingo! 

Our kitchen chef was in the spirit of the occasion...

...as was Tony The Tiger...

...and our bathroom duck.

Monica made these pull string pinatas for the kids and filled them with candy and small toys.

The food was plentiful (and delicious)...

...and the appropriate table accessories were in place!

Of course, we also had some sangria! 

It was a great party with lots of smiles! No more stress now that the party was a success. 

On Sunday, we packed our Cinco de Mayo party accessories and put them away until next year and then spent the remainder of the day relaxing together...and that time spent together is important to us too! 

May Arrives

May has finally arrived and the weather has been great. April was slightly warmer than the normal April and, on two occasions, the mercury topped out at 75 degrees. We have had just the right amount of rain to keep the flowers interested in growing while not dampening our spirits. In short, it has been a great start to springtime! The first weekend of may looked to keep April's weather trend and we were looking forward to a beautiful weekend which would start with, of course, saling! 

A week long's search of the ads produced a list of five potential stops. Three were in a cluster about 20 minutes from home. The other two were about an hour from home. We decided to start with the local ones and see how things went. With a game plan in mind and hope in our hearts, off we went! 

Sale #1 was a privately run estate sale described as having "60 years" of stuff. It was in Rob's childhood hometown so he knew exactly where this was. 

There was a basement and a main floor to search. The basement was our first target and we found this pencil sharpener mounted to a table downstairs. That's always a good sign! The basement had lots of boxes to search and search we did! There were hundreds of records and many boxes!

The main floor was not as packed as the basement but it did have this great starburst lamp! The price was right and it came home with us. We also brought home a few records and a couple of Christmas things.

Sale #2 was a few minutes away and was described as a vintage garage sale. We were greatly disappointed when we pulled up. We were here last year too. There were plenty of vintage things but all were at dealer prices because this was a dealer sale. We left with nothing.

Sale #3 was listed as a multi-family garage yard sale with vintage items. Actually, it was three separate yard sales on the same small street. We found a vintage Christmas tray. Although that might not seem like much, it felt good to go to a few outdoor garage sales and we enjoyed the stop.

After a bite to eat, it was time to move onto the second leg of our journey. There were two stops left and they were 45 minutes away. It was still early so, without hesitation, we went.

When we pulled up to the house, we were greeted by familiar faces. J.P. (in the truck) owns a furniture business in Brooklyn and we see him at least twice a month at sales. He usually gets there before us and he always tells us where the vintage Christmas things are. Ron (outside of the truck) is the owner of one of our favorite estate sale companies. He was helping out at this sale. He also tells us where the vintage Christmas things are at his sales. They know. They all know. 

After exchanging pleasantries, it was time to go inside. The sale was run by a tag sale company that has sales once or twice a month and we have been to some of their sales. The pictures in the ad showed a starburst light fixture like the one we found earlier in the day, only bigger. It also showed some old metal cabinets and a downstairs bar. We wondered what else might be here! 

This great metal cabinet was in the basement. It was a little rusty and, in our opinion, not as nice as the one we already have but it would be a good find for someone.

The downstairs bar was great. We loved the bar stools!

There were lots of great mounted cabinets too!

This little cabinet was also pretty great.

There was a very Brady light fixture in one of the upstairs bedrooms. This was not the light fixture that we wanted to see. That starburst light fixture was long gone by the time we arrived. We would have liked to see it but we already got one earlier in the day (plus, we have a smaller one that belonged to Monica's parents in the 1960's).

Look at the great oven built into the wall!

The house was great to stroll through but there was nothing bought here. That was okay...we still had one more stop.

Our last and final sale should have been six minutes from the previous sale but the GPS kept sending us to the wrong location and it took us 25 minutes to get here. When we got there, we found that it was being run by a tag sale company that rarely has sales but we have met them before. The garage and backyard was our first stop and, immediately, we found a few things that we liked and the price was dirt cheap! 

There was a pencil sharpener mounted in the basement. That was a good sign! 

The basement had an amazing floor. Look at those musical notes!

More musical notes! 

The basement had a great bar too! 

We are glad we got past the navigational issues. By the time we left, we had some Christmas things, some records, a great football doll, two bar bottle opener guys and some more things!

Here is what we brought home with us:

Some records

Some Christmas records

A souvenir book from the circus. From 1937.

Two old bottle opener bar figures and an old Holy Cross football doll.

Some old Santa wall hangings...six of them.

An old Merry Christmas banner

An old plastic Santa, an old Christmas tray, a mistletoe pixie and a light up Santa pin. 

We had a great Saturday and we spent Saturday night at the carnival a town away. It got chilly at night, as it does this time of year, so we did not go on any rides but we had a great time just taking in the atmosphere and, most of all, just spending the night together. 

We spent Sunday doing a million things at home. We completely cleaned the garden and we have our annual Cinco de Mayo party planned for next Saturday and there is always a lot of work involved with that. We were happy with our productivity and celebrated by going out to dinner at the local Red Robin (we only have two on Long Island). Whether our time is spent relaxing, adventuring or working hard at home, it is time spent together and nothing could ever be more precious than spending our time with the one we love. We remember that every moment.