Four Sales In A Rush

We're still a little behind on our posts but we're getting closer to be caught up. This post is for the weekend of April 23rd and April 24th.

Following last weekend's extended birthday weekend for Monica, the workweek seemed to drag and it seemed like it would never end. Eventually, of course, it did and we were ready to begin our new weekend. Our search, during the week, led us to four possible sales and they all had great potential. We haven't had a week with this much promise in a long time. It would be difficult to decide where to start especially since this would be a shortened salling day. Just a few blocks away from where we live, there was an open house between 12-2pm. We, typically, don't go to open houses but this was a house that was, clearly, built in the 1950's and we were really curious to see its inside. So, we had four sales that we really wanted to attend and three of them were, at least, thirty minutes away from our house. After scurrying to get to all four sales, we still had to get back in time to attend the open house. The earliest sale began at 9am and it was one of the furthest ones from home. We got an early start to the day and left early enough to get to that first sale as it opened. We were determined to accomplish everything on our list! 

Sale #1 was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies and was described as "three generations" and "entire contents". It took us a little longer to get here then we thought and the sale had started thirty minutes before our arrival.

We, immediately, found the basement where Rob searched the bar. He was holding our first find of the day...a vintage drunk Scotsman bar light. 

We, then, went outside to see what was in the garage and what was on the tables outside. Our host, Ron, was there to greet us.

We saw these pictures outside. The kids on the left may very well be from "Village Of The Damned". We did not take any of these home.

Our next trip was down to the other side of the basement which we entered through the Bilco doors. Dennis assured us that it was safe.

The basement was large and, while not a digger room, there was much to search. 

The attic, on the other hand, was definitely a digger but we were not the first ones here. There was evidence that Christmas stuff was once here but it was gone. We later found out, from Ron, that old glass ornaments and some Christmas lights were bought just as we arrived. We didn't feel too badly. We, rarely, buy any glass ornaments because we have more than we can use and we have a lot of Christmas lights already. 

The other side of the basement was a little more organized but still had lots to look through. Despite all of rooms, we made it through the house fairly quickly. That was our plan for all of the sales. We had a lot to accomplish in a short period of time. Oh, and when we left, it was not empty-handed. Aside from the drunk Scotsman bar light, we also left with a vintage barbecue apron and some records.

Sale #2 was run by another tag sale company we know but whose sales we have not attended in almost a year. Not all of their sales are at vintage homes and, when they are, they are usually too far away. This was only fifteen minutes from the first sale and was described as "mid-century throughout". It was worth a look!

 We chose to look in the garage first. There was nothing of interest to us but look at the cool, old, metal awning attached to the garage! 

There was another old basement bar (two houses in a row) and, as usual, Rob searched behind it. The basement was the best room in this house and it was where we found everything that came home with us from this sale. A vintage drunk Irishman bar light, an old ashtray, a Hawaii mug, some cocktail stirrers and a record were loaded into the car.

After a quick stop for breakfast, we went to our third sale which was in the same town as the second sale. We seem to go to this company's sales almost every week and we like them a lot. In the description of the sale, "vintage toys" and "vintage Christmas and holiday" were listed. We could see by the pictures in the ad that the vintage toys were not very old. They looked to be from the 1980's and 1990's. We hoped that the holiday decorations were older.

We made our way down to the basement where we encountered this mounted pencil sharpener. We hoped it was a good sign! 

The basement was packed with toys for any avid collector of The Simpsons, the three later Star Wars movies and several other categories of toys released in the 1990's or later. 

The kitchen had a lot of old elements that were, probably, original to the house though newer layers of paint had been applied. Those cabinets are made of wood and are in great condition. You just don't find cabinets like these too often!

The back room was where the Christmas and holiday was kept and almost all of it was fairly new. We did manage to find two small vintage Christmas blow molds so the trip was not a waste.

Our fourth and final sale was on the way home and we were making good time. This estate sale was described as "mid-century antiques" and was run by a tag sale company whose owner is a friend of ours. 

There was a pretty cluttered basement to search and we acted quickly to search through everything without losing any valuable time. 

The mounted pencil sharpener on the basement wall gave us hope that we would find something and we did. A vintage Costco metal three-tier serving cart and a few pamphlets left the sale with us.

We made it home in plenty of time to go to the open house. Aside from the real estate agent, we were the only ones there. The house had a very large basement, though unfinished, some nice sized rooms and an attic of unknown size. It also had some furniture, still inside the house, that was amazing. The dining room had an early 1960's dining room set with its companion china cabinet in amazing condition. It was the exact same set that Monica's parents had when she was a kid. We wish we could have taken pictures but it didn't seem like it would be welcomed at that time. 

While we didn't have any plans to buy this house, we were contacted, by email, by the realtor to see how we liked the house and to tell us that the furniture was for sale (we had gently inquired into this). We responded that we were not interested in the house, at this time, but would be interested in finding out what the owners were asking for the dining room set. We never heard back from the realtor.

On a day when we did our saling at a quicker speed than normal, here is what we found:

Some records

Pamphlets, drink books and cocktail stirrers

A vintage Costco three-tier serving cart. It is in great condition and we will decide what color to paint it in the future.

A vintage barbecue apron which has some pretty hefty stains. We hope to be able to get them out because this apron is, definitely, worth saving! 

Two vintage bar lights...a drunk Scotsman and a drunk Irishman. They came from different sales on the same day. The odds of this are astronomical!

A vintage ashtray and a Hawaiian mug which is marked Japan

A Christmas record and two small, old Christmas blow molds

Sunday was spent, as usual, catching up on chores and errands and, of course, spending more time together. This weekend may not have been packed with the excitement of Monica's birthday weekend, but it was time spent together and that, to us, will always be filled with excitement and smiles. 

Monica's Birthday Weekend 2016

We are still a few weeks behind on our posts. This post is for the third weekend in April. We will make a big push to get caught up within the next week. 

We try to take at least one three-day weekend a month, unless a holiday provides it for us. Taking the extra day before the weekend leading up to Monica's birthday seemed like a great idea. We had plans for Monica's birthday but we would also have some extra time to go saling. Fridays have become popular sale days so we added Friday sales to our weeklong search for saling opportunities. We came up with two and so, with that preliminary plan, we began Monica's birthday weekend.

Sale #1 on our Friday list was run by a tag sale company whose sales we frequent. Many of their sales are good but, unfortunately, they run many of them on Fridays and we are not available most Fridays. Today, we were and the sale was only fifteen minutes from our house. The ad listed this as an estate sale with older items. Our search inside was brief. Two floors filled with lots of stuff but none very old at all. We left without a single thing.

After stopping for some breakfast, we made a pit stop before going to the second sale. There is a thrift shop that we have never visited because it is never open on weekends. We decided to check it out.

We were not the only one checking out the thrift shop. This black cat looked like he was also contemplating whether to visit.

In the end, he decided to just hang out in the sunshine

We, however, decided to go inside. It was a very small thrift shop with one very packed room. The ladies who ran the shop were very nice and the prices were so low! We found a baseball book for Rob (a newer book) and a Pyrex bowl made in the late 1950's. 

Our final stop, on Friday, was at an estate sale run by a company that owns a vintage store and, occasionally, runs estate sales. This is only the second time that we have run across them. It was a house filled with "vintage things" according to the ad. Our fingers were crossed.

The basement was our first stop and it had an old bar designed with barrels. Rob searched it thoroughly.

This basement was big and had lots of separate rooms with many cool things inside including this great, old refrigerator. 

This mini turquoise oven was in the basement too!

This old crib sat in the basic and seemed to be in great condition. 

Look at the great design on the side!

One of the bathrooms was still in its original pink and blue design.

It had a metal hamper built into the wall.

The upstairs bathroom had gone through some changes but the toilet bowl, tank and floor hadn't changed since the house was built.

There was a lot to see in this old house including this creepy doll. The doll stayed behind but lots of cookbooks and books, as well as one record, came home with us.

From here, we went home to relax, sneak in a nap together and then get prepared for Monica's early birthday dinner. We had plans to go to one of our two favorite old Chinese restaurants (the other, Palace Of Wong, closed within the last year when the owner retired). We had plans to go to...

King Yum! 

King Yum has been around since the 1960's and is a real old style Chinese restaurant. Every time we go, we pose for a picture by the tiki waterfall. 

The Tiki Gods are always happy to see us!

We shared an exotic drink called "Tabu For Two", served in a scorpion bowl.

One Chicken Hawaii and one Singapore Mei Fun. We shared them.

It was a fun night and a great place to celebrate Monica's birthday. 

By the time Saturday morning arrived, we were ready to do some more saling. There were only two sales of interest but both of them showed a lot of promise and they were hosted by two of our favorite tag sale companies. There are never any guarantees but we were pretty excited about our chances. We just knew we would find some things we liked. With expectations running high, off we went! 

We arrived at the first sale just after its opening and found what we thought we would find...a line. It was sunny outside and it wasn't too cold so the wait didn't bother us too much. The sale was described as "a digger" and "vintage" and we were a little anxious to get inside. We were After a thirty minute wait, our digging began. 

After saying hello to our hosts, we began to search the house which was, as the ad described, vintage. We really liked the lining of these drawers...

...atomic starburst! 

It was definitely a digger, too. This bathroom had been overtaken by what could best be described as "stuff". Many of the rooms were diggers and that made us pretty happy. Those are the types of sales we like best! 

There were rooms to search and closets, as well, and we spent well over an hour inside this house. When we left, it was with lots of Christmas things, some records, a vintage badminton set and lots more. It was a great first sale that, certainly, did not disappoint us...and it was great seeing our friends who were running this sale.

After a stop for breakfast, we made our way to our second, and final, sale of the day. It was listed as "entire contents" and the hosts had already tipped us off that it was a sale that we shouldn't miss. The house had lots of small rooms and none were really our style but there were enough old things inside to keep us interested. It was great to say hello to our friends running this sale and they were right...it was not a sale that we would have wanted to miss. We left with several Christmas things, some records, vintage carousel glasses and more.

We still had lots of time to visit Monica's dad and then to go home and relax before going out, again, on Saturday evening for a second birthday dinner. This time, Monica's sister, brother-in-law, nephew and niece came with us. It was a nice time and you can never celebrate Monica's birthday too much! 

Sunday arrived and so did Monica's actual birthday. Rob decorated the kitchen for the birthday celebration. There were plenty of flowers, too. There were roses from Rob, on the left, and flowers from Monica's co-workers, on the right.

We thought that our saling adventures were done for the weekend when we discovered a new ad on craigslist for a estate sale about twenty minutes away from us. It was the home of a 100 year old woman. Well, how could we pass that up?

So this was the house of the 100 year old woman. There was no one here when we arrived except the host (her son) and the two of us. As we mentioned, it was a last minute ad in craigslist and we were hoping that it was quiet enough to remain a well-kept secret. Apparently, it was.

Our first stop was in the garage which had nothing for us but showed great promise that the house might have some cool, old things. This vintage baby carriage was a good sign! 

The living room had this great, old television. 

The basement seemed pretty empty when we first descended the stairs. This Christmas tree, still decorated with vintage glass ornaments stood alone. We have more than enough vintage glass ornaments than we think we can ever use so we did not take any. 

The other side of the basement, while still fairly empty, had this little room and a plastic garbage pail filled with things to search. We found several things of interest down here including a few vintage dresses for Monica. 

It was the attic, though, that made our trip worthwhile. It was cluttered and it was a digger. Monica started the search on this side of the attic.

Rob started searching the other side which was just as cluttered and had a crawl space with lots of Christmas. Many of the things in that crawl space weren't all that old but many things were and each find was pretty exciting. There were also boxes and boxes of vintage greeting cards. We spent almost an hour just sorting through those. It was a great stop and, aside from the vintage dresses, Christmas things and greeting cards, we also left with many other great things! 

Sunday's weather was the nicest of the year, so far, and we stopped at one of our lakes to take a short walk and visit the ducks. 

Ducks and geese all swam over to say hello

Since we had gone out to dinner the previous two nights, Monica wanted to spend her actual birthday night at home. We ate leftover Chinese food from Friday's dinner and went out to get some birthday ice cream (Monica's choice)! A birthday candle, a birthday wish and some off-key singing by Rob were all part of the festivities! 

Three days of saling brought us the following items:

Some 12-inch records

Some more 12-inch records

A pair of 7-inch records

A 7-inch record. The sleeve is torn in the corner but we liked this anyway!

Some books and pamphlets

"How And Why" books from the 1960's

Sports books. The second one is a newer one but the other three are pretty old.

Cookbooks

More cookbooks

An old T.V. antenna. We got this at the Sunday sale for $1. We saw the exact same one on Saturday which was pretty beat up and the asking price was much higher.

A hat for Monica

A vintage dress for Monica

Another vintage dress for Monica

One more vintage dress for Monica

Rob got a wool ski mask in case he decides to become a professional wrestler! 

"The Six Million Dollar Man" board game

A vintage badminton set. It was never used and everything inside is still in its wrapping.

Carousel glasses (1950's), a pair of ceramic cats and a pair of ceramic ladies. The four ceramic items are all marked Japan.

A ceramic flamingo, a Pyrex bowl (1950's), a Valentine's Day clown and two ashtrays. The flamingo and the clown are marked Japan. The turtle ashtray is marked Treasure Craft.

Vintage greeting cards. One is for Mother's Day and one is a Get Well card

Vintage anniversary cards

Vintage wedding cards

Vintage Father's Day cards

Vintage christening cards

Expectant parents-to-be cards

Vintage Valentine's Day cards

Vintage Easter cards

More vintage Easter cards

Vintage baby cards

More vintage baby cards

Some more vintage baby cards

Even more vintage baby cards

Small vintage baby cards and gift tags

Vintage birthday cards

More vintage birthday cards

Some more vintage birthday cards

A few more vintage birthday cards

Vintage Christmas cards

Some more vintage Christmas cards

More vintage Christmas cards

A few more vintage Christmas cards

More vintage Christmas cards

Some more vintage Christmas cards

More vintage Christmas cards

A few more vintage Christmas cards

Eight more vintage Christmas cards

A few more vintage Christmas cards

Still more vintage Christmas cards

More vintage Christmas cards

Six more vintage Christmas cards

The last of the vintage Christmas cards we found

Vintage cake picks. Most are for Christmas.

An old Christmas tree skirt

A giant Christmas card tree in its package

A plastic Christmas tree (marked Japan), an old Santa candy holder (marked Germany) and old inflatable Santa

Musical Christmas decorations marked Japan

An old plastic Christmas hanging, a ceramic Santa with his reindeer (marked Japan), some Christmas Gurley candles and one old glass ornament.

A Christmas record, a small creepy musical Santa (marked Japan), a pair of giant elves (marked Japan), some old plastic angels and a plastic Christmas wall hanging

It was a great three-day weekend spent celebrating Monica's birthday and spent making beautiful memories together...memories that we will cherish for a lifetime spent together.