Finally...we arrived!

Wow! It's been almost a month since we lasted posted and we are several weeks behind. We have been so busy lately but not too busy to go saling! We haven't missed a week! Now, it's time to get caught up on our blog...and we will! 

The last weekend in April was supposed to be a three day weekend for us. We were scheduled to have Friday as a vacation day but Rob has been so busy at work that he just didn't feel he should take the day. Monica did take the day and caught up with things at home and ran a couple of shopping errands to save us both some time. Our plan, had we both taken the vacation, was to go to some estate sales that looked good. We had one specific one that was being held on both Friday and Saturday but we didn't want to wait until Day Two. Despite encouragement from Rob, Monica didn't want to go without him so we planned it as our first stop on Saturday. We had eight other potential Saturday stops, as well, so it looked to be a busy day and we would need to get an early start. 

That was our plan, an early start, but...a funny thing happened on the way to our first sale. Rob's car got a flat tire on the way. We were lucky. It happened as we were just getting on the entrance to the parkway. Rob was able to pull onto a very spacious piece of grass, out of harm's way, to change the tire and put on the donut tire. Had the flat happened just one minute later, we would have been on the parkway where there would not be much of a shoulder and where changing a tire would have been dangerous. We were also lucky that this was close to home. We drove back to our house where Monica followed Rob to the mechanic and then, now in Monica's car, we started heading to our first sale. So much for an early start! 

Finally, we arrived at our first sale of the day! We didn't make it on Friday as we originally planned and we didn't make it as early as we wished because of the flat tire but finally, we arrived! 

The sale was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies and, the moment we walked inside, we knew we would be here for awhile! 

It was an estate sales that listed salt and pepper shakers as being amongst the items there. This was a photo from their original sale posting. There were a lot of salt and pepper shakers there on that first day! 

On Day Two (our photo), a majority of them were still there as were hundreds of thimbles which, we guess, people also collect. 

The basement was just as packed as the main floor and we had some serious digging to do! Above us was this very cool ceiling with starburst tiles! 

This very creepy doll sat in a box in that basement and we, wisely, passed on it, but we did find so much more. After almost two hours inside this house, we brought home some salt and pepper shakers, some Christmas things, cookbooks, records and a few more things. Although it took us days to get here, we were glad we came. We analyzed the picture that the tag sale company took of the salt and pepper shakers and we came to the conclusion that we didn't miss too many that we would have liked and we probably got a much better price on Day Two than we would have if we arrived the day before. It seems to have worked out well.

With the very late start we got and with the amount of time spent at that first sale, we knew that we would not be getting to many of the sales on our list. It was time to pick and choose carefully. Our second sale was in the same town as the first and was listed as "antique and vintage items". It was a quick stop. It was a garage sale with very little that fit the description of "antique and vintage items". We left empty-handed.

Sale #3 was also in the same town and was run by the same tag sale company that ran the first sale we visited. It was a much, quicker stop. It may have been a "clean out sale" and it may have had a "basement full" but there was not much there for us. We only put it on our list because it was so close to the first sale and because it was run by this tag sale company. We left with two cookbooks.

After the first three sales, we stopped for pizza at the pizza place that Rob went to throughout high school. The first three sales were in Rob's hometown and we try to stop here when in the neighborhood. The pizza is still just as good as it always was! 

After our lunch stop, we went to our fourth and, what we decided to be our final sale of the day. It was the best of the rest and it was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies. Although it was the second day of the sale (it was originally on our Friday list, too), we hoped that it was, as advertised, a digger with vintage things! 

There were lots of things all over. We liked that the walls of the rooms were brightly painted. This picture was taken inside a pink room looking out into a turquoise room with a yellow room just beyond that.

This little, old stove was in the kitchen. It looks like the center section has a face...and is screaming! 

Downstairs, in the basement, we found the Christmas stuff. Some of it was newer but several things were old...and great! 

There was a sock reindeer hanging on the wall in one of the rooms upstairs. It did not come home with us but several Christmas things, some Easter decorations, some fish ashtrays, some records and a few other things did. 

Our saling day was done as we had to come home to pick up Rob's car from the mechanic. Although we didn't make all of the sales on our list and we didn't start the day as early as we wished (or even on the day we wished), we did find some cool things and, most of all, we had a great time together. 

Here are the things we brought home with us this weekend:

Some records

Some Christmas records

Some cookbooks

Some more cookbooks

Some old Kool-Aid iron on patches

Some old, never used, Tupperware bowls

This is the paperwork inside the Tupperware bowls. They are from 1957.

An old barbecue apron

An old Luster Craft kit to make a gravel art clown and an old Donkey Party game.

An IHOP ashtray, a set of maracas (made in Mexico) for our annual Cinco de Mayo parties, some old beer coasters, some old can openers and a Jerry Lewis telethon button.

An old Halloween candy box, an old box of sparklers, some Valentine's Day decorations (made in Japan) and some old nut cups.

More burros for our Cinco de Mayo parties! A stuffed burro (made in Japan) and a salt and pepper carried by a burro (made in Hong Kong).

Ceramic fish ashtrays. Marked Japan

An old Esso plastic tiger and so old squeak toys

Salt and pepper shakers. Some are missing their mates but we love these. All are marked Japan.

An old plastic bunny and a stuffed bunny (marked Japan) for Easter

An old Christmas tree skirt

A string of angel Christmas lights (marked Japan) 

Mr and Mrs Claus salt and pepper shakers, a wooden Christmas card holder, a pine cone snowman, a Holt Howard decanter and mug set, some small plastic elves and an old box of ornament hangers. Everything except the pine cone snowman, the plastic elves and the ornament hanger box are marked Japan.

We spent Sunday doing things around the house and running errands ahead of the Cinco de Mayo party we planned for the following weekend. It would be a lot of preparation but, together, we knew we would get it all done. More on the Cinco de Mayo next time!