Flashback: The Last Half Of September, 2016

As we mentioned in our last post, we had taken a break from blogging for a few months and the middle of September was where we left off. We didn't take a break from life or our adventures; just blogging about it. We are going to fill in the gaps, as we can, with "flashbacks". Here is the first of those posts as we capture the last half of September.

The third weekend in September was a three day weekend for us. It is around this time, every year, that we try to extend a couple of weekends per month to use up our unused vacation days. We usually take Fridays, hoping to find an estate sale or two. On this particular Friday, there were none though we did go to a few thrift shops. We didn't find much. A pair of records, one Halloween die-cut decoration and a shirt for each of us was all we found out there. No worries. We had a list of six sales ready for Saturday and we hoped to do better! 

Our first sale was thirty minutes to our east and seemed to have the best potential for great finds. It was listed as a "mid-century estate sale" and the pictures in the ad supported that claim. It was being run by a tag sale company that was new to us. 

This radio was really cool but a little pricey. There were some old things here but we were disappointed that we did not find much. We left with a couple of books and an old book of postage stamps.

After getting some breakfast, we made the 45 minute drive westward to sale #2. It was a quietly listed sale with no pictures but the ad did say "house owned by three generations". It turned out to be a privately run sale with two rooms worth of stuff. We walked away with a two deck set of playing cards. 

Our next sale also had no pictures in their ad but we hoped that "Halloween is here" and "loaded" would be good for us. It was an outdoor garage sale and it wasn't. A block away, we saw a sign and followed it to another garage sale. It was equally as bad.

We decided that this next sale would be our last for the day. The two remaining sales were another forty minutes away and time was going by quickly. Neither of them looked all that promising anyway. Our focus was now on this last sale which promised "53 years of accumulation" but had no pictures to support it. We were hopeful and we had reason to be. This was the sale where we finally found some good stuff for us. There was plenty to look through outside and plenty of rooms on the inside to search. By the time we left, we had added several Christmas things, some books, a 1970's Panasonic Panapet radio and more to our home.

Here are the things we found this weekend:

Some records

Some books

A two deck set of playing cards

An old book of postage stamps

A ceramic set of squirrel salt and pepper shakers (marked Japan), a die-cut Halloween decoration and a 1970's Panasonic Panapet radio (and, yes, it works)

Gurley Christmas candles

A ceramic Santa pitcher and lots of mugs (all marked Japan)

More Christmas! The large Santa, the Christmas tree candy dish and the ceramic angels are all marked Japan

As for the following week, the fourth week in September, we did not go to any sales and we cannot remember why! It must have been one of those weeks where there was nothing worthwhile and we were committed to doing other things. There were a few "no sale" weekends in 2016 and this must have been one of them.

The last weekend in September was a crossover into October with the first day of the new month falling on a Saturday but, since we took a vacation day that Friday, the weekend still belonged to September in our minds. We were fortunate enough to find three worthwhile sales on that Friday and we were determined to go to each of them. An early start was required and an early start it was! 

Our first sale had an 8:30am start and it was 45 minutes from home but we made it to the opening. The sale was run by a tag sale company that we like but who runs most of their sales on Fridays meaning we usually miss out...but not today. The sale was described as "two floors and a garage filled with vintage and antique treasures". As if that didn't sound good enough, we saw, in the pictures, a couple of knee hugger elves. We would be on the lookout for them!

Even before the open, we were allowed to look in the garage to see if there was any we wanted in there and we came out of there with a small, old ceramic panther. 

Already with a panther to our credit, we were ready to enter the house as the door opened.

There was a great old bar in the basement that Rob searched. We searched the entire house which would up being smaller than it looked from the outside. The good news is that we got those knee hugger elves and some other Christmas things and a pair of ash trays and, of course, the panther! 

It was already a successful saling day and we still had two more sales to go. After some breakfast, we drove to sale #2 which was run by one the most active estate sale companies in our area...and one of our favorites. We could tell by the pictures in the ad that there would be some old things here and we hoped some would be for us. 

It was a pretty big house to explore and it even had a covered patio with even more things to find. Look at that floor! Look at that great metal awning! 

The house even had a green bathroom where much was unchanged from when the house was first built. You know what else the house had? A few records, some books and a few Christmas things that wound up coming home with us! 

Our third and final sale was listed as a "totally vintage tag sale" though nothing in the pictures seemed to be our style. It would still be a worthwhile trip since it was being run by one of our favorite tag sale companies and it was only 20 minutes from home.

There was an old bar in the basement and Monica searched it thoroughly. It was good to see our friends and we did not leave empty-handed. We found some records, some books and an old Christmas reindeer to take home.

On Saturday, we had just one sale on our list. There just wasn't a lot of interesting sales that weekend and we were very happy that we got so much saling in on Friday! 

Saturday's sale was run by a tag sale company who runs a lot of sales but not many that are our style. This one was worth a shot. The ad said that the homeowner lived there until she was 99 years old. We hoped she had a lot of cool stuff! We saw vintage furniture in the ad and a vintage baseball game but we didn't know what else would be there. Our first challenge would be getting to the house. The driveway was very long! 

We arrived at the house and we could see it was old!

There was a great old radio/intercom built into the wall

The cabinet/countertop was in the garage. We know that it was in the kitchen many years ago.

The countertop? Yes! Boomerang! 

There was a cool refrigerator

This shelving unit was really, really cool! We don't have room for it but it wouldn't have mattered. It was already sold

This bedroom was filled with great vintage Heywood Wakefield furniture! Our bedroom set is vintage Heywood Wakefield, too!

We didn't find a lot of things for us here. The baseball game we spied was in bad shape and the large stuffed vintage Santa was priced higher than we were willing to pay, Nonetheless, it was a fun house and we did leave with a vintage sprinkler, a record, an ash tray and a couple of old boxes of sparklers.

Here is what we found over the course of the weekend:

Some records

More records

And...some more records

Some books

Two old boxes of sparklers and three old ash trays

An old electric Jack O'Lantern, an old ceramic panther and a rubber duck

An old sprinkler

A Cupid for Valentine's Day (marked Japan)

A ceramic Santa head mug whose other side has Mrs. Claus' face (the mug is marked Japan)

The other side of the ceramic Santa head mug

More Christmas stuff. Everyone except the snowman chime and the honeycomb Santa is marked Japan

And we have now started! We plan to catch up on all of the weeks that fell during the course of our blogging break. We will do them all as a "flashback" and will combine weeks, where possible to make the task less daunting. We hope you enjoy!