Choices

This is for the weekend ending February 22, 2015. 

Another Saturday was upon us and so was another opportunity to go saling. For the past several weeks, our course was easy to set because there was only one sale each week with any potential. This week would be different. There were three sales that caught our attention and, for the first time in a long time, we had choices to make. Two were in the same general direction. The other was in a completely different area. We chose to play the odds and go to the two sales. Besides, the one that stood by itself was only described as "dating back to the 1970's" and it was on its second day. Our decision making did not take long but it was good to make saling decisions no matter how few they were. It felt good to have choices.

Sale #1 was run by a tag sale company that is one of our favorites. They don't have sales every week but, when they do, we try to attend. There was nothing specific that drew us to this sale other than that pictures told of an old house and the fact that we have found many fun things at their sales.

The basement floor was great but there just wasn't all that much in the basement. 

The bathroom was great too! Two old sinks, an old toilet and an old bathtub...all blue!

The house did not take a great deal of time to search but we did enjoy our visit and we did manage to find a few things for us. One record, some cake toppers, an old radio, some cocktail stirrers and a few other things came home with us.

After a stop for breakfast, we made our way to Sale #2 which was about 25 minutes away. Like the first sale, there was nothing specifically that drew us to the sale except that the pictures spoke of a house that was old. It spoke of a house that had potential.

We arrived at our final sale with hope that we would find more

Looking up was a reminder of how close we were to Kennedy Airport

The kitchen was the first room we searched and we were happy to see old cabinets and an old green countertop.

We love seeing side shelving in the kitchen. We hope to have this some day in our kitchen! 

There was a bar downstairs which Rob thoroughly searched. He always does! Although the bar did not have any hidden treasures, the house supplied us with lots of other finds. Records, a couple of Christmas things and a few other items joined us for the ride home.

Here is what we brought home with us today:

Some Sesame Street/Muppet Show records

Some other records

Some more records

Christmas records

An old barbecue set, an old Osterizer blender book and an old Thanksgiving die-cut decoration

A Las Vegas souvenir pennant from 1966 (with Vegas Vic), some old Howard Johnsons keychains and some cocktail stirrers

An old Kanga and Roo squeak toy from Sears, an old transistor radio and pair of teenager cake toppers. The cake toppers were repro versions made in the 1980's.

Some Christmas things

It was good to find a pair of sales today. The winter has been tough and we enjoyed the opportunity to spend more time saling this week. Not that we absolutely NEED more sales to entertain us.

We find entertainment while food shopping where the cardboard display cases stick their tongues out at us...

...and we entertain ourselves by making sure to celebrate all of the best holidays...like Chinese New Year which we celebrated by going to dinner at an old Chinese restaurant that is not too far from our house.

This winter may be cold and we may have been stuck indoors more than we would have liked but we have each other and that means everything will turn out fine. 

The Only Game In Town

Once again, as it had been for the last few weeks, our Saturday saling list consisted of just one sale. It is winter and this time of year is slow for sales but, even then, the last few weeks seem slower than in recent years. It's not that there aren't sales. It's that there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of our type of sales. Our saving grace in recent weeks was that there were other sales in the area that might draw some of the dealers elsewhere...resalable items at a profit. There just didn't seem like those sales even existed this week. The sale we chose was the only game in town. We expected a line no matter how early we arrived. We expected stiff competition. We were not wrong.

Despite the snow on the ground...despite the ice on most sidewalks...despite temperatures in the low teens, there was a line. We arrived fifteen minutes after the sale began, hoping to shorten our wait outside but we didn't. We are guessing that the line began to form a couple of hours before the sale began. After all, it was the only game in town.

After a cold thirty minute wait on the outside of the house, we made it inside. There was nothing that said that this was a must stop but it was the only one that showed potential. The first area we were going to tackle was the basement. There was a pencil sharpener mounted to the wall. That is always a good sign

We quickly found out that the Christmas things were in the basement and we eagerly searched through what was there but we already knew that we missed out on some things we would have wanted. As we made our way to the basement, we saw, in the hands of some of the people who were there before us, some Christmas things that we definitely would have liked. Still, our search did uncover a few items that were missed and we would not leave empty-handed.

There was a really cool bar downstairs that Rob thoroughly searched. The bar was a lot cooler than the things that sat behind it...

...except for this cool shelf. We loved the design! 

After we were satisfied that everything in the basement was explored, we went through every room on the main floor. There was lots of competition because it was the only game in town. Still, we found a few nice things to bring home.

Here are some things that took the ride home with us:

Some records

Some coasters and stirrers

Some "Starburst" pattern spoons. We have a set that we use every day but these are different sized spoons than we have in our set

A pair of old honeycomb bells, an old turquoise plastic planter and a pair of old New Year's Eve noisemakers

Some vintage plastic ashtrays

A Starburst towel holder with its original box

An old Christmas pin for Monica

Some Christmas things

Despite having lost out on several things that we would have liked and having no other sales, we did have fun together and used the extra time wisely. We visited Monica' dad for a few hours....we picked up Chinese Food Take-Out on Valentine's Day Night; choosing instead to go out to dinner the night after under less crowded conditions...and we relaxed together.

After a Sunday of running errands and doing our household chores, we went to dinner at a sushi restaurant near our house. It only opened a few months ago and is owned by the same family that owned our previous favorite sushi restaurant. That place closed when the landlord decided not to renew the lease. We were happy to find that the food and atmosphere were just as good as their previous restaurant! The cat made friends with two of our lucky tiki idols (the cat belonged to the restaurant...we brought the tikis).

We were off on Monday for President's Day and found one privately listed sale which did have some great old salt and pepper shakers but they were way overpriced and we left empty-handed. We also went to several thrift shops; mainly to donate some of Monica's mom's clothing but also to do a little shopping. We did not find anything for us at all (except for a scarf for Rob) but it was a fun day anyway. A day off from work that we can spend together is always reason enough to smile.

As for the weather, it has continued the brutal pattern that began a month ago. We get a little snow twice a week and temperatures have been brutal. It has only reached the 40 degree mark once in February. The average low daily temperature during the month of February has historically run between 23 and 25 degrees. The actual daily low temperature has been lower than 20 degrees on twelve of those days. The last four days have seen temperatures in the single digits and we saw wind chills below zero both days of this past weekend. The forecast for the rest of the month doesn't look much better. We think the groundhog let us down. And, just in case there was any doubt at all...

...the guy on the right is winning. He's winning by a large margin.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, 2015 

We decorated. It takes a lot less time than Christmas decorating! 

Rob woke up to find these of the table. Each heart has a different picture of us together...and there were heart-shaped cookies!

Monica got roses. Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl! 

We spent the morning saling but that tale will be told in our next post. Our Valentine's Day dinner out would be the day after. The weather forecast called for snow starting in the afternoon and we wanted to stay off the roads (though we did pick up Chinese food take-out from a restaurant a few minutes from home)

Rob went outside to check on the snow and found these messages from Monica written on her car

Valentine's Day is almost over on the calendar...but it lives every day in our hearts...every day of forever.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! 

And Winter Continues

During the month and December and halfway through January, it looked like we would escape the winter relatively unscathed. There was a little snow but nothing that felt intrusive to our quality of life. We were never snowbound. There were no snow days. There was very little shoveling. There was very little in the way of days whose temperatures could be classified as frigid or brutal. Winters in this part of the world seem to run in patterns, at least during our lifetime. Several winters in a row would be defined as rough, snowy winters. Then, several winters in a row would be mild with just a little snow. Our last few winters have fallen into the category of true winters with at least of few instances of significant snow and at least one snowfall that could be labeled a memorable snow event. For the first month of this winter, it looked as if we had changed the trend. The last four weeks have changed everything. We have had several snowfalls of note. We have had one blizzard that left a blanket of 19 inches of snow and begat a snow day. We have had several days whose temperatures forced us to check the record books to see if a new entry was necessary. Perhaps there is a correlation between the weather and the scarcity of great sales.

For the second week in a row, we targeted only one sale. There were a few others that made our original list but, upon looking again, we eliminated them. We chose, instead, to go to the one sale that showed potential and then to visit Monica's dad for a few hours. It would be a day well spent.

 Our one sale had no specific description that caught our eye nor were there any pictures of anything we were specifically targeting. The pictures did, however, hint at a house that had not been disturbed in may a year and that might have some hidden treasures that might just be uncovered by us. That was our hope. 

The main floor had a bathroom that was not in the best of shape but was old. Turquoise tiles, a turquoise toilet and a great old floor told us that we may have made a good decision.

On the way down the basement stairs, we spied the remnants of an old pencil sharpener...always a good sign! 

The basement was a fun place to search. This couch was groovy. We're sure Greg Brady would agree! 

There were many spots in the basement that were cluttered like this. It always makes for good hunting! 

There was a cool television in the basement that we did not get

There were so many looks into the past on the main floor too...like this dishwasher,

We spent two hours in this house and, although no appliances or electronics were able to call our house their new home, we did find several things of interest and we did not go home empty handed. Here is what we did bring home:

Some records

A book on Indians from 1962. Thee are no more Indians...just Native Americans.

A shirt for Rob

It is a Jantzen

A package of old Easter eggs and a Keds giveaway frisbee

Some old Halloween blow mold pumpkins and some old Halloween die cuts

Starburst light covers. We have the fixture that these belong to but we did not have the original covers. These are from the early 1960's and were an incredibly useful find! 

A close up view of one of the starburst light covers

Vintage Christmas cards

A roll of vintage Christmas wrapping paper

A pair of old Christmas stockings...

...that are reversible! 

It was one stop but it was a fun stop that we enjoyed very much. After getting a late breakfast, we stopped at Monica's dad's house for a few hours and then spent the evening at home. Sunday, as always, was spent doing errands and chores and, of course, finding time to relax together. The errands necessarily included food shopping. Monday was predicted to be a tough traveling day...and it was. A coating of freezing rain and sleet made the roadways treacherous. 

We made it through. We always do. We look forward to the spring. We know it will come eventually. In the meantime, we have each other to stay warm. That is all we will ever really need.