Easter Weekend

This post is for the weekend of April 4th and April 5th, 2015

Easter weekend had arrived and it would be a three day weekend for us. We both took vacation days on Monday so we could ease back into the workweek. We were completely prepared for Easter with very little left to do to prepare for Sunday. Of course, Saturday always brings to mind the opportunity to do some saling and, although we didn't really expect to find any opportunities, we compiled a list of three sales and hoped for the best!

Our first stop was a sale located just a few minutes from our house. There was nothing special that drew us. The write up of the sale was a very non-descript, two line ad that used the word "antiques". There were no pictures. We had no strong feeling that it would be good but it was local and there weren't many other choices. 

We arrived to find a few shoppers inside of a relatively small house whose contents were being sold by the children of the deceased. They were very nice people and we had a great time comparing notes about Long Island stores that were no more. By the time our visit had ended, we found some cool Christmas things that would now be part of our home every December.

Our second stop was to a home we had visited just a few weeks before. It was a private estate sale and the brother of the deceased was running it. The last time that we were here, we did not find anything for us but he had mentioned that he had only searched through 5% of his things and that more things would be up for sale in the upcoming weeks. On our first visit, we could see a giant Christmas wall hanging hidden in a locked entrance to the garage. We were hoping that we get a chance to buy it today. A quick search of the house told us that nothing had changed from our last visit and we could see that Christmas wall hanging still hidden away. We will keep returning until that wall hanging is ours! 

Our third and final sale of the day was advertised as a 1940's house and barn with lots of antiques. With very few other choices, we decided to try our luck and take the thirty minute drive to see it. We arrived to find this sign at the bottom of a hill. It would be a long walk uphill until we would get a glimpse of the house.

We arrived to find this house which was very old and mostly gutted inside. The cellar entrance was along the side and, once inside, we encountered some antique furniture scattered within several rooms housed within its cement walls. The house, itself, was pretty empty except for some more pieces of antique furniture whose drawers were the only places to search. By the time we left, we found a few old product containers that we liked, some cookbooks and a few other things...

...and outside, as we were leaving, we ran across these dead wire reindeer. We aren't very fond of wire reindeer but we bowed our heads in respect anyway.

It may not have been the best saling day that we have ever had but we did have fun together and found a few things of interest. Here are the things we took home with us:

Some books

Some old Carvel spoons, an old set of plastic measuring spoons and some old Carstairs seal picks

An old box of Brillo soap pads and a can of mixed nuts for E.J. Korvette

Some Christmas things

When Saturday evening arrived, we knew we had a few last minute things to prepare for Easter. One of them, of course, had to be coloring the Easter eggs! 

A dozen hard boiled eggs and some cups filled with dye and thirty minutes later...

and voila...our Easter eggs!

The other thing we needed to do was make some dessert to bring to Monica's sister's house for Easter. We had to make the dessert on Saturday and, then, decorate it on Sunday morning.

We decided to try something different this year. Last year, we tried to make a lamb cake using the mold than Monica's mom had when Monica was a little girl.

This was what we were aiming for last year. Unfortunately, ours did not look exactly like this. First of all, we tried to make those divits with the icing and found out, very quickly, that we were not skilled enough to do so. Then, Monica thought that it might be interesting to make him yellow. Very quickly into the process, we found out that we were not all that skilled at frosting either. Things were going downhill quickly and just when we thought that we had arrived in the lowest of valleys, we hit an even lower low...

...Rob made a face on him and the icing ran. He looked more like a Dr. Seuss character than like a lamb. We named him "Lamb, I am". We tried to hide the horror by adding peeps, It was a brilliant plan and it would have worked but we were short about 156 peeps! 

It was horrifying to adults and children!

So this year, we went with something simpler...Easter Peeps cupcakes!

After the cupcakes had cooled, we scooped out a little nest

An egg was then laid in each nest. These eggs were peanut butter M&M eggs

We added different types of sprinkles to each nest

We frosted each one and added a peep to sit on its nest. Behold...Easter peep cupcakes! We made a dozen of them

We had a great Easter and no one was scared of our dessert!

We took a vacation day on Monday to catch up on our errands and chores but still found time to visit our lake for the first time this year.

The swans and geese were ready for us

Yes...the swans, the geese and, of course, the ducks!

The Weekend Before Easter

The weekend before Easter had arrived and we really hoped for a lot of estate sales. We knew that there would probably be nothing on Easter weekend so this would be our only opportunity for two weeks. As the week moved along, we saw that it would not be a great saling week. There were sales but none that looked great and few that even showed potential. When Saturday rolled around, Monica was a little under the weather and he decided to stay home and relax. We only had a couple of sales on our list and they really didn't look very good. 

By Sunday, Monica was feeling good again and we decided to go to the one sale that we considered on Sunday. It was being run by one of our favorite estate sale companies and we were intrigued by the ad that said the house belonged to a former Pan-Am flight attendant. We wondered what we might find. So, with one target in mind, off we went!

We arrived at the house but, before going inside, we went straight to the backyard. The owner of the estate sale company had emailed us that there was Christmas things in the shed. We looked through several boxes but found that just about everything was newer. 

Inside the house, there was only one floor to search and there was not too much there. There were some Pan Am items but much of them were newer. We were told that there was a big crowd at the opening and much of the Pan Am things went out the door quickly. We did manage to find two things of interest and that would be our sole finds for the week.

Here is what we brought home:

 An old cookbook and a Valentine's Day dream pet (marked Japan)

We spent the rest of Sunday stopping for a late breakfast, stopping to visit Monica's dad at his house and then coming home to do some things around the house. What we did not have to do was decorate for Easter because we had finished that during the week. Here are some of our Easter decorations on display:

The bar/stereo unit is completely decorated for the holiday

Honeycomb decorations adorn the fake fireplace

Lots of ceramic rabbits (marked Japan)

Easter egg trees, old Easter egg decorating kits and some plastic eggs

Pez dispensers

Rubber ducks and bunny musicians

Miscellaneous Easter things

A few more miscellaneous things...

...and more Easter things.

It was a weekend short on saling opportunities but any weekend spent together is a good weekend. Next week, we will attempt to bake again, not discouraged by last year's results. Wish us luck! 

Spring Arrives...On The Calendar

This post is for the weekend beginning Friday, March 20, 2015

March 20th...the beginning of spring on the calendar. There have not been many signs that spring was on its way. The weather is still colder than normal and we had two snowstorms this month that dropped at least six inches of snow upon us. Spring was not quite in the air yet, but we had a three day weekend and we were happy about that. There was an estate sale that was scheduled for Friday that was of interest to us. "Fifty years of accumulation" catches our attention. This was be our starting point for the weekend.

Sale #1 was run by an estate sale company that we like a lot. We have much success at their sales but they have not had a lot as of late...at least not on the weekends. Most of their sales seem to fall on Fridays and, with both of us working Monday through Friday, we always miss them. Today was different. It was a vacation day

The house was not all that big and there really wasn't all that much there. We did find one record, an old Christmas cake pan and a pair of old pineapple honeycomb decorations that we will use at future luaus...and we had fun. That, more than anything else, is the mark of success.

With no other sales to frequent, we decided to go to thrift shops. The pickings have been slim in recent years and you just never know what you'll find, if anything at all. We went to five of them and were surprised to find a few goodies for us. 

Thrifting is fun, especially when we are lucky enough to find things, but there are perils too. You never know when you will encounter, lurking within the dark basements, a pack of walkers! 

By Friday evening, it started to snow again. It was technically already spring...but only on the calendar. By the morning, we had received four inches of new snow! Our flamingo was not happy! 

Saturday morning greeted us with two potential sales and we were anxious to see what they had in store for us. Monica had already started up the path. The sale was privately run and had a very brief description but it seemed to have the potential for old things. It was also in our town which made it a very easy decision to take a look. As it turned out, there was a lot of old things but nothing for us. The sale was being run by the decedent's brother and he told us that only 5% of what the brother had was ready to view but that there would be more in the upcoming months. We will keep our eyes out for their next sale

Our other Saturday sale was also close to our house and we could tell that it was probably also filled with old things. There were not a lot of rooms to search but we did have to dig through the rooms that there were. After a 45 minute run through the house, we found an old cookbook, several old holiday die-cut decorations and a few other things.

With the day only half over and no more sales on our list, we decided to go for lunch to a retro style hamburger place that we go to a couple of times a year. The food is good and it's a fun atmosphere and...

...we like the signs on the wall, especially this one. It's a great sign and the starbursts in the background add a nice touch.

It was a lazy kind of day and we went out for dinner too. We went to Taco John's which shares its restaurant with Arby's. The Arby's cow out front was pleading with us not to order the beef.

Here are some of the things we found on Friday and Saturday:

Some records

Some more records

Some Christmas records

Some cookbooks

An old Valentine's Day decoration

Some old Thanksgiving die cut decorations

A ceramic turkey (marked Japan) and a honeycomb turkey

An old Easter die cut decoration

More Easter decorations...a Gurley Easter Bunny candle, a pair of honeycomb Easter eggs and an old plastic Easter container

Three Eureka Halloween die cut decorations from 1966

Some Christmas things

An old pair of pineapple honeycomb decorations and a package of cocktail stirrers

We spent Sunday running our errands, doing our chores and finding some time just to relax together. It may not be as adventurous as our saling but it is time together and we love every moment of that time too. 

Now, we will turn our thoughts to Easter. It's just around the corner. We hope it brings spring with it!