Silver Surprise

Isn't this a great treasure? 

I couldn't believe my luck when I saw it at a yard sale.

 I knew I had to have it. 

When hubby asked me what it was, I confessed that I didn't know. 

We both agreed it was too small for a stick of butter, 

but I thought it could hold an individual pat.

I remember when my debutante cousin was married,

I was allowed to see the gift tables.

I still remember the table that was set with her china, crystal, and silver.

There were individual salt cellars.

Why not individual butter dishes?

While I don't remember seeing these, 

I imagine she must have had a service for 12. 

I looked on ebay but couldn't find anything that matched my treasure.

I'm sure you can think of ways I can use this charming piece of silver.

Please excuse the quality of my pictures.

I haven't been able to fix my camera yet.

While I wasn't able to meet up with any other "thrifty bloggers", 

I am happy to link this with Rhoda. 

http://southernhospitalityblog.com/thrifty-treasures-7-8/ 

What a Haul!

Do you know what this is in the back of our car? Notice how it's folded up and fits so well in our tiny space.

Did you guess right? 

It's a jin-u-wine Radio Flyer All Terrain Wagon (ATW).  

 Look at those wheels. You can just tell this wagon really will go on any terrain, right?

 

 The wooden base is in excellent shape.

When my husband and I saw it at a yard sale, we ran walked very quickly so I could grab the handle and stake my claim.

There was another woman standing near it so I was a little worried. I exclaimed, "Wow! Look at this wagon." I couldn't help myself. I felt like I had to give her a chance to say she had seen it first.


The following dialog from her had my husband and me laughing so hard. She said, "I had a wagon like that when I was a little girl. (Uh, oh. She has a sentimental attachment to it.)  I hate that wagon. (WHAT?) There were 3 of us girls and my mom would load us up in it and pull us to the A&P. "

 

She pulled off the front of it. She said she had to sit in front with her legs hanging over. She felt every bump. Then she and her sisters had to hold all the grocery bags on the trip back. I wish I had a tape recorder because there is no way I can tell you how funny she was. She kept repeating how much she hated that wagon. We were just rolling. (No pun intended.)

I texted my daughter to see if she wanted the wagon and she said--------no. Well, we weren't leaving without that wagon. We had to scrounge and pool our money (I'm setting the scene here for another post.) to pay the $20, which we thought was a very fair price.

I thought you might like to see how all the sides come off for easy loading in the car or for another use. We decided if she didn't need it to haul our grandkids to the grocery store around their neighborhood, then we could find other uses for it. If the kids aren't visiting us, then I can use it to haul those big bags of potting soil, or plants, or watering cans, or anything else I can think of.

We thought it was a great deal and a great start to our day of yard saling. Little did we know what else was in store. (Setting the scene again ~ foreshadowing.)

What was in your big yard sale haul?

Fall Bargains

I've really been wanting a fall flag for the front yard. I finally made a trip to AC Moore and found this one on sale, of course. I like the colors and the cardinal, the state bird of Virginia. It won't stay up for long before I replace it with my VT flag.

These came from a yard sale a few weeks ago. The two of them together were only a quarter. They look a bit ragged, but I think that just adds to their charm.

Both of these tablets were just a dollar each at Joanns. Since I still don't know how to use my Cricut, I bought these with the idea of using them to make a banner. If that doesn't happen, I'll just write my dear hubby notes on them. hehehe


I need to get my Halloween tote out of the attic so I can start decorating. It's just been so hot around here that I haven't felt like fall was on its way at all. Now that football season has started, perhaps I can get in the fall spirit. (I did pack up my beach decorations last week.)

What fall bargains have you found?

Yard sale goodies

Look what I found at a yard sale.

First I saw these water spray fans.

(I don't know what else to call them.)

I only wanted one of them,

but the lady kindly offered me the second one as well.

My husband put batteries in them.

Now they're good to go for my beach trip.

Then I saw this planter.

I loved the fleur de lis on both sides.

This will make a great addition

to my craft room.

Total spent: $2.

I'm linking up here:
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/end-of-august-thrifty-treasures

Back to school wreath fail

Although I still have my beach decorations out,

the blog world seems to have moved on to

back to school decorating.

I've never done any back to school decorating in the past.

I was too busy going back to school myself.

Now that I'm retired from teaching,

I guess it's time for me to start doing this.

I found these heavy felt school cutouts at Dollar Tree

and immediately thought "wreath".

Then I found this grapevine wreath at a yard sale. 

I took off all the flowers (but I saved them)

and threw the faded ribbon away.

I had decided to cut apart the ABC 123.

Operating on the decorating rule of three,

I tried to place my items.

The only problem was I had four things.

Since I was doing this while my granddaughter was

taking what turned out to be a very short nap.

I didn't take enough pictures.

Suffice it to say, the glue wouldn't hold.

I didn't want to have time to look for wire.

The original wreath maker had used stems from the 

fake flowers to hold them on the wreath,

so I decided to do the same thing.

When I went outside to hang it,

a spider had created a masterpiece

where the wreath needed to go.

I couldn't get a good picture of the web.

I know you can't see it, 

but I really did try to get a picture of it.

After I took the picture,

I realized that it doesn't show up well

against the house.

I may have to find a better location.

Or a bigger wreath.

Or cover the wreath with ribbon first.

Or move my house numbers.

Or just skip back to school decorating.

I'm linking up here:
http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/2011/08/take-look-tuesday_15.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20SugarBee-CraftEdition%20%28Sugar%20Bee%20-%20Craft%20Edition%29
I'm not sure why all that showed up, but when I tried to remove some it, the link wouldn't work.


and also here:
http://thriftycraftygirl.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-hops-count-as-exercise.html

and also here:
http://christinasadventures2010.blogspot.com/2011/08/20-below-thursday-34.html