Year End Wrap up

Another holiday season has come and gone and I've managed to go the month of December without a new post. I've gotten out a few times, but either the pickin's have been too slim or the prices were too steep, so I've counted it lucky when I've walked out with a single thing.

This pretty pink Pyrex was also pricey, but Christmas is a time for presents, after all. The pink Butterprint is my first piece of elusive pink version. It was cheaper than ebay prices by a goodly chunk but still not what I'd call cheap either.

I got comments from the dealers working the register like I was frivolous, weird or crazy for paying that amount for a small pink Pyrex dish. I wanted to defend my purchase and say something like, "Check how much these are selling for on ebay before you scoff at what I'm paying right now", but I just kept my mouth shut. I'm not saying a word that is going to help them. I can't understand dealers who would treat customers like their purchases were foolish. It makes me not even want to shop in that store any more, even though I know the dealers there are just booth renters working off their monthly rent and not the owners themselves. I could mention it to the owners, but cynically I'm afraid anything I say will just continue to give the message that Pyrex is worth big bucks now so every dealer needs to double check ebay prices before they put it out on the shelves. I just wish that when I was finding cool things I just had a positive association with it and not a negative one, you know?

I also have the hardest time making myself letting myself use pieces I think would be hard to replace. I did actually eat cereal out of it a few times before it made its way into my display, but I definely wouldn't use it in the oven or microwave. Only casual use or refrigerator storage for the pieces I feel like babying! Lol.

The same trip I basically paid 5 dollars for a Shiny Brites box. It had some ornaments in it, but no actual Shiny Brites. I was going to use the ornaments for a wreath, and put some actual Shiny Brites in this box.

This 'Uncle Sam' box is my favorite style. (Uncle Sam shaking hands with Santa Claus on the cover). I have one other just like this, but the tree is is a cellophane covered cut-out. I suspect (but don't know for sure) that since this box specific says Gold ornaments on the bottom side panel that this style was for single color ornaments, and that the cutout version was for more decorated stripes, patterns a/o indents.

Either way, I sure do love Shiny Brites. They are becoming my Christmas obsession. My husband and I visited an out of the way haunt we go to only once in a while and they had positively tons of Shiny Brite ornaments. But each one was priced seperately, usually between 4 to 6 dollars a piece. They had lots of original boxes I ooohed and ahhhhed over, but none were being sold as a boxed set. I mentioned this to my husband who I believe astutely deduced that the boxes were basically just being used as props to sell the ornaments out of. He thought that if you asked about the boxes, they'd either say they weren't for sale or that you'd have to buy the entire contents of the box to go with it  - which would have made a box of ornaments somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 dollars!

And finally, this beautiful tree topper came out of a half-off booth, making it what I think was the best 10 dollars I've spent all year.

So delicate, I hardly handle it. The triple indents are dotted with bright aqua inside. The top and bottom of the ball is pink, and there are handpainted white flowers in between the indents.

I love it so! Can you even get over the price tag - .24 cents from Sears and Roebuck! I'm not sure if the 49 is the year it's from, but that's definitely the right time period.















Well, those are my last goodies of 2015. Here's hoping for great junk in 2016!

Happy Thrifting!

Yard Sale bounty!

This weekend has been crazy. My husband and I hit the yard sales pretty hard and for once I actually have something to show for it! Might even have to break this up into a second post I really did buy so much. My very best deal was the first stuff I bought just about two miles away from house!

These canisters and the pink Pyrex dinnerware were from a make-a-pile-and-I'll-give-you-a-price place. You just hold your breath a little bit and hope for the best. 5 bucks! Heck yeah! I kept looking for the teacups, but they just weren't to be found. It's been a long time since I've added a piece to my Pyrex dinnerware collection, in any color.

I was doing the happy dance when I saw these Horizon Blue casseroles. Even in a yard sale they were 10 and 12.50, so not dirt cheap but not highway robbery either. And on the Daisy casserole it was actually only the lid for sale, but I had the base already, so it worked out great. The couple yard sale-ing the Horizon Blue really were more antique dealers than yard sellers. They had so much good glassware. Fair prices, but they knew their stuff. Teased me that I could take these casseroles and sell them for double my money. I told them they were for me and me only! I am so ridiculously infatuated with these lids right now. Love LOVE Love them!

This Glasbake mixing bowl was produced in 1961 as a go-along for Jewel Tea Autumn Leaf. Had to have it. The chalkware cats were from the same yard sale. Not super cheap, but I was pleased.

Prices varied a LOT on the rest of my Pyrex purchases. The Butterprint is a duplicate I've wanted for a while to have as backup. The delphite is my first solid delphite bowl. This guy was filthy when I bought it, but it cleaned up well.

I even bought vintage Fiesta at a yard sale! There's a first for everything, seems like. 

These are all the odds and ends I picked up at various places, mostly for 50 cents a piece. The paint on the red Pyrex hostess is in very bad shape, but it was a dollar. I'll clean it up with Bar Keeper's  Friend and it will improve the looks of it somewhat.

And these odds and ends were an even better price -  FREE. We caught a yard sale just as they were quitting for the day. They told us to just take what we wanted, so we made a little pile of random odds and ends. We gave them a dollar anyway.

And my final loot for the day. The morning started off so good, I hate to end it on a sour note, but perhaps you've had an experience with a similar seller yourself.

The person I bought these from wanted a blue fortune for these. This was the end of the day, I was sugar-crashed and all I could think of was how much I wanted a nap and a 3 Musketeers bar. I thought I recognized the woman, but my brain wasn't working fast enough. I tried to haggle to no avail, then looked pleadingly at my husband to tell me not to buy them at that price, which I KNOW he's never going to do, cause he's a big old sweetheart who'd spend his last dime on me.

I'd be lying if I said self-restraint was a strong suit of mine, even under favorable conditions. But I was hungry, exhausted, and confronted with things I collect and want, so I bought.

The whole time she's wrapping the things up, she's babbling about when she first started collecting and how she bought so much stuff that was chipped and broken, etc. but these were in great condition and how she tried to only sell the good stuff.

I'm not feeling fantastic about my purchases anyway, cause I feel like I paid too much. And as she's talking, I remembered exactly why I recognized her.

I bought something from a flea market several miles away from this yard sale and she was the lady we paid. I don't even remember what we bought, but she handed the change back in a stack instead of counting it back to us, and it was 5 dollars short. I asked for the 5 dollars, she did a stammery thing that wasn't even an apology. I felt like she did it on purpose, but like I think most folks do, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought of her not-apology as embarrassment instead of assholery.

On the way out of that flea market I saw 3 Pyrex lids. Of course, no price, so I had to ask the same lady. She starts in with the deep breath and then "Oh, I'd have to have 5 dollars for them." At the time I really, really wanted that big 475 lid I was holding in my hand. I hated to paid that, but I agreed. And you know what she said to me?

"See, I got that 5 dollars anyway."

I don't really curse on my blog. I keep most things PG. But I could so go Parental Advisory right now.

Anyway, this was that same lady. Miles and miles away from the flea market. And out of context and worn out, I didn't think of who she was until I was paying the B-word.

So she babbles about chips and cracks and how nice everything is that she sold me. Then I realize later as I'm washing the teacup, it's cracked. I checked it out before I bought it and I obviously missed the crack then or I really wouldn't have bought it.

So yeah, she could have missed it too. Same way she 'accidentally' miscounted my change at the flea market.

***

So that was my fine fortune yard sale-ing yesterday. Highs, lows and a lot of other little nutty things that I didn't manage to mention in this post.

I am still completely exhausted, but optimistic that there is still hope at yard sales!

Hope you are finding fantastic treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!