Me in my yard sale future...

Okay, so check out this "young lady" out getting her "treasure on"! She's got it goin' on and is STILL looking for her treasures even though she may have to spend her Medicare money to get them. Check out gramps in the background looking a little miffed that she doesn't want fishing lures, golf balls, etc....I thought this was hilarious and thanks to S. for her and her mom (my awesome neighbor who we share homemade peach ice cream with - out of the ice cream churn that I got at the World's Longest Yard sale last year for $5.00) came over on Sunday and S. said she saw this on the cover of Reader's Digest and of course, instantly thought of me! I only hope I'm this awesome when I'm over the Medicare threshold...LOL! Thanks girls and I love it!

Estate Sale Treasures and Treasured Friends

Well, I got to fill my estate sale addiction again this week with the company that I follow (like a religion, remember from my previous blogs....)but it was kind of a vintage 50's bust for me as the house was chock full of stuff, just not stuff that I couldn't live without as far as that goes, But, I did buy a lot of practical stuff like a water sprinkler for a $1.00, a cool 50's fruit tray for $0.50, a plug in wall charging flash light (for hurricane season) for $1.00, a milk glass dresser jar for cotton balls for $1.00, some storage boxes for shoes for $0.50 each, and a cool green compote dish for $1.50. I also got some other cool stuff from C.'s church but I haven't taken pictures of that yet. I got the awesome 50's pull down light fixture that I've been looking for FOREVER to go over my dining room table for $8.00!

It's going to need a lot of cleaning and probably rewiring so I've got to see if it will clean up and will post some pics of it soon.

After, treasure hunting Saturday morning I went to spend the afternoon shopping with my other gal pals T. & D. and T's daughter S. and we had a blast. For those of you who know all of us, I can just tell you that this luncheon meant the world to us and I'll just say that there's nothing like the bond between good girlfriends, lots of laughter and the love and acceptance of all the above!

Friday Night Fun - October 24, 2008 & RUBY!

Okay, before we get into tonight's update on fun, you all should know that we've now given our Red Headed Step Child, a/k/a Chuckie's Sister, a name! We decided that we just can't keep calling our new mascot such evil names, so, from now on, you'll be hearing about...drumroll....RUBY! Yep, she's Ruby the redhead so we've given her a name! I won't even tell you what mischief she was up to this week and how she showd up in my inbox at work perched over a bottle of margarita mix on the counter at the beach....she's crazy like that! Oh, and after all this update, she never even showed up at Pepper's this week; something about she was in the truck...doing God knows what...LOL!

Okay, so, we gave our local Mexican restaurant one more try and yes, we wound up with orange margaritas again and they tried to get them right but somehow it just didn't quite happen; we may have to reconsider our hangout. We also had some other friends from the ball team join us as our game got rained out so C. and his mom, E. came and shared some laughs with us. Don't worry, we didn't let C. try any margaritas but this picture sure makes it look that way...

Now, the more fun we had, the more topics that came up in conversation. Some of them included: Bad relatives, you know, the kind that you'd change if you could but you can't so you just see them on your own terms; Colonoscopies and the wonderful "Twilight" sleep, autopsies and embalming fluids, crushes at school and whether we should write an old school note or send a text message (right C.?) and so much more!

The following pictures are the faces that all of us would like to have when we are put 6 feet under or either right before we're cremated, depending on our personal preferences! C. found out that if they take you soon enough, you actually can have a smile on your face and this is what she wants to look like:

And here's what the rest of us think we may wind up looking like:

As you can tell, we had a good time and we had a lot to talk about! Who knew that they glue your lips together when you leave this world, maybe that's why I tell the Mr. that they can cremate me - another reason is because I tell him that it will probably be the only time in my adult life that I'm "skinny"! LOL!

Yes, I really am a member of the Garden Club!

Well, hold your laughter people but I really am a member of the Jonquil Garden Circle and it's been a lot of fun. A good friend got me in this circle and it's a lot of fun and they don't pressure me TOO much to have to keep anything growing in my yard...LOL! Well, I digress; so, this month, my friend V. asked me to be the program chair as ours had to back out this month so I taught the ladies how to make decoupage lampshades for the holidays or whatever other theme they wanted to make. I made one last year and put it in our circle fundraiser auction and it was a big hit! We had a good time as you can see here:

Look, we even had wonderful snacks after our crafting! Each month, we take turns bringing refreshments and as you can see, we had a fall - Halloween themed table this month! I hope they had a good time! I did, but it was hard for me to teach our craft and try and take notes too, as I'm the circle Secretary (for the 3rd year as they love my minute taking skills - and the embellishments that I add to them...surprise, surprise, huh?) so H. helped me out. Thanks girl!

My Semi-Annual Yard Sale Purge - October 18, 2008

Well, if you "love 2 buy stuff but house about to bust", then you'll know why I, too, have to have garage sales myself every now and then. So, since the weather has gotten a little cooler here, finally, I decided to do my Fall yard sale this past Saturday, the 18th of October. It is a ton of work and luckily, my sweet hubby, always works hard to help me set up for it, but it's still exhausting.

It's especially trying when you get up at 5:45 a.m. on Saturday, to discover that it's raining! Luckily, it quit by about 7:30 which is when I was supposed to officially start and since I always put NO EARLY BIRDS in my ad, but the dealers usually swoop in at least a half hour before that! And, when that didn't happen this Saturday I kind of had a gut fealing that it was going to be a "slow" sale; and boy, was I right! I didn't have near the amount of customers that I usually do and as you'll see from my pictures, there were times when there was no one here but me and my Danielle Steele book! Luckily, the neighborhood kids all stop by to hang out with me and even serenade me with guitar, (yep, it really happened and he's actually pretty darn good and only about 12 or 13 years old) so I wasn't too lonely for very long.

I did "okay" but not near as good as I usually do and I guess it's because people were doing other things here as there were a number of festivals and stuff in town so people were out and about for that and maybe the rain scared some people off.

Here's what all my nice tables looked like pretty early in the morning (after daylight that is...)

Here's what it looked like on a number of occasions during the morning...(unfortunately....)

Notice what's missing from this picture...my customers! Don't get me wrong, I had some great customers (and thanks to all of you who saw my ad on Craigslist and in the paper or you are friends of my friends...) but I wish I had more!

This meant that I had a lot of packing up to do of all my treasures that I was ready to part with and had to sort it out into different groups;
1) Stuff to donate

2) Stuff to take to the consignment shop

and

3) Stuff to take back into the house (and it wasn't much, believe me...because by the time I get ready to pay for an ad and have a sale, I'm pretty much ready to let go of it...or give it to a friend, right "C"...)

and this last picture is a shot of where I took my donations. This is a thrift store that raises money and donations for battered women and I like to give to them or another local charity that is for troubled tean girls (but they were closed on Saturday by the time I got it all sorted and boxed back up).

So, as you can guess, I needed a long nap after this and I was in the bed by 9:30 on Saturday night!

Gumbo and Birthdays are a great combination!

Saturday night, October 11th was our good friend D's 50 something birthday (don't worry D. I'm not telling - primarily because I can't remember exactly...is it 52...?)so we all got together to eat gumbo, and drink snorkels! Her hubby, A., makes the meanest gumbo in North Florida!

And, for those of you who don't know what a snorkel is, you'll just have to hope that you, too, get invited to a snorkeling event where you can go deep sea drinking, oops I meant, diving as well! LOL! We had a great time and I took some of the yummy Peach Cobbler and it was a big hit and was all eaten by the time we left the party! Thanks for having us D. & A.; we had a great time!

More Friday Night Fun at the Ballpark with our boys - October 17, 2008

All I can say about these shots are that we all have a great time (and some of us have even more fun than others - notice the hat and the plastic cup...)going to the ball field and watching our boys play baseball. What's more American than the pasttime of baseball and good friends?! What these boys don't even know is that every laugh, every play, every cheer from the outfield will be a memory that they'll hold dear when, they too, are 40 something years old, and are at a ball park somewhere watching kids play baseball...whew, time goes way too fast but good times can be had by all!

Speaking of good times had by all - look who made it to the ball field Friday night - it's our new mascot the Red Headed Step Child! Look, she's really enjoying the game too! Stay tuned as I'm sure that you'll want to keep up with her travels over the next few months...

Oh, and she's not the only one who's having a good time, look at these guys...

Well, on this note, well maybe not since he doesn't really looked too thrilled here, we'll just enjoy this last view from the ball park Friday night and call it a day. Oh yeah, we won!

Yummy Peach Cobbler Recipe!

Okay, okay, for those of you who are still drooling over the photos of my yummy peach cobbler that I posted last week in my cute turquoise glass sherbert dishes, here is the recipe that you requested and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did when I had Ms. Major over for dinner!

Too Easy Peach Cobbler

Ingredients: 1 large can of Sliced Peaches in Heavy Syrup (sorry that I don't have the ounce size but it's the one that is about the size of small can of coffee if that helps - see I'm NOT really a cook....)

Cinnamon

1 Box of White Cake Mix - 18.25 oz (I used the extra moist kind)

1 8 oz package of Cream Cheese

1 stick of Butter (softened and melted)

Optional: 1 small can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Directions to Make Cobbler -

Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with peach slices. Lightly sprinkle cinnamon over the peaches.

In a separate bowl, combine the White Cake Mix and the Cream chease together until they are a crumbly texture (I used my hands to combine or you can use a food processor but be careful and don't over process it - just use your hands as everything that has your hands in it always taste better according to Paula Dean...)

Spread this mixture over the top of the peaches.

Melt the stick of butter (I do this in the microwave) and pour over the top of the cake and cream cheese mixture.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until top of cobbler is golden brown. Pour a small amount of sweetened condensed milk over each serving for a little bit of pure heaven! Enjoy!

Yard Sale Treasures - October 11, 2008

Wow, how does life get so far ahead of me sometimes?! I guess because I'm busy living, spending time with friends, going to happy hour and great parties at friends houses, etc...! Oh well, I ramble! I went to an awesome estate sale here on Oct. 11th here in town that was conducted by this company that I follow like a religion! When they have a sale, I'm there unless I HAVE to be somewhere else. They always have great estate sales, they always start promptly at 8:00 a.m. (but I'm always there by 7:00 to be in the very first few going in the house...) and everything, and I mean everything, is priced. There's no haggling until after lunchtime (and I've never even once went back as I always buy it when I'm there early if I want it) so you know how much you'll pay from the very beginning!

Perfect example is this Blinko glass pitcher that I got for $5.00. The hubby and I love the color of Blinko glass and love how this looks when the sun hits it.

In this picture you'll see the cute vintage cards that I got for $0.50; a bag of thread for all my sewing projects for $0.75, the vintage planter that I use by my sink to put my scrapers and scrub pads in for $0.75; the Wire Glove hanger for $1.00, the handpainted wooden Easter eggs for $6.00 (I love the workmanship in these); 2 Pyrex small bowls for $0.75, some fingertip towels for $0.50; some awesome 60's embossed bath towels for $0.50 each (these are hard to find in good shape and I'm just drawn to them for some reason); the Scottish wool scarf for $2.00; a gorgeous vintage Christmas tablecloth for only $3.00 (Sorry it's not in this picture); the cool green and white velour table runner for $1.00; a vintage 2 hole paper punch for $1.00 (I also love to collect vintage desk accessories from the 50's); and there were a few more things but they aren't in this picture as I had started to put things away since it was a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun and I can't wait for their next one.

It always makes me feel kind of good to know that I'm giving a good home to someone else's "treasures" and that they won't wind up at Badwill or somewhere where they won't be appreciated like they will at my house.

But, I guess you should feel sorry for my nieces and nephews as one day, there will be one heck of an estate sale at my house....but, until then, I'm going to keep going to other people's estate sales and bring their treasures home with me!

Yard Sale Treasures - October 4, 2008

Whew, who knew it would be so much work to post my treasures each week and try and keep up with it so you guys could see what I find! But, I'm already catching myself running a little behind; sorry 'bout that! Here's just some of the stuff I found last Saturday. My silver watch for $5.00 was one of my favorites and I even found a few gift items that were brand new as Christmas is not far way... Oh, and then I went to this moving/estate sale of a guy who I think was a long way away from dying (hence, the "estate" sale part) but he sold me some awesome 50's Shiny Brite ornaments for my vintage silver Christmas tree for only $1.00 a box! That was a steal as I have paid $6.00 for one before! he also sold me the cute witch that stands watch in our yard now! I also got the cute flamingo salt and pepper shakers from him to add to my "vintage Florida" collection. Oh, and that Swiss army knife, yep, got it for $0.25!

Fall Fabulousness on my front stoop!

Wow, I'll really be glad when it starts to feel like fall and it stays that way. We've had a few cool days (days below 85 degrees) but they haven't come to stay yet. But, that doesn't stop us Floridians from decorating in the Fall Fabulousness in hopes that the cool weather will soon come! Isn't it all cute?! The girl scarecrow represents me (as my hair is kind of spiked on top, too!) and the male scarecrow is the Mr.. I think it all turned out very cute and if you live close and know where to find us; drive by and enjoy; that's what I do it for and if you think this is something, wait 'til you see what I do to "Deck the halls...."!Sorry the pumpkins are a little out of focus but I'm kind of tired tonight.....

I also took some more pictures of our Mexican Daisies that are in full bloom now at night and these are beautiful too - day or night!