Most Friday and Saturday mornings, you will find me out shopping Estate and Garage Sales. First and foremost, honestly, and selfishly... I want to find treasures for ME! Yep!
But now I have the added fun twist of finding items for my booth too... so I truly don't whine when the alarm clock goes off at 5:30 am on the weekends.
So yesterday morning I was having tons of fun, out and about. Finding several things for my own personal uses and collections. I stopped at one particular sale and spotted this little round ottoman.
I am looking for a small round ottoman to use in my entry. I examined it. Put it down. Shopped around... then came back to it. Meanwhile, the garage sale 'hostess', an adorable old woman, kept giggling. I was the only shopper at that time. I was a tad unnerved, truthfully. I put the ottoman down again and the giggling stopped. I looked at the sale items one more time, making final decisions on what to buy... and I once again picked up the ottoman. The vinyl was a gorgeous aqua... but too far damaged to patch in any way. So then I thought... a cute aqua linen slipcover would give this little 'gal' new life.
Sold for ONE whole dollar.
The old woman, again giggling at me, screamed into the house for her husband, Job, and told him to come on out and bring the camera. I was ready at this point to drop my 'loot' and just leave, unsettled to say the very least. So Job came out of the front door with camera in hand and said, "You have got to be kidding me!" I stood smiling awkwardly at them both... ready to bolt. Then the woman reached out and tapped my arm (probably because she saw the weird expression on my face) and explained....
'the day before, her husband and two daughter were helping her sort and price items for the garage sale. When she asked their opinions on what to price the little aqua ottoman... the hubby and daughters were all in agreement that it was too far gone and that she should just throw it in the garbage. The woman disagreed. She felt it was worth at least something! That was when the husband stated that there was not one lady in the whole city crazy enough to pay one CENT for the ottoman. And the daughters chimed in and said... if there was a lady crazy enough to pay money for the ottoman, then they wanted their dad to take a picture of her!'
And there you have it... yep... I was the crazy lady! And yes, for documentation purposes... I indeed stood there holding my cute aqua ottoman smiling for the camera. Knowing full well that the whole family was going to be enjoying a huge laugh at my expense... but it is all in good fun.
And I stick to my instincts that this ottoman is going to be cute, CUTE, when I get done with it. But the joke may be on me in the end because it is a tad small for the space I wanted it for, but if so, off to the booth it will go and I am convinced someone beside 'the crazy lady' will love it dearly, snicker!
Beside the Twilight Zone feeling experience with the ottoman, I found incredible items throughout the day! Over 5 years ago, I found these little cobbler shoe forms at an antique store in Destin. They were not an actual 'pair' but I loved them instantly.
For several years this little set sat in my entry looking darling.
Then I thought how much they reminded me of Ty, my child that never wants to wear shoes... who if I told him to go grab shoes to wear he deliberately grabbed mismatched shoes to make the point that he did not want to wear them anyway. These became 'Ty's shoes'.
So somewhat subconsciously I started to keep my eye out for cobbler forms for each member of our family.
Two years ago I found these... they reminded me of Savannah. Perfect match. Neatly strung together, higher on the ankles... because even when she was little she preferred little boots. Not surprised now that she prefers to wear cowboy boots to flip flops.
About 6 months after that I found these. Christian's forms. They too are strung together with a cord. I used to have to tie Christian's shoes together by the laces when we took them off else somehow one shoe would be under the couch and the other in his closet?!? Oh to have the time back we spent trying to find both of Christian's shoes when he was young. Before I started tying the laces together when they were taken off.
This Spring when Shawn and I went to the Blue Ridge Mountains for our anniversary... I found this pair. I had never seen a painted pair of forms. The white paint instantly made these seem feminine. Most women shoe forms are very arched so that a high heel could be added later. But I am a flip flop gal and rarely wear heels.... so I thought these were perfect to represent ME.
All that to say... yesterday, I found this pair at an Estate Sale. Shawn's. They are very different from the other forms but I loved them instantly. I feared they would be too long to fit on the stair step where I want to display the forms. But I bought them and they fit perfectly!
So here 'we' all are. Ty at the top and in order of age going down. I love them. Collection complete!
A few weeks ago, I confessed to taking the Joy of Cooking Cookbook (pictured on the far right) to my booth only to bring it back home later... I loved it and decided I could not sell it. Well, yesterday I found another one. It is a slightly different shade of blue and title font. Precious!
Now to my last amazing find of my Friday... the one that made me pull over and text my sister and sil, because I was so beyond happy and had to share. First... just this past Thursday I was mentioned to Cari and Alisha that there was an old dressform at an antique store that I wanted so bad. It is called a 'chain link' dressform and so unique. But the price was HUGE... like $290 HUGE. I stated that i just wish it would sell so I could quit drooling over something I would never spend that much money on. Sigh.
So less than 24 hours later... I am driving home from hitting sales and ready to be home. It was 10am and that is actually late for me to still be out. I was driving down a street and saw and Estate Sale sign... stating the sale had begun at 7am and was ending at 11am. Surely there wasn't anything good left. But I decided to take a quick peek. I almost forgot to put my truck in park and pull out the key because I saw 'her' standing on the porch.
I walked up and did not even attempt casual conversation..."IS IT STILL FOR SALE???!!?"
Yes! Then the woman started to state all the dress forms imperfections, her broken snaps, her wobbly base, it belonged to her grandmother and had been in the attic since her death.... I do not overstate that I was a tad dizzy at this point. I was so afraid to ask how much she was selling for. I knew the price tag of the dressform at the antique store and I was convinced this would be out of my league too. But I had to ask, bracing myself for the answer. Funny thing is that I asked and then my ears immediately started to 'buzz'. Self protection perhaps? Not hearing the answer I asked again... how much?
$25.
I immediately dug into my purse... paying for her with 5 $5s, and could not get her snatched off that porch fast enough. I think I left the Estate Lady dumbfounded... not an ounce of haggling, no contemplation, I even forgot to see what else might have been left for sale... I just lifted the form up and put her in the truck.
I sat in the truck only long enough to text my sister and sil about my 'find' and then to let my dizziness pass. Snort. And I drove home so pleased with all my treasures.
And I love the form more today then I did yesterday. I have inspected her many 'faults'. She has only a single snap intact on the front. She needs some serious reshaping. She is wobbly.
BUT I think a gorgeous 3" thick velvet or satin turquoise sash around her waist would be smashing and then I shall leave her as is. Perfect!
"Home is an invention on which