Poppy and Ivy

When estate shopping becomes a problem......

Okay...so I have been unpacking the boxes from the estate sale...from the FINAL shopping spree.
And really ....the thoughts going through my head go something like this....

"Is this mine?"
"Did I choose this?"
and
"WHY?"

All good stuff, but I can see how frantic I was becoming at the end. I made some "big ticket" purchases that seem to have paid off. Some rare McCoy pieces and I thought that MAYBE 7 cake plates was possibly overload --but I sold 2 over the weekend!

Here we go....check out this sweet goodness:
 
Depression glass with cherry imprints. Mama doesn't pass up ANY cherries....

 
 
 

 
McCoy "Quail Family" piece
 

 

  

Did I mention I have TONS of pink glass? I was very relieved to see it highlighted this week in one of my new magazines..maybe Romantic Home? I think I will cut it out and frame it. In a pink glass frame of course. I am about 85% sure I mighthave one of those in some of these boxes. Above there are two pink vases, a pink cake plate, pink glass knobs, pink creamer and sugar and some more pink pedestal bowls that didn't fit on the desk at the time this photo was taken. But I will MAKE them fit when I return to work tomorrow. I will. Darn it....

Back to Dancing with the Stars & laundry. Man...my life gets sexier every year. Hope your Mother's Day weekend was amazing.

 
 

Goody, goody gumdrops...

 I went to the estate yesterday after work and when I got there the owner told me the bad news....the estate had been purchased by a gal and this was my last run-through. So, I did what any self-respecting lady would do....hunkered down, got REAL dirty and bought stuff I would normally NEVER buy! 5 pieces of McCoy, tons of sandwich glass, cut glass ...not my favorite although I like the looks. I just never use it myself. I packed away quickly and took it straight to the store, I will take pictures through out the day.

Then we had dinner at a local burrito restaurant...I was FAMISHED! My daughter had a friend over, such a  nice girl, and everybody seemed to be behaving and excited. WEIRD for the family with a 13-year-old girl involved. I should have seen the weirdness, but I was BUBBLING with estate sale happiness.

We got home and my son took me to the backyard where he had "made me a Mother's Day surprise".

 



 
The sweetest poem ever done in cursive (he was proud!). Our tent (yes...my son pitched a tent in the backyard all by himself...don't ask) had a bench filled with my favorite garden stuff and twinkle lights. Could these pictures BE any darker? I swear...they looked better in thumbnail! They still make my heart swoon.

And my husband and I got married when we were about 12. Okay....we were 21, but the DAY he gave me my ring, I never liked it. Yep. Kind of hatedit a bit. It was gold and I look ill in gold. And he keeps trying to get me a new one and I say "Hunks of diamonds are lovely....but I want something small..platinum and small. I really do. A band". And he points out these things at the jewelry store windows downtown that look like they need to be on a NBA wife and I say "Ummmm....that's NICE, but I'd like to keep our house and NOT spend 8,000 on a ring at this point of our lives...I want a simple band". REALLY? That guy should be doing a dance that I want a TINY band!

I have said this for 7 years. I have not worn a ring for 7 years.

Those days are gone...

Look at those hands! Ug.....Too many hours doing dishes this week....Dishpan hands. Madge would be sad. Anyway....now I know why the kids were SO good at dinner. They were so excited. They have been rallying for me for years!

So, off I go to dig out my new treasures! Happy Mother's Day weekend to you all...

Auto-pilot is my friend....

So, I promised myself that I HAD to get all the estate sale finds from the other day OUT before I could get more. I didn't want to end up buried in it all....having stacks in my basement, garage, bathroom, etc.

SO....all of it is out except a small stack of a set of china (partial set...sweet print).

I did it! It's out! Yeah! Remember when I said 50 pieces? Try 78. Yep. Processed, washed, numbered....and OUT!

I was so darn proud, then the UPS man pulled up with an order.

HUH?

I forgot about the NEW stuff coming in today!

The "old".......

 

 

 

The new.....
 

 

 

 

Happy Friday! My husband is here so I can head back into the Estate Basement. Fingers crossed......

The House and some other stuff....

 I HEART Mother's Day.

Sales are up again (whewwwwwww)....so I won't need to hire out my young 'uns to do yard work. THAT is a relief now, isn't it?

I cannot keep upwith Mother's Day cards. Completely fine, but cooking dinner with glue & paint on my fingers is really getting old. I think my children have had beef stroganoff flavored by Golden. Thank God they are little troupers.....

I DID get 27 more pieces of the new estate out on the floor today. I think I can, I think I can.....
I am due back tomorrow at 3:00 and again on Monday, so my goal is to get everything out on the floor between visits. Fingers crossed...

Turns out I DO have a home outside the shop and it's blooming and bursting out in the sunshine happiness....

 

 
My iron candle holder will be COMPLETELY covered by the end of May...but I love it when the first sprigs of the neighbor's ivy sneaks over to visit us. I am okay with ivy. For so many reasons:)

 
 

The backyard received some sunshine for 2 days and it just CAME alive. I was so spoiled after our vacation last month...I have been waiting for the sun, wearing flip flops to entice it out to play...but we've been buried in heavy overcast clouds and some drizzle instead. The temperature is down a bit too. No weather happiness here in the Pacific NW really. 

I want Maui back.....
 
The NW Wisteria seems perfectly pleased with our weather...what a show they have been putting on about town...

 



They are just being show-offs at this point. 
 
I am really happy NOT to be posting shop stuff right now...so my apologies if you are here to see new stuff. You need only scroll up for new stuff happiness.

Also on the menu for this weekend....with any purchase, pull a crown ticket (in honor of Mother's Day.....all sorts of Mother's deserve crowns......pupppy mama's, human Mama's, Nanny Mama's.....you name it.)  Today everybody who pulled a ticket pulled a 20% off ticket! You should have heard the squeals. And they inevitably bought more....and that's okay too. It wasn't the PLAN .....but I didn't complain.

Happy Thursday.....and really...it's Friday.

Shop-a-licious

On the shop front, I got about 27 pieces out. Two were purchased straight out of the cardboard box!
 
 

 
 
These are little forms made of salt. One time when I worked at an etsate sale company, a woman bought a bunch of these (not cheap) and thought they looked dirty and ran them through the dishwasher. She was VERY surprised when she opened the washer and they were just GONE. That was a great phone call...a lovely start to my workday.

 
My "man" display.
 
This is a GREAT old photo of a man out in the woods. He appears to making coffee or cooking something over a campfire. The light through the leaves is amazing. I am guessing ABOUT 1920's-30's judging by his clothing.

 
 

 
 
New bingo cards! 
 
My shop poppy bloomed!
 

Happy Thursday....
 

Once in a Lifetime..Part Two (PHOTOS!)

Fingers crossed that this does't crash when I add more photos. Happy Wednesday!
 

 
My hands are prunes....I washed and processed the goods all night and into the wee hours of the morning! Martini glasses, pink milk glass, hotel glasses with glass coasters, oh...and the dresses. The dresses make me swoon. One I. Magnin floral, a black little number.....OH.

Did I mention I am invited back Monday? There will be two local stores that are going in, but really....each room is PACKED to rim. It took me 4 hours to go through about 1/4 of the boxes in the basement ALONE. The kitchen is full. Every cupboard full of sandwich glass, depression glass, silverplate, sterling, ironstone....you name it. NO WAY could the other stores even make a dent. So I am not worried. There is more than enough for ALL of us!

I am so excited to get this into the shop. Plus, I have all the new Sublime Stitches designs coming in soon. Should be today! And some "new vintage" aprons, mini suitcases, candles, from another company. Their line is named Cupcakes & Cartwheels. You HAVE to love that name. 

Cheers... 

Once in a Lifetime.....

 And hopefully The Third Time Is a Charm....

I think my blog server is asleep at the wheel tonight. I have posted 3 times tonight and each time it has been GONE. Gone baby gone.

One more time.....

I received the chance of a lifetime today. I was invited to preview the estate of "Portland, Oregon's Greatest Estate Sale Shopper". Kid you not...this lady shopped Portland Estate Sales for 50 years. She was also the buyer for a local pharmacy. Her husband was the pharmacist and her side "hobby" was that of gift buyer.

Her son (only child) is shy and certainly not ready to let it all go. He has only let about 4 people in...and I am in one of them!!!! Do I seem excited about that???

Look at these sweet finds.....

Imagine a land of silver baskets, trays, vases, bowls, creamer & sugars.....I found that land in the Basement of Happiness...

 
This Album is backed in pristine velvet and the pages seem very well cared for. It does NOT come with photos. It just caught my eye.

 
This vintage hat is really cute and it made my 13-year-old smile for 4 seconds...then she probably stopped smiling abruptly and said something really rude to me, but I probably tuned her out. Could have happened:)

We're silly that way........

 
Lovely red work...a bunch of that was discovered. 
 
These boxes of pure loveliness....so much potential. 

I purchased about 55 pieces from this estate. Clothing, glassware, pictures, frames, vases, silver....this was a GREAT find! 

 
 
A beautiful butterfly quilt top...

 
 
 
I unearthed 9 of these beauties. 

This is one of three cake plates. Cake plates make me happy but don't ask me the last time I actually MADE a cake. I made cupcakes in January for my darling sister-in-law...but I put them on some plain old Fiesta ware!

 
Wall paper.Why did I buy it? It was just there....and it made me smile. 

 
 
 

You should never pass up on a good Jesus picture. And...my paint-by-number Last Supper was getting really lonely...

Okay...Typepad is getting cranky. There are about 7 other very nice photos, but they will have to wait until tomorrow. 

Please cross your fingers that this post actually goes live or I might go Postal on really kind people.... 

Happy...what DAY is it? Tuesday? Happy Tuesday!










 

Photo Thursday

  
One Venti Non Fat Cinnamon Dolce latte..no whip please.
That makes for a HAPPY morning indeed!

 
In my defense, they don't MAKE McCain air fresheners.

 
 
 
 
These shopper bags are INDESTRUCTIBLE. I  do my Trader Joe's shopping with these. I can fill it with bottled sparkly water and Mediterranean Hummus until it's bursting. Not a rip, tear or give at the seams.
 
 
 
ShaZAM....I LOVE this Super Hero set of glasses!
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
These are my poppies from last year. If we had ANY sun I think these guys would BURST! I can hardly wait. I forgot what color they were! Christmas in May!
 
 
 
 
I mentioned that I bought about 4 trillion rolls of ric rac...right? Well, I still have about 3 trillion left.....I just move it around all day. I kiss on it, talk to it, tell it how pretty it looks every day.

Actually, I really do that.

Happy Thursday to you all!

New Stuff is Fun

I was greated by BOXES of orders today.
Do I have my camera on me?
No...of course not. Well...I have the CAMERA, but the card is in my home computer! Drat!

Here is a list of my new goodies....

Smoking Monkey
Last Supper lunch box
New big oil cloth shoppers: Get Real & Madonna (classic art Madonna...not the performer)
Stink Bomb Matches (funny)
"Understand Your Mother Breath Spray" (funny)
Patron Saint of Parking air freshener
Savin' Up for Coffee (the last legal drug) coin purse
Arty wrist "cuffs

Have I mentioned that I compare my new store to a mullet?

  

It's "L" shaped and I call it "business in the front party in the back". The above shipments & new arrivals DEFINITELY fall under "party".  They are my FUN companies and I have to say some days those silly items are my bread & butter! Who knew?

I'll have photos tomorrow. It's pretty silly stuff.

And FYI, amazingly, that is NOT someone I know in that photo. :) Happy Wednesday!

Looking Back...

I love looking back every couple of weeks. I have been starting to organize photos for scrapbooks (a girl can dream) and I SO enjoy looking at "old" photos.

Late April 2006

 

 
 
 

Wow...in 2006 I had time to "play" in my house, go estate sale shopping, go outside with the kids to play around. That makes me think it's time to SLOW DOWN!

April 2007:
 


 
2007 was apparently all about the shop! Some softball photos were in there as well.

Today's fun finds:
I read Ali's blog and decided to use Scrapbook Pictures.comto order my first batch of photos for my "Organization 2008" goal. A lot of the people I met at my old job (scrapbooking store) used scrapbook pictures...and they are actually local to Portland. You can impose words, various frames, crop it all right on your computer and then they mail the finished product to you. I will let you know how it turned out. My experience with other on-line photo places has been orange faces and no clean lines...photos looked blurred. Yet I hate printing at home. My printer is good....it's just tedious.

I found a LOVELY new (to me) blog. I was salivating!

Chez Fifi


And I has some time to catch up with some other known favorites....

Lulu's

Notes from a Cottage Industry

Jane's Apron (oh! I owe her an e-mail for an order! The tax lady returned our paperwork and the 2008 Jane's Apron invoice had managed to get into my 2007 paperwork. Go figure!)

Rosemary

Jenni Bowlin

Back to painting furniture, makin' arty things for the store and cooking dinner. What WILL the family do with a homemade (by Mom!) dinner for the SECOND night in a row? Sadly, I don't think they remember that I cooked 99% of the meals and we hardly ever ate out the first 9 years of their lives! So sad. Thank GOD for local favorites ChaChaCha and Thai Noon!

Hope you are experiencing some spring weather. We Portlanders are watching the steady rain run down our windows...mixed with an occasional sun burst! Happy Spring.