Cast of Characters

Well, as you can see, I haven't posted since Monday. I have been pretty busy, but I have also been plagued by a blogger issue whereby they decided to tell me (while I was uploading photos for a post) that I didn't have any storage space left. I have already dealt with this once, but had to spend hours trying to delete images and resize others, only to have it continue to tell me I was past my limit when I clearly wasn't. Frustrating. However, for the moment, I have the problem remedied. If you ever find me MIA, that could be the reason.

Friday's cast of characters.

On to the fun stuff!

Last week I went to Goodwill and found all sorts of silverware; wide soup spoons and various forks for 10 cents each. They also had a couple of larger silver pasta serving spoons for $2 each, as well as the usual selection of a bit more expensive silver trays, butter dishes, teapots, etc. I came home with the soup spoons and some of the forks that day. I wasn't sure if I should get the pasta spoons, so I passed on them. Those $2 items add up fast. 10 cents I can handle. There were other larger items as well, but I've had a hard time trying to work out whether or not to pay Goodwill's prices for some of the silver that goes from $8 to $12 because if I find it at a yard sale I can probably score it for less. You know... me and my limits. Thing is, you just don't know when you'll find any at a garage sale.

I got all of this for about $2.00 last week. Love the huge soup spoons!

Then, my friend Lynette and I were getting together today to discuss our ideas about opening a shop. She saw some of the silver I had found so far that I had already cleaned up and she felt spending $10 or $12 for a beautiful piece of silver was a great deal, especially seeing it after it was cleaned and looking all sparkly and pretty. While she's a great bargain hunter, she does not place upon herself the $5 limits that I do. So since I was going to head over to Goodwill, she gave me some cash in case there were any of the silver pasta spoons left and in the hope there might be some other special pieces available that I could purchase for her. Off I went on a hunt for inexpensive tarnished silver.

Many of the larger pieces were still there from the week before, but there were some I just wasn't sure were worth taking a chance on. Sometimes they are so very tarnished, you don't know whether or not there will be a blemish or some unrelenting pitting hidden under that mottled grunge. So after a phone consult with Lynette, wherein I described the pieces and gave my opinion about which she might like, I made my choices, deciding against a few of them because they seemed like the cheaper silverplate. Since Goodwill seems to price based on size of the item, the chumpy silver was the same price as those which I thought might be nicer pieces. I did manage to come away with two pieces for her and one for me, plus a few other items.

Here is the gravy boat I picked up for myself, or eventually for sale. After spending a good deal of time cleaning this, I was carrying it oddly and it accidentally flung out of my hands landing end first on my Mexican tile. The end got slightly bent and scruffed up, although nothing too noticeable. Oh well, it's not like it's valuable. I'm just lucky it wasn't something made of glass.

Now this guy was another story. What a bear to clean. Took about half a container of silver polish and about half the day, but you have to love such a cool ice bucket with a hinged lid.


There is a fixed glass liner inside.

Worth the loving effort, I'd say. This did have a couple of pitted areas that still might clean up, and one dot of a place where the silver was knicked, but a gem no less. Still needs a bit more polishing in general as well, but my fingers were cramping up and my fingernails were stained with tarnish, so I let it go for the time being.  The pasta spoon came out beautifully!

Take Time to Take Care

I think if you keep the pieces polished once in a while, the cleaning is not so time consuming or taxing. I was literally working up a sweat polishing this. Plus your piece will last longer and you can avoid the pitting. The tarnish actually seems to start to eat through the silverplate after a while in some spots. So take care of it and give it a little attention. It will reward you with a bit of glitz that will go a long way toward brightening your spirits!                                                          

Bought this tray with the intention of completely redoing it because I liked the shape and the fact that it had handles. Thought I'd either make it a chalkboard tray or repaint it some other way, but it's kind of growing on me.  I just don't like the cake graphic or the font of the words at the very top. I might just try repainting the edging first and see if that helps, because I still don't like that. It's a flesh color. Ick! I may also try weathering the part with the lettering and design. Then if it still doesn't suit me, I can cover it over. We'll see. The aluminum (or whatever these are) pots caught my eye and they were under a dollar, so I snagged them. I have an affinity for aluminum kitchen items. They are so shiny and cute.

Lynette also said she has some of that looking glass paint that she wanted to try out but didn't have a shapely bottle worth using it on. I found this one at Goodwill. Since the spray paint is pricey, we need to make sure the bottle is worthy. Not sure if this one is or not. She will have to be the judge of that.

Before I ever went to Goodwill, and on our way to breakfast this morning, we stopped at a Friday yard sale someone was having. I picked up these two goodies for $3 each. 

Because of the weather, I almost didn't bother with yard sales today. It has been wildly stormy. 

This was taken last night through my front door window.

It's been raining off and on all morning, but it's likely that any minute it will be thundering, lightning and raining with a fury. We have a tropical storm threatening. I really should be checking on that and moving around some of my junk that's piled up outside so that it doesn't get flung into windows if the winds pick up. Last night was crazy enough and things are a mess out there even from that storm.

For now, I have lots to keep me busy. I found some great treasures this morning and one of them needs an overhaul. So I will be off for now and hopefully back with an update on my latest acquisitions. That is if blogger doesn't shut me down again. 

Wish me luck!

I'll be sharing at:

Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday @ My Romantic Home

Wow us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

Open Call Tuesday @ Salt Tree

Tuesday's Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Mod Mix Monday @ Mod Vintage Life

Tuesday To-Do @ The Blackberry Vine

Metamorphosis Monday @ BNOTP

Sunday's Best @ My 1929 Charmer

Inspire Me Monday @ Create with Joy

Mop it Up Mondays @ ISBMTF

Sunday Show Off @ Twigg Studios

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage