Part Three
from our adventures at
The World's Longest Yard Sale
Anyway, as you will see, my takeaway was not hefty, but the items I got are each a treasure in their own right. You think I'd go crazy buying junk with all that laid out before me on Tabor Road in the Noccalula Falls area of AL, but as indicated previously, those rolling eyes kept me in line. Those eyes belong to my daughter who is in the accounting field, and she has a stellar sense of thrift. Those eyes are a powerful force too.
By the way, today we are celebrating her birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear CALLY!
Sending hugs and kisses from home.
xoxo
Now, in Cally's eyes, buying numerous inexpensive and unnecessary treasures is as foolish as purchasing overpriced things at a high end store. So I took great care not to overbuy just because something was cool, old or cheap compared to the store. I really do think that for my stellar restraint I deserve points or some sort of "good financial behavior credit" I can apply toward my next thrifty adventure, don't you?
So here is what I came home with:
I had fun buying these goodies. 50 cents for each potato sack, $1 per headlight (I have a plan for them and they were on my list!), I paid 50 cents each for the black handled scissors and 25 cents for the fantastically rusty scissors.
The Chevrolet emblem I got for FREE comes with a story.
I came upon an older man, who was probably in his 70's. He was tending to a table laden with the assorted car parts of the ages. It was just as beautifully junky as it could be, covered with random stuff in boxes overflowing with paper, hoses, automotive thingamajigs and doohickies and whatnot, displayed about like he had just gathered up the lifetime contents of his garage still in the dirty and oil stained boxes and dumped it all out there in a pile. Think "trash heap". I loved it. I had fun looking through it because it was car-related and I need some old car stuff for something I want to make my brother one day. The man struck up a conversation with me as I discovered and picked up a sweet Chevrolet emblem that was the old cursive look and made of metal, but he wanted $10 for it. That was not what I wanted to pay, even though I've never found one before and have only seen them online for about the same amount or more.
He wanted to know what the heck I would want that for, so I tried to describe what I wanted to do. Maybe it made sense, maybe not. When I asked how much, he said he needed $10 for it because it was old and they are hard to come by. I know they are and didn't begrudge him the price but it was too high for me and what I really want and need is an old metal Mustang emblem. I thanked him and looked around through the stuff a bit more. Not seeing anything else of interest, and knowing we had miles to go and things to see, I said so long and off I went.
I finished looking around at what some of the other vendors had to offer and then ordered a hotdog at the food cart which took kind of a long time. As we waited we stood in front of a huge old fan they had set up to keep the customers somewhat cool; huge fan, meaning like 5 feet square. When we were done, Cally and I went to the car and were about to leave but I ran back across the expanse of grass to throw something away by the eating area. As I was coming up to it, across the shady dirt path to my left came the same man carrying this Chevrolet emblem.
He held it out. It was plastic (and not cursive). I told him, "Aw, that's cool, but I really need the metal kind. I'm looking for an old one in cursive that's made of metal." He tapped it and said, "it IS metal!" "Naw, that's plastic," I laughed. (and after tapping it a couple more times as if to convince me and himself, he laughed too.) "...but I'm sure I could use it for something," I said. He smiled and handed it to me and told me I could have it. Awww... I thanked him kindly and told him how sweet that was, and as I was leaving, one of his old buddies joined the fray and questioned him, "Are you hittin' on her?" they chuckled and joined another older guy under a tree on the path to chew the fat and compare notes on the day while keeping tabs on their tables full of treasures and perhaps a few stories yet to come. I smiled to myself and off we headed to the next sale and the next story.
And that, my friends is what it's all about.
Longest yard sale goodness!
Quick story about the cute little pail.
Another super personable older man was sitting in front of some sort of a weathered red wood building in the shade at a small table with a shotgun or a rifle lying across it (not sure, I wasn't really paying attention to that). In front and to the right of him was a huge old trailer, the flatbed of it was wood. There was some sort of antique plow or some such thing and a couple other items strewn around and remnants of whatever had been there lying on top of it, but not much left. I walked up and said hello and started looking around. The cute little pail was lying on the ground and I picked it up and turned to ask him how much he wanted and he said, "you better hurry and get that before them democrats come and tell you you can't have it cuz it's no good for ya." I laughed and said, "you're lucky they haven't shut down this whole sale yet." He laughed and told me he wanted a dollar for the pail. It was too cute to pass up.
Then I picked up a pair of rusty scissors and we proceeded to haggle over the price. I wasn't going to pay more than a quarter and he was trying to get me to grasp the higher value he wanted to attribute to them, starting at a dollar and working his way down. We had a good natured financial tug-o-war about it. His friend came up and said "What are you doing!?""Give the girl the scissors! They aren't even worth a quarter!"
So he accepted my quarter with a laugh and then as a man came up to ask about the shotgun (he wanted $300 for it), he told me how his daughter had cleared out her barn and piled everything on the trailer. He said he was sure everyone would go crazy for the antique plow or whatever it was and a couple of other cool old things he had, but he said that people passed those things right up and had a free for all fighting over the junk. He said elbows were flying and people were snapping up the old stuff that he thought was worthless, and they didn't seem at all interested in the things he thought were the treasures. "Go figure", he said. Indeed. And darn, but we were no where near there when the free for all was underway. Sorry we missed that. Well, I did get the pail and the rusty scissors, and those scissors came in very handy while trying to get Cally's new place in order. There were no scissors in the apartment and we kept needing them desperately. Those rusty things had one good spot on them, and we made the most of it. Rusty scissors to the rescue!
I got these two windows for $10 each. I thought these were especially cool because they each have hardware on them; a handle and a latch. One side of each is wood and one side is painted a dull dark green. They also have a bluish green layer.
Yes, it would have been nice if I had ironed this old Florida tablecoth treasure before showing you, but I assure you I didn't buy it clean or ironed, so all's fair. At least I've washed it now (and you know that's saying something because my washer is still torn apart and lying in pieces where I left it when I told you about my attempt to dismantle, diagnose it and prove my genius).
I've wanted one of these for the longest time. In the past the people I have found selling old Florida tablecloths, which have been few and far between, have always been asking closer to $75. I once saw one for $55 but it wasn't the right color. None before have been these perfect 50/60's colors like this one. None were the right price either. I paid $25. At first I had to walk away from it and hope the other woman from Florida who was looking at it didn't go back and get it while I was trying to decide if I could let go of that much money. She ended up back there too but decided to buy something else. Woo hoo! I'm so glad I got it!
So without ironing it, I went ahead and put it on the table to see how it would look. Isn't it so perfect? It's only card table size, but that works for me because I don't like to cover my table completely. I'm not really much of a tablecloth person, more of a table runner type, if anything, so this works well for me. Best yet, is its Old Florida style which is something I love and find works well in my old Florida house with its old Florida temperament! Oops, I forgot to light the candles in the above shot. I liked the minimalist look of the centerpiece but for those of you who like things a little more involved...
So you see, I do have a use for some of the things I buy!
(For the record, the tablecloth is in a special category which justifies spending $25 on a single item. I'd never expect to get an old Florida tablecloth for $5, although I'm not opposed to trying!)
So it goes at the World's Longest Yard Sale.
You want it, you better be ready to break your own rules.
And it doesn't hurt to take your daughter along for the memories and the fun.
Thanks for accompanying me on the journey, Cally.
It wouldn't have been the same without you!
(For the record, the tablecloth is in a special category which justifies spending $25 on a single item. I'd never expect to get an old Florida tablecloth for $5, although I'm not opposed to trying!)
So it goes at the World's Longest Yard Sale.
You want it, you better be ready to break your own rules.
And it doesn't hurt to take your daughter along for the memories and the fun.
Thanks for accompanying me on the journey, Cally.
It wouldn't have been the same without you!
I'll be sharing this at:
