Estate Sale SNAFU

hey y'all,

not feeling up to a full-blown day of junkin' with my buds, i ventured out saturday morning, solo. mainly i wanted to hit an estate sale in town and then if my foot was behaving, maybe a yard sale or two.

as it happens, it was a gorgeous day, weather-wise for sales. drivin' along ... to an estate sale on a sunny saturday morning ... with a full cup of ice and a loaded tube of blistex. life is good.

then i got lost. in. my. home. town. arghhh. i thought i knew where i was going, but apparently, they moved some streets around without my knowledge or approval (note to self: send disgruntled email to city planner's office with a cc to entire city council and mayor).

thank God for my iphone GPS. i pulled over and typed in the address of estate sale. sure enough, i was in the general vicinity but had to do a little backtracking. no problem. here i go. just follow the blue flashing dot (me and my camry) to the house with the red push-pin sticking in the roof.

technology is amazing, no?

having recovered from my short-lived mis-directional debacle, i arrived (at destination!) with my good humor still intact. the sale was busy so i had to park a couple of houses down. no bother! i took it as a good sign (signs are extremely important to those of us who suffer from {or enjoy} our OCD-ish-ness. example: if i make it up to the front porch before a white truck passes by, then it'll be a good sale ... OR my childhood fave ... if i jump up and down three times and say praise the Lord, i will have a good piano lesson ... never mind that i didn't practice a lick all week).

a quick check in the mirror for facial imperfections (you girls know what i'm talkin' about ... smudged mascara, stray eyelashes), a last minute swipe of my lips with blistex, folding money stuffed into my jeans pocket and i'm finally ready to hit the sale.

the girl, she is excited!!

no sooner than i had stepped through the threshold of the front door, i hear a woman's booming voice: "hey!!! aren't you **** *******'s ex-wife?!"

how lovely. and such a proper way to greet customers at your estate sale. invoking my ex's name and referring to me as his ex-wife does not ... i repeat ... does NOT endear me to people.

trust me on this. having lived in this town for all of my 48 years, i expect to see folks i know (or sort of know) everywhere i go. it's just the way it is. and having been married to the ex for 20-something years and having procreated three children from said marriage, i know it's difficult for some people to separate us in their little ol' minds. i suppose i should be thankful she called me the "ex-wife".

but my point here is this: i'm not somebody's ex-wife. i'm ME. terry lee. never mind that i'm also married to. someone. else!!! if people want to call me ****'s ex-wife in the privacy of their own homes (but really, don't they have anything better to discuss than ME?!), fine. but honest-to-God, i wish they'd stop addressing me as such, to my face.

sheesh. how rude.

my reply to this woman? "guilty as charged."

unfortunately, my response was not off-putting enough, as she proceeded to ask me about the ex's family ... is so and so still married to so and so?! blah blah blah.

i suppose you might think i'm overreacting. and if it only happened a time or two, i would agree. but this happens quite often and believe me, it's enough to make me want to pull up stakes (we live in a circus tent) and skip town.

all of this was upsetting, sure, but as a veteran junker and estate sale connoisseur, i was not going to let this lady deter me from finding a waiting treasure/bargain.

when i finally shed myself of this woman, i could see there were some nifty pieces in this house. was truly hoping for the sewing machine that was advertised, but no, some early bird got that worm. instead, i found a box full of sewing patterns for $1. they're old and i love 'em. will repurpose them (in crafts, etc) since i have neither a sewing machine nor sewing skills.



a fairly large mirror for $3, which i'll paint or decoupage

also found a pink contortionist lamp. i don't know what it's actually called, but it bends and turns all sorts of ways. sadly, the base is missing which is probably why it was only $1 ... and still there. prudently, i plugged her in and sure enough, she worked!

love that it's pink ... hope i can figure out a way to stabilize it.

while in one of the bedrooms, playing with the lamp, the other sales lady came back to check on me. presumably to make sure i wasn't stuffing items down my pants or in my jacket.

however, she opened up with, "i wanted that lamp. i'm an artist ... i paint ... and it would be great in my studio."

"oh really? you're an artist! how wonderful. i wish i could do that."

"you could take lessons, you know! they have classes at the senior citizens' center for people 55 and older."

(surely she's not thinking what i think she's thinking ...)

"ha ha. well, i'm not quite 55," i say, jokingly.

"oh, i bet they'd let you in," she replies. with. a straight. face.

and that was when i decided it was time to get me and my 48 year old arse out of estate sale hell. my emotional trauma meter (ETM) was maxed out. sigh.

one more quick item of interest. matt and i hit a friday estate sale. came away with only one item, but it's a beaut. in fact, my favorite find of the weekend. a personal hand-made collage that was made by the owner of the house (now deceased). i fell in love with it as soon as i laid eyes on it.

it's larger than it appears in this pic. to think of all the hours, thought and love put into this piece ... it's a shame someone in the family didn't want it. sold to me for a mere $2.

i spoke to the adult son, who was running the sale, to get a back story on it. his father and stepmother lived in the san francisco area in the early 70s. she made this collage of bits and pieces, memorabilia from their days in california. it's on canvas and you can spend hours looking at it and still won't see everything.

hand written receipt dated 1971, among other memorabilia

chopsticks still in wrapper, from local restaurant in china town

i like to think she (the collage-maker) realized the juxtaposition here ... "anti-marriage revolution" article under the engagement ring advert.

"your size a problem? it needn't be! just discover the elegant elephant!" what the what?!?!

having been on holiday in san francisco with hubby a few years ago (and loving these types of collages) it had special meaning to me. it wasn't until the next day that i noticed an old postcard from a holiday inn in SF on the collage. i couldn't believe it!! the same hotel (on van ness blvd.) that we stayed in!!

the hotel pictured here is where hubby and i stayed in SF. love the connection!

love and hugs to y'all!
terry lee

tooooo sweet vintage cigarette case with girl and cat on one side ...

... and boy with dog on the other.

gorgeous crocheted pieces, pink and yellow. nice and springy! the lil mirror is very heavy with lovely ornate frame which i'll paint, of course.

Lasses in Lampasas

hey y'all,

am just about recovered from my weekend wildness with the girls. whew! it's a good thing we were snowed in the past couple of days because i didn't feel like getting out anyhow.

speaking of snow, i was going to cram in snow pics in this post but realized that i was overextending myself, so i've made an executive decision to postpone the snow blog till later. for now, suffice it to say ... yeah, yeah, it snowed. about 6 inches in central texas.

but back to last weekend ... we loaded up the camry and headed west to lampasas for a warehouse sale, advertised as (of all things) a huge "WAREHOUSE SALE. SEIZED & FORECLOSURE MERCHANDISE".

we'd been to this one before and though it's a pain in the arse (crowded, irritating people getting in your way, crying babies and the like), they do have some interesting junk if you sift through enough of it.

but before we left the cove, we hit a couple of yard sales. we managed to do some damage at all of them:

a huge junie b. jones display for $0.50! got it for hubby's classroom

precious little yellow cups with a sweet bunny ... all great for upcoming easter

a heavy, marble-based candelabra for $0.50!! plan to paint and add prisms. and candles of course.

and then we were off to the warehouse. as it happens, i only got one thing there, but i was very pleased with my purchase. an old chest/dresser that was marked at $35. i'm not sure why, exactically, that it so desperately wanted to come home with me. but it did. i kept trying to leave it, but it whimpered and whined until i finally asked the lady minding the sale if she'd take less (it's in my blood to at least try for a better bargain).

here it is, at home. my plan is to paint it a vintage-type light green and distress it.

she agreed to sell it for $30. and made it clear to me that it was an excellent deal and that was her lowest offer.

not. a. problem. i was happy at $30, but decided to ask her hubby (who sold us stuff at his last sale at excellent prices ... and i knew that he would undercut his wife's price). i know, i'm bad.

love the sweet feet/legs on it

sure enough, he took the $28 i proffered as he looked over his shoulder to make sure wifey wasn't watching. she was. she stabbed me with an icy glare as we hauled away the chest.

i think this baby's well worth $28 ... and the daggers from the wife/seller.

ANYways, after the warehouse ordeal, we stopped in to a quaint lil thrift shop just off the square. it's some sort of faith-based thrifty place in a sweet old house. if you look long and deep enough, you can usually find some treasures there.

in the kitchen, jannetta spied a box full of vintage dinnerware that she thought i'd like. "but hurry up! there's a lady in there digging through it right now!!"

i nearly tripped over her and everything in between (it's a small, packed with junk, house) to get to the kitchen. sure enough, some woman was hogging up MY dishes. listen people ... it was a vintage SET with turquoise flowers and a splash of pink in the middle. oh yeah. they were MY dishes.



the woman finally removed herself from the area, carrying a serving bowl and multiple plates. ack!!!! later, the young girl working there admitted she shouldn't have split up the set. but she offered to sell me the rest of the set for $6.99.



i was pretty bummed about missing out on the entire set, but her price made me happy enough to agree to purchase the remaining pieces. they are wonderful. absolutely no buyer's remorse with this.



famished from a full morning of junking, we finally stopped for a late lunch at my girls on the square. it's a sweet little locally-owned restaurant that serves up yummy chicken salad sandwiches, soups and the like. the hubby and wife were very gracious hosts and were more than willing to take our official group pic of the day on their staircase. too bad they can't spell.

"restaraunt"?! didn't even notice it until i uploaded the picture. normally, i'm all over misspellings like stink on a dog.

the official group photo, on staircase inside my girls, lampasas, texas.

my girls had this very clever fish tank inside an old TV. cool, eh?

after lunch, we browsed around lampasas (in the camry) and accidentally found this place:



a little shop inside a historic home. love the old homes in lampasas!! we weren't sure if they were open, but jannetta investigated and was finally able to rouse the man inside. bonnie was too full and sleepy to be adventurous, so jannetta and i checked it out. not a lot going on inside, but on the front porch we were greeted by this:

he wouldn't talk to me, but he was very entertaining

jannetta, who's able to squeak and squawk with the animals, made a new friend.

on a final note, i received a surprise box of treasures from my dear pal sue at vintagesue. i can't thank her enough for her thoughtfulness, generosity, kindness, etc. i LOVE my treasures, sue!! thank you SOOO much.

sweet linens and things ... yummy!

an adorable pillow made by sue

y'all stay safe and warm and keep on junkin'!

love and hugs from a white central texas,
terry lee

official ring photo :-)

Bliss

hey y'all,

i think i'm finally on the mend and hope to hit the junkin' trail again real soon. which means i should have some terrific treasure finds to share with you on my next post!

meantime, if you read my last post, you saw my lovely pink tulips, a valentine gift from my dear hubby. well, i actually got another gift on v-day. nothing says i love you (at least to moi) like a big ol' bowl of bliss!! blistex, that is.

my tulips ... and blistex for my two lips. i promise that's the last time i use that pun .... this year.

those of you who know me personally know that i go through blistex like there's no tomorrow. some of you have even gone as far as to imply that i have a problem. an addiction, even.

okay, so i've been using it since i was 11 years old and haven't been without a tube since.

okay, i do get a little queasy when i'm down to my last tube and there's a possibility of running out.

and yes, i do like to be stocked up on the product. just. in. case. just in case of what, i'm not sure. a nuclear war? they stop manufacturing it? there's a blistex shortage?!

and okay ... i did give strict instructions to my next of kin (hubby and daughter) that they were to be armed with blistex and ice chips when i got out of my surgeries. and god-forbid, if anything happened to me and i lost my faculties (again, some of you have implied that's already happened), someone is supposed to keep blistex ON. MY. LIPS. AT. ALL. TIMES.

20 tubes from my lovah boy. not 19, not 21. 20 even (i also have an issue with odd numbers ... don't we all?).

but no, i'm not addicted. i just like the feel of it on my lips. it keeps them soft and moisturized. and when i don't have it on my lips, well, my life starts to unravel and then the voices in my head get louder.

heh heh

speaking of those voices, when i'm stressed, they tell me to eat little white donuts. this is a situation that goes waaaay back to my childhood. my mama used to give them to us (kids) while on road trip vacations. we'd pull over to a rest stop at breakfast time and out came the little white donuts and a mason jar full of ice cold milk (kept in the old red metal ice chest in the trunk).

so as you can see, i have a history with lil white donuts. anyhow, i've been a little on the sTrEsSeD side lately (not so's anyone could notice, eh, right?) and that's when i tend to eat. a lot. of little white donuts. if they're around.

look how pretty. bwaahahahaha! as IF i eat them off a sweet homer laughlin rose plate!! no, y'all. when i'm in a full-blown lil white donut feeding frenzy, they are eaten straight out of the bag.

yesterday, after our back to back dental appointments, hubby and i stopped by the grocery store for milk. lo and behold (yes, dana, some of us do talk like that!) they had a special display up front of lil white donuts. buy one bag, get one free!!!!

so i snatched myself two bags of those precious powdery pastries and asked hubby if we should just go ahead and stock up since they were on sale.

"don't you think one bag is enough for now?" hubby asked, with an incredulous stare, i might add.

"you mean two bags, right? there are TWO bags there," i replied.

"yeah, one bag for me ... one for you," he explained.

oh. one bag for me. i thought i was getting both bags. silly me. i guess i'll be heading back to the store real soon then.

stress + bag of lil white donuts = one sitting.

guess my hubby doesn't know his math very well.

love and hugs,
terry lee

my valentine from ms. valentine. thanks, mary!!

Two Lips

hey y'all,

just a quick post to say happy valentine's day and to share a lil love with y'all. sadly, the only junkin' i've been able to do lately is in my heart. yep, still moving in slo-mo around here and it's fixin' to get the better of me.

i'm reminding myself of that old hee-haw song ... gloom, despair and agony on me. waaaaaa!! deep dark depression, excessive misery ... waaaaaaaa!! y'all 'member that?

okay, i'm not that bad. yet. but if this foot doesn't heal so that i can get some junkin' in soon, i will be. waaaaaaa!!

but, umm, happy valentine's day y'all! in honor of all things lovey dovey, here are some pics that brighten my spirits ... and i hope they make you happy, too.

love and hugs,
terry lee

all you need is love ... all you need is love ... love is all you need. sweet little sign on easel says it all.

great little heart, a vintagesue creation

another one

precious heart collage (by sue, duh)

tarnished silverware sitting pretty inside an old rosy pitcher

yes. yes i do!

i love kisses. especially if they're filled with caramel! :-) sweet wedding photo of a couple in love, long long ago. i'm sure they lived happily ever after. whatever.

my lovely pink two lips, er, tulips. thanks, dear hubby o' mine! love 'em!

a valentine i made for the aforementioned hubby o' mine. wrote the poem and crafted the card ... all. by. my. self.

my dear pals and junking buddies ... can't wait to get on the road again!

Perpetually Pink

hey y'all,

keeping it short and sweet today. i continue to limp around on this game foot of mine (the dreaded plantar fasciitis). i guess it's time to call The Man and stop trying to heal thyself. i mean, my self. thanks for all the kind words, good thoughts and prayers.

in the absence of junking, i continue with my pink-themed posts. so here are yet more pink lovelies just sitting around my house looking all pretty.

on my mantel. i keep this vintage pink ornie on display all year.

mantel centerpiece

i usually buy books to read, but this one was purely for display. how cool is this!?

my birdies in and around their crusty cage

giant shadow box that i painted pink and filled with sweetness

this sweet shutter was found pink. i barely dusted it before i plopped it up on the piano and added the lil wall pocket from sue.

pretty pink ladies adorning my piano

more of them

love this vintage photo collage made by sue. she put old nails across the bottom, from which i hung sweet little miniature shoe ornies ... all gifts from pal jannetta.

precious, precious angel. bought her from sue ages ago. love the pinkness with gold highlights ... and those feather wings!! and three sweet little, er, pearls in her lap.

candleabra from jannetta, on my foyer table, surrounded by paris-themed pretties

i remember having to ask specially to buy this hand model. it had NFS (the dreaded three letters we buyers are loathe to see!!) on it. but eventually, i sweet-talked the lady into selling it to me. i'm sure she laughed all the way to the bank. but i was thrilled to have it!

a hat trick of sweet pink hat boxes!

an old watering can painted pink (from sue's booth). paris sign from her as well.

found this old, worn bible at a recent estate sale. couldn't resist it because it reminded me of my grandmother's old bible. placed a pink rose on it and called it a day.

love and hugs to y'all,
terry lee