Diversity Day

hey y'all!

i rounded up the girls saturday morning and we took off on the junkin' trails o' central texas. the following is my version of the story ... and i'm sticking to it.:-)

first stop was a church jumble, south of town ... benefitting the youth's mission trip this summer. to where, you might ask? well, i did ask one of the teens helping out at the sale. she excitedly replied, "BAYLOR!!"



that would be baylor university in waco. when i asked her what, pray tell, would their mission trip to baylor entail, she shrugged, "don't know." but boy, was she excited!

i ventured a silly guess: "sharing the gospel to some cute baylor guys, perhaps?"

a sincere seriousness fell over her face. "oh no. i have a boyfriend, right here."

alrighty then! moving on ...

this was a great first stop because we hit the mother lode early in the junkin' day. at first we were puzzled by the unusually high sticker prices on the items. when i asked an Adult-in-Charge, she waved her hand, dismissing the amounts.

"the youth priced everything because they're trying to raise money for their trip. we'll take whatever you offer us."



well, you'd think that would be music to a junker's ears. but not so, my friends. in fact, when i hear something like that, i break out in hives and end up in a flop sweat because of the internal struggle of wanting a bargain and not wanting to appear frugal. cheap. and the worst of all: non-altruistic.

for example. last week i was in cove and stopped in to my newly-found thrift haunt, the optimist club thrift store. i'm all for optimism, especially if i can find a treasure at a bargain. anyways, when i first visited there, i had no idea of their pricing policy.

after a couple of minutes, noticing that nothing had a price tag, i asked the clerk for a price on something. that's when i heard the dreaded words:

"we accept donations only. just pay us what you feel is right."

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! say it ain't so!!!!!!!!!

then she adds insult to injury:

"all the money goes to the children.

with.

cancer."

the. children. with cancer.

nope. no pressure there. who doesn't love children? whose heart doesn't break for children. with cancer?! i honestly don't want to shop there anymore. sure, you can get bargains, but you feel so guilty, it's not worth it. i mean, honestly. children. with cancer. sigh. just give them your credit card and bank account information and be done with it.

okay, back to the church youth mission trip sale. i found TONS of great stuff!! two gorgeous vintage white chenille spreads (!!!!!), lotsa sweet vintage rose cups, saucers, plates, several pieces of vintage linens including a killer tablecloth, beautiful yellow roses (cemetery-bound), a huge, old frame ... and a cute lil white wicker desk/vanity that belonged to the aforementioned teen with boyfriend.



beautiful, yummy white chenille bedspreads, in excellent condition! got the pink rose and several others at another sale. gorgeous!

i managed to fill up two boxes with goodies (not including the frame and wicker) and then faced the music at the check-out station. stupid inner demons vs. angels just going crazy inside my poor brain. they finally cut a deal with each other and i sent them packing to their respective corners.

i paid the lady (an amount which shall forever be on my conscience, for better or worse) and began the arduous task of loading up the camry. yes, it all fit. including The Girls' purchases too. but the car was already bulging. after the first sale!





that's the top of bonnie's head. poor thing. she gets stuffed into the backseat with the junk!

second stop: a yard sale in harker heights. for reasons i will never fully understand, i bought these two creatures. an indian man and woman, wearing pink:

they rather remind me of voodoo dolls. i might pull out my straight pins and start gouging, er, i mean poking. heh heh

the back story: the seller got them 25 years ago while vacationing in new mexico. the real indians made and sold them on-site. i never knew they wore pink. maybe that's why i couldn't resist them. i promise it had nothing to do with smoking a peace pipe. nothing!

bon finds an adorable basket ("it's not longaberger, but it's german!" seller's words, not mine) while jannetta munches fritos.

pit stop time for The Girls. okay, i needed the lil girls' room as much as anybody, but i have a thing (no surprise) about gas station restrooms. so i stayed behind while The Others went inside. and i am soooo glad i did.

while sitting in my camry, i watched the sweetest ragtag, motley crew since the little rascals playing in front of the convenience store. on a whim, i hopped out of my car and started snapping pics of them. they finally noticed and began moving in my direction.



"hey guys! whatch'all up to?"

"just waiting on our friends inside," the designated spokesperson responded.

noticing their attention was focused on a clear jar one of them was holding, i asked about it.

"what's in your jar?"

"oh, just some snakes," jar boy replied. then began inching closer to me, so as to afford me a better look.

"yikes!!! back up! i'm afraid of snakes!!!" i screeched at him.

poor little guy seemed taken aback, so i (sacrificially) relented and said, "okay, just a little closer and i'll take a picture of them."



"how many are in there?" i asked.

"don't know. let's see." he proceeds to stick his hand down inside the jar and pulls out a slimy, writhing fistful of snakes to count. "looks like 5 or 6."

EGADS!!!!!

"umm, just put them back in the jar, please. put them back inside!!" i hear myself saying.

by now, their inside friends have finished their business and join the rest of the gang. as they're leaving, the lead guy looks back at me and proudly announces with a gap-toothed grin, "by the way, i'm mike!"

"bye mike! y'all be careful with those snakes!"



grimy, snotty, unsupervised wild creatures with snakes. gotta love 'em!

moving east, we found a sale in nolanville. wasn't looking very promising from the car and we almost did a drive-by. then something caught my eye. a vintage-looking gumball dispenser.

so i ventured out and left the two slugs (a tired jannetta and bonnie!)in the camry.

how much how much how much how much?! was expecting something ridiculous because these things are sweet. $5, the seller tells me. because it's not functional. mechanical innards are broken or missing or whatever. but it looks wonderful! am disappointed that it's a vintage-reproduction, but still.





suddenly, i have visions of painting the red parts PINK or antique white and filling the glass bubble with vintage buttons and lace and pearls and photos and ... and ... and ... sold!

after the sweet seller/soldier guy loaded it up for me, more ideas starting popping around in my head. i could rotate little vignettes inside the glass. seasonal displays, etc!! can. not. wait. to. get. started. on. this. project!!!!!

after re-fueling (lunch at taqueria el mexicano grill) our last stop was nellie's, downtown belton. while i was parallel (ack!) parking, jannetta screams out, "there's sharon!!!" and then leans over and bears down on the steering wheel to honk at her.

poor sharon, crossing the road, jumps about 5 feet into the air. she finally sees the culprit and starts laughing. old friends who haven't seen each other in a while.

bon, jannetta, barb (relative of sharon) and sharon

inside nellie's, we cruise around ...



... and then head upstairs to our intended destination: cindy's booth.



lovely, yummy stuff! bought this adorable lil pink birdhouse.



while waiting for jannetta to finish her shopping, bonnie and i rested our weary soles (and souls) at the little coffee shop.



on a dare, bonnie even takes a "nap" on a vintage sofa in the window of nellie's.



yep, we're tired. very very tired. junkin' is hard work, folks. but somebody's gotta do it!

love and hugs,
terry lee

what happens when The Girls eat too much mexican food. Official group photo of the day.

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.