A Bounty of Blistex and Beautiful Blooms

hey y'all,

and a very happy valentine's day to y'all!

okay, so it's a day early but in this house, we celebrate things whenever we feel like it. and since tomorrow (the real day of love and flowers and chocolates and other nonsensical stuff) is a monday, my DH decided to surprise me with a bouquet of red roses and boxes of blistex this morning.

as i stumbled into the kitchen (♫♪♫ to pour myself a cup of ambition ♪♫♪), i was blown away by these gorgeous roses ... sitting pretty next to boxes and boxes of my beloved blistex!

also, my valentine wrote me a poem (he's a poet and he knows it!) and presented it to me on a sweet, pink handmade card.

all together now ladies: awwwwwww ... sighhhhhhhhhh.

i know. i have a winner, a keeper, a dandy. he works hard so i don't have to. kinda like those scrubbing bubbles ... haha. i could go on and on about all he does for me, but i don't want y'all to hate me because i have such a wonderful husband. hate me because i'm beautiful. bwahahahahahaha!!

i had a terrific junkin' day with my darling daughter yesterday. just the two of us. she's so funny ... and fun to be with! we hit an estate sale in temple, among other things. it was only her second estate sale ever and so she's still sorting out how she feels about them.

a sweeeeeet lil perfume bottle. so tiny, so old. love it!
i've blogged before about the mixed emotions they elicit. it's sad to rummage through the remains of a dead person's life ... all the things they've collected through the years. on the other hand, it's utterly fascinating to explore and discover all the things they've collected in their lives.

you can't tell in the picture, but this gorgeous vintage bonnet is a light green. it. is. KILLER.
tara did well and actually finished perusing before i did. that's because she's inexperienced in the art of digging and sifting, which as you all know, that's how you find the treasures. but when i met up with her in one of the back bedrooms, she looked pale and slightly panicked. she had just looked in the master bathroom and eyed a box labeled "ladies urinal", along with other medical-type supplies.

apparently, this made her "creepiness meter" go berserk. she was ready to check out. literally and figuratively. so while she waited in the car, i finished shopping and then took my leave as well.

this estate sale had lots of old lace to go along with the arsenic in the master bath. okay, i'm kidding. no arsenic.
no doubt about it. estate sales are an acquired taste. some are absolutely fab, some are duds. but if i'm being honest, every single one of them has a "creep factor". some just hide it better than others.

at the estate sale, i found a great pair of old heavy duty scissors that cut like a dream! the handmade-looking journal was a score from a temple thrift shop

old chenille pillow with some added lace and vintage button. adorable!
hope y'all have a great week of valentines and chocolate, plenty of hugs and kisses ... and lots and lots of happiness and love.

love and hugs,
terrylee

my favorite piece from the estate sale: a gorgeous black dress that is approximately 100 years old. it belonged to the mother of an 86 year old woman. she said she remembers her mother wearing the dress, with a slip-type undergarment. good thing ... it's v. sheer! and oh-so-beautiful!

up close

hmmm, could be romantical, no? :)

Winner: What's Wrong With This Picture?

hey y'all,

thanks for the comments and emails on the granbury posting. those of you who guessed were all correct!

but dana was the first to guess correctly. :) congrats dana!! i'll be sending your prize in the mail this week.

hubby in the mirror, on the computer, while on vacation. but in his defense, i'll admit that i brought my laptop as well. what can i say? i guess the honeymoon's over. heh heh

just returned from a 3 day junking adventure! stay tuned!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Junker's Delight

hey y'all,

who names their yard sale? that would be me. and the post title is what i called mine ... junker's delight ... which was yesterday, in all its glory.



first let me say that i will never, ever host another yard sale at my house. okay, i might have made that declaration a few times in the past, but this time, i. mean. it.

moving on. once i made the decision to have the sale, it was just a matter of psyching myself (and my kids) up for the challenge. notice i don't mention hubby. that's because when i told him of my plan, he not only said NO, but HELL NO.

now, before you get your hackers up, let me say that his only concern was for ME. he didn't think i was up to the task, physically. he didn't want me to get hurt, overdo it or generally-speaking, kill myself over a yard sale.

while it's true my health can be precarious, i was to the point where mind over matter had to prevail. my mind couldn't handle all the matter crammed into my garage. i was beginning to feel like a true hoarder, as in hoarders on A&E.



so to prove to myself that i actually could let go of stuff ... and to actually shed myself of the overflow, i was determined to pull off this sale.

alright. so the kids and i got busy in the garage. oh.dear.lord, the crap we pulled out of that place! some i hadn't seen in years, decades even ... some i remembered, some i didn't recognize! some was newer ... stuff spilled over from the house. you know the drill. garage stuff. half-heartedly, we pulled things from closets and other areas around the house that needed some weeding.



this was the first time that i held a sale in my backyard. with the pool filled in (it's a garden space now), it was a safe and pleasant place to use. but the BEST part about using the backyard was that we could set up early! at our leisure.



i can't even imagine how we would've set all that junk out early saturday morning! as it was, we worked the entire week on clearing and sorting and then setting up the display tables. sheesh.



i was thinking ... it is nothing short of a miracle that there are so many yard sale listings, considering all the time and labor that go into one! who, in their right minds, would do this to themselves?!?! okay, well, i guess i have my answer right there in the question.

and then there are other sundry details you must attend to. i know a little about advertising (by marriage, once removed and divorced) and promoting your event (from many years of, well, actually promoting events) so when it came time to do that, i was well-prepared.

schlepped down to city hall and shelled out my $5 for the yard sale permit (which i never thought of again until 1 hour before closing when a nosy ... er ... i mean ... helpful customer asked me if i had a permit from the city ... sigh).



since i have the gift of blah blah blah, i hacked out a semi-clever advert for craigslist and repeated it a couple of times. since the killeen daily herald charges per line, i had to be a little more succinct. pithy even. but that's okay. i think more and more yard sale regulars are checking craigslist.

apparently so, because we had lots of traffic. i think the yard/street signs helped too. i spent a full hour on those, but it was an hour well spent.

we had a plethora of old political signs in the garage, so i used one! covered the sign with an old quilted sham, stapled the sign to that, and there you go. a sweet, shabby sign.

i got the idea of using a vintage suitcase from another blog, yardsale bloodbath ... loved it.

used both sides ... because, as you all know, it's a two-way street out there

i call this my pillowcase sign. because it's covered in a pillowcase. why is it covered in a pillowcase?! because i felt like it. that's why. but isn't the little pink ball fringe toooo cute?! i added that. like anyone noticed.

jannetta and tara were my handy dandy yard sale assistants ... they were AWESOME! thanks girls. we had a blast sitting at the umbrellaed table, people watching and people pleasing by giving them great deals ... and even giving toys to unsuspecting little ones. they were thrilled!

three year old princess abbey, happy as a clam with her new tweety bird, magical wand and a pair of "noculars" (toy binoculars).

but i think we were even more thrilled to see the joy on their faces.

wish i'd taken more pics. but, well, i had my hands full. the stories i could tell you about the customers and their funny, quirky ways! i wonder if people talk about us (the FAGs) after we leave sales?? i just bet they do. we always make a such a scene out in public. okay, okay. it's usually me creating the scenes.

the best part of it all ... the optimist club will be picking up my leftovers on monday!! you might recall me blogging about their little thrift store in cove. they don't price anything ... you just donate what you think is fair. because it all goes to the children. with cancer. so i'm happy to be donating items for their charity. because i love children.

don't we all? heh heh

love and hugs,
terry lee

my texas cabinet made from barnwood. a young couple bought this ... wish you could've seen him hoist this baby up, all. by. himself! can you say muscles?!

texas table with all things texas, of course. it was a popular table.

however, christmas didn't seem to fly in april. not much traffic here

a combo table of thanksgiving and christmas ... again, not very popular. a keen eye would notice the two indian dolls i bought recently. they were not happy at my house ... something about not being allowed to smoke inside ... so i put them in their place.

some other items waiting for new homes.

the calm before the storm ... night before the sale.

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.

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!