Junkin' Heaven ... and Hell

hey y'all,

my junkin' weekend started on friday, when i met pal bonnie for a little barnstorming (raiding the goodwill bargain barn) in cove. picked up three vintage suitcases, in graduating sizes ... the largest $1, the smaller ones $0.75 each. score!!!



if i had any sense, i'd paint them or decoupage something clever and creative on them. lately, my creative muse has been on strike and i never know when she'll rear her pretty head to inspire me. so i wait ...

also found that sweet lil pink braided rug ... in pic above (which is in need of some cleaning and disinfection ... just sayin') for all of $0.75 ... and some adorable pink checked curtain panels (another $0.75). three to be exact. searched and searched for the fourth panel, to no avail. sweet material that can be used for anything.



thrilled with my finds, bon and i headed to sonic for a quick snack break. then we were off to sue's. well, that's what we call it. sure, it's a crafter's mall full of vendors, but we mainly go there for vintagesue's stuff. i am thrilled that she's shipping her creations down to texas now. we mourned her loss when the dang army took her away.

don't misconstrue, i'm all for the army, in theory. just don't like it when they take away my friends.

but i digress.

so we hightailed it to sue's booth and we were not disappointed!! lots and lots of pretties galore ... vintage linens, dresses, aprons, knick knacks and the like. and best of all, her creations!





lil pin she made

i. am. totally. spellbound. by. her. collages!!!! i started a pile on a nearby table of the ones i wanted, thinking that i'd make my final decisions later.





yeah, right. my final decision was that i needed all of them. wanted, yes. but i neeeeeeeeded them too!! when i'm under her magical spell, i'm totally helpless and out. of. control.





so what? life is short. they made me happy and will continue to do so as i enjoy them around my house, or give them as gifts. happy happy happy.

friday, as it happens, was definitely junkin' heaven.

then saturday rolled around. i had high hopes for the lampasas city-wide yard sale, since lady luck was good to me at last years' sale. i met pal jannetta and we meandered our way around the square.



first thing i noticed was that it wasn't as large as last year.

the second thing i noticed was that many of the vendors who were there, were dealer-types. meaning, higher priced items ... not true "yard sale" vendors OR prices. hmmmph. not what i was expecting ... since the sale was hawked as a "city-wide YARD sale".

okay, so i didn't have to buy anything. i was more than pleased with my friday treasures, so if today was a bust, so be it.



however, i quickly stumbled upon a sweet lil vintage child's chair with chippy pink and green paint, marked at $7 which i thought was v. reasonable. i offered $5, we settled on $6. a quick, pleasant and civil transaction. i was thrilled to have it.



somewhere along the way, i had the pleasure of meeting buddy (miniature terrier) and sassy (jack russell mixed with something else blah blah). they were meeting for the first time also. cute, yes?



later, i found this pretty little vase thingy for $0.25. so there were some bargains to be found. just not a lot of 'em.



moving on, i spotted a pink, plastic, round hat box with a black flower on it. a-dor-able. but it was scuffed and dirty and i was thinking $0.50. when i asked the cowgirl vendor how much, she replied with an extremely curt, "2 bucks!"

okay, this chick's got something up her arse, was my first thought. dare i rattle her cage?

yes! i do dare!

"would you take a dollar?" i asked, shoving whatever it was up a little farther.

"NO. I WILL NOT!" cowgirl growled back at me.

ouch. i just smiled and said okay, thanks as i walked away from her booth. of course, all manner of vengeance was playing out in my wicked head ... none of which i can share with you, lest your high opinion of me be shattered. heh heh

much later, i sent jannetta over (she wasn't with me when all this transpired) to the cowgirl's booth to ask about the hat box. not surprisingly, she was just as rude to jannetta. and she hadn't budged on her price either.

it was our sincere hope that cowgirl went home with her stupid hat box and they live happily ever after together.

let me be clear about something: the b!tch had every right to price her items just. how. she. wanted. it wasn't her pricing that irritated me. it was her stinkin' attitude and how she spoke to her customers.

and this customer won't soon forget. not cowgirl's face, her name or her bright-orange painted toenails. i'll see you next year, sister. same time, same place. courthouse square, lampasas, texas. junkin' hell.

love and hugs to y'all!

terry lee

lampasas is full of ... livestock.

and bluebonnets!! found sooo many gorgeous fields of 'em!

remember him? the obligatory deer head you see at most texas sales ...

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 :-)