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 ...

Painting in the Wind

hey y'all,

just a quick post to stay in touch with blogland. rough week, physically. i think this ever-changing texas weather is wreaking havoc with my tired old body. and, according to my rheumatologist, everybody's been hurting these past couple of months. thanks, doc. misery loves company.

speaking of the weather, it's been as windy as a (insert your favorite simile here; i got nothin'). but i think you get my drift. it's been damn windy in central texas. and as luck would have it, i was bitten by the dreaded SP bug. that would be the spray painting bug.

if you've ever been bitten, you know what i'm talkin' about. once you start spraying, almost nothing can stop you. even 60-70 mph texas winds. my best guess is that only about 30% of the paint actually made it to the desired destination. another 30% was gone with the wind, and the remaining 50% must have gone straight up my nose because i was blowing white snot for days. you do the math. ;-)

so i've had these old chairs forever it seems, bought along the junkin' trail over the years. and never could muster the energy or desire to paint them. ah ha! but of course i wait until we have record-breaking wind speeds to get myself in gear.



i covered an old pillow with a sweet vintage sheet for the seat cushion. i honestly think it turned out adorable. got the chair for $1, a little elbow grease and $30 worth of spray paint (heh heh) and voila! finis!



this little sweetie pie of a chair was a freebie from newly-wedded belinda, sister of moi. while cleaning out her garage and house, she bestowed it upon me. because i asked her for it. love bentwood chairs but of course it needed some TLC. that would be terry lee craziness.



painted her pink, reupholstered the seat with a rachel ashwell shabby chic curtain found at a yard sale for almost nothing. sweet, pink roses! am pleased with these results as well.



and finally, on a final note ... not much junkin' this week/end. i hit a couple of friday sales, at one of which i found this:



i've been wanting some architectural pieces, columns and the like, but they've always been too pricey. even at flea markets, etc. it was sitting on the side of the house, as if not part of the sale. but on a whim, i asked the lady if she was selling it. she said "no, that old thing?" and my heart sank.

then she said, "it's falling apart, so you can have it."

i can almost hear the hallelujah chorus even now.

whaaa?! i honestly couldn't believe my ears. poor old lady even lugged it to my car because i'm unable to lift anything right now (long story about rib and back pain ... for more info, see my rheumatologist).

she's right. it's crumbly. but i sprayed it with a clear coating of whatchacallit to protect it. i think i'm in love. it's a beauty!



oh! and i finally painted my church bench!! it was also free, which i think i blogged about last year. anyhow, it had been sitting in my sitting (!!) area, covered in a gorgeous ashwell quilt ... but i had matt haul her out to the painting porch so i could get wild and crazy with the pink paint.

interestingly (well, to me) i used ashwell shams for the bench cushion. i cut the original church pew cushion (an old, ugly blue ... think of all the baptist behinds that have plopped down on that thing!) in half and then covered them with the shams. soooo sweet! sadly, those pics will have to wait till next time because the poor pew needs another pint of pink paint. when i looked at it the next morning, it was splotchity. ack! i blame it on the damn wind.

see?! this is what happens when you cross a stubborn texas gal with the stubborn texas wind. half-ass projects and a cheap thrill-ride high for the project-artiste (just joshing kids. don't sniff spray paint. don't do it. really).

y'all have a great week ... and don't blow away!

love and hugs,
terry lee

okay, one last thing, for reals. y'all remember that $28 chest i bought a few weeks ago? i bloggity blogged about it. anyhow, i finally finished it too. as a reminder, here's the before:



here are some after pics: