Cottage Hill Yard Sale 2010

Last weekend I participated in a community yard sale at Cottage Hill Presbyterian Church. The church allows participants to reserve a spot (free of charge) and then simply set up on the day of the sale. There are volunteers there to assist you with locating your space. It is a great community service and there were several participants. The church is located on a busy street and has a lot of passing traffic. I participated two years ago and had CRAZY success. I worked all week getting my junk together and pricing everything. Jacob started college and had classes so he couldn't help me. So Mr. Grumpy reluctantly helped me. It's quite the undertaking to load tables and all the boxes only to unload them again, set up at the sale and then at the end of the day pack everything up and unload at home. Mr. Grumpy was a great help and, I think, although he would never admit it, enjoyed himself when he realized how stuff was literally flying off the table. It didn't hurt that he had his new birthday present to play with all morning (an iPhone).

I did UNBELIEVABLY well! I made around $325 which was incredible. I got rid of a lot of eBay duds. This is a picture of my table well into the morning after most of the good stuff was gone.

Finally, these are blooms off a hydrangea plant that I bought at a yardsale a year or so ago. Mr. Grumpy surprised me by cutting them and putting them in this cute vase that coincidentally had a perfectly matching purple ribbon.

Tomorrow I'm having a yard sale with my sister and parents. Am I crazy or what? I took my leftover items from the community sale and added some more items too! It's supposed to be in the low to mid 90s tomorrow. With the Mobile humidity it's sure to be a scorcher.

S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E

It has been a very busy weekend at Ms. Jackies Junque! I did my usual Saturday morning yard sale run. I then had to be across the bay at 1:00 p.m. for a funeral. In typical Jackie fashion, I squeaked in just in time. I had to be all the way in Tanner Williams at 4:00 p.m. for one of Jacob's graduation parties. Freak (that's what I call him...that or Ice Road Trucker depending on if he's wearing plaid) received over $500 in gifts at this party alone. I want to graduate again!
After the party I came home and worked on a couple of eBay auctions, which brings me to the point of this post.

I have been picking up Scrabble games when I would find them for .50 or 1.00. It didn't matter if they had all of the tiles because I knew I was going to make a huge lot and list them for crafting, jewelry purposes. Creative people are making all sorts of cute earrings and pendants out of the little scrabble tiles. Hopefully lot of 780 Scrabble tiles = big money! I'm hoping this lot will go for around $40-$50. You can click here to watch the progress of this auction:

Ms. Jackie's Junque's Scrabble Tile Auction

Iwill have to admit that arranging the tiles for the photo was fun. Counting all of the tiles was not.

Barry White

We all know that Barry White is about getting your love did!

I ran across this cover while browsing the album section at America's Thrift.

Yes, that is a man's sparsely hairy chest.

Yes, that is a chain with Barry's picture in the little oval frame.

This album cover sent me into EWWWWW overload.

Why Barry? Why?

Traumitized as I was, I kept flipping through the albums.

Barry has earned redemption.

This album cover is a hot mess in a good way.

Just a couple of observations. You have Barry:

• In his brown velveteen leisure suit and shirt with super fly collar
• In front of a space age background that would do Star Wars proud (notice the groovy rocks -hence the album title I guess)
• with his lady right next to him
• with his pimp glass right at his fingertips (this is my favorite part)

I encourage to thrift as often as possible. There is no telling what you could be missing.

You Know You Had One Of These--Dont Deny It

Maybe it was a southern thing.

Maybe it was an Alabama thing.

If you lived through the 80s, there is a good chance that you had or knew someone who had a t shirt dress. I'll admit it. I had two! They were made several ways--with a t shirt on the top and a coordinating fabric sewn on the bottom or two t shirts sewn together with a coordinating fabric band joining the two pieces. I got a little nostalgic when I saw this beauty on the Goodwill rack:

This crafter gets bonus points for the nifty appliques that bring all of the colors together and meld them into a pile of 80s goodness.

Random and Bizarre Things Seen At The Thrift Store

I was in the Goodwill the other day when this caught my eye. There was this huge cabinet / desk type piece furniture that had been turned on its side, I guess from being wheeled in on the cart. On the underside of the piece was this collection of lipstick blots. Why, as my Mama would say "pray tell", would someone repeatedly kiss the underside of a piece of furniture? Bizarre! I have several theories...none of which will I mention here.

At America's Thrift I saw this faux marble kit. This is special to me because when we moved into our house some 18+ years ago, the Mr. did a fine faux marble job around our fireplace. Why would anyone want faux marble--which was essentially a lot of paint carefully swirled and applied over the top of sheetrock? I'll tell you why. It was the early 90's. That's how we rolled. For $2.98 I could have brought it back. Just sayin'.

And finally, I've stated before that I love learning new things. I also love learning of associations. Well, wrap your brain around this association. Kevin Trudeau of the "Natural Cures" book fame apparently had another As Seen On TV product: Kevin Trudeau's Mega Memory. I did not take the time to open this kit. Apparently Kevin has been an entrepremanure, um, entrepreneur for a long time!

My $20 Yard Sale Rug

I am participating in Southern Hospitality's Thrifty Treasures Monday. Hello to everyone stopping by from there! I look forward to Rhoda's party every week. I so enjoy visiting the participating blogs.

I found this rug while "sale-ing" last year with my sister. It was only $20.00 and I absolutely fell in love with it. I bought it to go in our master bedroom but then decided to use it in the dining room instead. I am so glad I did! It has colors that I normally would not put in this room but I think it adds a certain richness. I love the huge luggage tag design on the rug. It has so many beautiful colors. My sister is my partner in crime when it comes to helping me load large pieces like this. I could tell you a story of how she helped me get a cabinet in my Mom's Suburban which was already loaded with groceries--but I'll save that for another time :).

I took these pictures with my iPhone so the quality is not the best. I heart my iPhone by the way. Please head over to Southern Hospitality to admire more treasures.

What's Been Going On With Me Lately

What's been going on with me lately? Let me see....hmm....where to begin? I have been seeing an allergist regarding my persistent rash (4 years) that no one can seem to explain. So far, the consensus is eczema. I'm allergic to something. "Something" is the mystery word. Hence, the picture below. The "x" below was the control spot for the allergy skin test. If you have a reaction on that spot they are able to tell if the test is working. It stung like a bee sting for a few minutes so I guess it worked.

Yardsale season is in full swing in southern Alabama. I was out at 6:00 a.m. this morning headed to my first stop of the day, a church yardsale. I am a yardsale junkie! It was still dark outside when I left home.

OH MY GOODNESS! It could not have been a prettier day! The Azaleas are in full bloom! It is so beautiful with the big bursts of color everywhere. The downside is they will only bloom about a week longer and then they are gone until next year.

I found several things--some to sell and some things to keep and even somethings for family. I saw two unique vases at different sales. When I saw the second one I was like.....Ok....what's going on? When I asked how much the vase was the woman running the sale asked her mom "Mom, how much for this Gladiola vase?" Mystery solved. It has a unique fan shape. It kind of resembles a seashell. I know you'd like to see a picture of it. Too bad--it's still in my car. Since it was $2.00 so I decided to take a chance on it. I'm glad I did. When I researched it when I got home I saw several in the $60 range. Mine is unmarked so it may not be as valuable but I figure IF I get ready to part with it, I'll be able to make a little profit. I also discovered that the flower is also called Gladiolus. I love learning new stuff!

The good news is that I've already listed on eBay a lot of what I bought this morning. If you'd like to see my eBay auctions you can go here: MsJackiesJunque's auctions.