I'm Back!!!

Wow, I just looked at today's date and it has been exactly 2 months since I last posted! This is due to two factors. One, I have been out of town most weekends for the past 2 months and the other, well, the heat, paltry sales, and motivation have taken their toll on my ability to rise and shine early Saturday morns. I did hit the sales one Saturday, took pictures, and was going to blog, but a camera malfunction (I mistakenly hit the delete button) erased my photos! Sigh. That was last month.

3 of my Saturdays have been spent at Cape Lookout National Seashore Park. For years growing up and living in Carteret County NC, coming here by boat was simple, fun and I took it for granted (By the way, by boat is the only way to get there). 

However, living in Greenville, NC, and having limited access to a boat, going to the Cape just didn't happen. But Kelley suggested we go using a ferry from Harker's Island and we went one Saturday in July. Oh my goodness! So easy! We drove from Morehead to Harker's Island, paid $10 for a round trip ride over to the island and walked across a boardwalk to the ocean with our chairs, cooler and sunscreen. A drop dead beautiful day, the ocean calm and blue, and the best thing of all....hardly anyone there!!!!!! We practically had the beach to our own selves! And so that was the start of my Cape Days! 

The next weekend was Steve and my wedding anniversary so we drove 2 hours from Greenville to Harker's Island and had another gorgeous day at this beautiful place. A few weeks later I wisked Johanna away from Greenville for a Cape Day. We shared this experiece with our friend Carolyn and enjoyed the additional bonus of watching around 40 surfers out on the large waves generated by a tropical system offshore. Fun!! Johanna especially enjoyed relaxing in the quiet beauty of the park and getting away from the cares and worries of home. Hopefully we get Babs to come next time. She is overdue for relaxation too.

Cape Lookout Lighthouse

Update on my dear friends, Johanna and Babs. Uncle Tim has been in the hospital or assisted care for the past 6 months with Johanna and Babs visiting him every day. His condition has never really improved since his surgery for pancreatic cancer and the complications have been setbacks taking such a toll. Tim is now home with Johanna and Babs caring for him with the help of Hospice. Please keep them all in your prayers.

It is not nearly as much fun going without my friends. Let me just say that. Going solo is ok but really, the very best thing for me is the camaraderie of fellow shoppers. At least with friends, you can laugh at the foibles of the sales, the prices, the deals, etc... But, the call of the sales is always with me, so despite having to go alone once again, I set my alarm for 5:30am and was out the door by 5:45. Back in the saddle with a small list of "what to look for" from Brenna and knowledge of a new great grand niece due in late February!! Yes, as you can see by the photo below, Hugh is going to be a big brother!!!

Is he not the cutest fellow?

No, Kelley hasn't given me a "what to buy" list yet, but oh my, I cannot wait!! After searching for boy things for the past 2 1/2 years, it is going to be fun to look at the little girls' stuff.
And let me tell you, yard sales with girl stuff have LOTS of stuff. Amazing to me the difference between the two. So, I couldn't resist the padded hangers, count them, yes, 13, for $1. It helped to take the edge of the desire to buy baby things! Keeping it simple :)







So once I got that purchase out of my system, I moved on to Nate's list. It is really small right now. Yes, my grandson Nate! He is now 2 1/2 months old and has learned to smile!! What a difference smiling makes! So of course I had to include a photo of him smiling.

Happy Nate, did I mention he can coo too?!

Note in the back ground, right by Brenna's toes (!) is the blue pony attached to the pacifier Brenna bought at a yard sale months ago (see post March 24 '12). It is called a WubbaNubba. This little fellow is now named Charley and is Nate's favorite pacifer.

Charley, the WubbaNubba Pacifier

The only items on the Nate list were bright, colorful toys for Nate to focus on when having tummy time or any play time. I was looking specifically for black, white, and red combinations with big patterns which are the ones young babies are attracted to. No luck with that. There were plenty of sales, plenty of sales with baby things but none with really young baby toys. So I settled for the ones below

$1 each 

$1 for all above. All washable. 

There was one sale I almost passed by since it was so small; just a couple of card tables set up and a rack of clothes. But I stopped since it was on my side of the road and easy to exit. (sometimes sales can be on narrow streets in subdivisions and parking and leaving can be a nightmare challenge). So I stopped and took a quick glance at their wares, spotting several new baby shampoo/wash and lotions in varying sizes. I picked up the 4 below. The lotion bottle is a large 28oz and the baby wash are 15oz. The sellers threw in the trial size for free which I thought Nate could use when he goes traveling! At least he will have no excuse to stay clean and moisturized.

$3 for all

I added the photo below to show "what not to do" when you are having a yard sale. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it came to display of their wares. Yuck!! And what made it worse is this was at the begining of the driveway! The very first thing you walk past. Their other items were for the most part, covered in spots of mold and mildew, grimy from uncovered storage I suppose. Just nasty. I left quickly and succumbed to the need to grab the hand sanitizer as soon as I returned to the car, even though I didn't touch anything! You may wonder why I even bother getting out of the car? Well, the view was blocked by a car dropping off passengers. Why didn't I turn around as soon as I saw what awaited me? Good question. Because there is always that hope something will be there, something wonderful that just needs a good cleaning, the diamond in the rough. Maybe there was, but I didn't have gloves!

Please promise me you will never do this at a yard sale!

I have a smart phone now which has been great to use especially during my yard sale trips. I can access google maps and use the gps to find streets and addresses easliy, which saves me on gas. I had looked at car mounts but haven't purchased one and glad I didn't. The one below is designed for my phone though not the same carrier. Fortunately I had my phone with me and made sure it fit perfectly. Price? $3! Never used! 

The lady selling it told me the pitiful story: she thought she lost her phone, bought a new one and found the "lost" one under her bed a week later. She had recently bought this mount for the old phone but never had a chance to use it since the new phone was a different model.

So now when I go on trips, I can listen to my music and not fumble for my cell phone. I promise to use it responsibly.

To explain why my daughter Ellie is holding 3 lamp shades and smiling in the photo below, I am proving my "shade collecting problem" is for the greater good...at times. Ellie recently moved into a new abode and was collecting her stored items from our attic. She needed to replace lamp shades for the lamps next to her (the ones without shades) and needed another for a lamp not pictured. So I suggested she go "shopping" with my collection. Happy child! The top one she plans to recover. We both liked its shape but the color wasn't so great. Ah, the satisfaction of saying, "oh, no need to pay retail, take a look at what I have"! And each shade cost me around $1 each. Of course this could just feed my addiction. We shall see. In case you are wondering, the flowered shade goes on the silver lamp and the cream shade in the middle goes to the blue lamp which was my mom's. It looks lovely with its new hat on in Ellie's living room. 

Hoping Ellie doesn't inherit my shade tendency 

And that is the extent of my yard sale adventures and finds for this week. Not much, I know. But I hope as the weather cools, folks will have sales and the "Fall harvest" will be fruitful...for me! 
I plan on going out again next weekend before I head to Morehead and visit my brother Sonny. I have items for Hugh I found at Goodwill last week and on the Facebook page, Pitt County NC Online Yard Sale group. Folks sell their items there and though most aren't what I consider "yard sale" prices, they are still fairly reasonable, similar to Craigslist. The benefit of the group is not having to deal with spam which on CL can be a problem. 

I found lots of winter clothing for Hugh and Beau there and didn't have to wait to find at yard sales, which as you know have been hit and miss. I picked up a cd player for Sonny for $5 there as well  and it works great. With his Alzhiemers disease progressing, he finds it impossible to work the newer cd player my sister had bought retail for him. This older model needs only one touch for PLAY and I am hoping he will be able to use it and enjoy the songs and music he loves. Fingers crossed.

 Ellie said she will join me next Saturday. She has corners to fill with decorations in the new place and not much money to spend. Yard sales are the best place to find home decor at fantastic prices. Added benefit, I don't have to go alone!!!! And Carolyn M;whenever you are ready....come along!

Have a great week and thanks for being patient with me during this dry spell. And to my sister Vickie, aka Nightshade, thank you for the gentle reminders to blog. She especially has missed my ramblings.

Peace,

Thrifty Christy

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