Ok to ask

As my husband and I pulled out of the parking lot Friday evening at our new favorite Mexican restaurant, my attention was immediately captured by the ad below. How could it not be captured! Don't you just love the googly eyes!! Pretty creative I thought. And of course, just whetted my enthusiasm for early morning shopping therapy.

And yes, there were a couple of 6 and 6:30am sales yesterday. I was grateful to have my headlamp ready for searching the dimly lit offerings when yard sales begin before the sun comes up. However, even armed with a flashlight/headlamp, whatever you have to light the way, I was again reminded to look carefully, take a little extra time to examine an item before purchasing it. Johanna is patient. I am not. 

Case in point the lamp below. Now you know I have several soft spots for lamps, shades, books, hmmm there's others as well I am sure, but that covers the main ones. I really like oil lamps but have scaled down my hoard collection to just a few. But this one called to me. Not at $10 but still it called. It was tucked away, surrounded by other collectables and in a dark spot. And as I was checking out, I kept looking at it FROM AFAR. Sigh, the point is, I didn't realize until after I returned home that it had been converted into an electric lamp. AGH! 

At least I only paid $5 since the seller quickly reduced the price when she saw I was interested and was trying to make up my mind. Oh well. I'm not sure what to do at this point. No globe, no shade and I'm not sure how I would put a shade on it. It's on the back burner for now, but I will keep you posted when I figure something out. Feel free to comment with suggestions!

Marked $10 but paid $5

At the same sale, I bought this new, in original queen size aerobed with built in pump. Score! I have given up trying to make do with used air mattresses. They always seem to have issues. So hopefully a brand new aerobed will work. It is the original model, no special bells or whistles and hopefully no leaks!

Stock photo

New in box Queen size Aerobed: $20

There was benefit sale for Relay for Life where I found a bunch of books for a great price. As you remember, I buy pregnancy books when I can get for .50- $1 and donate to the Pregnancy Center. Two of these are hardback and all relatively recent publications. Actually, I'm missing two more that were in another bag when I took this picture. All were 50 cents!

50 cents each

Our niece, Mary the teacher in New Orleans, requested nature/science books so these go in the box to be sent this week. Same sale as the pregnancy books.

50 cents each.

My great nephew, Beau, loves dump trucks so this nice big one goes to him.

$3 for a Big Truck!

Box of coffee mugs goes to Raleigh, NC and the Flower Shuttle; a group that brings flower arrangements to residents of nursing homes and to shut-ins. They use flowers donated by florists, and use donated vases and coffee mugs to make the arrangements. My sister Fran asked me to purchase these and she'll deliver them to the Flower Shuttle folks.

25 cents each.

I like these handled trucks for Nate. Couldn't resist.

$2 each

My friend Johanna requested I look for baskets for her craft room. She's busy working on it and needs these for organizing her wares.

50 cents each

The diaper covers/bloomers and shoes go to my great niece, Julia. The shoes are called Skidders and have rubberized soles and are wonderful for little ones just starting to try walking.

All for $2

I had hopes for this particular sale. It had the promise of volume and maybe treasures lying amidst the rubble. Not so. I did truely try to look in every bin, box, trash pile but to no avail. It was just junk. Dirty, moldy, nasty. I couldn't bring myself to look in the tubs with clothing after seeing what was in the boxes. Hand sanitizer was a must as soon as I returned to the car!

Searched but found NOTHING!!

And now the reason for the title of this post:

The book in the photo below; well that's the story. 

I found a neighborhood yard sale where a large number of homes had sales going on. I love these! And at one, I found a big box with LOTS of great paperback childrens books. So I started making a big pile of good titles and then realized I didn't know how much the seller was asking. So I stopped grabbing books, looked up and asked, how much. Back story: it was now almost 9am. That's getting a little late in the yard sale business. Most of the customers are there well before that and your traffic will slow to a trickle after 8:30.

The answer to my query was "$1 a book". And I asked, even the paperbacks? "yes" was the response, in a very firm, no questions asked manner. I put them all back except the hardback shown below.

Later I thought maybe I should have countered with an offer of "50 cents each if I buy all of this pile?" But something in her manner prevented me from asking. My loss and hers. Who knows, maybe someone else came along behind me and paid the $$$$.

On the bright side, I really like this series of books and I look forward to reading Nate this one at Christmas so the $1 was well spent.

The point is, I wish I had asked. And I will next time. Maybe all she needed was a little nudge. Or maybe not. At least  I could have given her an opportunity to come down in price and negotiate. And I will next time. 

Travel mug: $1 and book....yes, $1

Yes, I know, that's another coffee travel container you see next to in the now infamous book. This one is brand new, still had the paperwork inside. However, I am getting rid of two in my cupboard. I promise. This one is stainless inside and out and easy to clean. And the price and condition was excellent. I couldn't help myself. It needed to come home with me.

So, all in all a satisfactory haul, just nothing extra special, except maybe the Aerobed. That I am very happy about. I was not excited about going out again solo. Not at all fun. Fingers crossed my friend Carolyn will join me next Saturday. You promised, Carolyn!!! Fingers crossed.

I hope you found some bargains this week and if not, at least enjoyed my gleeful gloats about the ones I found. Be well and thank you for stopping by to check out what Thrifty Christy shared this week.

Thrifty Christy

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