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Just testing out my new signature! Learning something new every day.....

Route 40 Yard Sales - Here I Come!

It's time for my first big event of the summer. Today starts the Route 40 Yard Sale week/end. The sale starts the Wednesday after Memorial Day and ends that Sunday. I'm disappointed that I can't find much on the web about the national road sale; It looks like the antique store that was hosting the website is no longer active or participating. But it's an adventure, and I'm ready!

I am taking two days off to travel some of Ohio's Route 40 tomorrow and Friday. I had originally planned to use the two days to drive west into Indiana, but I have to come home for a meeting on Thursday night.

So here's the plan. I am most familiar with the area east of Columbus, so that's where I'll start on Thursday. It seems to be a pretty well developed area for the sales, and I think I'll have the best shot at finding sales that actually start before the weekend.

Friday I'll go west. I don't know how far I'll get or how dense the sales will be on Friday. But I don't have any time constraints except crossing back through Columbus during rush hour.

I'll upload some pictures as soon as I find anything picture worthy.

Summer Preview

This week I had to seriously sit down with a calendar and get my vacation dates on the work schedule. Until I looked at the dates and really thought about it, I didn't realize that my summer has a theme: bargain hunting!

I previously mentioned the Route 40 Yard Sale. It's scheduled for the week after Memorial Day. I usually go out for a morning of yard sales, but I've never made it a real event. Last year I planned to drive further and see a new area, but gas was $4/gallon, and it didn't make any sense to bargain hunt while spending $200 for gas. This year I'm determined to enjoy 2 full days of shopping. The dates are sneaking up on me! It's just two weeks from today!

I unfortunately don't have a friend that can go with me. All the usual suspects that might jump on board have other obligations. And my partner (who I'll call Eyeball for the purposes of this blog....because she's always watching and knows when I bring junk into the house) is definitely not interested in two days of treasure hunting. In fact, when she reads this entry, she'll probably blow a gasket when she realizes how much yard/flea time is coming. So I'm on my own, and I'm excited to go at my own pace.

Mid-June is our family vacation. A few days of family fun in a terribly chic and glamorous location: Summersville, West Virginia. It's sort of a midway point for the branches of our family. I wanted to go to the beach as usual. I love the beach. But we couldn't get everyone together for a week, and it's too far of a drive for just a couple of days. Meeting in the middle makes sense.

When I made the reservation and gave the guy my address, he said, "you know, all good hillbillies have kinfolk in Columbus." I did not know that.

Summersville apparently has lots of outdoor activities - hiking, boating, diving, fishing, even snorkling. Here's the thing--I would travel around in a temperature controlled, bug free bubble most of the year if I could. I don't like being outside. If I'm not burning, baking or sweating, I'm scratching at bug bites. So I need to find other things to do that keep me in a more comfortable environment. That means finding the nearest flea market, as least one day.

The end of June is the Homer Laughlin Fiesta ware tent sale in Newell, WV. I'm going to WV a lot this summer, I guess! I don't collect Fiesta ware, but a couple of coworkers want to go. And I'm not saying no to an event that involves dishware at bargain basement prices. It should be an adventure. http://www.homerlaughlin.com/ffd/tent.asp, The picture above is a new color--lemongrass. I also read that brown came out last fall. I'd be interested in those two colors. The other pic is Homer Laughlin's restaurant line. I wonder if they have seconds of that type of dinnerware, too?

And then I think I will be bargain shopped out. I have such a long list of things I hope to find. And I have work to do; I need to find a suitable cart, put together a list of measurements/sizes for items I hope to find, and figure out a non-purse money carrying situation.

Now you know what the near future will be for my blog. May and June will be chatter about all my potential finds. I hope July and August can be full of projects derived from all those bargains. But I have a class to take in July/August, so we'll see how much I can accomplish.

A New Favorite Place

Over time I'm sure I'll blog about some of my favorite treasure places.....the flea market at Lancaster, Ohio, the thrift stores around Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, and all the other fun places along the way. Today I discovered a new favorite, and I can't believe I didn't find it sooner. It's only about 5 miles from my house!

http://www.heritagesquareantiquemall.com/

More later about the treasures there.

Today's Thrifty Treasures: Books

Before I started this blog I followed a few other blogs, one of which was Southern Hospitality. Mondays are Thrifty Treasures days at Southern Hospitality, so here's my contribution. Go to Southern Hospitality to see all the great finds posted by other bloggers; I'm so jealous of all the good finds that get posted there!

I didn't go to any yard sales over the weekend. I'm saving cash, time and enthusiasm for the Routh 40 yard sale at the end of the month.

But I did make a stop at GW. I didn't see anything exciting, but on my way out I noticed a sign that said books were all 10 cents that day. I turned back around to look for the books--just a couple of cases in the very back. But I got there just as some boxes were being unloaded. I picked up 7 craft/christmas/cook books for a total of .70. They're full of future projects!

Metamorphasis Monday: Plant Stand Project

My first attempt at a weekly theme-post.


One of my favorite blogs right now is Between Naps on the Porch. That's where Metamorphasis Monday is hosted, so my thanks to Susan for some inspiration to set up my own creative space. Stop by her blog to see all sorts of great Met Monday projects.


My Met Monday project this week is a plant stand. I picked it up at a yard sale last year for $1, intending to sand off the rust, spray some black paint.....bing, bang, boom, good as new. I quickly learned that it wasn't that easy to get the rust off, so it sat in the garage gathering dust all year. I recently found a small wire brush drill bit that made it much easier to derust, but I didn't get around to actually doing the project until this weekend. I didn't think to take a pic of the stand before I started the project, but trust me, it wasn't much to look at. I'm certain my mom had the same stand sometime around 1973, but I like the shape and functionality of it for my guest room.


So here it is, post-rust removal and two coats of black spray paint on the metal parts.





















I painted the middle wooden post cream.





















I added a variety of rub-on vines around each part of the post.
















AFTER: After spraying with a sealer, here is the finished project. The guest room where I'll use it is all black/cream, so I'm happy with how it turned out. Next project is to paint some pots for each spot, some for plants, some to hold items for the guest room.

Total cost: $1 for the stand, $1 for the paint, $3 for the rub-ons, and $5 for the wire drill bit for the rust removal.

Gettin' Goin'

Post #1.....

I have been looking at other blogs and thought it might be fun to jump in and start my own. So here I am! Consider everything right now "in progress," and I'll learn as I go.

Rebecca