Thursday, May 7, 2009

While traveling . . .

We went out of town for a few days--prime garage sale weather--and the HUGE multi-block sale with scores of homes involved. Can you say GRUMP really LOUD?

Sunbeam toaster
Still, we did manage to stop at one sale in Pennsylvania where I picked up a few treasures. The first was a 1950s Sunbeam chrome toaster in very good condition. Ever since I can remember, my parents have had a Sunbeam toaster either exactly the same as this one, or extremely close. So was it any wonder that when I got my first apartment, I wanted one just the same--and got one at a yard sale. This was 30 years ago and I paid $4. So when I saw this one, I jumped at the chance. I asked the man running the sale what the price was, because there was no tag. He thought about it for a few moments and came up with a price: $1.50. I said, "That sounds fine to me!" (BTW, inside my original Sunbeam toaster there's a date stamp: 1957.)

Veggie dish Next up, was a covered vegetable dish with little purple flowers. (Why is it so many dishes have unidentifiable flowers on them as decoration?) Now, I have no clue why I bought this--I really don't need yet another covered vegetable dish. (Okay, I didn't need another toaster, either--the one I bought all those years ago works just fine.) It was pretty and it was a dollar--that may have had a lot to do with my decision to buy it.

Bone dishes Lastly, I bought four rose-patterned bone dishes. I figured at least one of them would be chip free. Alas, I was wrong. Still, they're pretty. I'm going to use them to put earrings on/in. That will free up a larger, rectangular dish I have which I will now put my glasses in when I'm not wearing them. (Which is about 90% of the day.) Even if they are chipped, they sure are pretty. (And the cost for four? Fifty cents.) Too bad I'm not still in "the business," or else I could've come away from that sale with a lot more treasures.