Fab Find Wednesday!

Aladdin alacite lamp

     Although it is easy enough to buy new things in every style imaginable, I love old things. Antique, vintage and hand crafted pieces call out to me whenever I walk through an antique shop. However, I can't really afford to shop in antique shops all the time, so estate, garage and yard sales, coupled with thrift and resale shops give me the chance to find hidden treasures that haven't yet made it to the higher priced antique shops. Over the last couple weeks, I've found some fabulous things, which is always exciting! I have, on occasion, found some really valuable things and sold them for extra pocket money, especially when they are things I appreciate but don't really collect or have a place for among my treasures. The lamp pictured to the left may be one of those things, I haven't decided yet. It is an Aladdin lamp from the mid 1900's, really beautiful with slightly translucent glass (alacite). One of the local thrift shops had it for $8 but sold it to me for $4, I think lamps were half off that day or something like that. I just thought it looked like it was worth more than $8 and had possibility either in my house or as something to sell later on Etsy or eBay. Turns out that it is worth a bit more than the $4 I paid. The lowest price I found online was $84.95 and the highest was $145 on eBay. But I haven't decided what to do with it yet, I kinda think I'm going to keep it.

Vintage Samsonite train case

    Then there is a new train case I found at a new resale shop in Interlochen, a little town just a few miles away. The shop didn't seem like much at first, a bit junky, but after nosing around, I found the train case, in great condition inside and out for only $4.50! And also a cute pair of white, all cotton, summer pajamas, which I had already been searching for new all over town without any luck. I love the storage possibilities of train cases. I like to store my art supplies in them and then tuck them out of the way. Then if I am going somewhere, I can grab a case and take my supplies with me. Of course, these are too big to take and work from at the park or Dr.'s office while I am waiting, but they are great for visits to my Mom and Dad's or for vacation. I just clean them up and sometimes embellish them if they need it and voila! This one is in really good shape, so I don't think I'm going to mess with it at this point, but we'll see, sometimes I can't help myself.

Small harp wall shelf

3" x 3" mirror

     At an estate sale last week, I found a few great pieces for display. The little harp shaped piece to the left is one of them. It was stained dark brown, but I painted it today, along with the small mirror shown here too. I love small little things like this that can easily be hung just about anywhere in the house. They add bits of charm and character and can also be easily rearranged when the mood strikes me.
     I should probably come clean about what I collect. When you collect a lot of things, it is easy to find something you love when you are out and about. Let's see now...I collect vintage platters, the smaller size, mostly American made like Homer Laughlin, china tea cups and saucers, mirrors, single salt or pepper shakers as well as pairs if they "speak" to me, bark cloth, Block Optic depression glass, small rabbit/bunny figurines of all types but resin, heart pins/brooches, single cordial classes, vintage linens and hankies, small fancy frames for wallet photos, lace, silver silver ware and interesting stainless silverware, pansy dishes...I think I better stop for now, you get the idea though. Someday, when I die, my kids are going to want to kill me all over again...

Guild signed vintage air brush watercolor

     My last fab find for today is a vintage airbrush watercolor from the 1940's, signed by Guild. I have no idea who or what Guild is, I couldn't find out too much about the signature, just that there were other vintage air brush watercolors with the Guild signature out there. I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it. It is loose in the frame and the frame itself needs some tightening, but her expression and the softness of the airbrushing is just sublime. I think these type of pieces were done with stencils. I hope to hang her in my bedroom as soon as I get the frame tightened up. It was $45, but I was there on the 1/2 off day and it does have a small scratch on the skirt, so I got it for $14. I looked it up online after I got home and it is going for $300 here! Also, I did find out that there are these types of pieces in the early episodes of "I Love Lucy," and also in the movie "Batteries Not Included," which I have but haven't had time to watch lately. The piece is pretty big, 30" x 35", a nice focal piece. Right now it is on my fireplace mantel, just leaning against the wall, but she doesn't go with the deep turquoise of the room, so she can't stay there. But at least I can admire her everyday.  
     Thanks for stopping by today and checking out my fab finds, if you found something fab, let me know, I'll post a link to your find on my blog.

Fat Free Garage Sale

     Ok, so there is no such thing as a fat free garage sale, but I had another fat free day and a garage sale and wanted to talk about both. We spent yesterday afternoon and evening pulling things together and doing a partial set up for the garage sale and then got up about 7 a.m. to finish the set up and pricing. Then we opened at 7:45 a.m. and had the most perfect weather for our sale. We met some interesting people and sold lots of goodies. The Blue Angels even flew over a few times during their practice. My daughter's lemonade and rice krispy treat stand did very well too. But I am totally exhausted even though we ended at 3 p.m.  Tootsies are tuckered out! Tomorrow we'll get up early and do it again. I have to pull some more stuff out tonight for tomorrow since we sold a lot of the bigger things.

   And now onto my current Dr. sanctioned fat free eating plan. I met with the surgeon yesterday who is going to remove my gall bladder at the end of the month. I asked if I had to keep to the fat free eating plan and he said "yes." Soooo, I have to avoid fat of any kind until the end of the month and am trying to figure out how to do this without losing my mind! I've been trying some new things that are fat free that I had previously snubbed. Some are still worth snubbing, So here is a short list of what I really like in case you ever have a gall bladder attack and have to stay away from fat for a little while.

1.  Ball Park Franks Fat Free Smoked Turkey Hot Dogs
2.  Spartan Brand Caramel Rice Cakes
3.  Delmonte Dilled Green Beans in a Can
4.  Black Beans, several different brands
5.  Mott's Natural Apple Juice
6.  Snack Pack Fat Free Vanilla, Tapioca and Chocolate puddings
7.  Fat Free Cool Whip
8.  Swanson 100% Fat Free Chicken Broth
9.  Strawberry and regular Marshmallows
10.Hormel Vegetarian Chili
11.Kraft Fat Free Sharp Cheddar Cheese Slices(good enough, melts very nice over chili, scrambled eggs and baked potatoes.
12. Eggbeaters
13.Cannellini Beans
14.V8
15. Snyders unsalted pretzels, they are fat free.

That's it so far, there are other things that I really don't care for, including fat free sour cream, fat free cottage cheese and Fat Free Saltine Crackers. I've also discovered some good combos from the above list. I like the dilled green beans with black beans and/or cannellini beans, they make a very satisfying warm or cold salad. The Eggbeaters on fat free english muffins with a slice of fat free cheese is also good. And then the vegetarian chili over a baked potato with a slice of fat free cheese in between makes a tasty dinner. I crumbled some fat free saltines on top and that made it better. So there you have it. If I find more things I like in the fat free world, I'll be sure to post them. I do so wish bleu cheese was fat free though...

Purging Monday

     Actually, I should say Saturday, Sunday and Monday since we have been tackling one room each day. Saturday was the living room, Sunday the dining room and today the kids and I tackled the pantry. Our pantry is also the laundry room and was in serious need of decluttering, purging, dusting and organizing. We went to town! And when my sweet hubby got home all tired from a hard day at work, he took the time to put up a new shelf that required a trip to the hardware store. We now have mountains of things for the garage sale that I am intent on hosting on Thursday and Friday. The tourists will be landing for the Cherry Festival and it is a perfect time to have a ginormous garage sale.
     Tomorrow we have the kitchen and back hall to overhaul. I actually got a couple cupboards in the kitchen started today, and thankfully it is a very small tunnel type of kitchen (though this is something I also lament about being so fond of the kitchen and cooking) so it isn't the massive job it could be. The back hall is another story. It is not a big space, but most of it is wasted. Our charming bunny "Stella" lives in it in his cage, but he only takes up a 2x2 foot space, the rest is basically all clutter, except for the recycling bins, of which there are two, that can easily be moved right into the garage which is adjacent to the back hall. My youngest daughter and I debated about all the things we could do with that little space and finally decided on turning it into a reading and game room. Yup. It will need a couple coats of paint, the bunny will have to move (the location is still tbd, but I just can't give the bunny almost the same amount of space that the kids have for their bedrooms) and we will need to relocate a book shelf or two, but it really has so much potential. It can be cozy and artsy with a mural or mosaic, some fun lighting and some pieces of art that really need to go up. I am  really psyched about this little project. I suppose I should take some before and after photos starting tomorrow.

     Speaking of photos, here is a photo of my daughters' new goldfish. I don't know why, but I felt like getting them some goldfish. One now lives in an old fashioned fish bowl in my youngest daughter's room and the other lives in a small tank that my kids bought for me one Mother's day in my older daughter's room. I did warn them that goldfish sometimes don't live very long but that we could afford to replace them, unless they started dying everyday or every other day. I have a really colorful curtain that looked quite cool behind the fish bowl, colorful, almost circus-like in the photo. Doesn't look like that without the fish bowl in front of it, lol, not at all! My son said he was content with the bunny and did not want a goldfish. But maybe he'll change his mind.

     And then there is my new Gall Bladder badge/patch. I'm feeling so much better, obviously, though the fat free diet is still a pain in my patootie. However, I can report that I must have lost at least five lbs since my brand spankin' new clam diggers are now so loose I have to roll the waist band. Yes I'm thrilled to have lost any weight, but bummed about not fitting into my cute new pants! Life is full of balance right?