Thrifting Finds: Does This Even Count? Edition

Good morning, kids!

Well, once again your ol' Uncle Veg ventured out to the thrifts and did not come home empty-handed.  I do believe this is the longest streak I've ever had.

Not that what I found was amazing, mind you.  In fact, I'm not even sure what I got is really good enough to even mention.

Like I'd let something like that stop me.

Anyway, it was a pretty busy weekend Chez Fondue, what with getting ready for Thanksgiving and everything.  I think I have a handle on things, but you know as well as I do that the wheels could all fall off at the last minute.

It looks like there will be about 14 of us this year.  I say "about" because there are always those who decide/change their mind at the last minute.  I hope it's not much more than that because if it is, someone's going to end up sitting on the floor, and I suspect it will be me.

But on to the finds!

I didn't even bother taking a picture of this because I thought it was so boring:

Not even my picture

CD Player!   I'd been looking for one of these since I got my console stereo a few weeks back, as most of my Christmas music is on CD.  These of course used to be all over the place, but since the advent of MP3 players, they're old hat.  I actually bought two players because they were only 2 bucks each and I didn't know if either worked.  That was a good move, as one of them didn't want to play both channels.  So that one will get tossed.  We listened to some Brazilian jazz last night, and it sounded great coming from the console.  Goodwill, $2.00
P.S. One of them came with a bonus CD inside:  The Cheetah Girls Cheetah-licious Christmas.  Needless to say, I tossed it without listening to it.
UPDATE:  Okay, I just previewed it on Amazon.  My original decision was wise.

Cheese Dome!  We serve Party Cheese Ball often enough (basically every single time The Girl Child comes by) that I thought it deserved a fitting display.  This was in its original box and looked to be either very lightly used or completely unused.  There was an inadvertently hilarious insert in the box about how the teak comes from some magical forests in Thailand and how the texture of real wood can never be equaled by synthetics, yadda yadda.  Goodwill, $5.00

Does This Even Count?  I ask because it wasn't a thrift find but a Craigslist purchase.  It does count?  Because I can do whatever I want with my own blog?  Then

Trash Compactor!  Here at Fondue HQ we only have trash pickup once a week.  And not by a company, either.  It's a 70-something-year-old guy named Lloyd.  Somehow, Hubs and I seem to produce a prodigious amount of trash, so I thought a compactor would be a good idea.  The development next to us (built in the mid '70s) put them in every kitchen.  Have you priced these lately?  They're close to 600 bucks, and go up. Way up.  I found this on CL, as I say, for 99 bucks.  Bought it from a lovely couple who only used it a couple of times and weren't impressed.  I'm liking it so far, particularly when we use the "Extra Pac" cycle, which really squashes the stuff down.  Craigslist, $99.00

And that's it for the finds, but I do have one more thing I want to report on:  I did a craft.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned Sparkle Balls and how I thought I would make one?  Wellsir, I did:

This was my first--and likely last--attempt.  It was truly a pain to make.  I didn't buy the fancy stapler you need and my stapler didn't work, so I had to melt the cups together with a soldering iron.  I also used the soldering iron to make the hole in the bottom of each cup, which I had to do twice because I didn't make them big enough the first time around,.  As you can see, this is not perfectly spherical, but I'm hoping that won't be blatantly obvious when I get it hung up by the front door.  I'm guessing that if I ever stumble across the proper stapler at a thrift store, I might buy it and give this another go, but this one is going to have to do for now.

Hopefully we'll run into each other again next week, but until then, Hubs and I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Linking up, as usual, with Thriftasaurus.

Thrifting Finds #86: Late Entry

So it was a very busy week here at Fondue HQ.  Busier than a lazy guy such as myself really enjoys.

I didn't technically get any thrifting finds this week, but I have one from a few weeks ago to report on.

But first, here's what happened at the HQ:

We Got a New HVAC System!  I knew this was going to happen when we bought the house; the original system was still in place and 20 years old.  Apparently, anything older than 15 is living on borrowed time.  I managed to wring one last summer out of the AC but decided to replace everything while it was still running.  That way I could do my research instead of having to make a hurried decision because we had no heat and it was 20 degrees out.

That new A/C unit up there is about the size of a Toyota.  Which makes sense, since that's about how much it cost.

Furnace!  This is our fancy new multi-stage, variable speed  super-efficient furnace.   How fancy is it?  

It comes with its own WiFi.  If there's a problem, the HVAC company will know about it before I do.  Plus

The thermostat is practically an iPad.  This will do everything but make the bed.

See what I mean?  It's the size of a Corolla.  It's also super-efficient with more features than I can name (or remember.)

Also, that very same day, we had new rollers installed on one of the patio doors.  No pictures of that because, well, because it was boring.  But while the guy was here, I had him cut down the mirror that we removed from the powder room so that it would fit exactly on top of a cabinet we have.  So that was one more little project done.

As for the thrift find, here they are:

The Girls!  We found these plaster plaques a few weeks back at one of the Goodwills.  All three were chipped, but not too badly  Nothing that a coat of spray paint wouldn't hide, anyway.  It took a few weeks until we had a nice enough day to paint them, and they took longer to dry than I thought they would.

I wasn't looking forward to hanging these up because I needed to plan the spacing, etc. correctly so I didn't have to redo anything.  At first, I thought we'd do them all at the same level, but Hubs and I decided we liked them better this way.  Here's a closeup:

I thought they were muses, but Hubs pointed out logically that there is no muse bearing water.  So I guess they're just three random gals.

What I Made Department

On the same day everything else was happening, I also got a head start on my Christmas Cookie Extravaganza:

Okay, so not a very impressive start, but it was about all I could handle.  Those are my Cherry Jumbles and Platinum Blondes.

And that's really all I have for this week, kids.  Linking up with Thriftasaurus.

Thrifting Finds #85: And He Goes for the Hat Trick!

Three in a row!  Can you believe it?  I certainly can't!

So I noticed that the last couple of weeks, all the thrifts seem to have a lot more stuff in stock than usual.  I mean chock-full.  Not a whole lot I want, mind you, but the shelves are packed.

Again, all the Christmas stuff seems to be from Walmart or the Dollar Store.  Not that I need any.  When we were moving the HQ, I discovered that we own a crap ton more Christmas stuff than I ever realized.  If I decide to really get into it this year, Christmas could be quite the extravaganza.

It's going to be garish at the very least, and here's why.  I don't know if anyone remembers when I made my ornament wreath:

Wellsir, it was a casualty of the move. I loved it, but it was made with almost all new ornaments, so there wasn't a whole lot of emotional attachment.  Anyway, it's gone and I'm not sure I'm up to making another one, but I think I'm going to try my hand at making a Sparkle Ball:

This will be hanging by the Fondue HQ front door, and it will be the only one in the neighborhood, I can guarantee.

But I digress.  What a shock.

Anyway, I managed to pick up two things this weekend, though only one is pictured.  The other item is a plastic milk-crate type thing for holding record albums which, like Christmas decor, we own a whole lot more of than I realized.

Please forgive the grammar and syntax of that sentence.

This is what I want:

I have just the right place for it, between two chairs in the living room--It's about 24" in diameter.  I am, however, unwilling to pay the 800 clams this table costs.  Then I saw this little table at the Goodwill and thought it would be a good candidate for a makeover:

It's not identical, of course, but it's similar, and for seven bucks, I could hardly say no.  It's pictured with the first coat of white paint on it--it's "walnut" Formica underneath.  It'll certainly do until I can find what I'm looking for at a price I'm willing to pay.

This reminds me of a series of articles that used to appear in Metropolitan Home, I think, back in the '70s.  They'd do one room with all chic, luxurious stuff and then do another one that looked similar, but on a budget.

Again, I digress.  

And that's it for this week.  Next week may involve picking up a trash compactor, which will certainly be exciting.   Oh, and Wednesday, we're getting our new furnace and AC unit here at Fondue HQ, and let me tell you, I am WAY more excited about that than I need to be.  Especially since it's costing as much as a car.

Other big news:  we're getting new rollers on the patio doors.  Again, way more excited than I should be!

Tune in again next week and I'll tell you all about it.  In the meantime, I think I'll link up with Thriftasaurus.

Thrifting Finds #84: I'm on a Roll!

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit.

As they say.

Here I am again for the second week in a row with some actual thrift finds to report.  When was the last time that happened?  'Bout a million years ago, I guess.

Anyway, Hubs and I started out the weekend by going to an estate sale.  It was already in day 3 of a four-day run, but it's so rare that there's a sale close by, not to mention one that's operating while we're out and about, that we went anyway.  Judging from the pictures I saw online, there wasn't much I was interested in, but you never know.

Hubs and I loved the house.  I'd guess it was about 1960-ish (Edit:  Built in 1962.)  We lost track of the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and neither one of us could make heads or tails of the floorplan.  It seemed kind of like a maze.  It looks like the owners did a good job of decorating it when it was new but unfortunately, they just didn't keep it up.  Everything needed replacing, which is a shame, because whoever buys the house is just going to rip everything out and destroy all the mid-century goodness with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.  Oh, well.

On to the finds!

Vegetti!  I'd been meaning to try this, but in the stores, it's like 15 bucks.  I didn't want to spend that much on something I might end up using once, so I was pleased to find this for a buck at the Goodwill. Even more pleased when I found out it was half price!  Goodwill, $0.50

Tissue Box and Guest Towel Holder!  These came from the above-mentioned estate sale.  Hubs and I weren't pleased with the tissue box we have in the powder room and this metal one was a nice upgrade.  And when we have guests, they can use the guest towels I will provide, just as soon as I buy some!  Now get this: the tissue box had the original price sticker inside--32 bucks!  Is that outrageous?  Maybe it was for the set, but still, that seems a lot of money for these.  I'm guessing they're late '60s, early '70s.  Estate sale, $3.00

Super Cool Punch Bowl!  I passed on one of these at Savers last year and have regretted it since.  So you can imagine my pleasure when I saw this at the Goodwill.  There are a couple of chips in the punch bowl, but who cares, you know?  It has all 12 cups and the ladle, and it came in the original box:

So as you can see, it's a Moderno.  Whatever it's called, I love it!  Now that we're in the new house, Hubs and I were thinking about having an Open House next month, and now that we have this punch bowl, I guess we're going to have to go through with it!  I don't want this baby to go to waste.  My original plan was to get a crappy punch bowl set from the Goodwill and then give it back after the party (like I did last time), but this one's a keeper.

Linking up with Thriftasaurus.