Thrifting Finds #83: I'm Back!

Whew.

I know it's been a long time, kiddies, but really, your old Uncle Veg has been having the most dismal luck at the thrifts.  Week after week, Hubs and I hit the stores and come home empty handed.  It's been really discouraging.

But all that changed yesterday.  Not only did I find something, I found two somethings.  Maybe three, depending on how you do the math!

So let's not waste any time.  Here we go!

Pink Swirly Apothecary Jars!  It's kind of hard to see (because I'm a terrible photographer) but these two jars have pink and gold swirls on them.  I'm pretty sure I've seen them in other people's vintage blogs, but I never thought I'd find one, much less two of them.  I need to fill them with something, and I'm thinking bubble bath, since that's what probably came in them originally.  What do you guys think?  One's going in the powder room which is already pink, so I should probably put blue bubble bath in that one.  Haven't decided whether hubs or I get the other one.

Goodwill, $2.00 each.  Yeah, kind of pricey, but worth it.

Fabulous Mid-Century Stereo!  I originally saw this three weeks ago and tried to convince myself to forget about it.  Then  two weeks ago, I thought What the heck? and went back and poked at it a little (there was stuff on it and around it.)  I noticed that the cloth on one of the speakers was pushed in, so I told myself that's that, I don't want it in my living room if it's not perfect.  Then Saturday morning, as Hubs and I left the house, I said "I don't think I'm quite finished with that stereo..."  So we went and measured it.  If it was too big, I'd have to give up on it.  Nope, just the right size.  Then I asked if it worked.  They said it hadn't been tested, so they plugged it in while I went to find a record.  We fired it up and it played.  Beautifully.  I was flabbergasted.  Of course, the changer needs cleaning and greasing and it needs a new needle, but I couldn't have been more pleased.  It sounds really good, too.  Oh, it's a Truetone (Western Auto) from 1966.  I found it in my 1966 Western Auto catalog.  It's next to the top of the line.  

When I asked how much, the guy said 40 bucks, which I thought was extremely reasonable, particularly because it worked.  So I forked over the cash and two guys put it in the back of my car for me. Needless to say, I'm tickled.  Rescue Mission Thrift, $40.00

Linking up with Thriftasaurus.

Thrifting Finds #82: Quickie!

Just a quick update, kiddies.  I wanted to let youall know that progress (no matter how small) is being made.

First off, we took down the big flat builder's mirror in the powder room and replaced it with an oval mirror we picked up at a used furniture store.  Sorry, but I forgot to take a picture.  It doesn't really matter though, because the powder room still needs to be painted.

I didn't want to just toss the old mirror, so I put it on top of a cabinet we have.  It's too big, but I like the mirrored-top business.  From the little research I've done, it looks like one can cut mirror at home if one has a glass cutter and a straight edge.  I may just tackle that, so stay tuned.

In other news, we got the couch!  The living room is definitely looking better:

I had the bright idea of renting a U-Haul van instead of paying the $120.00 (I know!) the furniture store wanted for delivery.  It all worked out in the end, but it was a certain amount of hassle, and it ended up costing about $75 bucks.  That's still better than $120, but I think I could have found some random dude on Craigslist with a truck who would have done it for less.

I have a lead on dining room furniture.  Stay tuned!

Didn't get to go thrifting this week, but a friend and I went to the outlets in Lancaster, PA.  Nothing much there, but through a series of events, we found ourselves at a restaurant supply store.

Guys, guys.  If you ever go by a restaurant supply store, go in.  Seriously, I could have done some major damage there.  I mean, did you know you could have your very own nacho cheese pump, just like they have in the movie theater?

In your own home!!  

I showed restraint, and only bought two baking sheets (they call them bun pans, I think):

They're 13 X 18 and super heavy aluminum.  The price?  $3.49 each.  Can you believe it?  They'll easily outlast anything you can get at regular retail, and for about 1/4 the price.  If anyone wants to know the name of the store, I'll try to find it.  I know they have a website as well and they don't mind at all selling to just regular people.

That's all for now.  More later as events warrant!

Thrifting Finds #81: Update!

Just a quickie today, kids.

So last week I reported that we were having the sofa cleaned.  It happened, but it was weird.  When I got home from work, I looked at it and it looked pretty good.  Not perfect, but better.  Hubs reported that the guy kept trying to upsell him--fabric protector, clean another chair (that was perfectly clean to begin with), etc., etc.  Luckily, Hubs has sales resistance, so we got the clean chair cleaned free, if we gave the company a good review.

Now here's where it starts getting weird.  The closer we looked at the couch, the worse it looked.  The best was I can describe it is that they removed the top layer of dirt that was hiding the even worse lower layer.  And yes, I realize how gross that sounds, but we're talking two guys and a dog here.  And it's really just grubby; it's not like we peed on it or anything.

So I'm getting a slipcover from Target, and we'll see how that does.  But first, I'm going to try this, since it's cheaper:

My couch isn't microfiber but at this point I probably can't make it any worse.

In other sofa news, I think I've picked one out for the living room, so now I'm soliciting opinions. I want the colors in the living and dining room to be turquoise and orange.  I already have orange chairs and the walls are turquoise, so I figured the couch should be white.   After reading all the above, bear in mind that the living room furniture will mostly be looked at, not used.  So I was thinking about this:

It's kinda mid-century, don't you think?  And it's affordable.  Please post your comments below.  If you have another suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

One last thing:  we have become official Suburbanites with the addition of this:

All I need now is an apron that says "Kiss the Cook."  We got it on a really good sale at Lowes, plus they were having a special on propane, so a $50 tank only cost me $24, plus I had a 10% off coupon.  This is far more grill than we'll ever need, but it is by no means the biggest available.  Actually, it's on the smallish side.

I took another stab at making pickles last week:

Hubs and I liked Pickles 2.0 much better than the first batch.  Hubs thinks they're a little too much on the sour side, but I think they're fine.  When we finish these, I'm going to try making Bread & Butter pickles next.

And that's it for this week, kids.  I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging but truthfully, there has been nothing to report.  I know that doesn't ever stop me, but still...

Thrifting Finds #80: It happened!

Well kids, despite the title of this post, there will be absolutely no discussion of Thrifting Finds, for the simple reason that there haven't been any.  To tell the truth, hubs and I haven't really been out thrifting in months because

Fondue Headquarters has moved!

Yes, it actually happened on June 15 and let me tell you, hubs and I are pooped.  I'd like to report that the new HQ looks lovely, but if I did, I'd get struck down for lying.  Here are some pictures from the day we moved in:

The Dining Room!

Eagle-eyed viewers will notice there's no dining room table.  That's because the one we had was an antique and while lovely, not as practical as I want.  So it went to auction and now we're in the market for a dining room set.  Though it's obscured by a rolled-up rug, that's our new china cabinet in the background.  It's a bit smaller than I would have preferred, but I really like it.  It's a Stanley, and I got it on CL for $175.  I probably could have gotten the price down but I was too tired.  P.S. The dining room looks somewhat better now.

The Living Room!

It's a new look I'm calling Early Garbage Dump.  You'll be reading all about it in the latest issue of Bitter Homes and Gardens.  If anything, the living room looks a little worse now.  I don't know how that happened.  Notice the complete lack of seating.  There are actually two new chairs:

but no sofa yet.  It'll look interesting for a while.

The Master Bedroom!

Though not perfect, I'll admit that the master bedroom looks a lot better now.  I think I only have a couple more boxes still to deal with, and then some decorating touches (or as close as I ever get to them.)

The Guest Room!

Not a whole lot of progress here, I'm afraid, but I do have the desk set up so that I can pay bills again.  One more bookcase has to be added and then I can start unpacking and getting organized.  I don't think we're going to have guests any time soon, so we're safe.

The Family Room!

Again, this looks much better today.  The Anga (Ikea wall system, shining example of the world's worst engineering) is up after much trauma, and restocked with most of my collection of vintage toys. There's some overflow, but I'm going to try to put them in the guest room.

There's no picture of the third bedroom, as that is our Room of Shame.  Everything that we don't know what to do with gets shoved in there.  It's sort of like a second-floor basement.

What else?  Hubs' bathroom and the powder room still need to be painted.  (Pssst!  Wanna be shocked?  Look what the previous owners did to the powder room.  Bonus points if you can find the electrical outlet:

Yeah.

The kitchen needs some work as well, and by "work" I mean "needs to be completely redone but there's no money for that so we're going to have to live with it."  Ooh, I should probably take a picture of the new washer and dryer--they look like little space pods!

Okay, there's lots more to tell (like the story of Jethro moving the refrigerator for me...), and we're meeting with our wonderful Realtor tomorrow to get the old condo on the market, but I'm at work and should probably do some--I have mortgage payments to make!

P.S.  Made baked chicken chimichangas the other night and they were delish.  I'll look for the recipe if anyone wants it.  Am also making pickles for the first time, but I'm skeptical; the brine has no vinegar in it and it's looking mighty murky if you ask me.

Thrifting Finds #79: There has been a truly disturbing lack of

me!

I was reminded this morning of how long it's been since I blogged.  My last post was at the beginning of February, fercryingoutloud.  What possible excuse could I have?

A couple, actually.

First, I have found nothing--nothing!--at any of the thrifts since the beginning of February.  This has got to be the longest dry spell I can remember.  And it's really quite tragic, because I need all kinds of stuff--light fixtures, furniture, etc., because

Fondue Headquarters is moving!

Yep, we've decided to re-enter the world of crushing debt and buy ourselves a new house.  I didn't want to say anything before, because we don't actually close until next week (fingers crossed!), but we're getting close enough that it's kind of hard to keep secret any more.

Anyone who has been through this process before realizes that it just sucks up all of your time.  I have zero memory of buying my last house eleven years ago, but I think I'd remember if it were as complicated as it is now.

Anyway.

Hopefully, I'll be able to show you some before-and-after pictures soon, but I'm guessing for a while that this blog will be more about moving and redecorating than it will about really awesome thrift finds.  Is that okay with you guys?  I hate to get you all used to one thing and then switch tracks all of a sudden.

And with any luck, there will be some awesome thrift finds, because the law of averages pretty much says so.  This dry spell can't go on forever!

Thanks for sticking with me.  There's more to come!

Thrifting Finds #78: Not So Thrifty!

Hello, yeah, it's been a while.  Not much, how 'bout you?

Got that song in your head now?*  YOU'RE WELCOME.

So Hi, Kids!  I just checked and it's been a while since your ol' Uncle Veg posted anything here.  Want to know why that is?  Two reasons:  we missed our usual rounds a couple of times, and when we did manage to get out, the thrifts had NOTHING.  I figured they'd be overflowing with stuff since everyone unloads their stuff at the end of the year for the tax write-off, but nope.  Maybe they're sending it all off somewhere else. I don't know.  All I know is that the pickin's have been slim.

I did find one thing, though.  It's not particularly exciting, but here 'tis:

1.  Popcorn Popper!  For a while there, I had a terrible craving for popcorn.  I have no idea where that came from.  The real kind is too messy to clean up after and the microwave kind tastes really chemically to me, so I thought I'd go back to air-popped.  P.S. It still tastes like Styrofoam.  Anyway, the Goodwill had two of these: One without the all-important measuring cup/cap, no box, no instructions for 6 bucks, and this one, with all the pieces the other one didn't have (not to mention a little bit of ooky stuff on the bottom of the other one), also six bucks.  I guess it's obvious which one I bought.  I don't think this had ever been used, as the wire tie was still around the cord.  Goodwill, $6.00

And that's it for thrift store purchases.  I'm kind of embarrassed to even show you that, since it's not even cool or vintage.

I did buy one thing this weekend, though not at a thrift store.  And a little more expensive than I'm usually willing to spring for:

Kia Sorento!  Meet Oobie.  So yeah, I really wanted to go back to having 4-wheel drive (I used to have a Kia Sportage) and I so I got it into my head, and look what I went and done.  It has all kinds of fancy features I'm not used to--backup camera, downhill brake assist (huh?), Sirius XM radio, and on and on.  And the best feature of all:  butt seat warmers!  Talk about delightful!  Where have you been all my life?  

If the Average MPG thing in the dashboard can be trusted, I'm getting the same mileage I got with my old car (Kia Rondo.  Seeing a theme here?  Hubs has a Kia Forte), but I won't be sure until after a couple of fill ups.  It's a 2012 model, by the way, and I got it at Carmax, and overall, it was a decent experience.  Word of warning, though:  when they say "no haggle", they mean it!

Picture is from the Carmax site--the weather here has been too awful to take a good picture of it.

Stuff I Didn't Buy Department

Hubs and I saw a couple of things yesterday that needed to be reported on.  Scroll down if you dare!

World's Creepiest Jack-in-the-Box!  I actually gasped and did a double-take when I rounded the corner and saw this peeking at me.  Who would want this in their house?  And is it me, or do the eyes look kinda squinty and evil?  Shudder.

You really need to embiggen this one.

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN  Words fail me.  Hubs spotted it first, and I could tell from the expression on his face that he found something...interesting.  I kept the picture kind of big so you could experience the full horror of it.  Who thought this was a good idea?

I should totally buy this and give it to someone as a gift.

Tragedy Strikes Department:

Way back at the beginning of this blog, I had some electrical boxes installed for ceiling fans.

Wellsir, I went to use the light the other day, and nothing.  Fan didn't work either.  I checked the other one in the room with both remotes, and that one's fine.  Dang.  So now I have to figure out what's wrong with this one.  I'm hoping it's something simple, 'cause it's going to be a royal pain to take it down.  It has one of those useless Lifetime Warranties--if something goes wrong, they'll send you a new part or something, but not until you uninstall it, dismantle it, and ship the whole kit 'n caboodle off to Sri Lanka or someplace.  Imagine how little I want to do that.

And that's it for this week.  Lame, I know, but at least it's something.  With any luck, we'll get to make our usual rounds next week and hopefully find something neat.  Linking up this week with  Sir Thrift A Lot, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, and Vintage Bliss Tuesdays

EDIT:  For the youngsters out there.

Thrifting Finds #77:Purely Practical--Plus Pyrex!

Annnnnd...it's over.  All the decorations are put away, so it's like Christmas never happened.  Normally, I don't take things down until January 6 (Twelfth Night), but it was just easier to do it this past Saturday.  And I didn't want to do it on Sunday, as that was the last day of Hubs's and my 2-week vacation, and the day was depressing enough!

In good news, the thrifts were a little kinder to me this past week than usual, so I have a couple of things to report on, but first, indulge me a bit as I wax philosophical for a moment.  Or you can skip down a few paragraphs and save yourself from hearing me complain.

It's probably obvious that I love shopping.  I'm sure some of you can identify with that.  In particular, I love Christmas shopping.  "Loved" is probably a better word since

Christmas shopping isn't fun any more.

Oh, that's not to say it isn't convenient, because it undeniably is.  I did  the lion's share of my Christmas shopping online this year, and you just can't beat free shipping (the only kind I get.)

Still (and yes, I realize how stupid this is going to sound), it's not as much fun as when I was young.

Growing up in New England, you could pretty much count on there being snow on the ground starting around Thanksgiving.  We'd go downtown to Parke-Snow and R. H. White (our local department stores) and look at the elaborate display windows.  The sales floors were decorated to within an inch of their lives and to a little kid, the sparkle was nothing short of magical.

Then a quick stop at the lunch counter at Woolworth's or Grant's for some hot chocolate, and maybe a little 8-year-old shopping for Mom & Dad (wow, look at the size of that bottle of perfume!  And it's only 98 cents!)

As a rule, we'd make at least one trip to Boston and go to Jordan Marsh to get our pictures taken with Santa.  I don't remember going to Filene's--we were definitely a Jordan Marsh family.

Even when they built the new mall (Searstown), they did a wonderful job of decorating (well, except for that one unfortunate year they tried to change the Christmas colors from red and green to pink and chartreuse.  This was the late '60s, so...)

Now when you go to a mall, there's a Santa in the center court and that's about it.  Sears will throw up a faded red tinsel tree and call it good.  Department stores (meaning Macy's, because that's all that's left) will hang a few signs and that's all the effort they put into decorating.

Am I the only one who misses the Toyland that sprang up in every single store, no matter how improbable?  I'm thinking about the hardware store and the auto supply place.

It all came to a crashing halt, I think, when Woolworth's went out of business.  Once they were gone, the whole season seemed a little less Christmassy.

(And yes, I realize that the whole point of Christmas is a spiritual one, but I'm not addressing that here.  I'm only talking about shopping.  Even I'm not that insensitive!)

There was just something about Woolworth's.  All the cheap & cheerful decorations for sale, the ugly artificial trees, the lunch counter, the smell of the store...  And always, there was at least one canary flying around, an escapee from the cages in the pet department.

How I miss Woolworth's.

So that's my little Diatribe du Jour.  Thanks for sticking it out this far.  Sorry it's not very well written, but I'm trying to do this quickly at work and it's noisy in here with a lot of distractions.

On to the thrift finds!

1.  Little Golden Books!  I haven't looked too closely, but I'm pretty sure these are reprints, not the originals.  That's fine with me.  I only have two, so not a collection yet.  But I'm expecting to get more!  I got the idea to collect them from reading this book.  Goodwill, $1.62 each.

2.  Covered Vegetable Dish!  I really needed this a few days before I got it, but at least I'm set for the next time we have company.  This is completely generic--there's no mark whatsoever on it.  I think it's pretty, though, and plain enough that it will go with whatever china I'm using at the time.  Rescue Mission Thrift, $3.00

3.  Pyrex!  As promised!  This is the shape I love, and the first time I've seen it in the wild.  Does anyone know the pattern name?  The design is in perfect shape, even after pulling off the tape holding the lid on.  Pretty sure it's an 033, 1.5 quart.  Unfortunately, there's some weird stain on the handle:

Click to embiggen

Anyone know what to do about this?  I tried steel wool figuring that would work, but it had no effect whatsoever.  Then I tried Bar Keepers' Friend, but that did nothing either.  I was afraid to try anything else before asking for help.  Help!  Goodwill, $3.00

4.  Microwave!  Well, the one I was considering last week got sold, naturally, but I found this one that was reasonably clean and the right size.  One Salvation Army we went to wanted 40 bucks for a similar Sunbeam model that was missing the turntable.  I guess people don't know that without that little glass plate, the microwave is useless.  Anyway, I tried this out in the store by running out to the car and getting Hubs' water bottle, and pouring some into a glass from the shelf.  It cleaned up nicely without too much work, so I'm pleased.  Goodwill, $20.00.

I also bought a battery-operated pencil sharpener, but it turned out not to work, so I'm not posting a pic.  It was only a buck, so no biggie.

In Other News Department:  I got tired of waiting for the caster to arrive for the gift wrap cart I got last week, so I picked one up at Home Depot.  I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet, since I got it after Christmas, but I can tell you that it holds a crap ton of stuff!  That corner of the closet looks so much better now.  I consider it money well spent.

And that's it for this week, kiddies.  Sorry this is so disjointed--I'm trying to do too many things at once and I'm really not good at multitasking.

Linking up this week with  Sir Thrift A Lot, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, and Vintage Bliss Tuesdays