The First Week Flew By!

Last week was my first week 'not working' (ha!) and it went by so fast that I barely noticed!

On Wednesday, my friend Bargain Hunter dragged me to invited me to go with her to an estate sale that was about an hour away but, thanks to traffic, ended up being an hour and a half away.  I'm glad I went, because I found some good stuff and we had a chance to catch up on the drive there and back.  Then I helped her finish up the pricing on our  friend's estate sale.  It was really good to help out (though Bargain Hunter had been working with our friend for weeks on it and they'd done all the hard work) and 'many hands make a light burden'.

On Thursday morning, I helped work the sale.  It was a new experience being on the other side of the sale!  We were thinking that the morning would be super-busy, but it wasn't advertised in the newspaper (just on craigslist) so the traffic was slow, but steady.  There were a few interesting encounters, but nothing too crazy.

Bargain Hunter had said that she didn't think there'd be anything at the sale I'd want, but she was wrong!  She just didn't count on my passion for random stuff.  My friend's father had been a draftsman and I got several lots of old mechanical pencils, pens and pencil leads and his old safety glasses.  

I also got her sister's prom dress and a bridesmaid's dress, as well as a peignoir set.

Prom dress, complete with full-length gloves

Bridesmaid's dress.  She said her sister never liked it -- gee, I wonder why?

Peignoir set -- isn't it lovely?

In the basement was a webbed chaise lounge  -- it brings back LOTS of memories of sunbathing in the backyard with my friends and covering ourselves with baby oil to increase the tan!

A great webbed chaise!

I took one of the quilts my friend's grandmother had made.  It's a bowtie quilt in all pastel plaids -- a lot like men's shirting back in the day.  I think it's beautiful, but she didn't want it.  I'm going to 'foster' it for her, because I think one of her daughters or a granddaughter might want it someday.  I'll be happy to send it back to the family.

The greatest prize of all, though, was a large (6") 1950s or 60s diorama sugar egg -- just like the ones my sister and I had as kids.  Ours disappeared long ago (probably thrown out by my parents, because I know I save everything!)   This egg is in perfect condition, though maybe a little faded on the outside (amazing for something made entirely out of sugar and icing).  It even has its box!  My friend was selling it and no amount of convincing on my part would make her keep it.  I was so excited to have it!  I'll have to make sure that my sister, who is a total Luddite and never goes near a computer, will see this post -- she'll be excited, too.

The beautiful egg!

Look at the sweet scene inside -- there are even chickens!

I went straight from the sale home to pack and get ready to go to a Rotary conference with Mr. KV and was there for the weekend.  I was home so little last week, that this week being off work really feels real.  The weather has been beautiful (70s and sunny) and I've been able to do some work in the barn and garden.  It's so nice to be able to be outside!

I plan to hit some sales this week and continue working on reorganizing the basement so I can start getting creative.  Right now, it's getting close to hoarder's paradise.  I'm not walking on boxes yet, but I am starting to have pathways between the stuff.  I guess I'm not ready for my TV debut, though, because the mess is making me crazy and I'm driven to sort, organize and de-stash.  I'll have some pictures as the project continues.