MORE POWER!

I gave Randy a grinder for Father's Day. He and Will were testing it out last night. I do like things that sparkle!

More Auction Pictures

Rusty but neat tv tray--rolling pin--



Copper boiler--etc.--two old fly swatters there on the right-- This auction was an antique store that the family had passes away so there were price tags on a lot of items. Really interesting to see what they were priced.




Copper bucket and some type of old map metal tube.




That IS a fake bird. Why do they sometimes have those in these old bird cages? Did people buy a fake bird to keep the real one company?




Keep? Sell? Keep? Sell?



One of my collections is alluminum coffee pots. I bet there were 10 or more in my pile. I will sell some though.



SO excited about this. Any guesses what it is? Brass window screen. Why would this be made? I think it will be great for altered art projects. In the craft stores brass is expensive!! This wasn't.




My surprise gem: in the big pile on the flat bed at the end of "choice" --the really big pile for $1 (how could you not buy the pile for $1?) -- Yeah I know most of the world would walk away saying "how could you buy the pile for $1?".--Anyway-- in the pile-- when I went through it was this bag of calf leather. Two full skins, one half skin, and a bunch of scraps. Yeah!! Perfect for altered art projects! Perfect.




After some sorting. Sorry for the blurry picture. It was pretty dark.




Box of wood parts.

So much more, so little time to photograph it all....See anything you want? Email me and we can talk. jrruskamp@msn.com

So I Was Thinking...

So I was thinking.... I had better back off from garage sales and auctions for awhile to dig myself out. Didn't even look in the paper. I was driving back into town yesterday and started seeing signs. My favorite garage sale was open. Had to stop. So happy I never listen to myself. It was all I could do to contain my excitement. That sweet, awesome, fantastic, incredible dress form is now in my garage, soon to be in my house!!

Some of THE GOODS from the Auction

Since we got there so late, we saw nothing ahead of time. At one point in the auction (after I had 2 big piles) they said they were going out to the barn to sell "the primitives". I wasn't too excited because although I love primitive furniture---that's high end prices---not my thing. It wasn't primitives at all. When we got out there, it was JUNK!! I was excited.



Two flatbeds of rusty crusty broken items which I love and did buy but if you looked close there were some real gems. Like these two tubs of hardware. One was hooks and knobs and one was casters. I haven't seen a repurpose for casters yet but I'm thinking and on the lookout. Any ideas???




Green and Red knobs!



There are 100 hooks alone in that red ice cream bucket. I paid $30 for the whole tub which had the bucket plus knobs and hardware. That was the highest item on the flatbed. Everything else went super cheap. I'll have more pics soon.



This suitcase was inside and it had about a dozen vintage black and white photos in it.
To answer Laurie's question about auction prices. This one was better than reasonable. I went to one a week ago on Tues. that the high end glass pieces went way over market prices!! AND it was FILTHY-. You just never know. I don't buy high end glass so it didn't effect me.

What a Weekend!

I don't even know what to say. This is a small portion of what I picked up Sat. while garage sale-ing. I have a big stack of vintage fabric that almost brings tears to my eyes that I picked up at two different sales.




Then there was TODAY--I remembered right before we went to church that "oh yeah-there was an auction in Leigh today" A huge two day antique auction.




We didn't get there until noon of the second day (today) and it started at 9 am. My husband came with me today! I told him on the way up--and I'm quoting myself--"I have no expectations. In fact I think there is a good chance we'll leave with nothing."




This is the little space I sat in on the way home.






The thing is--the pickup isn't just full. It's PACKED. We dumped all the boxes so every little nook and cranny is filled so we could fit it all in.






See?






Won't the twirly thing be AWESOME in the garden?! We would have bought more if we could have hauled it.



My husband is out golfing now. With our son who babysat for us.

The Right Tool Can Be Sweet

When my brother built our house one of his sayings that he got us started on was, "Any tool can be the right tool." --Usually when Jim and I were fumbling around helping. We've repeated that many times in the past years when you just have to make do with what you have...BUT sometimes the right tool is really SWEET!
Take this cuisenart chopper we got for Christmas. (Kinda forgot I had it until the other day.)



I make deviled eggs often. Especially take them to potlucks because my kids love them and I have a great tupperware carrier for them. I've tried all different kinds of "tools" to chop the yolks and they are always lumpy. Oh my goodness this little chopper made quick work of it!




AND this awesome tool, my friend Teri gave me a few years back as a birthday gift. It's a Wilton pastry, filling, dessert, something or other and I use it a lot.



(Oops pics out of order) It makes the eggs look great. Even if the yolks were lumpy before---




These went to a friend's graduation party for her daughter. Any favorite tools you have? Ones that are worth the effort to get out and clean up? Tell me about any of them--we like power tools for any projects around here!