Casual Finds

When I was a teenager, we used to go to a lot of flea markets. I remember finding one item that really made an impression. Well that is after I found out what it was used for.

I love jewelry, so I was struck by this cute heart necklace that opened up. It opened from the top, so I knew it wasn’t a locket. The woman at the flea market who was selling the necklace told me about it. It was from the 1920s and was a condom holder! I guess I knew people in the 1920s had sex but it’s hard to imagine teenagers with acne trying to get it on with each other and being prepared it anything should happen.

She knew it was a condom holder because there was one left in it when she bought it. She said it was really old and dried out. It was a different piece that’s for sure and I’ve never seen another one like it. Seeing a knitted condom holder at Knitting Passion made me think of that find so many years ago.

Of course Googling it didn’t turn up any results but I might try eBay as I would like to know more about this type of jewelry.

There’s nothing like an early morning trip to town. It isn’t the first of the month and the weather has been horrid, so I didn’t expect to see any rummage sales. And I didn’t. But shopping early in the morning is great, although I still forget things we need. I’m not the only one as my niece had to make a special trip to town just for horse supplements last week.

It was too early to go by the Salvation Army, although our local thrift store is terribly unorganized. I think they are trying but is just a lot of stuff in a small space. They don’t believe in marking down items either, so furniture and knick knacks just sit in the store week after week.

I do enjoy going to the thrift in a town about 30 miles from us. It’s spacious and well kept. Too bad they don’t open until 9:30am. I’m already back home from my day out.

Maybe next weekend I will actually sleep in a little bit and will get to run by the thrift store during my Saturday morning trip to town.

We are getting ready for a few days of rain thanks to Fay. It makes it hard to get great finds in the rain as there aren’t that many sales going on. I’m sure there has been a lot affected by Fay like Orlando golf and other outdoor activities. Today is very dull since we are trying to think of something to do inside and drawing a big blank.

At least Fay is bringing a lot of rain. That is good since we really do need it. But it’ll just be hard to wait it out and not do anything while this slow moving storm passes over.

I guess we can always start planning our Labor Day weekend since that is next weekend. That will at least give us something do to to pass the time while it rains.

It seems everyone I know is getting a new cell phone. My sister-in-law has a new one but that’s not surprising as she seems to have a new one everytime I see her. A co-worker got a new phone. His first new cell phone in about five years, so I would say he was due one.

My husband would like a cell phone and I had thought about getting one on eBay. I would need to look at unlocked cell phones so that way we can use it on whatever network we want. We aren’t happy with our current provider so will be switching as soon as the contract is up. I don’t see paying hundreds of dollars on a phone we can only use for another year but one that could be used on another network is definitely more appealing.

For right now though, there are other things he wants more than a new cell phone although with his job it might become important to have a more encompassing cell phone at some point in the future. We’ll just have to put it on the list of wants and go from there.

There is just something about grab bag that is mysterious and exciting. Maybe it’s the unknown of what you are buying that is so attracting.

I noticed that you can buy yarn grab bags from Lion Brand. It’s very tempting to buy one since I adore yarn. This way I could let the yarn choose my next project.

It’s too bad I can’t find other grab bags like for Asgi shoes. I guess I can keep looking as you never know what you might find on the Internet. Who knows. I might some footwear in a grab bag yet.

A friend of mine from the mom’s playgroup had some men’s clothes for sale. She does quite a bit of reselling and had gotten a lot of stuff from someone. So I got to go through and plunder to see what she had.

Really I should be having a yard sale since we have so much stuff and so many things we want to save money for like our Vegas vacations we’ve been wanting to take since college. But it’s definitely more fun and easy to go to rummage sales than to have them.

I picked up my husband some shirts and shorts, both which he needs desperately. Sadly I didn’t find anything for me but I love finding bargains and these were a good deal. I love those opportunities to be the first to look through sale items. It makes me feel special and that I don’t miss out on any bargains.

This weekend I got a close up look at the new iPhone. I’m already in love with ipods and now I can add the iPhone to Apple products that are just too tempting to buy.

The iPhone does everything except make you breakfast. You can play games, watch your eBay items, Twitter, and make phone calls!

It was very impressive. There were so many programs that it was just information overload. The problem with the iPhone is that I really don’t use my phone that much, so it seems silly to buy such a cool phone and rarely use the phone part.

Still it was a neat phone. Maybe I will find it at a great deal one of these days and then I won’t worry so much about not using the phone capabilities.

Rae loves Toy Story and Woody and Buzz. But the problem is that you really can’t find related merchandise to older movies. I had a Woody and Buzz doll I had gotten years ago from rummage sales, so at least she has those. But when I found this at the grocery store, I couldn’t pass it up.

It’s apple juice with Woody and Buzz straws. We’re trying to get her to drink more from cups, so this is a good way to get her to drink from something else. Plus it’s really cute.

There was a local estate sale this weekend. It was fun to go to even if I didn’t find anything I needed. There was the normal stuff like lighting fixtures, cups, saucers, and linens. Just none of it was what I really needed.

Also estate sales are hit and miss. Some have really good prices and others almost have prices that you would expect to pay at an antique shop. Unfortunately this one I would have to categorize in the latter group.

This summer I really haven’t been to many sales of any kind. I really miss it and going to the estate sale reminds me of how much I enjoy bargain hunting.

I did find a few things that I would like to have at the estate sale but the price kept me from buying them. It might be time to start going to rummage sales on a regular basis again.

Now here is a find of mine from way back. I had picked up these Superman pajamas to dress my Furskin bear in that I also found at a rummage sale.

I had found them recently on the bear when I was looking through our storage for office furniture as I thought that surely we had a small desk that I could use for my laptop. I didn’t find any desk but found these PJs and brought them back to the house. The pants have some holes in them, so I might have tossed them as I can’t find them now. The top has a small cap that held by Velcro to the back.

My three-year-old wanted to put it on last night. She had fun for all of 10 minutes before she was ready to take it off. At least I grabbed the camera to get a few pics for this moment of total cuteness.