Wisconsin Adventures!

First, you have to look at this ad. As Kohl's is a Wisconsin based company and this ad is about shopping, I feel this photo is almost on-topic.

The adorable surfer dude rocking the black t-shirt is my cousin! Don't you want to go buy some Levi's because of him?!

As you know, I was on vacation last week so I missed whatever sales Belleville offered. I don't even want to know about them. I'm sure they were wacky and wonderful.

The good news is that I found a few sales in Chetek, Wisconsin and surrounding towns so I have something to report! Also, I didn't hand my card out that much so I feel confident that I can make fun of all the sales without any nasty social side effects.

You first have to understand the Chetek situation. Chetek is a sweet little town, dependent on the summer tourists. Lake Chetek is one of a chain of calm, green, fishy lakes perfect for boating, fishing, and going pee when you find yourself away from shore for too long. In Chetek there is a lot of beer and cheese curds. Most food is fried. They have many Supper Clubs.

Here are a few pictures to set the mood:

Enough of that. I'm getting homesick.

My first adventure was in an antique store. In general, I try not to shop at antique stores. I think it's more fun to find treasure in-the-raw, tucked away in someone's garage or splayed across their driveway, for sale for mere pennies. I am the hunter and the junk is my prey. At antique stores the conquest has been made already and I am forced to pay a premium for the hunter's time and energy.

Having said that, look what I bought:

It is a vintage Sears metal play refrigerator. I thought it would be clever storage for files and office supplies. I could cover the front with magnets and notes. But now that I'm home, I can't find a place to put it. It was pricey, too! Maybe I should donate it to the school auction? Perhaps some rich school parent had a similar one when she was a child and will be overcome by a wave of nostalgia and will buy it for hundreds of dollars, thereby providing our school with enough money to fix that leak in the ceiling by the band room...

As it was vacation, I refused to use the internet to find sales. I could have. Matt's phone is "smart" and he used it plenty of times to get phone numbers for golf courses and check sports scores and whatall. But I think a lake vacation should be technology-free so I had to resort to this:

This, in case you are one of our younger readers, is a newspaper ad. This is how yardsalers of the past had to get their information. Primitive? Yes. We had to drive 20 miles to attend this estate sale. All I bought was a sparkly letter G for my collection. (Yes, I already had a G but this one was better, causing me to think that maybe I should just collect all the initials I can find and have sort of a stock pile or something? What do you think?) My mom found some great jokers for her joker collection. (She collects just the jokers from decks of playing cards. It is really amazing, the variety and beauty of jokers.) I am aware that I may have got my weird collection gene from my mother. I think this is called the-apple-falling-not-far-from-the-tree syndrome.

That was our only advertised sale but there were skivs aplenty! Some neon corner signs told us to follow the arrow for 11 miles (!) and we would find a garage sale. We blew those off. Really, who has that kind of time?

Our first skiv took us down a wooded gravel drive which would have set off Laura's internal warning devices for sure. (Remember, Jeffrey Dahmer was from Wisconsin.) But our bravery was rewarded with some fine merchandise. Like these fuzzy rearview mirror boobies, for instance:

Now, readers will question both my taste and my parenting, but we bought these 25 cent boobies and had quite a bit of fun with them. We dangled them from the mirror for awhile...

...but something about their fuzzy nipples both attracted and repelled me and my driving started to suffer. So we let Louie play with them for a little bit...

...but that didn't seem totally appropriate, so we ended up donating them to Uncle Robert, Matt's 67 year old uncle who was widowed 18 months ago but has recently reverted to bachelor status. He hung them with pride from the mirror of his pick-up.

I found this multi-tiered food dehydrator which made me miss Laura. I thought about how much nasty fruit leather she could make with this sucker.

I also found a perfect gift for her, to thank her for babysitting the five guinea pigs. (A favor she will not soon repeat, I suspect.) I will let her blog about this excellently old, wooden object in her own post. Stay tuned! (Spoiler alert...shhhh...it's an old gym scooter!)

I found this really old bird cage for only $2.50.

Afterwards, I saw a nearly identical one in the antique store for $16! See what I mean about the hunt? I enjoy the hunt and am rewarded with such a savings! If I shopped in proper stores I would miss out on the challenge and pay a premium for the same junk. Or even worse, I could probably find a new-made-to-look-old birdcage at Hobby Lobby for $20. Crazy, that's what it is.

Finally, there was this long, wooden sign propped up in a yard along the main drag in town. It had a paper note attached that said "$50 O.B.O." I walked up to the door, ready to leave a note, but the owner was home. I was the O.B.O. at twenty bucks! The sign advertises Gas, Deli, Gifts, and once graced Chetek's Main Street over Don's Cheese Emporium, or something like that. It is both a handsome artifact and a piece of Chetek history. An excellent YSA Find, wouldn't you agree?

This Friday we head back to Wisconsin for our Door County vacation. Door County is a classier, pricier destination than Chetek. Rather than boating on a green, fishy lake we spend our time walking on the pure, white sand as frigid Lake Michigan laps at our toes. Door County is sure to offer a different variety of yardsale merchandise. But don't worry, they still have plenty of beer, cheese curds, and supper clubs. Tune in next week!

Nancy

sick

Readers, once again, I have failed you, our 26 faithful readers, who await with bated breath every weekend for the regaling of our hilarious anecdotes. I may be exaggerating here.
Anyway, I really have a good excuse this time for not yard saling. I have a multitude of infections and can not stand up without dizziness and having to catch my breath, so driving and leaping out of cars while carrying small children is not in anyone's best interests right now.
I hope to be in fine form next weekend, when Nancy will be back (and I can give her back her guniea pigs.....we are pet sitting and I am afraid through our over-zealous and enthusiastic feeding we have increased their already-substanital girth by 50%). There are some promising church rummage sales looming on the horizon, and I for one intend to be there, thrusting my quarters into innocent elderly church ladies' hands.

Laura's letdown (by Laura) (for Betty)

Readers, I feel I have failed you today. Did I yardsale? No. Did I even attempt to yardsale? No. Did I slow down slightly while driving today to see what was being sold on the road, only to continue along my merry old way when I discovered mere tomatoes were the sole offering? Yes, I did do this.
But wait! I have a good excuse! See, remember way back when I announced I would be stepping back from hard-core saling every weekend because of nursing school? Well, the 3:30am wake ups have been taking their toll. I am ashamed to admit that for the past three nights, the latest I have gone to bed is 7:28pm. Yes. I usually try to hit the sack by 6:50pm. It is now 8:05 and I am exhausted. Pathetic, I know.
So I have this part-time job of teaching aerobics classes at a gym. I used to teach regularly, then when I went back to school I went on the sub list, so today I subbed for the step and sculpt classes, which, if you look at the picture of me in Nancy's post of this past Thursday, can get an idea of what I look like when I teach. And since I needed to be at the gym by 8am, I promised myself I would sleep in, which, for me is at least 6:30am. But teaching the Saturday classes doesn't mix with yardsaling, plus it was 95 degrees today, with a heat index of something silly like 103. Since Nancy and Samantha are both gone, I decided it would be a yardsaling-free weekend for me. Plus I have this pathophysiology test on Monday. Considering I can barely spell "pathophysiology", I better put some time in with the actual material.
And oh yeah, today my 6 year old muttered something along the lines of, "Daddy thinks you have a lot of junk". So I probably at this point don't need to add too much more to my collection of wooden farmy treasures.
I do need to go to Junque soon, so I hope to bring my camera for my version of Reegan and his treasures.

One more thing...

... before I leave for vacation.

I need your help while I am gone! I still need the letters T, I, and Y for my costume jewelry alphabet. Also I'd like a better L, E, and S because mine are rather small. Remember, all pieces must come from a yardsale, thrift shop, or from your own collection, thereby circumventing the yardsale process. I swear, if you buy a letter at retail I will reject your gift of love and we will both feel very sad about it!

Whoever finds these letters and gives them to me wins an entire paragraph of praise on the YSA blog!

Good luck!

South Roxana - Nancy [My mom requested we attribute each post in the title so she doesn't have to scroll down to see who wrote it.]

Bad news, Readers.

I am going on two vacations back-to-back. A quick look at the calendar caused my heart to sink; I will miss three complete pairs of Friday/Saturday yardsales while I am gone. Can any of us go that long without hearing of my wacky shopping adventures? Laura is going to have to step it up, carry the torch, and put her nose to the grindstone to keep all 26 of you followers intellectually satisfied.

As a last hurrah, I scoured Craig's list and found a Thursday sale worth the drive. Three kids and I drove north to South Roxana, IL.

If you have never been to South Roxana, which I am sure you have not, you would be surprised at the ratio of factories to humans - approximately 43:1.

Now, Readers, I gave my YSA card to the daughter of the proprietess of the sale I went to, so we are bound to get at least one South Roxanan reader today. Therefore, I will try to phrase my descriptions in the kindest ways possible. I should have warned her that half the fun of the YSA blog is joking about yardsales and making fun of myself and my weird yardsale habit. We don't need another Crock-Lady's-Daughter, ifyouknowwhatImean.

Having said that, I will report that South Roxana was quiet and gentle. I only saw one car up on blocks. Most of the ramshackle garages had complete tin roofs without any apparent gaping holes. The factories were probably not spewing nuclear waste. The yardsale on Ohio St. was, by far, the best thing happening in town today.

The quality and quantity of this sale blew me away. It was in a giant three car garage/barn tucked behind a normal, unassuming house. Was the garage was bigger then the house? Quite possibly.

This sale was better than most thrift shops. It was dense and well-displayed. The merchandise spanned history: from 1800s farm tools to blackberries picked just last night. Some stuff was silly, some collectible, some practical, some junk. Could this have been the "perfect sale"? You decide.

This was one of 3 displays of colored glass tableware. She had more green than anything else but a healthy portion of red glass as well.

This collection of pool memorabilia drew me in. Clocks, cues, balls, art, even multiple Magic Eight Balls. (It was "not in the cards" that I buy one.) We have a decent pool table in our basement which gets a fair amount of play time. Not surprisingly, given the quantity of preteen boys in my life, we break pool cues frequently. I bought two new cues and a floor rack to keep them vertical. Perhaps I will paint "Pool Cues are not Swords" on the side?

Not wanting to let the golfing YSA followers feel left out, here are some golf balls:

I think they are walnuts, painted white.

The display of antique tools was beautiful. And any tool collector worth a darn would have started to salivate at the sight.

The tool wall was twenty feet high and included sections for both vintage sleds and roller skates.

There were even TWO of these contraptions: mechanical bottle openers. I bought two of the vintage bottle caps, previously removed, for my collection.

I thought of Laura when I saw this thing. Is it a scooter/stool combo? I don't know for sure.

All she would need to know is that it is old and wooden and she would do one of these fancy tricks:

Truth be told, I feel the same way about old, metal storage, like this basket I bought today for $3:

Or these metal lockers which were not technically "for sale", but, as I often say, everything has a price.

By now you are planning your weekend around this sale in South Roxana. You have cancelled your Saturday plans (there will be other family reunions) and rescheduled your pedicure (trust me, the South Roxanans will not mind if your feet look less than perfect.) But I have to be truthful here, there was a large amount of knick-knackery at this sale. Statues, tiny houses, porcelain bells, and I don't know what-all. If these things float your boat then you should get up off your duff right now and speed up I-255 to exit #5 because this sale is the one you have been yearning for.

They had furniture too. Some of it was the usual honey-oak side table variety. I saw a few antique sewing machine cabinets. There was a black-lacquered, mirrored, lighted headboard unit from 1982. But below is the furniture that gave me pause. It came with 8 chairs and a leaf to make the extra wide table even longer.

You know generations of South Roxanans have played poker around this gem. Seriously, if I go back and buy this set I could put it in the basement as the official game table. We could have a party for all of our YSA followers! We would have to dress in 1960s costume! Uh-oh! Here goes Laura again!

(heh heh heh.)

Finally, with a wink to today's proprietress, a moxie granny who somehow has kept her husband's whites gleaming brightly after all these years, I offer our readership this photo:

Thank you Ohio Street in South Roxana! I desperately needed a sale today and yours was worth the drive. Readers, add this one to your itinerary this weekend. You won't be disappointed.

If you do go to South Roxana, buy me that table and chairs and I'll pay you back!

Nancy

Dead end turnaround

It was my turn to drive. Samantha was child-free, and both Nancy and I brought along one darling each. Here they are being frugal (10 animals for $1!) and selfless (they were picking items for their brothers). Aren't they adorable? Notice how Jo is wearing yellow for Hudson? It is his favorite color. What a sweetheart.

Hudson snapped this fabulous picture of a large collection of Zumba VHS tapes, which caused Samantha (ever observant) to wonder, "Has Zumba been out long enough to be on VHS?" To which, Samantha, I would have said no had I not had the evidence staring at me in the face.

Here is a lovely couple selling their wedding centerpieces, which led to a conversation in the sweet Odyessy later of what Nancy's, Samantha's, and my centerpieces were. Mine were not as nice as these proprieters', I can tell you.

I mean, really. Could Jo be any more of a ray of sunshine or Hudson any cuter?

Here is my food dehydrator that I bought for a buck a few weeks ago. I successfully made the below blueberry/raspberry fruit leather/roll-up, but due to the fact I neglected to remove the seeds, I am the only one eating it. It is now in Samantha's house.

The title of the post needs some explaining. See, I am a terrible map reader/orienteer. I sucked at being a Girl Scout, too. My dear husband is most excellent at this complex skill and can get a teensy bit upset with me when my navigational skills leave something to be desired. Readers, I have been afflicted with this challenging compass deficit my entire life, and I have devised coping skills. For example, I have learned to completely disregard the compass and directional statuses, along with silly non-helpful commands like, "Go north for 3 blocks and turn west." Rubbish. Everyone knows directions are totally arbirtary based on various criteria like a. how straight your street is, 2. if it feels like north, it probably is, 3. it seems vaguely familiar, and 4. if there is a detour. Then all bets are off. Anyway, I use street names and heaps of advice of friends who have lived here longer than me to get around. Also, (and here I am getting to the point of this too-long paragraph, I promise), I don't go into dead ends. If I see one, I turn around! Works every time. Allow me to explain: there is this curvy road near my house that is a kinda sorta short cut to a main road. When I asked my friend Sara about this road, she said I would have to have someone show me, because it is (really) curvy and confusing. I mean, entirely too confusing and circuitous. It is as if the road engineer spun himself around and around and around till he was really dizzy, closed his eyes, and drew a road. That would be this road. Also, there are lots of dead ends. But here is how I, self-described idiot of the navigational world, find my way every time through that miserable morass and queasy quagmire: every time I see a dead end, I go the other way! Perfection!

I hope I don't have to drive next. Actually, I am solo next weekend because both Samantha and Nancy have decided summertime is THE time to take family vacations, so they are gone. Nancy has promised us though, that she will check out the yard sales in her vacation hot spot, and let's hope Samantha will, too!

I love that Zac Ephron!

Oh.

It was a good day.

There were sales aplenty. The proprietors were enthusiastic. And so were we.

Laura was out of the driveway before Jo and I made it down the block this morning. We rushed over to Country Club where Samantha was ready and waiting.

First stop: 81st street.

They were still setting up so we were the first salers to see this excellent black trunk, this sign, and these green pots. Big score for me:

Lickety-split, we were on to the next sale where we found this gorgeous stained glass window:

I paid the asking price of 50 dollars because I thought it was fair. I think I'll hang it on my porch -- or maybe sell it for double what I paid!

We found a yardsale with a collection of Playboy merchandise: shower curtain, lamp shades, and whatnot. It was a real treat.

The next sale offered the actual magazines. Take the whole box off her hands for $5! They belong to her 28 year old son. She checked the dates to make sure he had bought them legally. They were only from 2008. It was all legal porn-viewing and article-reading. I had the pleasure of explaining the "Playboy" concept to my 8 year old daughter.

Not wanting to make the ladies feel left out, here is a life-size model of Zac Ephron:

Ten bucks was too pricey for me, although I desperately wanted to take him home. Seriously. Don't we look sort of cute together? Suck it, Vanessa!

We found this curious and compelling collection of wooden totems. I bought only one but feel as if I missed some sort of cosmic opportunity -- surely all of these icons have magical properties!?

Then, as you can see, we found a tribute sale... a tribute to the Little People of this great country!

If we all had Midget Pride the world would be a better place!

We were an efficient shopping machine today. We ate when we needed to eat, peed when we needed to pee, bought what we needed to buy. We have yardsaling down to a science!

The lingering question:

How do we turn yardsaling and the yardsalingadventures blog into a money making endeavor?

Tune in next week!