Love Those Yard Sales!

I was up before dawn again today, determined to get to as many yard sales as I could. Before I got to the first one, the sky opened up and it started pouring rain, but I kept going. I know from experience that you can find some of the best things on a rainy day, because a lot of yard-salers won't go out in the rain.

The best find today was a 1940's coffee table, gorgeous two-tone wood, made by the Lane furniture company. The coffee table is perfect for the cottage because it's not too fussy, just beautiful details in the smooth wood table-top. And the price.... just ten dollars, for goodness sake. The girl who was selling it told me it belonged to her husband's mother, which I didn't doubt. Finding a 1940's anything in such good condition is a rare find.

I also bought a mirror, new in design and sort of modern, but plain enough to use in either our bedroom or the guest room. Ten dollars for that also, but it's a fairly large mirror and will be perfect for over a dresser.

At the last sale I went to (on my own street.... a surprise when I got home.... my neighbor must have started her sale after the rain quit).... I found a four-drawer desk. Maple in color, and a nice sturdy desk which can be used for Miss C's cabin. I thought we'd put it in the reading room, but my husband pointed out that it's a little on the small size, which it is. But it's perfect for C, and she's already staked a claim on it..... she and her dad stopped over here on their way home from yard sales, so I showed it to her. That child is jumping up and down over every little thing, I swear. The last time I've seen her this excited is when we took her downtown to see "The Nutcracker" ballet last Christmas. (And even then, she wasn't jumping up and down like she is now.)

I also found some lighthouses at my neighbor's yard sale.... made of porcelain, and each one has a picture frame built into the porcelain design, and the lighthouse itself holds a votive candle. There were two of them, both in black & white porcelain, so I bought both. When I got home, I put a picture of Gary's mom in one of them, and a picture of Frankie in the other one. They will look great in the living room of the cottage.... which is where we'll hang the lighthouse tapestry that my husband found at last week's sales.

When Miss C was here this morning, she peeked into my sitting room to see what I had packed for Mayberry. She couldn't believe her eyes.... not only at the amount of boxes and furniture in here, but just for the mere fact that my sitting room wasn't "as neat and tidy" as it usually is. I think that child was actually proud of me for being able to have such a cluttered room for a change. I told her the cluttered state-of-affairs in this room won't last too much longer.

At an estate sale today, I found a very pretty painted dresser. It had originally been bird's-eye maple, but the owner painted it beige and antiqued it with tiny flowers. A nice paint job, but once you paint antique furniture, you take away its value. The lady wanted $150 for it, then she went down to $100..... the highest I wanted to pay was $50, so I walked away from it. It would've been great in the guest room, but I can buy brand new wicker for less than the price she wanted for that dresser. And with all the yard sales around, I'm bound to find something for less money.

I think all the packing and piles of boxes in my sitting room is starting to get to AngelBoy. That cat doesn't like when things are moved around in the house, and believe me, he notices every little thing. For the past two days now, AngelBoy has been walking around the house with his favorite red ribbon in his mouth, meowing all the way, looking for attention. Yesterday while I was doing laundry, my husband came and got me, asking me to go to AngelBoy because he wouldn't stop meowing. I found AngelBoy underneath a chair in the living room, the red ribbon right in front of him, meowing for all he was worth.

That red ribbon is his security blanket, I think. He's been playing with that same ribbon since he was a baby. Just a red-and-white-checked ribbon that's tied into a bow.... it used to be on one of our Christmas trees..... AngelBoy plucked it off the tree and he's been carrying it around the house ever since. I keep telling AngelBoy that we're not moving, that everything is okay, that the sitting room will be cleared out as soon as possible. I don't think he believes me. Poor cat.... he's such a sweet, prissy little thing.