Saturday, November 12, 2011

Some days are just some days...

Yesterday, was a holiday and for some strange reason I felt the need to search for a treasure amongst the so-called trash; an odd statement, hmm?
For some reason Hubby and I do enjoy the PBS program Antiques Roadshow, and watch it often.
We think it is amazing what we think about an item and then they mention its worth and we are on occasion baffled by that!
Since some of the ugliest things are worth a fortune and other items are of little or no value.
It truly does prove that, beauty can be in the eye of the beholder.
I did have the advantage of taking history of art and going to Europe as part of my education program and there and in NYC I had the privilege of being able to visit museums all over the world and here in the United States from my travels.
And I did have a few semesters of interior design, which in thought of appreciation of things of value would have been somewhat ingrained in me.
Not to mention that I had worked at an upper class store called Lord & Taylor’s for a few years.
I have been to Harrods’s in London, Bergdorf’s and Bonwit Tellers too those two were on Fifth Avenue in NYC, within in blocks from my school.
Designer’s were also being taught in my school, and I even bought Yves St. Laurent towels from Lord & Taylor’s as a newlywed from work with my 20% discount, not to mention all my clothes then.
So in other words I have not been living under a rock when it comes to these things, although that I must admit was in another lifetime, years ago!
But we all know some things stick with you… as a Mom I would shop the outlets so our family still dressed well at a good price, and I was the thrift store lady before it became fashionable to be…I even wrote about the ones here locally not that long ago as an editorial comment for the local newspaper…
So realistically why wouldn’t I be up on that sort of thing?
That brings me back to our mini treasure hunt yesterday, and we even stopped at the bank for a few bucks of cash, that is our bank's drive thru ATM.
And so Hubby drove to the Habitat for Humanity store on rte.#776 here, and we looked and searched and for a second I thought I saw a nine piece set of Fiesta ware for a cool $15.95, but alas none of the pieces were marked and so I moved on to the practical.
Hubby takes his shoes off at the back door which are often grass in-coated and so I do appreciate the effort in not dragging it throughout the house, but there is always quite a bit left under them even when he stomps them off on our fishy mat by the door, it has pictures of fish, it is not mysterious, HA!
Any-who, and so when I saw a plastic nautical tray marked $1.99 I thought it would work as a catchall for the grassy shoes and I picked it up.
But Hubby nixed it he thought it was not strong enough and he felt he wouldn’t use it anyway… he packed me and my scooter back into the car and we moved on to our next stop, The Goodwill Store…
I have donated to them from left over items that did not sell at garage sales and they are most appreciative, and on occasion I have shopped there too when something jumped out at me that I needed or liked at those bargain prices and it helps people too, just like Habitat does, and I am not ashamed to do it. Let’s face it in this economy it is Chic to be frugal, and a deal’s a deal.
Hubby and I must have circled the store quite a few times, my search was for those elusive interesting coat-hooks that I mentioned here weeks ago and a glass jar of a decent size with a glass lid to turn into a terrarium that I once had way back in the 1970’s, they are back!
And oddly enough with me not going out so much anymore it would be nice to bring some of the outside in to me, hmm?
No luck with either item but I did see under some other stuff a wooden hand-painted tray that was white with purple grape-like flowers and greenery in the base of it, the handles were carved into the sides, small, less than a foot long and about six inches in width.
Just the right size for the top of a dresser, coffee table or an end table, where I did try it in each location when we brought it home… but finally I settled it by placing it on the small dresser in the guest room where it look as if it belonged.
In the store it had a red sticker on it that said it was only a quarter and so I got on line and Hubby who only had a twenty on him from the machine said he had a quarter in the car and some pennies for the tax, so I thought…but when I got up to the register the price on the front was incorrect, according to the cashier.
It was actually, $1.99 and so Hubby handed her the twenty since he didn’t have anything smaller and she said she couldn’t make change and that she needed fives!
Uh oh, but she did say oddly enough that they did accept credit cards, even for that small amount, well, we gave her ours and the rest is history!
The little tray had some chips in the white paint and at one point I considered painting over the grapes but they grew on me, ha! Today I checked online and most of that kind are worth anywhere from $25 on up!
In the end I just touched up the white chips with my white paint in my crafts draw, which oddly enough was a perfect match!

And so some days are some days, simple and not that exciting, but what you might make of them to be more so for you…huh?

You know what I mean… and now allow me to be the first to wish you a very happy good night and ask you to count all your blessings and to share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

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