Just about every summer my GeeGee would paint the cement floor of her back patio. It was always this glossy battleship grey. We kids loved it because when it was wet it was damn near a slip-n-slide – are those things even around anymore? There’s also a great family story about my Grumps once painting a car – with a brush and leftover house paint. Therefore, when I claim that I come from a long line of DIY painters, I’ve got legit street creds. Back in college, furniture rehab was a necessity. … [Read more...]
Can You Judge a Gal By Her Pyrex?
Imagine if you will, a standing freezer, an appliance you’ve coveted for years but just couldn’t afford. Now envision your glee when a used, yet still well-functioning, keeper of all things frozen comes available at a neighbor’s garage sale. Score! Majorly awesome find for just $30. The only catch is that the contents are being donated to the local church for a Sunday school project and you will need to wait until the volunteer parishioners come to clean out said freezer in the next week. Seems … [Read more...]
What Would Mae Say?
I’m a picker. I love to scavenge through flea markets, estate sales, and yes, even other people's trash, looking for cast-off treasures. I come by it quite naturally via my Irish nana who never passed by a thrift store without first stopping in to peruse the bins, shelves, and dusty corners looking for items that deserved a second chance. I recently did my nana proud when I found this gem tucked away in a pile of forgotten photographs for sale at the annual Luckett's Spring Market: Added … [Read more...]
One Gal’s Trash
My mama raised me right. In our house, nothing ever went to waste. Leftover bacon grease was saved in a can on the kitchen counter. Aluminum foil was reused until it disintegrated. My lil’ brother and I often joke that Mom can spot the sales rack in a store faster than green grass through a goose (I cleaned that one up a bit for you Mom). But it’s not just good common sense instilled from Mom. My thriftiness can be traced to all sides of my gene pool. A couple of years ago my Dad introduced … [Read more...]
Stray Dogs and Ugly Pumpkins
I love Fall. Cooler weather, colorful leaves, and the first fire in the fireplace all make me happy. One of my favorite fall rituals: local harvest festivals. I’m a sucker for bales of hay, tractor rides, and apple cider. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Florida where there are only two seasons: tourist and hurricane. At a local fall festival last weekend I was searching through the pumpkin patch, looking for the ugliest pumpkin I could find. My gal pal Kathi laughed at this – “Why the … [Read more...]
Whoa…. I Just Said What?!
As it’s the end of the year, I’ve been reflecting a bit on the happenings in my life across 2012. Overall, from my vantage point up here in the middle-aged cheap seats, it was a pretty good year. We did lose too many good friends as they left this world to move on to their next adventures. Reaching the mid-life marker seems to bring with it the reality that some of us leave this world too soon. 2012 also seemed to bring many opportunities for me to do or say things that I never thought I would … [Read more...]
Secrets of an Estate Sale Junkie
“Hello, my name is Kim, and I am an Estate Sale Junkie.” “Hello Kim!” I wasn’t always an ESJ. I started with what seemed to be relatively harmless excursions: thrift store perusing, perhaps the random yard or garage sale were as far as I explored. It all changed when, about a year ago, my Dad introduced me to the intriguing underworld known as the estate sale network. I’ve now come to understand that estate sales are different from the standard garage sale. A garage or yard sale is usually … [Read more...]