Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy

Here it is on a Saturday night and I'm being all happy about going grocery shopping in a few days. How sick is that? Man, I remember a time when on a Saturday night my friends and I would be discussing on our landline (of course) phone which nightclubs we would be hitting later that evening. Now in 2009, I want to get my coupons organized.

Our Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery store is tripling coupons (up to .99) until Wednesday so I gotta get prepared. Will report back my bargains.

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I heard from Leslie, the Zhu Zhu Pet contest winner and she received her Zhu Zhu the other day. She even blogged about winning - see her blog at Sandfordy She does the same thing as I do - I check the expiration date on EVERYTHING I buy while grocery shopping in order to get the freshest foods. Ok, so canned veggies aren't exactly fresh but I would rather buy the cans (for instance) that expire 11/2012 than the ones that expire 10/2012. That is one of the reasons why grocery shopping takes me so long.
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I went yardsaling today and it wasn't too bad, considering it's November. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful either. Will post my buys later sometime.

Cramping my Shopping Style

Dh needs to burn up some vacation before the end of the year so he took yesterday off. So....I didn't go to Smile. Having DH home, kinda puts a damper on my out of control shopping/acquiring/collecting. Instead we did some other shopping together and did lunch etc. And today he took half a day off so I just did a quick run to Smile (bought some vintage Maryland magazines for .25 each).

But I guess my real bargain today was at Walgreens. I had heard that this there is a good deal going on with Almay cosmetics but was skeptical it would work. But it did. Bought an Almay foundation and an Almay mascara - Mascara rang up as half priced. So before taxes I paid $13.48 for both. BUT I got $15 back in Register Rewards. I also bought two Arizona Teas for .99 (for DH, cuz he likes them. I think iced tea is gross).

I cleaned up my desk area today and found my Hit Clips (all bought at a yardsale of course). Here's a pic just to make you all jealous. Who needs an Ipod? I got my Hit Clips! Note to self: search the stores for an Orianthi Hit Clip.



And here is a fuzzy little caterpillar guy I found this morning out on our deck. Growing up, I always remember seeing tons of caterpillars. I rarely see them anymore. I moved him to a safer location.

Yardsale Fate or Karma or whatever you call it

I just love yardsale karma, or fate or whatever you call it. I swear some days, I should just stay home and "shop" at my own house and see what I can find.

The other day I was looking high up in my cupboard and spotted this Jungle Book plastic glass that I forgot I bought years and years ago. It was one of 8 glasses put out by Burger King in 1994. The other glasses in the series depict Snow White, Pinocchio, Aladdin etc. I remember being at a yard sale and this other woman and I were looking at the various glasses that the seller had but nothing was marked. When the seller said they were .25 each, the other woman started taking a bunch and I just managed to get the one Jungle Book one, where it has sat in my cupboard for the past decade or so.

So get this - Jacob's *new* favorite movie is The Jungle Book. He watches it over and over and replays his favorite scenes. (Personally, I have never watched the entire thing).

I just find it very cool about yard sale fate - that years before my son was born, I manage to get the ONE glass from that yardsale seller that he would LOVE. And stranger still is that I actually found it while he can still enjoy it, rather than waiting until he outgrew his Junglebook phase and then finding it.

It's gonna be wrapped up for Christmas.

Boo! (hoo) - no yardsales for me

Didn't go to any yardsales yesterday. I got up early anyway and got caught up on my Oprah watching. I still have to watch Friday's Regis & Kelly. Their Halloween shows are a favorite of mine (although I am a Halloween scrooge in real life). We then went to the Family Day at the Nuke Plant. After I had Jacob in 2000, I remember going back to my old job and showing him off, having lunch with friends in the cafeteria etc. But since 9/11 they definitely made it more difficult to drop in for a visit.

So yesterday was my first time back in the buildings in 9 years. Some things are different but some things exactly the same. Above is one of the hallways in the office area near where I worked. No pics were allowed in the secured area - so no pics of me hugging the containment (the big concrete buildings where all the magic happens). But a family photo was taken at the event, so I may add it later, depending if it's up to the Queen's standards or not. There was also pumpkin decorating and snacks and treats for the kids.
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I passed this house the other day - and saw what looked like the entire contents tossed out on the driveway. If the people knew they were getting evicted, why didn't they try to make some money by having a yard sale rather than having it all thrown out like that? The pic was taken while driving so its not great (and doesn't show the entire contents). I didn't stop. Had there been other people snooping around it, I probably would have. But it didn't look like anyone was around.

Thrift Store buys from this week

The above pic is the stuff I bought yesterday. Sweat pants for Jacob $1.50, Tiffany tray $2, bag of thread on wooden spools $1, baggy of 4 matchboxes .25, Starbucks mug .50, Wits End sign .50

When I was around 12 or 13 I started collecting matchbooks. That was back in the good ole days when restaurants and weddings used to give out matchbooks. Weddings?? If you don't remember that - a lot of wedding couples would have personalized matchbooks. Some matchbooks had a line where the bride would write on them for the guests to use as a place card. (It was mostly the high class weddings had personalized matchbooks, and the super high class weddings not only had personalized matchbooks, but a polka band as the entertainment. I will have to show you my wedding matches someday. Jersey Polka Richie rocks!)

So needless to say, I have tons of matchbooks. New advertising type matchbooks are pretty hard to come by since businesses just don't do that anymore. So even tho I don't necessarily collect matchBOXES, I bought them since they were only .25 for 4 (and a couple were advertising ones)

My collection is just stored in various (and numerous) shoe boxes. Back in 1990 when my DH started work at the nuke plant, the company paid professional movers to pack us up in Charleston SC to move to Maryland. When the movers were packing up my kitchen junk drawer, they got my attention told me I had to remove the 2 or 3 matchbooks I had kept in the kitchen to use to light candles etc, since they couldn't move them.

I remember thinking "I hope they don't start looking in those shoeboxes!". And they didn't. Oye. Thankfully, nothing bad happened.



And on Wednesday I found a bunch of vintage postcards at one of my other thrifts. They were .25 each - including the booklets of postcards. Some of the postcards include Marineland, University of West Virginia, St. Augustine Florida, Story Book Land in PA

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I am feeling stuffed. Pigged out totally at Cheeseburger in Paradise I'm on their email list and got an invitation to go to tonight to sample their new menu (free of charge). They just kept bringing out food and drinks, and more food, more drinks. Jacob mainly only eats chicken strips when we eat out in restaurants so we asked to start a tab for that and they covered that too.

My Alli diet has got to start soon.

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Went to Smile today and bought a Starbucks Washington DC Cherry Blossom mug for .50, baggy full of thread on wooden spools $1, a ceramic sign with an arrow on it that says "The Wit's End", a small Tiffany tray in Tiffany felt bag for $2

Hoarders TV Show

A few months ago I mentioned a new show on A&E called Hoarders. Hoarders Website

Out of the blue, they sent me an email the other day. Their new season is starting at the end of November and they wanted to know if I knew of any yardsale people who have turned their collections into hoarding. They are particularly looking for yardsale people on the younger side (like 20's, 30's) but I think they would probably be interested in hearing from all ages.

Hoarders Submission Form
Hoarders Main Page

I would so do it if I thought I had a problem with hoarding. But I don't. I swear. So what that I have several tubes of Super Poligrip and a ton of cat treats in my house. And I don't need either. But they were free, so how can I turn it down???? And that my son is 9 years old and I still have 99% of the clothes he has worn from birth til now. That's normal, right? Just say yes.

Perpetuating a Yardsale Myth

In yesterday's Parade magazine, there was an article about shopping, read the full article here

But what caught my eye was this:

Not a fan of this shopping expert Dr. Donald W. Black. I'm a compulsive shopping expert too (I have years and years of hands on experience) and I say that people with many resources quench their shopping addictions at garage sales too. The article is trying to perpetuate the myth that only poor people go yardsaling. While I acknowledge that a certain percentage of yardsale shoppers have few resources (that must be the politically correct way of saying "poor"), I would bet that many yardsale shoppers have mega resources BECAUSE they shop garage sale and aren't spending big bucks at the mall all the time.

Boo at the Zoo Review (National Zoo, Washington DC)

Last night we went to the Boo at the Zoo event at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC. I won 4 tickets thru a contest that was in the newspaper, and the tickets also came with a parking pass which was good. The price of the tickets was $25 each. Kid tickets were also $25. Personally, I would never have paid $75 for our family to go trick or treating. (I told them to keep the 4th ticket since we only needed 3). We have a local trick or treat event sponsored by numerous businesses that is affiliated with the Smithsonian - Annmarie Garden and that only costs $1 a person. Granted, the treats aren't as good, but it's a fun, cheap event. So I figured this Boo at the Zoo would be a once in a lifetime event and we would get tons of *good* treats.

And the drive into DC is half the fun (or stress). I just wonder how many speeding tickets we are going to get in the mail now. That has happened before when we drove to DC. Surprise, you get a ticket in the mail showing a picture of your license plate and vehicle taken by a speed camera.

Got to see lots of monuments along the way (pics aren't too great, all taken from a moving vehicle using my cell camera).


Jefferson Memorial. We tried to stop here afterward. But DH overshot the parking and we looped around and missed it. I was there eons ago once at nighttime back in my single days, and its just gorgeous at night.


Washington Monument


Driving underneath the overhang thing at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts



The infamous Watergate Hotel



Big turtles at the National Zoo (they had some animals available for viewing, but not all).



Boo at the Zoo



Our stuffed loot bags



And our loot. It was split about half and half. Half junk food and half healthy organic stuff. And this of course doesn't show the Turkey Hill ice cream cups we ate while there, the Ice Age popsicles, and Krispy Kreme donuts. Click on the pic to enlarge it. Hard to see everyhing, but in that mix is 3 bars of some goat milk soap, boxes of rice, 7th Generation cleaning samples, etc etc. It was a fun event - but like I said, probaby just a one time event for us, unless I win tickets again.

I have good news, and I have bad news.

First, the bad news. The bad news is that math skills have never been that great. (I get easily confused with helping Jacob with his 4th grade math homework). Yesterday when I had my official proclamation that it was my 10 year anniversary, I was off by a little. 365 days to be exact. I recently had to pay the annual domain name registration and I saw that the creation date was 24-Oct-2000. And now the expiration date is Oct. 2010. So.....that is how I came up with yesterday as being my 10 year anniversary. Doh!

So now the good news is....now you have a whole year to plan what you plan on giving me in celebration of my 10 year anniversary in 2010. The queen likes jewels. And small bills, you know the kind with Benjamin Franklin's picture on it. Just a few ideas, for starters.
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Will be posting again soon. Gonna give my Review of the Boo at the Zoo.

Thank you Lord for Nuclear Power

"And Lord, we are especially thankful for nuclear power, the cleanest, safest energy source there is. Except for solar, which is just a pipe dream." - Homer Simpson

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know we love us some nuclear power here at the castle. Last evening we attended a picnic for the best darn nuke plant there is here in Maryland. Best part? unlimited spicy shrimp and no kids allowed. (For those taking notes, I still haven't started my Alli diet.)

And I'm proud to say I am no longer a rock wall virgin. I tried rock wall climbing for the first time yesterday. The queen needs practice. Maybe I should plan another Royal Caribbean cruise (a ship with a rock wall of course to get some practice. Last fall when I went on a cruise, the seas were too rocky so the rock wall remained closed). Or maybe I should just start off by practicing on the new kiddie rockwall at Jacob's school.

All the Maryland crabs you wanted. They even had a politically correct Non-Seafood tent area, so those who were allergic - or perhaps just wanted to eat your hamburgers/hotdogs/sausages on a clean table, there was space.

Besides the rock wall, there was a mechanical bull (no didn't try it), faux casino style games (and everyone got a faux $25K to play with), remote control cars, volleyball, DJ and door prizes galore (only employees could win, not spouses). DH won a $50 GC to a local grocery store. The last time they had a picnic like this, you were given a limited # of drink coupons good for either a beer or glass of wine. This time they only offered beer. (and unlimited soda & water). No wine this time. Whine - I wonder who I need to contact to complain about that injustice. Just kidding. As a diet soda addict, unlimited free diet pepsi ranks pretty high in my book.





Above: Maryland crabs getting ready to hit the tables
Below: Part of my dinner. Eating Maryland style is messy. (That is cocktail sauce - not ketchup. Although I do think ketchup goes with practically everything).


Rock wall on the left.



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Today is pretty grey, cloudy. Just went to one yardsale. I spent $2 on a new reed diffuser scent thing - its a huge bottle - scent: Wisteria.

10 Year Yardsalequeen Anniversary

Big congrats to me. Ten years ago today, I purchased the domain name "yardsalequeen.com". But that wasn't the beginning - my website roots date back to 1997 when my little garage sale tips homepage was being hosted first by free homepage making sites angelfire and then by Geocities (For the heck of it, I just went to geocities and see that they are shutting down in two days!) Funny how the word "homepage" isn't used anymore. And back in 1997, is when I first started a message board. I can still remember my DH telling me, "you know you may even get strangers visiting it". (As opposed to just people I know in real life).

Then after getting the yardsalequeen.com domain, I figured why not also get garagesalequeen.com but someone else had it already. Bummer. But they weren't really using it, so every few months I would check to see if it became available and then one day out of the blue, it was.

well...its Saturday morning....so that means I got places I gotta go now!

Assroted Winter Wear at my Walgreens

Well let's catch up for the past few days. I had a good dental visit - no probs. I went to some thrift stores (as usual). I passed on buying Assroted Winter Wear at Walgreens.

I won free tickets to an event called Boo at the Zoo - $25/ticket trick or treating event at the National Zoo in DC. For that price, I think they are going to being giving out *nice* free samples and stuff. So if the weather is nice, I'm gonna force DH to drive us to DC (the free tickets also came with a parking pass) this weekend. I don't like driving to DC, I mean, I've done it before, but avoid it if I can.

Speaking of assroted winter wear, I did buy a coat at Smile today. Too small for me, but I had to buy it (for ebay). I just loved the labels on it (at the neckline it said "wear in good health" and the other inside label said this:



Health to wear this -
strength to tear this -
and wealth to buy a new one

Hopefully, when I put it on ebay, it will increase my wealth. I paid $4 for it.

Nothing much going on really. I need to get more ebay stuff listed.

It's ain't easy being Queen

As yardsalequeen, not only do I have to deal with regular spam, I get other emails that are intended for others - for people who have a very similar yardsalequeen related email address. But they goof it up and use MY address as their own, or else they think they know someone's email address but instead put mine. And then there are people so out of it that they think my address is theirs and they don't even know their own correct email.

Examples:

Today I got a Southwest ticket confirmation sent to my yardsalequeen hotmail address - apparently for Nancy B. who is flying from Nashville to Jacksonville on December 3 and returning on December 6. She paid $202.70 and put it on her Visa. Maybe I should do the ticketless check-in for her when the time is ready.

A person named Lori from Lincoln County High School in Nebraska signed up on Classmates.com and used my yardsalequeen address. So now I get updates from Classmates regarding the goings-on at Lincoln High School. That reminds me, I need to update Lori's profile there again and let people know her latest adventures.

I got an invitation from evite.com to attend Debbie and Ron's 30th Anniversary Party in Eugene, Oregon. I don't know Debbie and Ron in Eugene, Oregon (or whatever it was). On the Evite.com site you get to say whether you are a "yes" "no" or "maybe". I put myself as a "maybe" since I said I was ready for a roadtrip and liked free food. Shortly afterward they rescinded my invitation (those party poopers!)

Wendy in Murfreesboro, Tennessee sent me this pic (along with several others) of her and her new boyfriend since she thought I would be interested in seeing him. I replied back "WHO are you???" She told me to disregard. And shame on Wendy for using her work email for non-work related purposes!!!!



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It rained all weekend. I went to one rain or shine yardsale yesterday and spent $5. Got: 2 shirts for me, a set of 6 decorative shotglasses, a Weight Watchers scale (ebay), a metal thing for outside that moves in the wind (NOT a windchime. windchimes = noise pollution) and a commemorative local coin from 1984.

Congrats to Zhu Zhu Pet Winner

Thanks to all who entered out of the 39 entries (I deleted the last entry since it was submitted after October 17), it was Leslie in Idaho whose number got chosen. She has already responded back, and was thrilled since she says she never wins anything.

My Gas Bargain from Yesterday $1.13 gallon

I forgot to mention that yesterday I bought gas for $1.13 a gallon. My grocery store has a deal that for every $100 you spend, you get .20 off per gallon of gas. I got a $1.20 discount off my gas $2.34 - $1.20 = $1.13 gallon. Normally a person would have had to spend $600 in groceries over the past 30 days to get that discount.

But last week they had a special that if you bought 4 items from participating brands - you got a bonus .20 discount off gas. So I stocked up on Old El Paso taco and chili seasonings at $1 each and that's how I got the huge gas discount.

And since we eat tacos and chili pretty often, it won't go to waste.

I could have gotten the gas cheaper if I bought it last week (since gas was down to $2.29 but now its at $2.34). But I didn't need gas last week so I waited until the gas tank was empty to fill-up. One cashier told me that she talked to another customer who had enough discounts last week to buy gas at .09 a gallon!

Surprise surprise - I went thrifting today

DH gets back from his Vegas mancation later tonight. And surprise, I continued to do some shopping today.

I went back to Penney's to get more of the underwear that I bought on Monday (I bought 3 pair for $1.27 each.) I wanted to make sure I had the right size and make sure I liked them before I bought more. Well they were all gone. You snooze, you lose. And I lost. On Monday, I should have bought some, then taken them into the ladie's room to try to them on to make sure I liked them. Then I could have gone back and stocked up that day. Oh well. I didn't buy anything there today. Just goes to show you, timing is everything when you find a bargain.

Near the Penney's is a very small independent grocery store so I stopped in since I saw a big "one day meat sale" sign. Didn't buy any meat. But I did buy this:



This reminds me of my childhood - while growing up, I used to eat this all time. Just spread on a Ritz crackers and enjoy. My regular big chain grocery stores don't sell this. It was $2.89 for 5 oz. But of course, you get a free drinking glass :) As a kid, that is what we used - either these little glasses or else it was a Welch's grape jelly "Archie's" glass.

I think I am going to just make my own version - I think I can just take some cream cheese, sugar, salt and some pineapple and blend it all together using my $8 KitchenAid mixer.



And some of the other stuff I bought today:

$5 old printer's wall decoration/display thing
$2 Marilyn Monroe paper dolls
.25 Jungle Book (Jacob is into this movie lately)
.50 Registered Nut House sign
$1 each - tacky vintage potholder decoration dolls. Totally useless since the potholders are so loosely knitted that if you used them, you would burn your hand on whatever you are holding
$1 Art S. Buck nude male artist model (this should sell well on ebay)
.25 small Bath & Body works container (will gift it this Xmas season - I have some travel B&BW products that I received free so I can put them in it)
.25 vintage tablecloth package
$1 Nautica tie for DH.
.25 Mr. Rogers talks about divorce book
.25 each Martha Stewart Food Magazines
.25 Adorn magazine
$1.50 Ipod Nano metal case. I think this will fit DH's nano.

Win free Zhu Zhu Pet contest ending soon

Just a reminder that my blog contest to win a Zhu Zhu Pet ends in a few days (10/17/09). Read the details here

Also a reminder - that once I get the winner's details, I will send that info to the Zhu Zhu media person who is handling Zhu Zhu Pet bloggy winners. I have no idea how fast or slow the prize will be sent. And there is no choice on which particular Zhu Zhu the winner will receive.

What a crazy good retail shopping day today

The above pic is not a pic I took while shopping. Nope, the picture was taken at home - it's *some* of the stuff I bought today. I had to put it on my yardsale clothing rack in order to take a pic. (I didn't photograph the underwear I bought for myself. But I can...for the right price, of course).



There were some awesome Columbus Day sales going on at JC Penneys. So much stuff was ringing up cheaper than what the price tag said, so I had to go back a second time and buy more. Some of which may go up on eBay (like the Van's shorts - normally $38 - I paid $2.52 each). Total spent: $34.84 for 20 items. The best buy for me was the Warners $29 bra - I paid $2.96 for it - I would have totally stocked up on them but it was the only one they had in my size.

Then it was onto Staples. As I've mentioned before, every month I recycle 10 inkjet cartridges to receive a $30 check to use at Staples. Most times I buy random inkjet cartridges at yardsales for .50 - $1 each.

In this week's ad, I saw they had a $79 chair on sale for $29.99. I figured it would be cheap and junky. But I tried it out and it was actually very sturdy and comfortable. I also bought a package of packing paper (for ebay items) and a universal remove (which I will submit online for a $10 rebate). I also bought a nice big cardboard box for something I need to mail on ebay. (the box is not in the pic. When I mail ebay items, a lot of time I crunch up tissue paper (bought at 90% off at Target after Christmas.) But this packing paper is much more sturdier and can also be used for crumpling up and using it as filler in packages.



So....after two $30 coupons were deducted...I paid .81!!! And don't forget, I will be getting a $10 rebate too!



I think I know a little boy who is gonna be excited to open up a new office chair on Christmas morning. Isn't that what all boys dream about getting for Christmas??? Jacob currently uses a $2 yardsale office chair, but the back doesn't adjust and its pretty uncomfortable.

Yardsale buys and ebay selling

click on the above pic to enlarge it.



Video Link

My house is about to explode from my shopping trips so I gotta resume selling on ebay. I put up a few auctions the other day (including stuff I bought yesterday). I already have a $51 bid on the $2 Bose Equalizer I bought yesterday and $19.99 for the Coors Light Beer tap (I paid $2 for).

I've been making excuses for not doing any eBay selling lately (had visitors coming, having to clean house for that, trips to NY, etc etc). So now I got nothing going on until Christmas so I should have stuff constantly listed until then. If not, you all need to start giving me crap about being lazy and not listing anything. But I don't really think I am "lazy", it's just that I like doing the shopping part a lot better than the selling part.

The link to my ebay auctions is over there to the left.

Above is a pic and video of what I bought yesterday. And I left out a bunch of little stuff. Also bought a Game Boy Advance with 4 games for $5 (will resell on ebay or Play N Trade). I love the Swiss Gear rolling computer case for $4. Seller originally had $20 on it, then reduced to $10, then $7, and then $4 according to the price stickers on it. It was a moving sale, and they had other sales over the summer so I think it was something that hadn't sold at previous sales. She said her husband never used it, but inside I found several of his business cards AND 2 rechargeable batteries (which we use). The sale was a little off the beaten path so that is why I think it hadn't sold earlier.

Another good buy was at one yardsale where nothing was priced. I gathered up a stack of 10 vintage pennants (Washington Senators, Baltimore Colts etc), an unused Revell model, a Washington Senators mini-bat, and a vintage Cleveland Browns pillow. When I asked the price, the seller asked if $3 for it all would be too much. Nope, not at all.