Yardsalequeen.com Yard Sale Garage Sale Blog

If I had $500 to spend for Valentine's Day

2012-02-06T12:19:00.024-05:00

edited - post deleted.

Waaa. I didn't win the contest, therefore I have deleted my post for the contest. Not that I'm a sore loser or anything. Of course if the judges were wise and had declared me the winner, my entry post would have lived on in internet infamy and would driven tons and tons of traffic to their couponing website for an infinite amount of time. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be. Their loss. And mine. A classic lose lose situation.

JC Penneys New Pricing Strategy

2012-02-05T18:38:00.011-05:00

If you've read my blog for a while, you know I love my yardsales and thrift stores. But I've been known to occasionally (gasp!!) shop at stores such as JC Penneys and Kohls. But I only make a purchase if I know I got a good bargain. Low prices are good, but free is even better. I present you with:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Exhibit D

So yesterday I went to Penneys to check out their new pricing strategy. (Don't worry, I didn't make a special trip just to go there, but it was near the Outback Steakhouse we had dinner at, so it was convenient. And you know I got a deal at Outback - back in December I purchased a $100 gift card and got a $20 coupon which was going to expired next week, but I digress).

So when I was at Penneys, there were no bargains to look for. Everything was marked with it's "fair and square" price. What fun is that? Zero. None. No bargains for me to look for. With my mad shopping skills, I expect that even in a retail store I can find better bargains than Joe Schmo off the street. Not the same. As an extreme bargain hunting shopper, there was no thrill of the hunt. Lame and boring. Shopping is a sport and I want to win against my competitors (other shoppers). My husband thought it was just fine. What does he know. He's a guy who doesn't get the sport of shopping.

p.s I am especially mourning the loss of the free $10 off anything JC Penney coupons. Waaaaaaa!

Thrift Store Pet Peeves Arg!!!!

2012-01-31T21:41:00.006-05:00

I had a bit of a problem with my computer last week but thankfully I am semi-back to normal. The only issue I have now is with my camera and getting new pictures on my computer.

Sooooo....until that is fixed by some miracle, I will have to go thru the thousands of my photos already on my harddrive and pick something out to talk about.

Today I pick: Thrift Store Pet Peeves. I have a bunch I could talk about, but here is one that really irritates me. Why do workers in thrift stores (and yardsales) put price stickers on things in very conspicuous places that may end up damaging the item when the label is removed?

Here is a picture of some vintage Charlie Brown & Snoopy plaques I bought a while back. I was tempted not to buy them since the store put large price tags right on the artwork which is just made of paper. The thrift store could have chosen to put the label on the back of the item, but no, they put it right smack dab on the front, where it can damage the item. Arg!!!!!

I knew because of my years of experience and mad skills I have in removing labels, I could probably remove the labels without damaging the plaques. Here's my plan of attack:

1. Start removal process very soon after acquiring object. The longer the sticker remains on, the harder it is to remove.

2. Summon my lady-in-waiting to retrieve hairdryer and official Tweezerman tweezers from royal bathroom.

3. Plug in said hairdryer and turn on low heat and aim it at label. After a few seconds, try to lift off a corner of the sticker with tweezers (while maintaining low heat on hairdryer). Once a corner gets lifted up, pull very gently to remove the rest of the label.

4. Have a drink and celebrate your success.

Well anyway, that's how I remove a price tag sticker. Your results may vary.

Adult Field Trip to Washington DC - National Air & Space Museum

2012-01-24T22:47:00.010-05:00

Well again, there were no yardsales this past Saturday. Woe is me. But I managed to survive the day by drowning my sorrows at the open bar at a party hosted by my husband's place of employment. They know how to put on a party. This event was held at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC.

There were tons of things to do and not much time to do it. Eat, drink, be merry, see museum, watch Imax movies etc. All free, of course. Like I said before we thank you Lord for nuclear power! And since it was held in the evening when the museum is closed to the public, didn't have to deal or mingle with pesky tourists.

Looking down on the band and dance floor. This was early in the evening - people were too busy eating to dance - the dance floor filled up by the end of the night.

First thing I ate was a lobster lollipop.

This was called Shrimp Ouchy. It was shrimp yummy.

Risotto bar

omg - the desserts!!! Note to self - next time, line my large handbag with an empty gallon size Ziplock baggy. Or two.

Outside of the musuem

My old mirror mirror that is on the wall

2012-01-21T14:55:00.006-05:00

Since I will be doing some minor remodeling to our powder room, I took some "before" pictures. It's very Circa 1992. We bought the house new in 1990, so I think I finally got around to taking down the crappy builder's grade medicine cabinet, adding the oh so fancy lighting fixture, painting, and putting up the dollar store peel n stick border around 1992 or so. And haven't done a thing since. I mean really, why mess with perfection? ha. But now the mirror is starting to age, at the bottom you can see where the reflective part of the mirror has gotten weird. It's like some cleaning chemical or something got behind the glass and started eating away at it.

I am keeping the sink and cabinet. I can never figure out why people go with those pedestal sinks. Not me. Where do they hide all their crap????

Mirror mirror soon to be on my bathroom wall

2012-01-19T23:42:00.009-05:00

Here's one of my thrift store buys from the other day - a huge mirror for $10. I had better things to do today, so of course I asked my Lady-in-Waiting (having a Lady-in-Waiting is just one of my benefits of being Yardalequeen) to take the photo. So those muscular, well toned legs wearing fashionable grey pantaloons, fuzzy socks and thrift store Merrell brand shoes belong to her. Not me, of course.

It's been a good 20 years since our downstairs bathroom has had a facelift. So it might be about time for some minor remodeling. Like replace the lighting and the mirror, electric cover plates, remove the peel 'n stick wall border that I remember buying at a dollar store close-out etc etc. And it wouldn't hurt to give the bathroom a new coat of paint. (I bought a $5 gallon of a neutral colored Oops Paint at Ace Hardware.) Hey and guess what? The mirror looks all big and heavy in a cast iron frame, right? But it's not, it is big but not heavy - the frame is plastic! But I swear, it doesn't look like plastic and you can only tell if you touch it. And really, how often do you go around touching people's mirrors when you visit someone's house?

The Great Yard Sale Season of 2012 has officially opened!

2012-01-13T19:37:00.006-05:00

I went to my first yardsale of 2012 (last weekend) so I know the yardsale season as officially begun. For $3 I bought a leather Stone Mountain handbag. Yes I know I already have the best handbag ever made which I currently still use and love but for $3, it doesn't hurt to have a little variety now and then.

And tomorrow I will shop at an indoor church yardsale, but then I have a feeling there may be a dry spell until springtime. But you never know.

I had a few other buys this week - from a thrift store. I was looking at our old rubbermaid kitchen sink dish drain the other night and thinking how old and gross it looked. And ta-da, just the next day I spot a brand new, never used one for $2.50.
I wish I had instead been looking at my old and gross mini-van and found a new one for $2.50.

Did anyone catch Storage Wars the other day where Barry Weiss found some old glass collectible fly catcher jars? The day after watching it, I found a blue glass fly catcher jar. The cashier had no idea what it was. I don't think it's old but for $1 I had to get it.

Oh and I bought an orange chair for $4. Depending on how the pictures turn out, my plan is to use it as a backdrop for when I take pics for ebay.

Cheers to a Great 2012!

2012-01-02T21:06:00.006-05:00

I've been away. I would like to tell you I was visiting a vineyard and winery in the Tuscany region of France.

But I honestly cannot say that I was. I did however go to a local vineyard with a friend. Of course I used a coupon for a free wine tasting for 2 plus free wine glasses. The place and the grounds are much prettier when it's not wintertime and raining. Wine is not my adult beverage of choice, but I can manage to choke some down from time to time.

And I just got home from visiting my family in upstate New York for a while after Christmas. Plus I may have stopped in to their Salvation Army once or twice, just to browse, of course.

What a sucky day.

2011-12-24T18:57:00.002-05:00

It's Saturday and there's no yardsales??? What's up with that!

Happy Festivus Everyone!

2011-12-23T08:58:00.009-05:00

and now I will do an Airing of Grievances on how you, my blog readers, have disappointed me in the past year. In my earlier post, I told you I wanted you to buy me the $249 plus tax & shipping parade bracelet. Such a simple thing to do and you failed miserably. I was going to guess that at least I would receive a dozen or two of them, and not a single one has arrived! Phooey on you and you and you. And I was only planning on keeping one or two and ebaying the rest - because I'm generous that way. Shame shame shame on you.

So therefore I had to take matters into my own hand. I assumed (and rightly so) that you would disappoint me, so until I win the lottery, I bought myself a knockoff. So there. It's even imported! From exotic China!

Here's the one you were supposed to buy me: (which is now soldout on the BJs Warehouse website, so you can't even attempt to get into my good graces if you tried)

And this is the one I bought myself:

I hope you're happy. Now go enjoy the rest of Festivus!

My Christmas Troll Collection Expands

2011-12-22T23:11:00.010-05:00

Somewhere in this castle is my Christmas Troll collection - so one day when I find them, I will have 3 more to add. The stuffed Santa troll is so ugly I had to have it. Plus, at .50, it was well within my budget. I bought the 2 other small trolls a few weeks ago for .25 each.

And today I bought a hardcover book - The Gospel According to Superman. Who says I'm not religious????!!!! It was in the kid's book section (kids books are normally .25 - and today was a half priced day, so I got 2 books for .25).

And here is one of my awesome buys from last week. I was donating items when another woman was donating this Berlin Sports wagon. I told one of the workers I was interested in it so they looked it over to price it. They decided that since it needed some work done on it - it is missing a screw - they would only charge $15 for it. Sold! If you were to buy it retail, it would *only* cost $189 at Toys R Us In my pic, it looks like it's missing one of the slats, but its laying down in the bed of the wagon.

One more day til Festivus!

Bargain Liquor and Mickey Mouse - what a combo!

2011-12-19T16:43:00.010-05:00

There were no yard sales for me this past Saturday morning, so I had to get my bargain shopping fix elsewhere. On a couponing message board, I had read that Walgreens had $19.99 Christmas shirts ringing up at a .80 clearance price. So I had to check to see if my Walgreens had any. I found (and bought) two. Unfortunately, I only have one Walgreens near me so I cannot easily drive to other Walgreens to buy and hoard more.

Then leaving Walgreens, I saw a big "going out of business - everything 40% off" sign at a local gas station/convenience store. So I stopped in to see what they had. I hadn't been in that store in forever since I don't shop at gas station convenience stores (cuz everything is overpriced). When I buy gas, I just swipe my credit card at the pump so no need to go inside. Well what a surprise - it was a small liquor store inside. And at 40% off, I stocked up. It had been picked through already, so there were no large bottles of Johnny Walker for DH (so I had to settle for small bottles). The 1.75 liter bottles of Aged Cruzan rum were only $19.99 so, after the discount, they were $12 each. I would have bought more but 2 was all they had. The liter bottles of Myers were also $19.99 so $12 after discount. They also had a lot of generic cheapy type of liquor made by companies I have never heard of - which I passed up. Cruzan rum is from St. Croix - where we honeymooned and toured the Cruzan Rum distillery. For all the liquor in the pic, I ended up paying around $90. I will be all set for at least a month!

A Day in the Life of the Yardsalequeen (December version)

2011-12-15T20:08:00.016-05:00

- Got up, made Jacob's lunch and got him on the school bus.

- Left the castle to get the royal vehicle's oil changed at Mr. Tire using my Groupon oil change coupon (paid $13 for the oil change and tire rotation coupon).

- while car was in the shop, walked to the nearby Staples and used $66.80 that I had in Staples Rewards credit to buy more printer ink and some other stuff.

- also browsed BJs Warehouse. Saw a $299 bracelet in the jewelry case that I liked. I see it's only $249 (+ tax & shipping) online (what a bargain - I really think you should buy it for me. Yes, I'm talking to you.) Here it is: Parade Bracelet Note to BJ's Warehouse advertising management: If you would like, you can send this item for me to review here on this super popular blog. With all those blingy, shiny gemstones, I think it would go well with my crown.

- picked up the car and drove to a nearby thrift where I spent around $5 on stuff. ($1 of it was a package of 2 ink cartridges which I will probably end up recycling at Staples for $4. Either that or I will ebay it for more).

- by this time, it was around 11am so I stopped at Quiznos and used my last Quiznos Groupon. If I remember right, I paid $2 each for 8 Quiznos sandwich coupons on Groupon. Got the sandwich "to go" so I didn't buy any soda - I have an electric cooler in my car full of canned sodas. Ate half the sandwich in the car and took the rest home for later.

- went to Old Navy to use my $20 Groupon coupon. Recently there was a nationwide Groupon for Old Navy - for $10 you could get $20 worth of merchandise. And since I had $10 in referral money in my account - I paid $0 for the Old Navy Groupon coupon. I bought 10 pairs of cozy socks (which were on sale for $2 each). I just had to pay .60 in sales tax. Will probably give as gifts.

- went to Bath & Body Works and used a 20% off your entire order coupon. I bought 2 things that were already on the 50% off clearance shelf.

- went to Target where I bought 4 boxes of Chex Rice cereal. On sale for $2.25 a box. And I had 2 coupons that were save $1 off 2 boxes. So I paid $7.00 for 4 boxes.

- went to Shoppers Food Warehouse, where they double coupons up to .99. I had some .75 off McIlhenny Tabasco sauce coupons. Price was $1.50 so I paid $0 for them when the coupons were doubled. Also bought a few other items (did not do a major grocery shopping trip).

- went to Kohls with my 20% off coupon. Plus I had a $10 off anything coupon which was only supposed to be good from Dec 1st - 10th. I asked at Customer Service if they would still honor it and they said yes. Bought a $5.99 winter themed doormat, a $6.99 gift for a child, plus some clearanced Fall dishtowels. Paid $4- something out of pocket.

- went to Walgreens. Got the Goody hair clips and the Salonpas pain patch (that are free this week with Register Rewards). I also *bought* a Revlon Top Speed nailpolish, which also was free ($3.99 on sale, minus $1 Revlon coupon which is in the coupon booklet by the Walgreens make-up counter) and received the $3.00 Register Reward (plus the Register Rewards for the Salonpas and Goody). I plan on giving the pain patch to my sister-in-law who uses them.

- went to Giant grocery store for a few things. Since I use the scanner gun to record my purchases, the scanner gun automatically gives me electronic coupons too. I've noticed that everyday it gives me a $1 electronic coupon to save $1 on any 4 Marchuan Ramen Noodles. So since individual packages are .27 each, I am able to get 4 for .08. Like almost everyday. Also bought packages of Betty Crocker Fun-da-middles cupcake box mixes for .84 each. The chocolate flavor was on clearance for $2.34 (the vanilla was still $3.19 a box). I had .75 coupons that doubled to $1.50. So $2.34 - $1.50 = .84 each. (Although Giant doubles coupons too, sometimes certain things are cheaper at Shoppers Food Warehouse so that is why I shop there occasionally).

- Returned to the castle and unloaded the royal vehicle.

- Jacob came home and took him to get his hair cut at Great Clips with a $6.99 coupon that was due to expire on the 18th. And yes, I do tip. I am thrifty but not cheap.

- then went to Papa Johns and picked up two free large 1 topping pizzas for dinner. A while back I won the coupons for free Papa Johns pizza at a Christmas bazaar. While waiting for the pizza to get done, walked around Food Lion where I bought a half-healthy Poinsettia plant that was on clearance for .50.

- did a blog post.

- thinking about what I want to buy tomorrow.

Changes to Yardsalequeen Message Board

2011-12-13T20:33:00.005-05:00

Just a quick note to say that a few days ago I made my Message Board viewable only to those who are registered members. Up until recently, I had a small portion of the board viewable to anyone and everyone. Well because of computer attacks by spam-bots (if you don't know what that is, consider yourself lucky) I had to make the board only for registered members.

I've gotten a few emails from people who had been lurking for years and now are wondering why they can no longer read the board - so I figured I'd better say something here in case anyone else was wondering. So if you are intelligent, smart, witty, love yardsales and know how to play nice with others and know how to curtsy, I encourage you to register to be a member of the Queen-dom.

Dear Walgreens: This is so lame.

2011-12-11T12:54:00.004-05:00

Walgreens, really? Worse SALE! ever. But I still love you anway.

Taking the time to celebrate one holiday at a time

2011-12-08T08:14:00.006-05:00

In my previous Debbie Downer post, Anonymous commented that they wanted to see the Royal Christmas Tree. Hello??? I don't know about you, but I like to take my time and celebrate one holiday at a time. Therefore, behold, I present to you, the Royal Festivus Pole.

After celebrating Festivus then it's time to start thinking about decorating for Christmas.

I will have to post about my successful yardsale when I have more time. But later today - woohoo - I get yet another crown! (on bottom left molar).

First Yardsale of 2011

2011-12-01T17:06:00.012-05:00

I have one day to pull a yardsale together. I signed up to sell at an indoor yardsale this Saturday, December 3. My first and last one for the year. So tomorrow I will just walk around the castle sticking price stickers on stuff and throwing it in my car. You know, for being a yardsale queen, I really should be better prepared.

I haven't blogged much lately so this post will be a mishmash of things to catch up on what's been happening lately.

Been doing lots of shopping lately, including some online deals and even (gasp) retail. But my retail shopping is pretty tame. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I hit CVS and Walgreens for their freebie deals with Extra Care Bucks and Register Rewards. I am part of the Occupy Walgreens and Occupy CVS movement.

Here's one of my CVS receipts. The majority of that receipt is the free Extra Care Bucks. I know it looks impressive, but in reality, it really should have been twice as long. I split my shopping cart into two orders. After I bought my first half of stuff - I had a receipt this long, but I tore off all the Extra Care Bucks to pay for this second order.

My Black Friday Kohl's trip was worse than I could have ever imagined. The checkout lane was ginormous - and took hours to check-out. I went because I had the free $10 to spend between midnight and 4am and additional 15% off and got the Kohls register rewards (or whatever they are called). But totally not worth it. I should have known better.

The checkout line went on and on and on and on...

Speaking of Kohl's, here is their $39.99 fragile glass hourglass (on sale for $19.99) - notice the debris from broken hourglasses. My $2 hourglass from a yardsale a few weeks ago puts these to shame.

One of my "buys" from Walgreens. Is it still considered buying if they pay you $4 to take it out of the store? In the mail, I got a free coupon for a free Shick Hydro razor (I have no idea why they sent me the coupon and don't remember signing up for anything) - so the cashier deducted the cost of it $8.99 - and then a $4 Register Reward printed. So I "made" $4 on that deal and got a free razor.

And I've been doing some Christmas Bazaar shopping. I went to one church bazaar the other Saturday that had a large "grannie's treasures" room. I bought a single endtable for $8 (plus I bought other junk). Remember, God loves a cheerful giver! I liked the mid-century modern look of this endtable.

The thrift stores are all decorated for Christmas. One of my thrifts has really gotten out of control in their pricing. No way would I ever pay $8 for used shoes. Or $8 for a prison ornament. Do people decorate their Christmas trees with prison ornaments to remind them of their relatives? Like do they say "I want a Lompac ornament because that's where Uncle Joey lives"??? Or maybe there is a group of collectors similar to those hardcore Hallmark ornament collectors but instead they collect penitentiary ornaments.

My son Jacob is very interested in all things relating to weather - so when I heard that his favorite weatherman - oops I mean favorite Chief Meteorologist - was going to give a talk at the library - I got him out of school early so we could go. Those of you who are in the DC/MD/VA area, you gotta know who I am talking about - weather superstar Doug Hill.

I printed out one of his head-shots and got him to autograph it for Jacob.

Black Friday thoughts by yardsalequeen debbie downer

2011-11-23T12:48:00.003-05:00

I am really not liking that so many stores are opening at midnight on Black Friday. I hope next year they go back to the regular get up at the crack of dawn sales instead. I know this sound morbid but I think we are going to be hearing about crazy things happening because of the stores opening at midnight. You know, things like parents locking up their sleeping babies in cars while they shop. The drunk drivers having more targets to hit at midnight and so on.

So anyway, just thought I would do a quick upbeat blog posting. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Why I love shopping at Staples, and my $3 Waterford Crystal candy dish - oh my!

2011-11-13T09:29:00.016-05:00

Where else can you walk out of a store with a bunch of stuff and pay nothing and it's legal? And you want to know what's funny?? Looking at the receipt now, I see I was even overcharged! I only bought two packages of bungee cords at .70 each and I see the cashier accidentally scanned one of them twice so there are 3 on the receipt. Note to self: start scrutinizing every cashier's every move at every transaction for the rest of my life.

The stuff I bought was on clearance. .50 for a package of Mrs. Field's cookies? Insane. Only flavor on clearance was macademia nut. I found one package on the endcap with the other clearance items. But then I had the brilliant idea to check the shelf where the other regularly priced Mrs. Fields cookies were located and found another Macademia Nut cookie package mixed in with the others. Man am I good. Welch's fruit snacks were clearanced to .50 a box and all had good expiration dates.

I paid using one of my Staples rewards checks. I get them monthly for recycling ink cartridges there. And I also buy my printer ink at staples so I get ink reward checks for those too. I just picked up a bunch of printer cartridges at a yardsale yesterday. I paid $2 for this whole lot:

Spray paints, weed killer, full bottle of outdoor bleach etc. Also included about 8 ink cartridges which either I will sell on ebay (since they are new/unused) or recycle at Staples and get a $16 reward ($2 per cartridge, up to 10 cartridges per month).

And I had some other great buys yesterday. Like this stuff

$2 hourglass - oh my!, $5 crock, $3 Waterford Crystal candy dish, .50 heavy duty scissors and a .50 male hula dancer (surprisingly, I do not already own one). Here's another pic of my candy dish that weighs 4 lbs.

And for $5 I got this awesome corner cabinet, with storage. You know I love storage.

It will replace the junky wooden corner shelf currently in my kitchen. Ooops I mean, it will replace the lovely vintage sturdy rustic solid wood corner shelving unit which was probably handmade with love by a talented Amish craftman at my next yardsale for big bucks.

No, we don't use that camping coffee pot or whatever it is, we use it for storing keys that we don't know what they go to. And I will have to find a new home for my Griswold cast iron witches cauldron since I won't get rid of that - you just never know when someone needs to have a spell cast on them.

Garage Sales in the Snow - visit to upstate NY & Burlington VT

2011-11-06T20:05:00.029-05:00

Here's a re-cap from my trip from last week:

Thursday night - flew from Baltimore to Albany, New York - where it was snowing. Good thing I packed my windbreaker.

Friday - went to a few garage sales in the snow. Remember, these are hearty New Yorkers - a little bit of snow is not going to send people into a panic, like it would in Maryland. Took my mother shopping in the afternoon and on Friday night went to a casual reunion get-together at a local watering hole.

Saturday - went to a few more garage sales in the morning. Dropped my mom off at the casino and went to a few garage sales/estate sales with my sister in the afternoon. Garage sales in New York don't close up early at noon or 1pm, like they do in Maryland. Saturday evening was the school reunion event, held at a large hotel. Dinner, dancing, photobooth, the works. I had fun. DH stayed home in Maryland with Jacob. It started to snow heavily while driving to the reunion. And was still snowing when I left after midnight. So basically it was like I got a free refresher course in driving in snowy conditions. And as a bonus, I earned extra points since I was driving my mom's rear wheel drive Buick Century. I'm an excellent driver.

Sunday - drove with my sister to Burlington, Vermont (2 hour drive each way) to spend the day shopping, eating and visiting my niece (her daughter) who lives there. No snow there. Got back to my mom's around 11pm. My niece lives in a cool apartment on Church Street, which is Burlington's downtown with little shops and restaurants. I even purchased something at full price. At a jewelry store, I bought a pair of earrings made by Baked Beads I see on their website the pair I bought sells for $16.50 online and at the jewelry store I only paid $13.99 so I did get a deal without trying!

Monday (Halloween) - flew home to Maryland. I should be sad since Jacob is growing up and had no interest in going trick or treating, but I was glad since I was pooped.

And now for some pics:

Woke up Friday morning and looked out at my old backyard:

going garage saling

a few of my buys: $1 shoes, .50 picture frame, .50 hook (to hold a birdfeeder), .50 pair of speakers and $3 Crate & Barrel new travel bag with accessories. I left some of the stuff at my mom's to bring back when I have my car there.

My sister testing out a personal steam sauna at an estate sale. She did not buy it.

yardsale at vintage house in Saratoga

Driving to Vermont. Miles and miles of farmland:

animals in fields:

and of course, clowns.

On the drive there, we stopped at one big disorganized fleamarket/junk sale. It was awesome.

My niece's apartment building in Burlington. Her doggy is in the window watching the goings-on down below.

Like a guy wearing a mask, blowing a didgeridoo, and beating a cymbal. No, he wasn't Occupying Burlington - those people were a couple of blocks away. This is just the part of the normal stuff that goes on in Church Street.

So proud - my niece and her shoe collection. I admire her storage capabilities and love of shoes.

A trip to Vermont is not complete without enjoying some Schweddy Balls.

And a trip to Costco (since I don't have one nearby). I didn't buy the $29.99 bear but I had to have my pic taken with one since I saw that my hero Clark Howard bought one for hottie Anderson Cooper.

About to go do some Goodwill hunting in Burlington:

Church Street in Burlington at night.

Oh from my other blog post - here's a closeup of my Bitch kit.

Flying home to Maryland. Yeah for Southwest offering a complimentary adult beverage on Halloween.

Enjoying my rum and coke (my drink of choice). The flight attendant called me "astute" for noticing the complimentary cocktail blurb. Being astute is better than being cheap.

And oh, almost forgot to add some juicy reunion pics. Like my dessert:

Oh sure, I'd bet you'd like to see my photo-booth pictures taken with 6 different men, but what happens at the reunion, stays at the reunion!

Wear opened toed shoes in the snow? Of course! Leaving the reunion to find my mom's snow covered Buick Century in the parking lot.

p.s. Burlington Vermont has the nickname of "Queen City". If they had known I was visiting, I'm sure they would have given me given me keys to the city, but I was traveling incognito and wanted to spend quality family/shopping time and not deal with all the media.

back from my high school reunion - Shenendehowa Class of 81 reunion

2011-11-01T10:07:00.006-04:00

I returned from my high school reunion late yesterday afternoon. For some odd reason, all the info had "Shenendehowa Class of 1981" written on it. I hope the reunion committee got their money refunded since it was obviously a typo. If I had graduated in 1981, that would make me in my late 40's. And we all know, I am soooo much younger than that!

Had a busy, busy weekend. On my hour flight to Baltimore yesterday, apparently I napped a little. When I arrived in Baltimore, the guy next to me on the plane said "boy, you were OUT. If we had crashed, they would have found you walking around the plane wreckage asking "what happened???"

And of course I went garage saling over the weekend. Sure there was snow on the ground, but that doesn't stop hearty New Yorkers and their garage sales. I took a ton of pics which I will post later. But today I have some half priced Halloween shopping to do!

Recent (?) Media and Junk

2011-10-26T22:33:00.011-04:00

Yea!!! I fixed my photo storage issue I was having on my computer. So hopefully I will be blogging more soon. Well pretty soon I hope. I'm getting ready to go to my high school reunion this weekend. Kinda hard to believe that it's been a few years since I graduated. Shenendehowa Class of "insert # here" Rules!!!!!

I've been trying to clean up my computer area (for the millionth time) and found these magazines where YSQ appeared in. I just haven't updated my media page in forever.

Nice to be in the Reader's Digest, since this magazine tends to stick around for years in doctor's offices etc.

I like being in Woman's World BUT since it's a weekly magazine, not much of a shelf life.

Who even knew that Pilot/Flying J gas stations had their own magazine? And that people pay for it??? That would explain all the trucker fan mail I received. Don't be mistaken, that is not me on the cover. I don't play guitar.

And now for the junk. Here is what I bought last weekend. Most expensive thing was the $3 new glass shelf. Everything else ranged from free - $2. (Christopher Radko Shiny Brite elves were .50 for the box)

And I paid $1 for the excellent plastic soaking clothes rack. But it didn't even come with directions. How am I supposed to assemble?

I guess it doesn't matter since the real reason why I bought it was because it creates a gentle and beautiful life. Can't beat that for a buck!

Magic Crystal Valley here I come! (someday)

2011-10-23T16:56:00.002-04:00

Had a great day yardsaling yesterday. I bought some Bitch Soap and fridge magnets that look like chewed up pieces of gum.

But the best part was I met a woman who lives locally and has the largest Cabbage Patch Kids collection in the world. How the heck did I not know about this??? I just can't wait to go to the Magic Crystal Valley But it will have to wait. I already have places to go and people to see later this week.

oh crap, I'm getting a cpap.

2011-10-11T22:19:00.003-04:00

I can't remember if I mentioned this or not here, but a while back I went and had 2 sleep studies done. It's where you get electrodes stuck on your head and all around, have a big fat elastic waistband put around your middle, then you get to sleep while someone watches you via a camera in another room. Very relaxing! I wasn't having any problems sleeping (or so I thought) but my DH thought I had sleep apnea so my doctor recommended having the tests done.

Turns out, I need a CPAP machine. Oh lucky me. So apparently I have been not breathing (dying??) 20 times per hour every time I sleep. I get up fine and I am ready to hit the yardsales or go to Walgreens everyday. My CPAP gets delivered tomorrow. So from then on, I will be breathing thru the entire night. What a concept. So I can just imagine, if I start getting up even MORE relaxed and full of energy every day, how much more efficient I will be at shopping!

Still catching up: Washington Nationals, Miss Geico Racing and Junk

2011-10-08T16:35:00.011-04:00

Still catching up on blogging about what I've been up to last few weeks. I got free tickets to a Washington Nationals game so we took the Metro into Washington. The Washington Post newspaper had a deal that if you sent in $100 worth of receipts from certain stores during a certain timeframe, you got 4 free tickets. So of course, all I had to do was go buy a $50 gift card to Walgreens and one to CVS (for me to use later), and ta-da I had a $100 in receipts.

I had been wanting to eat at Ben's Chili Bowl for a while now. And since DH saw it on the Food Network, he was all for it. I had a hamburger with chili on it and it was delish.

We had some time to kill before the game started so as luck would have it, there was a free event near the ballpark sponsored by the Boys & Girls Club. Jacob got his face painted and I won a Spanish radio station t-shirt.

At the ballpark. Jacob got his picture taken with the presidents (who are filthy dirty). This pic came out the best out of the presidential pics.

View from our seats. What's Jacob pointing at?

The pointy monument AKA Washington Monument. The clouds looked cloudy but it did not rain on us.

Another view from our seats:

Then the other weekend, there was some high speed boat races featuring Miss Geico Racing going on locally in Solomon's Island. An end of summer party was held at the local firehouse. Tickets were $15 a person (free for kids 12 and under). But of course, I managed to score one free ticket (a radio station had a live broadcast a while back so I stopped by) and got the one free ticket which I thought was sorta stingy but it all worked out. DH didn't really care to go anyway. So just Jacob and I went. And while there, I signed up to be a designated driver, so I drank my fill of free diet pepsi. Score!

Some of the crew from Miss Geico with Jacob and a woman who could be my twin.

Yardsalequeen.com is not an official sponsor of Miss Geico, but if they were smart, they would add it. They have a Miss Geico Gecko boat, a Caveman boat but no Maxwell the Pig boat??? That is a travesty that should be rectified.

And for my junk - here's stuff I bought one Saturday a few weeks ago. I think the Pandora's Box from the 70's is neat. Stuff was cheap - most things were less than $1 and nothing was over $3.

Ice Cream, Pretzels and Atlantic City

2011-10-07T22:20:00.014-04:00

Here's a bunch of pictures from a mini-vacation we took way back in August. I think I have my computer working fine now (knock on wood). For our mini-vacay, we only spent 2 nights away but we crammed it full (just the way I like my life in general!) First day - drove to Pennsylvania (a couple of hours away) and stopped at the Turkey Hill Experience. Jacob loves Dutch Chocolate Turkey Hill ice cream so I figured we would make a quick stop. I didn't want to actually PAY to go thru the Experience (I read some bad reviews) so we just looked around in the part that was free, took some pics, ate some ice cream and bought a few souvenirs in their gift shop. I'm not going to pay $11.50 per person to go thru some fake manufactured touristy experience when a Ben & Jerry's tour only cost $3. And it's better ice cream. (I think I may be in Vermont later this month.)

Next stop was learning how to make pretzels (another one of Jacob's favorite foods) at the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery.

Then we had some time before dinner so I'm like "let's go into Lancaster and find an Amish market or something". I should have done some research beforehand. Because we ended up instead finding the seedy part of downtown Lancaster - and there wasn't a single Amish in sight. Drove right passed the Lancaster jail (no, I didn't ask if they gave free tours). So we gave up on finding an Amish market and just went out to dinner and relaxed at the hotel pool in the evening. Here's Jacob pretending using a pay phone - no doubt there for the Amish to use.

Next day, we got up and drove to Atlantic City. As we were leaving the Lancaster area - we spotted the Amish places - guess what? They live outside the city on farms. Who would have thunk it?? It was about a 4 hour drive or so to mini Sin City. We checked into the Showboat Casino. DH headed for the craps table and Jacob and I took a walk to the Abescon Lighthouse

Bonus points if you can read Jacob's t-shirt. No fair googling it. The woman working the temporary tattoo parlor on the Atlantic City boardwalk knew what it said. The shirt came from the Salvation Army during one of my trips back home. I think I paid $1.99 for it (new, with the tag so I know what it says). Notice that yellow round thing on top of the lighthouse? After you climbed the bajillion steps to the top, you could walk around outside.

View from the top of the Abescon Lighthouse:

Outside of the Showboat Casino. The big casino being built next door is called Revel. It's not open yet - it looks amazing. I really liked the location of our hotel. I was glad it was close to walk to the lighthouse and semi-close to the amusement park area.

Jacob won 2 angry birds. I don't even want to know how much they cost.

This wasn't my first time to Atlantic City - I used to go with friends pretty frequently in my single days. But never rode one of those push carts. So Jacob and I did that in the evening - I had been so tired from walking all day. I didn't even mention the couple of hours I had to myself where I went shopping!

One store I found on the boardwalk was nothing but pure junk. I think I spent $10 there on various items. Of course I need some $1 umbrella hats and a $1 Atlantic City hat for Jacob and some expired energy drinks. I passed on these vintage bubbles - I remember these from my childhood! They were .25 each and were very goopy and gross.

Outside the Showboat.

On the last day of the mini-vacay, we woke up in Atlantic City and then drove down the coast of New Jersey, stopping in Margate City to see Lucy the Elephant

Then continued driving down to Cape May, NJ and saw their lighthouse. Did not climb. Climbing one was enough for this trip.

Then in Cape May, boarded the Cape May ferry. That took us to Lewes, Delaware and from there it was about another 4 or 5 hour drive home (to relax!).

My Current Dilemma, Part 2

2011-09-29T17:22:00.004-04:00

I'm having problems with my computer's picture software - so no pics until I figure it out. (I think what is happening is that my hard-drive is so chockablock full that I'm unable to see thumbnail pictures and instead have to individually click on pictures by file name (such as DSC5847, DSC5848 and so on). And doing that is a major pain.

I love my new freezer. Now I am glad the old one broke. But I had to unload my entire shelving unit full of stockpiled pantry items - to move the shelf - so the new freezer would fit. Hypothetically speaking (of course), it's normal to have 8 cans of sweetened condensed milk, right?

My Current Dilemma

2011-09-24T16:24:00.007-04:00

I've been so busy the last few weeks with school starting up, shopping, cleaning up from Hurricane Irene, shopping, exercising (yes - I've used my treadmill more over the past 2 weeks than I have the past 10 years (I signed up to go to my HS reunion next month!!!) and doing even more shopping that I haven't posted much lately. But now, here is my current dilemma:

Remember my organized chaos picture from a few years ago? Click here for a reminder. Long story short - the freezer has died. It is 24" wide and fits nicely into its current spot. New freezers are all 28" wide and won't fit into that spot. We bought a new freezer today. Needless to say, I have some re-organizing I need to do.

It wasn't worth to get our old freezer fixed. We bought it new around 1993 or so and it wasn't frost-free. So over time, ice would build up and then it would have to be defrosted. But now - the new freezer which I got a great deal on from Sears (had a 25% off coupon plus they threw in an extra 5% off). With tax, it came out to less than $400 plus it has all the bells & whistles. Frost free - now that was worth it in itself!, digital temperature control, interior light - none of which our old freezer had.

But now I just have a bit of work to do to get it to fit in the old freezer's same spot. Stay tuned for an updated "organized chaos" photo.

Don't worry, Atlantic City pics are still on their way. I haven't forgotten.

Cocks Road

2011-09-13T22:36:00.002-04:00

Yeah! My computer is fixed! A new $20 power supply thingymajig did the trick. I still need to find time to write a blog post. So until then, just enjoy this blast from the past. Supposed to have been Cox Road.

How the hell

2011-09-07T22:27:00.005-04:00

How the hell can this be September and me not have a single blog post to show for it??

My computer is dead. It better just be temporarily dead since I have years of pictures stored on it. I am using a laptop now - so I don't have access to pictures. I know you are waiting patiently to see my latest vacation pics. I am waiting to receive a new power supply for my computer.

I also have years of old (mostly unanswered - my bad) emails stored on my computer since I use Microsoft Outlook for my main yardsalequeen.com comcast email account. So, if you emailed me within the past month or so and haven't heard back, you probably won't hear from me in a while. I can read current email thru the comcast website (but past emails are on my harddrive). I know I promised one tv producer guy I would do something (make a short video) and that has been put on hold until I get my regular computer working.

I have an update to the weird looking cat I saw in my yard a few weeks ago. Of course I am not 100% sure if it was the same weird cat or not. But if not, it was a twin. Rocky wasn't feeling good so the nice man at Animal Control took him away. He said he was going to a wonderful place called rainbow bridge where he'd get to play with other weird looking cats just like him. So I am happy about that. I will show more pictures of Rocky later when I get my computer fixed.

Day 3 of no electricity

2011-08-30T09:50:00.003-04:00

So Hurricane Irene cancelled all the yardales this past Saturday morning because it was raining so hard and then in the evening we lost electricity and haven't had it back since. (I am currently at a secret undisclosed location where I can use a computer).

Hopefully we will get power back today, fingers crossed. And hopefully schools will be open SOON!!!

Our $149 HP Touchpad Deal

2011-08-25T07:57:00.004-04:00

So last Saturday as we are driving to Pennyslvania, my DH says something like - starting today there is a deal on HP TouchPads - the price has been slashed from $449 to $149 - we should try to get one. I had never heard of this deal before but if it includes stopping at a store to do some shopping, I'm in. First we stopped at Walmart - they had none. Then we stopped at Staples where they were $449 and they didn't have any on the shelves. BUT a very helpful employee offered to order us one, have it delivered to our local store and they would honor the Walmart $149 price (for a 32g).

So we ordered one and yesterday it arrived and we picked it up.

And I picked up my 300 free personalized mailing labels (from an email coupon I got) while I was there.

Note to self: earthquake proof the royal throne area

2011-08-24T16:17:00.004-04:00

I've had a busy past few days - took a mini vacation with the family (more on that at a later date) so I missed yardsaling on Saturday. We got home on Monday night.

Yesterday I was home alone (the guys had gone golfing) and I was making up for lost computer time when I heard the house creaking and cracking. My first earthquake! It seemed like it was just out of the movies - you know when they show an earthquake scene with glassware rattling. Then it stopped and I did what seemed logical - posted it to my personal Facebook page at 1:52pm "I think I just felt an earthquake!". The earthquake hit at 1:51pm. Then resumed surfing.

I didn't check my upstairs royal throne area until later in the day and found this. My Longaberger basket full of stuff that was on the back of the throne fell spilling the contents. So now I better earthquake proof my house since I need to keep all of my half full bottles of lotions and medicines I don't use. If you come to my house and need a bandaid or are bleeding profusely and need a box of bandaids, I'm your person.

Now who wouldn't want soiled clothing???

2011-08-18T23:05:00.007-04:00

Although it sounded very tempting (haha), I did not buy any soiled clothing last weekend.

Instead here are some other buys of mine:

$2 NWT Kohl's bathingsuit for Jacob
$5 lot: wicker basket, gameboy (for resale at Play N Trade), embroidered bib, scrabble game (I'm collecting a bunch of tiles - to sell on ebay to crafters), heavy duty plastic birdbath (not in picture)
.50 blue thing is a Tupperware container for small odds & ends
.50 vintage Tupperware ketchup & mustard containers
.50 German Shepherd socks (ebay)
$3 new Longaberger candle
$1 - green mesh ball thing is a birdfeeder
$2 - lot of California Raisins
.50 - vintage cartoon glasses
.50 pedometer

Here Kitty Kitty

2011-08-12T19:29:00.008-04:00

During summertime, when schools are out, I usually curtail my thrift store shopping. I don't totally eliminate it, but I do cut down. I am glad I stopped into my favorite thrift the other day and bought a few items, including this Good Luck Kitty tin for .50 (it originally held some sort of candy and was made in England by George Horner & Company.) I also bought myself a new bottle of Gwen Stefani LAMB shower gel for $1.

I love shopping at my local thrift store - you never know what you will find - anything from vintage stuff to current stuff and at cheap prices. I am not a big fan of chain thrift stores (like Goodwill or Salvation Army), I prefer the small independently run thrift stores. Don't get me wrong, if I am near a Goodwill or Sal's, I will stop in, but it's not my favorite.

The countdown for back-to-school has begun!

The scary clowns are back

2011-08-10T09:59:00.009-04:00

If you weren't scared by the scary clowns I bought at a yard sale the other week, here they are again. But one somehow got decapitated; I think the one on the left is guilty.

Yardsales this past weekend were so-so. I now have horns. It's not something you typically find at a Maryland yard sale. It was $5. Will resell on Craigslist or something.

Another buy was this handmade unused bird-feeder for $1. I am kicking myself because the seller had two (but I liked this one better). For a buck I should have also bought the second one.

I hate typos. Now I don't want to hear about any of MY typos, my forte is finding typos in other people's writings. You can't imagine how much gas I wasted trying to find Cestnut Drive! ;)

Speaking of typos, I saw this on Good Morning America and cringed. The girl who wrote "Good Morning Amarica" on her sign should have been banished to the back of the crowd.

Better late than never, here's a pic of some of my buys when I visited New York in June. Some old meter thing $5, new Dansk silverware $2 and a $10 Canon Canonet camera. I had an identical camera in high school and loved it and this camera still has a good value on the resale market (+$100)

My reincarnated Whiskey Dog is famous again

2011-08-05T10:03:00.002-04:00

I saw my reincarnated Whiskey dog yesterday - he's appearing in a full length movie - Spy Kids 2. Here's a picture from the commerical. I'll watch it when it's on tv and fast forward to get to his scenes.

Reason #749 - Why Yard Sales are so Awesome

2011-08-04T21:07:00.005-04:00

Reason #749 - Why Yardsales are so Awesome

You can buy stuff you never knew you wanted, needed or existed. Like this Virgin Mary Toast maker for .25 (at that price, the bread was not included).

Yard Sale Buys, Critters and Martina McBride

2011-08-02T09:04:00.013-04:00

Here's some of the stuff I bought last Saturday. Prices ranged from free to the most expensive thing - $5 for the old typewriter and the ream of paper. I thought it was odd that the seller said "oh the paper goes with the typewriter", as if I'm actually going to use the typewriter and will be needing the pink paper to type on. Well duh - of course I won't be using the typewriter, it doesn't have a ribbon. If the typewriter model isn't anything special, I will remove the letters & numbers and sell just the keys to some crafty person. The Fireking Jadeite dishes were $5. Next expensive item was the double sided Hooters flag for $3. Pyrex was .50 each (with lids!)

Majority of the things were .25 or .50. For .25 each, I had to buy the scary beaded clowns. And I got some more vintage spice tins to add to my collection.

And as I said in my previous post, I had some critters in my yard recently. Including this weird looking stray feral cat who ate sunflower seeds that had spilled on the ground. I've named the stripey stray cat Rocky (since it's one of my all time fav movies.)

My other little friend is my pet dragonfly who visits from time to time. He doesn't like to be petted much.

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Last Saturday night I did my volunteer bartending gig for a Martina McBride show. She is awesome. Somehow I got assigned to the super busy bar but I managed to take a few breaks here and there. There was no photo line, but they did allow people to get up close to the stage near the end of the show. Here's some pics and videos:

Song list:

Opening act was Courtlyn Carr. I was busy bartending so I didn't see any of her show. But afterward she stayed around and signed autographs and took photos. Good thing I changed my clothes at the last minute before leaving the house because I almost wore the exact same outfit! How embarrassing would that have been.

It's official - there's a new sheriff in town

2011-07-31T12:23:00.001-04:00

and she's here to buy your junk.

quick update

2011-07-28T22:16:00.010-04:00

I know I've been a bad blogger lately and I'll try to do better. So this will just be a quick blog post until I have more time to write. Since I last blogged, a few things happened. I had some critters in my yard. Pics to follow. I did a sleep test and was electroded all up from scull to legs. Oh yeah, that makes you sleep well. I even have myself a "Wellness Coach" now. I kid you not. Why? Why do I do anything? Cuz it's free thru our health insurance.

The people at the Nate Berkus tv show got in touch with me. Again. How annoying. Just kidding. I sleep on my Nate Berkus pillow every night. Well actually it is just Nate Berkus pillowcases (bought on clearance when Linen N Things went out of business, but still). Last year they called me of the blue about the possibility of being on one of their first episodes. I never mentioned it until now. Of course the taping was going to happen when we had our big Los Angeles/ Las Vegas / train trip from hell vacation. And they recently got in touch with me about possibly doing something at the Worlds Longest Yardsale weekend which will be the first weekend in August. The taping is of a decorating challenge - really not my thing. If they wanted me to teach someone how to clutter up a room in no time flat, then I'm your person. But to decorate a room so it looks like it didn't come from a yardsale? Eh - don't think I would be good at that. I would be buying more Jesus Playing Baseball artwork. Or if I was lucky, finding another piece of artwork known in the art world as The Kramer. Plus, I have a family thing scheduled for next weekend that can't be changed.

What else. Oh I bought something really cool today for a quarter. I'm going to be eating Virgin Mary toast soon! Again, I am too lazy to take a pic now, but I will show off my toast soon.

here's a pic of my little gardening cart that I purchased the other week for $5 and it will full of tools:

p.s. My peat moss is still waiting for it's deployment.

Take a look at my caboose lantern

2011-07-18T22:53:00.004-04:00

I had a good yardsaling day last Saturday. Bought a bunch of stuff. Including this old caboose lantern ($20), a big thing of peat moss ($1), some expensive backpack (the kind that someone would use for Amazing Race ($10), jug of Hoover rug cleaner (.50). Two packages of solar lanterns (8 lights) for $5, a Step 2 gardening rolling bench full of new hand tools ($5), very long tree trimming saw on poles ($2). The toilet paper came from an actual store, not a yardsale. But don't get me wrong, I HAVE bought toilet paper at a yardsale before, but this package just happened to be in my car when I took the pics.

At the moving sale where I bought the peat moss for $1 - afterward I heard the husband ask the wife - "Why didn't I ever deploy the peat moss?" And wife answered that he did but they had bought two and only needed one. So now I have my own peat moss that I will be deploying to my yard.

And last but not least, Jesus playing baseball for $1. You would think he would at least wear sandals for a little protection. And just think of the dirt. Ewww.

Drive-thru Tobacco Barn Yardsale

2011-07-11T14:30:00.007-04:00

I drove right thru a barn last Saturday on purpose. It was to get to a yardsale. It was sorta like driving on a covered bridge, but there was no bridge. The seller had a "everything for $1 yardsale". I've been to their previous yardsales so I sorta knew what to expect regarding stuff (no antiques or fancy jewelry). But I did see something that looked like a crown so I had to buy it. It's like a big tacky crown shelf. But I realized that I was holding it upside down. So it's like a big tacky upside-down crown shelf. Anyhoo, I'm going to spray paint and hang it up anyway. Because I've been watching Nate Berkus, and I think this is what he means when rooms need architectural detail. Or not.

And at one of my thrifts, I took a chance on something and spent $15 on a motorcycle jacket. I think it will do pretty well on ebay. I also bought a singing McDonald's Filet-o-Fish for $1 - just because.

Here's pics of the tobacco barn (taken with my cellphone). Southern Maryland tobacco barns are on the endangered species list. Apparently, they are important and should be saved so that we can look at them and think about all the tobacco that was dried in there and made into cigarettes for people to smoke and get sick from.

lots of ventilation for the tobacco to dry

They converted one side of the barn to storage units for all their stuff. That's what I need.

My tacky crown shelf:

Thrifty, super cheap families wanted for TV show

2011-07-10T14:43:00.005-04:00

I got the below email from a casting director looking for thrifty families in the Los Angeles area. So if it sounds like something up your alley, feel free to contact them. I don't know what the deadline is, but I assume they want applicants sooner rather than later.

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Is your family the thriftiest in America? Do you refuse to pay full price? Are you always on the lookout for the best deals?

Calling all coupon experts, yard sale fanatics, thrift store wizards, swap meet junkies and super savers for a brand new show on a major network! This show will be the chance to put your skills to the test in a fun competition and prove once and for all that you and your family are the ultimate bargain hunters!

If you live in the Los Angeles area and your family will do anything to save a buck please email your story and a family photo to Ellen Rakieten Entertainment: familycasting@rrstaff.com

Ok, so I'm in Redbook Magazine this month (August 2011 issue)

2011-07-08T22:33:00.009-04:00

but instead of putting me on the cover (as I assumed they would), they put Jada Pinkett Smith. But if you read the article (page 132) at least they used someone who looks like me in the photo on the right hand side of the page (a young, skinny, attractive woman wearing a red off-the-shoulder blouse). And get this, I made a big error. I paid $3.99 plus tax actual CASH for it at Walmart. What the heck was I thinking? I should have gone to Walgreens (and used Register Rewards) or CVS and used my Extracare Bucks to pay for it at least.

I know I never have gotten around (yet) to posting my yardsale buys from NY or last week. So here at least is a photo of the stuff I bought last Saturday.

I am kicking myself over not buying something last week at a yardsale. One seller had about a half dozen brand new basketballs for $1 each. Just one was orange (which I bought) and they others were a weird blue/black combination color. But still they were brand new etc. I should have bought all of them and donated the extras to my son's summer camp, where I'm sure they wouldn't have turned down a donation of new basketballs. So that just reinforces my new mantra "when in doubt, buy it - especially if it's cheap".

Too lazy to talk about all the stuff individually , so just click on it and enlarge to see detail. A lot of the stuff I bought at one sale where I bought a bag full of stuff (nothing priced) and the seller told me it was $5 for all. The dog scrapbook was the most expensive thing ($3) for ebay. The Yahtzee game was new and $2 (will keep). Big remote (.75) will go to my mom who needs a big remote.

Patriotic Toilet Paper

2011-07-03T10:48:00.007-04:00

I spotted this "patriotic toilet paper" at one of my thrifts a while back. No, did not buy. Is it just me, or should it be called unpatriotic toilet paper???

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You would be proud of me. I decluttered a bowl the other day. I was trying to shove my new Dunkin Donuts water bottle in a kitchen cabinet and while doing so, another bottle fell out onto the kitchen counter knocking a bowl to the floor into a million pieces. So congrats to me for uncluttering. AND bonus - the bowl was dirty anyway so no need to wash it.

p.s. Ooopsy, I forgot to mention, while I was in NY, I went to a Dunkin Donuts grand opening and I filled out an entry to win a gift set and I won. Ewww - coffee??? Gave it to my sister.

thrift store shopping in upstate new york

2011-07-01T11:06:00.008-04:00

Also when I was in New York, I stopped at a couple of thrifts that I always visit. Doesn't the Salvation Army look so inviting?

When I saw the entrance, I thought maybe they had gotten word that I was visiting and in preparation had set up a special entryway with a moat, just for me, as yardsale royalty. It was lovely, but I told them they could use the special queen/moat entryway for all. It was in this store that I saw the phallic Christmas Castle a while back.

Vinny (my niece's cat) enjoying the $1 yardsale cat house I bought him.

Garage Sales in Upstate NY

2011-06-30T14:33:00.012-04:00

Ok ok, here's more excuses for my blogging absence. I was away last week in upstate New York to attend my youngest niece's high school graduation. The graduation ceremony was on a Friday morning so no garage sales for me that day - but I had all morning on Saturday to hit the sales and even on Sunday I went to a few plus an indoor Elks Club yardsale.

Here's a couple of pics of my trip. There is such a variety of homes in upstate New York. You name it, I've been to it. Yardsales where the homes are 100+ years old, community wide yardsales in mobile home parks and apartment complexes, and regular ole typical single family homes. And even at a celebrity's home. And I'll never forget shopping at one of my all time favorite moving sales - going to David Cassidy's moving sale.

On my way to yardsale - the final day of a 3 day sale.

And they still had a ton of good stuff left! I bought a cool pair of Mid-Century Modern S & P shakers for .75 and a picture frame for $1 (for my mom who told me to find her one).

Busy busy busy

2011-06-19T10:21:00.009-04:00

Well when the cat's away, the queen plays. I was living the single girl life for a couple of days when DH and Jacob went away on a guy's motorcycle trip. They drove to Luray Caverns in Virginia on Friday and came home on Saturday. So that equals two days of uninhibited shopping for me.

But first, let me show pics of what I bought last Saturday. This is the shoebox of stuff I got for $5. When I was getting it out for the photo, I found the handwritten note.

I also put a pair of a pair of wire-cutters into the box. It also had the man's high school awards.

The prophylactic booklet is from some toothbrush company called prophylactic.

Here's one thing I bought yesterday (believe me, I bought more but only had time for one picture). Its a Little Tikes toy box but people want them for their football parties to use as coolers etc. It was $5 and some on ebay (depending on condition) sell for $75+

And now since no one thanked me for not posting some non-pretty pictures in my last post and I got one request to show at least one non-pretty picture - I am posting TWO, because I aim to please.

You can click on the photos to enlarge them. To see all the gory details.

Yard Sale Queen Weekend Update

2011-06-14T22:17:00.008-04:00

Last few days have been busy. Had Jacob's graduation ceremony from 5th grade to attend. Now I won't come right out and say it was boring, but I'm so glad I don't have to sit thru any more 5th grade graduation ceremonies. On Saturday (of course) I went to some yardsales. Most interesting thing I bought was a shoebox sized box full of interesting mementos from some soldier's WWII experience (metals, dog tags, things with swastikas on them, vintage souvenir booklets with photos from Italy etc etc.) I got all of that PLUS a railroad lantern and a 70's motorcycle magazine for $5. I asked the seller if the items had any sentimental value to her and she said no since it was stuff left in the house from the previous owner.

At another sale I took this photo of the truck in the driveway of the seller. There was a man and woman giving the sale, so I told the woman I liked the bumpersticker and the man said "that's not her sticker, it's mine". I did not buy their tub. Only thing I bought at that sale was a $2 Beatles Love cd which I will give to my sister. She saw the show last month in Vegas and loved it.

Here's some of my thrift store buys from last week. A Longaberger basket for .25 (it looks like it was washed or something - the Longaberger stamp on the bottom is barely visible. And 2 hairnets for .25 - to add to my hair net collection.

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Over the weekend, we stayed one night at our favorite local hotel. I got a special offer to stay one night for only $32. So I couldn't pass up that deal.

Our view from the room. There was a band playing from 4pm-8pm. In the evening, while the guys were relaxing in the room, I went down to the pier and watched some fishermen come in with their haul. Then saw what they do with the fish afterward. Ewwwwww. I have pics but they are not pretty.

First for Women magazine

2011-06-08T20:46:00.012-04:00

If you're waiting in line at the grocery store and have a few minutes to kill, check out the latest issue of First for Women (June 27th, 2011 date on cover) - page 86 to be exact to read some of my titillating tips on becoming a yardsale genius. I was also interviewed for a different article (same magazine) which will be out in August I think.

Speaking of grocery store lines - oye - what an experience I had yesterday. My grocery store has 3 self checkout lines - which are located further away from where the regular cashiers are at. So I'm waiting to self checkout and I hear a commotion going on in the next lane - with a woman calling for help. I look over and see a small child wedged between the side of the grocery cart and the wall and the woman (who is probably the grandmother) is getting hysterical. The child was screaming and I told the woman to calm down a second - the child can obviously breathe. And the woman says to me "But you don't understand - she doesn't listen to me!!!!!" I'm thinking "lady, get a grip, you can worry about that later".

An employee comes over and is trying to do something with the cart. So I step back and let the employee have space. Nothing is budging. The grandmother now starts screaming at the top of her lungs for help. So I go back over and thought that if the register wall could slide just a little, it may help. So I (still carrying my awesome purse of course) press my back up again the wall (where I drew the purple line) and then put my feet up against the other side and just pushed. I felt the wall start to tilt backwards some, so I pressed again harder the second time and the employee was able to get the girl out. Good thing I am sturdy like ox (thanks to my Polish & Ukrainian genes). And guess what happened afterward? That witchy grandma started yelling at the little girl. No thank you to anyone. By this time (I swear it seemed like forever but the whole episode probably only lasted 2 minutes from start to finish) the store manager finally got there and he told the grandma she needed to quit yelling at the kid.

The child was right in the little space on the left where it juts out a little by the electrical outlet.

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Had a nice little trip to my fav thrift today. For .25 I got 2 more vintage hairnets for wacky hairnet collection. And for .25 a Longaberger basket. Will post a picture tomorrow.

What skin secrets involve using a butcher knife?

2011-06-02T22:48:00.002-04:00

I saw this ad on some website I was on recently and it made my laugh. I wonder if they took the picture from some teenage slasher film.

Yard Sale at a McMansion

2011-06-01T17:22:00.011-04:00

Last Saturday (Memorial Day weekend) I went a little further than I normally travel for yardsales because I heard of a huge church yardsale. And since there weren't many advertised near my house, I decided to go. Plus, I saw an estate sale classified ad which was near the church.

I went to the estate sale first since it opened earlier. I think it was mislabeled - since basically, it was an indoor yardsale or indoor moving sale. To me, an estate sale is a sale that occurs after someone has passed away and it includes everything that you would find in a house (food, half full boxes of detergent, furniture, books, clothing, collectibles, junk, stuff, odds and ends, doodads, and whatnots.) And if I'm lucky, vintage spice tins to add to my collection.

But before I got to the estate sale, I had to take a hike to get to it. You had to park up on the street and then walk down a super long driveway. They should have had valet parking. Seriously. They had the signs to prove that they've done valet parking in the past.

The sale was actually an indoor moving sale. But I guess calling it an estate sale makes it sound classier (to some, not me). Like the way Martha Stewart always calls a yardsale a "tag sale". But actually when I read "estate sale" it makes me think that it could be a professionally run sale with high prices. Like I said, this sale was more like an indoor moving sale with reasonable prices.

I believe this quaint 9000+ square foot house with pool will be going on the market soon, so it could be yours, for the right price. Of course I would love it since, I too, decorate much like this myself (of course!!), and have the same taste in architectural details but I prefer something a bit more upscale. Nothing but the best for the queen. But then if I lived there, I would have to drive a lot further to get to my favorite thrift store, so that ain't gonna happen.

The only thing I bought was an American Girl doll for $20. Although if you bought a lot, you were allowed to leave your merchandise so you could go retrieve your car and drive it up the house to load your purchases.

The start of the yardsale hike:

The journey continues.....

Finally arrived:

I couldn't get the entire ceiling in the pic so I did a separate pic of just the chandelier.

Main Kitchen area - some of those things on the ceiling are speakers.
I didn't take a pic of the second kitchen which was on the bottom level.

stuff in the garage for sale:

The church sale was very good. I did buy a bunch of stuff, but sorry, no pics. There were something like 78 vendors set up (each paying $25 a spot). Plus the church had their collection of stuff to sell. There were lots of customers too. A well organized yardsale with a good following/reputation can really earn a church or organization a lot of money.

Yard Sale Buys

2011-05-27T21:53:00.006-04:00

I forgot to post a pic of what I bought last Saturday. It was a good day. Lots of church yardsales and even a school yardsale which was unadvertised. I cannot figure out why an organization would hold a yardsale and not even advertise it in the garage sale section of craiglist for free.

Stuff in the picture above range in price from free (the seller knew me and just told me to take stuff) to $2 for the Made in Poland crystal vase which I bought 2 weeks ago but forgot to photograph. Got a good deal on the new Johnson and Johnson baby wash stuff for .25 a bottle. And I got a vintage Disneyland ashtray for free (but it's not in the picture).

In the photo below the shopping bag and the two plastic bins were .50 each. Birdfeeder ($5) was the most expensive purchase of the day (looks better in real life - it's actually upside down in the photo)

And during the week I stopped at a new thrift store that opened up recently. I doubt it will stay in business (I think it's a "for profit" thrift store, rather than one run by an organization. I would have bought a pair of these nightstands if there were 2 of them but alas, there was only one. I just love the look of it (but would have painted it. That is glare on the top).

And of course, I hit Walgreens for some bargains. I'm always going to Walgreens to get stuff free (after Register Rewards) but for the first time I saw free free stuff. Just calendar posters but hey, they were free. I took a Family Guy and a Spongebob Squarepants one for Jacob. And side benefit - each poster came with a nice piece of cardboard. I'm weird, you never know when you'll need a nice piece of cardboard.

So many yardsales, so little time

2011-05-20T21:03:00.004-04:00

I found out that I lied the other day when I said I had 2 church yardsales in my town to go to on Saturday. I have three. At least their start times are staggered (7am, 7:30 and 8am). Next Saturday (Memorial Day weekend) I will probably be hoping to find one decent yardsale.

I saw something so hideous the other day, I had to have it. I have no idea why. I spent more than I think I should have ($3.50). I thought they would just charge me the $2 nightgown price and not the $3.50 robe price. I wasn't going to complain since it is my favorite thrift and the last thing I want is to irritate the volunteer cashiers.

Here's something else I bought this week:

some kind of fancy super duper ironing press. I paid $8 for it. The thing is heavy, I will put it on Craiglist.

I did two magazine interviews today - hopefully both articles will come out sometime in July.

How not to price stuff at a yardsale (or thrift store)

2011-05-18T22:29:00.005-04:00

I swear, some people really must not want to sell stuff at their yardsales or thrift stores. That is the only logical explanation I can come up with why someone would mark stuff in obvious places in permanent marker.

Exhibit A:

And here's an oldie that you may remember from last year. Exhibit B:

I had a good yardsaling day last Saturday. I was able to get a $3 booster seat to give to my brother. They asked me to look for one since they occasionally have a friend's kid in their car (they have one booster seat already but want a second one for their other car). Even though he lives in upstate New York, I plan on visiting there again soon so I can give it to him then.

Here is a portion of the stuff that I bought on Saturday. One church yardsale (spent $7 for the bulk of the stuff you see), then an indoor community center yardsale and then a school yardsale and a couple of others. See that red box? That's a Waterford Crystal Christmas ornament (next to the box). It was $5. I like the round ceramic dish with cover (on the booster seat), that was .50. The Scrabble game was free. Crafters like Scrabble tiles to make stuff, I've been saving up a bunch of tiles to put up as a big lot on ebay. The rifle team jacket was .50. It seemed like an odd jacket - maybe someone on ebay will think it's cool. The Rosie doll (.75) is an ebay dud. But maybe I can resell at my next yardsale.

Looking foward to this Saturday. Two more nearby church yardsales.

I heart Walgreens! What .04 will buy nowadays

2011-05-11T22:18:00.000-04:00

I had an awesome shopping trip at Walgreens yesterday. I was kinda disappointed in this week's Walgreens ad (except for the 5 12-packs of diet-pepsi for $13 deal). I was busy all day on Monday - a trip to the dentist to get a a cavity filled, Target, Walmart, Staples, BJ's Warehouse, two different CVS's, Kohl's, thrift store, yadda yadda and couldn't fit Walgreens into the schedule on Monday.

But yesterday I went and wow - clearance deals galore in the snack aisle. I had gotten a lot of Register Rewards last week (last week's ad was awesome) so I used those to pay for all the junk food you see above - except I did have to fork over a whole 4 cents. Plus I picked up my free collage print deal they had over Mother's Day weekend.

During my trip to Kohl's I learned something new. I have a Kohl's credit card to get all those special coupons that come in the mail. And to get the discount you have to use the Kohl's credit card to pay. My Kohl's statement gets sent to my email and I'm always forgetting the Kohl's password and have to have it re-sent. And I'm paranoid that sometime I will forget to pay it and get a late fee etc. So what I learned the other day is that once you make your purchase at Kohl's, you can go ahead and pay it off immediately with cash. That is going to save me a lot of headaches, because I normally don't buy a whole lot at Kohl's so paying it off immediately will save me time. And I still get the discounts. And I won't have Mr. YSQ asking me "So what did you buy at Kohl's?" when he sees the bank statement. My purchase the other day was a new bedspread for Jacob - was $99.99 - on clearance for $19.99 plus I got 15% discount.

And finally, I found some good stuff to buy at the thrift store which has had slim pickins lately. For $6 - this brand new Food Network serving thing. The Kohl's $39.99 price tag is still attached. The box shows a thrift store price of $8 on the front, but on the side there was another price of $6 - so that is what I got it for. For $3 - a oozy goozy thing for Jacob (I was hesitant to pay $3 but I knew Jacob would love it and he does). And for $1 - the red small hand. Will be good for displaying jewelry on etc, when I finally get back to selling on ebay.

Today at my regular thrift, I bought a full sized bottle of Coco Chanel eau de toilette for $8. That was the bargain of the day.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T13:27:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. I am going to celebrate Mother's Day the old-fashioned way. The way it was intended. I'm going gambling. I got a coupon for free bingo tonight and also want to use my free $20 in free birthday game play at the faux slot machines.

Didn't have too great of a morning yardsaling yesterday. My favorite find was a vintage Radio Shack Panapet transistor radio for .75. I bought all the below for $3. The L'eggs egg I just got because of the packaging. I don't plan on wearing them.

Yippee - computer is working!

2011-05-05T20:29:00.007-04:00

The last few days my computer has been on break. I got some corrupted file or something that didn't make my computer boot up. Mr. YSQ fixed it tonight - yippee!! Just in time for me to read all my congratulations and birthday wishes tomorrow.

But geez CVS, I know I will be another year older shortly, but I'm not quite ready to be buying Grampers just yet. This is what I got recently when I scanned my CVS Extracare card:

My neighborhood had a "neighborhood-wide" yardsale last Saturday. Which meant if you wanted, you could pay a $10 donation to a food pantry and they would let you set up on an empty lot. Or you could just have a yardsale at your house. It would have been worth the effort, IF they had put ads in the newspapers and did better advertising. But they didn't, and they didn't even advertise on craigstlist either. There was one sign. Small black writing on grey??? Oh puhleese. As a shopper though, it was good since most of the sellers were on the one empty lot, and there weren't a lot of competition from other shoppers.

A couple of my thrift stores have been disappointing lately. Just a lot of crap. Or they have "ok" stuff that is way overpriced. Example:

Or just stuff that is just plain tacky:

Next week I have another dentist appointment to fill a small cavity, so I will stop in the thrift again since its near the dentist office. They better get some good junk in soon!

The Royal Wedding April 29 Celebration

2011-04-29T16:58:00.006-04:00

Today, April 29, marks an important date in Royal Wedding History. It will be remembered as the day when a regular commoner married into royalty - in 1989. Happy Anniversary to the happy couple - me and Mr. YSQ. Mr. YSQ bestowed me with flowers and a luncheon at a fabulous place. I was surprised that we were able to get in for our luncheon, EVEN WITHOUT RESERVATIONS! The restaurant name escapes me at the moment, but I think it's something like Crimson Friday. Just give me a moment and the name will come to me.

Today starts the beginning of the three weeks of gift receiving. Boom, boom, boom. Anniversary, birthday, Mother's Day.

I thought I had a wedding pic saved somewhere on my harddrive but I can't seem to find it. Instead I will do double duty and share a belated Easter photo from pretty much the exact same time period (I worked part-time at a one hour photo place that did Easter Bunny photos so I got the pic for free - of course). I had awesome 80's hair.

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Tomorrow promises to be a busy morning so I need to go and plan the agenda for the day.

p.s. Oh I just remembered the restaurant name. How silly - it's not Crimson Friday. It's Ruby Tuesday. Only the best for the Queen! ;)

April 29 - great day for a Royal Wedding!

2011-04-28T16:44:00.004-04:00

Just one more day until the big festivities celebrating the Royal Wedding. Cuz you know I will be celebrating. Even Mr. YSQ will be celebrating. It really will be a big deal here at the castle. Check back tomorrow and I will tell you how we plan to celebrate.

Pollen season here at the castle:

And my latest Walgreens find: clearanced shaving cream for .57 a can. Actually my sister spotted it when we were at Walgreens in New York. So the other day when I returned home to Maryland, I checked my Walgreens and saw they hadn't put clearance stickers on them yet, but they also rang up at .57 a can!

Best piece of yardsale literature (this week) and GROSS used cars

2011-04-27T19:04:00.007-04:00

Here's the issue of Woman's World where you can see me on page 24 (you can browse it while standing in line at the grocery store). They wrote that I've saved more than $10,000 by shopping at yardsales. As usual, I was misquoted since I'm pretty sure I said "one MILLION dollars" in my best Dr. Evil voice.

Among some other updates, guess who won $100 for promising not to drink and drive the other week? moi. I won't say I was lucky since I do have a method to my madness when entering a contest where you fill out an entry form.

Finally here are the pics from the doll hoarder indoor estate sale I went to a few weeks ago. Nope, didn't buy any dolls. There were tons more that I didn't take photos of. The sad part I think is that the woman who owned all these dolls died over 5 years ago and it was the husband who recently died, so that was the reason for the estate sale. I can't imagine a man living amongst all these dolls. If those had been my dolls, Mr. YSQ would be on the phone getting a temporary dumpster to be delivered before I even got cold.

And lastly, Pennsylvania has some Gross used cars (do you know how long I've been trying to get a picture of this?????)

I am back

2011-04-25T22:27:00.005-04:00

Well I am back in town. So I do have an excuse for not blogging. Went to visit family in upstate New York for spring/Easter break. Well since it's upstate New York, calling last week "spring" is just wishful thinking. Yes, I saw snow. It was dirty nasty snow, but it was still snow. And Jacob got more use out of his winter coat. So I should look on the bright side, yes? And I got to declutter my house a little and delivered the matzos, oven cleaner and the Libman mop my mom wanted me to look for. I gave the mop to my mom as an Easter present, because I'm generous that way.

But upstate New Yorkers are a hearty bunch. It can be 40 degrees and raining buckets, but thankfully their garage sales still go on!

I gotta go catch up on some tv watching and do some relaxing tonight. Since relaxing is not what vacations are for (they are for "doing").

ttfn

Long delayed weekend update

2011-04-16T18:46:00.015-04:00

Let's see, what's new and exciting in the life of YSQ?? Ummmm...let's see, I have some breaking news - I bought some stuff. Been going to some yardsales. Haven't bought a new car yet, so instead I just went and spent $250 on two new tires. Today was a very soggy day, but luckily there were two large indoor yardsales that I went to. Bought another Pulp Fiction Kangaroo for $2. After the yardsales today, I even went to a local hole in the wall bar called the Solomon's Island Tiki Bar. I've mentioned it before here on the blog a long time ago, it's a local bar that throws a big grand opening party every April. Thousands of people show up out of nowhere. And I think the ladies room only has 3 toilets.

As usual, I had my ulterior motives for stopping there today. Yesterday and today, if you signed up to be a designated driver, you're entered to win one of many cool prizes that they will give away on Monday. And just for signing up as a designated driver, I got a free Bud Light can koozie to keep my beer cold. I'm joking, I don't need to keep my beer cold (since I drink rum and coke). But honestly I was given a free Bud Light can koozie for being a designated driver. And I did actually walk thru the bar, but didn't recognize any drunk friends needing a ride home so I left since I did what I came to do (sign up to win prizes). And I stopped at their Tiki Tobacco shop and got some free empty cigar boxes. But it's really crappy weather today for their opening weekend. Here's some pics from today:

I missed seeing the Clydesdales. Oh well, I saw them the last time I went to Busch Gardens. I remember that trip, since I almost got bounced out of the free tasting room (even though typically I don't drink beer, I *will* occasionally choke it down if it's free).

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Look for me in an upcoming issue of Woman's World Magazine The date on the cover should say May 2, but it will be out next week sometime I think. I was interviewed for a yardsale article a while back. I have no idea what I said in the phone interview. I hope they can edit it to make it sound like I'm not a total idiot. I've also been doing a few newspaper interviews - newspapers in Missouri, Virginia and North Carolina. I really should update my Media. Oh well, someday.

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Here's a pic of some eggs I bought. Yes, they got wedged in the minivan's sliding door.

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And there you have it - all the exciting news that's been happening lately.

Oven Cleaner, a Mop and Matzos

2011-04-05T22:37:00.006-04:00

I like a good old fashioned shopping challenge - you know when someone asks you to keep your eyes peeled for a specific hard to find item. But geez, my most recent shopping challenge was way too easy. During my weekly phonecall with mother, she told me she had been looking all over for two things - Carbona Oven Rack cleaner and a Libman mop with the felt mop head and couldn't find either. She told me if, by chance, if I was able to find them to get them and bring when I visit NY later this month.

All it took was a quick trip to my local grocery store to find both. I used $2 off coupons for the rack cleaners and the mop was on sale too. My grocery store has a deal this week that if you spend $25, you got a 5 lb package of Matzos for free. So the Matzos will be going to NY too - I will give to my niece as an Easter present since her boyfriend is a Kosher Vegan Vermonter.

The thing on the left hand side of the cart is the hand held grocery scanner - if you are not self-scanning your own groceries you are living in the stone age!

My Versace and Prada Yard Sale Buys

2011-04-04T22:12:00.009-04:00

I went to a small community wide yardsale this past Saturday and bought the stuff below. I even did a youtube video since it's been a while since I made one. The chrome towel bar is going in my bathroom to replace the wooden one I installed 3 years ago - they don't last due to the moisture. The chrome one will look nicer and goes with everything else in the bathroom.

One thing I steer clear of at yardsales is designer handbags at yardsales since there are so many counterfeits. And since I have the most awesomest handbag ever, I won't be shopping for another handbag for YEARS. But sunglasses are another story. The seller was an older woman who knew exactly what she paid for each pair and she didn't seem like the type of person who would be buying knockoffs at the fleamarket. Plus, these sunglasses just looked expensive, nice case, even the nosepads have the name on them. I may resell the ones with the lighter lens since if I'm wearing sunglasses, I want the lenses to be dark. They were $10 each.

I'm still alive!

2011-04-02T19:47:00.005-04:00

why the hell is time going by so fast??? Crap, I haven't even shown pictures of the doll hoarder yardsale I went to last week. I neglected to give you all an April Fools joke. I'm slacking! I went to a couple of good sales today. And will post a real blog update too.

Just an update on my awesome white trash birdfeeder stand - note: do not spray paint the hooks green, use hunter orange or some other bright color instead. Cuz when the superhuman squirrels knock the feeders off the hooks, it's hard to find green hooks on the ground.

ttfn

Like a blind dog in a meat market

2011-03-23T19:37:00.005-04:00

I stopped into my favorite thrift today and an older customer standing next to me said "it's like a blind dog in a meat market". Basically what he meant was that all of us customers were just fumbling around, bumping into everything and smelling/touching everything. Yep, that's about right.

Here's what I bought for $2. A set of brand new melamine dishes by Thomas Paul. I thought they were too big to be dinner dishes but that's what they are. If you like them, you can buy your own set for only $40 on Amazon (I'm keeping mine.) $10 each for melamine plates?? Yikes!!!

I won FIRST PRIZE in the Academy of Country Music Awards contest!!!!!!!!

2011-03-21T22:10:00.011-04:00

A while back I entered an online contest sponsored by Dr. Pepper & Arby's to win a trip to Nashville to attend the Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony. It was right up my alley, since walking the red carpet, posing for the paparazzi etc, is the sort of thing as yardsalequeen, I am used to doing constantly. Well guess what??? Today I got notification that I won FIRST PRIZE!!!!!!!!!

And as a First Prize winner, here's what I won. A t-shirt. Then I saw an envelope and it felt like there was a gift card inside. Nope, I also won a 5 free song download. "Congrautlations" to me. It was the grand prize winner that got to go to Nashville.

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I go to the doctors later this week for a checkup so I've been walking on our dining room treadmill. Everyone has a treadmill in their dining room, right? I despise running, so I only use it for walking. I've been doing more walking than usual (my normal walking routine is from the parking lot to the store and from the store to the car) so my doctor better be nice to me. 95 minutes spent walking today with NO buying of anything! That has to be some sort of personal best.

Ta-da! My re-purposed swing/glider bird feeder revealed!

2011-03-20T15:35:00.006-04:00

And here it is, in all it's glory, is my new bird and/or squirrel feeding center. I love how it turned out. And the best part, years from now when maybe it gets rusty or falls apart, I'm sure I can find a cheap replacement at a yardsale. Heck, I see an old dirty swing sitting on my neighbor's porch right now so there are tons of them around. Other benefits: it's portable so I can move it if I want to rake under it or move to a new location. When it rains, I won't worry about it falling over, like those stupid shepherd hooks seem to do. You may have noticed my new suet feeder is not in the pic, I plan on putting that one off our deck since it doesn't create a mess, like sunflower shells do. There is still room for more feeders and I will probably rearrange them from time to time.

Here's a reminder of what I started with (my old rusty swing with missing back, cushions etc)

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No yardsales yesterday so no yardsale bargains to talk about.

My DIY Repurposed Glider Patio Swing Makeover into Birdfeeder Station

2011-03-18T20:14:00.015-04:00

Today was the day I planned for my glider/swing makeover into my birdfeeding station. So it's 95% complete - the only thing left to do is fill and hang the bird feeders. Once I get the bird feeders up (and before it becomes covered with bird poop) I will post an "after" picture.

So here is the official "before" picture, taken in it's natural habitat. Notice the missing back, missing cushions and rust.

Step 1. Removed the swing part. (On the unused part, I tore off the rest of the fabric and will take the metal to the metal recycling place).

Step 2. Used a wire brush and scrubbed the rusty parts to get the rust flakes off.

Step 3. Dug around in bathroom closet to find my unused metal shower curtain hooks. Spray painted them green. Ever since I bought my awesome shower curtain, I didn't need the hooks anymore (but of course didn't even consider throwing them away). The shower curtain hooks are what will hold the feeders onto the frame. At first I thought about buying "S" hooks at the hardware store, but then I checked the price. For a big S hook, they wanted $1.59 or so EACH. I don't think so.

Step 4. Spray painted the swing frame green (I used some expensive Krylon Fusion paint which I had on hand. I bought several cans dirt cheap at a yardsale). The fusion paint is for plastic but it said it was good for metal and wood etc. Notice my current bird feeders in the background. Ever since I decided to make my bird feeder station, I've neglected filling the feeders.

So here is my "before" pic of my current birdfeeding situation mess. (yes, the squirrels opened the light green birdfeeder on the left).

Stay tuned to see my new birdfeeding station complete with birdfeeders.

Got my gutters decluttered

2011-03-15T20:58:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was a rare day, I spent an entire day at home. No Walgreens, no CVS, no trip to the Post Office, or grocery store, nada. But I did manage to spend money.

The castle's gutters needed decluttering. Badly. The castle is multi-leveled. That's a fancy way of saying part it's part one story and part two story. It's the two story part that needed the work of a professional. (Yes, I love going up on the roof of the one story part and cleaning the gutters!)

The last time I was quoted a price for gutter cleaning it was $100 (didn't get it done, I just asked a handyman who was doing work at a neighbors for a quote). The second floor gutters hadn't been cleaned in many years. I called a company that advertised $65 gutter cleaning. I figured it would be $65 and UP, but on the phone they said it was a flat $65 and they would clean up the mess and be there the same day. And they were. Sorry for rambling on about gutter cleaning but I am so happy to find a gutter cleaning place who doesn't get scared off when they see how tall our house is. There's no way I would walk around on the roof of the second floor part ...and then stand near the edge and actually clean the gutters??? No way. With their leaf blower they even cleaned the leaves off the back deck which was not even part of the mess they created with the gutter junk. Sorry I don't have pics to show, I didn't want the gutter guys to think I am weird.

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The other day I was at one of my favorite grocery stores (the old Food Lion) and on the way home, I passed a storage facility place and saw cars parked up and down the road and people milling around. So it dawned on me - storage auction!!!! I hit the brakes. Unfortunately I was too late and missed the auction but I did pick up a schedule for future auctions.

Speaking of my fav grocery store, here it is on a typical busy afternoon.

Oh and I got some good news today. It may be good new for you too (if you are a Walgreens addict like me). The manager told me that the store is being re-done on the inside - no more tall aisles filled sky high, it's going to be "low profile". So they will be doing a lot of clearancing over the next several weeks. I don't know if the change will be in all stores nationwide or what. So your mileage may vary.

Decluttered Christmas Tree

2011-03-13T20:48:00.016-04:00

So here's what I decluttered the other day - donations ready for pick-up by AmVets. I even asked if they wanted old computer monitors and they said yes. I love that they pick up right at the door and leave the tax receipt. No lugging stuff to the thrift store. I declutterized our Christmas tree, some clothes and miscellany. I think I bought the tree at 75% off clearance at CVS several years back (regular price $59.99, YSQ price: $15). It was pre-lit with clear lights, which worked great, but the tree itself looks nothing like the photo on the box. The tree had lots of big gaps in the branches and overall so-so. So this past January I bought another clearance Christmas tree also at 75% off (so about the same price as I paid for the other one). But it's a Rite-Aid Christmas tree with colored lights. I doubt it can be any worse than the other one. I'll know once December rolls around again, which will be here before you know it.

One thing I always do is go over all junk mail pretty thoroughly. Cuz you just never know when a good coupon may be hidden somewhere. Last week in the weekly sales ads, there was a separate coupon for Ace Hardware. But the coupon wasn't good for last weekend, it was good for THIS weekend (Fri, Sat, & Sun). So I'm sure many people saw it and just threw it out or set it aside but then forgot to use it. The coupon was good for 50% off one item (less than $30). So I bought the below birdfeeder (suet feeder) not for $24.99, but for $12.49 plus tax with the coupon. I have an Ace Hardware store close by so it's not out of my way to go there. I was able to find a second coupon so today I bought an 8-pack of suet blocks for $3.99 (not $7.99) PLUS I found a dollar bill on the floor while shopping! And I know a lot of people didn't use the coupon since when I handed the cashier the coupon (today was last day to use it), the cashier had to consult with another cashier on how to type it into the cash register. I have a ton of birdfeeders (most from yardsales) but every once in a while it's nice to get a spanking brand new one that I don't need to clean out someone else's rotten birdseed out of.

So pretty much my goal in life is not to pay full price for anything if at all possible. Just the other day, long suffering Mr. YSQ was lamenting the fact that I never buy him his favorite Dove Chocolate Easter eggs until Easter is over. (Duh, winning!) But I was successfully able to prove him wrong this year (and that's what marriage is all about, right?) Here is my evidence:

Dove Chocolate bought the other day for Mr. YSQ for .06 (it was on sale for $3, minus $1 coupon that the CVS coupon center printed out for me combined with the $2 Facebook CVS candy coupon.)

I did hit one yardsale yesterday but it wasn't blogworthy to talk about.

Here is a TV

2011-03-11T14:49:00.002-05:00

or this other tv

Feel fee to disregard this post. We are thinking of buying this tv so I wanted to do an affiliate link for myself, so that way when if we buy it, I will get my kick-back and I'll use this link to buy it. Just wanted to make 200% sure I'll get my kick-back.

My Future White Trash Birdfeeder Stand

2011-03-10T19:00:00.008-05:00

Pictured above is our old falling apart deck swing, AKA my future birdfeeder stand. It originally came with a canopy for shade, which I think lasted one year before the fabric started disintegrating from the hot summer sun. So that got taken off. Then the cushions started falling apart so those got thrown away (I modified other outdoor cushions for it.) Then finally the fabric on the actual swing started decaying so I tore off the fabric on the back part since bits and pieces were falling off and making a mess. I figured someday we'll spend an hour or so and take it to metal recycling and maybe get $3 for it. But then it dawned on me that it would make one helluva bird feeder stand. I just need to remove the swing part. All those swirly things at the top will be able to hold a ton of different type feeders. And since the frame is sturdy, it won't start leaning like my current shepherd hooks do under the weight of 8 lbs of sunflower seeds. So stay tuned, this is the "before" picture. And I plan on spray painting it since there is some rust going on.

I am a surprised that a few of you actually liked that old wheelchair! Yes, I agree, it would be a neat thing to have as a spooky Halloween decoration or part of a haunted house display. Personally I don't have room to store it. Plus, they wanted like $35 for it. For $35, I could buy 70 .50 items at a yardsale :)

Now here's something I wanted to buy but didn't. I just loved this coffee table but I have no room for it and it needed to be refinished. But it was solid wood from Lane, and had an awesome Mid-Century modern look to it. It was $15.

Instead, here is something I bought. An empty box for .25. It's small and doesn't take up much room. I sort of have a collection of vintage bathroom products. Funny how it has laxative action. I guess somehow years ago, nose and butt problems were related.

Still no new car for me. I swear, we have definitely spent more time looking at new cars than we did we bought our house. (We spent a grand total of about 8 hours house hunting before we bought our house). And geez, once those car dealers get your info, they call every other day wanting to help you.

I am on a drug, it's called Yardsale Queen.

2011-03-05T23:30:00.009-05:00

Well no yardsales today, but I did go to an outdoor shopping venue that wasn't even a flea market. More like a monthly outdoor craft show with high prices. I bought nothing.

Speaking of not buying things, here are some things I saw at one of my thrifts recently but didn't buy. I am very disappointed in this store lately, it is getting overly crap-filled with high prices. For instance, shoe prices used to be .50 or $1. (I once bought a very nice pair of Dansko shoes for $1 there and re-sold them for $100+.) When I recently checked their shoe prices, on some I saw a $9 price tag. For a pair of nothing special used shoes. No way.

They had a very old wheelchair (who would buy something like this?? I mean, if you needed a wheelchair, you wouldn't use one that was built in 1940 (or whenever). And I don't see it as being something someone would buy as a collectible.)

A shelf for your monitor. I bet the company that makes these is out of business.

$5 for an 'NSYNC bear. $5??? I wouldn't buy it if it was .50.

In honor of my Dad

2011-03-02T20:38:00.007-05:00

who died 6 years ago today, here is a polka for your listening and viewing pleasure (it's a cover of Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band; a good polka band will have the ability to take a song from any musical genre and turn it into a polka.) My Dad probably would have known half the people in the video. This video was filmed at his favorite polka place, and the site of my wedding reception (which of course the father/daughter dance was a polka).

p.s. hey, I just saw someone I know in this video - a cousin and her husband. They are self-proclaimed polka chasers. You know how some people who are into the weather go out and chase tornados? My cousin and her husband go out and chase polkas all over the country.

Yard Sale and Garage Sale Buys - Reselling them on eBay

2011-02-28T11:07:00.006-05:00

Just a quick note - the yardsale queen message board is smokin' hot! Just in the past two weeks we had board members with some great ebay sales. For stuff that was bought at yardsales and garage sales! One auction was for a pair of coffee tables - they went for over $1000. A clock went for over $700, and a pair of used old sneakers went for over $900!! (ok the sneakers weren't found at a yardsale, but at 20 years old, they could have been!)

And I recently sold a cereal premium freebie - you know a free toy that comes in boxes of kid's cereal? I had lot of 6 of a particular freebie toy go for $41! And something I bought at an indoor yardsale this past Saturday for $3 is up to $50 already! It's pretty exciting! That's why I am using so many exclamation points!

To read the rules of the message board and to join, click here a small portion of the message board can be pre-viewed here. Members who are signed in can see the whole thing.

Bingo, Tag Toppers, Oatmeal, Yardsales & Etc.

2011-02-23T21:52:00.012-05:00

Ok, time to finally catch up on what's been happening in the past few weeks. Nothing too exciting but haven't really had time to sit down and write up a bloggy post.

I ate oatmeal yesterday. For the first time in my life. Don't get me wrong, I can eat oatmeal cookies all day long, but cooked oatmeal for breakfast? Nope. You know what changed my mind? Getting a coupon for a free oatmeal at McDonald's (it was in last Sunday's coupon packs.) I can't turn down free food, even if it's oatmeal. It was ok I guess, since I don't really have anything to compare it to. But the price was right.

And in my previous post, I said I was recovering from playing bingo. That is a whole nother way to waste a day. But that also included free food and I won $50 so I can't complain. The only reason why I played is because of pretty much why I do anything in life - because I had a coupon for it. The coupon was good for $25 worth of bingo cards plus a free dabber. So why not? And it came with free soda, danish, lunch and more free soda. I left my house at 8:30am and got home around 3pm. And that $25 pack of bingo cards didn't even include all the games. There were bingo employees circulating around the tables saying things like "Quickie, $50 Cherry, Day at the Races, U-pick-Um" which were special bingo games that they sold cards for. I resisted since I had a hard enough time keeping up with the regular games, which of course, most times were not regular bingo games. Games like double bingo, triple bingo, crazy 7 bingo, crazy kite bingo etc. I came home stressed and exhausted. But full of free soda. And that's what's important - getting my fill of diet pepsi.

At lunchtime, there was a quick break for lunch - which they provided for free. Pulled pork sandwich and a glob of chocolate pudding.

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Then the other weekend, the clubhouse in our 'hood had a mini version of Antiques Roadshow so I went to it. For $2 admission you could bring as much stuff as you wanted and a local antiques dealer would tell you what he thought about your junk. Here's what I brought:

I am currently selling the cake dish for a local elderly woman who is downsizing. I mainly wanted a second opinion on it (to confirm that what I thought it is - an emerald Fenton cake plate). I've had the KISS lunchbox for a good 15 years - I have it displayed with my other lunchboxes in my kitchen. The dealer estimated it to be worth around $100 - and I just recently sold it on ebay for $150. I would rather collect money than have it collect dust. The chopsticks with mother of pearl and the silver thing (it's an Occupied Japan smokers set - ashtray, place to store cigarettes, matchbook holder) are things my dad bought as souvenirs during his service in the Korean War. Never knew why he bought the smokers thing since he wasn't a smoker. The pocketwatch belonged to my husband's grandfather, the dealer estimated it at about $150. And the thing that says "Solomons Island Maryland" is called a tag topper. People would put them on their license plates as decorations. I plan on keeping it (I paid .50 for it at a flea market), but the dealer said if I was to sell it, not to sell it for less than $150.

At the antique roadshow event, it was very low key, just people talking about their junk and eavesdropping and hearing what the dealer thought stuff was worth. It was the next best thing to do besides going yardsaling, of course.

Here's a pic of something I thought was interesting that someone else brought in - Presidential and Camp David cigarettes:

Speaking of tag toppers, I went to an indoor yardsale last Saturday and bought one and have it listed on ebay. Lots of people have looked at it but no bids currently. There is a link to my ebay auctions over there to the left.

And finally, Jacob and I spent our last free night at the hotel for a while. Finally scored a free room on the top floor with a better view. Normally the free rooms are on lower level with limited view.

View from the room:

Ok, two minutes before I took this picture, I had just left the indoor heated pool and ran outside soaking wet to take this picture. So you better enjoy it:

Jacob, of course, playing computer in a new location. The other rooms we've been in, haven't had an ottoman so he had to try it out instead of the computer chair:

p.s. Coming soon, to a grocery store checkout near you, me in a magazine. Nope, not the National Enquirer. Stay tuned for details.

Been Busy

2011-02-19T11:41:00.005-05:00

I know I know, a day without a blog post from me is like a day without sunshine. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I will rectify the situation shortly. I hope.

I am still recovering from playing Bingo on Tuesday.

Talk to you soon.

some random pics for Valentine's Day

2011-02-12T17:51:00.009-05:00

Happy Valentines's Day - to those who celebrate.

This is why I am glad I just have a basic, regular ole top loading washing machine. I'm sure this thing cost a crapton and a half when it was new. Here it is, needing some sort of belt, for $20 at the thrift store. I opened it up and it smelled mildewy.

Had lunch with DH at a Chinese buffet place last week. I have no idea what this is (I did not try it), but whatever it is, I think it could called pitted eyeballs and served at a Halloween party.

Jacob at ten years of age, is already tired of the paparazzi.

That's all folks, nothing much new to report. Oh but I did do something fun on Sunday, which I will have to blog about. If you can't be out buying junk, the next best thing is being out and looking at other people's junk.

Snickers and Moes

2011-02-07T20:25:00.006-05:00

Originally I had planning on staying home all day today and being good and working on ebay. Oh well, I can always try again next week. I did write up some new ebay listings but then remembered that I better go out to lunch at Moes and use a $5 gift card that was going to expire next week. (Every December Moes has a gift card deal that if you buy a $25 GC, you get a free $5 GC but that $5 GC will expire in the middle of February). And I wanted to use it today, to get the most bang for my free $5 buck. On Mondays, my Moes has a lunch special for $5.99 (includes a burrito, chips and drink). Otherwise on any other day you are paying $7.18 for the same huge burrito and $1.89 for the drink). So using my $5 gift card today, I only paid $1.05.

Then went to Food Lion, for some necessities. 6 Snicker bars. They were Buy 1 Get 1 Free (but at Food Lion, they essentially just ring up at half price: .49) So then I used some Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupons which scanned at .99 off. So total paid for 6 candybars: .15

Kapoosh and ShamWow!

2011-02-05T21:35:00.017-05:00

I'm not sure if I mentioned it again or not, but again this winter, the local hotel gave us free rooms to use again. So this morning after checking out of the hotel, we did some shopping in another city about 45 miles from the castle).

First on my To-Do list was to go to a home improvement show being held in a local arena. I wanted to go for a few reasons: it was free to go. It was pretty close to the hotel location. And I had never been inside the arena before and wanted to see it. Only downside is now I am going to be bombarded for the next 12 months with timeshare opportunities and people wanting to update my kitchen cabinets. But that is my own fault for giving my real name and # on their entry blanks.

Then onto a Honda dealer to look at the CR-7 cars. DH felt cramped in it, so it's not going to make the cut. If you remember, we started looking for a new car last July. DH doesn't like to rush into things, plus, I still wasn't sold yet on replacing my Mazda MPV.

So cutting the CR-7 off the list, there is just one car left. Chances are my new vehicle will be a Toyota Venza. The Mazda CX-7 is being axed since in comparison to the Venza, the Venza is nicer inside. I've never had a Toyota before. Of course, in a perfect world, I would go into a time machine and bring back one of the best cars ever - a "new" a 1988 Plymouth Sundance, with 0 miles, in baby blue.

Then, onto Bed Bath & Beyond. I wish there was one closer to me, I love that store. When I visited my sister in December, she showed me her Kapoosh Knife Holder and I loved it. She had the one in the wooden block and I immediately went and bought one while in NY (since of course I carry my 20% off Bed Bath & Beyond coupons everywhere I go, just in case). But when I got it home to Maryland, I realized the stainless steel one would be better for me. So I returned it last month to the Annapolis Bed Bath & Beyond store. But they were out of the one I wanted. It's $39.99 at BB&B (less 20% coupon, I didn't pay $57)

So I was happy to find it at their other location today. Plus I bought other things, like how could I pass up ShamWow! towels for just $5.99 (less 20% coupon, of course). They also had Christmas food gift sets, like Knotts Berry Farm Boysenberry syrup/waffle mix sets for $3.99 (less 20%). Originally $19.99. I bought 2.

You probably already know this if you are a regular Bed Bath & Beyond shopper, but save all your 20% off coupons that you get in the mail. Even though they have an expiration date, you can used expired coupons. And you can use one coupon per item. I bought 6 things today and I handed the cashier 6 coupons.

Picture from this morning - a gray day on the bay.

Too bad I don't like pastrami

2011-01-31T17:19:00.003-05:00

My deal today was on pastrami. Too bad I don't like pastrami. But I bought it anyway since DH will eat it. It's meat and it doesn't live in water, so it's fine with him.

There are two Food Lion grocery stores within 3 miles of my house. The old one and the new one. The old one is considered the old one for a few reasons. It's been around longer. And it's where all the residents of the nearby retirement community (and me) shop. Lately I've been noticing it has better deals than their other location. Like their *manger specials* at the deli. Plus, since it not as busy as the new one, so lots of things tend to get marked down a lot more frequently than at the other store.

Clutter on Wheels | Valuables Circa 1991

2011-01-28T17:59:00.010-05:00

I may be selling my clutter wagon soon (aka my Mazda MPV) and getting a new vehicle that I can clutter up. So the search is on for where I put the MPV's title. Today I totally emptied it out. (I know not to keep the title in the car, but it had to be emptied anyway). It's all cleaned out except for a nickle that is lodged between the center console and the seat but I can't reach it, and that bugs me. Of course I didn't actually clean it out as I went, I just threw everything in a big plastic stripey bag. (If you don't know what a stripey bag is, you need to start shopping at more flea markets.)

I remember looking for the car's title a while ago and didn't find it, but I figured I would check the safe deposit box at the bank one more time. It's where we keep all of our valuables. Except for car titles apparently. And since all of our valuables cannot fit into an actual safe deposit box due to size issues, a while ago (1991) I took pictures of our valuables. So in case of theft or hurricane or something, I would have something to show to the insurance agent. We lived thru Hurricane Hugo in Charleston SC, so I've seen the devastation that a large hurricane can do.

Just look at how awesome our entertainment system used to be. It's where we kept all of our VHS and CDs. And of course we had cable tv, (the cable tv box is under Homer & Bart). Jacob looked at the picture today and asked how old he was when the picture was taken. Like negative 9.

p.s. And I just want to note that my CD collection is much larger now. Since of course, CDs will be around forever, just like my cassette collection.

My impressive centerfold spread

2011-01-27T10:46:00.006-05:00

As promised, here is my centerfold spread. See where that pen is pointing to? Yep, it's me and the boy in the centerfold of the exclusive freebie local newspaper.

The other week when we were staying overnight (for free again) at the hotel, the next morning there was a fundraising polar bear plunge, so we had to go watch. And not plunge.

This woman had the hairiest armpits:

I think if the Guinness Book was there, they could have classified it as the world's smallest polar bear plunge in history.

Here's a short video

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We had a dusting of snow last night, so of course schools are closed today.

I totally missed Joey Fatone's yardsale

2011-01-23T22:18:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I am totally bummed. Not only couldn't I go to Saturday's Clean House yardsale out in California, I also missed Joey Fatone's yardsale in Orlando.

I will just have to drown my sorrow and think of better times. Like the glorious day I spent at David Cassidy's garage sale. That makes me feel better.

Oh and I was recently in a centerfold. I can cross that off my bucket list now. More about that later.

Annapolis on the Cheap / Turning into a Groupon Addict

2011-01-20T20:20:00.011-05:00

I think I've turned into a Groupon addict. One day last weekend, we had planned on going to Annapolis for the day to do some shopping. Annapolis is basically a town where every other car on the road is either a Lexus or a BMW. It's not exactly known for its bargain shopping. Unless of course, I am there. It turned into a day of using coupons, groupons and deals. Annapolis is a good 45 miles away and a real pain for us to get there (mostly on a 2 lane road) so we only go once in a while.

Since I knew we were going to Annapolis, during the previous two weeks I bought two different Groupon Coupons that were good for stores in Annapolis. Our first stop, was at a bakery where I was able to get $15 worth of yummy bread and muffins for $7 (using the groupon coupon). I love all things bread.

Then *shock* we went to the shopping mall. DH is strange in the way that he likes to buy books that haven't been previously owned by someone else. So he got a book at Borders (using a 33% off coupon that I had gotten via email).

At Bath & Body Works, I bought a $2 clearanced Wallflower fragrance thing (I use them) and got a free travel sized item (using a coupon I found on the A Full Cup website.

Then Jacob was hungry, so for a snack, we went to the food court and I got him a free kids meal at Chick-fil-a using a coupon he received thru school for a good report card or something. It took sheer willpower not to order a Chick-fil-a sandwich for myself.

Then went to Toys R Us and bought Jacob a new bicycle. I know, I know, I'm sure I could have eventually found a good used one at a yardsale. But I thought it would take a while to find the "right" one. He needs a medium sized bike, not a kiddie bike but not an adult sized bike either. So since I had a bunch of Toys R Us gift cards to use, and plus for Christmas he got money for a new bike, he got a new bike. We have a Toys R Us Visa card that is always sending us gift cards based on the amount we charge. And if it's a monthly bill, such as the electric bill or cable, it's gets billed automatically to our credit card. We religiously pay our credit cards off - in full - every month.

Then had a late lunch at TGIFriday's I get the TGIfridays emails, and they had sent me a coupon to "Buy 1 meal, get 1 half off", so we used that. And I showed my TGIFriday's frequent diners club (or whatever they call it) and got free chips and dips as an appetizer.

Then afterward, to keep us hydrated for the ride home, we got 4 smoothies from Robeks. I paid $10 for a groupon coupon for the 4 smoothies (which would have cost around $24 if we had paid out of pocket).

If you haven't already signed up for Groupon, please please please use my referral link below.

I haven't made any major purchases using Groupons, but when there are some good deals for $10 or so, it's a great way to save money and try out different stores. I even subscribed to get the Groupon emails from my old hometown. There was recently a restaurant deal at my brother's favorite restaurant in upstate New York. So for $12 I got him and his wife a $25 Groupon gift certificate to use at the restaurant. They are not really computer people so chances were very slim they would have known about the deal themselves.

Clean House Yardsale

2011-01-18T19:29:00.003-05:00

I found out when the next yardsale will be for Style's Clean House. It's this Saturday 1/22/11. Where: 1612 N Leeds Ave, Ontario, California. From 9a-1p. Unfortunately I cannot make it to this one, but if you can - bring a large sign that says "visit www.yardsalequeen.com". Or you can just yell it very loudly and often. Thanks.

Only thing missing is a banjo player. Ten four that.

2011-01-13T15:00:00.004-05:00

This was in our local news recently.

And apparently we were also terrorized by a unicorn.

Tree Decluttering (for free!)

2011-01-11T19:57:00.008-05:00

Long story short - a couple of years ago, the tree trimmer guys that trim the trees around the power lines came by and lopped off the top of a cyprus tree that's in our yard near the power lines. They generally don't cut down cypress trees for some reason or another. Well after that, one of the big branches started slowly drooping down over a flowering cherry tree and also birds started a nest.

Well the birds are gone and not making babies this time of year so I figured what the heck, I'll call the power company and see if they will remove the tree. The worst they could say was "no". Since I think by lopping off the top, it made the tree weaker and droopy. Plus, I didn't want to pay some tree company a few hundred dollars to remove it. Even though when we bought our house it was brand new, it's in an older neighborhood where the power lines aren't buried.

So I called last week, and ta-da, they showed up today, looked at the tree and came back with their bucket truck, chain saws, chipper and shredder and removed the tree for free. You know I like free!

p.s. and see that scary cloudy sky? Oh boy, I'm scared. Yep, schools were closed 2 hours early today because of a chance of snow. It did not snow.

So many deals, so little time (for blogging)

2011-01-10T22:53:00.015-05:00

Well I guess I blew my own personal new years resolution to not go more than a few days without blogging. Oh well, there is always next year. I've been quite busy in the past week scoring a lot of good deals at CVS and Walgreens.

But here now for your viewing pleasure is the multi-phallic Christmas castle that I passed on buying while at a thrift store in NY after Christmas. Original thrift store price was $9.99. But when I saw it, it was marked 75% off so it would have been $2.50 had I felt the need to own it.

And also during my trip to NY, here is something I took from my childhood home, with my mom's permission. (It was still being used, so I bought and installed a generic .50 light switch replacement from Lowes.)

I remember this from my childhood and thinking how fancy and special it was. Now that I got it home and look at it all cleaned up and in good lighting, I see how cheap it is! LOL! It's made by Hartland Plastics. But I've never seen another one in all my travels and yardsales I've gone to. So even tho it's probably not valuable moneywise, I still like it and will find a place to use it here at the castle (which ironically, actually does look similar to the one picture above - haha).

And finally, I've discovered the reason behind my love of diet coke (and diet pepsi). As a child, it was given to me medicinally. Of course this bottle is still in the medicine cabinet at my mother's house. Why wouldn't it be, the bottle is only about 40 years old and still has some left in it. So now I won't feel guilty about chugging my endless bottles of diet coke and diet pepsi - I see it as basically a healthy beverage with medicinal qualities and I should drink even more.

Back in the land of Mary

2011-01-03T17:39:00.004-05:00

I am back from my post Christmas / New Years Eve trip to upstate New York. Very successful trip, I didn't have to visit any car repair places nor did I have to show my spanking brand new driver's license to any uniformed people. (Yes, I bit the bullet and shelled out $20 for a new replacement license. I think I will hold on to this one, the DMV woman scared me when she told me that if I keep losing it, eventually I would have to visit the main DMV office 75 miles away. Since after a certain # of replacements, they start suspecting people as running some sort of illegal alien/driver license scam.

No pics of my travels yet. But just wanted to do a quick post. I will be attending my first yardsale of 2011 this coming Saturday. It's an indoor church yardsale, it's always the second Saturday in January.

I did do some bargain shopping when away, got Christmas deals at CVS, Target, Walgreens etc. My deal was CVS was awesome - will post about it later. And did some food shopping at Aldi's. I browsed the local Salvation Army but did not buy anything, even the multi-penis shaped Christmas castle. pics soon.

Jacob's Television Debut with the Platt Brothers

2010-12-27T14:38:00.009-05:00

For those who blinked while watching American Ninja Warrior recently on G4, here is Jacob's television debut. Very impressive, isn't it? Don't answer.

And of course, here's a shot of me going incognito, with my trusty Sony Cybershot.

It snowed all day yesterday. I put out some of my homemade birdfood today and it attracted a bunch of cardinals.

And this huge bird. Which I think is not a vegetarian.

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If you live near a Chick-fil-a, make a reservation to get a free spicy biscuit next week Get Spicy Biscuit. You know I did.

If I don't blog for a bit, don't be worried. I got some places to go and people to see. And stuff to buy.

Merry Christmas, part 2

2010-12-25T15:48:00.007-05:00

Our Christmas is pretty low key here at the castle. It's not until later when I will see a bunch of friends and family. Anyhow, I was just checking my overstuffed email box from fans wishing me Merry Christmas and I was thrilled to see one from my boyfriend David Cassidy, wishing me a beautiful holiday. And in the email he quoted "the late, great Maya Angelou." Ooopsy, someone better go check on Maya Angelou.

Crap. No yardsales today. Merry Christmas.

2010-12-25T12:08:00.007-05:00

I hope you are all having a Merry Christmas or a Happy Saturday (for those who don't celebrate Christmas). No yardsales today and all the thrift stores are closed, but don't worry about me, I am having a great Christmas. I am thinking about all those gifts being opened up today that are the wrong size, the wrong scent, the wrong whatever that will show up at the spring yardsales for $1. And I got all those after Christmas sales to get to soon!

And more good news, Christmas won't be on another Saturday until 2021!

Happy Festivus

2010-12-23T20:26:00.005-05:00

I don't have much time to blog, since I am busy performing feats of strength, but I wanted to wish you and yours a Happy Festivus.

I spent part of today at our local Chick-fil-a getting free food (using coupons and redeeming my free nugget tray win). MMMMMMMM Chick-fil-a.

I witnessed a Christmas miracle today

2010-12-19T19:32:00.007-05:00

What happened to me today can only be explained as me being a part of a Christmas miracle - no other logical explanation is possible. I live in a land where the only NFL merchandise to be found for hundreds of miles is either the Washington Redskins or Baltimore Ravens. Today I found Minnesota Vikings sleep pants for Jacob in a retail store. You have no idea (unless you live in the DC/Maryland/VA area) how unusual of a find this is. Minnesota Vikings sleep pants just don't show up at a JC Penney's in Maryland out of the blue. Unless of course, it's a Christmas Miracle.

I had a coupon to take $10 off a $10 purchase at JC Penneys so today I used it. In the boy's section they had sleepwear for 50% off, and on the bottom rack, hidden behind sets of PJ's were the boys Minnesota Vikings sleep pants priced at an even $20.00. I thought I was hallucinating. Having it priced at $20.00 is another anomaly - since they price a lot of things at $19.99. So since it was $20 and not $19.99, at half priced it was $10.00 which meant I could use my $10 coupon on them. If they had been $19.99 reduced to $9.99, then the coupon wouldn't have worked.

Total spent? 0.00. Since I didn't go to any yardsales yesterday, getting something free today made up for it. And probably no yardsales next Saturday either. But you never know. haha

Decluttering Christmas

2010-12-13T22:11:00.007-05:00

Today I did some Christmas decluttering. Last week both Amvets AND the Purple Heart organizations called looking for donations to pick up. Since I already said yes to Amvets, I told Purple Heart that I didn't have anything this time around. They haven't called in YEARS, so it was strange for them to call again out of the blue.

Back when I was child-free and the dang internet didn't suck up all of my free time, I used to decorate the outside of the castle for Christmas. I used to put up 10 wreaths just on the front of the house. I would hang them from the tops of the windows with ribbon, so it involved removing all the screens from the windows before I could hang them. Since my DH is scroogier than me, I handle the set-up, the installation and de-installation of any and all Christmas decorations. And re-installation of the window screens.

It all looked very nice, but well those days are over. I have pictures somewhere, if I ever find them I'll post a pic. Makes me tired just thinking of doing that again. Then have to un-decorate and store them 11 months of the year? The wreaths and a bunch of other miscellaneous goodies are going away later this week to Amvets. I also went thru the coat closet and donating a bunch of coats. And of course I always have books to donate. Speaking of used books, I think now I have over $200 in credit at the used bookstore.
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I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get another replacement driver's license. I still can't find the last license that I lost and I thought it would turn up somewhere by now but it hasn't.

Here's a pic of the free flip-flops I mentioned getting a little while ago. My Dh bought a pair of sneakers at Famous Footwear and got on some mailing list. Well they sent him a "we want you back - here's a $10 off coupon" coupon. So I used it to get these $10 flip flops for free. Just plain dark grey. I am not a flip flop fan but I guess I may wear them to the mailbox or something.

Very tranquil - except for the gunfire

2010-12-12T22:55:00.006-05:00

Here's a picture I took Saturday morning after enjoying another free night at the hotel. We go again in January and again in Feb. In the morning I asked one of the hotel employees what the "banging" sound was, and his guess was that it was from duck hunters. I am known for complaining about the neighbors who live near the castle (boy could I tell stories), but at least I don't hear gunfire in the morning. And at least I haven't paid a ton of money for waterfront Chesapeake Bay property and have to listen to gunfire during hunting season.

I got an early Christmas present, a bread hook for my vintage Kitchenaid mixer and used it today for the first time to make bread. Of course I have a bread machine - since I love all things bread, but haven't used the Kitchenaid for bread making. I made ciabatta bread, it was a 24 hour long process. Ciabatta bread is a rustic bread with a bunch of little holes throughout. But why settle for little holes when you can just do one major hole:

I guess I need some practice, but it still tasted good.