Yard Sale Snoop

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Having a George Moment

I've blogged about my man George Clarke before, but I keep discovering new shows he's on. When does this handsome architect ever rest?

I first noticed him on my favourite show ever, Build a New Life in the Country. He followed it with Dream Homes Abroad, which I didn't like as much. It was mainly a lot of rich, English professionals with their bored teenagers looking for a weekend retreat.

Right now, George is back on Canadian TV with the Home Show. I'm sure if you live in the U.K., it's old by now, but we're on our fourth episode tonight. Here's the promo. The Beyonce song doesn't really work with the show.

While I was YouTubing, I stumbled upon another George show: Restoration Man. Why oh why can't we produce shows half as good as this in Canada? Tell me!!!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

"Tray" Bien Georges Briard!

Forgive me. It's been two or more weeks since my last post. I haven't been able to get to garage sales, partly because of the rainy weather, and partly due to Saturday morning fatigue and other commitments. My son went to a birthday party today and before we came home, we hit my local Value Village in the hope that some little glimmer of something special would reveal itself.

Here's one of those little gems: a Georges Briard tray. I believe it was Valerie from Vonlipi's Favourites who educated me about this designer in the first place. Friday night is American Pickers night and after seeing it last night, I was prepared to crouch down and get dirty in my quest for vintage honey. I found the tray buried under a pile of forgettable trays.

I like that it still had the original label on the back. I guess it also means it hasn't been left soaking in the sink. After Googling Briard, I stumbled across another cool vintage blog called No Accounting For Taste. If you like my little 'ol blog, you'll love this one. Read the post about Briard.

I also found this dinky little Federal Glass dish for .99.

Earlier in the day, I bought these zebra tomatoes. The picture doesn't do justice to the colour.

I also bought fiddleheads. My son hated them and my husband told me that he thinks they're over-rated. I liked them. They taste earthy and healthy. I also bought black radishes that look like black beets. They were white on the inside and not as peppery as regular radishes.

Here's the best news. Last Sunday we celebrated both my sister's and father's birthday, along with Mother's Day. My mother presented me with this pretty Pyrex divided dish. She bought it at a rummage sale in St. Catharines for next to nothing. On her way out, they made an announcement that all kitchenware was half price. I'll have to confirm what she actually paid for it, but it was less than a cup of Starbuck's coffee. A lot less. Thanks mom. My mom's also been asking about my blogging absenteeism. I'll try to get my groove back. Besides my day job teaching, I'm completing a reading course right now. As Joan Rivers would say, I'm working harder than Charlie Sheen's liver. Yuck yuck!

I just have to find the lid now. I know it's out there.

Here's some primo early French electronica to go along with my Georges Briard tray. Enjoy!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

East York Picker

"Hey kids, knock it off. It's shenanigans like this that's costing the taxpayers billions each year!"

I've been scanning the local paper, waiting for the Westview Presbyterian Church Bazaar. It's a good one and there's always tons of garage sales running the same day. Well, that day came today. And the weather was perfect.

A happy day with a happy soundtrack to listen to as you view my new treasures.

I first hit the bazaar. I did the initial desperate scan for Pyrex. I'm sure five minutes before I got there, someone loaded up a U-Haul with all my longed for pieces. After accepting that there wasn't even a dishwasher abused casserole dish to be found, I began looking for other interesting things that would put a smile on my face. The prices were rock bottom. Books were .25 and I got the funky cow creamer, the Made in Japan bird planter and tea cup stickies, along with a brand new science experiment kit for $2.50.

It's amazing what a lousy quarter can still get you if you apply yourself.

I love these tender old Golden Books. This one is to teach children about different species of birds.

The illustrations are a thing of beauty.

I bought a flower press a couple of years ago at Value Village for $1.99. I couldn't resist this homemade flower press. I got it along with the thermometer, picture frames, and hankies you'll see below for $2.00.

Here's the science kit that let's kids create stinky scents in test tubes.

This was from the Christmas Posy book at the top. I loved the title.

Off I went into the East York neighbourhood that lies behind O'Connor Bowl. These people are real meat-and-potato Canadians. No latté moms in yoga pants here. Look at the weird desk organizer I got for next to nothing. I had no idea why that picture was in it. I think it was probably the generic picture that came with it and they never bothered to take it out. For $2.00 I got the desk organizer, the very old English candy tin, the tube piggy bank that you can turn to give you computational number facts, Crayola markers and pencil crayons, and a cheese container from the Ontario Dairy Farmer's "Cheese please" era. I used to hate those commercials. I preferred the "Stop cooking with cheese" commercials from a few years ago.

At another house a I bought this compact chalkboard/whiteboard for $1.00 from a friendly mother who was clearing out junk. It will be used in my Primary classroom next year if I can sneak it out of the house without Duncan seeing it go.

This is why I'm Yard Sale Snoop. I had the exact same Woody Woodpecker nightlight when I was a kid. I have a feeling my childhood light came from a yard sale in the seventies. I got this light, along with a box of toy cars and a pile of vintage Fisher-Price toys for $18. The woman originally asked $20 for the lot. My jaw nearly dropped. I was thinking more like $10. For a moment, I turned into one of those American Picker guys and offered her $15. We settled on $18. She was elderly and she told me that her husband had recently passed away. On top of that, her adult son was in a wheelchair and they were HIS toys I was buying. I knew Duncan would be over the moon and the toys would be played with more than a newer toy that would cost more, so I swallowed my thrifty pride and forked out the dough.

Duncan was so excited when he opened the bag of goodies. "You were so generous, Mom," he said. I asked him what the word generous means and he said, "I don't know."

The motherload.

Fisher-Price brings on an ecstatic state of toy delerium.

The ambulance was cool. It comes with a stretcher and sleeping bag inside.

With the $2 I saved by haggling down the toys, I bought this Cardinal windchime foe $1.00 and still had change for Duncan's first tooth that came out this evening. We'd been waiting for two weeks for it to come out. Tonight, he was chewing on the head of his stuffed Ikea rat. I tried to pry it out of his mouth when "pop" out came the tooth. I think he'll get a toonie from the tooth fairy.

Let's hope this is the start of a bountiful yard saling season.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Calling All Bird Lovers

Last week, we had a surprise guest arrive in our humble East York backyard. It had the size of a pigeon, but it looked almost like a Downy Woodpecker due to the red marking on its head. It was pecking away at a dirt patch where raccoons had attacked our grass. Sigh! Does anyone know what this bird is? Sorry about the terrible film quality. I took the pictures through a dirty screen window.

Cheers,

Erin