10.11.2011

$15

we had a delightful kid-free weekend thanks to my husband setting up babysitting with both awesome sets of grandparents so we could have a "make up" birthday/anniversary weekend all to ourselves. what a treat.

we woke up at 8:15 am on saturday and just lay there going, "what the HEY-UHL did we used to do with all of this time!?!?! we didnt even appreciate the freedom!"

the first thing we did when we finally got out of bed at 10am (you do the math) was hit up some local yard sales. the first one we went to was the only one we went to.

i didnt even see the sign announcing the sale, but my hawk-eyed hubface spotted it. we turned in and at the foot of the driveway was a box of stuff that said "free," which is always a good sign to me since it means they are hosting the sale to clear out their junk, not make crazy profits. a few laps later and here's what we had:

hideous wal-mart art? why yes. but use your crafter's eye and you can see these 12" square frames would be charming and personality-laden with a coat of cheery spray paint and judah and layla's cheesing faces peeping out. $1 each

two brand new 5x7 IKEA RIBBA pre-matted frames. i think it was solomon who said in the proverbs, "a godly wife hoards RIBBA frames because she knows there can never be enough." ok, so maybe that's not canon, but these beauts are already all over our house. $1 each! they are $3 each at retail.

we are DIEHARD cranium lovers. but our cranium turbo cards are starting to seem a little familiar and repetitive. so this mint condition game (the clay is still moldable and the original pencils included!) will serve as an expansion pack with hundreds more clues. $1. and then 20 sticks of sidewalk chalk that were never used except for the pink and the purple look like they were used for approximately 3 seconds each: FREE!

the human mind is truly a marvel. you guys, they now have WASHABLE CHALK!!! i guess the greatest minds in our country who have been slaving over this innovation for years in chemistry labs have finally cracked the code on how to make that stubborn, permanent substance know as "chalk," washable! i havent read all of the instructions yet and dont quite understand how it will work, but just think of how many hours this will save me of scrubbing my sidewalk on my hands and knees with soap and a bristle brush after my kids have had doodle time! if only burt from mary poppins had had this technology at his fingertips!!!

and our TUCK AND RUN deal of the day year CENTURY, is...



this massive 2-person chair and ottoman for TEN DOLLARS! this picture does not do it justice, let me assure you. this thing is in perfect condition ad is a golden wheat color. the upholstery isnt faded or stained or worn anywhere (again, despite my awful photography and those shadows). i really suspected there had to be a dead squirrel on the inside of this or something because these suckers cost like $500 new.

this was actually the second thing we found after the hotel-art. always having lusted after one of these huge comfy beasts, i asked the lady causally, how much for the chair? she said $10 and i almost fainted. then i said, "and the ottoman?" when she told me it was included in the $10, i think my tonsils might have fallen out of my mouth.

we told her we wanted it and jesse called around to borrow a truck as i found our other items. we gave her the money BEFORE we went home to swap the car for the truck so we wouldnt get outbid or undercut. despite one little hiccup where the back cushion flew out of the truck and onto the road (thank goodness, it hadnt been run over when we went back for it after noticing a mile later) we got it home and installed it in its new place of honor in the house with no trouble.

hear me now: there WILL be fights over this chair. it's that comfortable. luckily, our entire family can sit in it at once, so the fight will end happily. on sunday night after the kids were in bed, jesse and i were sitting in it and i thought how funny and infrared picture of our house must look right then, with all the space free and the two adults jam packed in side-by-side just sitting there.

this little $10 garage sale find turned into an all-day saturday complete living room makeover wherein we have captured many cubic feet of space and reclaimed them for our own! i will have to leave you titillated there as it's not 100% finished yet, but rest assured the reveal will be epic (in my head).

i'll keep you posted on whether any corpses or recording devices turn up in the chair, but for now, we are truly sitting pretty (i hate/love myself for that one).

3 comments:

  1. That is AMAZING. You get the prize. Of the year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. um, that is one AWESOME chair. for reals, i want to take a nap in that thing!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is a snuggle chair! My mom has one and I love it. Great find!

    ReplyDelete