I take things.
If I have to, I’ll pay for them. But I prefer to discover them in a cardboard box, on someone’s porch, even on the ground. No, especially on the ground. It just feels better than seeing something on a shelf next to thirty of it’s twin sisters and brothers. If Target or Macy’s wants more of my business, they should start leaving home appliances and lady’s accessories on the sidewalk between my apartment and the park. It’s where I do the majority of my shopping.
Dedicated to my mom for getting me The House That Had Enough when I was wee.
Okay, my craft “closet”. I can’t really do any crafting inside of it because it’s a little pre-Hogwarts Harry Potter closet underneath the building’s staircase and when my landlord comes bustling down the stairs it sounds like two parts scary thunderstorm and one part shoot-out scene from The Departed. Not ideal for needle crafts or hot glue projects. No sir.
It’s officially August. Soon enough, the air will be turning a little bit cooler, the streetlights turning on just a little bit earlier, and the crazy ice cream man who parks his truck in front of your neighbor’s house and plays “Moon River” for hours on end is coming around just a little bit less. Summer, before we know it, will be on it’s way out.
Of course, while we dab the remaining calamine lotion on the last of this year’s mosquito bites, we remember that it’s not only the humongous flies that are dying…summer romances all across the nation are coming to an end. Like Danny Zuko said, “It turned colder, that’s where it ends. So I told her we’d still be frie-e-ends.”
I get a new glimmer in my eye every summer: it happens the first time I see a handwritten sign taped to a telephone pole: “Garage Sale: Fri/Sat 9-4:30″. The sexiest words I’ve ever read. Besides being the most fun, garage sales are a collector’s dream, not to mention a home away from home for cheapskates. As both a cheapskate and a junk collector, I treat yard sale season as a holiday.
To kick of this summer of scouring my neighbor’s backyards and garages, I thought I would post pictures of just a few of the treasures I have happened upon in years past. I’ve found beautiful scarves, furniture (my couch!), fabric and old books aplenty. In fact, I have to look pretty hard around my house to find something that I actually bought new. Here are some of my fave finds:
