Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Yard Sale Memories

Mr. Marvelous and I had a marvelous time on our annual trek to the World's Longest Yard Sale.  We did not find as many items this year as we have in the past, but we weren't looking for as many this year.  It's a good thing, too!  This year's sale was a little less hopping than usual due to the weather.  We set off Friday morning with our envelope and our list. 

Usually Mr. Marvelous prefers to bypass Gadsden.  It can get a little crazy from the Gadsden exit up to Dogtown, so our normal route is to stay on I-59 to Ft. Payne and cut up the mountain coming to the highway at Dogtown and missing the traffic.  This year Mr. Marvelous surprised me by getting off at Noccalula Falls and heading over to the very start of the sale.  We were a little surprised by the lack of traffic and the lack of vendors.  We had not known about the strong storms that whipped through that area Thursday evening.  We stopped at one place with a large number of vendors and started wandering through.  I had realized half-way to Gadsden that I had forgotten to bring a hat (I'm a red-head; I burn) and Mr. Marvelous wanted to find me something to shade my delicate nose.  We found some hats and started looking through them, visiting with the vendor as we did.  Turns out he had a tree fall slap down on his house the evening before.  He wasn't fussing; he was expressing praise and thanksgiving to God for preserving his family!  After talking with him a bit I could not resist this


I wore it all day!

We wandered through another area where we usually find lots of great items and I found this, which I snatched up pretty quickly

Of course I know that you know what this is, but in case your children don't know, it is what you use to remove the peas from the boiling water after you have blanched them and before you put them in the freezer.  Right?  Right!

This book is in lousy shape, but I couldn't pass it by.  I'm a sucker for old readers!


As we were making the turn from DeSoto Falls State Park (one of my favorite places in Alabama) I caught sight of one of the items I most wanted to find.  Mr. Marvelous, being marvelous, did not fuss, he just turned the van around (not easy in that area!), went back, talked to the man and loaded me up.

Isn't it beautiful??!!







No, not the feet, the step-stool!








And it is the right height.













Mr. Marvelous Jr. was particularly relieved that I found this.  He HATES coming home from work to find me perched on this to clean the top cabinets in the kitchen.


"Mother, that is a shower chair.  It is NOT a step-stool!"
Bless his heart.

This vendor also had this, which I had been wanting for several years, so I was glad to find it and he gave me a good deal on the two items together.


It had started pouring by this time, and it was getting a little late, so the vendors were giving up, packing up, and going home for the evening by this point.  We drove on to Tennessee, found our hotel, had supper and visited one of our all-time favorite places in the world.

McKay's Used Book Store.  Oh, McKay's, you make me so happy!  I begged the lady to let me just spend the night.  I promised her that I would not make a mess, and tried to convince her that having me there would beef up security.  She didn't fall for that.  She was nice enough, but she would not let me spend the night.  Sigh.  However, in our time there I did manage to find the following (Mr. Marvelous also found several gardening books).  




When we got up the next morning the weather was a little iffy, so we decided to go up the mountain first and see what we could find.  It was a mess!  The traffic was backed up on the main road for miles and there were not nearly as many sales as we remembered from when we lived there.  We did stop at one place and I found these


We got off the main road after that to get out of traffic and I found some familiar and pretty places that I shared with you last week.  After that we drove back down the mountain and decided to browse around the Flea Market we used to enjoy.  Good thing we did; I found more items on my list there!

What might this be? 








A hat rack, of course!








 




I discovered that using a safety pin to attach a piece of ribbon helps keep hats on the rack.

We did swing through Mentone on the way home.  We saw a few items but again, the vendors seemed a little discouraged by the weather.  We did see this amazing creation


That is one talented craftsman!

After that we headed down the mountain and drove back home.  

And now it is only 43 days until the 411 sale!

No comments: