Elves on the Shelves

Yesterday this woman came into the shop with her granddaughter, they are semi-regulars so I figured they were just there to browse but the woman made a bee-line to the counter and said to me quite pointedly "Someone told me you have an Elf on the Shelf for sale." I was not familiar with this term but replied as helpfully as I could "You mean those Kneehugger Pixie Elves? I have several in stock." And then proceeded to one area of the shop to show her some. Again she gave me this hint-hint look and said "These are the elves that sit in a house and transmit messages to Santa about how the Children in the house are behaving?" "Exactly! A new shipment just arrived from the North Pole, so look them over and see which one will best suit your needs." I left them alone and sometime later the lady and her granddaughter came back to the counter to purchase an elf. Meanwhile I had some more tricks up my sleeve, because I remembered the little girl's name. As I was ringing up the purchase she was off to the side checking out the toys in the case so I asked her grandmother in a loud voice, "This elf is going to VICTORIA'S house... Correct?" Victoria's eyes got as wide as saucers as her Grandmother replied with a grin, "Yes, and her sister Olivia too." OK that's great I said, pushing the cash register buttons so some beeping sounds came out; "I've activated the transponder so as soon as this elf gets to his new home he will start transmitting information to Santa. Please instruct the girls to be on their best behavior because this elf will be reporting if they've been bad or good." The woman thanked me as I handed her the bag, and passed it to her granddaughter who carried it reverently out to the car. It's nice to see there are still people who Believe. Happy Holidays!!

Baptism By Fire

That is exactly how my Mom's new stove made its debut on Thanksgiving Day!! First, a little background information; my Parents remodeled their kitchen in 1987, right around the time my Mom went back to work full-time and gave up cooking. She pretty much only cooks for Holiday dinners like Thanksgiving and Christmas. The last 2 Thanksgivings, one burner of the gas stove has stubbornly refused to turn, let alone light. This last burner is only turned on at the critical gravy-making moment because the gravy pan covers 2 burners, and by this stage of the game my Mom is usually having a Hot Flash and throwing all the windows open while my Brother and I are freezing and taking turns trying to fix the stove while the other one drinks beer to help us cope with the situation. Both years my techno-savvy Husband has saved the day with the needle-nose pliers he keeps handy for such occasions, uttering something like "This d*mn stove must be made by Microsoft..."
So this year well in advance of the day we mandated that my Mom get a new stove prior to Thanksgiving or we would be boycotting the event. At first we were met with some resistance; "That stove is BRAND NEW!" Ummm... just because you have only used it 40 times does not mean it is BRAND NEW!! That stove is old enough to legally drink!!
Long story longer, my Mom obliged and had this fabulous stainless steel G.E. Profile range installed the week before Thanksgiving. She even heeded our advice to test-drive it a few times before the Main Event. So we figured, what could go wrong?
Fast-forward to Thanksgiving Day and I hear my Brother call to our Dad, "Harry, we need you to come take the Turkey out." The thought did briefly cross my mind to wonder why a 6-foot-4 39 year old cannot take the Turkey out himself but I figured he just did not want to upset tradition, plus I was busy whooping my niece's butt at Go Fish so I remained quiet. My Dad sauntered by to go get the Turkey and then seconds later I hear this "WHOOOOOOOOOSH" and my Brother is screaming "HARRY! HARRY! GET OUT OF THE WAY." Turns out my Dad was taking the Bird out of the oven in its flimsy tin foil roasting pan and the pan bent, spilling the juices into the oven, where direct contact with the heating elements caused a fireball to shoot out directly at his head. Luckily he ducked and managed to hold onto the turkey, and the few hairs left on his head were unharmed, as was remarkably the ceiling. Guess who Santa will be bringing a REAL Roasting Pan to this year??
Thankfully no one was hurt and there was actually enough juice left to make the gravy, although my Mom was worried there wouldn't be and walked around muttering "Freaking Harry." And for those of you who are wondering "You call your Dad by his first name?" the answer is... not exactly. A good friend of mine once asked why my brother's name is Mike and not Harry Jr. The answer? "UMMM... because Harry's name is really Mike." But that's a story for another Blog. Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!

And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

That's what Casey Kasem would say... if he were talking about my website! It was just a few weeks ago I celebrated the 10,000th visit to www.salvagechicantiques.com; not even one month later, I'm proud to report that count is up over 12,500! I know there are a lot of repeat visitors to whom I should say THANKS!! And now that the shop renovations are complete, I'll have a LOT more time to post updates and Blog. The downside about the increase in traffic is, I have to be a little more careful about the Blogging, lest I offend any potential Repeat Customers with tales of what a pain in the arse they were to deal with... the good news is, there are plenty of characters around here who are always fair game. Like my Husband, for instance; he just walked by and I asked him "Do you know how to spell Casey Kasem?" (OK, first I really asked him Do You Know Who Casey Kasem Is? and THEN I asked him How Do You Spell His Name. Sometimes a 5-year age gap is more of a difference than you'd think.) Anyway he said he had no idea how to spell it so I pointed at the screen and said "Does this look right?" He stared for a minute and then mumbled "I think so... Wait a Minute, it's not Casey KaseN? with an N?" SIGH. So much for husbands... Thank God for Google!!

Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign...

But none of them are anywhere near as cool as the new ones at Salvage Chic!

A young couple came in to the shop a month or so ago, when I had first started the Shop Expansion and the guy casually mentioned that if I was in need of any signs to give him a call. My first thought was "Yeah right, like I can afford a SIGN after paying for all of THIS!" Soon after though, I realized my old Hole-in-the-Wall "Antiques, Collectibles, Good Furniture" sign that Yard Sale Buddy purloined from God Knows Where was just not going to cut it as signage for the expanded storefront - the lightbox sign from the long-gone "Painter's Dream" pottery studio was still up and people were beginning to think that was the name of my business! (well, I DO sell a lot of painted furniture...) And I remembered this guy and how I liked that he just discreetly gave me his business card without being like "YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED? BETTER SIGNS. I'M SURPRISED YOU'RE STILL IN BUSINESS WITH THIS CRAPPY SIGN YOU HAVE. I MAKE SIGNS, AND IF YOU BUY ONE FROM ME, YOUR BUSINESS WILL REALLY TAKE OFF." So I got in touch with the aforementioned guy, Marc Beaupre of MB Graphics in Abington, and asked for an estimate. Since the lightbox was already in place and I just had to buy a new acrylic front for it, I was also able to splurge on some Vinyl Graphics for the window. Marc came out and took some photos, listened to what I had in mind, and almost immediately produced proofs that were EVEN BETTER than what I had in mind! Once I gave him the green light, he had the vinyl on the window the very next day and the acrylic sign was delivered the day after.

Word of mouth (Good or Bad!) is HUGE for Small Businesses so I just thought I'd take a minute to say, if you or anyone you know is in need of quality, professional, affordable signage WITHOUT a high-pressure Sales Pitch, contact Marc at www.mbgraphics.biz... and tell him Salvage Chick sent you!

The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney With Care

in hopes that many Salvage Chic Fans soon would be there - at this past weekend's Holiday Open House/Grand Re-Opening of the expanded store. All week Claudia and I were nestled too snug in the Back Room, among shards of broken ornaments and in need of a broom. With Me painting furniture and Her with her glue gun, we said "We are So Creative... isn't this Fun?" When suddenly on the floor another ornament did shatter, then "OW - Sh*t I burned myself, THAT'S what's the matter!"

OK, maybe it's time to stop this poem before it gets ugly. Plus I'm too tired to rhyme. Just wanted to send a heartfelt Thanks to all the folks who visited the Open House this weekend. Including the past week spent transforming the shop into a Winter Wonderland, it's been about 6 weeks since I took over the empty 1500 square foot space adjacent to the old shop and many, many hours of planning, buildout, spackling, painting, shopping for inventory and decorating. Every minute was worth it for all the people who came this weekend and exclaimed that the new space is "Even Better" than the old shop. For all who took the time to say kind words, THANK YOU!

And now, like the author who publishes his first book and has to thank everyone including his first-grade teacher, I have to thank the folks behind the scenes who made it happen: My Neglected Family including My #1 Fan and Husband Kenny, who I think broke down and bought cold cuts to share with the dogs after he ate all of their kibble. Oh! He slapped on 5 gallons of primer and moved the phone line too (sorry Deb's Barber Shop he cut yours in the process); my Partner-in-Crime Claudia for her endless creativity in crafting and scrounging for inventory; my Mom Kath for giving up her Wednesdays off to prime, paint, sew, and listen to me b*tch; Tammy and Chris Field of Fieldstone Gardens (Union St Hanson, less than 1/2 mile from Salvage Chic!)- Tammy volunteered to paint and Chris makes an excellent cocktail; Marc Beaupre of MB Graphics in Abington for the excellent signage; Claudia's Husband Brian who helped Kenny hang the sign (and deemed it "A PISSER SIGN!"); Yard Sale Buddy for fixing the Fix-It Shop sign and building the little ramp between shops so people don't trip; Mack from Never Open Antiques for tripping and making me realize I needed this ramp!

I'm sure there are a few I forgot, blame it on exhaustion. And if you made it to reading this far, Thank YOU for your being a fan of the shop & blog, it is folks like you who keep me going.

Now back to the regularly-scheduled Blog.

Garage Sale Buddy?

So Last week I got a call from Yard Sale Buddy saying his neighbor was looking to borrow a card table to use for the flea market at her Senior Center. No Problem, I said, I have several, and told him where he could find them in case I wasn't home when he dropped by. Fast forward a couple of days and I got another call from him, this time all breathless and excited "You won't BELIEVE it, I'm in this garage doing a cleanout and there's all kinds of furniture just like you'd want for your shop. You interested? "SURE!" I exclaimed, "what kind of stuff, is it ready to sell or does it need work?" I have to admit I was listening with half an ear because I was waiting on someone and Yard Sale Buddy was going on and on about how they were all kind of half-finished projects but with great potential; then my antennae went up because he said something about the garage having all these gas cans to power the yard equipment and how he was going to gas up his truck while he was there; so I tuned back in and sure enough I heard the distinctive bay of Coonhounds in the distance - specifically, Izzy and Duff. "Wait a Minute... are you at MY HOUSE??? Never mind that stuff! And leave the gas cans where you found them." Geez, you think you KNOW someone...

Yard Sale Buddy Goes Ape

OK, there are a couple of reasons I haven't been Blogging much lately. The obvious being the expansion of my shop, which is now 3 TIMES the original square footage, that has occupied the bulk of my time over the past few weeks. Another being that the website is getting increasingly popular with customers and it's a delicate balance to keep the writing entertaining without offending the audience who might be the very people I wish I could Blog about. But the REAL reason is... I had this present I'd been saving for Yard Sale Buddy's birthday and I was afraid I might accidentally leak the news here beforehand. For those of you who think I exploit Yard Sale Buddy because he doesn't have a computer and feel the need to report back to him every word I write about him, he's fully aware of it already. In fact it's often HIM saying "Where's Your Camera? You Need To Put This on The Website". Which is exactly what he exclaimed after unwrapping my Birthday Gift to him on Monday. Poor Guy, he had to wait 20 minutes for me to go home and get my camera, but something tells me he didn't mind walking around in his new "Birthday Suit". Here's a peek, and don't take your kids Trick-or-Treating at his house on Halloween, because I'm pretty sure he'll be wearing THIS when he gives out candy. Don't say I didn't warn ya!

Here We Grow Again...

Well apparently People magazine hasn't caught this scoop yet so I'm going to leak it myself... Miss Susan the Dancing Diva of the Dance School next door has finally skipped town in her merry tap shoes, leaving 1500 square feet of vacant storefront right next to Salvage Chic. And with business going as well as it has been lately, I could not pass up the opportunity to expand my space!! Look for the Grand Opening next month. It will take awhile to get it fully stocked, so hang on before you decide 'it's not as cool as it used to be'; I promise it will get there!

On a funny note, I've told a few frequent customers "I have some exciting news." Instantly husband & wife or mother & daughter share a knowing look, and then look at me expectantly. I continue on: "I'm expanding..." and maybe I imagine it but suddenly notice the parties in question glance at my waistline and light up, about to exclaim "WE KNEW IT!" Yikes I quickly pedal forward before they make a grave faux pas... "My BUSINESS... I'm breaking into the space next door." Oh. They quickly congratulate me on my upcoming venture when all I can to think to myself is MUST.GET.ON.TREADMILL... Hopefully all the sweat equity in getting the new space ready will trim off those few extra pounds.

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck

If a Woodchuck had this Woodstove? I don't know but if you see one tell him to start Chucking!! Kenny & I launched Operation Woodstove early this summer after we got a letter from the Oil Company demanding we get on the budget program because based on last year's consumption (with the thermostat set at 60!), they were estimating over $5000 in oil required to heat our Ancient Home. There's something to be said for your house being built before Abraham Lincoln was President but Airtight is not one of those words! Needless to say, trying to even find a woodstove let alone get it installed during the summer is about as easy as having a swimming pool installed in January. And now that fall is upon us, woodstoves have become the needle in the proverbial haystack. I have to give credit to Kenny for stalking every Lowe's in a 30-mile radius and finally scoring this floor model from the one on Brockton. We also lucked out because the guy who had come out to scope out our floorplan and determine the best fireplace to stick the thing in, was three weeks out for booking installs but happened to be working on a chimney 3 houses down this week and I think he thought he could slam this in in an hour or two. Those poor guys were here all day until almost 7PM, meticulously enlarging the opening brick by brick while my crazy hounds were up their ass. I think one of the guys was a Dog Whisperer or something because the dogs actually stayed pretty quiet... either that or the guys figured out the vacuum is their nemesis, and just ran it all day to keep them at bay. Judging from the frazzled state of Kenny who worked from home juggling conference calls all day, the latter is the case. But for now, the fire is toasty, the beer is cold, and the Red Sox are winning, so I guess he'd call it a good day after all.

What Goes Around Comes Around

and Around... and Around... I learned that last Sunday when Mack from Never Open Antiques was over visiting and spied a bureau one of my suppliers had just delivered. It was truly an awful looking item, dark wood with mismatched plastic red & blue handles, something I would never sell in the store which is why I figured Mack did a triple-take when he saw it. WHERE DID YOU GET THAT? he exclaimed like he had seen a ghost; I explained that I had just sold 2 bureaus that morning so I had this guy bring me 2 more to fill the holes until I could paint them for next week. "He bought that from us LAST weekend." Oh, Well... Great. Hopefully everyone got the cut they wanted off of it and does not regret it when they see it in all its AFTER MAKEOVER GLORY!!



Anyway we headed out to the parking lot so Mack could show me some stuff he had picked up that morning, all the while shaking his head saying "I can't believe you BOUGHT that." He threw open his tailgate and I peered in to find these 3 slabs of marble I had picked up months ago at an auction for like a dollar; I finally decided I was never going to get around to doing whatever I thought I was going to do with them, and gifted them to Yard Sale Buddy for his Yard Sale. "WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE?" I intoned, mimicking Mack's disbelief when he spied my bureau. "From Yard Sale Buddy," he smugly replied (as if he beat me to them); "He got them from a small clean-out he did on Pearl Street in Braintree." I choked back my laughter. "Are you sure it wasn't Halifax??" Now he just looked confused; I'm pretty sure he said Pearl Street in Braintree... why, IS there a Pearl Street in Halifax?" By then I could no longer stifle the Giggles. "MACK..." he looked at me expectantly; "You know that is my last name, right?" and burst out laughing. I left him on the curb shaking his head muttering "That son of a..." and you know I couldn't resist turning back to yell "I can't believe you BOUGHT those."

I guess what Goes Around REALLY DOES Come Around... and one man's trash is truly another one's treasure!!

Junk Swap?

As you might guess, being in this business I watch a lot of HGTV home design shows. My Husband is always encouraging me to try out for one of those Design Star contests but I'm secretly afraid I'd end up being The Cryer who winds up in tears when her choice of paint color is questioned by the judges. A couple of weeks ago I received an email from an unknown party that I could see from the preview screen started out "Hi There; I hope you don't mind me contacting you but my name is Elisha and I'm a casting producer with the show..." My heart started beating faster as I scrambled to open the email thinking Oh.My.God! I bet Trading Spaces fired Paige Davis and wants me to be the new host! Come on, hurry up email server, open open open... and there It Was. "with the show Wife Swap that airs on ABc television. I'm currently looking for families that are garage sale and antiquing enthusiasts and stumbled across your site and blog and was wondering if you had a family and if you might be interested." My heart sank along with my dashed hopes and dreams of being the new Trading Spaces heiress but I have to admit the idea intrigued me. I imagined them swapping me with some housewife from Beverly Hills who would be horrified when forced to Dumpster Dive headfirst while Yard Sale Buddy held her by the feet; she would lament to the camera when her French Manicure was ruined toiling at the keyboard posting things to sell on eBay. I was on a roll, I thought GEE this might really work! Then I remembered I've SEEN that show and how they do their best editing to exploit the quirks of a family. I could picture the reunion scene now, with the highbrow housefrau tripping across the parking lot in her Jimmy Choos, leaping into her husband's arms exclaiming "I thought I'd DIE if I had to watch another CSI Miami marathon!!" SIGH... I guess I'll take a pass and just keep waiting for that email from HGTV.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Which is all I could say to Yard Sale Buddy about his approval, or lack thereof, of my newly painted house! I called him up yesterday to see what he thought about the new yellow color and he replied "You need to paint the shutters" WHAT?!? I exclaimed, hoping he was just goading me because he knew I picked the new color solely to coordinate with the existing shutters that I did not want to have to repaint. "There's nothing WRONG with the shutters, are you sure you weren't looking at the back side of them when we had them closed for painting?" No, he insisted, the yellow is OK but the shutters look like crap, you need to take them down, scrape and repaint them." We went around in circles for a few minutes until finally I said WHATEVER and pretended someone had come into the shop so I could get off the phone, fuming.

Fast forward to today when Yard Sale Buddy called me up to chat and asked if I could print him some more business cards. "No problem; but First you have to say My House Looks Nice." "I told you it looks nice, you just have to paint the shutters." We DID! I (lied) exclaimed, and then waited during a pregnant pause, knowing he drove by my house this morning to get to work. "Oh really... When?" YESTERDAY, I replied, I told Kenny what you said and he put a quick fresh coat of the red on them. I could almost see him nodding his approval over the phone. "You know, I THOUGHT it looked better when I drove by this morning but I figured it was just the rain making them look shiny. Everything looks great now, Nice Job." And suddenly all was right with the world; or HIS perception of it, anyway!!

To give you an idea of the "Before" picture, here's a shot of it when we first started painting:

Labor Intense Day

My Husband's on vacation this week and we've been looking forward to a few days off together; with him working a 'normal' job and me being at the shop on weekends, we often joke we're like two ships passing in the night. Yesterday found us puttering around the house and doing some much needed weeding in the garden; then Kenny announced he wanted to tend to the front of the house which has been 'bugging him'. ME TOO! I exclaimed, and skipped off to assist him; only to realize, he was talking landscaping upkeep, and I was talking... paint color.

Let me preface this by saying we live on the country highway and don't do much more than drive past the front of the house to get to the back entrance. Upon close examination we realized we were seriously lacking Curb Appeal. We started out removing two gnarly shrubs that that we've been meaning to get rid of since we bought the house 4 years ago; once they were gone I decided the other two flowering trees hiding the house had to go too. And then there was that pesky paint color; when we bought it the house had a deeper grey color, with white trim and brick red shutters. More recently the grey had faded to an almost white. Since the house is Cape Cod style and only painted on the clapboard in the front with weathered cedar shingles on the other 3 sides, I pointed out that we could put a new color on the house by painting what equated to 2 walls of a room. Kenny was open to the idea and asked what color I had in mind. "Well... with the brick red shutters & door I think it would look really good in an historical yellow color; but it's gotta be JUST the right color yellow or it's going to look like McDonald's." That's OK, he said, worst case we could paint the shutters & door a different color. I shot him a quick look like Don't Be Sarcastic; WHAT? he said; "It's just that, we have like 21 windows with 2 shutters each." He blinked; Oh ****. You BETTER get the right color yellow; I forgot the shutters go all the way around the house!!

Stay tuned tomorrow to see just WHAT color I picked and how it all turned out... judging from the comments of passers-by it's a great improvement!!

I've Been YELPED!!

This cute couple from Cambridge came down to the shop yesterday and bought a bunch of furniture for their new apartment. They seemed to beeline right in on a few items so I asked if they had seen my ads on Craigslist and the girl replied "Actually... somebody Yelped you." Excuse me? I didn't even know what that meant but somehow felt violated. She explained that Yelp.com is a website where folks can go on and write reviews about businesses. Oh. Cool! I could not wait to check that out, but I was not about to rush them out the door as they quickly became my new Favorite Customers, buying so much stuff we had to strap furniture to the roof of their SUV. This morning I finally remembered to look up Yelp, and found my new friend from Cambridge had some really nice things to say about Salvage Chic! Take a look and feel free to add your own review if you have the time; just don't YELP too LOUD if it's a complaint, LOL.

I can't seem to make a link work here so you'll have to copy & paste this into your Browser (or just go to yelp.com and search for Salvage in Pembroke, MA):

http://www.yelp.com/biz/salvage-chic---antiques-and-uniques-bryantville#hrid:gYLA0lfJJigurTo64cd-uQ/query:salvage

Slow News Week...

So the Pembroke Express finally ran their feature article on Yard Sale Buddy! I haven't seen it yet, but he called me up all excited to read me some excerpts; specifically, the ones where I was quoted. I listened with half an ear as he went on "Mr. Yard Sale Buddy is affiliated with Salvage Chick of Salvage Chic Antiques on Route 14..." blah blah blah "Salvage Chick says that Yard Sale Buddy is one of those people who just can't bear to see anything go to waste..." WHAT? Wait a minute, Back up, Read that again. I KNEW I should not have granted that Lois Lane Chick an interview. She TOTALLY misquoted me. "Oh really?" said Yard Sale Buddy with genuine concern; "you mean because she said your shop is on Route 14 instead of Route 27? Maybe we could have her print a correction." NO - the part about you being unable to bear seeing anything go to waste. "You didn't say that?" he asked incredulously; "Did you say something close to that?" I fought back the giggles. "What I SAID was 'He's the cheapest guy I know'. Dead silence. Now I was fighting back tears of laughter "and the One Time he pulled out his wallet and bought me an ice cream Moths flew out that last saw daylight during the Nixon Administration." More silence. "AND, he'd sell his own mother for 5 bucks." That's when he caught the joke and gave his patented deadpan response: "I'd have to get at least ten."

Creative License

A few weeks ago I was on an overseas buying trip when I got an excited call from Yard Sale Buddy. (OK, technically I was just visitng my Mom on the Vineyard, but we DID do some antiquing, so that is not really an untruth...) Anyway the gist of his call was he found a reporter from the Pembroke Express taking pictures of his front yard in all its flowering glory, and once he realized she was not a spy for the enemy camp trying to steal his lawn jockey statue he got to chatting with her and she asked if she could write a feature on him and his penchant for gardening and recycling. He was excited to tell me he gave her his business card and she noticed he is "a Salvage Chic Affiliate", specifically my C.J.O. (Chief Junk Officer). He said she might be contacting me to interview me and while I was excited for the Free Publicity, I promptly forgot all about it. Until this week when she sent me an email asking for some time to speak! More importantly, she told me she had read my Blog, so she may have already made the connection that "Yard Sale Buddy" is the guy she's writing about. So today in between painting furniture to sell and floating in my pool (because All Work and No Play makes Salvage Chick a Dull Girl!) I spent some time worrying what I might have written about him that could be misconstrued. A few things came to mind... like the time he almost got arrested when a woman falsely accused him of stealing $2300 from a cupboard; the time he almost hooked up with a woman he delivered furniture from Salvage Chic to prompting me to consider creating a line of T-shirts exclaiming "I found love at Salvage Chic" and perhaps the most damning of all declarations from me: "He'd sell his own mother for 5 bucks." Oh Dear. Maybe I can just get her to focus on the Gardening?

When the Going Gets Tough

the Tough get Painting! Well the going's not too tough, because sales were UP this weekend, but I'm running out of inventory. Yard Sale Buddy and I delivered a bunch of furniture to Milton on Sunday morning so there were already some holes in the shop, and I went over to Never Open Antiques to poach a few items from Mack so I didn't look like I was going out of business. By the time I got back someone had called to purchase the shabby chic dressing table I had listed on Craigslist and then my ace-in-the-hole backup armoire I pulled out of storage sold right out of the parking lot before I could even move it into the shop! Needless to say I was in full-blown panic mode. People often ask why I am only open 4 days a week and my unuttered response is "you think this stuff just MAGICALLY appears?" The good news about sales being up is there is money to buy NEW old stuff, the bad news is it's not always that easy to find it. So back to the drawing board, or rather the paint brush. Here's a sneak peek of some of the projects incubating in my garage, stop in this weekend and see for yourself how they turned out!!

A Day Late and A DOLL Short...

Last Sunday Mack from Never Open Antiques around the corner stopped by for his weekly visit and while I was busy pretending to be happy to see him I spied this vintage Saucy Walker Doll in his truck bed, complete with the box. WHAT'S THIS? I asked delightedly and he said "Oh, just something I picked up at a Yard Sale..." We agreed I would do some research on it so I scampered into the shop with the doll, which I discovered should sell for upwards of $200 on eBay and promptly listed for sale via auction.

The next day being my day off I was in the Halifax library and my cell phone rang. I will admit I saw the new sign on the door "PLEASE TURN CELL PHONES OFF BEFORE ENTERING" but thought No One Calls My Cell Phone Ever so forgot all about it until there I was perusing the stacks and the thing started ringing like a banshee. Oh God. I dug through my purse trying to silence it while people looked at me like I was Charles Manson, finally! I found it and turned it off.

Once in the parking lot I turned it back on and sure enough I had a message. "Hi Salvage Chick, it's Mack." Just when I was thinking How Nice to Hear From My Long Lost Cousin Mack he continued "From Never Open Antiques." SIGH. THAT Mack. "I need you to end that auction for the doll, it's a long story... but my wife wants it."

I called him back and let him know I got his message and would end the auction when I got home. The story was quite touching, turns out his wife had been given a similar doll by her grandmother but it had been lost in her youth during a family move. "Thanks a lot", Mack said, "Be sure to take something for your trouble." OUT OF WHAT? I almost said; but then remembered I traded an item of his to get my shop bathroom painted and he wouldn't take any money. "No Problem, Mack; that's what Friends are for." Or more appropriately Frien-emies. But you guys know we really like each other, right??

Red Rover, Red Rover...

Send Me a Land Rover! The other week I got this email invoice from eBay congratulating me on my winning bid for a 2001 Land Rover, to the tune of $5700. My first thought was There Must Be Some Mistake; I did not bid on a Land Rover... Then my mind recalled an incident a few days earlier when I went to check my email and found my laptop had all these funny windows open. I asked my Husband if he had been using my laptop and he was suspiciously defensive. Or maybe I was just paranoid (because I have all these exciting emails between me & Claudia to hide... NOT) then he continued "you might want to ask a certain double-pawed Feline who has a penchant for sleeping on keyboards if he knows anything." Sh*t. Fast forward to me receiving the Land Rover invoice and make that Double Sh*t. Some cats get stoned on catnip and run around chasing imaginary mice, mine orders Land Rovers. Luckily and do I mean LUCKILY I took a second look at the invoice and saw it was sent to my eBay user ID with a slight misspelling in the name. So I forwarded it to eBay security and sure enough, it was a fake. Needless to say I learned my lesson and now lock my laptop up tighter than Fort Knox when it is unattended.

Tom Sawyer's Got Nothing on Me

Yeah, I know he famously talked a bunch of unsuspecting characters into whitewashing his Aunt Polly's fence but that was FICTION and this is FACT... I, Salvage Chick, managed to swindle a long-time client into repainting the Shop's Bathroom, A.K.A. Powder Room Antiques. It happened quite by accident on Monday, I had cleared the room and spackled the holes and a few hours later stopped over at Yard Sale Buddy's to grab a piece of sandpaper to finish the prep work. I was showing him some treasures I had stashed in the back of my Jeep when who should pull up but this guy who had been ogling the sleigh runners out in front of the shop which belonged to Mack of Never Open Antiques. He started right in, "I like them but I can't touch them for that price." Well the price was $45 so I offered him half off and it still was too much (did I mention he's really cheap?) so I took a look at him all paint-spattered on his way home from work and a thought occured to me... "Why don't you just paint my bathroom in exchange for the sleigh runners?" He seemed interested and sort of agreed in a non-committal way, like, sure, when do you want to do that? "Right Now." NOW? "Yes, the offer expires today." TODAY? Just when I was wondering if I was not speaking English the deal was sealed and it was agreed Yard Sale Buddy would make a Dunkin' run, I would run and sand the spackle, and this guy (we'll call him Sherwin Williams) would run home and tell his wife he was gonna be late. There was one point where I wondered if I shouldn't be trading Mack's sleigh runners without consulting him but both guys advised me to just tell Mack they had been stolen from in front of the shop, if he even remembered they were there in the first place.
Finally we were all assembled in the shop and Yard Sale Buddy & I settled down with our beverages like paint-watching was a spectator sport. Sherwin immediately demanded painter's tape "Tape!" exclaimed Yard Sale Buddy; "I thought you were a Professional" Umm, let's not confuse Professional with People Who Happen to Paint For a Living. So he went to his car and came back with Blue Tape and proceeded to tape the Powder Room within an inch of its life. Then he shut the door and started painting. Now, I could understand he had to shut the door to paint behind it... but Why Is He Painting The Whole Room with the Door Shut? I whispered to Yard Sale Buddy. Before he could reply the door flung open and Sherwin exclaimed "WHO Ordered the Paint?" Yard Sale Buddy & I looked at each other all askance. ORDERED the paint? Who does he think we are? People who PAY for stuff? Jesus. This was just some paint I happened upon. Sherwin was adamant that there was not going to be enough paint, HELLO I gave him a whole quart for like a 3' by 5' room but apparently these "Professionals" like to slather it on. NEVER MIND, he exclaimed, I'll stretch it, and SLAM back to work he went behind closed doors. Then he demanded a stepstool and Yard Sale Buddy told him to stand on the toilet at which point I thought it would be a good idea to ask "Are you bonded?" No, he replied just while he was on his employer's clock and then 1 hour before and 1 hour after he left the jobsite. TICK TICK I looked nervously at the clock "Well you better start painting faster!" He kept emerging with these ridiculous questions: WHO is going to cut the corners? "YOU!" ME? "Yes, no cuttie no sleigh runnerie." OH For God's Sake (SLAM!). Finally he was Done. He came out and showed me his work and then patted me on the arm like a Doctor who had just given me sutures and said "You can take the tape off tomorrow." Hmph well I obeyed his orders and waited til the next day to take the tape off, but half the wall paint came with it. I guess you get what you pay for... or rather, what MACK paid for, LOL. I guess it doesn't look too bad after all.

Can You Dig It?

I can dig it, You can dig it,
She can dig it, We can dig it,
They can dig it, You can dig it,
Can you Diiiiiiiiig it?

Duff can REALLY Dig It. Or more appropriately, Dig Them. Them being the mineholes that have suddenly cropped up all over my backyard. I stumbled upon this one (quite literally!) the other night when I went out to check on the dogs without turning the light on. I let out a yelp as a sharp pain shot through my ankle which was twisting at an unnatural angle. All I could think of before my face hit the mulch was "I can't believe I am going to have to go to the hospital because I fell in a hole my dog dug and I haven't even been drinking; I am going to look like SUCH A LOSER." Luckily Kenny had heard my cry for help so he rushed outside as soon as there was a break in the Red Sox game. By then I was gingerly "Walking It Off" as my dad was wont to instruct us to do with all but the most fatal of injuries. Kenny very chivalrously filled in the hole and gave Duff a brief scolding; no sooner had he gone back inside than that #!@$*! Coonhound was at it again. I went in and told Kenny we should probably try to give Duff more exercise so he stops digging out of boredom. "Do you still have your old Nintendo? I think he would really like that game Dig Dug." No, it turned out, he didn't have it anymore; plus he thought maybe we should let Duff keep going: "After all, It's like he has a TREASURE MAP... maybe this will really pay off!"

Cutting Corners

No, I'm not talking about scrimping to make ends meet, I'm talking about PAINTING, what I finally got around to doing today. I've been planning on repainting the shop for a month now, and thanks to the May Clearance sale and my Big Yard Sale, there was finally room to get started. Now if I could only stop procrastinating... I'm quite a whiz with the roller but I HATE the edge work. I don't have the patience for it and normally tape off edges within an inch of their lives to avoid mistakes. My Husband, on the other hand, LOVES to cut the corners. This is the man I nicknamed Picasso because of the loving care he takes spreading cream cheese on his bagel, while I'm like EAT IT ALREADY! You should see how neat and clean he paints edges with the patience of a saint. Unfortunately, unlike me he has a 'Real' job so he was unavailable to assist. And Yard Sale Buddy, if he Cuts Corners in the painting sense like he does in the monetary (I don't think he's EVER bought anything NEW!), would probably be an ace at it too. But he was equally unavailable today. He told me he had to work, so I stopped by his place of employment with a coffee (There I go, PROCRASTINATING again) only to find out he WAS NOT THERE. I called him up and he said "Ummm... no... that's TOMORROW I have to work." Hmph. Guess he just did not feel like painting.

Finally I sucked it up and got to work. Five hours later, the shop had a whole new look! Well, actually just the front green room. And it's the same color, so it's really not that new. But very FRESH looking! Of course I forgot my camera, so you'll have to stop in this week and see for yourself.

The Longest Yard Sale

No, I'm not talking about that 500 mile one that stems from Nashville to Kentucky and 3 other states... I'm talking about the one at Salvage Chic this weekend! Claudia and I were at the shop bright and early this morning to get everything set up; we had enlisted Kenny to help so there could be someone in the shop at all times in case the Dreaded Early Birds showed up. Sure enough, not 5 minutes into the setup this van comes screeching into the parking lot and the driver hops out excitedly waiting to pounce on our goods. Just when I was thinking, Look at this Jerk, I realized - it was Claudia's Husband! Well I guess he is allowed to pounce on her goods... actually he was just saying Hi, and it was nice to see him and all the Loyal Salvage Chic fans who turned out in response to my Yard Sale email. The good news was, the rain held off and we had a lot of sales; the bad news was, I kept bringing out more stuff I'm sick of looking at and marking it down, so I think I ended up with MORE to haul in at the end of the day than I started with. The best news is, it will all be back out tomorrow so stop by if you missed it, and score some great bargains because EVERYTHING OUTSIDE MUST GO!

And for those who were worried I'm Going Out Of Business with the onslaught of sales lately; Have No Fear! I'm just making room for new inventory and some slight renovations.

Talkin' Trash

So my Husband was on vacation this week and Wednesday we set out to do a few errands, his participation guaranteed with the promise of a Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee. FINALLY the Halifax DD was open again after weeks of construction. I was driving, which is kind of unusual when we're together, Kenny likes to take the helm so I can't veer offroad at any given yard sale or trashpick. Anyway, I pulled into the Drive-Thru, and sat there with the car idling, waiting for someone to take my order. HELLOOOOOOOOOO? Made a comment to Kenny that despite renovations, the speed in service hadn't really improved. "Well maybe", he says, "That's because you're talking to the trash can." Oh My God! I pulled up to the order speaker thing and was laughing so hard I couldn't even complete my order, so I had to drive up to the window and order. The sad thing is, that's not even the first time I've done that; just the first time I had a witness!!

The Stalking Is Done in Pembroke With Care

in hopes that the Salvage Chick soon will be there! Yard Sale Buddy has been teasing me that this guy is sweet on me because he keeps coming into the shop and buying things, when he never spends a cent over at YSB's Yard Sale. I decided just in case he missed my wedding ring I should alert him to the fact that I'm a happily married woman, but couldn't find a way to work it into the conversation. Like one day he held up this "Official Blizzard of '78 Measuring Stick" and asked how old I was during that storm; "Four" I replied and then DUH smacked myself in the head after he left because I should've added "My HUSBAND wasn't even born yet then." Somewhere along the way I did manage to break the news to him, he did not seem overly crushed so when he asked what my Husband does for a living I simply replied "He's in Technology" instead of (DUH!) "He is the Heavyweight Champion of the Universe." Will I never learn? So today I was over at Yard Sale Buddy's delivering some potato salad and he had this Art Deco bureau that is falling apart (something that tends to happen when you leave them out in the rain for 4 or 5 months) and we decided we should salvage the hardware to sell on eBay. YSB ducked into his shed to get the right screwdriver when all of a sudden SCREECH who pulls into the driveway but The Guy. I busied myself pretending to scrutinize the hardware with my back to the driveway so I could roll my eyes at Yard Sale Buddy when he saw who had arrived. His face lit up with that "BOY I'm gonna have some fun with this one" look and I thought, Here We Go... so the three of us made some small talk until suddenly The Guy screamed "WAIT! HOLD STILL" like a rattlesnake was about to spring upon me, and then he reached over and gingerly pulled a leaf out of my hair. Yard Sale Buddy could barely contain himself and after The Guy finally left he spent 10 minutes re-enacting the moment each time getting more and more creative: "WAIT! Don't think I am trying to feel you up but there is something right THERE on your chest!" Calm Down! I told him; You are not helping matters! Why can't you slip some helpful lines into the conversation like "It's amazing how much Her Husband resembles Dennis Rodman" or "Hey, I heard Your Husband finally made the Green Berets" RIGHT, RIGHT, he exclaimed, or How about, "I heard Kenny beat the sh*t out of some guy who was stalking you"? Yeah, that would probably work!

HE says Po-tay-to, I say Po-tah-to...

Let's call the whole thing off! The HE is my brother who maintains that baked potatoes have to be cooked at 425 degrees for no less than an HOUR AND A HALF to be considered edible. It's become a bit of a family joke; he's actually quite sensitive about the subject. One time I tried to slip in a "You know, those potatoes were only cooked for an hour..." dig on him after dinner and he virtually bit my head off. So you can imagine my Utter Delight when I stumbled on this sign out at Brimfield earlier this week! Now I just have to figure out, after I give it to him for his birthday in July, how to convince him that it will really look better in MY kitchen than his.

Tercio de Mayo

Never mind the Cinqo, the 3rd was my Husband's 30th Birthday and Claudia relieved me at the shop so I could spend the day with him. As soon as she got there I hurried straight home (well, straight if you don't count a brief stop at Never Open Antiques and a fly-by visit to the Yard Sale on the Pembroke Town Green and I forgot to mention a buying appointment at a house in Halifax...) Anyway over at Never Open I was supposed to be giving Mack stuff to sell for me at the Marshfield Flea Market and he asked what the Big Birthday Plans were so I admitted I was plum out of ideas, as I had been springing surprises on Kenny all week and already given him his Playstation 3. "You Should Take Him to a Hotel" Mack said and I must have looked askance because he quickly followed with "Oh that's right, you don't have kids, you don't need to go to a hotel, you can holler all you want." All I could think was Oh. My. God. I am SO not having this conversation with Mack! But I have to give him credit, he might have put a few ideas in my head because I went home and told Kenny he could have ANYTHING he wanted on his Birthday Afternoon. His eyes lit up, ANYTHING? he exclaimed... and then we jetted off to Cancun. The restaurant... in Kingston... SIGH... I HATE Mexican food. But after all, it WAS his birthday.

SURPRISE!

Cost of this awesome antiqued blue entertainment center... $112! (NO, I can't tell you where I got it, then I'd have to Kill You.)

Cost of Husband and Dad moving said entertainment center into house and upstairs... One Homemade Feast of an Italian Dinner




Look on Husband's face when he discovers his 30th Birthday Present lurking inside... PRICELESS!

Happy 30th Kenny! See, sometimes moving furniture for me is not so bad.

What's a Henway?

About 10 pounds. Chuckle, Chuckle, Snort, Snort...

What's a Fenway... ticket to the Neil Diamond concert worth? Or rather, 4 of them? I don't know, YOU tell ME! I got a little carried away with a sudden offer to buy tickets, and My Husband thinks Crackling Rose is some newfangled Duraflame log so I doubt he'll want to go.

Seat location: section 14-107, row KK, seats 1-4

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

and then Thrash the Living Daylights out of them! I remember now why I don't buy fresh flowers. I thought it was just because I'm too cheap but then splurged this week for a hint of spring on the table. No sooner had I set them out than my resident mobsters The Felini Brothers showed up to put a hit on them; I think the orders came straight from Don Corleone. I can't complain though - we put these two cats on the roster shortly after buying our house from a woman who showed us all the places she regularly scattered mouse poison including - her SILVERWARE drawer! Gross. Now Spring is producing some critters who obviously haven't heard about the gangsters that live here. Turns out the tulips were the 2nd casualty of the day... just be glad I didn't take a picture of the 1st!

Come on in, the Water's Fine!

I called my husband at work today and told him since it was such a nice day, I decided to open the pool. "REALLY!" he exclaimed; "Are you sure you're up for all that work by yourself?" My first thought was Um, it's really NOT all that much work but before I could respond he continued: "I mean honestly, I've been dreading it. You know the cover fell in, right? So it's full of pine needles. You're going to have to climb in to get them out, it might be really cold, but you can use my wetsuit." OH. RIGHT. THAT POOL... I didn't have the heart to tell him that's not the one I was talking about. (Note to Self: Schedule Professional Pool Opening.)

Tales From The Crypt

Well my garage USED to be where bad furniture went to die but right now, I'm nursing some pieces back to life with transfusions of fresh paint... and these puppies are about to be whelped just in time for the 20% off STOREWIDE SALE this weekend!! I never mark 'up' to mark 'down' for a sale so swoop in and get these at 20% off the always-budget-friendly Salvage Chic prices!! They're sure to go fast, don't say I didn't warn ya...

A True Kodak Moment

Here's something you don't see every day; Yard Sale Buddy handing money over to ME, for something he sold at his Yard Sale! This sharpening stone has been festering in his yard since we got it as part of a clean-out last July. We did have the stand it's supposed to sit on, but it fell apart quickly after we got it. Normally when he sells something I own an interest in, I tell him to keep the money for the Dunkin Fund; but this Saturday was exceptionally slow at the shop due to the influx of Yard Sales in the neghborhood. Yard Sale Buddy had a banner weekend because a kindly neighbor had put a Yard Sale ad on Craigslist for him; I was sick and tired of him calling to say "I sold my wagon wheels... I sold that mailbox... I've got people all over my yard throwing money at me..." So when he called with yet another list of sold items and I heard "And not only that, I sold that wheel we got from XXXXX for $40 so I have $20 for you", I immediately called Channel 4,5 and 7 news and requested a film crew. Unfortunately Chet Curtis & his colleagues were tied up with what they called "Real" News so I was stuck taking this photo myself. But hey, 20 bucks... as my dad would say, 'It's better than a stick in the eye!"

A Watched Pot Never Boils

and apparently, Watched Trash never gets Picked! That seemed to be the way it went yesterday when my mom and I tackled that Big Grey Elephant in the yard no one wanted to talk about... My Garage. I had great intentions of doing it "Clean Sweep" style with piles of keep/sell/donate but then we figured it was easier to haul it all out first and address the items later. Now it is really unfortunate that my detached garage is way in back of the house, because soon the driveway was full of what could have been The Best Impromptu Yard Sale Ever. And WOW, I could see the walls of my garage! There was no way I was going to fill it back up with all these well-intentioned projects that I am never going to get around to; that's what got me in this mess in the first place.

I started out slowly by placing a select group of especially needy furniture on the curb. A piece or two got picked up when I wasn't looking so I filled in the holes with more stuff and then the thought of getting rid of it all was so liberating, I went totally haywire and loaded the whole sidewalk up with wall-to-wall furniture. We decided to go out to lunch because it was around that time and it would also be convenient for us not to be home if the police came knocking like they did that one time my yardsale obstructed traffic. And as for Watched Trash never getting Picked, the REVERSE is totally true too! By the time we got back, all of our Unwatched Trash was GONE! Nothing to do but load that sidewalk up again. I think I burned 1/4 tank of gas just driving stuff up and down the driveway all day.

Now CHECK OUT my garage!! I was so excited I called my Husband and when he answered asked "Is this the Owner of the Cleanest Garage in Halifax?"
Long Pause and then his response: "You DEFINITELY have the Wrong Number." Boy was he surprised when he got home.






OK, so I DID keep just a FEW 'Projects'...


And there's still a small pile of stuff in the middle of the floor to deal with, but I ran out of patience... not to mention DAYLIGHT

The Little Drummer Chick

Look What I stole from Mack, Pa-Rumpa-Pum-Pum...



I thought flowers would look Wicked Cute in this Old Drum...

I brought it home because you need a special tool to get drum heads off, and Kenny has one, Rumpa-Pum-Pum, Rumpa-Pum-Pum...



of course he took one look at it and wanted to keep it so now Mack gets $15 and I have No Drum, I have No Drum....

Here's what it might have looked like if I wasn't so DUMB!
Next time I will just sneak the tool out of the house.

BURN Baby BURN, Disco Inferno...

That is the song I can't get out of my head since visiting Yard Sale Buddy last week. It doesn't help that Pembroke's only 24/7 Yard Sale has WROR blasting on the loudspeaker so I always leave with SOME oldie but goodie stuck in my head; Yard Sale Buddy was burning leaves and from the looks of the piles he has raked up, will be doing so non-stop until the burning season ends. I was curious about the logistics of leaf burning since my Husband is always complaining about the lack of disposal outlets around here; so Yard Sale Buddy explained to me how you just pull a permit with the town and on the day you're burning (or every day, in his case) you call the Fire Dept and give them your permit number so they know to be on standby in case something goes awry. "I've had the same permit number for 12 years," he boasted, "and they've never had to come help me once." REALLY? I replied in amazement, as I watched a burning piece of brush shoot out of the barrel and land on an awaiting pile of leaves; BECAUSE I THINK THAT PART OF YOUR YARD JUST LIT ON FIRE. He just nonchalantly walked over and tamped out the fire with his feet. That's when I realized I was not wearing Asbestos Shoes... and promptly got the heck out of there. When I got home Kenny sniffed judiciously and asked "have you been at a Fire Sale?" NAH, I replied, Just Yard Sale Buddy's Yard.

The St. Patrick's Day Massacre

With a title like that you're surely imagining Salvage Chick & Yard Sale Buddy in a Dumpster Diving accident after imbibing too much green beer... but I can assure you I was totally sober in the shop last week when I witnessed this little Irish Lass jump right off the mantel, bringing the mug down with her!! Of course, you know the music box is not something I would normally stock; but Mack from Never Open Antiques brought it over as a gesture of goodwill to contribute to my Saint Patty's display... or so I THOUGHT! He probably spring-loaded the thing so it would attack an unsuspecting customer who could then sue me so I have to go out of business, leaving this WHOLE INTERSECTION to HIMSELF and his NEVER-OPEN CRONIES. Or maybe he has just never gotten over the time I threw a sconce at his head...

Fresh from the Asylum

Fortunately, it was not THAT type of Asylum or they might have tried to detain us. Rather, it was the Antique Asylum down in Buzzards Bay and where Yard Sale Buddy and I were killing time today before a cleanout appointment in Carver. While I was browsing around Yard Sale Buddy found (surprise) a pocketknife he wanted and I overheard the guy asking him if he had a resale number. I had amassed a few items too so I took them to the counter and said "Add it all together, I have a Taxpayer ID." Now normally I choose to remain anonymous and write the tax off on the other end but Hey it's March and with business down, 5% at this time of year actually matters. I filled out the form for the lady behind the counter and she took it back and exclaimed "Salvage Chick! You're THE BLOGGER!" Gulp. Yes I am I sheepishly replied and while my mind was feverishly pedalling ('I hope I never wrote anything BAD about this place...') she pointed at YSB and said "You must be YARD SALE BUDDY!" Oh god. She said she stumbled on my blog and bookmarked it because she enjoyed it, I was very flattered but all I could think was DAMAGE CONTROL. Just this past Sunday Mack from Never Open Antiques was spouting to Yard Sale Buddy "I don't have to ask what you two have been up to because SHE blasts it ALL OVER the Internet..." I may have given YSB the impression that noone reads the Blog but Mack, Claudia, and my parents... and about 500 other people monthly, spanning 6 continents, if Google Statistics can be trusted. I may have left out that last part. I needn't have worried though, he was so tickled that our fame has spread as far as the Cape, he bought me a Happy Meal to celebrate. And we STILL had time to kill.

Visit our new friends at the Antique Asylum at 125 Main St, Bourne; and be sure to tell 'em SALVAGE CHICK and YARD SALE BUDDY sent you!

A May-December Romance?

NO, not me and Yard Sale Buddy! I can't believe people keep asking if we're married. Well, HE claims people ask if I'm his wife; all I hear is "Is that Your Husband's Blue Truck I always see outside?" Oh GOD. You know he COULD be my father, right?
Anyway on Sunday Mack popped by to show me a little primitive cupboard he acquired, I was surprised to see him because I knew he had a family gathering to go to; as I was talking to him this woman popped up and said Hi, she looked familiar so I just figured it was a regular customer and said Hi back then went back to talking with Mack. We went out to look at the thing in his truck and the lady followed us, that's when I realized it was his wife! She was sporting this fabulous blown-out hairdo and these cute little bootleg jeans, I was so embarrassed not to recognize her I forgot to thank her for the Christmas Cookies she sent me. Anyway where am I going with this story, you ask? To Reed Hollow a couple of hours later, where I met up with Claudia who had been in the Salvage Chic parking lot at the same time as us; and you know what she said? "Mack's daughter is so cute". I almost wet my pants laughing. That's his wife! They are about the same age but I hate to say it Mack, she looks a lot hotter than you. Please thank her for the cookies.

The Wheels Just Keep on Turning

as the Contest Deadline for cool junk projects to be featured in the Country Home Magazine fast approaches. You know how I love free publicity... well my Mom and I scored some awesome old baby buggy wheels yesterday and knowing this type of ingredient is right up the JunkMarket Gals' alley, I was anxious to create. We showed the wheels to Yard Sale Buddy and he agreed we could find some sort of axle to thread through them and have a 4 tier revolving display rack. I wasn't so sure we could find this axle by March 3rd... and Impatience is my middle name so we started poking around the shop looking for things to attach a wheel to. About an hour later after much trial and tribulation, not to mention the BFI factor (my husband's abbreviation for "Brute Force and Ignorance") we had managed to wedge a buggy wheel onto a wheel barrow wheel atop an upside-down piano stool and VOILA! The junkiest revolving display rack EVER. (*Note to self: Next Time use Protective Eye Goggles...)

Calm, Cool and Collected

That was my demeanor today when Yard Sale Buddy called me up and said "I was thinking, that cabinet I told you I would pick up for you today? How about I go get it tomorrow, I have to go to the dentist and I am going to be over that way anyway, no sense making a special trip..." Granted at first I was aggravated because he had said to call him first thing when I got to the shop to give him the information about picking it up, and I had been trying him for an hour and a half; usually when this happens and I finally get a hold of him it's "Oh, I'm over at Amvets in Brockton, since I didn't hear from you..." He seems to have selective hearing when it comes to his cell phone ringing. Anyway back to today, my first reaction was disappointment more than annoyance but I decided not to let it show, after all gas is awfully expensive these days and when I told him about the cabinet he could have said "Good score, have fun picking it up... YOURSELF." Now I should have known something was up because he called me right back asking are you sure it's OK, are you sure you're not mad, etc? "Of course not!" 5 minutes after the last phone call I heard the rumble of the Chevy's twin tailpipes and I stood up to look out the door. Lo and behold, the truck cap was up and there was my cabinet in all its beadboard glory. I ran outside and met Yard Sale Buddy with a huge grin. That's when he told me he was playing a joke, trying to get me all riled up so I'd say "Forget it, I'll get it myself since I can't depend on you!" and then feel like a REAL HEEL when he showed up with it. "Oh," I said, "Good thing I am not a raving lunatic." and you know what he replied, with a snort? "TODAY."

Buyer Beware

or more appropriately, Proprietor Around the Corner, Beware! Especially when you complain that I haven't been blogging enough. This tasty little tidbit came my way today via email... I had contacted a longtime client about a lot of 1980's 45 RPMs I recently acquired, and mentioned it would be worth his while to make the trip to Bryantville because there are also some nice 45's over at Never Open. His response? "Also, how many 45's does that Mack dude have? I am a little bit leary of him, because I bought some eight tracks from him once and I lost 5 bucks." That was too good not to share. Hey what's a little bad publicity in exchange for making a sale for him, while he's Not Even Open!!

And the Oscar Goes To...

Salvage Chick! For her heartfelt delivery of the news that she was going to blog more often in the New Year. Yup, that resolution went right out the window along with the one to lose 10 lbs. Unfortunately her vintage Versace tracksuit was not delivered in time for her to make it to the Red Carpet; too bad, because she was all decked out in jewels by Yard Sale Buddy. Harry Winston has nothing on him!

Is it a Full Moon?

Or was I just cranky because my fussy sock puppet puppy woke me up at 6AM. He is getting too big to resemble a sock puppet but I swear if he could sing he would be crooning "Down at Fraggle Rock!" Anyway I started the day off in a semi-foul mood and it got no better when this joker I agreed to sell some things on eBay for showed up disgruntled that he was only getting 50% of the sales. Hmmm what part of "I'll list it and split the proceeds with you" did he not understand? So it reminded me of this conversation I had with my mom once where I related a story about telling someone they could kiss my arse and she added "yeah, in Filene's window on Dollar Day!" I told that to Yard Sale Buddy and he LOVED it, adopted it, and made it his own. That's why I think it must be a full moon; he had his own run-in with someone today. And he called me up, and said "He can kiss my arse, at Macy's on Thanksgiving. At the parade." Whatever, A for effort, right?

Colonel Mustard in the Ballroom with a Candlestick?

Actually it was Yard Sale Buddy in the Shop's Back Room with a Lead Pipe! And the victim was me, Salvage Chick! We arrived at the shop today with a fresh bounty of finds that were desperately in need of cleaning. "Tell you what," I said, "If you fix my sink I'll clean EVERYTHING." He looked relieved and drove off to get supplies; little did he know what was in store for him. A month or so ago my Husband took the little wall sink out of the back room for me and attempted to install this utility sink I bought. Well of course you know the pipes were in the wrong places and the fittings were all wrong and there was MY JUNK everywhere in a room too small in the first place... in a desperate attempt to salvage my marriage to Kenny I finally told him to forget the sink install.
Anyway back to today, a few hours later I returned from some errands to find Claudia sitting at the desk surrounded by bin upon bin of plumbing supplies, rolling her eyes at Yard Sale Buddy in the back room. Time flies when you're NOT having fun because suddenly it was FOUR HOURS later, and the sink was finally installed! What happened in between? All sorts of things including me and Yard Sale Buddy jammed in the back room in practically compromising positions; me holding the sink while he managed to whack me THREE TIMES in the same knee with the channel locks; me telling him I didn't think the 'Knee Reflex Test' was working but I might kick him in the face anyway... somehow we emerged as friends. Saint Yard Sale Buddy never lost his cool and to top it off said "Cleaning all this, taking pictures and listing it online and then shipping it... I feel bad you are doing all the work." I laughed out loud "Yeah well DON'T, you just spent six hours under my sink, and I sure didn't feel bad you were doing all the work!" Not to mention what he spends on buying Dunkin Donuts Tea for me...

Tom Jones comes to Pembroke!!

It's not unusual to be offered junk by anyone
It's not unusual to look at stuff for sale by anyone
but when we find a score like we did earlier this week
It's not unusual to see us buyin',
whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh...

You guessed it, Yard Sale Buddy got a new CD! I entertained myself while we rode around town today belting out impromptu lyrics. Normally only my dog gets to hear me sing but Yard Sale Buddy didn't seem to mind that I sound like Smurfette on crack. "You really like this song, huh?" he asked and I just shrugged - "I'm just glad I don't have to cry 96 tears anymore!"

Where's my Doggone...

Doggone What, you ask? No, I mean where's my DOG GONE!?! That is what I said to myself after Yard Sale Buddy left my house earlier. We were fresh from a new Clean Out and among all the hordes of cool stuff were these two old soda fountain dispensers I desperately wanted for my kitchen. I asked him what he wanted for his half and he graciously said I could have them, that sooner or later we would come across something he wanted to keep and it would be a wash. Well I didn't know 'Sooner or Later' meant RIGHT THEN and the something in question was Duff! Luckily even the rumble of those twin chrome tailpipes was drowned out by the desperate bays of the coonhound and I was able to rescue him in the driveway.

**no dogs were harmed in the making of this Blog! Yard Sale Buddy would not really steal my dog although I did tell him this morning "You'd sell your own mother for five bucks..." His response? "I'd have to get at least TEN."

Chairman of the Bored

So Mack is back in the States and came in today all up in arms because he got a call from the Pembroke Zoning Board insisting he cease and desist with use of a Sale sign on the sidewalk that is not under permit and various other charges of infraction. I was only half listening as I was trying to chip the last 1/2 inch of wax out of a bunch of Mason jar candles I burned in the shop when he said something about reading on my Blog about how Yard Sale Buddy leaves me all these crazy messages disguising his voice. OH! I said; I did get a message from some guy on the Zoning Board complaining about the brass bed in the parking lot but I assumed it was HIM! pointing to Yard Sale Buddy. And I looked from Yard Sale Buddy to Mack and back thinking "Holy Sh*t that was REALLY a call from the Town?" and suddenly got an awful case of the giggles; I must say Yard Sale Buddy has the best darn Poker Face I ever saw but I do recall him asking for Mack's phone number a few weeks ago... and he stood there like "You're kidding me! The Zoning Board, huh? Well that Sale sign obstructs pedestrian traffic. And that brass bed was certainly an EYESORE." By now I was trying so hard not to laugh I stood there chipping furiously away at the wax and finally turned toward the trash can so they would not see me wiping tears from my eyes. "Don't you have Caller ID?" I asked Mack and he said Yes but it read Private Caller. Well I highly doubt the town of Pembroke has an unlisted number.

While the Cat is Away

The Mouse will steal stuff he gave her to sell for him! The cat being Mack, who is off on a sunny vacation, and the mouse being ME, Salvage Chick, who decided this Frostie Root Beer sign would look even cooler in my kitchen than it did in the Shop! Doesn't it? Let's see if he notices it's missing... and if he thinks it's a fair commission for offloading, I mean selling, his 8 Wedgwood Christmas plates and 3 vintage hats. TODAY! While he was not only Never Open but also Out of the Country. I think it's a Fair Trade, don't you?