Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wordless Wednesday






Sunday, July 11, 2010

Another find!




The girls and I decided to head out again yesterday afternoon. We were going to go to a specialty book store to have the magazines I purchased formally appraised but it the store was no longer in business or had moved. We decided to stop by Goodwill instead. We ended up in a different area of town so I ventured over to the art store I have been wanting to visit, Jerry's Artorama - a discount art store chain that is actually based here in Raleigh.

The girls had a blast taking a hands on ink wash painting lesson from the on site artist. While they were entertained doing that, I shopped. $116 dollars later (ugh) we headed out again. We made it to goodwill where I took back my words on "no more books - Kindle only!" A little $16 bought me 4 vintage Corelle Plates at $0.99 each, 3 70's soup bowls at $0.99 each, 6 books at $0.75 each, and 2 books at $1.50 each.

In the book section I found the "Wonder Book for Boys and Girls", written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and illustrated by Palmer Cox. The book included a a preface by Lenox, dated July 15th, 1851 but no other dates or information on when the book was published. Other than that the book had 5 things that were very interesting about this purchase:



1. The book looked very old but ironically had a name almost identical to my daughter's written in and then haphazardly scribbled over (swap two letters and the name is the same). It was a little eerie to be quite honest! Upon a closer look the last name maybe





2. Flipping through the book, I found a photo of two women with the date "1851" written on the back. The date was written in ballpoint pen so I realized that this was dated many years after the photo was taken. (Ballpoint pen was invented in the 1930's). The quality of the original picture is not great and the image taken via my iPhone even less so. I hope to properly scan this and see if I can enhance the image.

I don't know if the former owner guessed the date to be 1851 based off of the date of the preface in the book OR if it was a family photo that was known to be on or around 1851. I do believe the photo WAS taken in 1851 however because it was of two women wearing prairie attire - I googled other images from that time frame and the dress style was very similar.




3. Flipping further through the book I found a four leaf clover between pages 180 and 181. The clover remained intact until I was trying to take a picture of it and our puppy walked right over the book and the clover. The clover turned to "dust" so to speak but you can see an aged imprint of it between the pages.





4. Value - the 1st edition was published in 1852. Since Palmer Cox was only 12 in 1852, I knew that this was most likely not a 1st edition. A little research on the publisher indicated the book was actually published in the late 1800's - early 1900's and is m worth at least $150 but can be as much as $350 or more.

5. The preface itself was very odd. Usually these are quite complimentary to the author. I cannot say that this is the case here. My take on the preface is that the Lenox (Not certain, but I am thinking that is must be James Lenox) was not overly fond of Hawethorne's Wonder Book, insinuating that the stories were not original, instead updated versions of age old tales.

Miss C. is asking when we can go back to Good Will again LOL. Maybe I will. I love old items - I wonder about the history of the item and the person or people who were the former owners. Who were they? What were their lives like, etc. Add to my resume professional shopper, art historian, literary expert, bibliophile, antique appraiser and handwriting deciphering technician.




Saturday, July 10, 2010

Who is going to be baking with Betty?

... Me!

I have been invited to visit the Betty Crocker Kitchens in Minneapolis, MN for two days of touring, baking and fun with other bloggers. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am.

My Betty Crocker Cookbook is the only one I use religiously. I use other cookbooks of course, but this is my cooking bible. I LOVE this cookbook - The pages are stained from mixing splatters and some pages automatically turn to my favorite recipes from using it so much. This was my grandma's so it has sentimental value as well. The one I have (1969) is the best version in my opinion- very late 60's - early 70's retro. (see linked ebay listing for details - it is not MY ebay listing, just a sample of the exact book that I have).

Back to the trip....I am very excited to say the very least. I will be posting more details as I receive them - until then stay tuned!


Vintage garage sale treasures and other finds

Miss C. has been dying to go "Garage Saling". We really should have started going earlier in the year - In this area, yard sales are plentiful in the spring, but fizzle out in the summer months. The heat is usually unbearable this time of year; people are typically at the beach or the mountains, enjoying time at the pool or with friends - not hosting yard sales. We did find a few here and there but they were sparse and we had to cover a greater distance than normal.

Miss C. and I were getting ready to call it a day but decided to look at one last area - a country road by my home. We drove down in one direction when we hit a fork in the road. No garage sales (but I did find a beautiful small lake or large pond that will be fun to take a stroll by). We turned around and tried the other fork in the road. I stopped when I saw a vegetable stand at the side of the road that we quickly stopped at.

As soon as we got out of the van, Miss C. and I headed in two different directions. While I was there picking butter beans, cucumbers and onions, Miss C. headed over to what appeared to be a yard sale. After I paid for the veggies, the owner of the stand told me his wife was hosting the yard sale and was selling the "entire house". Well, he was not lying - they were actually having an estate sale. Sadly the woman's sister in law died last year and her brother died this year thus they were selling the remaining items in the home. Most of the for sale items were picked over when we arrived, but we did managed to find a few treasures.

Overall this was our haul for the day:

Miss C.
$5.00 Imitation Coach Handbag (like new condition) - est value $50
$0.50 Guitar ashtray ....that will serve another purpose - est value $5.00
(No, at 14 Miss C. does not smoke, but she - does love guitars)
$0.25 Simba figurine (she is also a Lion King fan) - est value $0.25
$2.00 New t-shirt and shorts for $1 each for self* - est value $20.00
$1.00 New t-shirt Miss N. * - est value $5

Total $8.75
Est Value $80.25

Me
$5.00 vintage magazine set of Man, Myth and Magic - est value $8 - 12 ea.. There are about 20
$1.00 vintage Pyrex mixing bowl - estimated value at $10.00
$2.00 Classic Colorforms Vintage Reproduction set for Miss E., est. value $30.00
$1.00 New t-shirt Ryan * est. value $10
$0.75 Vintage Heinz Tin, est. value $12.00
$0.50 Vintage Ceramic Vase, circa 1979 est. value $10 - $20 (?)

Total $10.25
Est Value $232 - $322

* A man was running a covert wholesale t-shirt business out of his garage disguised as a garage sale.


All in all a good day - we are going to try and go every Saturday for the rest of the summer. Some items I will keep and others I will sell. We may head to Good Will also before we totally call it a day. The little girls would forgo the shopping for playing with friends, but Miss C. and I are all about vintage and frugal finds!



Friday, July 09, 2010

What's New?

END OF SCHOOL...... AND THE BEGINNING OF SCHOOL


Things are crazy as always. The girls "graduated" from their former grades a little over one week ago and started their new grades already! We are on year round school so we end one grade, have a week long break and immediately start the next grade. We have been on a year round schedule for several years so are used to this program.

I have shared some pictures of the girls on their first day of school in this post.






WORKIN' IT


Work is extremely busy - as usual. In today's climate who can complain? Plus I love what I do and would rather be busy than slow. Nothing worse than not having enough to do. Of course I usually don't have that problem between, work, home, school and extracurricular activities.


TAXIING


The girls are on the same martial arts, gymnastics and dance schedule. I am still a taxi service in the evenings - ferrying the kiddos from one thing to the next. The only BIG change is that my oldest daughter is starting high school and will now be on a traditional schedule. What that means is that I will have two children on one schedule and another on a different one.


A DOG'S LIFE

The puppy is also keeping us busy - he is pretty much potty trained with the occasional accident. I have noticed though, when I clean the carpets with the steam cleaner, he tends to have more accidents - I think he is re-marking his territory. He also LOVES Miss C. She coddles him as if he were hers alone - it is very cute. Miss N. and Miss E. are a little afraid of him because he is very high strung and has a not-so-small nipping problem. We have all been bitten. I have learned to walk around the house carrying chew toys or pay the consequences.




TV SEASON IS OVER. NOW WHAT?


Now that TV Season is over (and especially now that LOST had the series finale), I have been trying to keep busy. Back to Books......I am reading as I usually do in the summer. I finished "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and started "The Girl Who Played With Fire". I am also reading "The Help" and after watching Eclipse I am re-reading "Breaking Dawn". I never used to read more than one book at once but I found that as I get older, I am doing this more frequently. I guess what I am reading depends on my mood. Does anyone else do that?????

After I finish the pile of unread novels I have around the house, I will start using my new Kindle. My husband and kids will appreciate that I no longer be buying mass quantities of books that ultimately pile up in every room of the house. Now I can buy these electronically and save money and space.


During the summer we are also enjoying the pool. I hope everyone else is enjoying the summer as well. Here the heat this year has been pretty unbearable and it is just the beginning of July - the previous two summers were fairly mild for this area, so we were overdue for a heat wave. We are keeping cool by enjoying the pool

Here is a shocker....I am behind on my blogging. You are floored, right? I seem to go through spurts of blogging - new one coming up! I have a few things to catch up on this weekend and during the following week. I will be posting a couple of new giveaways and product reviews so make sure to come back! Keep enjoying your summer and thanks for stopping by so I could share a bit about mine with you :)






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