Tagging and Bagging
Today was so. much. fun.
One of my bestest friends, D, and I went "tagging" - also known as tagsale-ing - in a neighboring town that was having a town wide tag sale.
Our very first stop was phenomenal. I found a giant map of the U.S. that I had been searching for after seeing all the clever things people are doing with maps over on Pinterest.
$2.00.
As we were leaving I spotted a smallish leather case hiding in the way back on one of the "man" tables. You know, the tables with tools and other sharp, dangerous objects. Usually a lot of dirt and grease covering these things. Nothing I would ever pick up with my hands. Ewww.
But I had to check out the leather case because it looked so old. I opened it up and inside were......
TWO VINTAGE CAMERAS!
Yup, those are coming home with me. Er, maybe I should ask the price first. Off I go to find the owner and she tells me the whole kit and kaboodle - leather case and two cameras - will cost me......
$10.00.
ACK! Ten dollars! For TWO cameras! Can you tell how excited I am?
Next stop found D buying a brand-new-in-the-never-opened-box set of white Corning casserole dishes and covers.
$5.00
Those two stops were our most expensive purchases of the day.
I went on to find two very old clear Mason and Atlas jars with zinc lids ($0.50 each), a vintage condiment serving caddy with three clear glass jars with metal lids and wooden knobs ($2. 00), an antique magnifying glass ($1.00) and an Imperial Glass Candlewick mayo bowl and saucer ($1.00). I picked up a pair of vintage faux (at least I think they are faux) pearl earrings and brooch for an idea M and I are going to do - again, I saw it over on Pinterest.
And that red stool pictured above. The back slides up and down to adjust the height of the piece.
$2.00
I'm going to spray paint it a bright color and stick it on the back porch. D assures me I can spray paint. She says my troubles are because I hold the can too close to the object I'm painting. She doesn't know it, but I may have her come over and do it for me. To show me how it's done.
D walked away with a basket for a wedding present ($1.00), a three tier wire storage basket for her scrapbooking supplies ($2.00), a wreath (free), three vintage handkerchiefs ($0.11).
Yes, $0.11 for three handkerchiefs. They were really $0.10 but there's a penny tax on a dime at thrift stores. Oh yeah, we found a thrift shop while we were out tagging and had to stop.
Her best deal of the day?
A TV.....
Free.
We walked up to a house and the wife said her husband was tired of the tag sale and was giving everything away. Everything was free. Really.
We laughed at the joke and kept looking around and they said, No, really. Everything's free. Want a TV?
They had consolidated all their stuff and just wanted it out of the house. They unplugged it yesterday. It works fine. I drove up the driveway, he put it in the back of the car, gave her the remote, and we drove off, giggling all the way up the street.
The car was filling up. There was some talk about having to go home and pick up a truck from one of our husbands. But we figured they'd clip our tagging wings and we'd be grounded for the rest of the day.
So we kept going, tucking things into bags all over the place. And kept our eye out for rope. Just in case we needed it.
~~~~~~~~~~
At some point, we got hungry and stopped for lunch in a small eclectic sandwich shop. Thick roast beef sandwiches, topped with cheddar and horseradish, lettuce and tomato, on a hard roll. Slices of pickle, a few wedges of orange and a bag of chips.
And chai. D had never had chai before so she tried mine.
Now she's a chai drinker.
One of my favorite purchases of the day was one of the last stops of the day. We were heading home and saw a sign that said "Giant Tag Sale" with an arrow pointing up the dirt entrance to some sort of industrial type of area. High fences all around, lots of heavy looking equipment, truck trailers, pieces of machinery and beat-up long white buildings with dented bay doors and dirty windows on a lot of acreage in the middle of nowhere.
Huh? A "Giant Tag Sale" is in this place? Where?
We kept driving along the dirt road meandering through this industrial area and found another sign that said "Tag Sale" with an arrow turning left.
Okay. We'll turn left. Cue spooky music. If this were a movie, this is the part where the audience would be yelling, "No, don't keep going! Turn around and LEAVE!"
Now we were in the bowels of this abandoned alarming scary industrial pit and finally spotted some people. People that were kind of giving us the stink eye, wondering why we were driving in this area. A young guy (aren't they all young now?) moseyed over to the car and I asked him if there was a tag sale around. He pointed to one of the long white buildings and said, "Yeah, in here are two floors. And don't forget to check out the trailers over there."
Five tractor trailers were parked with their back doors open and some decking built up so you could walk between them, ducking in and out of the trailers.
We parked next to the white building, skeptical but curious about this whole area, and headed into the white building.
I have never seen so much stuff in my life.
Boxes and boxes of stuff. Furniture everywhere. Stuff just tossed around, piled up with no rhyme or reason. And dirty. Very dirty. But a little dirt (er, a lot of dirt) wasn't going to stop us and we dove right in, looking into boxes and corners and behind furniture until I found...
Mr. Snowman. Mr. Vintage Snowman.
$2.00.
TWO DOLLARS.
Unbelievable.
You can put a light in the back of him and he'll light up. Three and half feet tall of lighted beauty.
I can't wait for Christmas.
I cleaned everything up with lots of hot, soapy water. Except the cameras. They just got wiped down with a wet cloth. I took the Kodak outside to play around with for a while. The viewfinder is huge and makes things look pretty dreamy.
I love the Diana/Lomography look of these scenes.
Now I'm sitting in my cozy chair, looking at all these pictures and smiling, just thinking about all the fun we had today.I can't wait to do it again. Ready D?
Wow.
ReplyDeletegosh I'm jealous, I haven't been to a good tag sale in AGES.
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite purchase of yours was that stool. I can't wait to see what color you choose :)