Monday Show and Tell

Here we are at Monday again. It seems as this worst day of the week comes way too often & way too fast. I hate Mondays (in case you didn't notice). Since it is Monday, time to post for Monday show and tell. This week I am going to show you a few more Thanksgiving decor & share what I did this weekend that I am thankful for.
First the decor: This is my living room dining table. Most of the furniture in our living room/dining room is Mission style (arts and crafts). This furniture belonged to Mike before we got married. I like to set this table in advance of Thanksgiving. Right now it is set for 4 people, but if the weather is bad, I will need to put in the table leaf & set for 6 people.

My crystal goblets don't all match as I only have 3 of each pattern. I need to find some more when I am out thrifting, but since I don't get to thrift much anymore, it is harder to find them. I do have plain goblets that I bought last year to use for Thanksgiving, but they are stored in a cabinet in the garage that I can't get to right now as there is too much stuff piled in front of it (my life story). I used my white plates that I bought from JC Penney a few years back as chargers. They are completely flat & everyone in my family hates to use them. They are afraid the food will fall off the plate, so I thought they would work as chargers instead. The dinner plates are my turkey plates (see previous Monday Show and Tell for photos). Then I used a leaf shaped plate as a salad plate. Then I topped it off with my new cream pumpkin bowls. I'm going to use these for tossed salad & the salad plates for my traditional Thanksgiving jello salad. The silverware is just some cheapy silverware I bought last week at Big Lots. But cheapy silverware is better than plastic silverware.


This is the top of my armoire in my family room. I finally was brave enough to get on a chair to take the photo. The "Christ" tile was a gift from Andrea's family last Christmas. I leave this up all year round & change out the decor around it. I painted the girl to the right along time ago. She is in a pumpkin patch, but the pumpkins got cut out of the photo.

Now for my weekend thankfulness part of the post. On Friday we went down to El Cajon to attend our annual company Thanksgiving luncheon. While in El Cajon I got to go to some of my favorite thrift stores. They don't have good thrift stores up were I live. So I am thankful when I have the opportunity to go when in El Cajon.

First we went to Amvets. There I got 1 goblet that matched 2 I already had (just need 1 more), the napkins trimmed in lace & a picture frame. Only the napkins were 1/2 price. Everything else I had to pay full price. I only spent $5.00 at Amvets.

In the afternoon we hit up the local Salvation Army. We lucked out as we got there at the start of their moonlight madness sale. Everything in the store was 1/2 price. Music to my ears!!!! I love this particular Salvation Army as they don't have a "Boutique" section. Most of the Salvation Army's now put anything of value in their "Boutique" section & charge antique store prices instead of thrift store prices. But since this store is in El Cajon, they know no one will pay antique store prices for items at a thrift store.

Here I snagged 3 photo frames, a glass cheese dome top, a shelf, a vintage Christmas cookie cutter set & a plastic silverware storage bin to store my new silverware in. And it was pink!!!! My grand total at Salvation Army was $4.50.
And what I am I going to do with all this stuff? I know you are thinking that I already have way too much stuff. Well, I am going to resell most of it on ebay. I sell shabby chic decor so I will paint the frames white, put in reproduction vintage rose or Christmas prints (haven't decided which). Paint the shelf white & highlight with gold. Sell the vintage Christmas cookie cutters as is. I will keep & use the silverware caddy & the goblet. Not sure what I will do with the napkins, keep & use or make something out of them. The glass dome looks great when you cover up something on a pretty plate with it. I'll try & remember to post "after" photos once I jazz everything up.


On Saturday we had a yard sale with the stuff we took out of our storage room that we turned into a game room. We were suppose to have a yard sale every Saturday for the past month, but I haven't felt like getting up early on a Saturday morning. This past Saturday I had a nightmare that work me up at 6am, so I really didn't want to go back to sleep. So I thought, this is the day for a yard sale.

I woke everyone up. Brandon didn't want to get up as he was too tired. But Jesse & Mike got up & drug all the stuff we had piled in our backyard into the front yard for the sale. We no sooner started putting stuff out when a cute elderly gentleman & his daughter drove up to see what we had.

He bought 3 cowboy hats, my entire collection of porcelain dolls (I know I am going to regret selling my dolls, but they have sat in a box for years), a glass lamp, a quilt & a box of die cast airplanes. I forgot until after the old man left that Brandon didn't want me selling his airplanes. Oops!!! At least I salvaged his Concord jet from the pile. I knew that was the only one he was really interested in keeping.

This elderly man loved our stuff so much that he came back 2 more times before we were finished & bought more items. He probably knew he was getting such a steal on all the items I sold him & that was the real reason he came back so many times.

While Jesse & I were waiting for buyers we talked about how Mike & I love to collect things & have a hard time parting with our stuff. I told him we inherited the "collecting" gene from our parents. You see, we had gone to Mon & Dad's house the night before and I mentioned to Jesse then that I get the collecting gene from my parents (well at least Mom). I told him I dread the day that Mom & Dad pass away & we have to go through all their stuff & figure out what to do with it. And then I said, "And you will dread the day that Mike & I pass away as you and Brandon will have to deal with all our stuff".

Jesse said, "I'm not dreading it. It will be no problem, we will get rid of it all!!!!" It seems the collecting gene stopped with Mike & me. None of our kids seem to have inherited this gene. So if anyone wants any of our crap, I mean stuff, let me know so I can let Jesse & Brandon know. Otherwise you will be out of luck!!!!

Did any of your kids inherit this gene? Let me know.

When it was all said & done, we had made $145.00. Not bad for a last minute yard sale that we didn't advertise or put up signs for.

All the stuff that was left over we took to the local thrift store & donated (we need a tax deduction).

I have so much stuff to get rid of that I could have a yard sale every weekend for a year & still have stuff left over to sell.

We took part of the money we made & went out to dinner to our favorite Mexican restaurant. We haven't gone out to eat in such a long time. The food was especially tasty.

So I was thankful for the following this weekend:
1) That gas is cheap enough we could afford to drive to El Cajon on Friday
2) That we got to eat Thanksgiving dinner a week early
3) That I got to see my parents, oh and Jodi too.
4) That El Cajon has good thrift stores & that I was lucky to hit the "moonlight madness sale".
5) That I got to see my grandson Gunner (oh, I forgot to tell you about that. My camera battery was dead so I didn't get any new photos. Boo hoo!!! But I am thankful that they get to come up & spend Thanksgiving with us, so I will take photos then.
6) That a little old man liked our stuff enough to spend lots of money at our yard sale (we made the most off of him).
7) That we were able to go out to dinner & that I have more money to pay for my property taxes.
8) That my kids didn't inherit the "collecting" gene as it can be quite a burden sometimes.
9) That I still have a house in which to have a yard sale.
10) And most of all I am thankful that I have family who I can share all of this with.

What are you thankful for? Be sure to post about your Thanksgiving activities. Next Monday's show and tell I want you to post photos of you and/or your kids with Santa Claus.