Yard Salin’ with Ingrid Bergman

***Dang!  If you notice, you are at my post from last weekend’s party.  Mr. Linky and I got all tangled up and I ended up linking back to this old, stale, out of date, post.  If you care to read something thats a little more fresh, jump on over here. Granted, its nothing spectacular, but it ain’t on the 50% off rack just yet.***

I had great hopes for this Saturday’s junkin’ adventure.  I was up and at ‘em first thing, landing at the first yard sale just a few minutes after 7:00a.m.  To me, the first yard sale helps set the tone for the rest of the day and today would be no different.  I scouted this particular sale online the night before and since it was in my neighborhood, I thought it would be a great place to start.  The advertisement gave the street address so I knew exactly where I was going, but I kept my eye out for signs as I was hoping for the additional information as a back up.  I have been known to read yard sale advertisements on the internet, only to realize the advertisement was for a sale that took place the weekend prior.  Oopsie.

I caught a glimpse of the word “HUGE” on a small,wilted, sign as I approached the street.  Lucky for me, I was looking for it, but had I not, and were going down this busy street at my normal speed, I may have missed it.  Not to mention the humidity in my neck of the woods wreaks total havoc on a yardsale sign not having the proper support (imagine nailing a wet paper towel to a pole).  Then again, every Saturday morning between 7 and 12, I have my eyes peeled for flourescent colored signs, no matter the size, or sturdiness.  Little beacons from afar!

I approached the yardsale with optimism.  The sign was right, it was HUGE.  Only, I didn’t find a HUGE amount of treasures to take home.  I enjoyed a brief conversation with the yardsale host regarding the fact that no matter how hard you try, it’s nearly impossible to open yardsale shop on time.  (Arrive early, and you are sure to witness a frenzy of activity.)  If you recall from my last eventful yard saling episode, part of the pleasure I receive from yardsaling comes in the form of my encounters with yardsale hosts.  I left with two items:  a clock of which I paid too much for and a small ceramic pitcher of which I didn’t pay enough.

I followed my usual yardsale circuit, noticing along the way there weren’t many yardsalers out and about…oh the luck to have it all to myself!  However, after stopping at a few here and there, I began to realize my fellow yardsalers must have thrown in the towel early as I know I wasn’t having much luck myself.  Yet again, the parallels of yardsaling and fishing.  Sometimes you land the Big One and have fruitful results, sometimes you don’t.  Sometimes you put your fishing poles away early and find something else to do, sometimes you stay the course because you never know when the Big One will bite, and it’s a nice day, and the beer is cold, and you are just plain enjoying yourself….  I digress.

Where was I?  Oh, the last yardsale on the circuit landed me this cute retro, avocado green utility cart.  I thought it might make an interesting addition to our booth at the local antique mall.

By this time, it was a little after 9:00a.m. and I still had plenty of yard sale time to book, so I ventured outside of my usual territory which proved to be a good move on my part.  Again, with my eyes peeled for the famous flourescent beacons, I found myself at the side-by-side yard sale.  You know, two houses, two yard sales, one stop.  Score!  Both of these were also very large and I knew for certain I wouldn’t leave empty handed.  I was right!  I landed this white vintage (buzz word for ‘old’) American Tourister, what I’ll call, weekend suitcase as well as this blue egg-shaped vintage carrying case for carrying, oh, I don’t know, scarves, make-up…little plastic army men?

And last but not least, this beauty!  The yardsale hostess pointed out the fact that this was not a piece of luggage but rather a carrying case of sorts.  It still had the hardware in it where the ‘widget’ it use to carry was attached.  I thought, record player?  Old camera maybe?  I was super excited about this piece because I noticed while carrying it from the yardsale to the car, I had a different swing in my step, a swagger even.  The mental picture of myself circa 1952 in a London Fog raincoat jet-setting off somewhere fabulous a la’ Ingrid Bergman…. I digress.  Again.

I came home and by the power of the internet, I learned it was the carrying case for an old Singer 301 sewing machine.  Maybe that’s the obvious answer to some folks, but heck, I didn’t know!  I did feel a little smarter about the world having solved the mystery.

So we all know vintage suitecase are all the rage these days, but what to do with one?  I am in awe of the creative ability of the people I encounter in blogland.  Using some of the inspiration I found for uses of old suitcases (see pictures below) I thought this particular case, given its trapezoid shape, would make a cool laptap carrier.  Admittedly, I struggled to come up with just that one idea as sometimes I have a hard time thinking outside the box, vintage suitecase.  Hardy-har-har. Take a look at a few of the ideas I found.  What would you do with one?  Or three?  Or twenty!?

photo credit:  http://greenisthenewblue.blogspot.com

photo credit:  http://bitterbettyindustries.blogspot.com

photocredit:  www.poetichome.com

By the way, I am oh so excited to be a second time participant in the Thrifty Mondays Party over at the Southern Hospitality blog.  Won’t you join in on the thrifty fun?