Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Wednesday, Dreary Wednesday

  Hello people! New day same story.  Abbigail got her wisdom tooth pulled so she's all hopped up on pain killers and I am to man the store alone once more.  To make matters worse, It's Raining Mark Twaining! So, I'm sure to spend this dreary Wednesday without the company of my usual loverly customers.  Today I'm determined to make the most of it though.  I'm gonna explode my monotony into one billion pieces, and do something awesome this time! So yeah! Put that in your pipe and smoke it you soggy, gloomy, dismal,  wretched, dull, and overall dumb excuse for a perfectly good Wednesday!!  In yo face!
  So today I'll be..ummmm...eehhh...errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..............Crap.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

What to do....

  Abbigail's gone for a couple of days visiting her mom,  our neighbours Quaz and Tiff have also left for their home town,  our other neighbour Miracle has pneumonia, and the store hasn't had a customer all day.  Awesome right?  Now I have all the free time in the world to do whatever I want!  What am I doing with my temporary solitude you might ask?  Well, so far I have skimmed through about five Vanity Fair magazines, (not my usual choice of literature, just so you know)  rocked in the rocking chair while humming songs that I can't remember the lyrics to,  gnawed off most of the skin around my finger nails, and I even typed in "fun things to do alone" into the google search engine without much luck, (puzzles, books, tv ?! Come on Google, is that the best you can do?! One suggestion was actually, "Turn on some music and dance in front of the mirror."  That's just sad)
  I guess I'm just gonna have to face the facts.  No Abbigail = no fun.  Rant over. 

Friday, March 18, 2011

A list

 When you are trash picking, as Billy and I often do you start to notice certain things cropping up again and again. This is my list of things that never need to be produced again. There are plenty of them already in the world. If you are ever in need of one of these items on the list, come by the shop because I will have most of them in stock.

1. Hangers- metal, plastic, and even wood. We probably find fifty a night, too many for us to keep, even with the shop.

2. Rubbermaid tubs- Now, only one in ten of these will usually have the matching lid, but they are still very handy. Do you know how much these cost? It is insane how many are in the garbage.

3. Plastic organizing containers- such as small baskets, boxes, crates, including milk crates ( I think Billy and I have found about twenty five milk crates total).

4. Christmas lights- Holy cow! We had passed up probably fifty strands of these, assuming that they didn't work, but on a whim we grabbed a few one night and every strand worked. We snag them up all the time now.

5. Fake Christmas trees- There is never a need to buy one, they are everywhere. Billy and I could have a whole fake Christmas tree farm. Hmm, good idea.

6. Mugs- I know people might love fancy mugs, but if you don't care what it looks like...wow, you could have thousands.

7. Luggage- old and new models, its everywhere. Suitcases, train cases, carry on bags, messenger bags...it goes on and on.

8. Easter goodies- Baskets, plastic eggs, easter grass...we have passed a lot of this stuff up, because we have no place to store it all 'til the season comes.

9. Plastic Jack-o-Lanterns- You know, the kind you carry candy in with the handle? I think I have seen two hundred in the past year, and I want to bring home every one, but Billy says NOOOOOOOOOOOO.. I will break him down, eventually.

10. Clothespins- I have nightmares about how many clothespins are floating around.

11. Plastic Play Jewelry- Bracelets, Necklaces, Tiaras, fake Earrings, it's all there.

12. Frames- I realize this is a tricky one, since all picture sizes are different, but Billy and I find them in all sizes on a regular basis from huge poster size to a 4x6.

13. Gift Bags- Oh my lord, gift bags! I was in a store  the other day and saw a small gift bag going for four bucks. Insanity!!! I am looking at a display of about fifteen of these suckers in our shop right now.  People buying this stuff new blows my mind!

Sorry, this was such a word heavy post, I just get real revved up about this issue. I will probably add to this list periodically.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Billy's Thriftastic Post!

This is my favourite painting! And... I paid a whole whopping 2 bucks for it at Sally Alley in Louisville! It kinda looks like there is a skull in the clouds, do you see it?
This handy Boy Scout reference was donated to our store and I just had to make it mine!  Because you just never know when you're gonna need a good ol double carrick bend!
This was a dumpster find but still, it's pretty awesome!  It hangs above my drafting table where I sit most every day.  One day, we'd love to have several more Paint by numbers to fill up a whole wall!  We know it's been done but who cares! We like what we like yo!

Midnight Breakfast and the Back Porch


Last night, we had a midnight breakfast with everyone who lives in our apartment and our new friend from the store, Debra! Billy and our neighbour, Miracle decorated our upstairs hallway beautifully! You do not get the full effect in these photos at all. There was soft light everywhere, and it felt like a tiny hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant like you see in the movies. It was so magical! 

We had: eggs with sausage and peppers, biscuits, gravy, bacon, four different kinds of muffins, juices, milk, and a ton of pastries from Starbucks thanks to our friends, Lauren and Colin. A big thank you to our friends Quas and Tiff for bringing made from scratch biscuits and gravy!  We ended the night with an episode of Mister Rogers, and we are pretty sure a good night was had by all.
Also, here's some of our awesome God's Eyes hanging on our back porch! We ended up making eighteen of them!

 

Friday, March 11, 2011

It was bound to happen sooner or later...

  Holy Crap! Tonight, I was dumpster diving and I got caught by a lady cop! She actually turned out to be pretty cool. When I told her all I was trying to do was save things from the landfill, she went to the main building and asked if it was okay if I took the stuff.  I was like AWESOME.  While she was gone, Abbigail, who had been waiting in the truck, drove by at like 90 miles per hour and yelled "WHATS GOING ON??????????????" to which I had no time to reply. The cop came back and told  me I wasn't in trouble, and that I just need to ask permission next time, that people seemed like they would cooperate. Then she took off.
  So, I went to where the truck had been parked, and there was no trace of Abbigail. I ended up walking through the mean streets of Richmond (3 miles) to the apartment. I finally found Abbigail, with the help of some friends, at her dad's house. The End.
  I totally feel like a surfer who's been bitten by a shark , but still wants to go out and catch that monster wave. Cause you can bet your booty I will be out there tomorrow divin' them dumpsters!!!

New Friends

    This is our new neighbor, Colin. He is a cool dude, even though he started a prank war on us. He is modeling some things he found in the thrift store.  Here is our other good friend, Spencer, also modeling some fancy thrift store goods.

Trashy Thriftastic Thursday on Friday

   This astounding boy scout vest was donated to our thrift store, so it kind of counts as thrifted. It is so beautiful and it lives on our closet door so I can gaze at it any time I want.
  This is the Barbie case we found the day after we found the one in the post below! Same spot and everything!
   Billy bought this at Bargain Mart long before we started dating. He gave it to me the first weekend he spent at my apartment, and I loved it. He told me nobody appreciated it like him, except ME. Because I rule.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

God's Eyes

  Our neighbor, Tiffany, Billy and I made God's Eyes for our back porch. These are just the beginning, we want to make around twenty! We didn't have a lot of colors to work with, so they aren't as awesome as they soon will be. The back porch is going to look amazing! Billy has lots of top secret plans for it!  So watch out!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Friday, March 4, 2011

doodle

Trashy Thriftastic Thursdays are on whatever day I want apparently!



  Everytime I used to go get Billy in Louisville, we would always stop at Bargain Mart before we would head back to Richmond. This was one of the treasures we found there for fifty cents!!!!!!!!!!!! It is so cool! It has an indian, hula girl, gypsy, robot, farmer, and a clown on each side, and you can flip flop their bodies together.
    We found this awesome bulletin board in the trash! And this produce!  We made real lemonade and it was soooo good! Billy said " This tastes just like it came from the store!" Broccoli casserole is next!
 
    This was the highlight of this week's trash shenanigans though!! At least non food wise, because you can't beat free food!
   When I look at this I hear the song Ariel sings whenever Ursula is stealing her voice. You know the one...Ahhhhha ahhhhhhha  ahhhhhahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!  Beauty!! Do you remember this, Mama!? Can you believe I found one just like yours! It is so awesome!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Reading Nook

  This is our reading nook in our making stuff area! I have been working pretty hard to get the apartment looking awesome so we can have some people over and show off our new digs! The reading nook is finished and seems to be Billy's favourite place. He falls asleep in there often, who wouldn't feel sleepy with He-Man and Skeletor fighting behind you?  We found the curtain curbside, the He-Man blanket was a Illinois thrifting score (I ALSO GOT A SHE-RA COMFORTER THE SAME DAY!), the afghan on the back of the couch was made by my Aunt Maudy, so all four of my loves are in the picture: trash,thrifting, family, and Billy.