Garage Sale Finds

The grand total for the Pyrex items above is $1.75. I bought the bowls and casseroles at the same sale. They had 50 cents on the large brown bowl and 25 cents on the other items. This isn't a pattern that I love, but I thought the brown colors would be nice in the fall and I'm not going to pass up any Pyrex in this great shape at prices like that. Paul really liked these. It's called Early American and it's from the early 60s. The brown bowl has a couple scratches. People must use this size bowl a lot because I've noticed that they always look more used than the other sizes. I bought the pitcher at a different sale. It was priced at a dime, so technically I had $1.60 worth of old Pyrex, but I just gave them a quarter. As soon as I saw the shape I knew it was Pyrex. It was sitting with a bunch of ugly vases. The pitcher has gold starbursts on it. I don't know how old it is, but I bought another one very similar to it at a thrift shop earlier this summer. This was a good find. I have three pitchers now, as Creed from the Office would say (as he was collecting office chairs), "One more to go." I didn't really know what he meant by that, but I'd buy another.

$1 for a cute Corning Ware teapot. It's from the same sale as the Pyrex bowls. Laurie has one in a different pattern that she uses a lot. I've seen them in antique shops for $8. Not a high end item, but it's a cute usable item.

50 cents for a vintage Christmas apron. It was the only thing I bought at this sale, but it was well worth the stop. I will make Christmas cookies this year just so I can wear it.

There are a few more things that I bought that I didn't bother to take pictures of. I should go garage saling more often because I really do enjoy it. The truth is I should have a garage sale, but that's a different story. Tax deduction slips work well for me too.

Garage sale finds

A vintage Yahtzee game for $1. No pieces are missing - the directions are still there. The box is even perfect. This one will not be going to school. The game we had at home will go to school and this one becomes the family set. We play a lot of Yahtzee in my class. It's an awesome way to practice multiplication, adding, and number patterns. I bought a Taboo game at a thrift shop for $2 last week. The timer was broken, but I have timers at school. I love finding useful games at garage sales and thrift shops.

Carly got shy on this picture. I can't find a date on this cookbook. It appears to be some sort of Sears freebie. I consider my Betty Crocker cookbook to be my cooking bible, so I thought it would be fun to have an old one. I paid 25 cents for it. I'm going to make the cinnamon rolls from it.

I bought this jewelry organizer for $1 at the garage sale of the lady who owns "Rummage in the Park." It lays flat and could easily fit in a drawer if you didn't want it sitting out. She had two so I bought both of them and gave one to Ellen. On the chair behind Carly you can see a small square vintage table cloth that I bought for a quarter at the same sale. I kind of felt like Laurie when I bought that.

Rummage in the Park

Laurie, why didn't you buy this dress? Carly had asked Laurie to try it on. When She came out of the dressing room we couldn't make fun of it because it was way too cute. On the hanger you would never have predicted how cute this dress would be. I'm guessing this must be from the 70s.

Rummage in the Park is the best consignment clothing shop I have ever been in. They have a lot of really awesome vintage clothes that are fun to try on, but they also have a lot of clothes from the past few years - lots of shoes and jewelry too. I go there once a year when Laurie comes up and I think I'm going to have to stop in there more often because I do find some cool things. I have been keeping my eye out for a pair of trouser jeans and haven't had much luck until last week. I got a pair from Esprit for $8. I do have to wear super chunky heels to keep them from dragging on the floor, but that is the price of fashion. It wouldn't kill me to appear to be taller. I bought a pair of chunky heeled Italian sandals here that do the trick - they're cute and they only cost $5. This is the place where I bought a brand new, never been worn pair of Dansko sandals for $22.

The girl who works in the shop told us that today was city wide garage sale day in Hibbing and that the owner of the store would be selling housewares at a garage sale down the street. I made a point to go to it and I'm really glad I did. I talked to her about her store for awhile and she asked if I ever bring in items. I said I had not, but that I'd like to know how they take items. You pay a one time start up fee of $5. You bring in all of your clean items on hangers (you get your hangers back). She prices the items and you each take 1/2 when they sell. Considering that I give away all of my clothes that I no longer wear, I think I'm going to start doing this. They take men's clothes as well. I might as well get something back from it and visit the store too.

Art in Vining

On our way back to Keewatin, Carly and I stopped to gas up in the small town of Vining. This town is know for their collection of metal sculptures. It all started with a great big foot and then then grew from their. I took picture of the ones that Carly told me to. It was cold so we made it a quick stop.

The man responsible for these pieces of art has the last name Nyberg. His daughter Karen was one of the astronauts in the last space shuttle launch. If you remember, Hillary Clinton mentioned her in her concession speech. She said she was the 50th woman to go into outer space. One of my coworkers is married to Karen's cousin, so he and his family went down to Florida for the shuttle launch at the end of May.

I have to go watch Barack's big speech, so I'll add few more posts later. I had a good garage saling day!

Done Celebrating Barack & Laurie's Birthday

Sorry it took me so long to get back to the blog. A couple weeks ago we went to Laurie's place for the weekend. On the way down we stopped at a little coffee shop in Pillager. Businesses around the Brainerd area have been painting oxen to match businesses. Carly like this one that was covered in ice cream cones and cookies. There was a really cool one outside a Scuba shop that had a scuba diving ox.
Ellen & Gracie. She's a walker now!

Ellen & one of the cats - Maisy I believe. That was it for pictures that I took that weekend. Laurie had a bunch of pictures that I'll have to download to my computer. We played at the cabin that weekend. On Monday we went into Fergus Falls and hit the junk shops. I had some fun finds - a great Hawaiian print shirt for Paul, a wooden recipe box, vintage Raggedy Ann birthday invites, and I forget what else. Ellen bought a bunch of books at great used book shop. We had lunch at a really good authentic Mexican restaurant.

On Tuesday, Ellen and I went back home. Ellen stayed with Laurie for a couple of days.

What do these two people have in common

besides their extreme awesomeness?

They both have a birthday on August 4th. Happy birthday Laurie and Barack!

A Visit with Gracie & Royce

On our way back home we took a small detour to stop at Royce's place. We had been in the car four hours at that point, so it was a very welcome stop. I had not been to their place for over a year. The yard, porch, garden, and shop are looking really nice. Royce was kind enough to grill us burgers and heat up some corn dogs for the girls. Lynn wouldn't be home from work for another two to three hours so we didn't see her.

Gracie seemed very happy to have visitors. She was all over the girls and was happy to be carried around. I don't know if she could be any sweeter.

This is my 100th blog post. Imagine confetti falling.

Deer Park

Deer Park is another very popular attraction in the Dells. You pay your admission and buy packs of deer food and then head into a large fenced in area. You follow a trail through the park. The deer are loosely gated so it is not unusual to see deer walking right down the middle of the path looking for a hand out. At times large herds of deer will be right in a pack of tourists as you can see in one of the photos above. They also have some other large animals that are fenced in - bison, elk, etc. It was pretty cool. I'd recommend a stop here.

Paul at Deer Park

Paul was more than happy to claim Carly's pack of deer food (Rye-Krisp crackers) and feed the deer. He broke the crackers into really small pieces to make the experience last. When he ran out of crackers he bought handfuls of deer feed from the little candy machines. He did that until he ran out of quarters. You could drop Paul off when the park opens and pick him up when it closes and he'd be completely happy.

Ellen at Deer Park

I think Ellen must have felt a little bit like Snow White this day. The creatures of the forest came up to her as if she was their best friend.

Shari at Deer Park

Since I am the family photographer I spent more time taking pictures of my family interacting with the deer than feeding them. This is proof that I was there too.

Normally I would delete a photo like this, but this deer had some heavy interaction with me. My plan was to get a close up of Paul's hand feeding the deer. Instead this deer sneezed and got some black shit all over my white shorts. That was great.

Carly at Deer Park

Wisconsin Dells is home to the Torture Museum. If Carly were the curator she would create a little exhibit on a trip to Deer Park.

Thursday, July 31

Thursday morning we decided to play tourist rather than play in the water park. Even Ellen was ready for a break from it. We went to breakfast at a popular restaurant. It's called something like Paul Bunyan's Logging Camp. It's an all you can eat place. You pay for your food before you are seated. Everyone is seated at tables that are pushed together. We were seated next to another family of four. They have a few drink options that are included with your meal. They take your order for that and return with them and a plate of homemade donuts - they were really good. They came back about ten minutes later with our food. It's served family style so it's all in bowls that you pass around amongst your group. We had pancakes, sausage, ham, hash browns, and scrambled eggs. It was very good and we all left the table feeling full. I'd definitely recommend this place. It felt like a big lumberjack dining hall.

Afterward we hit the tourist shop section of town. This was where Ellen posed for a picture with a big troll. Carly would not pose. All we bought was a pack of gum for Ellen and a key chain for Kayla's collection. We then moved onto Deer Park. I took a lot of pictures and it will get it's own section of the blog.

Wednesday in Wisconsin Dells

On Wednesday we spent the entire morning and a good share of the afternoon at the water park. We were all tired by 3 pm. That evening we went out for pizza at Moosejaw Pizza. They had a couple of PT Cruiser delivery cars that were fun to see out on the street. Ellen and Carly refused to pose next the car.

Ellen was willing to pose with her antlers.

So was Paul.

Carly was not. The pizza was good. They also have their own brewery. I had a beer which was very good and Ellen tried their root beer that she said was really good. Ellen got a cute souvenir shirt here. They had really cute shirts for younger kids with the delivery car on the front. I wanted to get one for Carly but she said she would never wear it. We have learned that if Carly says she will not wear something she really won't wear it.

After dinner we went to the Rick Wilcox Magic Show. I've never been a huge fan of magicians. It all started back in the 70s when Doug Henning would have tv specials. I watched them because we only had two channels, but I didn't enjoy it (kind of like Lawrence Welk). I think David Copperfield is strange and David Blaine is just a freak in my opinion. So I didn't go in with high hopes. I loved the Rick Wilcox show - my whole family did as well as everyone else in the theater. He was very funny and every trick he did left us baffled. His wife is his assistant and she was great too. Paul and I saw Penn & Teller in Las Vegas and really enjoyed that show - we liked the Wisconsin Dells magic show better. It was fun sitting next to Carly during the show. She laughed a lot and had a look of amazement on her face often. The show and theater had an old fashioned feel to it. It was great family entertainment.

Wisconsin Dells

It was about a 4 hour drive from Nancy's house to Wisconsin Dells. It was all interstate driving which made it go by pretty fast. We were able to check in early to our hotel. We were staying at the Great Wolf Lodge which is a newer place. It was huge. It has a large indoor and outdoor waterpark on-site. I didn't take any pictures of the waterpark because it really isn't a good place to bring a camera. As soon a we got there we put on our suits and hit the park for a couple of hours. Waterparks are not for the out of shape. Over the three days we were there we climbed so many steps while carrying tubes and sometimes big heavy cloverleaf tubes. Ellen and I counted 78 steps to get to a set of slides that we used quite a bit. We were exhausted at the end of each day. Every park has their big thrill ride. Ours had the "Howling Tornado." I think it was probably similar to being flushed down a huge toilet.

Carly is not a fan of pools and lakes, but she was a good sport at the waterpark. She went in the pools and rode a few waterslides with me. If you asked her if she enjoyed it she would say no, but everytime we went down a slide together she would yell out, "Wheeeeee!!" She enjoyed it once we talked her into it.

That evening we drove down the main streets of the Dells. I would describe it as a Vegas for kids. I can't imagine just Paul and I going there. It's the kind of place that is set up for family entertainment. We ate at a Mexican restaurant along the river that evening and it was geat. It was nice to be there midweek rather than a weekend. We never had to wait for a table at a restaurant and we could always find four lounge chairs together at the waterpark.

Next installment later.

Visiting with the Floms

Carly and Sophie thought it was pretty cool to wear the same dress the night that we went out for dinner.
The girls are at an age where they play together so easily. It's fun to watch them together. They used the first tier of the retaining wall as a stage - which I thought was pretty creative. The first day we were there, they spent a lot of time playing on it.
We arrived at Nancy & David's on Sunday afternoon. It was our first visit to their new home and we thought it was really nice. We kept pretty busy. Nancy, Ellen, and I did some shopping at the Eden Prairie Center while Paul and David took the little kids to a park. We ate dinner that evening and then just hung out in their backyard - which is very nice. Nancy and David did a lot of work on it. I regret that I didn't get any pictures of Joey in one of his athletic uniforms - we saw many over the weekend.

On Monday morning Nancy and I got up early to go for a run. Nancy chose a route that would have us running past a drinking fountain twice which was smart because it was really warm and humid. We were out about an hour and everyone was still sleeping when we got back to her house. Nancy is running a 1/2 marathon this morning and it is supposed to be a warm one. Good luck Nancy! After the run we sat out on the back deck and saw the deer that Nancy sent out pictures of. It just seems odd to see a deer in such a residential area.

We all went swimming at the Lifetime Fitness Center later that morning - perfect choice for the hot, sunny day. It's really a nice facility and since it was a Monday it wasn't too busy. I would love to live near an outdoor pool.

That evening we split up. David, Paul, Ellen, and Joey went to a Twins game. They first went to the Mall of America for dinner at the Rain forest Cafe. Then they used the light rail train to go to the Metrodome. They had tickets in the 11th row along the first base line. The Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 7-0. They said it was a great game.

Nancy, Sophie, Carly, and I went to Trader Joes. I had been looking forward to going there and was not disappointed at all. I bought over two bags full of different items and did not pay all that much for them. I really wish that Duluth would get one. Everything we have tried so far we have really liked. We then went to a couple of kitchen stores. We didn't buy anything at the first one, but did buy a few items on sale at Sur La Table. We then walked over to the Edina Grill for dinner. Since it was nice out, we ate outside. We all had a good food there. When we got home we watched the last few innings of the Twins game.

In the morning we got up and were on the road to Wisconsin Dells. Thanks for everything Nancy & David. We had a nice time!

We are home!

It was a busy week. I'll do little installments here and there because I have quite a few pictures. I will say that we had a very nice time at the Flom's home and in Wisconsin Dells. It was very nice to first drive to the cities, stay a couple days and then head to the Dells. It took us about 4 hours to get from Nancy and David's place to the hotel. Our drive back today was much longer. If we drove it straight through it would take a bit over six hours. We went a little out of the way to stop for a visit with Royce & Gracie - Lynn was at work. We had lunch with Royce, he showed us some of the things he's done at his house and in the shop, and we always enjoy seeing Gracie.

I have done most of the unpacking and I started the laundry. Paul just picked up the dog from the kennel. Kayla was over within five minutes of us getting home.