We hit up a few yard sales again today with a portion of my birthday money. I had originally planned to save it all to buy stamping and card making supplies, but the need for instant gratification won out. Out to the streets we went. Fortunately it was already late and most of them had shut down for the day, so there were only a few left to pick from, which meant I spent less money! The trunk was full by 5pm, and I was down 19.25 from my wallet. Here’s what we got…

1st Sale: Total spent - $10.25
Griddle pan. (The one that came in our pan set has ridges and is very thin, this one is flat and nice and thick)
Red tea kettle that opens on top. (The one we got free last month only opens from the pour spout)
Fancy corkscrew. (Because the one we have isn’t very strong)
Smoothie blender (which works like a dream, we washed it up and put it to use with some strawberries and ice cream… I bet I could use it to puree veggies and sauces too!)
Printer. (I haven’t hooked this up to see if it works yet…)

2nd Sale: Total spent - $9.00
Cream colored crocheted afghan. (I love it, Chris says it’s ugly, but whatever… it’s beautiful!)
Bathroom sink and cabinet. (We’re going to paint it and replace the sink in the bathroom…it’s mounted to the wall and provides no storage.)
Paper towel holder.
Big flower pot. (Nothing I found at the local stores struck me… this one is plastic and green, but I just like it. I’ll be transplanting my herbs into it tomorrow)
Small painted terra cotta flower pot and tray. (I don’t know what to plant in this, maybe some more herbs, or lavender.)
Toaster.

Not a bad take, right? Especially considering earlier in the day we got an outside dog house, a cat scratching post, and a large water cooler for free for helping Chris’ Uncle move in next door. He’s most likely going to give us a good sized steel work table too, which will go in my office as a crafting table. I’m beginning to understand why people get addicted to yard sales. It’s an incredibly convenient way to shop. Chris and I have spent just under $150 (when you add in things we’ve found on Craigslist) and furnished the house. And when you get there late, they are wanting to be done, so they start giving you things for free… sometimes there is just a sign by the side of the road that says FREE. That’s always nice too, we got a queen sized comforter with matching shams and pillows, a rolling cart (we use it to hold laundry supplies), and books on the side of the road one day marked free.

We hit up 3 other sales today and didn’t find anything we needed at them. There was a cat kennel at the last one we went ran by, but they wanted $20 for it, and it was obviously used. Seeing as we paid $30 (or $40, I don’t remember) for Whiskey’s extra large basically brand new kennel, we just couldn’t spend that much on a small one for the cat. Oooh, that’s right, I didn’t tell you about the cat!

The night I got home Chris’ surprised me with a lovely gray tabby kitten that I named Huckleberry. It was a “welcome home” plus “Happy Birthday” gift. I was shocked, because he told me he’s allergic… but apparently he wanted to surprise me. And he did! She’s a cutie too. He also got me a patio set (a small round table and two chairs) that actually fits in our tiny kitchen, so now we eat at the table instead of the computer and television. We had pizza night (gluten free for me) and cherries for my birthday dinner. Oh, and he let me go see my Mom and sister for 9 days. A very long 9 days!

My Mom got me a pair of Birkenstocks, and let me eat her wonderful food (tomatoes, mushrooms, something other than mild cheddar cheese, fish, asparagus, rabbit, goose, clam chowder, seriously… we eat pretty simple so crashing at her house for 9 days was a blast) and lounge around watching 8 seasons of Charmed for over a week. While I was down there I went through a lot of my stuff and gave away 4 boxes of books… the local used store “bought” a few of them for in store credit… which I just put on my Mom’s account.. And then proceeded to spend more on used books than I had put on her account… so she let me used some of her in store credit too. I think I got 6 books? We had taco night (for my birthday meal) and watched several movies together.

My Grandparents sent me a nice card with some cash, as did my in-laws, and that’s what I used for garage saleing today. With the extra cash we stopped at the store and got ice-cream (oh my god, they had my favorite Haagen-Dazs that isn’t always on the shelf on sale!), strawberries, yogurt, and ice and went home to watch Atonement, eat steak, corn on the cob, asparagus, and baked potatoes… followed by smoothies! I tossed a chunk of a deliciously gooey huckleberry chocolate bar Donna sent me for my birthday (It came this morning by the way, Donna! It was scrumptious but sticky, so the rest of it is in the fridge at the moment) into the blender with mine and loved it.

Overall, despite my moaning earlier in the week, I had a good birthday… it was just spread over several days, which made it much sweeter in the end. Thanks everyone, for your wishes and support. <3