Junk of the Week #4

Sturdy wooden box - $1.00
Metal leaf candle cup - $.25
Green plastic folding stand thing - $.25
Set of 3 jack-o-lantern candle holders w. votive candles - $.50
"Dreamcatcher" paperback by Stephen King - $.25
"Twilight Eyes" paperback by Dean Koontz - $.25
"Naked Pictures of Famous People" paperback by John Stewart - $.50
"The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red" by Dr. Joyce Reardon (Ridley Pearson) paperback - Free
"The Encyclopedia of Monsters" hardback - Paid for by my uncle
Mouse phonograph music box & snow globe - Paid for by my uncle

Rummage Sale Bag Items - Paid for by my mom
-Two Pillows
-Hand soap dispenser
-Fancy Christmas table cloth
-Christmas rug you can't see in the photo
-Set of two milk glass candlestick holders
-Set of two black/smokey glass candle cups
-Chopper
-Grater
-Square purple flower pot
-Two small hard plastic containers
-"Timeline" paperback by Michael Crichton

**Super Awesome Find of the Week**
"Carrie" hardback by Stephen King - $8.00

Okay, so the "Rose Red..." & "Carrie" books weren't actually yard sale buys, I still include them in the weekly junk round-up because they are second-hand and good deals. Back on Free Comic Book Day my local shop (www.comixconnection.com) gave out a couple coupons with your purchase, including one for their store (20% off $10 or more, which I used last week to almost catch up on X-FORCE) and one for a place called Cupboard Maker Books. I don't know what the name means, but the coupon was for one FREE used paperback, so after yard sale'ing today my brother and I drove out to Enola to find the place. I think I did pretty good, I only had to turn around twice on the way there and once on the way home. (To be fair, the second time was not my fault, I had no way to know I couldn't make a left turn from 944 onto 11&15.)

I really liked the book shop once we found it, they have TONS of used paperbacks. Their prices are about what I call 'flea market' prices, which are higher than yard sale prices, but still much cheaper than buying new. Paperbacks seemed to average $3 and hardcovers $8. The "Rose Red..." companion book was free with my coupon and I've heard it's pretty good. (The mini-series was okay, but some of the actors were so annoying it kinda ruined it for me.) There were a few King hardbacks there I would have like to have bought, but I was running low on cash and had to choose between "Carrie" and "IT" both of which I've been looking for for two years. My cousin bought a hardcover copy of IT at a yard sale last weekend, I'm hoping to trade for or buy it from him, so I went with Carrie. The lady at the counter was very friendly and told me that it had just come in and they have a very hard time keeping it in stock. She also told me they buy used books in exchange for store credit, which is great news, because I've got a bunch of extra books I'd love to get out of the way.

Back to the yard sale finds now. Finally, a sizable haul! There's a children's home about three minutes from my mom's house, and they had their annual rummage sale this morning. We were there for almost an hour. (Of course, we brought my nephew, so that didn't help speed things along.) The price was $2.00 a bag, so it was hard to not just pick stuff up. Between me and my mom and my sister and her kid we filled five bags. And then my mom paid for all of them, so even sweeter deal. (I don't ask people to pay for my stuff, I had money, they just do it before I can get my cash out.) I got all kinds of nice little things. I have a nice milk glass collection scattered about my apartment, so I added the two candlestick holders, and the chopper also goes into a growing collection that is up to either seven or eight. (I feel like one might be missing, I don't know.) I love these nice soft pillows, I'm leaning on one right now. I really needed that grater, since I broke the one in my food processor the first time I used it. I'm not sure where everything else is going to go right now, but I'll find places for it all eventually.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with that wooden box, but it's nice and sturdy and was only a buck. I'll probably put books in it, or maybe use it as a photo prop, I don't know. The guy I bought the folding green stand from said something about it being for needlepoint or the like, but I'm putting it in with my picnic stuff and using it as a drink stand. My uncle bought me the musical snow globe because I've started collecting little mice, which was very nice of him. I'm going to need to start looking for a shelf to keep these things on. I'm pretty sure those three jack-o-lantern candle holders were supposed to be fifty cents EACH, but the lady was telling me how she was selling them for her neighbor and wrapping them up, and ended up only charging me fifty cents for all three of them and I didn't think to correct her. Oops. Each one has an unburned black votive candle in it, so double score.

"The Encyclopedia of Monsters" is really cool, it's full of articles on movie creatures and the like. It came from a library and is in good condition, and I like it quite a bit, it'll be a nice edition to my horror library. I'm also looking forward to reading the John Stewart book I bought (yes, the John Stewart from The Daily Show), I found "Dreamcatcher" in paperback for my King library, and unfortunately I already had Dean Koontz's "Twilight Eyes" but it's my own fault for (A)not bringing my book catalog along, and (B)not reading enough of my damn books.

Fun Fact: Before making his living as an author, Pennsylvania native Dead Koontz worked as an English teacher at Mechanicsburg Area Senior High, which I both attended and graduated from about two and a half decades later. POISON lead singer Bret Michaels also graduated from Mechanicsburg High, which is as good an excuse as any to go watch that video of him getting his face smashed at the Tony Awards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPUkLWNdTAk

So it was a pretty good day, except for the kid getting cranky towards the end and crying a lot, no matter how many toys my mom bought him. He did get pretty excited when my mom bought him a new video of monster trucks and car crashes. He watches his BIGFOOT video (from 1988) in a continuous loop every time he goes to my parents' house and still gets worked up about it enough to make truck noises and yell while he watches. Riley is so cool.

Oh, and there was one more thing I got today that didn't make it into the group photo. It was in the purple flower pot in the rummage sale bag and I missed getting it out. I think it's going to be the beginning of a new collection...

2" Smurf figure (AKA Creepy Clown Smurf)


I had a bunch of these as a kid but I don't know what happened to them. I remember my aunt and uncle had a whole bunch glued to the dashboard of their van when I was little, too. I've been picking the glasses up lately too. I'm not sure why. I guess I just like Smurfs.

Okay then, see y'all next week.