Junk of the Week #10

5" Captain Jack Sparrow Doll - $0.25
Thomas the Tank Engine Backpack - $0.50*

*Not Pictured*


It's like the pickings get slimmer every week. I don't know what's going on. But I really like my li'l Jack Sparrow doll and my nephew really REALLY liked the Thomas the Tank Engine backpack I bought him, so I guess it was worth getting out of bed. Eventually. I forgot to reset my alarm and overslept by an hour.

No junk next week, I'm having my own yard sale. Hopefully I can get rid of this stuff and make room for newer stuff. I don't even care if I make any money.

Okay, I care a little bit.

Junk of the Week #9

Book shelf - $4.00
Spruce scented Candle-lite Candle - $2.00
Candle, plate & rocks - $1.00
1981 Football Jersey Smurf Plush - $.50


Sorry about the crappy photo, people I pretend read this stuff. My living room is full of stuff for my own yard sale and boxes of books that need sorted out, so this is the best angle I could get.

Nothing much to say. I spent more than I usually do with less to show for it. I really need the bookshelf, though. It's been a pain in the ass finding somewhere to put it, but I think it's gonna work out okay.

And I needed the candle plate, too. I like to burn those big three-wick pillar candles in the fall and at Christmas time, but I don't always pay enough attention to them and there's a nice size puddle of green pine scented wax stuck in my carpet from the last one that over-flowed. I do plan to clean that up some day.

I don't usually pay more than a dollar for candles at yard sales, but this one smells fantastic, and Candle-lite candles can get a little pricey, too. Not as expensive as Yankee Candles, of course, but not $2 a piece, you know.

And the Smurf? I just like Smurfs. I think this one must have been on a shelf or something for the last twenty eight years, he's in practically new condition, though he's missing something that velcroed to his hand. Most likely a football.

So that's it. Another week with a mostly sucky selection. We even gave up early, partly because my nephew was with us and he was getting bored too. Even though my mom bought him a ton of toys. She could barely fit it all in the van. I don't know how my sister keeps from choking her sometimes, really.

Junk of the Week #8

"Island Mango" Yankee Candle - $1.00
"Kiss the Girls" hardcover by James Patterson - $.50
"The Dark Half" paperback by Stephen King - Free

No, that is not the floor of a casino, that's my bedspread. A yard sale find from last year. I love it, the crazy colors relax me for some reason.


Anyway...

Sigh. Another lame week. We found a lot more sales than we did the previous week, of course, but nobody had anything good. It was very frustrating.

The free book was cool. The lady was just piling stuff on the curb she wanted to get rid of because people were driving by looking for a yard sale that was in the paper but was never set up. And it gave me something to read while I sat in the van at all the other lame sales we stopped at that I could look at in three seconds but my mom had to peruse for five to ten minutes each.

The island mango scented candle was a good buy, I'll say that. That size Yankee Candle is usually, like, fifteen to twenty dollars. I don't know how the people who make Yankee Candles sleep at night. Other than on a huge pile of money. That smells like fruit.

And I got another James Patterson book. I like Patterson. I can read his books in, like, five hours, and there's always that twist at the end to make it fun. I once read one of his books in the large-print edition, it felt like I was tearing through it at a page a second.

Okay, that's all I've got for this week. I really hope this yard sale season picks up soon. It's not like I've got room for a lot more junk, or money to buy more junk, for that matter, but still, I feel like I'm wasting half my Saturdays lately.

Junk of the Week #7

Set of 3 Christmas Mice - Paid for by my uncle
Bag of 100 Vanilla Scented Tea Light Candles - $1.00


Ugh. Slim pickin's this week. I went out to some sales Friday around town but didn't find much but the candles. Actually, okay, I DID find some Stephen King books I wanted, including the ever illusive hardcover IT, but they wanted more than I was willing to pay ($15 for the hardcover and $1 for the paperbacks, I don't like to pay that much for used books if I can help it) so I didn't get them. I was in a really shitty mood yesterday for some reason, so I got pissy at myself and went home after an hour.

There were hardly any sales about today, what with it being July 4th and all, and the sales we did find pretty much sucked. Did come across those Christmas mice, which are a little bigger than most of the ones I have but so what. My uncle paid for them before I could go back to the van for my money. We mostly just drove around for three hours and then went to Wal-Mart and McDonald's, which I think is a pretty apt way to celebrate our country. :)

I'm running low on both money and gas, so no trip to flea market this week. Besides, my apartment is all torn to shit right now as I clean out my closets and prepare for my own yard sale, which should hopefully be at the end of the month. I suppose I should stem the incoming tide while I deal with what I have for now.

Here's hoping next week makes up for it.

Junk of the Week #6

Two Record Frames - $2.00
Doors Albums - $.25 each
-L.A. Woman
-Greatest Hits
-The Soft Parade
Big Green Photo Album - $1.00
Tall Photo Album - $3.00
Queen Size Flannel Throw - $3.00
Mouse Christmas Tree Ornament - From my uncle
Phillips Seafood Restaurant Pilsner Glass - $.25
Fish Food - $1.00
St. Ives Body Wash - $2.00
"The Dead Zone" hardcover by Stephen King - $3.00
Books - $1.00 each
-Calvin & Hobbes: Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons
-"Dreamcatcher" hardcover by Stephen King
-"Thinner" hardcover by Stephen King as Richard Bachman
-"Gerald's Game" hardcover by Stephen King
Books from eBay - $24.00 Stephen King Hardcover Lot
-"On Writing"
-"Skeleton Crew"
-"Firestarter"
-"Lisey's Story" (Gift Box Edition)
-"Cujo"
-"Blaze"
-"The Shining"
-"Night Shift"


No 'Find of the Week' this edition, because I'm just so pleased with the complete haul. I spent a little more money, what with the eBay lot, than usual, but whatever. It's not like I'm spending money on much of anything else right now.

That's a nice lot I got from eBay, too. I didn't want to eBay for my Stephen King books, what with the high price of shipping, even using media mail, but there are some I just can NOT find, and these were in such good condition (most pretty much like new) at such a reasonable price. I already have "Blaze" (which I actually liked quite a bit) and "Skeleton Crew" so the extra copies will go in my yard sale box or else I'll trade them in for credit at the used book shop. I also had "Firestarter" already, but mine is the smaller 'book club' edition. I'm so happy to finally have a hardcover "Night Shift" with a dust jacket. And this is my first copy of ANY edition of "Cujo" which is the only one of Mr. King's novels I'm aware of that I have never read. I've never really wanted to read it, because I know what happens in it to some extent, and I have a low tolerance for awful things (even fictional ones) happening to little kids and animals. I will probably read it eventually, by fall I would guess, because I do some day plan to write my full Stephen King review on all the books.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, though a little warmer than I usually care for, and the yard sale'ing got off to a great start, as I found "Dreamcatcher" (which I already have but was missing the dust jacket for) and "Thinner" (a used library copy but so what) at the first sale, along with the Calvin & Hobbes book, which I think is one of the very few I don't already have. The photo albums were great finds, as I have about 200 photos waiting to be put away, I just couldn't afford $10 for a brand new album. Oi. I love the flannel throw, it goes on my bed eventually, because right now all that's on there is the sheet and the comforter, there's really no middle ground. I'm using it on the couch right now, my air conditioning is awesome. And the Phillips pilsner glass is pretty neat, I've only been to the one in Ocean City, MD, but it lists all of the locations so it works out. I really like pilsner glasses.

The three Doors LP's were a quarter a piece, and they're not in great condition, but I plan to frame them up on the wall anyway. Which worked out great when I got the two album frames at the very next sale. Three would've been perfect, of course, but still cool. I love using framed records as art pieces, I have some in my bedroom already, Johnny Cash Live from Folsom Prison, Who's Next by the Who, and Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell.

Sunday morning was even nicer than Saturday, cooler too, so once more I dragged my ass out of bed and took a walk through the Park Flea Market over at Williams Grove. Such a beautiful morning. I found "The Dead Zone" for $3 right away, it's in like-new condition and is a regular edition, as the one I already have, like "Firestarter" was the smaller book club edition. I also found "Gerald's Game" (one of the few books to ever creep me out bad enough to stop reading it for a few hours) for a buck, though it's in slightly less nice condition it's still good. On my way out I passed the 'wholesaler' stands and picked up a can of fish food and a bottle of body wash for less than the store price. Add on a sausage-egg-&-cheese biscuit sandwich from Sheetz for breakfast on the way home, and it was a great morning.

So, at this point I believe there are very few of Stephen King's books I don't have at least one hardcover edition of. I still need IT, which I plan to negotiate out of my cousin sometime soon, plus four of the Dark Tower novels (I, III, IV, V). My hardcover of "Christine" is missing its dust jacket, so I'm still looking for that one. And I have no copy at all of "Cycle of the Werewolf" which I totally LOVE. I had to get it out of the library some years ago to read it, but I've never been able to find my own copy, even in the book store. It's a great illustrated paperback book (I'm not aware of there ever being a hardcover edition) that was originally meant to be a calender and was adapted into the film "Silver Bullet" which probably sucked, I only saw a few minutes of it before I changed the channel. If I haven't found my own copy by the end of the season I'll probably buy it on eBay, I guess.


Okay, that's all for the week. I doubt I'll spend this much next week, if I have anything to spend at all, but hopefully I'll still find some good stuff as I plan to spend the rest of this week making some room.

Junk of the Week #5

Red Milk Crate - $1.50
2 Blue Milk Crates - $.25 each
Jar - $.75
Mini Food Processor - $.75
Ceramic Bunny - $.10
"Night Shift" paperback by Stephen King - $.50
Other Books - $2.00 for 6:
-"Santa's Twin" hardcover by Dean Koontz
-"The Damnation Game" & "The Thief of Always" by Clive Barker
-"The Tale of the Body Thief" by Anne Rice
-"Shadowland" & "Floating Dragon" by Peter Straub

**Find of the Week**
Terrifying yet Adorable Kitten Print in Nice Metal Frame - $.50




I came very close to not having anything for my Junk entry this week. I got up Saturday morning and it was pouring down rain, so yard sale'ing was out of the question. Damn. Fortunately, I had Friday off and had already been around to the five or six sales here in town and picked up a few things. Then this morning, keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn't rain again (and it certainly looked like it would, the sun is only just now coming out) I finally made myself crawl out of bed early and hit the flea market over at Williams Grove (the one in the old amusement park, photos of which can be found in my DeviantART photo gallery.) I don't usually buy much at the flea market because the things I'm interested in (books, old stuff, etc.) tend to be priced a bit on the high side compared to what I get them for at yard sales. But I was depressed about missing out Saturday, so I went and found the 3/$1 books in the photo, so that was cool. I do plan to read them all eventually.

An example of the higher prices, by the way? I've started to collect the Smurf glasses that came out in the 1980's at Hardees (I think that's where they were, I'll check later). My mom has a full set for me in her attic, but if you knew my mom's attic, that's like saying she's got a set for me buried a thousand feet under the surface of Greenland. I've picked up four of what I think is a six or eight piece set, they average between a quarter and a dollar each. I found some at flea market today that were $5 a glass, except for Papa Smurf (which I still need), that one was $10. See what I mean? I'll keep looking Saturday mornings, thank you. I wonder why I've had such a thing for Smurfs lately. Weird.

Anyway, the milk crates are for -guess- that's right, BOOKS. The boxes and piles of them in my office are getting a little out of hand...



It's not too bad yet, but I think I need to do something while I can still walk through this room. I don't work this week until Friday night so I figure straightening this out should eat up some time. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I thought I got a nice deal when I found the red crate for $1.50, then I got to the next sale and bargained the two blue ones from fifty cents each to a quarter. I rule. I also bargained for the jar (which is very heavy with a nice snap-close lid) and the mini food processor and saved a quarter a piece on those. This is why I get up every morning, look at myself in the mirror, and ask the universe WHY AM I SO AMAZING?!?! XD

That was my catch phrase for the week, sorry.

I don't know why I bought that rabbit, it was just cute. Don't judge me.


Finally, damn but that kitten print fascinates me. It's adorable, but at the same time the blood red eyes and little claws make it unbelievably terrifying. Plus something about the black & red matting and metal frame add to its unsettling aura. I'm not sure why. I was scanning the table and actually did a double take when I saw it. I wanted to pet it and scream at the same time. I just said "Huh." And then I bought it. The eyes follow you. I wonder where I'm gonna hang it...

And, if anyone is interested, this would be my SIXTH edition of NIGHT SHIFT. I'm really starting to think there might be something wrong with me.


Here's hoping for dryer days next weekend. Tootles.

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.