Bling

I was thinking that as the winter came in it might be harder to make my runs. I did miss 2 nights in a row because of a snow/wind storm, but the weather warmed back up, the snow melted and I haven't had to deal with anything too nasty since. I love a white Christmas, but after that, I wouldn't mind at all if the snow were to melt again.

This time of the year also gets really busy for me with birthdays, baking, shopping, and volunteer work with the school on top of all of the usual Christmas stuff. We still have renos thrown into the mix as well, so I haven't kept up with the blog and picture taking as well as I usually have. Some of the stuff I found in the last few weeks got donated before I even got around to taking pictures of it.

So let's get to the good stuff, here is what I managed to pick up in the last few weeks...

I had to go through a town that I always check out the night before large garbage day, during the day a few weeks ago. On the way back home, I decided to drive around and see if anyone had decided to put out their stuff out early. Indeed some did! I found a few good piles already waiting at the curb.

 It was a nice sunny day, so finding stuff was a lot easier than doing it in the dark. I managed to find one box full of pictures frames and a needle point, some books and a 300G external hard drive. I didn't manage to get pictures of those before I donated them unfortunately.  I also picked up this like new wheeled carry on bag. It's in perfect condition, I have no idea why someone would just throw it out, but I will be using it from now on when we do over night trips :)

There was also another place I stopped at that had a bunch of furniture sitting at the curb. There was an entertainment unit, an armoire, a rolled up "persian" rug, small tables and this chair. I knew my mom was looking for a new chair, so I throughly looked it over, didn't find even a single crumb or speck under the cushions, gave it the sniff test and then popped it into my car. That pretty much took up all the room, so I headed back home to unload and get ready to go back that night.

That night I picked up a 12 glass panel real cedar wood door, which made the car smell great for the rest of the night, and a rod hockey game table. I don't have pics of those either, but the table looks like this one I found on Kijiji...

 
We're going to set it up in the loft of our barn for the kids to play with. It is just missing 2 goalies and the pucks, which I can order online for about $15 total. Seems like a pretty good investment for a table that I found selling on Kijiji for between $50 - $150.

Next up was a massive pile that just about sprawled right across someones front lawn. This looked to be a move out pile. I went to stop, but someone was behind me, so I chickened out. I looped around checking out the rest of the neighbourhood, and as I swung by again slowing down intending to stop, I noticed the neighbour was out doing something in the driveway at their car. I cursed and kept going once again. I was going to give up and just keep going on, but the pile was just too promising to not check out.

I looped around one last time and this time stopped. I hopped out quickly and took a quick peek. The first thing I saw was a box full of kitchen counter appliances...electric can opener, a toaster,  and a food processor. I peeked into a few bags and saw all kinds of good knicknacks, so I popped open my side doors and started sorting and loading.

In the middle of it all it started to rain. I think I spent at least an hour on this pile sorting and loading, and by the time I got back into the car I was soaked. Thankfully it wasn't that cold, but I cranked up my heat anyways and made my way back home with a full car.

Here is a look at the pile of stuff I brought into the house...

 

Amongst all that stuff was...

2 led decorative trees still in their, somewhat crappy, boxes

Womens skates. They were still boxed, but by that point the box was a soggy mess, so I left it behind.

  A brand new looking hair iron

 

Clothing galore, I managed to fill a whole duffle bag (that I also picked up in the pile) full to the point of bursting.

A bunch of magazines that will go to a doctors office waiting room

 

 

A nice decorative plate

An african mask collection from Avon still in the box

Amongst a box full of knicknacks like key chairs, picture frames, office supplies etc... that I ended up donating, I found this large trinket box

This Villeroy & Bosh rabbit was also in the pile. It felt really heavy and well made, enough that it made me research it online. I found a seller on ebay who listed one as a vintage antique. Out of curiosity, I emailed him to ask if he knew how old the box was, or what year it was made. He told me he wasn't exactly sure of the year but it was made in the early 1900's! Wow, I didn't expect that! It's become another one of my favourite finds and I can't wait for my renos to be done so I can display it properly.

The best surprise came the next morning. As I walked with my kids to the bus stop, I put my hands in my pocket and felt something. I remembered the night before when I was loading up a box full of stuff, this tiny trinket box fell out onto the ground. I thought it was cute, so I quickly grabbed it and put it in my pocket. 

 

I totally forgot about it until I pulled it out that morning. "Oh ya, that cute box...I wonder what's inside" I thought. I popped it open and was greeted with this sight...

In addition to a few small mismatched gold and silver earrings, I found two 10k gold rings, a 14k gold bracelet, a 10k gold cross pendant, and a .925 silver necklace with a pendant. There was also a single real gold earring with what I'm really hoping is a genuine solitaire diamond in it.

Who throws this stuff out??

The next night was large garbage night in another town. Another night, another car full of goodies...

 

As you can see I found another abandoned Christmas tree. I set it up at home and it was beautiful, huge, and fluffy.  I ended up selling this one online for $50 not long after I took the picture.

I also managed to pick up many more picture frames, table cloths, place mats, tie-on chair cushions, throw pillows, candle holders and wall decorations from a place that looked like it was putting grandma in a home. Many of the picture frames contained pictures of the grandchildren :(

From other various piles I picked up...

An art/marker set which was unused, but missing 2 markers, so I put it in the donate box.

2 3D wolf posters

A bunch of misc items like a clamp light, a bag full of tea light candles, extension cords, some aquarium decorations (some still in their boxes), and a framed print

A bag full of craft stuff like fabric, paints, embellishments (mostly Christmas related stuff), shells, beads, and jewellery making supplies that also went in the donate box...

and this little garden statue with a face that will haunt my nightmares *shudder*

Amongst a bunch of baby items at another stop was this ugly purse which also got donated

and this vacuum which has kept my 2 year old busy for days, so it's staying :P

I also found this day bed at the curb which I went back for the next day and quickly sold online for $45

Another night, another town...I passed this chair and immediately turned around to grab it. When I was a kid, my parents always dragged my brother and I along to their weekend card nights at their friends house. This family had a kitchen chair just like this, and for some reason I used to love it. I loved sitting on it and playing with the flip out steps. Ya, I was a weird kid I guess! I have always kept an eye out for one to buy, but never found one. Finding one for free that I'll be able to restore myself is just that much better of a treat :) It's in rough shape now, but it will be easy to fix up with a new paint and upholstery job. Spring project for next year!

The next pile looked like another move out. They had put everything out in a massive white bag about the size of a refrigerator box. It was ducked taped closed on the side but had already started to fall open and the stuff inside is what caught my eye. I'm not even sure how they even expected the garbage men to lift it. I pretty much cleaned out the whole thing though LOL

Inside I pulled out...

Lots of kids toys, including a Leap Pad reader, some breast feeding pads, a stroller cover, lots of stickers, a stack of cardboard letter templates, sunglasses, and a baggie full of huggies points which I happen to collect :)

Lots of books...I'm reading the one in the top left corner right now :)

Lots of clothes as usual...

Including these control top undies with the tag still on them, an awesome Nevada lined jean jacket, a snowsuit (which I already sold for $18), a home made leopard costume, and a Coca-Cola Olympics jacket which might be a collectors item, so I'll have to do some reseach on it.

Shoes

4 unopened rolls of wallpaper borders, a decorative basket, various toiletries, a light up Tigger pen, Drawer pulls, recipe folder, unopened electronic cords, and a bag chock full of samples like antacids, chocolates, laundry detergents, hand creams, make-up, perfumes, etc..I was in heaven going through that bag let me tell ya!

 In the above pic you can see this Lowepro camera bag

and in this pile I also found one of the weirdest and funniest things I have found so far...

GRILLZ!

2 sets of unused bling for your teeth! Hilarious! 

Amazingly, in 3 of the piles I went through, people threw out money. Sure, it's not big bills, but it's money regardless. Here is what each pile contained..

Pile #1 - .99 cents

Pile #2 - $1.26

Pile # 3 - .51 Cdn & $1.16 US

In total about $3.92 cents. Now if I am finding almost $4 in just 3 piles out of hundreds, how many more piles had money in them? How many more people are throwing out money every week? How much money do you think is actually sitting at the dump if there was some way to go through it all? Crazy isn't it?