Spring Cleaning - Part 1

For the next few posts, I'm going to focus on all my finds from the big spring clean up that happened this year. Every year all the local townships do a spring clean-up where people can throw whatever they want out at the curb. Usually people have to bring it to the dump themselves, or pay a small fee to throw out anything more than the towns imposed 2 bag limit.

Bigger townships split their area up and do one section every weekend, but the smaller ones do it one weekend only. Last year it was pretty spread out, but this year they almost all decided to do it on the same weekend. It was insanity and a lot of driving. My sister in law and niece were also visiting for that weekend, and since they had seen and heard of all my treasures, they asked if they could come with me.

It was really nice and fun having other people to go with. We were out the entire day and came home with a completely packed car. We even managed to find a cargo roof bin in someones pile, hook it up to the top of my van, and fill it with stuff.

So here is a look at the stuff picked up on week 1...

Lots of kid stuff...

 

 

 A vintage ET and Cabbage Patch Doll

 Also what I guess was a competitor to the Easy Bake Oven, the Micro Lite Oven from Robin Hood

 The heat from the light bulb in this lamp makes a scene twirl around. The images then get projected onto the wall. This one had a Noah's Ark theme

Some decorative items...

"Arrr! I'll be keeping all your change safe from looters!" I love this pirate piggy bank. I thought it only appropriate to photograph him in front of my fish tank :)

Christmas stuff...

Electronics...

This vintage Panasonic Radio/TV is pretty cool. I can just imagine kids in the 70's lugging this thing to the beach in the summer.

A box full of Sony Playstation stuff

 

And Xbox as well

 

A nice working alarm clock/radio 

Lots of art...

 This first paining is my favourite. I called him "Armando". This painting gives off a total "Godfather" vibe to me for some reason.

However, on the back it says "Bobby (in his 30's)" I'm still going to call him Armando though :P 

Vintage prints

The one in the middle here is actually an old colorized photo...

 

Here is a closer look at it 

Its signed by someone..

 

No clues on the back as to the date or photographer unfortunately

 

I tried to enhance the photo so you could see the colorization

 

Some other mics stuff...

A coffee bean grinder

A Joshua Perrets Purse

 

Some DVD box sets

 

This cool marble ashtray

 

These cute vintage french books

 

I love the old illustrations...

 

This sexy cat costume

 

An old street sign

 

A prayer mat

 

This nice wall lamp

 

Some nicely carved wood sculptures

 

The one on the left is signed "Vladimir". If anyone has any info about these, I'd love to hear it.

 I found this box marked "Wreath war"

Inside was this unused commemorative wreath. I donated this to a legion in a near by town

 

This waste basket is one of my favourite finds. It didn't look like anything special at first. I just grabbed it at a pile and loaded it up with a few more things I had grabbed and threw it all into my car.

Once I got home I got a good look at it and I knew it was old. I looked up the name printed on the bottom, "The Massillon Wire  Basket Co.", and found out this garbage basket is over 100 years old!

Lastly, and sadly, I also pulled this pelt out of a bag. At first I thought it was a calf, but now I believe it to be a cougar. Some poor animal had to die to be somebody's wall decoration, only to be thrown in the trash once someone got tired of looking at his coat on the wall.

That's all for part 1, stay tuned for part 2 coming soon!

Keep looking out for treasures, and happy picking!

Back in the saddle

I don't know how many times I have tried to start this post. I didn't intend to take such a big break away from the blog, but things kind of snowballed and I just couldn't find anytime to just sit down uninterrupted for a few hours to get started.

Lots of stuff other than garbage has kept me busy these last few months...One of my boys ended up having an accident with his bike. He landed right on his chin, it split open and had to be glued back together. He couldn't really open his mouth, so what everyone thought was a broken jaw, was thankfully just one that dislocated, and luckily quickly popped right back into place.This kept us busy with emergency rooms, dental visits, and a liquid diet for awhile. Then there were the end of the school year graduation ceremonies and concerts, high school orientations, summer vacation with yet another renovation going on, a few garage sales, and day trips with the kids to keep them from being "so booored..." We're a couple of weeks into "back to school" now, so things seem to finally be settling back into a quieter routine again.

Here's looking at some stuff I found way back in the spring...

First we have some cat accessories...

This litter box is new. It still has the $29.99 tag on the front

As is this carrier. I guess maybe someones plans on getting a kitty didn't work out.

We also have a lot of designer clothing...

And some designer Italian men's shoes. I had the name of these written down somewhere, but I can no longer find it, and the shoes have been donated long ago along with the clothing.

Some nice decor for the home...

A cute handmade magazine holder. The person who made it signed and dated the inside.

 A mid century plant stand

A large print

And a record/radio/CD/tape player. The only think wrong with this was that a hinge on it was broken so the lid wouldn't stay open (you can see I'm using a marker to keep it open for the picture), and the media it uses is slightly out of date.

Kitchen stuff...

A cute little toaster that works just fine

A popcorn machine

And another potato bin. The last one I found gave me a bunch of trouble, but I was able to easily unload this one with out a hitch. Phew!

 

For kids, I grabbed this sweet little chair. It just sat there next to the bins, but when I hopped out of the car to grab it, I noticed that it had a broken off leg. I looked around, but the leg was nowhere in sight. I grabbed it anyways because I have some chair legs down in my husbands work shop that I had grabbed from previous garbage adventures. I'm going to remove these legs and replace them, and it will be as good as new :)

A cute singing and dancing Dora the Explorer doll. The hair on this was quite tangled, but I followed an online tutorial about de-tangling doll hair, and after about 10 minutes she looked great again

I couldn't believe someone threw these out. These are 2 portable blow up camping beds for kids. I set them both up when I got home and they were perfect. If they weren't princess themed I think I would have kept them, but since I only have boys, I was glad to sell them for $60.

Speaking of beds, I also took this fold up cot frame from another pile. Other than missing a mattress, it's in perfect condition. I'm thinking it will come in very handy for camp outs or sleepovers.

And for the bed, we have a nice queen size comforter to stay toasty warm.

I also came across a whole bunch of Christmas lights...

A bag full of rope lights

All working

And some outdoor lighted snowflake decorations

All of them work :)

 I also pulled out of a pile this adorable vintage fold up potty chair. I don't know when this style of potties were used before plastic became the norm. I'm guessing the 1950's ?

While I'm on a roll and nobody is bugging me, I'll keep adding pictures of some more stuff that I would have put in a separate post :)

I found this old barn window in the middle of suburbia. Usually I find them out in the country so this one was a bit out of place. None the less the "Pinterest Ladies" as I call them go nuts for these on my selling board. They turn them into all kinds of "shabby chic" projects...coat racks, picture frames, note boards, etc...

There is nothing wrong with this girls bike, it's just the victim of people moving.

A nice set of cordless phones. I guess these are becoming more obsolete with the use of cell phones.

Duvet covers

A decorative parasol

I had to stop for this bin...it has my name written all over it it...literally!

Inside was a bunch of books, and this gem, which I just had to hang on my bathroom door since I live in a house full of boys!

I also found a huge bag full of Christmas decorations at a pile

Which included this package of decorations unopened with the tags still on

and these adorable ceramic angels

Another decoration at a different place was this huge designer wreath from a specialty store near by

There was a cord on it so I plugged it in, and voila!

I also grabbed this fold up laundry rack.

 This 48 bottle wooden wine rack

And these decorative metal scrolls. I think they must have come from a gazabo or a bed frame or something. However, they were out there all alone like this, so there were no other pieces to give me any clues. I figure somebody will buy them if I list them for a good price as either garden or indoor decor.
 

I also grabbed this awesome chair. There is some wood chipped off on an arm rest, but I think it can be easily camouflaged. It has a very neat look to it, what is it called? 1940's art nouveau? I'm not sure, but I like it :)

I was also surprised to find this awesome play house at the curb. Luckily it was all disassembled so it was easy to grab and load up. All the walls and the roof easily snap together so there were no tools involved in putting it back together either. As you can see, my youngest son was thrilled with it. Even my older 2 were getting inside. I don't know how they all squeezed in there, but they've been having fun in it ever since. It's been a house, a fort, a restaurant, and a pet store. Needless to say, we've been getting some great use out of it.

That's it for this entry, my kids will be getting off the bus soon and I want to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet before they come through that door and all hell breaks loose. :P

Keep looking out for treasures, and happy picking!