More on 34

Every year on Father's Day weekend, the towns around where my daughter lives sponsor HUGE garage sales. It's called, "More on 34" because it runs over 100 miles along Route 34, from Aurora to Galesburg, Illinois.

We usually try to be down by Jessica's that weekend, so that she and I can hit the sales. This year we shopped in her town, and hit about 6-8 sales PLUS an antique mall on Friday, and on Saturday  we went to 6-8 sales PLUS the fairgrounds had a huge building filled with vendors.

I was hot, sticky, and had sweat dripping from, well, you don't want to KNOW where it was dripping from! It was about 90 degrees out and humid. My whole body ached, but we trudged on. You never know if you'll miss a great bargain for a quarter!

One of my best buys are the bowls made in Italy. I got both of them for a total of $5. This first one is HUGE.

Here are the two together.

There were quite heavy. I left them at the table and paid for them; then returned when I was done looking at everything else in the building.

Jessica said to me, "I suppose you want ME to carry those for you?"

"Of course!"

"Since when did I become the pack mule around here?" She kidded.

The old farmer, who's wife was selling the bowls, looked over his glasses that were at the edge of his nose, eyed my daughter up and down, and said with a Southern drawl, "Well, you're the best looking pack mule I've EVER seen!"

Jess and I had a good laugh over that all afternoon!

I have been looking for coasters (for drinks). Remember when they used to be so popular? I couldn't seem to find them anywhere! Finally I found some cheap ones somewhere. They are plastic lined with a thin piece of cork. The cork is already warped. So I was happy when I found both these stone coasters for .25 

AND these plexi-glass wine designed ones at another sale for a quarter, also!

I found this old teapot at the antique mall. They were supposed to be having a "garage sale", too, but their prices didn't seem to reflect that fact. Except that this teapot was only $5.85.

It's big, made of aluminum, holds six quarts. I like the wooden handle, and the lid is attached. You can open it up with your thumb by pushing down on that piece of metal sticking up from the lid. There is an indent on the wooden handle from the metal "thumb" lid opener. The bottom of the kettle is stamped:

After further exploring, I found that this kettle can sell for anywhere from $30-$45. Pretty cool! It was made around 1902! I'm putting it on my kitchen soffit .


One of my oddest and eclectic finds is this saguaro puzzle. It stands about 8 inches tall. I thought this was a great little something to remind me of Arizona.

Here it is lying on the table, with the "arm" of the cactus taken off.

Next, the top slides off. You can see two compartments inside.

Here is the first compartment.

And it opens up!

And finally, the last piece. The top lifts off to show another hidden compartment.

  

Now, let's see.... what kind of treasure kind I hide in there?

Tune in next time for more of my finds from "More on 34"!