Only $8 Minus the Boxman

Today was the fall yard/rummage/garage sale that I usually go to at the little reformed church nearby.  I was minus my boxman today as he was attending a fishing seminar.  He did call me to make sure I was up in enough time and boy was it chilly.  In the 50's here.  Knowing that the sale didn't start until 9 I got myself ready to go and left the house at about 10 of.  Of course, there were people already leaving with bags and boxes of stuff which always annoys me because I play by the rules when they say no early birds - not that I would ever fall into that category anyway!  But I did get lucky and find a parking space in the first slot.  Then as I walked down the sidewalk I could see that they had really spread things out this year, using a lot of tables and tarps on the lawn.  But with no boxman (and no boxes in sight anyway this time - curious) I started my search for bargains and the quest to see just how much I could hold in my hands. 

The first stop was the craft area - just because that's what was right at the end of the sidewalk - and this is what I found...... 

Some cute paper products for 25 cents each - two sticky notepads that say "Learning is Fun", another notepad with a picture of a watering can filled with flowers.  The checkerboard cat is a box full of book plate stickers, and the little Forget-me-not item is a little address book (marked $4.95 from Hallmark on the back).

Then I found these in another box - a bag of 11 tiny clay flower pots for 50 cents, the box of pearls for 10 cents, and the glass beads for a quarter.

This was on the bottom of the box and it was the thimble that caught my attention.

It's a sewing kit with silk thread and it was also a quarter, but I'm afraid to pop off that thimble because I don't want the plastic to crack.

This was a real bargain - 7 pkgs. of tassels which were all originally priced at $2.99 from the Rag Shop with a 50% mark-down which would have meant the original purchaser paid $1.49 a piece for them and I got all 7 pkgs. for 50 cents total.

And of course, I find it hard to not purchase buttons when I see them.  All of these bags were in a larger bag for $1. 

This container was intriguing.  "For In Vitro Diagnostic Use"  - "Human C4" (could that be a personal explosive?) - with mention of vials inside - the container dated 1977.  What could it be?

Aha!  Inside were some more button treats which I'll share close-ups of at another time.

The other craft purchase which I somehow forgot to photograph were two balls of cotton crochet thread - one brand new in the wrapper and the other partially used for ........ 25 cents.  Another steal!

And as I was looking through the glassware I noticed that there wasn't very much stuff with color, so either people are holding on to their colorful stuff nowadays or it was really picked through already.  But I did stop to look at this teapot and as I picked it up the woman next to me said "That's so you!"  I have accumulated a few white teapots over the years and this one just had to join the others.  It's very "fallish" with the leaves and acorn on one side and the pears and pomegranate on the other. It was a mere $1.50.

This, of course was the limit of what I could carry so I checked out racking up everything so far for $6.  Then I decided to visit the basket and frame area before I left for home and came across this picnic basket for 2 bucks.  Without the boxman I really should have headed there first!  Everything fits nicely inside.

Two dollars for a picnic basket is another bargain knowing what I've paid for the two Peterborough ones that I have bought from QVC over the years.  This one is destined for a paint job and relocation to the condo I think.

Not bad for 25 minutes of shopping on a cool October morn!