The Nest

Thrifty Saturday

Posted Sunday, March 09, 2008 2:25 PM

We had an amazing Saturday! Like dubious little weekend warriors, we set out at seven a.m. for the big yard-sale-meets-swap-meet one of the local organizations was having. On our shopping list: a treadmill, a consol table, and a set of dining room chairs. What we found… well none of those things!

We saw one treadmill that would have been fine, except there was no way my husband could have run on it, which defeated the whole purpose of buying it in the first place. Consol and sofa tables were no where to be seen, and the only set of chairs were actually very pretty and curvy, except they were layered under sticky lacquer and polyurethane. With all the curves the sanding would have been a nightmare.

It was actually in the second hall that we found our major “finds” for the day. Jason immediately immersed himself in the book section while I browsed the dishes for a tea set or some collectable milk glass. I managed to find a perfect set of tea cups and saucers for a whopping ¢80.

I returned to find Jason with (literally) and armful of books. He dropped them in my bucket (yes, bucket, that was the shopping bag of the day) and happily went back for more. He found his favorite authors in hardback editions for $1 here and ¢50 there. We escaped with John Sanford, Michael Crichton, Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, and John Grisham. I even managed to snag a book by Jane Austin and grabbed a few others for their more (ahem) Irish nature. All in all we escaped with over 20 books easily costing us over $300 for only $11.50. I feel like I’ve totally ripped someone off!

As we left the wonderful town of Book, my eye caught something in the light on another table. I walked over and picked up what looked like any old ordinary white table cloth. But delicately woven in the white damask were iridescent clovers. Not enough to even notice unless the light hit them right. It was made from 100% Irish damask and was all mine for only $5. Surprisingly enough there are only two minute stains and a small area of discoloration from age. I’m hoping some Oxyclean will take them right out.

Our last steal of the day was a box of classic record with title ranging from classic like “Greensleeves,” “Carmen,” and the “H.M.S. Pinafore” to “As Time Goes By,” “Tip Toe Through The Tulips,” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” We bought 10 records for $10. As I type I’m listening to Greensleeves, one of my most favorite olde tyme songs.

And oh yes, before retreating into the rain, we did also grab this. Just because we could…