Additionally, my girlfriend, Morrie, moved in with me this past Thursday the 19th, and there were a lot of things she needs/needed which are good to find at Garage Sales. We didn't find everything, but we filled a good portion of our shopping list while we were out, with a few extra goodies as well. So lets jump right in, shall we?
I actually forgot to photograph the dresser, and she's already piled a bunch of her things on top of it, so lets just talk about it first?
Obviously, this is one of the items which we really needed for her sake. We got it for $5 at a planned community which was having a big community-wide garage sale event. There was actually professionally made signs and everything directing cars to the place, and a good 25% of the houses there had things out to offer. The dresser is in good shape in terms of construction, and the splotchy coloring looks kinda cool I think, though she and I may paint it eventually, just to make it more personal.
This is a set of four wooden TV trays, and a stand to mount them on. Funny thing, I actually already have one exactly like this, but black. In an apartment, tables to can fold up and put away are of *immeasurable* value. I'm always running out of the ones I already have (two of them are semi-permanently assigned to holding up a sheet of glass that I use for map making projects, one for my netbook, and another for food, and poof, all four are used.) I'll be really happy to have more of these available to me now. Especially for $5.
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I picked up an old timey extension cord, and a pair of wire cutters. They're simple items which I need, and which I happened to find available in good condition under the prices they are available for at retail.
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Often, when I do this garage sailing thing, I worry that the pack-rat part of me which would save balls of lint if I let it is influencing my decisions more than I want. The last thing I want is to buy a bunch of items which will only end up in the trash, or in my own garage sale, someday down the line. Even while I was buying these, I kinda worried that I was just accumulating junk:
Then I plugged them into the TV. Even if I never play with these again, and they end up in the garbage, the hour I spent playing battle Tetris with Morrie will have been worth it.
Essentially, one of these plugs into the TV, and one of them plugs into the other one, and it's a self-contained Tetris game / controller. They did a pretty decent job designing a control exclusively for use with tetris too. Pretty simple really, left and right to move left or right, down to speed your way down, and rotate left or right to rotate your block. It's wicked fun.
Bill Amend is a hero among nerds. That is all I think I need to say about that. He's like a young Bill Watterson. =P
I think all that needs to be said about this at all is that Morrie and I spent the next our shouting things like "THE JOKER IS HOLDING THE ANSWERS HOSTAGE, AND HE'S GOING TO KILL ANY THAT YOU GET WRONG!"
Seriously, these books are filled with art of these super heroes and villains, telling you to do math. =P
This is another one of the things on our "shopping list" when we were out yesterday. See, during the week leading up to Morrie's move, I asked her what she wanted for breakfast the day after she got here, since she was going to get here so late that we were going to go straight to bed. She said home made waffles. Which, unfortunately, I could not provide.
Now I can. =D
Also, I dig old Kitchen appliances. Is it just me, or does retro kitchen stuff hold up way better than new stuff?
Inspired by the fact that I have shelves full of GI Joes and TIE Fighters, Morrie has decided to pick up any toys she used to have if she finds them. Yesterday this was the only find, but we got it for a dollar, and she was quite happy to have it, so w00t!
Everything else I got all came from a single Garage Sale. Namely: The Best Garage Sale Ever Found Anywhere Ever For Serious Guys For Super Serious.
I know that's a long title, but you'll understand when you see this:
Yes, that is a motherfucking bust of Medusa. Not a bust of her bust, mind you, merely a bust of her head. Her snake filled head.
Apparently, you see, this fellow's mother, or Grandmother owned some manner of store, and when she died he was left with warehouses full of items like this. Items he was selling as "everything for a dollar or less."
So yeah, I now own a goddamn bust of Medusa. Words can't express quite how awesome I find this, being the Greek Mythology buff that I am. Here are some other things Morrie and I got. We were actually very restrained. I did my best to keep in mind that anything I bought, I would have to actually put somewhere.
I actually managed to get this for free since the bottom is broken. I'm planning to keep Beef Jerky in there. =D
An imitation Grecian vase. Does it get any more awesome than that?
Hell, the only downside to my ENTIRE day was that this vase had a petrified mouse inside of it. Took me 20 minutes to get it out.
The gears of a clock. Looks like it should have been mounted in a frame of some kind, but it still functions perfectly. Morrie suggested I pick it up for Pike, which was a superb idea. I think she'll really like taking this apart. It's completely mechanical. No crystals or other nonsense. Just mainsprings and cogs.
Watching the thing work really gave me a sense of how amazing clockwork is. There were parts that looked organic in their movement.
Books filled with art and mythology of various creatures. Most of these books are pretty old (early 80s, late 70s) and all are filled with fantastic artwork. I can't wait to really delve into them.
That's it for this week. We still need a desk and a nice chair for Morrie, so I'm sure I'll be posting again soon!
