It has been awhile... But finally an update

I know it's been a LONG time since my last post but in my defense, I've been kind of busy... I've Been clearing out my house, building, remodeling, party planning, keeping up with all the kids, house work, doctors appointments... Oh, and major surgery... I won't bore you with the details of that in this post but I will say that I'm recovering quite nicely. In fact, the day I got out of the hospital, I went to auction. However, I'm not sure if thats a testament to my quick recovery or my complete and total obsession with the auctions...

In any case, I'm glad that surgery is behind me and that spring is in the air... I'm feeling like I have a whole new lease on life!!!

I have one question- why don't we (meaning the people who attend attend and bid at the auctions religiously every Wednesday) have a tv show yet???? I swear, It's the drama as much as the thrill of the auction that keep me from ever skipping a week. Alliances are being made, and so are enemies... I have my very own arch rival (not sure if she's aware of it yet or not but she will be) she tries to push everyone's buttons, rile them up and bully them. She purposely bids up the bins and then drops them on people...
She is just a mean spirited person. I tried to be pleasant with her once, but when she went off on a tirade about how she hates kids and would not hesitate to push them out of her way if she had to, I decided she wasn't the sort of person I wanted to be friends with.

Still, it wasn't until this past week that she crossed the line with me. I've overlooked a lot of her bitchy behavior...directed toward me and other people. She thinks she owns the place. I don't know where her sense of entitlement comes from but she's in for a rude awakening when she realizes she's not the auction queen- and that, in fact, I am.

So... We got into a bidding war and after trying to stare me down, she declared with a sneer "you can take it." My throat was sore from surgery and I couldn't talk loud but if I could have I would have said "Bitch, it wasn't yours to begin with." Instead I just looked at her with disgust and an expression that I hope stated "It's ON, you wanna -be-Hester"(that's a reference to storage wars for anyone who doesn't watch it)
On a side note- she walked in one week with a shirt that said "yuuuup" (Dave Hester's trademark saying on storage wars) seriously lady??? How about some originality??

Ok, Im done with my Lady Hester bashing... For now. But stay tuned because this war has just begun...

The auctioneer was not a happy camper this week. He's fed up with the "looky-loos" who have no intention of bidding but hold up the whole process by looking at all the stuff and don't move in an orderly fashion around the bins. I don't blame him... And I feel at least partly responsible because I always end up coming with an entourage... Sorry Dana! I'll make sure they behave!

I've had some pretty good finds lately. One that was particularly exciting was a big box of vintage and antique buttons... Some of them are worth quite a bit. I had no idea there was such a demand for buttons!!!

We also got an old violin that, if original, could be an awesome score. We are going to bring it to a dealer in new haven who specializes in old instruments. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!

I've been collecting all the games- old and new-that I get every week in the bins. We've had a lot of fun with them. My favorite by far is the connect four-in a box with wooden pieces.

We found a really old Abercrombie and Fitch bag from when they made expensive top of the line products. It's so cool!

You can check out some of my listings at bargainsbybecky.com . Click on the link to items listed by ae_bargainsbybecky.

My friend has been listing most of my stuff on her eBay for me. The arrangement has worked out really nicely but I have too much for any one person to list so I'm starting to get back into it. I don't want to overwhelm her! Plus its fun to see how many watchers I have on my items... And the eBay ap makes it SO easy to take pictures and list right from my phone. I have been in bed recovering and listing items at the same time!

On a totally unrelated note- my party was awesome. It was cheesy 70's gameshow themed. The best game was "the match game". My friends, Rich and Crissy helped me come up with some great questions like "Becky was so surprised when she came home and found a midget in Art's-blank-" for those who are unfamiliar with the show- a contestant has to match answers with a panel of celebrities(in this case randomly chosen friends.) It got pretty funny! We gave away prizes- all stuff acquired at auction- there was a wine rack, candles, a digital picture frame,etc. My favorite was the "zonk" prize for "let's make a deal" which was a creamer shaped like a boob... I can't imagine why my sister didnt let her boyfriend bring it home when he won it!!!

I also used another auction find- a super duper retro warming tray that went nicely with my whole theme...

Well, I'm sure there is a lot more I could babble about... But right now, I must go list more items and sleep off my pain meds.

I'm already looking forward to next weeks auction! If anyone is interested in video taping the shenanigans, let me know! We WILL get ourselves a show sooner or later!!!

The Regulars, the Auctioneer and the biggest surprise yet...

Goodwill by the Pound is an interesting place. It's not actually called Goodwill by the pound but then again, we tend to make up our own names for things... like the regulars we have been seeing there since we started going a couple years ago. There's A-hole man, Weird bag lady and Launchpad McQuack to name a few. Ok, I know I probably seem a little uncharitable but in my defense, they have come by their nicknames honestly. Especially A-hole man who is a racist jerk . But for the most part, everyone gets along and there are some really nice people there too. Dana the Auctioneer is awesome! He's really upbeat and he keeps the mood light... And I'm not just saying that so he continues to put things he knows I'll like in the bins. :-)

Here's how it works:
When the auction starts, they roll out the bins one at a time. Everyone gets 2 minutes to check it out. You're supposed to walk around the bin which is actually like a big rolling table with sides. For some reason, people don't seem to understand this concept and a lot of the time, you get stuck where you are. There have been times when I've wanted to shove the person in front of me and create a domino effect...but I have resisted that urge...so far. Art has a pretty awesome advantage. He's taller than everyone so he just walks around the outside of the mass of people and looks over their heads.

After the 2 minutes is up, Dana starts the bidding at $25 or $50.  Nobody ever wants to be the first bidder but eventually someone cracks and the bidding begins...
I haven't told Dana my name because I think it's funny to see what he'll call me. Every week it's something different. "The Lady in the blue hoodie", "The lady in the black coat". Some day I'm gonna wear something so outrageous that he has no choice but to call me "The Lady in the ridiculous outfit". Occasionally I get into bidding wars but I've never lost a bin I was intent on getting. It's a good thing too. I REALLY don't like to lose and I'm not sure how I'd react.

This week there was a bin with a trunk in it. I am absolutely obsessed with old trunks and if I hadn't won it, I think I might have cried.

I know it's a little beat up and I can't explain why I love it so much- I just do.

My obsession for trunks paid off. There was a lot of great stuff in the bin that I didn't even see because of my trunk tunnel vision. For example:

These are Boyd's Yesterday's child dolls. They are all brand new and some have never been taken out of the box. The one I have seen selling online are numbered something of 18,000....One of the ones I have is numbered 300 of 1200...so I'm not sure what to make of that. Did someone forget a zero? Or is it really rare? I'm going to have to do some more research.

Miscellaneous pins. They are probably not worth much but I like the green flower.

Second only to my obsession for old trunks, is my obsession for old bottles! I haven't looked these up yet- but it's not like they are going anywhere except my shelf unless they are worth a fortune...

These would have been a pretty good score- worth about $125 each but they are really cracked and worth about nothing...oh well.

This is an old Olympia type writer. Some models are worth upwards of $350. Unfortunately, this one would only fetch $30-100 but still not a bad score. My brother Tommy said he can picture me writing my next novel on it -Murder she Wrote style. You never know...

Cool Rein Zinn stein with bubble glass.

Wade collectible tea figurines. I'm keeping them because I love the colors.

There were a LOT of vintage games in one of the bins. Some of them are awesome! And check out Art's vintage rayban wayfarers! They are worth a couple hundred bucks but I don't think I could get him to part with them if I tried!

Bowl of vintage sunglasses .... Minus Art's Raybans.

I didn't think these could possibly be valuable but my brother told me I should look them up. Who knew that vintage beaded purses were a hot item?? They sell for $80-100 each!

A couple paintings (Not sure why they are upside down) they are signed and may be worth a little bit but it's not like they are anything spectacular....which brings me to the biggest surprise yet....

A Salvador Dali print!!! Don Quixote. It has an authentication on the back with a seal from the Collectors Guild. One exactly like this JUST sold for almost $700 on ebay. I have seen an estimated value of 5-8 grand!!! I'm sure I won't get that much but I'll happily take the $700 for it. It's in great shape. The picture has a shadow on it that makes it look discolored but it's not. What a find!!

There are some other things that I forgot to take pictures of before I packed them away and a couple curious things like this weird leather doll...

I got a shiny new tool set in a truck case too!

All in all, I would say it was a pretty successful week at auction!!!

Auction night again!!!!!

Well, I never got around to posting all the rest of the stuff I got at last week's auction. Ive been so busy... BUT... It's wednesday and to me, that means only one thing- it's goodwill auction night again!!!!

I'm going to try and take pictures while I'm there so everyone can get a clearer picture of what it's all about. I'm not making any promises though. I tend to get caught up in the thrill and forget about everything except winning the bins I want. Last week I almost lost a hundred dollar bill because I was so distracted!

Tonight I have recruited a couple new auction goers...I'm interested in seeing what they think of the whole thing. As long as they stay away from the bins I want, we should be okay :-) I'm only half joking. Once I have my mind set on the one I want, I really really REALLY don't like to lose!!

The auctioneer always asks me what it was that I saw in a particular bin that made me want it so bad. Occasionally there is something that stands out but more often than not, it's just a feeling I get. Usually I know right away if I want it or not. Everyone else seems to hem and haw forever over every little thing they can see. I probably have missed out on some good stuff by employing this method but I'm not really worried about it.

Well it's almost time to go and I'm so excited I can't sit still... So check back for my latest finds!!!!

Goodwill bins, here I come!!!!

SOLD to the lady in the blue hoodie!!

I love auction night!!!!

I'm so tired! I Was up until 3am sorting things.

I'm just posting a couple pictures for now. I'll write more later. Right now there is still sorting to be done. I bought 4 bins- a new record for me! (I'll explain more about the bins later...)

All this came from the goodwill auction. Still a LOT more to come!

These are a few of my Favorite things...

Ive been obsessively bargain hunting for about a year and 1/2 now. It's so much fun and I would go as far as to say I am officially addicted. It's easily justified though because very rarely do I come back from an acquisition without something that will make my money back and more often than not, I make money on the deal. My bargain hunting outings have almost completely taken the place of my gambling addiction so I will argue that they are actually therapeutic!

Over time I've ended up collecting some
Pretty awesome things that on average I probably pay pennies for!!!
Here are some of my favorites:

This is "Ferdinand" My floral Bull. I haven't been able to find out anything about him but the pattern looks like Laura Ashley. I got him in a Goodwill auction.

My Marble collection. Some of these came from "Goodwill by the Pound" others I dug up in a bottle dump and still others were from an old house. I love them!! I started making jewelry out of some of them.

Vintage Luggage. I am very fond of vintage luggage and old trunks. I've come across a bunch in my travels and this is one of my favorites. I love the color. I bought it for $0.99!

This was another Goodwill auction find. It's not worth much but I think it's pretty cool. It's a wooden connect 4 game with wooden balls instead of checker pieces. I wonder if my marbles would fit instead. Hmmmm....

Wooden turtles and rocks...Goodwill auction (they came in the same bin as Ferdinand)

Another $0.99 piece of vintage luggage. Its an old doctor bag. It's soooo cool!

I fell in love with this immediately. There is just something so compelling about it! It's a painting by R. Holland and it's worth quite a bit but I can't see myself letting it go at any price.

This is a zebra skin drum. How friggin great is that??

This is some sort of glass container. I don't know anything except that I really like the color.

I don't know who Erin is but eventually I'll get around to cleaning her name off my WonderWoman lunch box!

This is only some of the awesome stuff I've accumulated. I keep adding to my collection. Bargain Hunting makes me so HAPPY!!!!!