Dig This Treasure!

I guess this is technically a “Hard to Resist” post, because all of the following items were really hard for us not to purchase.  You might remember the dumpster-diving sale last week which offered such fine items as McDonald’s snack makers and “not-laser disc” Tron laser discs.  This sale also offered an incredible assortment of aardvark-related items.

I don’t know what makes someone love aardvarks so much, but I really can’t judge because I was obsessed with manatees and pigs growing up.  I was a card-carrying member of the Save the Manatees Club and adopted a manatee named Ariel.  And for Halloween one year, my parents let me dress as a ballerina pig, which is such a SERIOUSLY BAD decision on their part because I was a fat kid.

Before we move on, here are some aardvark facts:

From what I can tell, aardvarks and Sarah have three characteristics in common.  I’ll let you guess which ones.

I didn’t see any tickets from the 2nd or 3rd annual Aardvark convention, which leads me to believe that numero uno didn’t go so well.

Um, no.  I have not hugged an Aardvark today.  I probably would though.

It took Sarah a good 30 seconds of convincing before she put this on.  So worth it though.

This all just goes to show you that you really can collect anything….although there is no guarantee at your eventual estate sale that anyone will buy any of it.  

-Erin 

Update from Sarah: That plastic aardvark nose grossed me out SO BAD. 

It’s time to share some more estate sale items we had a REALLY hard time not buying.  

Why on Earth would you want a fake life-sized child that just creepily hangs out and pretends to play Hide-N-Seek?  I’ve seen enough The Good Son to know how terrifying kids playing Hide-N-Seek are.  Also, when I wake up at night, I have a hard enough time not scaring myself by imagining a demonic child is going to pop up on the side of my bed.  Imagine this thing in the dark.  IT’S THE END OF BLAIR WITCH PEOPLE. 

“Hey Bill, we are going to put you on a shirt.  Yeah, we are using that photo of you staring into space with your mouth wide open.”

This wizard Santa was in a horrible car accident and is still recovering.  Prayers please.

Who am I kidding? I would totally read this book:

They were sold out of the friendly rabbits.  They were also sold out of the rabbits not holding suspicious items between their legs.

For more HTR entries, look here!

-Erin

It’s time again for some items that were seriously hard to resist purchasing.  

Alright, so people say Psycho is a movie classic, but have you seen Psycho II?  Oh you haven’t?  You say that no one saw Psycho II?  Hm, ok.

What about some “art” that we found at a garage sale?  I call it Devil in a Pink Dress.

I love this little raggedy ass doll.  Look closely, he has a random plastic baby leg glued to his right hand.  I don’t even want to guess what he did with the rest of the baby.  AMIRITE?

Alright, and here is the deal on the last HTR.  When Sarah and I hit up that ice cream place awhile back, they had all these INSANE ice cream flavors.  Not insane like Jalapeno or the Lemon Basil that Sarah got…I’m talking truly insane.

GROSS.

-Erin

This is going to be a really brief Hard to Resist post, because it’s pretty basic.

Not quite in the market for a normal sized basket? How about a really small one?

In the market to create a Thanksgiving cornucopia for your family, as well as for your Calico Critters? Look no further!

Also important to note–both of these items were found at the same sale, so this person was clearly obsessed with tiny things inside big ones.

-Sarah

In this installment of “Hard to Resist” (HTR), we’ve got some items I encountered while out antiquing in Marshall, MI last weekend.  

First up are these two wizard pins.  Truth is, these actually were kind of hard for me to resist. They were so amazing and hilarious that I considered buying one to wear on my jacket.  They were priced at $25 though, which was way too pricey for a joke.  

Next up is…well, I don’t really know what this is…

I suppose it’s exactly what it says it is–a “tube to blow fire.”  Alright…

The last item that I just had to pass on purchasing is this little Mexican buddy.  He sure is adorable, but the extremely premature mustache was kind of off-putting.  

Cute outfit though.

-Erin

I’ve been saving these two priceless pics for a rainy day, so you’re in luck! 

It was difficult, but we managed to leave a sale without these two gems. We spotted both at the sale a few weeks ago where we fought for a few moments over a dirty miniature, and also where I saw replicas of Erin’s future children:

I know some would agree with this sentiment, but I’m definitely not one of them. In fact, my back door is always locked. Also, two dollars seems fairly steep. 

But this find is definitely even better: 

Look, I realize that this is the Mouse King from the Nutcracker (fun fact: Erin didn’t know this), but I don’t remember ever hearing a version of the tale where all the other mice crawl up his outfit. Am I wrong? 

Also, which is crazier–the Mouse King or Erin’s expression? 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: That Mouse King doesn’t just have mice crawling up his outfit.  Look closely, that rodent doll has all those little mice heads attached to his neck!  Like he has multiple mice heads on his body.  So gross.  The original price tag on that atrocity was $40 which is seriously so sad.

As for my expression, who knows.

Anyway, here is a hard to resist treasure that I am adding to the list.  It is from one of the barn sales last Friday.  

Box of old coconuts.  Anyone?  

While we work on wrapping up our reports from this past weekend (two days of sale-ing what what!!!), we have yet another Hard to Resist post for you. I have to admit, when Erin first suggested we start this feature, I wasn’t on board. But now I am. Because there are so many things that are hard to resist. 

We see a lot of ugly things in the homes we enter, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what would possess anyone to purchase either of these items the first time. Someone’s really going to buy them a second time? 

First up, a simultaneously scary and fancy plastic grandma:  

Now, if that’s an enigma, the next item is the eighth wonder of the world. I found this item at the sale where we had to wait for an hour before being rung up, and I actually forgot about it until the end of the day. I immediately began laughing when I thought of it, and I asked Erin, “Hey did you see that cellulite baby at the first sale?” She also started cracking up, and said no, and so I decided to show her it while she was driving. 

I made sure to wait until the vehicle was stopped, because I knew Erin was going to die.   We were both laughing so hard we were crying. I seriously can’t remember laughing that hard in a long time. Look at that thing! 

For the rest of the day, I addressed Erin as Cellulite Baby. She wasn’t pleased. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: Sarah did call me Cellulite Baby all day, but then later that night I got this text from her:

Some more sale items that we found terribly hard to resist:

Here are some California Raisins for sale…well, 3 Cali Raisins and a giant brown California Turd.  

Here’s a binder with info all about birds.  Adorable for sure, but I’ll stick with a more traditional birdwatching guidebook.  I don’t want my Cowbird looking too much like your run-of-the-mill Robin.

Speaking of guidebooks, is your internet television just too damn confusing?  Look no further…

Lastly, you’ve heard us profess our love for Hugglets before, but we’ve never actually seen the larger Hugga Bunch version at a sale…until now…

Terrifying.  Also, why is her diaper ravaged?  The elastic was all stretched out.  Gross.

-Erin

Here’s our latest installment of items we found pretty hard to resist!

The craftsmanship on this cottonball bunny is pretty remarkable.  I couldn’t find a maker’s mark on it, but I’m sure the artist was professionally trained.

I mean, look at that whisker placement!  Spot on!

P.S. I thought about asking Sarah how much she would pay me to eat one of those jelly beans, but then I realized that if I did that, I would feel obligated to buy this cottonball bunny.  You can’t eat pieces off an item you haven’t purchased.  I then realized that if I bought this cottonball bunny, I would want to throw it in the trash, which would make me feel guilty and sad.

Moving on, here are some body doubles from the movie “Children of the Corn”:

These guys were$10 each, which is half of the price I would need to be paid to take them home.

-Erin

Last Saturday, I noticed an advertisement for an antique/flea market in Monroe, MI.  I had no plans so I decided to take the 45 minute drive there and check it out.  I invited Sarah along, but she was busy.  Good thing she didn’t come because the trip was a major bust.

When I arrived at the “market” my first realization was that it was way smaller than I had envisioned it was going to be.  I was thinking more “Taylor Town Trade Center” and less “VFW Hall.”  Oh well, you can still fit lots of treasures in small spaces, right?

I LOVE that it says “FLEE” Market.  I think this was a secret signal telling people that they should turn around and run.  

Also of note here is the “No Animals Allowed” sign, which obviously means this is a reoccurring problem.

My next observation was that someone was playing fast and loose with the term “antiques.”  If this was an “antique market” then I am George Washington.

Ok so on to some “hard to resist” items:

See those patches in the case?  Can someone please explain to me what D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F. means?  I’m all for long abbreviations (TTFYHO, anyone?) but I am not familiar with that one.  Dilligaf sounds like the name of a Pokemon.

That neon-colored thing is a bedazzled possum skull, surrounded by various other animal parts.  

I ended up buying some of these maple nut candy things and then hightailed it out of there.  I was so bummed that I had driven so far for nothing that I decided to search for antique stores in the area.  I found this:

Turns out they were open, as indicated by this window paint that says, “WE OPEN.”

When I went inside, I noticed again that in Monroe, MI there is some confusion over the word “antique.”

“Completely Up To Date!”

This entire set of hot sauces was $12, which is actually a great deal.  I don’t eat hot sauce though because even ground pepper is too spicy for me.  

I left here empty handed and made the sad 45 minute drive back to Livonia.  I stopped at the thrift store in a last ditch attempt at finding a treasure.  I bought this IZOD shirt:

I wore it for about two days before I realized it was not very cute.  And when I asked Zach if he agreed, he politely informed me that it wasn’t my best fashion choice.

Man! I just couldn’t win.  Even at that night’s Plymouth auction, here is what greeted me:

OK, that is TOTALLY a snake case.  I have never seen a more snake case-looking snake case in my life.

-Erin

P.S. I left the Plymouth auction after about 10 minutes, empty-handed.  Whomp whomp.