Little Keiran had a rough day today. He woke up in the middle of the night crying with complaints of a sore jaw. Dave gave him some ice in a cloth napkin to suck on and he cuddled close to us for the rest of the night. His teeth have been difficult since they came in as a baby. Some children's teeth come in strong while others come in weak. Cerys got the benefit of a strong mouth and Keiran fell victim to the weak one. They both had nearly identical early stages from babies to toddlers though. This appears to be genetic or something that happened during pregnancy. I was celiac when I was pregnant but I didn't know that at the time. I was extremely anemic and rather weak. Did this cause problems for him? I guess I'll never really know.

By the time we picked Keiran up from school, he looked like he had been in a fight with his jaw badly swollen. You can see a hint of the swelling in the photo that I sneaked of him. Thankfully we quickly found a holistic dentist that would take him even though she was double booked and we had never been there before. She was everything we had hoped for in a dentist and she is working hard to save one of Keiran's infected baby teeth.

I'm such a wimp of a mom sometimes. I always make Dave take the kids to the dentist. I just can't handle it. I do most of the doctors visits because I tend not to get intimidated by them and can challenge them if they have issues with our somewhat alternative lifestyle. I had a doctor in England get cross with me because I wanted to take some echinacea. She was offended not only because I was using an herbal but also because she couldn't even pronounce it correctly.  She kept stumbling over the word every time she used it. The dentists though are another story. I did have to go through one appointment and panicked when Keiran looked like he had fallen unconscious. Apparently it is common that they fall asleep when they are so young. This would have been helpful to know before hand since I was quietly freaking out until the dentist shared this tidbit with me.

Keiran's on antibiotics for the infection and was told to eat yogurt for the next 2 months to build up the good bacteria in his stomach again. He was very strong through it all and didn't let escape, a single tear. Dave held his hand supportively.

I usually feel in control with the health of the family from building up their immune system or helping them when they are sick. They joke that I'm the family doctor with my collection of natural health books, tinctures, teas and strange concoctions. I sometimes have success with stopping a cold in it's tracks which is something even the pharmaceutical companies have yet to do. But I feel so out of control with the health of their teeth.

I bought this book last spring but haven't properly looked at because of getting the house ready to sell, packing, moving and settling down here in California.

Has anyone read this book and had success with it? My friend Lisa Reagan wrote an article about childhood caries and breastfeeding in 2002. I tried some of her suggestions but I don't think I worked hard enough on it. I aim to double or triple my efforts with the children's teeth. I want to feel in control of this part of their health. I don't want to be the wimpy mom.

So it only took me three months to figure it all out but Apron Thrift Girl finally has a facebook page. I will be posting blog updates, thrifty/frugal bits and thrifting news.

I'd be delighted to have you as a fan.

The Gama-Go holiday sale opened at noon today in San Francisco. I was able to sneak in a rummage sale and three yard sales though before we had to be on the road. My friend Kim picked me up and we headed south on the 101 freeway. The weather was fabulous with a warm bright sun and a stunning blue sky. A perfect California kind of day.

We made it to the line about 15 minutes before they opened the doors. We got stuck in the 2nd wave of people let in but there was still plenty to buy.

Rickshaw Stop....besides Gama-Go they were also selling drinks from the bar. Next time we'll take the bus into the city instead of driving and really enjoy ourselves. Nothing like shopping with a mojito in hand.

Ironically when I started this post and searched for a category I couldn't find one. Being a thrift blog I don't really have a Retail category. It's not that I avoid all retail shopping but still the majority of the things I purchase are 2nd hand. I did really enjoy myself though. I will admit to getting sucked into the frenzy of "buy, buy, buy" mode. Not only because of the energy at this sale but the constant, beat of the loud, but very cool music. It was almost like I was in robot mode when the music was pumping and I found myself shoving items in my bag. Then the music stopped and I would shake my head look down at my overflowing bag and I'd wonder what the heck I was doing. Then the music would start up and I'd get back into shopping mode. In the end though I didn't go overboard and bought truly what I wanted to buy. They weren't going to get the best of this thrift girl with their loud but cool and enticing music.

Shirts were $15 each or buy 5 get 1 free which brought the price to $12.50 each and they are made in the USA which I'm all for. I'm still building up my warm weather wardrobe so I had a good excuse to shop. The Pomegranate shirt is my favorite. Same with the wallet. I have such a weak spot for that fruit. As someone who didn't leave her island very much it feels so good to be getting out and going on adventures like this shopping trip. 

By the way, Lucy is the winner of last Saturday's Giveaway. Thanks for all your crazy thrifted Hallowe'en finds.

One of the most positive aspects of living near the city of Santa Rosa (pop. 161,496 or metropolitan statistical population of 486,630, making it the 12th largest in California and the 105th largest in the United State) is that there are lots of estate sales. The darker side of that of course is that people are dying but we try not to focus too much on that one. There are usually at least three estate sales a week in this part of Sonoma County.

A surprising find.....

A bowl full of yummy, sparkly, glass glittery letters. Some were still in their packaging with the original price tag for $4.95 each. the darker ones have already started to tarnish. This sweet collection was priced at a mere $5.00 for all.

With any luck I'm off to San Francisco tomorrow to hit the Gama-Go sale with a parent from the 4th grade class. I've never been to a retail sale like this before, especially in the city. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Has anyone ever been? Is it going to be crazy?

Dave has had to travel quite a bit this Fall. He's been to LA, Texas, England, Texas and Texas again. Oddly enough, it's much easier for us here than it was in Washington. I think it is because we live in area with so many different options when he leaves us. We can head in any direction and come across a new town, forest or ocean to explore. On Sunday we went to Healdsburg to my favorite ever restaurant in the entire world; Cafe Gratitude.

As their site says:  Café Gratitude is our expression of a world of plenty. Our food and people are a celebration of our aliveness. We select the finest organic ingredients to honor the earth and ourselves, as we are one and the same. We support local farmers, sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly products. Our food is prepared with love.

I simply love it because their menu is gluten free. It's a rare day to step into a restaurant that hands you a menu that doesn't have a titch of gluten poison in it. And you can't help but feel a little embarrassment that dissipates into a feeling of warmth when you you order from the menu: "I am lovely" which gets you a fresh fruit cobbler.

Cafe Gratitude shares the space with The Olive Leaf which is a lovely mixture of an eco-friendly selection of goods and some very expensive, not-really-thrift-girl-type-of-prices antiques. Many are from France includes an array of sweet, metal baskets and vintage post cards.

"I am accepting"  was a mouthwatering bowl of steamed Bhutanese red rice tossed in with kale, avocado, cucumber, nori, scallions & herbs in a sesame-ginger sauce. It was heavenly. Each serving is perfect. After you are full there is nothing left to take home, you shouldn't be overly stuffed but instead feel completely satisfied.

I have a copy of the "I am Grateful" cookbook but I still haven't tried any of the recipes. I love the idea of raw but each time I open the book to search for a recipe to try, I hesitate when I read the ingredients followed by the directions. Next I let out a frustrated sigh followed by closing the book impatiently and reaching for something easier like Martha's Everyday Food. Some day I'll take the raw plunge and at least try to make something from the book. Maybe some flaxseed & carrot crackers?

Cerys insisted that I take a picture of her meal, "I am a winner". Cheesy rice mixed with cashew mozzarella.

So many beautiful raw products to choose from.

 Keiran watching one of the waitresses bring out free samples of pumpkin pie. He doesn't miss a thing.

The waitstaff always has a question of the day to ponder. Sunday's question was "What are you grateful for in your community?" My answer was silly but it was community. Feeling like I belong is something that I feel grateful for whether it is in the blogging community, the bookselling community or my Waldorf community. I need community and I adore community. It completes me. What are you grateful for?

I've been sick lately and am stuck with a not-so-nice and rather-quite-mean sinus headache. (any natural remedies to suggest?) It's hard to work at the computer so I escaped this morning to go thrifting. I have way too many winter clothes for California and too few warm weather clothes. I popped out to my favorite thrift store and found this delightful gift waiting for me.

Do you ever just happen to overhear a conversation at a thrift store and get quickly interested in what someone is saying? All I heard was Bernina and I flipped my car around on two wheels and went in search of whoever had mentioned Bernina. Do you remember me saying on Saturday how my poor sweet Bernina is missing the presser foot?

As I drifted closer to the conversation I heard that all of their donated sewing machines are taken to a Bernina Sewing shop and are tested and cleaned. The woman was telling a customer that this brand, Bernette, is actually made by Bernina. My mouth watered as I watched how this was going to play out. The customer didn't appear interested so I nonchalantly swooped in and inquired as to when it would be for sale. She said "why right now". I said "Why thank you, I would like to buy the sewing machine."

I paid $75.00 for the machine that included the manual and a box of bits and bobs. It also included a rolling cart from Joann's Fabric that had the price tag of $59.99 still attached. Now I'm not deserting my dear old friend whose missing her presser foot, but I can at least sew for the holidays without tearing apart 138 boxes in the garage.

After I see this in a couple hours...

I'm planning to get get to know my new little Bernette a little better. 

Like many children growing up in the 70's, Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden were my heroines. I wanted to desperately walk in their shoes and become a child sleuth. While my friend was reading Sweet Valley High and gushing on and on and on about Liz & Jessica which left me wanting to secretly vomit I went on and on about Trixie and the Bob-whites or Nancy & Co. I looked for mystery in everything, even in something as simple as the mailman being two hours late to deliver the mail. We had an old Vets hall in the town where I grew up and I remember bits and pieces of a mystery that we were trying to solve. I had one of those tiny notepads and a gnawed at pencil that I would whip out to jot down notes about the "crime". I even think we mistook an old paint stain on the wooden floor as blood. Which makes sense in the mind of an 8 year old. I don't think any of the mysteries ever made the little local newspaper but my imagination enjoyed the ride.

Being an investigator and being a ReSeller can go hand in hand. You are both solving a mystery of sorts. You have an item in your hands and you are trying to figure out what where it came from and who made it. I once bought a piece of porcelain from a thrift store on Bainbridge Island. They had it priced at $30 which was an expensive risk for me to take. I took it though and tt paid off though when I discovered that it was an old piece of Meissen. I probably spent an hour researching the piece before I realized that I had something valuable. It only had a hint of the crossed swords on the bottom without a name. I had never seen this marking so I was starting from scratch. I listed it on eBay, even though it had been damaged and repaired. The piece sold it for over $600. If I had put it on ebay without the key word of Meissen and instead had used "porcelain figure" it still might have sold it but my chances of it reaching the high price were slim.

Here are some of the sites that I use for research:

1) Google Images (describe item in search box)

2) Denby Pattern Site (English Pottery)

3) Bookfinder Site to search for book titles or authors

4) Artnet It is a subscription based site but they do allow you to look up artists. You are not able to access auction information unless you are a member. If you buy art work from yard sales or thrift stores, this site is very useful.

5) Dating Belleek Wares Belleek is famous for porcelain. Some of the older pieces are paper thin and so beautiful. The company is Irish and many of the pieces are decorated with clover.

6) Morning Glory Antiques This site has an area designated for researching jewelry.

7) Encyclopedia of American Silver Marks

8) Art Pottery Links Very useful site for researching pottery.

9) Studio Pottery a site that has over 7,300 pages of information on studio pottery. It's based in the UK but includes pottery from all over the world.

10) Artfact This is actually a posh version of eBay. It features live auctions from around the globe. It also lets you search for artists and items.

11) Hi+Lo Modern This is Mid Century Modern eye candy at it's best. I could spend thousands of dollars wandering around this site, sticking item after item in my virtual cart if I wasn't just so darn thrifty. It's a great research site for anything MCM with fabulous photos and detailed information about designers.

12) Nancy Drew Even Nancy Drew has a site with valuable information about collecting her books.

This list is from my bookmark file on my Mac and therefore very personalized to what I research. Your own list might be very different. People love to share and sell information and many subjects on the internet. You will most likely find a site on something that you collect or sell.

A friend of mine who sells clothing tells me that there are forums online where people send in photos to ask the advice of other sellers. There seems to be a forum on every subject out there. Find the forum that you need and ask your questions.  Another option for research is to take an item to a posh Auction house. I used to take items to the Pacific Galleries Auction House in Seattle. They allowed people to bring in one item each on Thursday mornings. The auction house would give advice on who made it, what period it was from and sometimes a rough value of the piece.

Research is what I love about this job. I look forward to arriving home after a day of yard sales with a box of mystifying items and start sleuthing away on the internet or using my own personal library of collector and design books.

While I don't own a private investigator's license I do in fact carry around a magnifying glass with me. And sometimes I'll be spotted wearing a hat like this which is at least in the ballpark of a Sherlock Holmes hat. I guess a part of me still pretends that she is a P.I.

Keiran's cape was $1.50 at St. Vinnie's, teeth $1.75 at a joke shop, pants he pulled out of his dresser, shirt was his sister's turned inside out so it wouldn't show any remotely feminine sparkles.

Here is my vamp princess (her choice I swear...it had nothing to do with my obsession with this show). Cape .99 cents from St. Vinnie's, dress (on sale at Macy's is actually going to be her Christmas dress). She had a brown thrifted gown which I bought for a dollar but Cerys thought this dress would be much more fitting for a vampire princess. Her fangs were $18 but they are reusable and fabulous. Shoulder hole on cape happened by Cerys playing in her cape daily up until Hallowe'en. What can you do?

Every year I want to create the perfect costume. Every year I've got this, that and the other thing going on that prevents me from focusing my time on our festive attire. At this point I can't even find my Berina presser-foot which I'm a bit panicked about with Christmas just around the corner.

I went to a yard sale where a women was obviously obsessed with every thing leopard. She had at least 75 stuffed animals of leopards, the 1980 high wasted pants that I am painfully wearing, the leopard mask and countless other leopard theme things that I didn't buy.It's one of those sales where a collection has gone terribly wrong. The pants were .50 cents (she should have paid me to take them), the mask .25 cents and the hair band .25 cents. The jacket I think was $7.00 from a yard sale a couple years ago and the boots were my find of last summer.

Dave went as a Vamp too. Teeth $18. He used one of his black work shirts and blank pants and he was done.

Dressing up doesn't mean spending heaps of money on something that you may use once or twice. Our favorite part of dressing up is creating an outfit from scratch even if it takes us a few weeks to find all the missing pieces. We love going to a thrift store with a million costumes in mind, waiting to see what idea pops out at us.

Keep your crazy thrift Hallowe'en finds coming. I'll close the Apron giveaway on Saturday, November 7th.

Here are some photos of a neighborhood in Santa Rosa where we went trick or treat in. The entire street is closed off to cars and people go way out to celebrate. I mean seriously way out.

This is a house on McDonald Ave. that was used in the movie "Scream".

I hope this witch doesn't mind being in this photo. Doesn't she look fabulous?

In-n-out boo-ger

more from the In-n-out Boo-ger

This house had so much going on that it made your head spin. I think their party started well before the sun was over the yardarm.

I don't think a house could get more haunted looking.

Thriller was blaring loudly creating the ambiance for this scene.

Hallowe'en 09, Santa Rosa, California.

It seems like my life exists in boxes at the moment. Half of our packed boxes are waiting patiently in the garage until we move into our next purchased house. I keep reaching into a drawer for something in the kitchen only to realize that it is still packed. With fall slowly seeping into Northern California I realize that I have an itching to do some canning. My box of apples keeps reminding me every time that I am in the kitchen. Yet I can't think of a single canning item that is within arms reach. It's somewhere in a boxed marked with a sharpie that reads LTS (long term storage). I needed embroidery thread to finish my owl felting and found one single color in my craft box. How can that be? And embarrassing as it may sound, I can only locate three pairs of socks. I have to keep rotating them through the wash often in order to have a pair to wear. How did I not pack socks in our for the Rental boxes? Packing is such an odd experience.

I found a box a couple weeks ago with some of my etsy store items. Last year I listed some Hallowe'en aprons that I had crafted. It was only today when I decided to wear my own Hallowe'en apron to bake some cookies that I thought about doing a Hallowe'en Giveaway.

I kept the design very simple. Despite my blog name and obsession with aprons, I much prefer the less frilly type of aprons. In fact this design doesn't have a single ruffle, pleat or gathering. It measures 17 1/2" x 12 1/2". The apron strings measure 71 inches in total. If you would like to win this apron, please tell me your craziest thrifted Hallowe'en item ever. Mine has to be the leopard print pants that I'm currently wearing that has a waist that I swear goes up to my rib cage. While it isn't an out there kind of crazy, I feel just so silly in them. giving thanks to whoever decided for low waist jeans.

Have a wonderful and safe Hallowe'en.

The last time I was talking about friendship and community I was a feeling quite depressed. I guess it's that time where I can look back and laugh at myself, earlier than expected. Here we are a month and a half later and my calendar is more full than it's ever been. In fact I have to keep a calendar in order to remember all the places that I need to be. People in this community are very social and Dave and I are gifted with invitations to parties, wine tastings (a benefit of moving to wine country), apple picking pot-lucks, shopping excursions and even bi-monthly craft parties (Dave isn't rushing to join us when we craft). And it doesn't stop with just Dave and me, the children also have playdates and party invitations.  All four of us feel so blessed with the new friends in our lives. It has made the move and transition easier than we had expected. Well easier than I expected. Dave wasn't so worried. That isn't to say we have forgotten our Bainbridge Island (and beyond) friends (praise facebook) but we aren't sitting here crying in our coffee any more like I was the first month. Instead we are meeting at the flying goat at Railroad Square and having coffee together with friends.

This week we met at my house for a Craft party with other moms in the 4th grade class. It was the first time anyone has been to our house which meant I got to tidy up and prepare it for guests. It gave me an excuse to make some gluten free spice cake and bring out my cold press coffee. We sat on the orange sofas and crafted away. I think I did 35% crafting, 25% eating and drinking and 40% chatting but I did pull out an old project from over a year ago. I was making this for my friend H who bought a mid century modern house on Bainbridge.

I don't know how it somehow slipped away and hid during most of last year. I told H about it, eventually showed it to her but then I got into packing mode and into a box it went. I finished felting the owls and leaves at the craft party. That evening I water felted the piece to smooth it out.

During the last two days I stitched away and sewed the felting onto some delicious dark teal fabric.

Curtis Jere was my inspiration for this piece. The original piece is far too expensive for my thrift girl taste so I did the next best thing and borrowed the style and recreated it in felt. I printed off the photo and used that for my pattern.

It's kind of loose around the edges. I'm not a perfectionist at all when I craft. I like to get things done quicker than should be legal. When I watch my daughter craft I can see the same rushed style in her. oops. The important thing to me about crafting is to enjoy myself while I am doing it and have satisfaction when I am finished. I've seen my mother rip out miles and miles of yarn on a crocheted blanket. She'll find a mistake and it will annoy her until she has to go back and fix it. It used to pain me to see the hours of work that she would take apart in seconds. I'd look at a mistake in my work, make excuses on how unique the missed stitch was and continue crafting until I was finished. It's just the type of crafter I am. 

Are you a perfectionist crafter? Are you kind of like me where you just sort of ignore little mistakes and move on contently?

Ephemera is such a funny word. What it means is basically stuff to do with paper. Dictionary.com says it is to do with short lived paper items such as tickets, notices and pamphlets. They also explain how to pronounce it if you click on the volume button next to the word. It took me forever to pronounce it correctly. Although even when I do many people have never heard of the word and just look at me strangely. It sounds more like something I've contracted than something I collect. Wikipedia tells us that Ephemera is "transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved." Which makes sense since my favorite ephemera items are probably things that normal people would have thrown away.

The John Johnson collection of Ephemera is over 1 million pieces and is at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Johnson considered ephemera to be ""Everything which would ordinarily go into the waste paper basket after use, everything printed which is not actually a book …" 

I have a growing collection of paper bits. I adore paper, love the smell of it and especially love the feel of vintage paper between my fingers. My favorite kind of thrifting adventures include old houses full of boxes of paper that I can sort through and buy.

I have put together some Ephemera collections and have added them to my Etsy shop. I have put together 8 packets of hand picked items that I hope you will adore. I have packaged these up in cellophane sleeves and ATG labels in case you wish to give these away for holiday gifts. 

Every pack is different although most of these are on the same theme. Many include a handwritten letter from 1931, a vintage post card, vintage bingo cards and such.

I have a few more collections to add today as well as a some packs of vintage Christmas cards. I can't believe it is already the end of October and Christmas is just two months away. A Northern California Autumn is so deceiving after experiencing 6 years near Seattle. It was 75 degrees this week. At the end of October! How can that be so? This would normally be August weather and certainly not nearly November. And yet I have so much to do. Gifts to make, Gifts to buy (hopefully all on Etsy this year) and gifts to thrift.

Fremont Sunday Market, Seattle 2009

Here is what I think is necessary to be a successful ReSeller.

It takes a lot of Drive. Over the last few years I have consulted six different people and helped train them to be booksellers. Five of them had the tools and the initial motivation. After book selling for anywhere from a few months to a year, they each came to the conclusion that book selling wasn't for them. One woman though did go on to become a successful bookseller.  She had the ideal amount of drive from the very start. She would share with me that she had traveled an hour to pick up a large collection of books on a weekday evening with three kids in the car. She had found the books on Craigslist. She had the gusto, the energy and the drive to find the books. She started about six months ago and is now selling between $2000-$3000 a month.

When I moved to Sonoma County I was terrified to see so many booksellers here. Initially I was rather deflated and came to the conclusion that my book selling days might be over. Once we were settled in our home and unpacked though I was able to place my focus back on ReSelling. I started planning my yard sale routes and waking up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays in order to be at the yard sales early. I thrift from 7:30am - 3pm every Saturday and also on Fridays in order to hit the estate sales.

Valuable items are everywhere in our thrift market but you really need to be there first in order to have the ideal opportunity to buy them.

It takes thinking outside of the box. Spread the word to your friends and family that are you a ReSeller and are always looking for inventory. Place ads on bulletin boards and on Craigslist with your want list. I'd suggest cold-calling people but that might not go down so well in our telemarketing loathing world. Check out discount shelves at any retail store. I've often come across something heavily discounted that I could resell for a profit. Find non-profit organizations and offer to Resell their donations for a consignment fee.

It takes family support. My husband didn't take me seriously in the beginning. I love the man to pieces but seriously he thought that I was shopping for a hobby. When I started to make money his views on my job shifted and he started singing a different tune kind of like this one. Saturday became my work day. The more that your family can understand this, then the easier it will be for you to thrift away without family guilt pulling at your emotional strings.

It takes being able to get dirty. Every job has a negative side or at least not the perks that most of us gush about with our friends when discussing thrifting. Three weeks ago I attended an estate sale in a house where the owners never thew a single item away.... or cleaned for that matter. The attic was full of boxes of vintage fabric and clothing that she had made and never used. It was dusty and rather foul. All of us up there were sneezing from the stale air. I got right into the thick of the mess though and started digging. Sometimes I used whatever I could find as a poker to lift things out of boxes in case there were mice or black widows. At other yard sales that are outside there are times when you have to kneel or sit on the damp ground. If you are a ReSeller who likes to keep clean then it's going to limit where you can thrift. I've been in a damp basement before with only a penlight. It was there that I discovered a bunch of sterling silverware at the bottom of a rotting and unpleasant smelling box.

It takes nerve.  And anyone that knows me is familiar with the fact that this isn't my strongest character trait (although I'm working on it). If I had more nerve, I could do far more negotiating with sellers for a lower price. I could even ask for a bulk purchase (for ex. buy all the books for $20) and although this is a sensitive subject in the thrifting world, I might be able to get in early for a sale. I don't though. I still wait in the car until opening time unless someone else can smooth talk their way in and I follow meekly behind.

Thrifting is about opportunity and these needed attributes are really what you must find in yourself in order for opportunity to show itself to you over and over again. And it will.  And you will be surprised.

Lately all of my photos that I try upload to Etsy have been too large. I can't seem to change their size easily in MS Pictures so I started playing around with them in Picnik. And then I found their Halloween tools (I did upgrade from free to $4.95 for a month because of them....how unfrugal is that?). Cerys is partly inspired by Sally, and by one of my favorite songs sung by Katethegreat19, an incredibly talented musician.

The teeth need some work but I think Keiran looks cute as a troll like scary thing. 

Sydney and me about to cause some trouble.

While Hallowe'en always offers an opportunity to be frugal when hunting for costumes and candy, this year we decided to spend a bit more money on treat side of the holiday. We live in a more populated neighborhood than last year and expect some trick or treat foot traffic to make it to our door. I didn't want to hand out healthy sesame treats or organic apples in fear of the sneers and I didn't want to hand out conventional sweets. I wanted to offer both a treat that is sweet and delicious but without too many chemicals. I happily found these at Trader Joe's on Sunday for $2.99 a box:

And they look wickedly deletable in our cauldron....

"How do I know if something is valuable?" was the question that so many of you had asked. When I started ReSelling most of my purchases were by instinct or by hope. I didn't have any tools except what you might consider common sense. And that didn't even work a lot of the time. What I did do was bring home boxes and boxes of junk that I thought had to be valuable. I mean it was sweet, old stuff. How could someone not want it. I mean I liked it...right? I would come home, research it and when it was worthless would I cram it into my already packed basement to deal with later. This is what made our move so complicated last year. I had to spend nearly every day dealing with this accumulation of other people's cast offs because I had a crazy idea that it was valuable. Some of it was very valuable though so I wasn't always wrong about my purchases. But I was wrong a lot.

Years later I have come to realize that to be successful in ReSelling I had to have proper tools both at home and out in the field. My goal in business is not only to enjoy what I do but also to make money.  I'll be honest with you, I love money. Part of the reason we live frugally is to have the choice to spend money where we wish to which usually happens to be Waldorf Education and food. These are two of my favorite things in life. I love vintage cheese, adore sweet expensive wines and crave at least a pomegranate a day every Autumn. And we won't even go there with my love of Anthropologie and Etsy. A few years ago our money was getting very tight. The children's school tuition was going up as they left pre-school and entered Kindergarten and grade school. I needed to earn money and I had the choice of going out and working for someone else or creating a viable home business. Of course I chose the latter since I don't do well with having a boss, unless it is someone like shape shifting Sam Merlotte. 

The thing about this business like any other business is that we need training or education in our field. I kind of consider myself a self-taught ReSeller. I search for ReSelling information on-line, at the library and from magazines. Even eBay has a simple way to look at completed auctions on any subject so that you can get an idea of what sells and what doesn't. Knowing what doesn't sell is equally if not as important as what sells.

Some of my favorite resources are:

-Kovels Antiques Free Newsletter

-Skip McGrath's Newsletter

-eBay Establishings Email List

-Atomic Ranch Magazine

-Miller's Antiques & Collectible Books

When I started to sell more and more on eBay, I went to Yahoo Groups in search of an email list that could help me with my new business. I found eBay Establishings and it changed my ReSelling life forever. It was there that I discovered that I could buy a 1970's children's book at a thrift store for .81 cents and sell it on eBay for $30.00. I still remember my first auction where a book sold for this price and I was completely shocked. Julie Anna, who started the email list is someone who I consider my mentor. She seriously changed the direction of my life.

Julie Anna shares a lot of free information on the email list, as do the other 2,319 members. There are lots of newbie members who ask very basic questions but there are also many successful sellers there who share their top monthly ebay Auctions.

If anyone is interested in selling children's books, then I highly recommend subscribing to Julie Anna's monthly email list of 50 valuable titles. I used to print off every list, add a photo next to the title and take a binder with me when I went thrifting. I would study it for hours. My most valuable book that I found from her list was a vintage Charley Harper illustrated book, The Giant Golden Book of Biology. I sold it for $400.00 on eBay after buying it for $18 at an Antique store in Grants Pass, Oregon.

What I'd like everyone to ask themselves is what do you want to sell? What is your area of expertise? I didn't even know that I wanted to be a bookseller. I knew that I loved books and that my Great Grandmother was a bookseller but it never crossed my mind to do that myself. I started to realize early on that I had a knack for it but I still felt a bit blind. I started to read websites like Bookthink to get every bit of information that I could about how to buy and sell books. I went to used bookstores and looked at the most valuable books there in order to try to recognize these when I went out and scouted.

When my friend Jacki introduced me to Mid Century Modern, I started going to the library toand look at books full of designer furniture from the 1950's-1970's. Part of the skill of ReSelling is recognizing a valuable item that you have seen before in a book, magazine or website. I visit Hi + Lo Modern as often as I can and I really study the items there so that I might find them at a yard sale. These items are often at Estate Sales, wealthier neighborhoods or Scandinavian settlements. Not always of course...there really aren't any set rules of where you can find a treasure. Visit expensive Antique stores or go to high end auctions. Look at what is selling and how much people are paying for items.

Educating myself in the value of items is part of the job that I love. I crave research and learning about new things. This is what makes the job so interesting. If I get tired of Mid Century Modern, I can switch to an entirely different genre. There is so much to learn about everything. In fact, as I have mentioned many times before, this job is perfect for a what Barbara Sher calls a Scanner.

I never leave home without this collection of tools. Here is my book scanner which scans book bar-codes to tell me whether a book is worth buying or not. I upload new date every week from a subscription that I buy from A Seller's Tool. People either love or hate scanners. I even have opinions about the scanners that I see on steroids in this area. They are like piranhas and shove people out of their way and leap over tall piles of books to get there first. I consider myself a stealth scanner. I don't really like to use the scanner in public and tend to be cautious and shy about it and above all polite. But I need to know what to bring home and what to leave behind. I pay $25.50 a month for this service.

I also find that my iphone pays for itself ten times over every month. I picked up a Sodir convection oven from a rummage sale for $20 after typing the name into Google and clicking on the Shopping button. This is the info I saw which told me to buy it. The model I bought is valued at around $850. I still have it and am very tempted to keep it. When will I actually go out and buy an $850 convection oven for myself?

I have recently signed up for Terapeak, a rather expensive but valuable tool for doing research. It lets you search for items on ebay that have sold in the last 90 days. eBay only has a 14 day search on their site. It can give you an idea of sold items but not a clear picture. I've only been a member for less than a month but already it has helped my ReSelling. I now know how to price items using the Buy It Now feature because I have the over all eBay value of an item. At the end of the day, an item is only as valuable as someone is willing to pay for it.

The iphone (or other smart phones) can let you search on eBay, Amazon, bookfinder and Terapeak. I'll be honest with you, it can be tricky trying to research something at a yard sale. Sometimes I'll memorize a name, go back to my car, research it and then go back and buy the item if it is worth picking up. If I'm at a rummage sale I'll just type in my search and while it loads I'll continue shopping. I especially do this with expensive, big ticket items. I still gamble on things if the price is cheap and if I have a gut feeling that I can sell an item either at my own yard sale or on Craigslist.

I also carry a jeweler's loop so that I can look for gold and sterling. Gold is currently selling for $1047.05 an ounce. The loop pictured in the above photo was purchased at a yard sale for .25 cents. In Sonoma County there are many gold hunters and they are so quick to whip out their loops and start looking for gold, especially at estate sales. I try to stay out of their way.

I found these in the last month. The gold is 14K with 4 opals. I found it in a bag of jewelry for $1. I didn't know it was there until I was home. I bought the bag because of the faery dust necklace and hadn't seen the gold. The sterling napkin ring was .25 cents at a thrift store and the sterling comb cover was .50 cents at a yard sale. These valuable metals are everywhere, you just have to be persistent in your search for them. My goal is to uncover a small gold bar in a dusty and dirty basement one day. I have  had a few dreams of doing this and am so disappointed when I wake up to discover that it was all in my head.

I carry a measuring tape and mini screwdriver. Neither will make me rich but they are very useful when you are at a sale. One of the services I offer on my website is a thrift personal shopper. I carry a notebook of items that clients are looking for. Some of these are very size specific which means I need to know the exact size of an item before I purchase it. With my phone I am also able to send photos and call the client in order to verify that this is the item that they want me to purchase. 

The last tool in the photo is a pen light ($5.00 yard sale). It actually has a red laser light, a black light and a LED light. I don't use the red light except to amuse the cat, the black light it useful when looking for diamonds, vaseline glass or other collectibles and the LED light is great for dark nooks in an attic full of vintage books and old fabric.

I use an Ott-Lite ($15 thrift store find) mostly when I am listing books. I need to describe every flaw that is visible in order for the potential buyer to see what they are buying without a photo. The Ott-lite is a favorite among my bookseller friends.

Un-do is probably the least eco-friendly thing I have in the house. But it takes off labels like a charm. Peanut butter or oil work well too but I like how Un-du evaporates to nothing and it doesn't leave an oily residue. Plus peanut butter could be dangerous if you are selling an item to someone who has an allergy. I mostly use Un-Du for labels on book covers. I'll warn you it gives off some serious fumes so you may wish to use a mask or better yet, use it outside. 

The little electric eraser might seem like a silly gadget to buy, but it is perfect for erasing both pen and pencil marks from books. A clean book can add quite a few dollars to the price of a book.

As you can see, some of these tools were purchased 2nd hand. I didn't buy them all at the start. If any of these tools interest you and money is tight, just put them on your radar next time you are thrifting. Or search for them on Craigslist or ebay. It took me a couple years before I could even think about spending that much on a cell phone. I had another phone and could get limited access to the internet but I found it so frustrating because it was very hard to work. I'm a believer that time is money and I wasted so much time on that little cheap cell phone. 

When we are frugal it is sometimes hard to spend money. It's a business though and in every business you need to invest in it wisely. That doesn't mean buying Amy Butler pillows for a chair in your office. I own a Zebra thermal label printer which cost me over $400 new. I even sigh thinking about the cost now. I purchased it after I sold some large items on eBay. I was tired of printing out labels on my printer, cutting them out and taping them on. Now I print them off in 3 seconds, peel off the backing and stick them onto my package. I often sell 10-15 items a day and I don't have time to waste by dealing with paper, paper cutters and tape. I want to be efficient because efficiency makes me money. It also gives me time to thrift and list more items. The right tools will help you bring in more money.

I'd love to hear what next step you wish to take to help you become a successful ReSeller.

Next up: Part 2 The Business Side of Thrifting:    What it Takes to Be a ReSeller.

Many self-help books out there today suggest that the job you search for is something you feel passionate about. Which led to me spending the first ten years after I graduated wandering around aimlessness trying to figure out what I wanted to do. When I took those silly tests in high school which were supposed to throw out some perfect job for me, I still remember looking at the answers and thinking "really?". I can't even remember the careers that were suggested, I just know that in my heart that they were not for me. Which led me to going to college without a real purpose. 

Sold for $118

I guess a positive side of wandering through jobs is the experience that you pick up or should I say the stories you can share when you are at a pub and you've had too many mojitos? Some of the jobs that I have dabbled in have been: au pair, fast food slave employee, home care assistant, police report translator, railroad track data entry person, grave digger and then those silly (to me) network marketing jobs where I sold overpriced things to my friends (I dearly apologize for that period of my life). They were all intriguing for awhile especially the Welsh jail where I spent 3 months but never ever once experienced a report with a gun incident. The most violent was a butter knife. None of these jobs gave me a single hint that this is what I really wanted to do in life.

Sold 4 of these tiny pots for $49

It wasn't until I was in my 30's and I was selling outgrown baby clothes on eBay that I discovered the thrill of auctions. Yesterday we were talking about this video on our drive back home from the beach. I had mentioned what a buzz it must be and Keiran asked me what I meant by buzz? I mentioned how his sister felt when she climbed to the top of Bald Mountain on a recent school trip or when I get to a rummage sale and find out that I'm the only bookseller there in a sea of valuable books. It's an inner thrill that leaves you legally feeling high. I also discovered that I was able to find things at yard sales and sell them for a higher price. This was the start of my career as a ReSeller. Two years ago I worked part time as a ReSeller and made around $34,000. The benefits of this type of work are endless but some of the most important ones are: being here for my children when they need me, earning money doing something I truly love and recycling unwanted items and giving them a second (or third or fourth) life. It's a strange job to explain though. I can say I'm a thrifter but people don't really comprehend what I mean. I can say I'm a ReSeller but that too is a bit vague. I cringe at the thought of saying I'm a dealer although I guess that partly explains it. 

Sold for around $350

I thought I would share with you a 5 part series on the Business Side of Thrifting. Part 1 I will discuss the Tools of a ReSeller, Part 2 What it Takes to be a ReSeller, Part 3 Research, Part 4 Customer Service, Part 5 Passion.

Sold for $78 Etsy

I'm curious if you have any questions about ReSelling. If you do, you can leave a question in the comments and if it fits, I'll answer it during the next week or so as I discuss each part. I want to share with you the ins and outs of ReSelling and not just the fun side of thrifting. It can be very hard work. Yesterday on a Sunday morning, I dragged the family out of the house quickly, drove 30 minutes to a small town near the Russian River and bought a bunch of stuff in the wet mist to ReSell. I often get dirty thrifting as I scrounge through boxes on the ground or sort through bookshelves in a dusty attic but I don't mind the dirt. And I adore what I do. 

It's no secret that we are collectors. Books have been written on this need to collect. If I think to only my small circle of family I know that my mom collects Belleek, swans (she tries to avoid the tacky ones) and Lilliput Lane houses. My dad collects anything to do with trains, trolleys or boats that tragically sank, clocks (although usually tacky ones like an Elvis clock with swinging legs) and old cars although only one at a time. My oldest brother collects (I think) pipe stuff & military books. My middle brother collects things to do with Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and fantasy/science fiction books. None of these are too strange or out there but they definitely reveal a hint of their personalities. Collections can help define who we are. Overall we pretty much like ourselves and we want to be surrounded by things that we love. 

Susan Pearce has written books about collecting and why we collect. She did a survey in England asking people if they consider themselves collectors. 66% of the 1500 people described themselves as collectors. Susan thinks that part of our need to collect goes back to our hunter & gathering days. She also implies that we are human and like shiny and bright things. That kind of reminds me of magpies.

I can't think of a time when I didn't collect. I had my sticker collection which I counted often. I not only had a book collection in my teens but I took the time to catalog and count the books when I couldn't sleep. I even counted how many pages I used to read. Obviously I wasn't a cheerleader and would have fit well with the Glee crowd before the cheerios descended on them. I can see myself in my daughter as she begins her own collections. She is obsessed about anything to do with Elfquest. She's asking me to bring home crystals, bows, rocks, necklaces made from bone and animal pelts. Even when she insisted on buying a scary looking fox pelt complete with head and paws I reminded myself that she could be asking for plastic Hanna Montana stuff made in China instead.

Sometimes all I need to do is bring home an item once from a yard sale and my collection begins. I don't always even know that I've started to collect it until my eye catches another item at the next rummage sale. This is what happened when I bought this box.

I was drawn to it because it reminded me of Waldorf with it's curved wooden edges and the fact that it is from nature. I found it up on Bainbridge Island right at the beginning of my Mid Century Waldorf shift that I was making in the house. It also reminded me of something Wharton Esherton might have hand crafted. 

I fell in love with it but again, I didn't realize that I was on the brink of collecting little boxes until I moved to Sonoma County and found this artistic box.

And there began the collection. I saw another one last week but they wanted $25 for it at a high end rummage sale. Okay so I'm guilty of collecting these things but I'm not going to go overboard, especially on price.

I admit that I bought a somewhat ugly box too. I felt so guilty about it though that I gave it to Keiran who now keeps his collection of shark teeth in it.

It's actually not that offensive it just needs a sanding and oiling. It's very simple and Keiran loved the gift.

I have no idea where my little box collection will take me. Maybe at my own estate sale people will chuckle and make jokes at my expense when discovering the hundreds of boxes lining my bedroom walls. We've all been to those estate sales where a collection has truly grown out of hand. I mean really, how many collector plates is enough?

I do adore collecting although as I have learned the art of purging, I have been a bit more careful in what and how I collect. Instead of buying every single vintage dish out there, I narrowed it down to Ben Seibel. Instead of every linen under the sun, I've dedicated my collection to mostly Vera. I try to now buy items that were made well and reflect both my interest in Mid Century Modern and Waldorf Education. Waldorf defines nearly everything about me. I want my house to show that. When I went to a Yogurt shop in Sebastopol a few weeks ago I noticed that a Waldorf painting was on the wall. When I mentioned it to the teenager behind the cash register she proudly told me that she went to a Waldorf school when she was younger. You could probably walk into most houses and immediately tell a bit of the personality of the person by merely what they have chosen to surround themselves by. It's the beauty of collecting and sharing a little of what is inside of us.

I don't know if my boxes are the oddest thing that I collect but I would love to hear what your weirdest collection is or maybe one that you have witnessed at an estate sale.

I guess you could say I am somewhat addicted to Craigslist. I confess that I can sometimes be found checking it nearly every hour, sometimes every 10 minute if I'm doing something that takes time to load and I'm impatient. I'll quickly pop over, check out a few of my favorite searches and then back to what I was doing. It's kind of like gambling I suppose. You never know what's going to show up, for how much and how quickly you can reply to be first on the list. Some of my favorite searches include: books, teak, mid century modern, retro, playmobile, vintage, 1960's and so on. The other day I decided to do a search for Ben Seibel. Anyone who is a regular reader of Apron Thrift Girl is aware of my love for this man's designs. Since he was featured in Modernism magazine I'm sure his fan count has grown. I did a rare search for him on Craigslist and opened up the search to include all of San Francisco instead of just the North Bay.

A listing popped up for one of my most adored patterns, Granada.....a large collection of dishes for $100.00. As I've said probably every time I bring up Ben's name, I only buy when the collection is usually large enough and the price is cheap enough. Especially since nearly everything I have from him is from eBay. Shipping can really run prices up so I'm just not going to buy a plate for $9.99 and add $12.00 shipping on top of that. Sure I love his dishes, but only on a thrift girl frugal budget.

I emailed the seller and asked if I could pick up the dishes on Sunday. She agreed and gave me her address in San Francisco. I'm trying to get used to city life compared to island life. It still makes me a little nervous even driving on a simple freeway.

Rather than drive all the way to the city just for some dishes, we added a trip to the Museum of Natural History.

I think in all there were around 50 pieces making the average cost per item $2.00.

The coffee pot, gravy boat & lone little salt shaker on the right aren't Ben's design or at least not officially. Sometimes Mikasa borrowed some of Ben's style of an item without signing his name to the piece. It's still Mikasa and overall sort of matches the set.

So I was definitely a little apprehensive about this purchase. I was heading into a city, into a neighborhood that I was unfamiliar with and buying these from someone I didn't know. It really isn't much different from a Seattle CL purchase but if felt bigger and more intimidating. And it went incredibly smoothly. The seller was so kind and was happy to see the dishes go to someone who had actually heard of Ben. She wrapped each piece for me and even gave me boxes & packing peanuts.

I'm still going to try to avoid temptation from wandering the pages and pages of items on Craigslist outside of the North Bay community. It's just to much of a tease. What is the longest distance Craigslist purchase that you have made?

Arriving at our rental house, I was taken back at how large it was. It's a 1960's ranch house that seems to spread out over the property graciously and generously. The children's rooms and bath room are almost in a separate wing from the rest of the house. I love the space and I love not having to climb the stairs up or down to get to other parts of the house. I finally measured the living room only to discover that it is 31 feet long. And there sat my poor little mid century couch smack dab in the center looking lonely as all get out. I almost felt panicked that the room felt so bare. I was sent into a thrifting frenzy knowing that I had to create a room out of this enormous space, even if we are renting it for such a short time.

From an empty space of one couch, a tv table and a few other bits I created this:

The couch to the left was from St Vinnie's at a 40% off sale (plus they don't charge tax). I paid $150 for it. The shag under the coffee table was $22 at an estate sale. It's pure wool.

When I sat in the couch at the thrift store I immediately sunk down into it. I quickly unzipped one of the cushions and discovered that it was down. I've never owned a down stuffed couch before...I've only drooled at them in magazines. The brand is Henredron and I quickly did a google search on my iphone. I found a forum discussion where someone was asking whether they should spend $4,000 on an Ethan Allen couch or $10,000 on a Henredron couch. That quickly told me that I was sitting on a very high quality couch, albeit it was 30 years old or so.

It was in near mint condition and I figure it came from a time capsule house. (a phrase I learned from Retro Renovation) I was still unsure about it so I called Dave. He said that he trusted me to buy it. I did and we picked up the following day. I don't know....maybe a bit too much orange in the room but this might be my only opportunity to have two couches in my living room. Who knows how small our next house will be. I'm going to savor the space while I can.

A small corner in the back of the room for the children. The two Bertoia children's chairs that I actually bought from a yard sale two blocks from our rental. I found them on our short vacation to CA before we moved.

A small tv table but it was made from possibly a redwood burl. Paid $3.50 for it. Bamboo lamp $2.00 and candle holder $1.00.

What would a home be without little bits and bobs. My collection of studio pottery is growing at an alarmingly dangerous rate but this little birds keeps everything in perspective.

Slowly it's coming together. And even if our little house that we eventually buy is too small for all of these things, I'll just sell them at my next yard sale. That is a side benefit of thrifting. I'm now so content in our new home that I feel very at peace here. The nesting is nearly completed and my thrifting has tapered off to a small trickle.

Thrifting lets you change your mind over and over again without doing too much damage to your wallet. You might remember that it was not even four months ago when I bought this table. I fell in love with it, bought it quickly and couldn't wait to get rid of the dingy, sad thing we had been using for the last four years. And yet it only took me a month to realize that it wasn't going to be our heirloom table. It was too light, damaged to easily (which included Keiran just looking at it the wrong way) and the saddest reason is that with my 5'1" body, I could barely touch the ground with my toes when I was sitting down. When it was time for our moving sale, I stuck a price on it to see if it might sell. Someone else fell in love with it and paid us $200.00.

My red dinette table on the other hand never sold so we brought it with us and had been eating our meals on it since we arrived in California. And when the internet was reconnected I went into a mad search to find another table. I looked at yard sales, Craigslist ads, newspaper ads and at thrift stores. I found a mess of one at a thrift store but they wanted way too much for it. It needed to be refinished, the chairs needed recovering and it would have cost me $400. Knowing that I didn't need a project like that, I moved on and continued my search.

A week ago I went to a Friday estate sale (this area has them every single week which I am just in awe about) and found this beautiful table.

I paid $250 for it which, in a way is a lot for me to pay and yet I've compared it with all the other prices that I had seen in the last 3 weeks and nothing else quite compares to it. When we picked it up on Saturday, the Estate Sale seller told me that she could have sold it many times over. She looked disappointed that she hadn't charged me more.

It was exactly what I was looking for. It is solid, fits into my Mid Century Waldorf style I want for the house and was affordable. And if you want to do some thrifty math, I paid $100 for the first table, sold it for $200, bought this for $250 so in all reality it was really only $150.

Does anyone know much about these tables? It was made in Denmark but I can't find much more information about this style of table. I did a google image search and I only could find a couple other tables with the tile in the center. If you have any info please share with us in your comments.

Tomorrow we will have been in Sonoma County for one month. For the most part things are even better than we expected. The Waldorf school is incredible and has exceeded our every wish for our children's school. The children have settled so quickly. I've worked hard on nesting as I explained in an earlier post. Nearly a month in, the house feels like a home and there is a peacefulness that lets me relax here. In my nesting days I would end up walking around in circles trying to figure out why the energy of the house didn't feel right. 

When we left Bainbridge, our friends and our community it was honestly hard to visualize what life would be like without them all. I've lived in so many areas of the world where I was on my own. Even when Dave entered my life I still spent hours alone. It wasn't really until I became a parent that I began to connect with people. Parenting in an alternative style kind of bonds you with people. We are a minority and we have to fight harder for our parenting beliefs. I still remember my days in Virginia with Families for Natural Living (now Families for Conscious Living) where I met mamas that were like me. We breastfed, co-slept, fed our children organic food and tried to fill our houses with natural toys made from wool, silk and wood. Even when we moved to Bainbridge Island we were in pre-school with other parents that were new to schooling like us. I could go to the park and other moms were so hungry for conversation that having a baby was like a friend magnet. I met one of my best friends through a parenting group (that's you H). I joined the group after meeting one of the members in Safeway. But with a 9 & 7 year old, people don't exactly come up to you and start chatting at the local grocery store.

I knew I was going to miss my friends on Bainbridge but it wasn't until we were settled in our house when the "moving honeymoon" excitement was over and an empty feeling settled into my chest. I had no idea I would miss them so much. And sometimes it is when I am surrounded by my new school community and they are all chatting to one another that I feel the vacancy of my old life. The one that comforted me by just seeing familiar faces. Now every face is new and names are a swirled mess in my head as I try to remember mother, father and child. I have a poor memory to begin with and I swear I am only retaining a small percentage of names. I went to a class meeting last night and you could witness the fact that most of these parents have been together for years. Conversation and banter came easy for them. My shyness reared it's very ugly and unwanted head and I felt like fading into the wall with my silence. There is a part of me that simply hates this side of my personality. Why can't I be like Dave who finds starting a conversation easy. Sure he says the same sayings over and over again in his typical British humor, but he makes people smile and laugh. I want that. I want to be easy going and funny. Instead I feel frozen inside as I watch everyone around me. It won't always be like this. Eventually I'll warm up but the waiting is frustrating if not lonely.

I will add that everyone that I have met here is very welcoming and friendly. Again, more than I expected. And slowly my unease of watching what I say, how I dress and how I act will fade away and my true quirky and hopefully witty self will emerge.

I can imagine that a year from now I'll look back at this moment and probably laugh at myself. This moment of "community withdraw" will be just a flicker in my memory. I luckily have so many online friendships with my blog readers, my Facebook world, my bookselling friends and the handful of friends that I can actually muster up the courage and call on the phone. I'll be okay. Hey at least the sun is shining.

Sunday was my mother's 70th birthday. We were so honored and blessed that they wanted to spend her birthday with our family. They drove down last week (with a U-Haul truck to bring the rest of our stuff that didn't fit in the first truck-including our cold press coffee maker which was left behind!) and are flying home tomorrow. My parents always want to help their children. Even though we are all adults. They used to come over to England, get to our house from the airport, push their sleeves up and start painting. They also drove a U-haul of stuff from Washington (where I lived before I married Dave) to Virginia. They just do that kind of thing.

We tried to give back to them by surprising my parents with a lunch in Sausalito at a seafood restaurant called Scoma's. We also invited mom's childhood best friend Helen and her husband Mickey to lunch. My mom is so hard to surprise. She catches on to anything. Somehow though she didn't see this coming. They are still talking about the surprise two days later.

Cerys with Scoma's behind her.

For those on a gluten free diet, Scoma's in incredibly accommodating. They've all heard of gluten free which is one of the most challenging things when talking to the waitstaff. Also all the chefs are very happy to alter a dish but not compromise on flavor. I had a steak at the top of the space needle once that was tasteless and topped off with burnt garlic. It was one of the worst meals that I have ever had while dining gluten free.

Gluten free Crab Louis Salad. Absolutely delectable.

My parents and their friends just gabbed and gabbed and gabbed. Which was lovely and fun to hear and very amusing to watch. When the children were finished with their meal and a bit restless we walked out in front of the restaurant to catch the view. You can just see San Francisco in the distance.

I'm sad to have moved away from our family who we left up in Washington but I must admit, I enjoy their visits even more down here. We get to act like tourist rather than just hanging out at our old house. Yesterday we went to Sonoma to explore and we took the children to their first California Mission. My parents' next visit will be Thanksgiving and we will count the days until that celebration. Happy Birthday Mother. I'm so blessed to have you in my life.

Dave, Cerys, Keiran and myself were nervous wrecks the last week before school started. After spending six years on Bainbridge Island and immersing ourselves in the Waldorf community and the greater community we felt so alone down here. Our close friends in the area, Amy and family, moved to Ghana to work in a school for 1-2 years. They were the reason we actually discovered Sonoma County 5 years ago when we did our first house exchange. Luckily we have another family in the area that actually moved from Bainbridge as well but overall we are starting completely over. When I popped into Michaels the other day to check out the latest Martha Halloween crafts, the thought popped into my head that we had no one to invite to our annual Halloween party. My heart sunk deeper into my chest when that realization hit me. I started to wonder if I made a mistake moving our family 800 miles to attend a new school in a new community.

That was until Tuesday when school started. I drove the children to school and we gingerly got out of the van and began walking to the classrooms. We were all a little frozen up with nerves. Cerys had a tummy aches and neither child slept well.

I went with Cerys first to her classroom to put her tiffin in her cubby. Luckily some of the girls who we met at a school work party were also there and before I knew it, Cerys was hugging me goodbye and heading to an massive, magical oak tree to climb up it with some other girls.

Keiran had a beautiful, sweet ceremony where every child handed their new teacher a flower, shook her hand and crossed into the threshold of first grade. I don't think there was a dry eye in sight.

I went a bit rogue this year and bought nearly all of their school clothing new. I even shocked myself with this idea. I think part of it was my nerves about the children starting a new school. While I would love to disagree with this statement....first impressions are important. Going in with stained and dirty clothes which is usually from the children playing in trees, building forts and covering themselves up with dirt, would not be a great way to start the year. So I hit my favorite store in the world Naartjie and spend more money than I have in the last three years of thrifted clothes.

I adore Naartjie from their gnome stocking hats down to their groovy footless tights. Their prices are so much cheaper than other childrens clothing and their styles are so unique and are really designed for children to play in them. Nearly everything they make is cotton and while they usually have their name on the outside of the clothes, it's not usually "in your face branding". And to top it off it is free of commercial characters.

As Keiran walked by me to head to his new classroom he gave me a smile that told me "I'll be okay". After three years of Kindergarten, he's finally in the grades.

I was invited by my 4th grade buddy (mentoring family) to have coffee with some other parents after drop off. I was so relieved that they were down to earth, very funny, knew about pop culture and drank coffee. I still miss my friends on Bainbridge but I'm looking forward to making connections here as we begin to settle in Sonoma County.

Two weeks ago we arrived in Sonoma County and started unpacking our belongings in our rental home. It's funny how we work as humans. Cerys and I being the females of the family quickly started nesting. She was working hard in her room making sure every last thing looked good. All her American Girl dolls had a proper place, her clothing had a home both in closet and in the built in drawers and her Elfquest shelf had her dagger, crystals and shells displaying proudly. I on the other hand first wanted the kitchen organized and later the living room. The first week I felt so uncomfortable in this home. It wasn't until the living room had lots of lamps and a bit more furniture that I was able to relax. It truly is amazing how we feel when we our out of our element. I love making a new space into a home, especially when I can fill it with thrifted items. I have so many posts to write and photos to share (finally after such a long hiatus). I'll start by backtracking to August 8th and share with you all that we left behind.

Linens & aprons

Craft Room - everything you see was for sale. and nearly all of it sold.

Was it strange to see most of my worldly goods sold to other people? Not really. It was almost as if this move was a much needed cleansing for me, well for all of us. We are virtually starting from scratch down here in CA. We didn't bring a single dresser and only one bed frame. I only brought our most treasured pieces of furniture like my orange couch and our English rocking horse. In fact, we barely had enough chairs to sit at when we set up our dining room.

The dinette didn't sell so we brought that with us and it is currently our dining room table. What I loved most about this sale was seeing my yard sale friends. Not people who I would invite to dinner or socialize with outside of a garage sale but other thrifters who I would see faithfully every Saturday morning. So many of them told me how sad they were that I was leaving the area. It warmed my heart. (I should amend this that I'm not including yard sale friends who I regularly converse with on FB or by email :-)  I even received an invite from a couple who have a mid century house in Palm Springs. They told me that if I ever make it down there that they would take me on an architectural tour of Palm Springs. I'm already planning a trip for February, hopefully with two girlfriends. I've never taken a road trip without the family before so I hope that it can all work out.

Two of my friends came to help with the sale. I enticed them by suggesting that they bring things to sell. Dave and I made $3,300. And we never even advertised in the paper. I simply listed the sale on Craigslist, on a couple local email lists and used signs to direct people here. When the sale was over, a woman from a church came and collected our leftovers to donate to their next rummage sale. By Monday, the main part of the house was a shell with only a few pieces of furniture that we were taking with us. The basement had most of our moving boxes and loose items that I packed that following week.

My goal now is very different than my goal 4 years ago when I moved into our 1927 farm house. At that time I fell in love with shabby chic and filled the house to the brim with not only funky, paint peeling junk but I started a pile of "projects" in the basement. Projects that I never worked on and had to get rid of this last winter as we prepared our house for sale. This time I am buying some projects, but I am getting to them right away and won't even bring them in the house until they are completed.

I found this Ekornes stressless chair for $5.00 at a rummage sale last Friday.

It looked like this chair had spent time outside on a deck or patio as it had lots of debris in the fold between the seat and back. I even found some leaves and the metal had lots of rust. I looked in my Clean House, Clean Planet book and found a recipe for 2 parts olive oil to 1 part vinegar to clean leather. I spent about 40 minutes cleaning the leather and another 20 minutes to clean the rust. The rust recipe was a simple mixture of salt & lemon juice. Both worked extremely well.

My next project is an incredibly worn Scoop Chair by Carter Bros furniture. I found it for $2.00 at an estate sale on Friday. The wood is faded in color and the vinyl has a few cracks. I'm not sure what I'll do with it but for $2.00 I couldn't resist. 

Since we arrived on August 16th, I have thrifted every single day except Sunday when we took the ferry to San Francisco. This area has an incredible 2nd hand market and I look forward to continue sharing tips, advice and my thrifted finds with you all.

This has been the strangest year of my life. In some way it has been good in other ways it has been not so good. For nearly 365 days we have been living life in limbo. A year ago Dave learned that we might move to LA. We had originally thought the move would be in October. But the impending move continued to be moved up and up and eventually canceled. At that point as you know we switched gears and decided to move on our own so that the children would be able to attend a larger, more established Waldorf School that would take them through to 12th grade.

I feel like I have such a strange relationship with our house now. I feel that in some ways that I have been tied to it in such a way that it is hard to release myself from it. I'm here all the time sorting and packing and kind of going crazy. I'm purging so many of the things I thought once were precious to me. That alone feels wonderful.

Then we throw in the real estate woes of the last six months or so.... even with reading every news story out there on real estate, it still didn't prepare me on how difficult it really is to sell a house. We've lived  in many areas and sold quite a few houses. Each house we moved to, we planned for it to be our last, the house we will settle in. But I get restless, I get an idea of a better place and a better school and before we know it we are moving again. We moved from England to Wales, from Wales back to England, from England to Virginia, from Virginia to Bainbridge Island and now from Bainbridge Island to Sonoma County California.  Our other houses all sold within a month or so. This one didn't.

We started out as a For Sale By Owner and after two months with only one complicated low-ball offer we moved to a Real Estate company. We thought that once we were on the market officially, people would come in droves to see our enchanting vintage home with views. But no one came. We didn't get any viewings except realtors and at open houses. Lots of people complained that our house needed too much work. They made complaints that the master bedroom didn't have a master bathroom. I guess the 1927 needs were different than the 2009 needs. They wanted their toilets closer. People didn't like our 1970's kitchen or our lack of stainless steel appliances. Finally Dave and I realized that the wrong people were coming to view our house.

We needed people to come with a vision of where they could take our house. People who were a little holistic that would like our organic garden, our low or non VOC paint and our countless fairy and gnome houses dotting the property. The very next week after we realized this, we had an open house that included a family moving to come to our Waldorf school, a doula and a homeschooling family. All of these people were in our "tribe". We nearly sold the house that weekend but a number of realtor errors were a factor.

Time started to be against us. Summer arrived and the house still wasn't getting enough viewings. We lowered the price, had a super low ball offer but it was tangled up with a realtor who wasn't very good at his job and instead made out the buyers to be investors wanting to flip our house and who were experts in the market. They weren't going to budge past their lowball price. This left us so deflated not to mention a little scared. We ended our contract with our realtor and were going to rent the house out to a family that showed a lot of interested in borrowing our home on a monthly basis. And then that fell through.Sigh.

We went back on the FSBO market as we actually felt we had better luck with selling the home ourselves. Our first lowball offer came back on the table and we started to work with them. They had an inspection done and asked for $40K off the already lowered price. This was one week ago and about 2 weeks before we were set to move to California. Our hearts completely sank when this deal fell through. We had offered to come down $25K but they wouldn't accept that and wanted more. And I don't know about you but it is so difficult to keep the ego out of negotiations. All we saw was greed. Maybe we should have seen fear instead but we felt negative about it and although it is a buyer's market it's not a victimizing one where you have to do every last thing for the potential buyer. Even as I was reading the last email ending the contract, I was on Craigslist placing ads for our house as a Rental, FSBO again and even down in Sonoma County as a permanent swap. I pushed this house out there as much as I could. I lowered the price, I went downtown and pinned up our fliers everywhere. This was our last chance to sell it for at least 6 months. Our FSBO sign went back on the fence as did a little "For Rent" sign. The first day we had 257 hits on our website. The lowered price brought in a lot of interest. 

We had an open house on Sunday. And a signed contract by Tuesday to a family who had made an offer on the house. The same ones who we thought were going to flip the house a month or so ago. After conversing with the family we realized that we were completely misled on many things during that negotiation meeting. They wanted a house that was filled with sunlight, that had an organic garden, that had potential for solar panels on the roof and where they could repair our artisan well so that they could use the water in the garden. This family is so like us that when we first met and we finished our house discussion we hugged. And it reminded me so much as to why I wanted to sell the house ourselves. I wanted that intimate conversation where you can really share about your home and learn why they want your home. It isn't going from us to our realtor to their realtor and back to them in a confused mess. It's person to person. I realize that realtors can be very useful and handy. For me though, I needed the face to face interaction of a for sale by owner. And after we had our signed contract in hand, it honestly felt like it was meant to be. These are the people we were waiting for. Sure I would have liked a little more money but at the end of the day, your home (any any thrifted item) is worth as much as someone will pay for it.

Between all this stress we also took a trip to California for 11 days. The children went to a Waldorf camp and Dave and I went in search of a rental. I had planned to blog about it but my computer's wireless thingie decided to stop working. Luckily I had my iphone to read email but I don't have the patience to blog from it yet. We arrived home from our quick trip though without a rental.

A week ago today our house sale fell through, we didn't have a rental to move to, Dave didn't have an office to work from and we never found a storage unit. And we were moving in 11 days. Hence why I haven't' blogged in ages. Thank you to all those that privately emailed me wondering if we were okay.

To be honest all of this has been draining. Luckily Seattle has had the best summer in years with many hot and sunny days which at least kept me content in this madness. And here we are a week later under contract for our house sale and we have found a rental that includes an office for Dave and a 2 car garage for storing our stuff while we search for a house to buy. Everything is falling into place as we had originally visualized. Once we are down to California and settled in our rental I will start blogging again on a regular basis. There are so many thrift stores down there, I can't imagine not having anything to blog about. Even in our short week down there I found two Bertoia Children's chairs for $20.00.

And speaking of Thrifting....to Celebrate National Garage Sale day (2nd Saturday in August), I'm going to be hosting a huge moving sale. In fact it's nearly an estate sale sale (except that I'm not dead) because the entire main floor of our house and apartment will be open. Having moved so many times in my life, I don't want to take anything with us (except the orange couch). We are even selling food from our pantry, cleaning products, half of my apron collection (around 30), my red dinette table, some mid century furniture, pottery, toys, a play structure, and more. Here's our Craigslist ad for anyone local. Please come by and introduce yourself. 

So it appears that this chapter of our life is closing which means our next adventure is just around the bend. During all of the stress I just kept focus on Cerys and Keiran's new school. It's been our anchor during the ups and down of all this mess. And yet we are still aware that many people are going through this same thing. Or worse...they are losing their homes. And we are grateful everyday for what we do have in our life.

Here is our school. This is the Office and grades 1-4.

An incredible oak tree in the play yard. It was lovely to have the children spend time at their new school even if it was just a short week at camp. It will make the move easier for them.They are still resisting.

We are planning to leave Bainbridge Island next week with mixed emotions. We are so looking forward to settling down and getting to know our new community in California. It will be very hard though to leave our friends and family up here. We've had such an amazing six years of our life up here in Washington. It will be a heartfelt goodbye.

With Dave in England and our house on the market, it makes for a challenging thrift day. We had a house showing planned in the middle of Saturday morning which meant I had to take Cerys, Keiran and the dog thrifting with me on one of the busiest thrift days of the year. No where on any "rules of thrifting" have I ever including dogs & kids on the list. I'm usually a solo thrifter which means I can thrift in peace and quiet and on my own. I nearly had a playdate for Keiran planned on Saturday but that was canceled last minute. Luckily a new bookselling friend of mine, Katie, not only helped me by her husband taking Keiran for the morning, but she joined me to go to thrifting despite the fact that Elffin & Cerys both were joining us. And we had a delightful time together. She's energetic, clever (marks off yard sales on the list after we had been to them) and we shop at the same speed. We are both kind enough to the point where we didn't push or shove to get to the books. And I must admit it was so welcoming to have an adult to converse with after a week of just the children and me.

And while I did search partly for books, my eyes were really searching for anything mid century modern. And I found a few gems yesterday.

My first Jens Quistgaard salt & pepper shaker by Dansk.

a piece of unmarked studio pottery. It's a strange one but I think that's why I like it.

I have some guilt about this lamp. One of the services I offer on my website is a finder service. I locate items that people are looking for. A client of mine just recently added a lamp like this to her "in search of" list. But the minute I found it for her I started wanting it. Or needing it.

It's a three way lamp as well. And it fits perfectly in the living room. Sigh......and I do adore it. I suppose the honorable thing is to offer it to her and if she happens to say no I may just have to keep it.

The more I read and research about Mid Century Modern, the more items I seem to spot at yard sales and on Craig's List. I enjoyed going through Retro Renovation's blog roll list this week. I especially loved Atomic Tea Party.  Collecting MCM is somewhat slow compared to shabby chic since anything old and worn can fit into that style. Last weekend when I was thrifting in Seattle, I went to a couple MCM stores and the prices are shocking. They certainly don't fit into this frugal budget of mine. I still learned a lot from visiting these shops. And the drool from my thrifted Free People shirt should wash out.

Some of my favorite Craigslist searches are Retro, Mid Century, Teak, Danish, Denmark & Vintage. What are your favorites?

After five years of walking through the little gate & arch to Kindergarten, we walked through for the last time. Not only did Keiran have his last day yesterday but it marks the end of our time at our Waldorf School where we have spent the last 6 years. The reason we are leaving is to have an even deeper relationship with Waldorf education. It's made such an impact on our lives that we have made the choice to leave our small school in order to attend a much larger school that goes through to 12th grade. We didn't want to get to 8th grade and have to make the choice of either public high school or sending the children on a ferry by themselves over to the Waldorf High School in Seattle. We wanted the transition from 8th to 9th to be simple and familiar.

Our school has a wonderful tradition of both a sword ceremony and a dove dance. Two little events that mark the end of the early childhood and the preparation to the grades. The children all dress in white for the occasion.

Due to privacy I've cropped this picture to only include Keiran. But imagine 14 children running around in a circle with their doves as their two teachers stand in the middle with their white blankets that create a protective nest like feel. This is especially beautiful to the children who will be leaving the warmth and homelike environment of kindergarten to move up to first grade.

The final part of the ceremony is the releasing of the white doves who flew around in circles above our heads for a few minutes before heading to their home. And I admit when they released the doves I got a bit weepy. It was hard to think about leaving.

The children walked back into their classrooms where they were handed their napkin ring of braided wool, they were given their artwork and their drinking mug. I sneaked in some photos of the classroom.

The loft.

The children in the class who are moving up to first grade each made their own doll. Every doll has a sachet of lavender in the belly which smells delightful.

The following day the entire school had an end of year party at a farm somewhat near the school. There were picnics, games, lots of sunshine, horses running in the distance and much conversation among friends. We left with both heavy and contented hearts as we said our goodbyes to our beautiful school community.

Last week the Pacific Northwest was touched by a brief taste of summer. Or maybe a tease of summer. The sun was out, the temperature was hot, and I was very content. I love the heat. We spent every evening out on our tiny little deck in our thrifted vintage lawn chairs watching the eagles get chased by birds and the evening ferry loaded with commuters, come into dock. It was so relaxing to soak up the sun and a perfect addition to this was a cold glass of homemade ice tea.

In those few rare weeks a year that it is actually hot here, I take my jar of herbal tea mix and instead of brewing it for a warm cup of tea, I instead brew it by the gallon. My original recipe for the mix can be found here.

To make it iced, I grab 2 large gallon jars and I boil the kettle with hot water. I fill one of the jars with about 1/3 cup of the dried tea.

Dried tea mix of Chamomile, Rose Hips, Red Raspberry Leaves, Peppermint Leaves & Lavender.

I fill the glass jar half way with cold water from the faucet. I next add the boiling water. I add the two different temperatures to ensure that the jar doesn't break and that the tea is hot enough to make the tea.

Tea & water in jar after it has been stirred. It looks a bit like something out of a sci-fi movie though...

It only takes about 10 minutes to brew with this method. Using a strainer, I pour the jar of tea through the strainer and into the other jar.

I add agave to the tea after it has been strained to give it a faint sweet flavor.

I still remember as a young girl, walking out to our wooden stairs on our back porch to see if the tea was ready to drink. I even remember the disappointment when it was still too light in color to bring in. Of course it was regular sun tea back then but I still loved the stuff, especially with a 1/4 cup of sugar per glass. I drank it all summer long with lots of ice and my favorite twirly straw. I even loved to crunch on the sugar crystals as they made their way into my mouth. I can't think of summer without sun tea and now I have a healthier version drink and to share with the children. Of course as I write this our hot summer has long since disappeared. It's back to warm sweaters in the morning. But maybe I'll still make the tea and pretend that it is hot outside. A girl can dream.