Hunting a little treasure on a Monday!

Webster. Webster. Webster. From now on, when I say Webster, you say treasures. Let's try it.

I say, "Webster." You say, "Treasures."

Webster has it all. Plants, veggies, furniture, antiques, collectibles,linens, golf balls and clubs, honey and jam, hats, socks, jewelry, bread and bagels, kittens, books and comic books, they were even cleaning and whitening teeth.

Popsaroo, BubbaLou, Mums, and I loaded up in the car today and went off down the interstate to Webster. A grand flea market full of treasures for us to find. Popsaroo and BubbaLou went in one direction. Mums and I went in another direction.

Mums and I looked at all sorts of treasures in the hot, hot, hot sun. We trudged along picking things up and seeking the special treasures that we were meant to find. Did I mention it was hot? By the time we had our hands full and realized that we should have brought a cart to place our treasures in, we were about to have a heat stroke. We found some ice cold bottled water and tried to check in with Popsaroo and BubbaLou. We couldn't get a signal. Now how is that even possible??

Finally, leaving Mums in a cool spot, I went out with the cell phone trying to find a spot with a signal. Emergency calls only. Hmmm. Walked a little further over and finally found a hot spot. I got a hold of BubbaLou as she demands..."Where are you, I am hot and ready to go."

OK, it had only been an hour and a half. There is no way it was time to go. She must be thirsty.

After we finally found each other and they were sitting with us in our cool spot, we tried to reason with them. It really had not been that long and they just needed some water. Somehow, Mums and I coaxed them to carry our heavy packages to the car as we swung through a way we had not been to look on the way out. We snagged an extra hour of treasure hunting with this tactic. I got a big sack of kettle corn on the way out as a peace offering for giving us more time. It was well received!

A few of my treasures....

my cake plate and server-pretty!my Pyrex refrigerator bowls with lids

my Pyrex double casserole dish

Pyrex is my weakness and if you cut me a good deal, then it is MINE!

Mums got a bedspread or is it a tablecloth. We are not really sure right now. She also got a pig spoon rest, and a basket of fruit that is ceramic and it stands like a plate. She bought it so the guys who ran the booth wouldn't use it as target practice later this evening. BubbaLou got all sorts of odds and ends; jewelry, body glitter, boxing glove punching pens(don't ask) and some sort of glass jewel for good luck. Popsaroo found some comics and a pocket knife(ooh, and I really hope BubbaLou doesn't cut her finger off with his new knife.) We had a great day at the flea market. Well, at least Mums and I did. Popsaroo and BubbaLou deny any pleasure since it was so hot. Next time we will leave them at home!

Exploring Mt. Dora

BubbaLou and Popsaroo set out for a comic book convention Saturday in the hopes of meeting Star Trek's one and only "Spock." This of course left me out, so Popsaroo handed me $40 dollars and instructed me to take Mums to lunch. This made him feel better.

I called Mums, and laughingly told her our instructions and she came up with a better idea. She wanted to go exploring. Now, back at Christmas, I told her that I wanted to take her to Mount Dora as one of her Christmas presents. Mums decided that this was the day to take me up on it.

But, seeing as I only had $40 dollars in hand, and had not really budgeted to have a bunch of spending money, we decided to window shop. Plus, there was much to see in Mount Dora, they even have a lighthouse.

With map in hand, Mums and I headed out to this little town north of Orlando with high hopes of what we might find. We found it to be a beautiful day for a drive, and the terrain even changed as we turned off the interstate in a northerly direction. The land became downright hilly, which for Florida is strange. We couldn't decide if the land was really hilly, or it was really low with fake hills. Whatever it was, it was pretty. Looking at beautiful scenery proved to be a perk since we had to keep handing out money for tolls.

We finally arrived, and found that the hills were real, we even parked on one. Mount Dora is at an elevation of about 154 feet if I remember correctly. It was also adorable. Mums and I were very taken with it as we walked around exploring shops and sites of really neat houses.

As we made our way down to the docks by the yacht club, we heard real live church bells. It was beautiful. That by itself, was reason enough to drive 2 hours to experience. I miss that so much!
I truly believe, that if more churches had bells that rang through out the day, their would be more happy people in the world and less crime. Kind of a reminder from God that all is in His care and that He is watching over all of us all of the time. Peace.


Mums and I saw a couple of paintings as we entered the first shop of the day. Mums commented immediately, "I love that painting, it reminds me of a church up in Tennessee." I said, "I love this one! Look at the old mill with the dogwood blooms in it." They both were framed in farm wood type frames with a trim of rusty barbed-wire. They had price tags of $90. Too bad we were window shopping. Mums kept going on and on about that painting. She decided it must be one that AuntyDot had shown her in Cheathum county. Then the store owner announced that he was having a cash only sale and everything was 50% off. Sale of the day. Mums looked at me with a twinkle in her eye, and said," I am going to get this one, do you want that one as an early birthday present?" -"Well, Yeah, are you sure?!"

Needless to say, we had the guy wrap them up. The church and the mill turned out to be one that we had seen many times in Tennessee. In Cades Cove. Wow, talk about a flash back to many a vacation in Gatlinburg. We had the man hold on to them until we finished shopping and would be heading back to the car.


We continued to walk up and down the streets going in and out of shops. There were little alley ways with little nooks and crannies, fountains, and shops. We stopped and ate lunch at The Gables restaurant. The food was good and we ate plenty. We sat outside and watched as people walked by. We watched some people board the train for a ride while others rode by in horse and buggy. It was a busy place perfect for relaxing, watching, and talking. It was a beautiful day.



Mount Dora seems to be a haven for dogs. Both big and small. Shop owners had the resident dog sprawled in the floor sleeping the day away or padding around checking all the shoppers out. Many people were walking their dogs. I even saw a lady come around with a baby stroller, I looked down to see the baby, and there were two little dogs in that stroller. "What a cute..what cute little dogs!"I said, a little stunned that I was looking at dogs and not a baby.


We met Oscar down by the water. He was quite the jolly fat dog who wanted to be my friend. I kinda thinks he wants to be everyone's friend.

All in all, we had a great day. Mums and I did well to see and do as much as we did. We even stopped by the little park with the lighthouse. We saw an alligator, a turtle, and some geese. By no means did we do it all. There is a huge antiques and flea market that we have yet to hit. It is in slightly a different location from where we were. We are saving that for another day.

Popsaroo had the gall to ask,

"What could you have possibly done that took you that long?"

Someone's in the kitchen

Popsaroo and BubbaLou were in the kitchen again. This time they didn't steal my new cookie sheets for home base. This time they were cooking. Or, at least, attempting to cook. No, maybe they were really melting, trying to melt caramels. Notice that I wrote trying. He had found the sack of caramels that were left over from the caramel apple night a few months ago and suddenly thought he was Ronald McDonald. McDonald's is there for a reason Popsaroo!

I got a call on my way home from work, it was Popsaroo warning me that he had been trying to make apple dippers for BubbaLou. He told me that he sorta burned some caramel in one of my little dishes. I was in the midst of driving into a bit of traffic so I said, "Okay, it's all right." I hung up and worked my way through the construction and traffic.

I got home and found a ramekin dish covered in dried caramel. This isn't so bad I thought, a little soak and this will be good as new. It was at that moment that BubbaLou came into the kitchen telling me that "Popsaroo ruined one of your dishes! He burned the caramels when he was trying to make me apple dippers. Let me show you." So she turns around and went out into the GARAGE, and came back in with a ramekin dish with what looked like a piece of lava attached to it. Burned was an understatement. I grabbed a knife, and just about bent it. I decided that to go on chipping away would only leave me with a dull or bent knife and possibly a missing appendage.


It is only a ramekin dish, I guess the easy thing to do would have been to throw it away. But you see, it came from a yard sale, it was a bargain-I got 3 for 1.50, and I like the stupid little thing-so many uses. I was determined to save it. A large squirt of dish washer detergent and hot water with a three day soak worked. I didn't even have to scrub, it just slid right out. I didn't even have to ask Heloise!

Lucky Lizards!

I have decided that I never have my camera when I need it. I had it in my purse yesterday and forgot I had it. I didn't really need it at the yard sale that we went to on the way to BubbaLou's softball game, but I could have used it later. I missed out on some good shots, like BubbaLou hitting the ball and getting to first base and when she stepped down on home triumphantly as she scored a run! I loved the look on her face-all smiles:)

I changed purses this morning and left the camera at home. I wished I had it, because we could have gotten some great pics of the last supper musical dramatization. BubbaLou noticed the men dressed in the funny looking costumes(biblical dress) right away as we walked into the worship center this morning. We were looking forward to the Lord's supper, I mean, who doesn't get excited to sup with the Lord in rememberance for all that he is, and all that he has done? But the costumes were creating even more excitement for us.

BubbaLou marched into the worship center and led me to a seat in the nose bleed section. She settled down with her bag of goodies-a book, a journal, and her rubber lizard. The rubber lizard was her Saturday treasure from the yard sale, and her new best friend-Ray. BubbaLou happily led Ray through song and prayer, and he looked on while we partook of the Lord's Supper. Soon, church was over and we all filed out and headed to the car.

Reenactment

We went home for a bite of lunch and then headed over to Mums. BubbaLou took Ray outside in search of her friends and soon got busy. Not wanting to leave her lizard in the grass, she placed him on the bumper of Mum's van.

Mum's had church business, so she took off and said she would see us later. The next thing I know, BubbaLou is coming through the door in a panic. Ray is gone. Once I finally had the story straight, I assured her that I would drive down the road to see if we could find Ray-the lizard. Her two buddies were all about going with us to hunt for Ray. Everyone loaded up, and off we went-down the road in the subdivision, down the highway, and finally turned into the church parking lot. Guess who was still on the back of the bumper?...Ray! Cheers! Ray had gone to church again. I don't know if rubber lizard can be lucky, but I think BubbaLou is blessed.

I thought, "I wish I had my camera!"

Psalms 127:3

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a real blessing.

So they loaded up the truck....

Saturdays are always so interesting, you just never know what adventures lay ahead when you take that first step out of bed in the morning. Our wee little family tends to live a little spontaneously, so the opportunities for adventure are vast!

Saturday morning started off with hungry tummies and in an effort to fill them, we all voted to head for Mimi's for breakfast. We stopped at two estate/yard sales on the way. One guy had stuff we recognized from an estate sale a couple of weeks ago, he had just changed houses and put higher prices on them. The second one we stopped at had great stuff with pretty good prices. I picked up a pretty wooden vanity bench with plans to recover the cushion. Popsaroo wanted to know where I was going to put it. Like I knew?! That was trivial.

We got back in the car and called Mums to see what good stuff might be at the church yard sale she was at. It had been going on since six and most of the good stuff was gone, but she had found a couple of picnic baskets she could use to carry food to people. She had taken drinks out there in a big wash tub, but she was finished, so she was going to join us at Mimi's for breakfast.


Once we were fat as ticks, I went with Mums to find that last yard sale, I loaded my bench in her van since it fit better and she has materials to recover it with. We found the yard sale and Mums found some stuff she liked at "end of the yard sale day prices." So we loaded up a small rocker, a little shelf, a sewing table that folds, a old telephone, some teacups, and a picnic basket. We stopped at a moving sale and only found a little wicker wall shelf.

We made a few stops after that looking for normal stuff at normal stores. We went by Ole Time Pottery to look for XL twin sheets. We found the cutest wicker dresser and armoir at rock bottom prices. I decided that BubbaLou was in need for real furniture, and once again we loaded up the dresser and armoir, and like a bunch of hillbillies got it all in the van.

It was at this moment, I had a Beverly Hillbilly's moment. I could hear the music and everything. I have to admit, although I do come from Tennessee, I have not experienced a Beverly Hillbilly's moment before. There is a first thing for everything.

We had a tin washtub, a plastic barrel, a pitcher, a rocking chair, a bench, two shelves, a bag of old clothes, several bags and decorative tins, a dresser, an little armoir, several beach umbrellas, a sewing table, an extension cord, some plant stands, an old telephone, a bath rug, a dog leash and travel dog bowl, three picnic baskets, and critters.

I forgot to mention the critters, didn't I. Yes, ants had swarmed under the tin washtub. We found them when we had to make room for the wicker furniture and had to dump the water out of the tin washtub so we could turn it on it's side. Yes, it really had water in it. I also did the ant dance as I was trying to kill and remove the swarm of ants off the washtub and off me. It was quite the site!

On the drive home, all that stuff made music as it would bump into each other...Hillbilly, that is!

The Ballad of Jed Clampett by Paul Henning - Beverly Hillbillies
Come and listen to a story

about a man named Jed

A poor mountaineer,

barely kept his family fed,

Then one day he was shootin at some food,

And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.

Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know ol Jed's a millionaire,

Kinfolk said "Jed move away from there"

Said "Californy is the place you ought to be"

So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.

Hills, that is.

Swimmin pools, movie stars.

Well now its time to say good by to Jed and all his kin.

And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.

You're all invited back a gain to this locality

To have a heapin helpin of their hospitality

Hillybilly that is.

Set a spell, Take your shoes off.

Y'all come back now, y'hear?.

I'm just a Bill

Look what Popsaroo has set on the shelf next to UnderDog.

He was Popsaroo's find at a yard sale on Saturday. He told the ladies he would buy Bill for the $1 they were asking if they could sing the song.


Everyone has fond memories of Bill. The ladies were able to get a few lines out with melody and so Popsaroo brought Bill home for $1.

I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill.

I found it!

Look what I found at Costco! My very own, personalized stainless steel flatware. I could hardly believe it. Destiny... that is what it was, destiny!

Anyhoo, I was in the market for some new decent flatware because mine was suffering from a bad case of corrosion. See, Mums loves to find good deals at the Home Shopping Network store and she found me a beautiful set of golden flatware for $10. This $10 however, proved to be one of those, "you get what you pay for deals." They would turn colors on you in a second if you got them near water or vinegar. So, I have been throwing them away once ruined and my flatware drawer was getting sparse.

I had a little green in my pocket and decided to splurge! I mean, who could pass up flatware named in your honor. I figured this was a once in a lifetime chance, because this flatware had my name on it!

I brought them home, unpacked them, washed them, and then placed them in my flatware drawer. I called BubbaLou in the kitchen to show her, and we both looked down and sang, "Ahhhhhhh."

I have decided that I need a new flatware caddy, maybe a wicker one instead of the ancient plastic one that I have now. Maybe some new drawer liners too! This is so exciting! Hmmm, I will just see what I can find.