When you have a very limited time to spend checking out the day’s yard sales, you really hope to make it to one that hits the high notes. We were fortunate to find this one great yard sale recently.

After a very unsuccessful morning, our last stop was at a sale I had seen advertised on my way home from work one evening. The next evening a For Sale sign went up on the house so I figured it would be a pretty good sale. By the time we arrived, everything was half off,  words pleasing to my frugal ears.

I spotted these retro dishes under a stack of others. They mix nicely with others I have collected in this color. They are sitting inside an old sewing cabinet drawer. Isn’t the front of the drawer so beautiful?

There is just something about a small deer figurine that immediately attracts me. This one called my name as well.

I also picked up a hard-backed local telephone book from the 1970’s. What a gossipy walk down memory lane that was! This book had not only the standard listings for businesses and residents, but next to each resident’s name was their address and their occupation. Can you imagine? Another book I picked up was this vintage cookbook,

You can tell that this book was well-loved. I can just imagine the wonderful desserts that were served from recipes in this book.

After I paid for my few items is when I realized that things were half price. I took my treasures to the car so YSCE (Yard Sale Chauffeur Extraordinaire) could peruse the interesting phone book. I went back to the sale to load up with more and load up I did. As I was filling my arms, one of the gals having the sale came over to me to chat. It seems we were school mates and her sister, also at the sale, was a school mate of the YSCE. I was so concentrated on the wonderful vintage items that I didn’t recognize either of them! The sale was of their parents’ stuff as they had recently moved into assisted living. No wonder so many of the items pulled at my memory strings! This was stuff from my childhood as well as my school mate’s. This Girl Scout Calendar really brought back some memories.

I also picked up some sewing notions, buttons, and linens; all are some of my favorite things to find!

I think there is something beautiful about this well-worn tape measure wrapped neatly around an old wooden thread spool. I love it!

I also found quite a collection of the the linen tea towel calendars with Colonial Williamsburg scenes. I haven’t had a chance to take photos of them yet.

There were so many wonderful vintage items that I admired but left behind: Jadite dishes, a vintage TV tray, numerous small appliances, an old metal tiered shelf which advertised oil (and was where the oil cans would sit for sale), more sewing machine drawers, an old sewing machine cabinet, vintage hats and much more. It was so much fun to look over all these things and to come away with some treasures of my own in addition  to the many memories sparked on Milbourn Lane.

I hope you have a wonderful week of thrifting. May you find the treasures that make you smile.

If you have a chance, visit the parties at Knick of Time’s Knick of Time Tuesday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm, Today’s Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality, Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove, and The Penny Worthy Project at Hey, What’s for Dinner Mom?

Tammy