Oh, the places I go

I can't tell you how many times people ask me where I buy my stuff. I always answer,

"Wherever I am....". I don't think this is exactly the answer they are looking for.

They want me to give up my sources. I will not tell you all of my secrets.

This post will take you to a few of the types of places we frequently shop.

We will start in Colorado.

Mr. Ella just did a search for architectural salvage and it brought us to the closed gates of a junk yard near Denver.

We found a phone number and an hour later the owner came and let us in.

He had some cool stuff. Pricey stuff. I think hoarders that don't want to let go of anything price it so high it won't sell.

Great looking radiators. I like the look, but not exactly in high demand.

Cute, but wouldn't fit in my carry on.

Maybe the American Pickers should visit here. This is definitely a guy thing.

One of my favorite places to go is Warrenton, Texas during Antique Week. It is very relaxing to me to wander around. The photo above shows a group of furniture that Rachel Ashwell had bought. If you notice behind it there are Bubba signs. Such a contrast. This is a good indication of the variety of what you run across and the time it takes to sift through it all.

They also have lots and lots to dig through. Baby wipes a must!

Now, there are also Estate Sales. You never know what you will find. This particular sale advertised that there were several out buildings full of antiques. Judge for yourself...

Not too bad.

Not too good...

This is another type of place we buy.

The organized junk dealer who is ready to deal.

Somewhere in the MidWest.

Then you have a not so organized junk dealer who thinks every piece is worth its weight in gold. This is somewhere in Texas.

Mr. Ella and I had fun roaming around to see what we could find. We were really glad it wasn't during the hot Texas Summer though.

This is all we found after about an hour digging and another 1/2 hour listening to the owner tell stories.

We make several stops during one "hunting" trip and our car usually looks like this! Now, if everything would just unload itself, clean itself up, repair itself and price itself it would make it all sooo much more fun...

Will we win?

Last weekend My Dear Hubby and I traveled up to Kansas for the Mid America Flea Market.

The above photo is one I took as we were leaving. The photo below is one I took when we first arrived. The sun is not up a 5:30 in the morning...

The dealers are not able to set up in the building until 5:30. They all started showing up and began to quietly unload. It was intriguing to watch. Shoppers (me) were walking around asking prices before the items even hit the floor.

My dealer friend from McKinney and her husband have been going to this market for years. Carolyn and Kent met us there and showed us the ropes.

It was fun watching the "building" of this sale.

See the dirt area?

I will tell you about that in a couple of photos.

Tables seemed to just appear out of no where. We constantly had to walk around to see what newly arriving dealers had to offer.

Rows appeared along with more and more shoppers.

At 8: 30ish an announcement over the speaker brought even more dealers to the arena (dirt) area. I quickly made my way over to see what else I couldn't possibly pass up. I found two columns just as they came off a trailer. I also found some metal bread trays. I asked the dealer how much they were and she told me the price. I decided I wanted a few and was picking through them when a man walked up and asked the dealer how much they were and she told him the price. He said " I will take them all." Of all the nerve. I looked up at him and said I was buying some... I must have had some look on my face, because he backed up and said he would take what was left then. I had a good mind to buy them all. That is what the little devil on one of my shoulders told me to do. Thankfully the angel on the other shoulder won out and I was nice.

The crowd kept growing.

I started stacking a small part of what I bought over by the door.

MDH started loading the Tahoe. Now ,you have to realize we had been buying for several days before this sale started. Caroline and Kent said they would share a trailer with us. We agreed, but had no idea that we wouldn't' be able to find one to rent when we needed it. This left us with the one option of entering the contest ~

"How much can YOU cram into a Chevy Tahoe..???."

I looked around and there was way more stuff on the ground than would ever fit. I voiced this opinion out loud to my MDH. He didn't say anything. I knew he had his doubts too or he would have done that man thing of, " Oh no, it will fit, I can do anything..."

I just started handing him whatever item he thought would work in each strategic move.

At this point one would call this full. But, no we still had more.

( Two of the bread trays I bought are at the back.) We couldn't leave this cool basket, cute child's chair or the neat stool behind, could we? Or this shabby shelf, plant holder and great cabinet? How on earth would they ever fit?

He did it!! He WON!!!

Now, what about our luggage? This was my view all the way home.... Stay tuned for more pics of everything unpacked.