This Week's Haul--Birthday $$ Edition

I haven't done a 'haul' post in ages...mainly because I've not had anything to post about!  There's a shortage of good stuff and a shortage of time.  More importantly, as I live in Nowheresville, there's a shortage of money as I can't buy a decent job here.  Have I mentioned I hate it here?  Yes?  Several times?  Of course I have!

Anyhooooo....this past week saw my birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and as I had the day off and one of my best friends recently lost his job and had nothing better to do and, like me, little money to spend we decided to do a yard sale/flea market day.  Here's some of my finds...would you believe I spent less than $40?

I was apparently on a bit of a hat spree this week and didn't realize it until I began to post these photos!  This first one is the only thing not bought on our yard sale day.  I bought this red velvet beauty at the shop where I work....

I'd recently revamped the booth it was in and, as I've been eying it for ages, I decided to hurry along and just buy the darn thing knowing full well that I need another hat like I need a hole in the head...although if you have a hole in the head, you'd need a loverly lid like this to cover it up.  I'm quite pleased with my purchase.  The only other red hat I have (I THINK...lord knows I have so many I can't even begin to remember all of them!) is a red feather covered cloche-esque monstrosity that is beautiful but hard to wear on a regular basis.  This will go well with my everyday wardrobe later in the fall and winter.

On to the flea finds!!
While out looking for yard sales, my friend mentioned that he had heard adverts for an estate sale in that area.  It so happened we were on a connecting road and soon found a sign pointing us in the direction of the sale.  We drove and drove and drove...until we found a sign pointing us back the OTHER way.  We assumed we must have missed the sign for the turn off in between the two signs.  We again drove and drove back the other way, pausing at every single side road.  No dice.  We never did find the darn thing, but I suggested we drive on to an indoor flea market that I'd never been to.  I'm sooooo glad I did!

I LOVE this hat.  That's all I can say really.  I LOVE this hat.  Look at those little velvet apples and pears!  Those fuzzy little berries and leaves!!  Those little satin bows!!  Could you just die??  I almost did when I saw the price tag of $9 on it!  Yippeeee!  The hat fairie loves me after all!

This velvety peachy pink beauty was next to it priced at an even smaller pittance.  As was this eggshell linen one with the pale pink velvet ribbon!  I need an AA for hat addiction!

While on our way to the big antique mall downtown, we ALMOST passed yet another place that I'd heard great things about but never visited!  I yelled, "Whip it in here!!", and I'm uber glad I did!
The basement (which is what everyone told me I'd love!...they were right!) is basically a big indoor flea market.  Tables upon tables, shelf upon shelf of stuff.  I could spend a week in there.

I found my two favourite finds of the week there.  Here's one of them....

 Meet my new dinner ware, Star Glow by Royal China.  I've wanted starburst china forever, but as most of you can attest, it's bloody expensive.  I find the occasional saucer from random sets here and there in various thrift stores, but rarely from the same sets and they're almost always in bad condition.  Add to that, the area I live in didn't really go in for all the 'atomic' stuff (which is quite ironic considering how close to 'Atomic City', aka Oak Ridge, I live!) and most people seem to have opted for traditional everything in the '50s and '60s.
But someone had the good taste to buy this stuff!!
Best is that it kind of matches the platter I bought a couple of months ago!
Check out the mark on the back with it's lovely mid century text work....

 

And the best part?  The whole box (30 pieces...10 dinner plates, 10 bread plates, and 10 mugs...all in PRISTINE condition!) only cost me a tenner.  Yup.  $10!  Crazy!

 This little kitty also asked to come home with me....

 I fell in love with its crazy eyes.  I mean, seriously.  The thing looks like it's trying to hypnotize you....or burn a hole in your brain.  And that acid green colour!  And the smudgy paint job!  Well, he just hopped right into my hand.  I couldn't leave him behind!

I found these two sweeties at the same indoor flea where I bought the hats.....

 There was just something about the little girl and the kitten (I think I may have had that same plaque hanging on my wall when I was little?).  And Lucille....oh, Lucille.  I can't even begin to describe to you why I picked up Lucille and brought her home, so I'll just let you see the AWESOME graphics therein....

Yup.  That's Lucille.  She works on a farm plowing fields but one day the farmer's wife decides to take her out and turn her into a lady.

She takes Lucille to the shops and dresses her up.....

Unfortunately, Lucille is NOT a lady and has trouble behaving like one...

So she sheds all her lady trappings and goes back to her old ways....

The moral of the story?  Sometimes it's better to be a workhorse than a lady?  Err, something like that....

When we finally got to the antique mall, I  was low on $$, but I still did well....

This vintage pattern was only 80 cents!

And these killer hairpins were only $1 per card!  I've been needing some new bobby pins and I HATE how all the newer ones have the little plastic tips.  These are, of course, plastic tip free and cheaper than what I would have paid for new ones!  SCORE!  And the pics of Mona Freeman make them that much more fab!!

Which brings me to the real score of the weekend. 

As any of you who follow will know, I LOVE Scottie Dogs and have been collecting Scottie 'stuff' since I was a wee little girl...not to mention, I've been the proud 'mummy' of two sweet Scotties, the late Nigel as well as my current housemate, Pip.  The one thing that always alluded me though, was a vintage stuffed Scottie.  Well search no more, Miss Doll!  Might I introduce..."Fala'....

 He's too cute...a little mangy, but too cute!  I'd estimate he's from the late '40s-mid '50s.  His little head turns and he's absolutely lovely.  When I saw him on the shelf of the downstairs flea market I mentioned, I literally RAN over to him.  I just knew he'd be at least $30 up...not that I wouldn't have paid it gladly!...but imagine my surprise when I read the tag: $10.  Wha wha WHAT???  For this bonnie wee laddie???

Pip loves him and thinks I brought him home a new playmate.....

Updates--Part III--The Living Room

Another quick blip to get you up to date on the living room!  When last we spoke about it, I'd showed you the 'Wilt Chamberlain' sofa and it's massive revamp.  Since then, I've rearranged the room completely, added a few pieces...most notably a fantastic Brasilia-esque rug!...and made some pillows for the back of the sofa.

 I finally found the perfect pillow fabric at Joann's.  I thought I'd never find something that didn't look, well, cheap.  This is a lovely poly crepe.  I still need to make one more, but for the moment, I'm using the 'Dodge City' souvenir pillow my grandparents brought back from their big 'Western Tour' of 1964.

Closeup of the carpet...Pip approved....

 

This was taken moments before he 'claimed' the rug as his own...if you know what I mean.  Don't worry, I didn't kill him.

I switched the two stereos, Deano and Danno.  Danno now acts as the tv stand.

I love this mirror!  I found it at a local thrifty for $15.  I didn't buy it the day I saw it and regretted.  I regretted it even more a couple of days later when my newly referbed living room suit was delivered and I realized that the pink on either side of this mirror was a match to the upholstery I'd chosen!  Of course, I rushed back with fingers crossed.....SCORE!  It was still there waiting for me!  Once again, I'll say how lucky I am to live in a place where no one gives two doodles about deco or mid century!  It makes the finds few and far between, but boy oh boy the prices are always right (most of them will pay YOU to just take it away!) and there's never much competition!

Updates--Part Deux--The Brady 'Kitschen' and Dining Room

Well the short post yesterday worked out well...aka, it didn't take me 3 hours to get my computer to cooperate.  So we'll try the same format once again, shall we?

I don't think I've posted any recent pics of the Kitschen and Dining Room.  Everything's a work in progress and even tiny changes make a HUGE difference, don'tcha know.

 To make more room in the dining room, I took the leaf out of the table and reduced the number of chairs around it to four.  I then used the two 'leftover' sweet Sculptra chairs at the breakfast bar.  I like this set up much better....and it saves me from having to recover the three stools which had been at the bar...I bloody well hated those things anyway!

 Some of my first paintings on the wall above the buffet/hutch and a sweet little aqua 'Jamaica' tea towel to cover up some of the scratches on the top of the Sculptra table until I can refinish it...poor little lamb wasn't respected and was abused before I adopted it.

The vintage barbecue pitcher I bought a couple of months ago looks sooo cute on the counter!  Needs some daisies or black eyed susans in it though!  And how cute are these little owl salt and pepper shakers?  Even though the laundry is the 'owl' room, I just couldn't let these poppits out of the kitschen!  They were my great-grandmother's and sat in her kitchen as long as I can remember...my dad assures me that they also were there as long as he can remember as well!  Their little orange waistcoats and jade jackets match the 'kitschen' perfectly!  They remind me of the old 'Owl Jolson' cartoon.....

The pantry sits in the space between the kitschen and the living room.  When they installed the laminate flooring, it made the floor so high that we couldn't get the pantry door back on!  So I have to keep the thing uber neat and tidy!

 I adore this spice chart!  It tells you which spices work best with what dish!  The date at the bottom is 1967.  Check out the psychedelic graphics!

 My birthday was a week ago.  NO.  I will not tell you how old I am.  But I WILL introduce you to our new housemate here at the Brady Ponderosa.....the sweet sago palm mom got me as a present!  Fits perfectly in the hairpin legged plant stand...which I think I'll be painting black soon.

 As I was taking these pics, I realized that I have never shown you the inside of the revamped mid-'60s Hotpoint fridge!  Well, here he is......

I soooo love the cooling panel in the back!  Looks so cool!  The shelves were quite rusted when I found them....in various places around the basement.  So I painted them aqua to match the butter panel in the door.  It's a slightly darker aqua than the rest of the door....

 Here's a closeup of the starburst and diamond pattern on the butter door.  I think it may be my favourite thing in my kitschen....

Stay tuned!  Living room tomorrow!!

Updates!--Part I--The Laundry Room

It's been ages and I've once again been neglectful, but I still put the majority of the blame on this horrid computer of mine.  It just gets worse and worse and I dread doing a post as it takes about 10 times as long as it should and there's script errors and lock ups galore.  So I'm going to do a few short posts instead of one long post and see how that works out!  Here goes...

I've finally got my upper Youngstowns up in the laundry/utility room!  Oh the storage space I now have!  I'm dyin' over here!

 As you can see, I've begun displaying some of my dollhouse collection on top of this set of cabinets...I thought the 'Woodseys' were especially fitting for the Owl/Mushroom/'70s theme of the room!  Did any of you have the Woodsey collection as a kid?
And yes, that's Holly Hobbie and her best friend too!

They were a family of squirrels that lived in tree trunks and logs and had their own books to go along with them.  They were too flipping cute!

 

 

I was amazed at how well the cabinets fit the space!  They're not in perfect condition, and I'm considering painting them.  Maybe white again...or maybe pink and yellow and orange...

 I've moved a few things and added a couple of things to the corner since I last posted this room.  There's still an open spot under the tree that I need to find the perfect piece of kitsch for.  I'll find something!

PIIIIIIIGS IN SPAAAAAAAAACE---1969

Not THOSE pigs!....

THESE pigs.....

The Lay's Pigs.  It seems that, in 1969, to tie in with the actual Lunar Landing, the Lay's company put out a few of these as a promotion.  How many were actually distributed, I don't know.  But I could only find one for sale and GEEEEEZ LEEEEWWWWWEEEEEZZZZZ at the asking price on that baby!

I got my little mitts on this one as a kid.  One of the local high schools always had a barbeque supper to support it's booster club.  My entry ticket won me this beauty at the tender age of about 8.  I knew it was old then...and that's what I loved about it!

It's a super cool game!  The instructions read as follows:

THE OBJECT OF THE GAME is to be the first player to make a Lunar Landing on the moon.  A Lay's Three Little Pigs Astronaut Team mans each spacecraft in the race to the moon.  Up to four craft may enter the race at one time.

TO BEGIN THE GAME
1.  Each player should choose his spacecraft.  [I was always red!]

 

2.  Shuffle the stack of 32 cards [would you  believe they're all still there??]
3.  Decide who shall play first by spinning the Space Dial.  The player who spins the highest number of "Move Forward" spaces plays first.

4.  The space race begins at the Blast Off area on the Lunar Landing Board.

 

TO PLAY
1.  A player spins the Space Dial and does whatever it instructs him to do.  This will be one of three things:
     a.  Move Forward a certain number of spaces OR
     b.  Move Back a certain number of spaces OR
     c.  Draw a Card
 (IMPORTANT:  From BLAST OFF through JETTISON STAGE 3, a player accepts only FORWARD spins because the space craft has to go fast to free itself from the pull of the Earth's gravity.  [see what they did there?  A little bit of rocket science thrown right atcha!]  The player is to ignore orders to MOVE BACK and number of spaces or to DRAW A CARD until JETTISON STAGE 3 is completed.)

2.Directions on a CARD are to be followed immediately, except in the case of a LAYSer BEAM CARD. ["LAYSer Beam!  Oh, the clever word play!!]  All CARDS should be placed face up in a separate stack after they are played.  

3.  Five of the CARDS are LAYSer BEAM CARDS.  A LAYSer BEAM CARD can be used at any time.  It allows a player to ignore any instruction that might delay his lunar landing.  However, a LAYSer BEAM CARD can be used only once.  The player should keep his LAYSer BEAM CARD by his place at the Lunar Landing Board until he wants to use it.  A used LAYSer BEAM CARD is placed face up on the used deck of CARDS.

4.  When all the CARDS have been drawn, reshuffle the stack, place face down by the Lunar Landing Board and continue playing.
5.  Players should follow the directions on the Lunar Landing Board as indicated.

 

6.  Once his spacecraft has gone into orbit around the moon, a player continues in orbit until he gets a spin that stops him right on MOON PATH, the only space that permits a landing. (For example, if he is 2 spaces away, and he spins a "Forward 3 Spaces," he must "fly by".)

7.  When his craft stops on MOON PATH, the player must stay there until he spins a "Forward 1 Space."  He ignores all other instructions on he has landed on MOON PATH.

8.  The first one to land on the moon is the winner.

 I can tell ya that this is one of those games that, while it seems simple enough, can eat into an entire summer afternoon!  It is a LOOOONG game to play!  But it's super fun and was always one of my favourites!

I leave you with The Muppets....and Luke Skywalker....

Ad of the Day--A Whitman's Sampler for Mother's Day, 1952

Mothers are like a Box of Chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get.

How Rockwell-ish is this ad????  Frankly, I've always hated Whitman's chocolates.  They're crap.  If I got my mother a Whitman's sampler for Mother's Day, she'd likely disown me.  We're more of a "See's" family, thanks.

My Sweet Embraceable Dakko-chan

A couple of weeks ago, I was flipping though an issue of Life Magazine from 1960 when I saw a semi-familiar face.  No, not her....

....although she's what caught my eye first!  I mean, how fab is that outfit?!  Truly?  But no, the face that caught my eye was the little cutey at her ankle.  To be fair, it was the skirt that sparked the recognition in me.  Didn't I used to have a toy that resembled that???

Yes.  YES!  I was sure of it!  It was a hand-me-down from my mother's own childhood.   And it did indeed latch on to your arm...or a lamp...or a bedpost....or anything really.  I eagerly read the story about the Dakko-chan.

It seems it was the 'fad of the year' in 1960.  Created that year by the Takara toy company (yep, the one who later created Transformers), these clingy little babies were all the rage in Japan and the popularity had spread to America.  Their name means 'embraceable' or 'embrace me' and that's just what they did!

Every 'with it' young girl wanted one, from Tokyo to New York...and even to Baileyton, Tennessee it would seem!

 

 

 

 

 

The toy went out of production in 1988 because of claims that it was racist....uh, yeah...ya think?!  I must admit though, as politically incorrect as the doll is, it's darn cute!  And who doesn't love a toy that grabs onto things?  Especially if it's your arm or leg?  Remember those weird monkey puppets with velcro hands and feet that everyone had in the '80s?

Anyway, the more I read about the Dakko-chan, the more I doubted that my memory was correct.  The toy I remembered was sort of a brownish gray.  And it was plush, not inflatable.  And, while I remembered it wearing a skirt, mine also wore a beret and didn't have a curl in the middle of it's forehead.  Perhaps I didn't have a Dakko-chan after all?  And just where on earth had that thing...whatever the hell it was...got to anyway???

My questions....well some of them....were answered just the other day!  I brought home several bins from my parents' house.  They were full of, well, my childhood basically.  About mid-way through the first bin, guess who's little eyes peered out and winked at me for the first time in years?.....

Yup.  My (well, my MOTHER'S really!) Dakko-chan!!  Isn't it the bee's?

I asked mom about his history and how she'd come by him.  She said that a boy had won the Dakko-chan for her at the fair when she was in her early teens....around 1960 or '61.  She said they were all the rage and were marketed as 'bedpost dolls' and that this little bit of sweetness hung on her bedpost until after high school.  She said it was originally an aqua colour...you can kind of see it in the joints at it's head and legs!  

I've searched all over and can't find any reference anywhere to a plush, blue version of the Dakko-chan.  His only marking is his teeny tiny 'Made in Japan' tag.  Surely this isn't the only one out there?  Any of you seen one of these little moppets?  Do you have any hand-me-down toys from your parents?