There's some junk in my trunk

Where have I been? Well, I've been out looking for junk. Yes, junk, collectibles, antiques, knick-knacks, whatever you want to call it. Why? Well, let me take you back a few weeks when my sister was visiting.
It was a beautiful day and we were strolling down the main street of this Midwestern town where I live. We wandered into an antique mall that I had never been in before due to the fact that I usually have two small children with me and they could no doubt dismantle the entire treasure trove in two minutes. Anyway, we hadn't been in there five minutes when I saw a "FOR RENT" sign. Without hesitation, I rented said booth!
My sister asked me what in the world was I going to put into an antique booth. I had no idea, but it sounded fun! In fact, this hobby has several pros: shopping is required, it only requires a short-term commitment, I don't have to actually work at the store and you make a little play money.
I am glad to report that my booth is full, and so is our garage, but let's not talk about that as it is sort of a sore subject with my husband. The booth is doing quite well though.
Most of my buys are found at garage sales and others at thrift stores. Yes, my car could accurately have one of those trashy "This car stops at garage sales" bumper stickers on it, but it does not and will not.
I have picked up so many great buys that is hard to remember them all, but I'll tell you about a few and then I will update you in coming weeks. Please curb your enthusiasm!
Today, I picked up a couple of paintings by an artist who is well-known in the art world, but obviously not to the older couple who sold each one to me for .50 cents! I came home and checked ebay and oh my there will be a huge profit margin!
A few weeks ago, I picked up some Fiesta wear for a quarter each. I almost had to knock another woman off of my arm when she heard the man tell me how much he was selling it for, but I prevailed and sold it for $40 the next day!
It's like my own little version of the Antique Roadshow!
Here's a chair that I picked up last weekend for $1. I put $2 of material and screws into it and sold it the next day for $25.



OK, so here's the last deal of the week that I will tell you about: I went to Goodwill to look at books, not knowing anything about buying antique books except that first editions are what you want. I found one for .49 cents and decided that even if it turned out to be worthless that I wouldn't have invested too much. I got home and looked it up, and it was worth something. Get this it's on ebay for: $200!

As I write this, my girls and I are halfway through our little vacation to see Nana and Grandaddy. We are having a great time, but I can't help but think about our impending trip back home.

Let me paint a picture of what's coming: I will be traveling by air alone with two little girls, two car seats that weigh as much as a small hippo, one stroller, three checked bags and two carry-on bags and there are no non-stop flights between here and there, so we will be changing flights.

I have four more months before I have to start buying the baby a ticket. However, no one on the plane would be happy if my wild baby did not have a seat. So, I spend the week before every flight praying to God that there will be an extra seat so I can strap her in and keep her from opening the emergency exit or pulling the toupee off of the man in front of us.

We've done this several times, so I consider myself a sort of veteran at this. On the flight here, my experience paid off and so I decided to make a top three list of rules for moms on a plane:


Rule #1: Do not make eye contact. Yes, eye contact is usually a good thing to maintain, but on flights this rule goes out the window. You move ahead take your car seat on like you know what you are doing, place it in the seat and buckle those children in. Yes, you have taken up three seats and only bought two, but it will save your sanity and keep you from using your stash of free alcoholic drink vouchers that Southwest keeps sending in the mail.

If there are extra seats on the plane, this is no problem, however, it so happened that on the way here, there were no extra seats. People were searching the aisles for seats and the attendant kept announcing that every seat was taken so squeeze in. Every time one of the attendants would walk by, I could see them eyeing my extra seat that held my adorable baby. Knowing that they were going to probably ask me to give it up, I decided to not make eye contact. The flight attendant and I played this game about three times until I finally won and someone had to wait until the next flight - I know it was a little selfish, but it was only an hour wait and had that person sat next to us, they would have wished they had been bumped.

Rule #2: Don't drink anything two hours before you get to the airport.
The bathroom lavatory isn't a great place to visit under any circumstance, but with two small children it is downright miserable. As you are trying squat to avoid all germs, all you can do is bark no touching orders that will hopefully keep your curious children from contracting every disease that must exist in that horrible space.

Rule #3: Dress you and your children in cute outfits and wear lip gloss.
I hate to say it, but people are nicer to you if you look good. And no one, I mean no one wants to sit near rag-tag children. And at this point, every little bit of niceness helps!

Hopes this helps if you are ever "that woman with those children" on a plane. And if you see "that woman and her children" please be kind, she's doing the best she can!