It’s Table Topic Tuesday, peeps.
Survey says:
I always like to find a secondhand, love-worn book. I especially geek out over a hardback with a slippery, crinkly dust jacket. My favorites are marked with double or triple inscriptions. Like this one.
A dear professor gave this beautiful old book to us as a wedding present. It was first gifted in 1979. I’d love to know where this story lived between ’79 and ’03. So, books that are old enough to smell? Check.
I’d also like to find a typewriter. A pink one, maybe? And I don’t want a shelf-sitter. I’d like one that actually works–one with cheerful-clicking keys and a “ding” that sings.
But the best yard sale would have old, limited edition Disney pins. Of course.
(I’m in the market for an Esmeralda pin if anyone has a hot tip.)
I asked my friends to play, too.
Lindsay is a girl after my own heart:
Yard sales are one of my favorite weekend adventures. But I don’t go looking for them. They’re much more special when I happen to run into one while strolling the neighborhood. The best thing I’ve ever found at a yard sale — my ten year old self will tell you — was a stuffed dog, colored purple and pink pastels. I thought I’d hit the stuffed animal jackpot. I’m not sure what happened to that dog over the years, but I hope he’s making {yes HE — never mind his feminine coloring} another little girl just as happy. Now that I’ve grown out of my stuffed animal collecting days, I get really excited when I find signed books at yard sales. First editions signed by the pen-masters themselves. Against a book full of Times New Roman, I love seeing what their signature really looks like. All caps? Swirly or straight Js and Ys? Cursive? Totally illegible? How does this author’s grocery list look on the weekends? Is this how he signs a check? I like to know these things. I think handwriting tells a lot about a person.
Lynda weighed in, too.
I’ve been an HGTV and DIY watcher for at least the past decade, if not longer. I love to see the before’s and after’s of various home renovations or room redecorations. I could spend hours watching these seemingly – although more likely misleadingly – easy transformations. New living room in 30 minutes? Sure. Brand new home purchase in under 10? Of course. I think it’s because I love the idea that perhaps I could be this DIY’er myself, and maybe I have some hidden talent like faux finishing or decoupage. It’s this secret daydream that one day will come to fruition…or at least I like to think so. What does this have to do with yard sale finds you ask? Well, I suppose if I accompanied my grandmother on one of her yard sale adventures, I’m sure I’d be scoping out some diamond in the rough something-or-other that I could turn into something amazing…something I could proudly display. I’d have house parties or get togethers and guests would comment on it and gush over how beautiful or exquisite it is. I would give a little chuckle and regale them with every detail – from the fact I paid less than $5 for it to how I transformed this little gem that otherwise would’ve gone in the trash into something everyone would love to showcase in their own home. But alas, it’s all mine. Go find your own. So while I may not have anything specific in mind, that truly is what I would love to find at a yard sale – a possibility. I guess I should start looking…
Okay. You’re up. What’s your favorite yard-sale find?
my ft.notes 