Enjoy What You have, Then Get More!

Ha ha, ok so I AM enjoying what I have, but sometimes you want to add more. I do enjoy getting packages in the mail since there is little to nothing to be found in thrift stores and yard sales in my transitory area of southern CA where folks don’t live for generations and have a lot of vintage goodies. I envy you folks who live in areas where it’s still possible to find great stuff at a cheap price.

I finally snagged one of those 1956 Better Homes and Gardens interior design books I always see. Got this one for a decent price:







Then I threw a low bid on this starburst tray and surprise, won it:


And I was eyeballing this mid-century fish mobile until it went up to $36. Darn:




Mobiles are easy to make, so I can recreate this myself. I want to watch my pennies for a while since I have so much else to do inside the house. Like paint, floors, windows, plumbing, electrical, etc etc. Sigh.

And I let some of these auctions slip by:


Even though I’d love to add a little weed vase to my collection of Eames era studio pottery…

Uh oh, then I see an auction for these cast metal horses given away as prizes in small traveling carnivals in the 60’s and 70’s, and I used to go to one that had a horse racing game. I’d sit at #13, Man-O-War (my favorite horse) and learned how to work that one machine so I’d win every time. I won a lot of these cast metal horses and darn, sure would like to get these, but they are up to $20 already:


It’s not the cost of each item, but I like to get a few things if I am going to buy on eBay, and the small things add up if you are not careful with your high bids…

A quick check shows these metal horses are not rare, but wow, there are a lot of wonderful horse figurines and statues on eBay!