Friday's Finds... #01

Today I got a rare opportunity to have the day to myself.  WOW!

While the hubs took the little man with him for the day, I had a whole entire day to do whatever I wanted.  WOO-HOO!

After volunteering for an hour at our middle school's book fair, I had a wonderfully indulgent hour sipping a Turtle Mocha Latte and chatting with two of my favorite people and fellow wrestling moms.  Can you believe I've never done that before?  Clearly I need to get out more often!

Well, what else does a mom that has freedom for the first time in who knows how long do?  S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!  Oh yeah!

What started as little stop off to grab a couple of cards from Hallmark, ended up being a full blown shopping spree - for me!  No football cleats or wrestling shoes or boys clothing or girls clothing or groceries!!!!!!!!!  YIPPEE!  I get so excited about the littlest things!  LOL

Here's my haul:

I found a fantastic chippy pitcher and bowl set at our local Hallmark that was an absolute must-have:

I see them making a new home for themselves on my soon to be painted (carefully!) pre-Civil War mantle.

Then, once I got to thinking about it (which is sometimes a bad thing in my case), I decide to drive to this really totally absolutely wonderful shop that I love but never hardly ever get to.  Taking a three year old in there would be akin to taking a bull into a china shop, so I get there maybe once a year.  And for this year, today was that day!  If you live anywhere in eastern Iowa, you should definitely make the drive to "Country Collections" in Dumont.  She has a fantastic collection of vintage and new items that are out of this world.  I could spend HOURS in there - which, I did today.

Here's some pics for my new weekly blog post:  Friday's Finds.  Considering I just conceived this idea about two seconds before I started this blog post, it's a pretty sweet idea.  Look for it each Friday!  What a great reason to buy myself a little something each week!  But don't always expect a haul like I got today!  ;)

These sweet little picture frames are going to get some spray paint, but for $1.00 each, who could resist?  The little box was $2.00 and the milk glass vase, $3.00.

Luh-ove the vintage wooden blocks!  I sat down indian style in the middle of the floor and sorted through her basket of blocks to find green ones that spelled our last name.  And the little miniature subway sign - LOVE!  LOVE!  LOVE!  The glass bottle, vintage books, and iron stars were must haves for the vision I have for our office space.  And the little iron votive candle holder was just because it was cute.

But I was a wee bit upset when I unwrapped the glass bottle and found this:

Hopefully, I can glue it back.

And for $1.50, I'm sure I can use these old horseshoes and this vintage matchbox somewhere...

I came across sheets of metal like this laying up against the side of the building.  $15.00 was a little steep, but I've got an idea for it...

And the piece de resistance:

   And old potato bin.  LUH-OVE!!!!

Check out the handle...

NEAT!

I found these pillows marked 50% off...

  $14.00 for the both of them.  

And this white one is so soft!  A perfect accent for our bed...

While I absolutely adore the crochet on this burlap feather pillow.  That's just a shadow on the bottom, its in mint condition.

These little letters that spell out WELCOME will be perfect on our mantle...

Speaking of the mantle, here it is...

The hubs says I can't paint it white because it has its original flaking and peeling paint on it, which gives it character.  Yeah...  Because its more than likely lead paint!  I want to seal it and then paint it.  What do you think????

Well, I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.  This has got to be the fastest post I've ever done.  Please excuse any typos!  We're off for more Friday night lights to cheer on our Go-Hawks!

Hope you'll tune in for next week's Friday's Finds!  :)