Treasure Hunting

I went treasure hunting last week. Just me, 2 little boys, a stroller with a baby girl in it, and a bag full of crackers. It reminded me of when I went to India. Greta of the blond hair, the blue eyes, the pale skin. Everyone else of the brown hair, browner eyes and not so pale skin.

Let's just say I stood out.

The line to get into the house was 60 people deep. 60 people!!! I had to ask myself, "am I insane?" When I finally made it to the front door, the lady running the sale informed me, "we don't have room for a stroller. If you want to leave it outside, you can come in."

I really wanted to come back with some cutting remark, but I thought I'd be a good example to my children instead. So I hefted Lils onto my hip, told the boys to look with their eyes and not their hands, and in we went. Oh yeah, and how was I supposed to hold any treasures that might be found with my arms full of baby girl?

I made do.

It helped to find small things. Like those sweet little girls up there. They are actually salt and pepper shakers, but I have them out in the living room. Cause they are just that cute.

And these buttons? They came in that great jar, and I think they were a pretty good find. Lots of people saw them in my hands and said something like, "oh! You found the buttons."

Apparently buttons are a hot commodity.

Of course, my favorites were the books. They were languishing away in the garage. Which, I might add, was so stuffed with stuff, and people, I really couldn't dive in too deep. These books were laying right out on top of a table, bypassed by many who just didn't know what they were missing.

I hit the jackpot.

This one is my favorite.

Take a look.

It has everything in it you can imagine about the natural world. In these days of any fruit available at any time, it is nice to know where they all come from. Look at that diagram.

And given my love for birds, I fell hard for the bird pages.

James loved the pages about space. I love these vintage graphics.

This one discusses gravity and other such weighty matters.

James studied it at length.

This book is certainly a treasure found on our treasure hunt.

For a great while now, I have assumed the Friday morning estate sales were out for me. How could I possibly shop an estate sale with 1, 2 or 3 little kids in tow?

But there comes a time when a Mom must decide to do something, or do nothing. I decided to do something.

And it worked! People looked askance at me. I am sure they were wondering what in the world I was doing there. I am certain that I could have found more if I wasn't watching 3 kids. I could have dug through that garage. It's OK. At this stage, I am just glad I went.

And the kids were angels. The boys each picked a "treasure" of their own when I was done. The thing they wanted most, an old Tonka truck was $20 and out of our price range. It was a hard, but valuable lesson to learn. "Sometimes I can't get the things I want either. We can save our money and try again."

There was one last treasure to be found.

I can't wait to make tiny little bunt cakes and personal pot pies. Oh yum. All these baking goodies for $ 4. Perhaps that's not a steal, but I feel pretty good about it.

Oh, and to see the first thing we did with them, check out Lilly and the Brothers.

I can't wait until next Friday. There are more treasures to be found!