Maybe I Need Help

I admit it – I’ve been on a binge.

Sometimes I just can’t help myself.

This happens periodically, when I surmise that I need to replenish my inventory of certain things.   Perhaps it’s toppers, or Jewelbrites, or reindeer, or knee-huggers, or….whatever the thought du jour happens to be.

I let myself get sucked into the quicksand of trolling eBay; I have about 20 searches going all the time.  Sometimes I ignore the daily emails. Sometimes I say to myself, “Ok, I’ll just take one little peek – for five minutes – what can that hurt?”  And then it’s off I go down the rabbit hole never (seemingly) to return.

I’m kinda proud of myself at the moment though.  I’ve just weaned myself off my latest jag.

This involved not only eBay, mind you, but estate sales, auctions, and a trip to the DC Big Flea last month.  It was a fun ride while it lasted and I scored a bunch of treasures.

Wanna see what I got?

Corsages are what got me started.  My supply seemed to have shrunk to a terrible low.  This is a bunch that I won on eBay.  You know, I always thought they were terribly tacky. But once incorporated into a wreath they get a glamorous new life.

And then I started seeing all these marvelous looking lots of glass ornaments just begging for me to bid on them.  

Like these.

I do love me those Shiny Brite stencils.

And then there was this batch of fabulousness.  Glory me.

Oh, and these, too.  Be still my heart.

And then I saw a local online auction that had a bunch of jumbo ornaments that really made my heart go pitter patter.  I’ve told you how I cannot resist jumbo Polands, haven’t I?

Well, lucky me – I won them all.  Whoohoo!

Look at the size of this baby.

The box alone gives me chill bumps.

There was also this amazing bunch of fantastic stuff, including humongous German and Austrian indents.

See how huge they are?  I can’t wait to start making stuff with them all.

So then, my friend Chris and I made the trip up to Chantilly, VA for the DC  Big Flea.  It was a terrific show – huge – and I did find some treasures.  There was a lot of stuff that was way out of my price range.  I suppose if you are collecting bits and pieces for your own tree, you can afford to pay more for a couple of things.  But since I like to buy bunches all at once, I had to pass by plenty of stuff.

We like to shop antiques anyway so we had fun roaming the aisles, occasionally bumping into someone we knew.

This was a cool booth. I loved the way they had set it up.

I knew it was going to be a great day when I found this charming fellow, an old cardboard candy container, in the first row we meandered down.  I just could not leave him there.

This was a particularly fun booth.  Its nuttiness appealed to me immensely.

After a couple of hours, we took a lunch break.

It felt great to sit down but, oh my, it was quite possibly the worst lunch I have ever eaten.  Blech.

After lunch, we continued on our trek.  I found a gentleman who had a big bowl full of great glass ornaments. Luckily, we were able to come to an agreement and I purchased the whole lot.  He was an interesting character and I look forward to possibly seeing him again.  Once we made the circuit, we doubled back to give some things a second look.  I picked up a few more things, including some neat vintage Christmas tablecloths that I plan to take to Columbus for the Country Living Fair in September and a couple of other odds and ends.

I was pretty good.  I did not buy anything for myself except for one thing.  I needed it like I need a hole in my head but I justified it by telling myself that it was a birthday present to myself.  And I just could not resist it.

I bought a charming vintage hat, circa 1918.  It was just so me. Have I mentioned that I also have a hat problem?

Maybe I do need some help after all.

What do you think?