I'm an American Picker

This weekend I went to a Seven Seas Estate Sale in Clinton, TN with Joel and Kristin Friday night and to the most incredible rummage sale ever on Saturday at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.  I bought 3 items at the Seven Seas sale, which Joel believed I intended to resell but I did not.  I bought a board game from 1968 called Dynamite Shack where players wear super huge thumbs and try to pick up dynamite sticks and put it into this shack before the roof blows off.  It can be worth around $60 and mine has all the pieces but I didn't buy this one to sell.

The game still works perfectly and, needless to say, William LOVES it.  He loves any game and anything that scares/shocks you.  At the Seven Seas sale I also bought "The Girl Who Played with Fire" for a dollar and a UT troll to put on my desk at work along with my buddha, my desktop Dwight, and the Sunsphere. ($5 total at Seven Seas)  Overall, though, I was a little disappointed with the estate sale.

Saturday, however, I struck gold at the TVUUC rummage sale.  I went crazy.  I bought an oriental runner rug for $2,

I had honestly been looking for one and couldn't find one that I liked and they were all around $150 so $2 was doable.

I also bought a 1988 pink Barbie RV for $2, two early 1990s Easy Bake Ovens for $1.50 each, a working 8 track and record player for $5, a Schwinn Bantam girl's bike from the 1960s or 1970s with training wheels for $15, and a really awesome motorcycle toy for William for $2, and an awesome wooden kids table with two chairs for $5 for the set.  The total for my first trip was $34.

Then I took the Barbie RV, one of the easy bake ovens, the thing that is evading my mind right now directly to Nostalgia on the way home.  Then Ben asked why I didn't put the 8 track/record player out and I realized I had left it at the TVUUC after paying.  We went back and they still had it, thank God!

After dropping Ben and William home, I went back to the TVUUC at noon because they had 50% off from noon to 2pm and they had a huge box of wooden Thomas the Train trains and tracks and other stuff that was marked $50 (which would have been a deal) but I thought $25 would be more reasonable. It wasn't there when I returned but there were plenty of things I still wanted.  I bought soccer cleats for William for $0.25, really phallic looking iron andirons for $3.75, a framed and really cool New York poster for $1.50, a 12" bike to replace William's or resell for $5, a really cool pillow made from a wool oriental rug for $1.50, an old Radio Flyer ride on toy for $1, and a shredder for $0.50 (which I plugged in and tested with a couple of pieces of paper at the church- and we had honestly been thinking of getting one of these recently too). The total was $12.25 because I think they miscalculated by a dollar or so AND they threw in a free Tremont (GSMNP) coffee mug.  Then I went back to Nostalgia to put out the andirons, poster, pillow, 8 track/ record player, and the old Radio Flyer ride on toy and the Barbie RV had already sold for more than 10 times what I paid for it!

Today I sold the Schwinn Bike for $60 (I had listed it on Craigslist for $75).  I have also listed the kids table and chairs and the kids bike on Craigslist.

I'm pretty excited about the purchases but there were several other things I should have bought to resell including an antique Raleigh bike in great condition for $17.50 (likely worth $300+), two girls bikes with training wheels for $2.50 each, two high quality jogging strollers, a pack and play, a very nice huge custom high (thick) pile rug, 5 or 6 car seats for $1-$2.50 each, a huge custom abstract original oil painting, and possibly a nice pre-lit Christmas tree.