Mid-Century Monday

Friday night I went to a slumber party. Not one of those sex toy slumber parties where someone's mom that you've known since high school shows up and randomly orders a wall banger either. A real life slumber party. With blanket forts. More on that later.

What's pertinent for now is that I woke up after a raucous night of fort building, dirty bananas, and booty shaking at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday so that I could get home to brush my teeth before heading to an estate sale in Rosedale.

Estate sales, for the uninitiated, are serious business. They require you be there early, bring tools, and be prepared for heavy lifting as well as possible hand-to-hand combat. I never mess around, but it's generally worth it.

I immediately discovered a mid-century shelving unit/desk in the basement. I'd seen a picture of it in the online ad so I knew it would be there and I was prepared to spend between $100 and $150. It was priced at $40 so I immediately went into attack mode as though I might have to fight for this prize...but no one else seemed care. At all.

And so, after I took the entire thing apart (by myself), loaded it piece by piece into my car (by myself), drove it home (by myself), unloaded it (by myself), began assembling it (by myself), realized I am shit at math and it didn't fit on the intended wall (by myself), rearranged the whole office (with Kurt), and then finished assembling (also with Kurt)...my estate sale find was complete.

Also, because I am a good wife (read: I know better than to come home with an estate sale haul without a carrot for my man), I scooped up two tool compartmenty thingies pre-filled and organized with boy stuff. Aside from the nails I have no idea what any of it is. They were $10 each.

Other goodies included: 

A 1950s stay-open clothespin bag. I live here in the future so I don't have any use for this, but damn is it cool. I can just imagine some broad 60 years ago squealing in her back yard as she hung her knickers to dry because she didn't have to keep opening up that darn clothespin bag. What a simple, yet genius idea. According to the stamp on it, it was $.69 once upon a time. I paid $10. #inflation #butdontworryitcamewithclothespins?

A pewter bowl from 1966. I originally just liked it because the turquoise and orange diamonds on the front of it appealed to me. But upon closer inspection, I found that the bottom was stamped "Stieff Pewter" and "Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. Double Diamond Anniversary, 1816-1966." That's way cool. It was $2.

This whip. I know this is weird, but at a photoshoot last weekend I was shooting with a riding crop and remarked about how 'over' this riding crop I was and how I wished I had one of those long whips. Think and you shall receive apparently, because there it was at this estate sale for $4. The handle says "Shenandoah Nat'l Park, Virginia." Virginia IS for lovers I guess.

And now, because I promised, back to that slumber party.

Behold: the blanket fort.

And this.