Tuesday treasures

Today marks a special day in the Bowers' household. Today is our Texa-versary! We have lived in Texas for 8 years now, and I have grown to love it here. I still miss having family nearby; all of my family is on the west coast, and all of my husband's family leaves on the east coast! There are many things that scream "TEXAS!!" to me, and I love almost all of them! A few off the top of my head are BBQ, TexMex, (diet) Dr. Pepper,  bluebonnets, Rangers Baseball, swimming 8 months out of the year, and one of my all time favorite things: garage sales!

I am fully aware that there are garage sales in every state (or maybe most states...), but here in Texas is where I learned to embrace the treasure hunt that is "garaging". We've already talked about the fabulous thrift stores that are available in my area, but garage sales are a whole different ball game. They can be found almost year round, and as always some will be duds, some will be like a mini Walgreen's in someones garage, and some (the best ones) will be hosted by a sweet little old lady trying to make a buck off her house full of goods.

Those are where you find the treasures. Estate sales being the best of those. (Tangent. Estate sales are bittersweet. Something so heartbreaking about hunting through a house full of someone unknown persons things. Anyone else get those sad pangs when hunting estate sales? Just me? Ok, then.) Anywho, on any given weekend you can hop in the car, follow the neon signs, and start hunting.

I haven't been able to go in a long time, summer has been busy and hot, and it just hasn't been in the cards. There are few things more painful to a die hard thrifter than driving past a million garage sale signs and not being able to pull over! Ha! This weekend I put my foot down and said, we are going! So me and my oldest hit the road. Only to find that no one was having a sale! Murphy's law of course. After finding a few duds (you know what I'm talking about, very few items or mostly clothes) we stumbled upon an estate sale. Jackpot. We had a good time searching the house, commenting on the layout and rooms (one of our favorite things, my girl and I love different houses in all the different styles and shapes), and digging through piles of Christmas decorations to find the hidden gems.

We didn't find as many things this week as we have in the past, but each thing we found is special. (That's also a key in garaging, don't bring home more junk, or you'll just clutter up your house! I try to be very intentional in what I bring home.) Without further ado, this weeks finds.

A handful of wooden spools in some fantastic colors. {$2.50}

A huge jar chock full of brand new "everything" nails for my husband {$2.00} He loved it! And this was only one jar of maybe 50. Each filled with a different type of nail or screw that some man had carefully collected and organized.

 This last purchase just confirms that when you hunt you have to look everywhere! I was shuffling through a stack of frames propped in a closet and when I happened to look up I saw a plastic bin marked "hangers $1". My heart skipped a little because it was full of wooden hangers! I know these bad boys go for at least 5-6 bucks a piece and I can't justify spending that on a hanger. $1 is much more my price language! I ended up getting 12 of these clasp ones, and 2 regular wooden hangers for Keith's suits. I won't keep them all, but what a fun gift it will be to give a cute piece of art and a fun wooden hanger to hang it up. Best part? Easy to store!

These wooden hangers came in a variety of shapes and colors, all vintage and all wonderfully crafted. {$1 each!}

I've already put my favorite hanger to use. I loved the dark wood of this, and I can't wait to hang it up.

I can't wait for the next free Saturday when I can head out again! And when school starts up, I can be a true die hard and head out Friday mornings. I love garaging!