The Dish Graveyard

Yesterday my mother-in-law asked me to take her to some thrift stores around town and to the "dish graveyard," our name for a permanent yard sale/trash heap that is about 30 minutes south of where she lives. My husband and I have driven past the place a hundred times and never stopped. We've pointed it out, made fun of it, and talked about how we can't believe its still there, but never once considered stopping. I wasn't looking forward to going at all, but she wanted to get some chairs and a cedar chest she had seen there previously that wouldn't fit in her car. I wasn't expecting to find anything for myself at any of the thrift shops- I was just going because she asked me to (and I don't like letting people borrow our truck.) I figured while we were out, I would look for little figurines for next year's panoramic Easter eggs. I've looked at all of the retail stores and found NOTHING, so I wasn't expecting much. We went to four thrift stores in town and I got one 1/2" tall figurine of a watering can that looked like it came off of the top of a bottle or something. The cashier couldn't figure out what it was, so I got it for free. I also picked up a couple of 50 cent baskets, a pair of kids shoes, an organizer/carrying case for spools of thread, and some tissue paper for gift wrapping or pinata making. My mother-in-law got some toys for my son's upcoming birthday. Not overly eventful. Then we went to the dish graveyard, where I planned to do a lot of "I can't believe you're considering purchasing that" eye-rolling.  It started out about as I had planned. The cedar chest that she had found before was gone, and the chairs that she had wanted were creaky and stained and she decided she didn't want them after all. So we started looking through the tables of dishes, old Christmas ornaments, broken figurines, McDonald's toys, etc. I think we were there for about 3 hours, and amazingly, I loved every minute of it. I got a lot of adorable figurines, and couple of pots and baskets. Many of the figurines will be set aside for panoramic eggs, but I did get a bunch that were to large or for different holidays too. Of course, they all needed a good scrubbing with baking soda and bleach, but I only spent $7, and I'm not afraid of dirt. This is about half of what I got after it had been cleaned up. The other half has been scrubbed and is currently soaking in a bleach solution.

Anyway, one of the things I like most about looking at piles and piles of trash (and by trash I mean dirty, old, possibly broken, practically free crap that might be able to be cleaned up and re-purposed into something that no longer resembles anything that would be described as trash) is that it makes me start looking at things differently and thinking about making stuff. Unfortunately, nothing incredibly creative has come from our adventure yet, but it did get me in a crafting mood... and I had bought all those baskets.

Continue...