Cheap and free equals fun!

Sat morning we went to Milton (about 10 miles away) to a multi-family yard sale we'd heard about from our neighbors Jim & Barb. We bought a beautiful wood end table (circa early 1960s) with harp-shaped legs and leather top for only $35. It was a little dusty and had a few scratches, so later that day I dusted it off and used some Old English scratch cover (which I already had) on the scratches, then gave the entire piece a light coat of Old English, buffed it up, and it came out gorgeous. You'd NEVER believe we got it at a yard sale for $35. It is next to the sofa in the living room now.

After the Milton yard sale we drove around looking for more yard sales. We were really hoping to find 2 men's bikes since the arrival of summer has heighten mine & Spouses desire to start bike riding. We did see several more yard sales, but none with bikes, so we didn't get out of the car. We have a patented "drive-by" yard sale technique which we often implement when we're looking for something specific.

It was a little overcast when we started yard saling, but by the time we were done the sun was out and it was about 75 degrees. So we drove into Rehoboth and went for a 2-mile walk on the boardwalk. There were lots of boardwalkers and even people on the beach in their swimsuits.

Then we decided to look for a 'cheap eats' restaurant we'd heard about called Whitecaps Cafe, which literally sits on the bank of the Indian River. The drive out Rt 24 was lovely and we found the place easily. Its not fancy at all, and very out-of-the-way, so that combined with the spectacular water views makes this a place I think we will escape to when we want to eat out in the heart of the summer season and all of the Rehoboth and Lewes restaurants are packed. We had a very inexpensive and tasty lunch: Joe had the fried fish basket with french fries and I had a fried oyster sandwich, each of which was under $7. Then walked out onto the pier. Lovely!

That afternoon I decided to finally tackle a project I meant to do several times in the last 6 years: prime and paint a set of two matching 2-tiered end tables that Joe picked up at a yard sale for $10. each about 6 years ago. One of them was a little banged up, the other was a lot banged up. We used them along with our 50s furniture in the basement of our VA house for a few years until we got a fab set of vintage 'blonde' tables to replace them. At that point, we used the end tables as night stands in the guest bedroom. They looked so ratty I told myself I should prime and paint them, but I never did. Then we brought them up to the beach house and put 1 in a guest bedroom and 1 in the bedroom Spouse & I used as nightstands. Again I told myself I should prime and paint them, but I never did. Then we moved them to our current house and put them in a guest bedroom. They still looked ratty so on Sat afternoon I told myself I would procrastinate no more. After all, I already had the primer, which we had bought and used on the Victrola stand, and I found some left-over white semi-gloss paint the builder had left behind, so my only expense to transform the ratty tables into chic night stands was a paint brush, which I bought at the dollar store. So I primed the tables on Sat afternoon and let them dry/cure overnight.

Sun after breakfast we did a whole-house cleaning, which is always lots of fun. (Insert heavy sarcasm here.) But with both of us working hard, we were done in a little over 2 hours. Then we showered, had a bite to eat, and I changed the bathroom towels and the bed sheets while Joe walked Jordan. Then we switched out our wicker love seats. The one the movers put in our bedroom is part of a set. The two matching chairs were placed on the screened porch. The love seat the movers placed on the porch with the chairs is the one that should have gone up to our bedroom, so we switched them so that the 3 matching pieces were back together again.

Then we drove into Rehoboth and went for a walk on the boardwalk again. It was 82 degrees and there were TONS of people at the beach. When we came back home I painted the top coat on the 2 night stands and talked with our neighbor Barb. Spouse & I had dinner and watched TV the rest of the night.

Today I did a little touch-up on the night stands before returning them to the bedroom. They look great! I was really impressed that we got a beautiful wood end table for our living room for $35. and I transformed those 2 old yard sale end tables by painting them white for $0. Cheap and free equals fun!

Drag Queen name of the day: Vera Cruise