Why I Oughta...

We made a stop at the Potbelly's in Willowbrook right off of Route 83 for lunch recently and sat underneath this poster that you see below.  It advertises the DuPage County Centennial Flower Show in Hinsdale on June 9,10, 11.  At the bottom it reads: "Presented by the Home Gardeners of DuPage County".    It is in a lovely vintage frame. And, if you look even closer at the bottom, you'll see this copy that speaks to how the poster was created:  "Made by WPA Federal Art Project, Chicago, Illinois".  See below for a closeup of that section:  Pretty cool, right?  I mean...what could be better than a vintage poster that is both LOCAL and about something that I'm into (gardening).   A quick spin around the Web and it wasn't hard to figure out the provenance of this poster. The Library of Congress has a listing for it and even dates it: Jun 22 1939. I'm guessing that's the day it was added to the collection, so my hunch is that it was sent to DC

We drove by this beautiful electric organ in our neighborhood the other day.  It was out on the curb.  We were in the van.  So, we had the space. And it was a Sunday, so we had the time.  I'm also FRESH off of the Disney+ 'Get Back' series with the Beatles featuring Billy Preston playing on a Fender electric piano.  This electric organ seemed like something that deserved a home. But...before I could even get out of the car, Nat was seemingly using the ' Immediately, no' audio from TikTok .  In fact...you, dear blog reader, are in luck.  I happen to be running a dashboard camera that day -  so, here (below) is some video footage captured from our van.  That's Nat on the left and me on the right.  She's pretty clear regarding her opinion of the "FREE WORKS" organ on the curb, isn't she? I suppose this is a good time to remind myself of my own collecting mantra (courtesy of one of the Imagineering GOATs Joe Rohde):   It is enough to enjoy the exi

At the Elkhorn Flea Market up in Wisconsin, I came across this American Bricks Building Set of red and brown bricks.  They're Lego-like, but they made their appearance twenty years prior to Legos making an appearance in America.  This Google Arts & Culture page is really awesome .  It is from "The Strong National Museum of Play" in Rochester, New York.  Details from there : The Halsam toy company of Chicago offered the first sets of American Bricks construction sets made of wood in the 1940s. The interlocking stud and socket system that held the bricks together was similar to the blocks in LEGO sets that arrived in the United States in the 1960s. The American Brick pieces were grooved on the outer face to resemble the texture of bricks. I think that the vendor wanted $30 for a few bags of them, so they weren't cheap.  And because of the price, it was easy to invoke my collecting mantra and pass on them.  Say it with me: It is enough to enjoy the existen

Look at these two beauties that I came across at a garage sale down the block.  They have a little bit of dust/lint on the red background and have a little bit of dirt on them, but they're pretty great, right?  If I was one of the people who run an instagram handle that is vintage finds and wrote some cutesy story about how these would be so 'darling' for your little boy's room and would look 'so good' next to that vintage felt banner you hung this Spring.... I could flip these from 50 cents a piece to $25 for the pair, right?  A guy can dream.

Growing up, my Dad collected bottles.  Mostly soda bottles.  He kept them in various places including on top of the cabinets in our laundry room.  He even got into collecting cases.  There were plenty of Coke and Pepsi ones, but there were also a bunch of obscure ones.  Some from the 80's but mostly older than that.  When my parents moved out of my childhood home a few years ago , they had an Estate Sale.  And guess what?  A bunch of my Dad's treasures sold.  That included many of his bottles.  I think he kept a few on hand, but for the most part, he parted with a long-term collection. So, when I was at a garage sale on our block a few weeks back and I came across these bottles, I had to grab them.  I mean...look at the prices:  five cents a piece.  That's nuts, right?  I mean...even if they were junk, throwing them away cost only a dime. The 7-up one is from the 50's according to my Dad.  The Ting bottle is old, but has a zip code on it from the bottler.  Turns

That title is full of a bunch of jargon - when it comes to collecting action figures.  The "MOC" means "Mint on Card" and that's the way I'd describe this WWF Wrestling Superstar Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake.  But, why am I posting this?  Welp, it is because that Brutus, along with a more than dozen of his brethren are down in my basement.  All in boxes and still mint in their packaging/on their cards - unlike the set of wrestlers that I played with like this Nikoli Volkoff that I posted a few years back . There are stories about kids in the early 80's going hog wild on their Star Wars figures from Kenner.  I mean...there's even that documentary series on Netflix all about the toys.  But, I was born in 1978, so I was too young for the early Star Wars stuff.  But, I wasn't too young for the 80's-version of GI Joes.  And I loved them.  But, they aren't my 'toy touchstone' when it comes to my youth.  Nope.  It was thes

There I was:  sitting in my office one evening doing some work and mindlessly watching one of my favorite shows 'American Pickers' on the TV.  I looked up from my laptop and notice that Frank Fritz has picked up a Santa.  I know I've seen it before.  I pause and rewind and sure enough.....I *know* that Santa that Frank has in his hands! It is one that Nat picked up at an antique sale somewhere over the past few years.  He's now proudly displayed in the front entryway of our #newoldfarmhouse.  Check him out below.  He's awfully cute taking a nap in his big chair: This piece survived and is proudly displayed.  But....with our new house and fresh slate in terms of decorations, we've gone through some growing pains with our vintage Christmas collection.  Nat has, wisely, parsed some of 'finds' and has decided that we can't keep all of them ourselves.  Of all the pieces that she decided weren't a fit, some of them have been re-hous

I didn't want to get too far away - calendar-wise - from Halloween before I got around to posting the pics of this pretty awesome vintage McCoy Pottery pumpkin Halloween mug.  Or...at least that's what I thought it was when I came across it the first time.  I saw it, picked it up and immediately turned it over to reveal this mark:  McCoy LTD USA.  Hmmm....McCoy?  But...McCoy LTD? I went to my phone to find out if it was, indeed, the McCoy that we have some pieces of (and my oldest sister Linda collects).  A quick turn to the McCoy Collectors Society page, reveals this subpage all about McCoy Limited .  And if you scroll down, you'll see a pumpkin.  Not this one, but a pumpkin.  And a close read of the copy tells us that this, is, indeed the real deal : Halloween is a favorite holiday of many and is well represented by various sizes of Jack-O-Lantern items. Among these are cups, napkin holder, salt and pepper set, and different shapes, such as different size gh

At a Garage Sale down the street from us recently, I couldn't pass up this American Legion School Award medal that was in a $0.25 bin.  I mean...come on, right?  I grabbed it and scurried home to find out that it is a 1925 medal given to girls.  On the side you see above it reads:  For God and Country. How do I know it is from 1925?  From this piece where it shows both sides that match to the medal I now have in my possession.  1925 is the first year they gave away awards to girls , so this one is the inaugural version and is listed on eBay across ranges from $29.99 to $89.99.  To me?  It is priceless and will go into my stash box...or maybe even a gift to my Dad for him to treasure.

This is the third post this week showing off a 'new to us' little freebie/item from down at Walt Disney World that we picked up on a trip.   The first was a new Transportation Card from the Friendship boats around the Epcot Resort lake area .  The second was the 'Honorary Custodian' sticker that the King of the Ball Tossers was given.   Today it is this sweet Walt Disney World Monorail pilot wings sticker. As we were walking up the ramp to board the Monorail at the Epcot Center, one of the Cast Members/Monorail Pilots directed us towards an open section.  Then, she whipped out a set of these stickers.  We've never seen them before, so they're totally new to us.  And the kids loved them.  All three of them put the stickers on - right after I took this photo. In terms of ranking the 'coolest' factor of these freebies, I think these Monorail Pilot wings come in right behind the business card of the Honorable Christopher George Weaver, the Mayor o

Thanks to the out-going nature of one of the Friendship boat skippers, we're now the proud owners of a Friendship Boat-specific Transportation card.  This one is #15 of 27 total cards and we got it on the boat going from the Yacht Club to Disney's Hollywood Studios.   I posted other Transportation cards here on the blog before.   Here's a post showing a few other ones including the Monorail and Motor Launch versions .   Below is the back of the Friendship Boat card that features Merida.   This goes in the file with a few other of our Disney World 'free things' that we've amassed over the years.   This Friendship Boat Transportation card Star Wars Trials of the Temple Training Badge Official Tomorrowland Speedway Drivers License Happy Birthday Mickey pin from Mickey the Mouse's birthday The above-mentioned WDW Transportation Cards  including the Monorail and Motor Launch The Mayor of Mainstreet USA's business card

A few weeks back, I stopped at an Estate Sale in south Elmhurst and came across a house that was basically frozen in the 60's and 70's.  They had a lot of interesting furnishings and built-ins, but nothing seemed like a fit for us until I wandered into an upstairs bedroom and saw this lamp.  It is a tall, floorstanding lamp that has a wood (teak, maybe?) base that is made up of three 'prongs' with a bronze/gold rod running up the middle.  The shade, as you can see, has a butterfly scene on it, but it is totally replaceable and appeared to be a standard-size shade that you could easily buy today.  I really liked the base and how the legs give that Mid-Century/Danish/rocket-age look to it.  I also love how the teak blows through the top of the shade. This was a deal, I think based on this one listing I found that shows a pair of companion table lamps that were listed for $625 for the pair.  They'd be a great grouping put together, right? Here's a screensho

We've heard about 'transportation cards' at Walt Disney World, but up until this fall, we've never come across them.  They're supposed to be on buses and boats and such, but for the first time, a boat captain (who was in the military and stationed in Antartica!  yeah!  Antarctica!) decided to give the girls a set of cards that she had on hand.  They included the monorail one above and a few different boat ones like the 'motor launch' below. According to this post on wdwfanzone , it appears that they've had 4 series of cards, the most recent of which were released in 2015. On the back there's some character trivia and a bit of a FAQ on the vehicle. These will likely go into the lunchbox with some of the Babe's best pins along with her Jungle Cruise pilot license.

Back in 2011, I posted here on the blog about how the University of Illinois Athletic Department was rolling out a limited number (just 77 of them.  Get it?  Grange was #77??) mini replica statues of the famous (and massive) Red Grange statue that sits on the west side of Memorial Stadium . But they were $4800.  Wowsa.  Obviously, I passed. Fast forward to this fall and the Athletic Department announced that for Homecoming they were going to give away smaller replica statues to the first 5000 fans who entered Memorial Stadium for the game against the Minnesota Gophers.   We weren't heading to Homecoming, so I figured I would have to hop on Ebay to find one of these to sit on my desk.  Welp, the first few weeks after the giveaway, there were a few statues popping up on Ebay, but the auctions were driving the prices pretty high (at least for me!) and I just stayed on the sidelines.   But, I kept 'watching' auctions and I finally found one that looked like