United Estates of Madge: United Estates of Madge (Cleanin' Out the Warehouse)

Let me preface this blog by saying that I have missed this greatly!

For the past three weeks, Madge has busted her ass--countless hours, popping anti-anxiety pills like they were Tic-Tac's, 3 different interviews, 1 PowerPoint presentation, staying up until 4 AM working on said PowerPoint's notes, a handful of informational handouts...and now I have one final interview with the person I would compare to God, of our department.

The bad news, it's not until June 1st. Vacations, meetings, prior engagements, and Labor Day or Memorial Day (whatever holiday that is coming up--always get them confused) has postponed it for almost 3 weeks.

But on the bright, shiny side--I'm taking the next week off from worrying and stressing--and enjoying the lighter side of life! For instance, how lovely Magnolia's are when they bloom.

I have a large Magnolia tree right outside my front door.

Now the question is where do I begin?

Because I did take a quasi hiatus from blogging...I did not take a hiatus from my true addiction...Estate Sales.

The place...a large warehouse. The people involved...BCF and I. The sale...clearing out a warehouse of items left over from estate sales. We're "VIP's" aka one of us is on the mailing list of this companies, so we were notified of the sale a day early.

Imagine this...a warehouse...filled, almost every nook and cranny...with items from estate sales, and prices slashed like "Crazy Eddie" was around. It was a truly spectacular sight.

BCF next to a chandelier fit for a king.

Gorgeous China.

However, there were a few...WTF items...

Example A: Vase Gorilla Glued together on the "Super Clearance Table." Notice bottom left section of vase...remnants of Gorilla Glue. Ironically, we saw this poor vase's mate later in the warehouse...sans Gorilla Glue.

Example B: The "Poof! You now have boobs fairy." Also on super clearance table.

The WTF items were weighed out by the really awesome items. We came across this large box of very old papers...

Upon further investigation they were deeds and wills from 1873 from England. It was so interesting to see how everything was hand written.

The most intriguing find of the day was in an old ratty box. It just so happened to be near all the gloves, so BCF was digging through the box and came across it. We literary sat down for nearly an hour and went through every document in this box. It was like reading a book about someone's life!

I can only tell so much, because there will be an upcoming blog post on the amazing story of Hazel and Duddly Futch (and I cannot make those names up peeps). But this box contained love letters from Duddly to Hazel while he was in the Navy; it contained the petals from the roses on their wedding day...

And pictures and memorabilia post their wedding.

Hazel and Duddly led very interesting lives...as I'm sure you can tell.

I turned to BCF and told her that I was willing to pay $10 for this box, that's how strong of a connection I felt to it/their story. I ended up getting it for $5.

The last interesting lot of items we came across were pictures or lithographs, we still aren't sure, from Europe. There were many creepy angel and children scenes (which BCF purchased...they freaked me out), but they had quite a few of Saints and other Holy figures.

Intermixed with this lot were many random pictures of people...this by far was the best...

With all that being said, I made out with the following:

1. One glass lamp with a lovely lampshade (the lampshade had original price tag from an uppidy up boutique of $85--for the lampshade alone!)

2. The Hazel and Duddly Futch box.

3. An interesting plate made in Greece that goes with my new kitchen color scheme.

4. One of the photo/lithograph of the Virgin Mary.

She offers a calming affect while I'm brushing my teeth.

5. And last, but not least...this kooky patchwork painted kitty cat, who just happens to be our new garden mascot. My granny had this rock that one of my aunt's painted when I was younger (it was painted very similar to the Garden Kitty) and I always thought it was the neatest thing ever. I saw this cat, and immediately knew I must have it!