Hi, Here’s Some Old Stuff. Or Something.

Damn, I haven’t made a real post since July. I can’t make any promises that I’m ready to start updating on a regular basis again, but I wanted to show you guys the retro junk I’ve collected during my little hiatus. To be honest, there’s not very much of it– as I said several times before, the thrift store selection around here is so-so, and I generally don’t even try garage sales, because who the fuck wants to get up at 6 AM on a Saturday to go look at people’s unwanted trash can fodder? The chances of finding something awesome are very slim. (Though admittedly, I did find a couple things at some garage sales last week, but they’re not retro stuff so…)

I’ve been checking the Salvation Army store down the street quite regularly, and the fact that I’ve only bought maybe four little things from there either says something about the store or about my taste. To be fair, I’ve mostly been looking for retro furniture, and every single damn piece that I’ve wanted has disappeared before I could get back down there to buy it. Not exactly good for my morale.

Anyway! Enough moping. Anyone recognize this?

No? I didn’t at first either. I saw it on the shelf, thought it was cute but very unusual. See, it has this hole in the side of it:

I picked it up and saw a mark that told me it was made in 1956, so I decided to buy it even though I didn’t know what the hell it was supposed to be used for. It was only five dollars.

I figured that someone on the internet had to know what this is, so I searched around and was pretty surprised to find that it’s a dresser caddy– you put your wallet in the side hole, your change in the pouch, and your watch on the tail. That’s probably the last thing I would have thought of– I was thinking pencil holder, napkin holder, random-small-crap holder, maybe even a place to put cigarettes.

But I was even more surprised to find that this is just like the kangaroo Bruce Willis’ character used in Pulp Fiction to store his very important watch. I feel stupid for completely forgetting about it because I’ve seen that movie a dozen times. More info here if you’re interested.

It’s in great shape, and it’s not a reproduction. I’m excited to finally own a piece that could actually be worth something someday, and has some pop culture significance. So I doubt we’ll actually use it for its original purpose. I plan to take good care of it.

Alright, moving on. I found some character glasses a few months back! I’ve been looking for some for a while, so I was pretty happy to find these. I found a Ducktales one and a Muppets one.

That’s all for now.

Another Cool Find, and I Have a New Favorite Site.

I found a huuuuge antique store here in Norman today, and I spent quite a bit of time in there. As I’ve said before, I could easily spend hundreds of dollars in one of these places, but I’m trying not to totally break our bank account.

In one room, I found some prints that used to hang in my bedroom when I was little. I had forgotten all about them until today. Here’s a more complete set. The ones I found today were the blonde girl and the brunette in the white hat, but when I was little we also had the one of the baby with the pink blanket and the girl with the kitten.

Turns out that the artist’s name is Frances Hook, and these pieces and other similar ones were used in the print ads for Northern toilet paper back in the 60s or 70s (reports vary). They’re adorable. I’m considering buying that set from eBay, but I already spent twenty dollars on the two I found today…don’t know if the husband will agree to me spending more. Plus, I’d have to frame them and…blah. I think I’ll have to pass.

Anyway, when I was searching around for info on the prints, I found this place: Retro Renovation. It does a bang-up job of combining two of my interests: interior design/decorating and old stuff! I’ve already blown half my afternoon looking at stuff there. Pink bathrooms galore!

Nostalgiathon 2009 #1: Thrift Store Finds

I’ve mentioned before that here in Norman, finding cool 80s stuff is kind of difficult. Today, I went and hit a couple of thrift stores, not really expecting to find anything, but I did!

First, I went to the local Salvation Army store. Toys rarely turn up here; I don’t know if they even accept them anymore. They mostly have a lot of clothes, random knick-knacks and especially 1970s furniture, which is kind of neat in its own way, but it’s difficult to collect furniture. (However, I did buy my dinette set there!)

A while back, I did find something cool here, but I couldn’t buy it because I didn’t have 20 bucks at the time– a Betamax machine! It was huge and hefty, a real relic. I wanted it just for the novelty of owning one, but even if I’d had the 20 dollars, I doubt that I actually would have purchased it, since I have become something of a practical person. I only have so much space, and I only have one Beta tape anyway (which I also bought simply for the novelty factor). Still, it’s kind of sad that I couldn’t get it.

Anyway. After leaving there empty-handed, I decided to go hit another store on the other side of town: Outreach Thrift Store. I used to go there frequently to look for clothes, dishes, sheet sets, stuff like that, but I hadn’t gone there for quite some time. It’s a nice place and things are generally pretty clean and organized. Until today, I had never scored any old stuff there except for maybe a couple of children’s books.

I went through some clothes, didn’t really find anything that caught my eye, so I went over to the books, and didn’t see anything there either. Then I spied a big pile of plushies and stuffed animals. I didn’t expect to find anything, so I was only halfway looking at them. I found a cute stuffed rabbit, so I picked it up to look it over and in doing so, unearthed a treasure: ANOTHER VINTAGE CARE BEAR!

It’s Cheer Bear, which I also own a non-vintage version of. She’s in very nice shape and cost me two dollars– a teensy bit pricey for this sort of thing but definitely not unreasonable. I tucked her under my arm and went over to the little room near the back of the store where they keep the housewares.

I don’t really remember what I was looking for in here; I think I was just browsing for the sake of browsing and enjoying the air conditioning. Then it jumped out at me: a glass Garfield mug!

McDonald’s sold these in the 80s, and I found one a few years back, but the shop wanted too much money for it. I wasn’t going to pass up this sucker, because they were selling it for 29 fucking cents! 29 cents barely gets you anything of value anymore, but today, it got me a damned Garfield mug! I looked to see if there were any more; sadly, there were not. But still, what a great find!

I also bought an old blender. Yeah, I know, not my usual fare. It’s an Osterizer Galaxie, one of those things that used to be in everyone’s kitchen back in the 70s and 80s.

I needed a blender, and they said this one works fine, so I figured, what the hell?

After killing about an hour searching the web for info about these babies, I decided to try it out by tossing in some ice cubes and water. The results? Not bad for an appliance that’s probably older than I am. The thing certainly isn’t quiet, but it blends, and it even kinda smashed up the ice cubes. Plus, it has vintage charm, and best of all, it only cost me six dollars. I call it a win.

Blurb: In My Dreams…

Last night, I had a dream that I went garage sale-ing and I found some rare toys/promotional items from McDonald’s. They were Christmas-themed Garfield figurines and big plastic cookie jars (what?). I was like “FUCK YEAAAAH” so I was about to buy them but ran into two problems: I had forgotten my wallet, and the lady wanted like a zillion dollars for them.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am a LOSER.

I Got Mad Retro Lootz

So I went to my dad’s place the weekend before Christmas to visit my other sister that I hadn’t seen in several years. Since Dad’s a big junk hunter just like me, and there was nothing better to do, we all went and checked out some of the junk shops/antique stores in the small town where he lives. And boy, am I glad I did!

The first place we went didn’t have much that I was interested in, honestly. However, at the place across the street, I scored:

It’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms II for the NES! Actually, I didn’t buy this for myself. It’s for my husband, who is a huge fan of video games in general, and he likes old games, AND he’s a very loyal follower of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. So when I saw this for two dollars, I couldn’t resist. I’ve just done a quick eBay search, and this game typically goes for at least twenty bucks!

This place also had a couple of Barbies from the 80s, complete with triangular neon earrings and crimped hair, but I couldn’t decide which ones I wanted, and if something doesn’t make me say “HOLY SHIT” aloud and snatch it off the shelf, I typically don’t go for it. So Barbie will just have to wait.

Next, we went to the downtown area, which has certainly seen better days. There was an antique shop there, and the place was a damn goldmine. I could’ve easily spent a hundred dollars in there if I’d had it to spare. They had toys, they had pretty things, they had mugs and jewelry and art and lots of other great stuff. But, of course, I stuck to the 80s memorabilia, which they had plenty of.

I ran around like a kid in a candy store for a while before I finally decided to go with a Gloworm (which still works!), a vintage My Little Pony, and a Garfield mug. 😀

Among the things I wanted to get but couldn’t afford were various old character glasses. You know, the ones that places like McDonald’s and Burger King used to sell. They had Return of the Jedi, Great Muppet Caper, Care Bears, and a few other ones. They were marked at about three dollars a piece, which is pretty reasonable compared to what most eBayers are charging. I would have bought every single one of these if my funds weren’t so limited. So with a heavy heart, I left them all behind. If they’re still there the next time I’m in Sulphur, Oklahoma, I’m gonna go snag a couple.

A Vintage Stock store recently opened near me, so I went to check it out. They sell lots of cool junk, like old video games, action figures, DVDs, comic books, and VHS tapes. There were actually quite a few NES games that I wanted to pick up just for the hell of it, but again, none of them jumped out and said “HEY HEY BUY ME”, so I left them for now.

What I was really interested in was the huge collection of VHS tapes. I went over it with a fine-toothed comb, with a few specific titles in mind. I didn’t find any of the ones I was looking for, but I did find something that I was definitely not expecting to find!

It’s a VHS of the first two episodes of the Rainbow Brite cartoon! With the original clamshell case, even! Admittedly, the case is in poor shape, and it’s an ex-rental, which is usually risky, but I popped the tape in the VCR today and it plays like a charm. The picture’s not even particularly deteriorated like you’d expect from a 20-year-old tape.

The cartoon itself, of course, is pure unrealized potential. By that, I mean to say that it wasn’t all that great, but I had a good time with it and I’m ecstatic that I was able to add it to my collection.

I also picked up another tape: the first volume of a short early 90s anime called Detonator Orgun. My husband is really into mecha series, new and old alike, and even though he’s already seen this rather obscure offering, I thought it might amuse him to actually own this tape. If only they’d had the second volume, too!

A few months back, when we were getting ready to move, we took some stuff we didn’t need anymore down to the Goodwill. When we got there, I saw these guys in the window:

I don’t know why Garfield would dress in a football jersey or a fisherman’s outfit, but do you really think I, of all people, would pass these things up? Like hell I would! They’re now on my shelf with the rest of the plushies.

As much as I love this old stuff, I don’t think I’ll be buying any more for a while. Two reasons: number one being that I need to stop spending money, and number two being that I’m running out of places to put it!