Antique find

My groceries total at Walmart came to $218. I removed a couple items and  the steaks came in lower as once they go off actual weight, it's not as high as they always estimate. We did stop at Target and got stocked up on toilet paper - 2 big cases came to $32 and that included using the $1.50 off coupons that were on them. But, after I got home I realized I forgot tomatoes, for DH's salads. They also gave me 4 loaves of bread, where I only ordered/charged for 3 loaves. Friday night for dinner, we just had turkey, ham, and provolone cheese sandwiches on big croissant rolls and salad.

Friday evening DH mentioned going on Saturday to the two antique stores (one is really big) in the next town to look around and see if we see a farmhouse hutch I like and in our budget, which is basically the $500 from selling the topsoil we still haven't spent. We are holding off right now on the chest freezer. So, far using the little freezer in the shop refrigerator is working out well enough. That would be fun to go look around the antique stores. We have not done that in quite a long time.

Then Saturday morning he says "I don't think I want to go to the antique stores.....driving there will get the car all dirty" (we had just been through the car wash when we picked up our groceries). I said "well that's no fun!". So, we ended up going, ha! We were going to go to the little antique store first, but as we turned to go down the road it's on we saw a sign over the sign for the antique store that said "closed for the season". We walked all through the big antique store and while they had quite a few hutches, they were all 1) too expensive and 2) not what I wanted. I want a farmhouse style hutch with no glass doors on top. And I don't want to spend $1300! The guy also had us look back in his "second" building of furniture that they still need to work on cleaning up etc., but nothing there either.

Late last night DH saw one like I want go on Craigslist or marketplace so he messaged right away, but hasn't heard back yet. It was in the city and only $100. I am hoping and praying on that one!

And of course we both saw several other things we liked and caught our eye. Small church pew benches (DH really wants one of these for our entryway), an antique adding machine (for my office), a vintage pool stick rack/holder (if we someday get a pool table in our bonus room), and antique old wall telephones. We have been wanting an antique wall phone for several years. They had several. There was another couple in the shop, while we were looking around, and we heard them offer the owner lady a lower price than the item was marked and she said yes, if it was cash or local check. DH and I are not "bargainers" but we looked at each other and decided to try it on the phone. DH offered $50 less and she said yes. Then when her hubby was bringing it over to the cash register he started to pull off the bottom box to show DH and he dropped that piece! It ended up cracking a bit. He said he could fix it, if we wanted to come back the next day or if DH wanted to glue it himself, he'd knock $20 off the price. DH said he would fix it himself (the guy said just glue and clamp it down until glue dries), so we ended up saving $70 on it.

It's made of walnut and the guy said he hasn't seen many made from that wood, usually they are oak. It's super heavy, though there aren't any working parts left in it. DH put the bottom on, just to take the picture and then he took it out to the shop to glue and clamp. It "fixed" good and he put it back on this morning. This is on our kitchen wall, that door going into the laundry room.


We had a fun afternoon that is basically our Christmas present to ourselves, other than getting each other a few very small/inexpensive items.