Meghan and I had gone back and forth a bit about whether we’d try and hit sales last weekend. There wasn’t much listed, but when we found out that local restaurant Mae’s was closing down and having a sale, we thought we’d have to check it out. Neither of us were in the market for cow-themed kitsch, but we figured there might be other good stuff and at the very least it would be blog-worthy. It didn’t start until 10 a.m., so I put together a sparse list of other sales and we headed out around 9.

On the way to our first sale Meghan wistfully recalled a sale we’d hit years ago (well before starting this blog in 2007) where she’d purchased some incredible jewelry for dirt cheap. Different place, but same block. This time the street was covered with cherry blossoms. It looked like a pink snowstorm had hit it.

It definitely added a picturesque element to the sale.

Each of us picked up a book or two and I bought little ceramic animal figurines and a cool pitcher. Meghan had to wait for me to finish taking some art shots of the street.

Next we headed to sale that was scarily close to last week’s perma-estate-sale, but was at a different address. However, it wasn’t happening. We knew we were at the right address because we saw Furniture Guy standing outside, forlornly scratching his head. I considered rolling down the window and screaming that we were off to buy ALL THE FURNITURE, but my better judgement won out.

We headed off to a moving sale.

When we walked up the stairs and opened the front door, we found ourselves face to face with this.

Why? I mean … why? We were mystified (but very entertained).

The sale was in the living room and Meghan picked up some really great books. I poked around a bit but didn’t find anything.

We had a little time to kill before heading to Mae’s, so when we spotted a sign for a sale nearby we went over to it. Once we were there I realized it was a sale that I had purposely left off my list because it seemed to focus on hot wheels and toys. Doh! We left quick and went over to Mae’s.

We still had about ten minutes so we passed the time taking pictures and laughing at the sign. 100s – no, 1000s of items!

We had no doubt this was true, judging from just what we could see in the windows.

While waiting, Meghan also showed me a picture she’d taken of Mae’s proprietor in her Halloween costume — aside from the restaurant, she is the hilarious host of a Senior Center bingo night that we hit on a regular basis. Can you tell what her costume is?

Well, of course — she’s a one night stand. How awesome is that?

The doors opened and we started to look around. Things were spread over all the tables in all the rooms.

There was a little of this, a little of that …

… and a LOT of salt and pepper shakers.

There were also dogs playing poker.

And more dogs playing poker.

And some dogs playing pool.

Not to mention a bunch of poodles.

It took us a while to get through some of the rooms. This one with the giant mouth had a ton of stuff in it.

And then we got to the cow room.

Everything in there was cows. Even the mural across one whole wall.

I’m pleased to report that we left all the cows behind.

I did, however, succumb to the lure of a $2 Last paint-by-number Last Supper and a plastic two-headed dragon. Meghan purchased what she refers to as a “glasses dog” — a ceramic doggie head to rest your glasses on! (Definitely one of the most genius inventions of all time.)

And then we had one more stop: an estate sale. It had already been going for a day, but what the hell — beggars can’t be choosers when hitting sales in April.

Light-up Christmas decorations greeted us as we walked in.

This sale had been described as “girly” and they even offered a discount if you came wearing a tiara. Neither Meghan nor I took them up on this.

It looked like the woman had been a flight attendant and possibly also had a pilot husband — not sure, but there were a lot of airplane-related items around.

There were also a lot of purses, clothes, and beauty products.

And a whole mess of beanie babies … this was just a fraction.

We also found E.T.!

I am glad that Meghan had the presence of mind to take a picture of this amazing portrait — the woman of the house?

The more I look at it the more I love it. Especially those hands. (Hand?) I think it’s probably one of those pictures where the eyes follow you around the room. It wasn’t the only oddball painting around. Some of them seemed to have a political bent. This one was titled “Dr. Obama.”

I kept thinking maybe I’d find something, but most of the stuff was either not my style or just baffling.

Finally I did find something that was baffling in a way that made me want to spend fifty cents and take it home.

Meghan picked up a couple of wooden tokens that appeared to be whorehouse souvenirs, a cookbook, and a few other things. And that was it for our day!