A Lincolnshire Family History

Meet the ancestors, this was the home of my Aunty May and Uncle Pete  up until the mid 1990s . they were are great part of my life when i was growing up .

 Uncle Pete was profoundly deaf and never switched his hearing aid on and was a tiny weedy bloke  . My Aunt May was a big strapping 6ft lady , who was a ganger on the land for a great many years . They married back in the 50s much to everyones amazement as it was expected that neither would marry but would stay on and look after there parents into their old age, it was the done thing for an only daughter and a youngest son . They were never blessed with children and accepted there lot , but they always had a hoard of nephews and nieces hanging around , mainly i think because they had land and we got to drive ancient tractors and farm machinery . Health and Safety would  have had a field day .

you know you want the door! 

My aunty kept a herd of milk goats and chickens for pin money . Getting to the outside loo with an evil smelly billy goat sitting on the roof and waiting for you was an experience. Plus there was the fact that my aunty could bake in ways i can never hope to compete with all ,done on a solid fuel range ..

outside loo and goat shelter 

These photos were taken the day they had to leave their home and move into sheltered housing , my Aunts joints were giving out after a lifetime of farm work and my Uncle had the early stages of dementia . It was a house very like my Grandmas that i grew up in , they even had the bath under a worktop in the kitchen just like she did . A single cold water tap and dodgy home done wiring complete with Bakelite fittings and an iron you screwed into the light socket . the following day the house was bulldozed for a new development at least the sale of the land provided them with good care till they passed away a couple of years ago .
They always seemed contented with their lot , they never bought new , replaced things only when they couldnt repair things anymore and just didnt aspire to what others thought important . Maybe thats the way were going again ?

Spot the bath?

Boot Sales & Yard Sales

Well 3 bootsales and a round the village yardsale and home for 10am , that must be a new record . I wish i had something dynamic to show you but all i found is yet more pillowcases for the fabric
and these .A Pikachu for my 20 year old son , yep thats right my big kid of a son .

 Plus i found this big golden privet Sylvac vase , I just loved the 70s browness of it . i think I have a Sylvac problem as fast as i get rid of a bit i find another to take its place , i sold my christening present green bunnie a couple of months ago he made a stunning £30 on a BIN . This big lump of vase cost a whole £3 and doesnt have much of a resale just because of the postage aspect . Maybe if i keep it 50 years like the rabbit it may have value . I will keep telling Mr Bah Humbug that as he keeps tutting at it ...lol
Now for the bad news yesterday i washed the gorgeous 70s nylon bedspread featured in my last post , only for it to develop UV itis  it faded in a large patch then split up to the quilted part on top grrrr does anyone have a use for the fabric before i chuck it into the rag bag ? the top is fine

Grimsby & Immingham

Thursday i went to Scnthorpe and managed to sneak out during lunch to potter around Ashby . I had begun to think i was the curse of the charity shops, not a thing did i find . im not sure if its because im being so picky or if its just because there is nothing in them ?

So when i managed to get finished for 11.00 , I figured i can raid Grimsby and Cleethorpes, so Freeman street it was , admittedly i did find a little something try not to laugh...I bought a durex mug , for those of you in foreign parts, theyre a condom company.  I can only find one other on the internet so into the shop it will go ...obviously its a rare and valuable item . 

But being me i forgot the sun was shining and the kids on holiday , so i managed to get as far as the homeless charity on Cleethorpes road , where i got 10 books for a whole £1 a couple for ebay and the rest as winter reading material for me .

 Huge traffic jams going down to Cleethorpes so i had to rethink and head to Immingham instead , that place rarely fails me , 3 charity shops and one purchase, ho hum , but its gorgeous a 70 retro nylon single bedspread , very orange i can remember these if you held them tight down and turned off the light you could slide down them and make loads of static sparks , it did take two of us . but it amused us for hours . it has a teeny tin hole where the idiot in the shop ripped the kimble tag off ..ggrrr  so i may do a tiny 2 stitch repair . Struggling with photographs today its somewhat breezy 

 For those of you who are local , Martin LN4 is having a village wide yard sale tommorow and sunday  , im at work of course!!

diary of the frustrated thrifter

Having spent a couple of hours yesterday thrifting my way through Boston and doing the big sighs over the few price tags i looked at , today had to be better didnt it ?
So I thought a plod around the outskirts of Lincoln was called for , only to find most of the Strut a local charity for disabled children , which was always worth a look due to the pricing, is no more . The furniture warehouse on Outer Circle Road is still alive and Relate appears to be moving into there empty unit on Moorlands , lets hope the Relate is a bit more reasonable than the one on the High Street .Moorlands Methodists have shut for the summer as well...Lincoln is now thrifting hell...lol
Tomorrow im in Scunthorpe for the day so hopefully i can sneak off and see what i can find, i havent been for months so we shall see.
While i remember... I did an online Sainsburys basics shop and my daughter managed to find a code for £20 off your first order , it was her first order not mine....lol  so worth a look if youve got other family members and you havent ordered online for a while . This was more to get my frozen food home without it turning to mush than anything . So with the money saved ive been going mad , its amazing what £20 will buy you at http://www.approvedfood.co.uk/ i had to bump it to £25 to get my 1p lucky box , I dread to think whats going to be in it ...lol
Heres todays huge thrift purchase a couple more Ladybird readers, the next two that the munchkin needs a whole £1 and a 10p fat quarter with dinky little Strawberries allover it

Sunday Thrift Starvation

This week has been grim, not a single ebay sale in  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/katiesrecycle. Not unexpected when theyre throwing hundreds of free 99p auction listings around . I do however seem to have dozens of watchers on items , all a bit strange unless theyre waiting for payday?.
In the real world it has been audit week at work , a ritual of such stunning nitpicking that my soul has been sapped to the hilt , ive just come home everyday and slumped in a chair and snored . It ended with a stunning event,, a visit from THE boss , more commonly known as the Lord High Executioner . I assumed it was to pension me off , id never met him in the flesh , though we bicker on the phone regularly . Sadly no he hadnt come to pension me off , hed come to tell me how wonderful i was???? believe me i,m not wonderful , im good at my job but im no company person..lol..
So I knew he was after something , wasnt he just . Would I consider coming back to work full time ? I havent answered that one . But i think its a no, we may be broke , but its the first time in years ive had any quality of life . Im very aware of the clock ticking , now we dont get to retire till were 67 , Mr Bah Humbug is 7 years younger than me , but it looks as if hes the one who has started to hit  health problems and i will end up as his carer . So theres things i want to do before that happens . Selfish i know, but im not into flash cars , holidays or any kind of conspicuous consumerism , my pleasures are small , i enjoy my ebay and trawling the universe for stuff to sell . Even if you have to sneak off from the boss to do it ...lol
This is my sole thrift shop trip of the week , 3 of these unusual cat cushion covers and a couple of Smarties Egg cups , all for the shop methinks . Tomorrow normal service will be resumed , half a days work and half a day of thrifting in Boston

Moan rant moan

Grumpy old bird day today, spent a weekend in a wet tent near Grantham doing scooter missus duty. Plus side finally managed to finish .Stephen Kings under the dome in one go, far better than its TV version.
Rural broadband is rubbish we're barely managing .3 meg at the moment , so no eBay uploads or picture today, how you're supposed to run a business from home ?  Get a dongle you say, err we don't. Have a phone signal strong enough...aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh.
Bid in loads of online auctions won nothing...lol.  So now I can go out and thrift with the money I didn't spend.
Sadly haven't time , burdened with time consuming rubbish work in the real world.
And as the final straw got stung by something in the garden , despite tons of anti histamine I now have grapes under my arm and fingers like sausages.
Tommorow is another day, where the thrift shops will be full of vintage loveliness for pennies. The family will do all the chores they're asked when they're asked and I will believe in fairies!!!!

How to Waste a £1

Yesterday i did a couple of thrift and charity shops and what did i get . I spent a whole pound in the Moorland Christians , i bought a shirt for my son , who actually got out of the car and walked round with me!! then i bought a wool cashmere dark blue overcoat , immaculate and a whole 60p that can languish till the cold weather . Then a glorious Per Una summer skirt all roses and fru fru , so not me and it didnt fit anyway , nice material , I will have to conquer the hideous problems i have with item specifics and clothing , not sure how .
Then i visited another christian shop and bought a 1965 peewee mini doll, a plastic viking, a heavy ornate pressed glass sundae dish , a little Aynsley cup and saucer that has a scuff on the green and the one thing worth having a brewery horse brass . What goes through my mind why do i buy this rubbish ?  i would have felt guilty coming out with just the horse brass thats why . I did only spend a £1

Car Boots Bah Humbug!!

Well i made the effort and got up on a dull and gloomy Sunday morning and toddled off with a car load of total junk to do a car boot sale in the next village , of course i forgot my phone and my camera so cant show you my vile wares .
What i hadnt realised is that the big airshow at RAF Waddington would mean that nobody could get there from Lincoln due to road closures ..doh
Theres was about 25 sellers and a few sporadic customers , i made a grand total of ...........wait for it £20 take away £5 for a pitch , thats a whole £15 to blow on wild living and fuel this week lol
But I did manage to get rid of the bulk of the household plastics i was burdened, with, mainly to some very nice Polish ladies and most of the 50p tractor stuff . I took a box to the charity shop and chucked a few bits I couldnt stand the sight of any more into the bin. Not a single pair of curtains did i sell , this is really odd as even on a dead day they usually go really well . So they will go again in a few weeks .
Meanwhile Mr Bah Humbug had decided to start another little fixing up job . Hes been questioning my daughter about the blog so i threatened to post his picture so everybody knows him....here he is

mr bah humbug 

and his constant companion 

July 4th Giveaway Result + Cows

Happy july the 4th if your in the States , heres my little bit of red white and blue

Meanwhile the winner of the medical book giveaway is......Suzy Cuthbert , please send me an address and its on its way

In the real world i seem to have bought a box of cow books at the last auction, i did plop a couple on ebay and one sold in a couple of hours , but i did put it on at the stunning sum of £7.50 . there was a few listed on amazon for £40 but do i want them stood around for months . thats the problem , i have to shift things quickly because i have no storage . I do get a few moans from people who also sell on ebay about my pricing , im not particularly cheap but i do turn a decent profit on the items i sell , usually around 4 times what i bought it for, on a good day 10x what i bought it for . I would sooner turn a profit at a level that allows dealers to buy from me than have an item moldering here for months just because i may get a higher price eventually. At the moment im tripping over boxes everywhere that are full of car boot stuff and it gives more vile weather for the weekend . But i have at last got to the end of washing all the fabric from the huge amount i bought at auction, most of it has washed really well apart from some lengths of silk taffetta that had perished and at least weve had a good drying week . theres an awful lot of curtains that can go to car boot they just need measuring and labeling so it may be a good job for a wet weekend

Crafty Auction

So i sneaked off to auction with my normal tiny budget again and im quite pleased with what i got . People really dont get craft related stuff at auctions so i managed to snatch a bargain or two. Rug Tools Anyone ? or rug wool , loads of lace , more wool , pinnies some just cut out and ready to sew , linen with transfers ready for embroidery . a pile of 70s advertising vinyl pinnies it just goes on and on . This should keep me busy listing for a few days and then some . But there is a couple of mystery items

how many rug tools can a girl use 

nobody wanted this because they thought the wool had been eaten by rats....its rug wool!

Mystery craft related items theres a pair both thick wool carpeting with a hanging hoop .any ideas?

ive only just started unpacking the car!!!

Rainy Sunday

I was up at 5am this morning topping up and pricing odds and ends for a car boot sale in the next village this morning . I should have been suspicious when the cat had his breakfast and promptly dragged his wet muddy ginger backside into the clean wash basket ...Please tell me why he does that?
Anyway you guessed it despite the BBC weather saying a chance of showers in the east , I start loading the car and it turns into drizzly murk time . Mr Bah Humbug helpfully points out it will clear up soon and its now after lunch hes snoring on the sofa and its still lashing it down.
So ive been listing on ebay  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/katiesrecycle take a look

8 metres of vintage nylon 

do you like the new pheasant  tablecloth 

do you like my horror dollies theyre attracting lots of watchers but not a single bidder , i had to list them at auction because i'd no idea of value .

does anyone bid on auctions these days?

Edwardian Medical Book Giveaway

I thought id give something away , a new volume to The Home of Redundant Volumes . A 1908 home medical book . with the current state of the UK NHS  we may need it . Its a great read , full of interesting medical facts and theres a cure for everything ! Poisons , TB , Mental Health problems . Theres Recipes , how to feed children . Hydrotherapy seems to be the new thing So enjoy

Giveaway is open to the world doesnt matter where you live though if its a long way away it will be sent by surface mail which is cheap but travels at a snails pace . Winner will be picked by the scientific method of munchkin and names in a pillowcase .  Giveaway closes on the 4th of July 2014  just leave a comment to enter and of course spread the word !!

Selling an Angel on Ebay

Sometimes it grates selling possessions you want to keep , but ive a garage bill to pay and Mr Bah Humbug has bust his windscreen which is partly covered by insurance but not all ..lol ..such is life
So I thought why not list an Angel in  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/katiesrecycle  
Ive had this one for 30 years and will be sad to see her go  . Religion isnt a huge seller in the UK , but calenders and  ones this size do sell.

Plus theres the Grimsby local interest aspect which is only 50 miles away , it  wont make my fortune but its still a  rare item . ive had to list it as a buyer collect because there isnt a courier born that would get it there in one piece . A little bit creased and has thousands of thunder flies behind the glass. If i removed it from the frame i could probably post this overseas.

But then again theres a few replacements waiting in the wings 

Auction Time!!!

Sometimes i buy crazy stuff at the auction , I skived work and went to a virtually deserted sale room with a very meagre budget yesterday . Saints help me if it had been pay day !!
There was tons of strange and wonderful items and i bought just two lots it would have been 32 if id had the money ..lol
One lot was perfectly normal tons of kitchen plastics and trays cool boxes ,tupperwear and dozens of boards of one sort and another it will keep mr Bah humbug in fishing bait containers forever, plus 2 big boxes of  good quality general household stuff will go to the church charity shop , a lot was brand new and still had the prices on . £4 the lot,boxes and boxes of it .
Now in the real world would you buy two hge box's of very smelly faded filthy curtains? accompanied by the biggest suitcase ive ever seen that you couldnt even open or lift ? I did

Look what i found , someones fabric stash from the 60s and 70s  never opened for years tagged and with the receipts and the garden looks like an indian bazaar, theres curtains and stacks of fabric lengths , a pile of amazing vintage nylon florals , tweeds suit lengths taffeta in a myriad colours . Now this cant possibly come into the house till its washed so it will have to drape around the garden until it does , my daughter has claimed a pile of greens to make her prom dress .

Vix , these are very you 

still unpacking 

 Now some i can see a purpose in, theres a pair of heavy dark blue velvet curtains beautifully faded in lines that scream ..lazy cow do yourself something goth in them . Some of the virulent orange and turquoise screams rag rugs to me . I think this could be a whole winters worth of projects if i let it ..lol

The little fabric shop in the garden 

When Special Needs Grow Up

Were a big mixture of a family between Mr Bah Humbug and Myself we have 5 children but its the youngest whos the problem , he lives with his mum who does the best she can with him . He has a chromosome abnormality that left him with cataracts at birth and as was later discovered, behavioral problems . Now in this country a child can be "statemented " for educational needs , sometimes its the parents need statementing more than the children and it does bring an awful lot of extra benefits money wise if not always care wise .
My stepson was diagnosed with Aspergers and high functioning autism at quite a young age , so received extra help and support throughout his school years , it didnt help him educationally because despite being exceptionally bright he failed everything , it did help his teachers and the other pupils. He can be exceptionally disruptive .
But then he went to college and now that he is 18 all his help has stopped . He is drowning and becoming increasingly depressed and frustrated . The friendships he makes are with people who use his gullibility against him . He understands that he is different to other people , but has no idea or ability to change . He appears quite normal its only in conversation over a period of time that you realise something isnt quite right . Hes like a ticking timebomb every phone call makes you flinch , at times i find him quite chilling .
In the last week he was sent to us after being caught yet again shoplifting , his dad thinks that a visit to the little prison camp in the fens and a week of breaking stones and chores will cure him . I know there isnt a cure and his law breaking will escalate and his so called friends will continue to use him . Its breaking his dads heart . Eventually something really bad will happen and the police will have to take notice the excuse that he doesnt understand wont wash forever .  ......

Ebay Sunday Car Boot Challenge

So I knicked all of Mr Bah Humbugs change this morning and toddled of to the little car boot in the next village while he enjoyed his fathers day lay in bed .
 So what did i find?  Laser discs !! do you remember these , they lastest about as long as Betamax back in the late 70s early 80s . My daughter was horrified that i paid a £1 each for them . When I got home Mr Bah Humbug saw the Peter Sellers one and had the same thought i did , that they would make great pictures . I also picked up the classic Stephen King Carrie and Chaplins dictator . Once upon a time they were big sellers on ebay , now a £1 is a fair price for these wonderful forgotton bits of retro

2 Proper JAJ and Phoenix pie dishes , so hard to get these days . I already have some,so into ebay they must go . Yet another quiche dish , lets see if this lasts more than 2 weeks ..lol
A couple of 25p tomato plants to sit in the porch and a courgette plant . Cat in the Hat for the munchkin , plus daughter has bought a mountain of KNex and Meccano for a couple of pounds .

Meanwhile in the world of  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/katiesrecycle  i had a strange thought while staring at the scrap man pile in the yard , now im quite used to going to Mr Bah Humbugs play area and asking to swipe bits of rusty rubbish for repurpose , but i bet theres loads of people who just cant lay there hands on rusty rubbish for repurpose , steampunk or altered art . So into the ebay shop I have put , some small packs of rusty rubbish to see if anyone will buy it . I can see a use for this stuff if it doesnt sell , so nothing lost nothing gained .

Norah Welling doll

So I won a single lot at the auction i was counting on to bring me tons of stock ....such is life , but im not daft enough to pay over the odds just because i need stock .

 Looking over the catalogue , it was an online crap picture they was just rammed in the box and i thought it was vintage baby clothes with a couple of dolls. It was  to far to go for the viewing , so not worth a huge risk . But once again it was a box of dolls , I dont collect dolls i just seem to keep finding them at the moment. Fortunately my daughter was at that end of the county today so was able to collect my box of
horror dolls .

The little lady id seen hiding in the box is a Norah Welling  fabric doll made from 1926 to 1959 and quite a small rare one, complete with her foot label . A stylised American Indian Maiden . I didnt know this i just thought she had a sweet little face...lol

As a bonus theres a cup of severed china heads that i thought would sell as a haloween repurpose project?
Theres a folk art black West Indian nut doll , my daughter says it looks like a voodoo doll , shes not in great condition but i think worth listing , theres even a very old wood headed Scottish doll with a missing arm .

Plus a walkie talkie Palitoy Big eyes doll , cabbage patch baby and a few unidentified probably off to car boot dolls . The only serious casualty is the black doll with badly broken legs who will probably stay , guess im starting a dollie rescue as well . so over the weekend i will be cleaning and listing dollies in http://stores.ebay.co.uk/katiesrecycle

Are Things Looking Up ?

Im skimping on blogging and ebay this week im a very busy lady . Between the munchkin , daughter climbing the walls with boredom , tripping over sons everywhere and feeding the 5000 on a budget of zilch .
Oh and i musnt forget knitting my nettle knickers for not being frugal enough...lol..   http://frugalinsuffolk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/cost-effective-self-sufficiency-or-self.html
Life is just over complicated and much overated at the moment ...i feel as if i should get a saffron robe and sit in a corner going OHMMMM.  The lousy weather still comprises of biblical floods and glorious sunshine excellent growing weather , but not very useful on the getting out and finding stock front . So ive been reduced to bidding online.  http://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auction-catalogues, if im lucky i may have stock tomorrow , if not ...well
Thats the negativity over with , on a plus note , daughter has got a  2 month temporary contract doing something for the council , shes not sure what, but it pays well for a newly graduated politics student . Shes pleased because all her other interviews have failed because of her lack of workplace experience . It means i get more munchkin duty , but i enjoy that anyway .
Heres a 50s doggy print , I saved from something , he always looks as though hes about to burst into tears , wouldnt you with a basket like that ?

Ebay Turbo Lister ..I Hate You

Grounded due to lack of fuel today ..lol  so i thought i would load a few bits into the ebay shop  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/katiesrecycle. its looking practically empty . Im trying to conquer my aversion to listing clothes as ive had a few good things in my fill a bag collections . But im finding it heavy going , I cant take good photos no matter how i try , the light quality is terrible today and it just keeps on raining so I cant play outside . grrr

Ive also started on filling a box with paperwork and ephemera to take to the car boot . Once upon a time you got good prices for sheet music , programmes , vintage guide books and a million other strange paperwork items , nothing is worth listing for 99p these days because you know thats likely what you will get for it , except for the odd bidding war . This is all stuff from the early days of the shop and i just want rid of it . So if it doesnt go at the car boot its going on to Freecycle as a job lot . Just found a pile of Home Farmer magazines ..WHY..im so glad i dont buy magazines and newspapers anymore , i dread to think what ive spent on them over the good years ..lol
Theres little point in giving to most charity shops these days as they throw more in the bin than goes on the shelf , they get £7 for a sack of rags so wheres the incentive to actually sort through what they are given , the rag man also takes books and shoes . There are good charity shops and bad but we all know the slick overpriced worst offenders on this score.

A big pile of knitting pattern that ive been throwing in a pile for ages , lots of 50s and 60s , so they should go well at carboot , might get a whole £1 for them.
Meanwhile having spent most of the day trying to list clothing , I find that Turbo Lister is refusing to let me upload anything of a clothing nature due to a problem with item specifics????
AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH

Thrifty Bits

This week there hasnt been an awful lot of thrifting , work and play have rather caught up with me , plus a simple lack of cash . Ive done an awful lot of work the last couple of weeks but it takes months sometimes to get paid. then theres the fact i have to find the fuel to do the work upfront..joy
But i popped in to the Christian cafe a few days ago and they were sending several large boxes of books to the ragman ,one of my friend is a volunteer there so he  let me have a root . after a coffee and a natter I pointed out a theory to him . They had had a 10p book sale to try and clear a lot of books , they had got rid of a few but it hadnt cleared the backlog . so why didnt he try giving them away for a donation?  So we sat and watched for a couple of hours and sure enough people would fill a bag and give him a couple of pounds for them , we made more money giving them away in boxes to root through than at 10p presenting them
nicely...

Thens this little cardboard singer box that i thought might have something useful in it . A whole pound it had a nearly full,  vintage box of machine needles all useable almost 100 , thimble, feet , kilt pin, bodkins , what appear to be black rubber somethings ?? a metal plate that is obviously to a sewing machine that doesnt say Simanco so may not be singer , but best of all a needle holder with screw for the one my daughter lost for her handcrank that she has had since she was 5