Exploding Pyrex

Have you received this email that's been going around about Pyrex? The one that's been going around for about three years and states that Pyrex "explodes" - EXPLODES! As I understand it this is the result of moving your Pyrex from the freezer to the oven, the extreme change of temperature has been known to result in some pretty scary stuff (I'll let you Swag the results rather than show pictures here, because frankly, they're disgusting and I like to think of Selling Vintage as pretty).


As we're currently witnessing we lose a lot more than quality when we export labor to only import goods that were already being made in the USA, but the concern here is with the loss of quality. According to my measly amount of research, literally an hour tops so if I got anything wrong correct me PLEASE, it isn't clear if the 1998 buyout of Pyrex by World Kitchen resulted in the export of labor to China, according to Wiki it is and according to Snopes.com it isn't. But what really matters is that vintage Pyrex is made of Borosilicate Glass and modern day Pyrex is made of Soda-Lime Glass, Soda-Lime Glass is apparently cheaper to produce and the result is quite the explosion.


Let's break it down, not only does buying vintage save our precious resources but it saves our asses as well. Vintage Pyrex is prettier than it's modern day counterpart, just check out all of the fantastic vintage Pyrex Patterns over at Pyrex Love. And it's cheaper! Tell me, why do we buy new when we can buy old?

One Grandma's Junk

Around two months ago my grandmother invited all the ladies to rummage through her junk before it made it's way to the good 'ole Goodwill. Barely a thing made it's way out of her house, and up until last week not a thing sat on a shelf waiting to become some other souls treasure. To my good fortune my grandmother is a procrastinator which made way for me to swoop in and collect her junk before she had mind enough to pack it up and hall it out.

All of her items now sit on a shelf at the Antique Mall.


A teak salad bowl set.


This thermos reminds me of the circus!


I think Grandma was quite partial to this since she kept going on and on about the fact that it will carry a cake AND a pie - which is frankly wonderful!


I love the the design element to this chopper, it's too bad one of the blades broke off.


Someone is selling this coffee pot on Ebay for around $20!


Of all the coffee dispenser's I've seen this one's pretty cute but not the ultimate, still, it beats the boring black and silver ones.


I've seen this coffee warmer around infrequently so I can't say it's rare but this one is definitely in better condition than most.


Dude... this is so cool! Can you imagine having to crush ice like this regularly?


A popcorn popper - need I say more?!


For a women who doesn't drink coffee my grandmother sure did have a lot of caffeine related items in her home.


This 70's beverage dispenser brews tea and is ready to go, perfect for a summer BBQ.

A Mint Condition

In the previous post I highlighted passes for last week, yes, I'm a bit behind on my posts and as you can see from the passes I was not busy last week therefore... I don't know, the dog ate my homework?

Under normal circumstances I would wait to post about a pass and I'd do it with many more, but I'm finding it difficult to wait on this one because I cannot get it out of my head. I really like this table, on the verge of mint condition it was way worth the $46 The Salvation Army wanted. I'm sure it will be gone when Friday rolls around and I make my way back to the OC but I'll check - should I buy it? Remember, I have to "try" to resell it.

OC Bound

Oh, tomorrow is such an exciting day. I love heading to the OC with my car packed full, I love filing all the toys into my booth, and I'm so excited to see if anything sold. Part of me suspects that I won't have a ticket to my name since all of my goodies were priced fairly high but I really really hope that suspicion is wrong. It'll be so thrilling to see which items went and what people will pay for these things. I mean, it is completely possible that I'm the only fool out there who would be willing to pay $80.00 for a fondue pot - it's possible.

Check back tomorrow to see what sold, or not.

Driving Vintage

Buying vintage is fun but finding vintage that you can't buy due to size constraints is not. Four months ago I was dying for a sports car, specifically the Audi TT, but the stars never aligned and I was stuck driving the wreck of a VW Golf that I'm driving today. This turned out to be a very good thing, I lost my job and would never have been able to afford that car and now I can buy a car that will actually be useful in transporting all kinds of goodies - can you imagine trying to move a baker's rack with an Audi TT, good luck.

Purgatory isn't such a bad place, the VW Golf has decent cargo space, it enabled me to take home that great little desk, but it is entirely not capable of hauling the table I am oh so obsessed with. The one I've already highlighted twice on this very blog and visited again today only to find out that it was not only half off the price tag but an additional 30% on top of that - and still I cannot pack it up and bring it home.

And so the hunt continues, not for vintage but for a car, a car capable of hauling vintage, that is fuel efficient, and stylish. Let me just say that the search for a car is not nearly as fun as scouring thrift stores for cute bric-brac, in fact it's quite nauseating. I have a budget, I have expectations and nothing seems to meet my expectations and so I keep looking, and looking. So far I've narrowed it down to a few roomy, and one not as roomy (hey, it's cute) and for what they are, they kind of like the environment too.

This could be my favorite of the four. It has good ratings and reviews, I think the only bad review was the ergonomics of the driver and passenger seat. Mitsubishi Outlander:



Next up we have the Saturn Vue, I really like the body style but reviews - comme ci comme ca:



I've owned a VW for almost six years, at first I loved it, and still I'll tell you the engine is quality but dang the rest of it just falls apart! With that said, I'm considering another, the Jetta wagon:



And finally the Subaru WRX wagon, so cute! I've always loved this car but it's proving to be quite difficult to find one in my price range, and honestly I wonder about the cargo space:



So there it is, four semi-affordable vehicles that will get me what I need and want. I'm actually quite excited to get a new car, it's the leg work that drives me nuts.

Finds from the week.

It's been a busy week scouring thrift stores and Craigslist, and more thrift stores - determined to find more than one go to. I'm ruling out the west side, though I will give it another go in the coming weeks, and I'm prepared to say that the Valley rocks, yes that is right, The Valley has a haven of thrift store finds. But enough talk it's time for some pictures of the goodies I picked up this week.

THRIFT STORE FINDS:


I actually picked up two of this cute little container last week at a thrift store in the OC. The thrift store turned out to be a real dud considering it's size but this find made it was worth sifting through the junk. One at home, the other at the station - $20.




A sturdy little suitcase, my guess is circa sometime in the 70's. I've yet to decide if I'll sell this or the pretty blue one below which was bought off Ivett when she moved to Spain.




I actually use this suitcase and the wear is beginning to show - it may be better at a home where it's only use is as decoration.




LOVE!




I may just hang on to these little beauties for a while but if I keep this up there won't be much for the already empty booth.




Walking around and around the UCLA Thrift Store with nothing much to look at I debated these surfboard coasters for a bit, it turns out I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Maybe I can make $15 or $20 off of them, we'll know soon enough.



YARD SALES:


Considering this was a yard sale find it was way overpriced, I was able to talk them down to $10, it's crystal, very pretty and came in the original Joseph Magnin black and white checkered box - cute!




The booth needs more clutter and this was practically free.




It's a nightlight!




I still can't decide, is there anything special about this wine rack?





MY OWN COLLECTION:



There are four of these pinkies, I love love love them but I'm running out of room since I decided to part with the table to make room for the dog crate. The question is whether to let them all go or only two with the preference leaning toward two - sad.

All of these goodies are going into the booth next week. It's going to be exciting to see if anything sold - yikes!

This weeks pass.

What to buy is never a sure bet, either the price tag makes me question the likely hood of a profit or I'm not 100% about the item all together, sometimes it's a question of both, and every now and then size really matters. Although I am working on some ideas about how to overcome the storage obstacle, I've yet to figure out the pricing obstacle, which I imagine will come in due time.

I've decided to post a weekly blog highlighting items I've passed on, but due to the fact that I only decided this yesterday this weeks blog is going to be a bit slim. I'll do my best to take pictures and remember the cost, but every now and then I'll probably slip up - it's what I do. And I would love to hear your thoughts - tell me, do you agree with my decision or are you in love, should I have jumped?

The first item here you saw highlighted on yesterday's blog, this is a white Formica (I think, I'm no expert) table that seats four with two additional leafs to seat six or eight, the number of pretty blue chairs it comes with. One chair had a big gauge in the middle, another had a small one on the side, and the third was taped with green duct tape where it was coming apart on the bottom near the seat. All of which could be covered with a little creativity. Asking price - $125.



Here we have a hanging wine rack - $10 at the Salvation Army.



Today when I was out and about I decided to skip on this cute little lamp shade that was going for $3 at the UCLA Thrift Store.



I also passed on a pair of 70's style sugar and flour containers, white with a brown floral pattern ($5), a rough piece of desk with great form that had seen better days ($10), and due to transportation and fear of breaking glass I had to let the sweet little vanity that I probably would've kept go ($150). But I did get this adorable scallop chair that fit it perfectly.



More to come on the things I actually did buy tomorrow.