Welcome to my world!

My life's been crazy since my Daddy moved in with me immediately after my mother's death in October 2010. My one and only kiddo headed to college at Carolina at the end of August. So...I lived on my own, for the first time in my life, for a total of a blissful six weeks. Then, I started the parenting gig with my dad. He's a combination of a grouchy old man, a surly teenager and a temperamental toddler. Needless to say, I get very close to the brink of insanity sometimes. I get through life by finding the humor in difficult circumstances. And for some reason, I wind up in the weirdest situations. I couldn't make this stuff up. So I wind up having lots and lots crazy adventures which make great stories to share with my friends. Writing about my life is so therapeutic. My ramblings range from funny to sad to angry (full of cuss words) to sweet. While my focus is dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a parent to my Daddy, I have lots of random, totally unrelated posts. Whatever's on my mind. I love to make people laugh, and I'm happy to think my readers will get my strange sense of humor. And maybe, people who are in my situation will be encouraged. That's all I can hope for...

Monday, February 18, 2013

One man's trash...

...is another man's treasure.

I've been watching Antiques Roadshow lately.  That's a dangerous combination paired with my thrift shop addiction.  There's the most incredible thrift store about two miles from my house.  They do a huge volume, and the pricing is crazy.  They might have a box of tampons for $12.98, and a priceless Picasso for $1.50.  Ok, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but you get the idea.

So far, I haven't found any Picassos.  But yesterday, I decided to get a jump on the Presidents' Day half-price sale, so I went by.  And I found seven original oil paintings.  They didn't really appeal to me and I figured somebody's grandma had taken art classes at the senior center.  They were kinda primitive.  Landscapes, including four of brick houses.  They were relatively large - 16" x 20".  One was unsigned and the other six had large, very legible, bright red signatures bearing the name "H. Hubbard."  So I pulled out my handy-dandy smart phone, and googled away.  Turns out this guy has an extensive Wikipedea page.  And he was from Covington, Kentucky - my mother's home town.  Weird, huh?  He was something of a recluse.  He was called Kentucky's Thoreau.  Cool.

I did some research, and I saw some pretty impressive prices.  Up to $6,000 on one site.  And it was much smaller than mine.  Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to look up closed auction results on art gallery sites.  I found one, though, which specializes in a handful of artists, including Hubbard.  They buy his work, so all I need to do is email some photos and shazam, I'll collect my winnings!  How thrilling is that?

So I decided to buy all seven.  Unfortunately, one of them wasn't priced.  All the others were marked either $2.98 or $3.98.  The lady manning the register refused to sell me the unpriced painting.  A manager had to do the pricing, and there wasn't a manager on duty.  I talked her into holding it for me until today.  When I returned today, I asked five people if they'd seen it before it was unearthed.  It was marked $3.98.  Which means, after the 50% discount, I paid $1.99 for my treasure.  Wow.

I'm pretty excited.  Or, I should say, cautiously optomistic.  I'll keep you posted...

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