Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Mr. Thrift Trashpicks

(say that title real fast a few times!  and then tell me in the comments about your trashpicking or trashpicking avoidance)


My husband found a box of lincoln logs in a pile of moving-out trash curbside.  Trash-picking is a perk of having neighbors and in the city, we have a lot of neighbors.  Both our children's bikes were trashpicked.


The lincoln logs are more remarkable for my children because we are reading about Laura and Mary's Pa who builds houses.


Like Pa, Genevieve has been building houses with whatever she can get her hands on - she calls this creation in the backyard an ant house.


Ben likes Lego.



When my children's faces look like this, I ask them do they have a mommy. 


And if yes, why does she let them go around with such dirty, snotty faces?




14 comments:

Jennifer Jo said...

G's ant house rocks. Like, totally.

Unknown said...

These are so great! We haven't invested in Lincoln Logs yet...I remember playing with them when I was little : )
I love all the creative buildings - the ant house is more like a castle!

beth said...

I loved reading the little house books to my children....and lincoln logs are still here waiting for children to play with them. I can't imagine giving them away!

Anonymous said...

What I saw in this post was determined and creative faces....:)
~~HUGS~~

Beth said...

Yep, the ant house is great. We are starting Little House now, since our newest one has never really been read to from such books!

Most of our lincoln logs are 2nd hand.

Trashpicking - love it! But I'm a scaredy cat about it! My sister got her last piece of bedroom furniture from in front of someones house!

BLD in MT said...

I recall lincoln logs very, very fondly from my childhood. They were one of my all-time favorites. I suppose they are just a perfect toy to compliment the reading of the Little House. Great find.

life in this 1880 farmhouse said...

Trash-picking days are the end of April here when the students leave the University. Everyone puts stuff out and it is great. Free vacuum and a chain saw. I have these logs here too. The boys played with it but the girls never did. Waiting for grandsons?

BLD in MT said...

I work at a college and every year at move out time we host a collection point for all unwanted items. It becomes a free for all sort of thing with anything leftover going to the second hand shop. We used to "dumpster dive," but this is a significant improvement.

It is amazing the finds in there...though I've yet to find a chain saw. :)

Margo said...

I started thinking about why a college student would want and then get rid of a chain saw. I can't imagine. I think some townie walked by and threw it on the pile; I'm impressed that it worked, Farmgirl!

Polly said...

We are too far out in the country for this phenomenon, but my friends who live in manhattan have gotten loads of furniture this way. Best story was friend in DC who found a genuine Eames chair set out for the trash!!!!

We only got trash pickup service a few years ago and that only applies to people who live close to a main road (we don't). Sometime on trash day, though, I should drive by the ritzy subdivision south of us.....

Kylie M. said...

What great trash finds. I have fond memories of playing with lincoln logs when I was young, especially playing the "great peace war" with my brother & cousin.(We had built 2 lincoln log cabins and were playing war, but when my grandma came to see what the noise was we said it was the "great peace war," because we knew she didn't approve of war games.)

Love the ant house!

Anonymous said...

I haven't trash picked myself, because I'm a scaredy cat too, but we have left PLENTY of things out on the corner for people to take. We've given away baby items, furniture, a VCR and TV. I'm not sure why we decide to do that vs donate it to a thrift store. We do both, but maybe some days we're feeling too lazy to drive it to the donation center.

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

You know I'm a fan of trashpicking! Mr. Thrift really scored with the Lincoln Logs. Dirty, snotty faces are perfectly understandable.

Lindsey A. Turner said...

That's more like an ant palace! Awesome! I used to love Lincoln Logs- that takes me back! I love thrift shopping and good deals of all types as well! I have a blog called Thrift and Shout where I inspire others to live fabulously without spending a fortune!

Lindsey Turner
http://thriftandshout.blogspot.com