Small Business Saturday

Hey everybody, tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, and let me encourage each and everyone of you to go out and support the small businesses in your area. These are special, hard working people who are trying to make an honest living. Ya'll are familiar with my thrift store, Peddler's Junktion and trust me, unless you are a small business owner, you cannot imagine the blood, sweat and tears that goes into trying to stay afloat these days. Just try to remember that we are trying to support our families with these businesses. We depend on even the smallest purchase to make the difference in us paying our rent, house payment, groceries, electricity and just to stay alive. So, tomorrow, I challenge each of you to go and make just one purchase from a small business in your town. You will be blessed for the blessing you're giving!! Love all ya'll.

Hey Everybody

Still here. Hope everybody's doing good. Ya'll come on over and visit my new blog, Peddler's Junktion. If ya'll are ever in Camden, stop in and see me. We've got so many neat things. A new go kart, canoe, rocking chairs, antique hutch, fall and winter clothes, toe rings, tongue rings, Harley jewelry.....too much to list.

Love all ya'll,
Vickie

Peddler's Junktion

Hey ya'll. Just letting those of ya'll who are close enough, come to Peddler's for a great Pack a Bag for $1 sale. That's right. All the clothes you can pack into a bag for only $1. Hurry tho, our spring and summer clothes are going fast.

Also, while you're there, check out our free bin. You'll find lots of clothes and knick knacks that might have a little stain or tear....you probably won't even notice it, but we did. And just didn't feel right to charge for these items.

If you know someone who has a need, send them our way. Our "Helping Your Neighbor Project" is going great. We've helped some fire victims, young mothers and some children. Donations are welcomed so we can continue to provide this service.

God Bless all ya'll!!

Love ya'll,
Vic

Sneek Preview

Peddler's Junktion

Well, lots and lots of things have been happening the last few months, and just haven't had time to even catch my breath!! But, just FORCED myself to share a bit with all my long lost friends. My daughter Michelle is taking Country Girls in another direction. She will be selling her great purses, wallets and other items at Peddler's Junktion Thrift Shoppe. Peddler's will be run by myself and hubby Jackie. We're moving to 1821 Jefferson Davis Hwy and will be right in the middle of the other great thrift stores and close to the Flea Market. We're in a great OLD house which is shaping up really really nice. We've had tons of cleaning to do and a few minor repairs, but all in all I'm soooooo excited......and completely wore out. Poor Jackie. I don't think he realized what he was getting into when he volunteered to move a thrift store!!!!!

If ya'll are close by, please come by to see us. We're hoping to open next Saturday, July 25 at 9:00.

Hellooooooooo Out There???!!!

Well, can you believe it?? I'm still here!! Thanks to all ya'll who have asked about me and where I've been. Yep, I'm fine. Just completely STRETCHED out. The store, Country Girls Thrift, is doing GREAT. Praise God!! We've been looking for a bigger place for the past month, but nothing has worked out. Soooooo.....guess God wants to keep us where we are for a while.

All the grandkids are playing baseball. Keeps everybody hopping. I think they all have two more games, then they'll be done with the season.

My hubby's band, Ambush, has been booking like crazy. They've been in the studio for the past couple of weeks working on the CD. I really think it's gonna turn out good.

Been going thru the biggest trial of my life since Jan 31st. Just can't bring myself to share right now, but maybe someday I'll feel comfortable to do so. Keep me in ya'll's prayers.

Well, that's about all the time I have right now. Gotta finish my coffee and head down to the shop.

Love all ya'll,
Vic

We Got (a little) Snow!!!

Believe it or not, we DID get a little bit of snow the other day. What a treat!! It wasn't a lot, but just enough to have a cozy fire and make everything look pretty.

Now I know some of ya'll are probably laughin', sayin' "That ain't snow!!" But, here, it was a big deal. The schools were closed, businesses were either closed or opening late....we even closed the shop so the kids could get out and play in it. It was just a perfect day for us!!

Love ya'll,
Vic

My "New" Porch

I know a lot of ya'll have been hit with terrible weather lately, but here, it's been almost like spring. So, that inspired me to piddle around outside and re-do my porch. As most of ya'll know, my favorite aunt Evelyn went to an assisted living facility a few months ago, and I was fortunate enough to get some of her things. One being this great set of furniture that sat on her front porch as long as I can remember. When I brought it home, we put it in the barn until we could find the perfect place for it. And I think we did.

Our friend Wendy also gave us a little night stand that was her grandmother's. I painted it black and distressed it some, and it looks perfect with Evelyn's furniture.

The little angel picture and the "feed the birds" picture was from Michelle for Christmas. Thanks hon!! Love 'em....and, here again, they look perfect!!

The little lab and duck wind chimes were made by me when I had my little wildlife craft business, Retriever Ridge. This is probably the only thing I have left of that little craft business which I did 20 years ago to supplement my income as a single mom.

The "candlelier" was given to me by Michelle. She found it and said it looked like me!! She knows me so well.

The "antiques" sign was a Christmas gift last year from my brother Randy and wife Elsie. How perfect is that??!!

All the other "stuff" is just things friends and relatives have given me and I just love 'em all. It gives me such peace to sit out here and just look at all my stuff and remember the great friends and family that thought enough of me to give me things that remind them of me. I am soooo blessed!!

We've taken a week off from the shop....whew....much needed, and I surely have enjoyed this time to do things around the house and catch up on my blogging. After New Year's....it'll be on again. Speaking of New Years....ya'll have a happy one!!

Love ya'll,
Vic

What a Great Christmas

Hey ya'll. Hope all ya'll had a great Christmas. We sure did. Not just because we received such great gifts, but because we realized this year what great friends we have, and we have so much to be thankful for.

We received this great antique tobacco humidor from our friend Dee Dee. What a great, loving gal. Dee Dee.....you just shouldn't have done this. We truly love you!!

And doesn't it just look great with the pineapple light box my hubby got me!! And his mom's old tobacco jar?? Perfect!!

May God truly bless you, Dee Dee, and be with you in all that you do. And....we'll be there for you too!!

Love all ya'll,

Vic

HO HO HO

Merry Christmas ya'll!! Thought I'd jump on here a second before everyone woke up and I got busy.

Guess what Santa brought? A great noodle board stove cover!! I'd seen these on some of ya'lls pics, and...yeah...I hate to admit...coveted it. I mentioned it to hubby, and he mentioned it to our friend Ronnie. And guess what? Yesterday, Ronnie brought it by. He made it!! How cool is that??!! Course, he can make anything. It's made from 100 year old pieces of wood he took out of a house a while back and saved...not knowing exactly what to do with it, but he said when Jackie told him what I wanted, he knew this would be perfect.

Thanks Ronnie....love ya man.



And my little "Charlie Brown" Christmas Tree that I got from the shop that nobody else wanted looked great after I stuck some gingham ribbons and cookie cutters on it. It found a home on this great noodle board.





Hope all ya'll have a glorious day!! MERRY CHRISTMAS YA'LL!!

Love ya'll,
Vic

I Won.......Yay......Yum

Hey ya'll. I won my first giveaway ever......and boy oh boy is it great!! I came home from the shop yesterday and guess what was waiting for me? This great prim cone filled with lots of Christmas goodies from Deb's Primitive Country Kitchen. It's already found a home next to a window in my bedroom. AND.....she included some great homemade candy that.....uhhhh....I was FORCED to share. Sorry...I was all caught up in the moment and got kinda greedy. But, she was sooo generous, there was plenty to go around.

Deb......thank you sooooo much for such wonderful things. My first winning is sooo exciting. I'll think of you every time I look and smell the great cinnamon coming from the cone. And......everytime I have a piece of candy........yummo!!

Hope all ya'll have a great Christmas!!

Love ya'll,

Vic

Love My New Floor

Hey ya'll. Lots of ya'll have been asking for pics for my new floor. We have a bit to go. Son Rob is gonna do the hall while he's on his Christmas vacation (what a dear!!). And we haven't put the baseboard and molding down yet. Friend Randy has some cedar left over from his gorgeous house that he's graciously given us to rip and use. It'll look sooo good. Many many thanks to Randy and Tim and Rob for helping us. We couldn't have done any of it without ya'll. What great friends!! And what a great son!! Love all ya'll!!

The Joys (and Woes) of Having a Thrift Shop

Don't faint ya'll.......yeah, I'm still among the living!! The shop is keeping us hopping, especially now in the holiday season. Praise God, all is good. But now, if I'm not at the shop, I'm making stuff every spare moment I have. I do take the time to check in on all my blog friends. Might not have time to post, but I do take a few minutes to read comments and your new posts.

We're opening Monday thru Saturday during the Christmas season and have lots of great new items for that special gift giving. Last night I made up some new candle tarts. These are going for $1.00 per bag of 2. I have Cherry Vanilla, Orange Spice, Cinnamon Stix and Indian Summer. I also made some oatmeal soap bars, which will be selling for $1.00 per bar. I still have a few tart loaves left in Christmas Spice, selling for $3.00 per loaf, and a few select Halloween Spice loaves which have been reduced to $2.00 per loaf.....a great bargain with a great fragrance!! I just put out some new tart burners for only $2.00 each...hurry, they're going fast!!

I'm moving most of my handmade items from my Ebay Store and Etsy Shop to the store, but if any of ya'll are looking for anything in particular, shoot me an email, 'cause I'm still shipping :)

Michelle has some great prim shelves (I just HAD to have a couple for the house). And we have LOADS of great Christmas decorations at cheap cheap prices.

Hope all ya'll have a Blessed Christmas, and let's all remember the REASON for the SEASON :)

Love all ya'll,
Vic

Finally..............

Just had to pop in and share a bit of great news. We paid our house off!! Praise God!! Since my retirement, it has been soooo hard financially. But God gave us the strength and determination and we made the last payment this week....it's all ours!! Now, it won't be such a strain each month and for Christmas, hubby and I are giving each other hardwood floors!! What a great gift!!

Thank you Lord :)

Love ya'll,
Vic

Busy....Busy....Busy

Hey Ya'll. Sorry I've been MIA for a while. The shop is really keeping us hopping...ain't that great??!! It is sooooo much work, but we really love it. I've been making tarts almost every night and whew, it's hard to keep up with everything. I've been slowly closing out my Etsy and Ebay stores. Probably won't close Ebay completely, but trying to just save some precious time somewhere. And since the things seem to be doing real good in the shop, I've just been taking them down there.

Just wanted everyone to know, even tho I haven't been posting, ya'll are still in my heart and in my prayers. And just in case I get busy and don't get a chance to post....hope everyone has a GREAT Thanksgiving. Let's all eat a big ole bunch of turkey.....and remember what we have to be thankful for :)

Love all ya'll,
Vic

Happy Halloween Ya'll

Hope all ya'll have a fun and safe Halloween. If any of ya'll are in my neck of the woods, stop by the Finally Friday Concert at the Fine Arts Center in Camden. They'll be lots of things going on for everybody....of course you can listen to my hubby's band....they'll be playing there :) AND it's FREE!!








Love all ya'll,
Vic

Happy Fall Ya'll

Sorry I haven't been around lately, but just wanted to say all ya'll are in my thoughts and prayers. Thanks for all the posting and encouragement. Ya'll are the best!! Happy Fall from my home to yours.

Love all ya'll,
Vic

Be Careful Whatcha Pray For!!

Praise God...Praise God...Praise God!! Been soooo busy with the thrift shop. God has blessed us soooo much. Saturday, our first day open, and we did terrific!! Since we had NO Budget, we were waiting until we sold a little bit before we ran an advertisement in the local paper. We did put out signs on the main roads with balloons and arrows. We had people waiting on us at 10:00 when we opened, and almost all bought something. We were so excited, and then a lady said "are ya'll part of unit 60?" We were, like, "What's unit 60?" She said, "ya'll didn't run the ad in the paper?" Come to find out, a guy who had a warehouse behind the shop was having a warehouse sale and advertised in the paper! So we had free traffic!! We befriended the guy with the warehouse sale, and he donated a bunch of stuff. We've had bunches of other donations from people who had yard sales and just wanted us to pick the stuff up and take it off their hands. And.....that's not all. Our landlord, who actually owns all the warehouses, said if we wanted to, when he had people to move out of their warehouses, we could clean them out...you know just sweep and take off the trash, and if there was anything left, we could have it. We cleaned one out today and got a great couch, chair, coffee table, mattress, bar stool...all kinds of really neat stuff!! Michelle and I took the stool, which was already painted a neat prim cranberry, took the padding off, and covered it with a burgundy gingham material. We sat it out front, and somebody is coming back to buy it!! Is that GOD or what???!! And....to top everything....my dear sweet friend Cora is donating some items too!! Love ya girl!!

We've actually done well enough to rent a little warehouse next to the shop to keep the furniture, the other large items and the surplus inventory in...and the landlord let us have it cheap cheap.

Just want to take a minute to thank each of you who have been giving us ideas and suggestions on our little venture, and all the encouragement. If any of you are ever in Camden....please look us up!!

Oh yeah, I'm printing up some coupons for $$ off purchases, so if you're coming thru our little small country town, I'll be sure to give you some!!

It's really keeping us busy, and I don't know how often I'll be able to post, but I'm certainly gonna try. I can't afford to lose touch with all you great people out there. My Ebay Store and Etsy Shop are still open, and believe it or not, doing better than they ever have....go figure.

And.....Dear Lord.....just to say "thank you" just doesn't seem enough!! I don't know where YOU want us to go with this, but I know you'll be with us every step of the way. I love you, Lord, and just want to be obedient. Thank you for granting us the desires of our hearts :)

Love all ya'll,
Vic

Country Girls Thrift

Hey ya'll,

Well....here we go again. My daughter, Michelle, has always wanted to open a thrift store. One that's real neat and has real neat stuff. I told her I would help....if it didn't involve money ;) So.....we've been lookin' for places to rent for a few weeks. Just couldn't find anything she could afford. Most places were either waaayyyy outta her budget, or in such bad shape and the landlord wanted us to foot the bill to bring it up to code....NOT. Then, outta the blue, we found a place... move in ready....priced right...first month FREE (can you believe that??)...month to month lease AND the price includes power and water!! I told her, "Mannnnnnnnn, God is good!!" So, she signed the lease and we started movin' our stuff in. We were gonna try to open to the public Saturday, then she said, "Momma, let's do it Friday!!" So, I wake up this morning at 5:00 all excited, only to find some kinda tropical depression comin' thru....torential downpours...hear it beatin' the tin roof to death as I sit up here typin' away!! Oh brother!! I think it's supposed to get outta here soon. Sure do hope so. We've got signs and balloons to put up, posters to get out, stuff to price....and on and on.

At any rate, I stopped and snapped a few pics while we were puttin' all our stuff in there. Included one of my baby girl Michelle....she's so happy. We've had bunches of people offering free stuff if we'll just go pick it up. Praise God!! So, we've done this with no $$ down except just what was needed for permits and licenses......and, of course, all the free sweat equity :)

Ya'll keep us in ya'lls prayers. We're optimistic.....but also realistic. We've gotten real good feedback from everyone we've come in contact with....and now it's in God's hands....what better place to be??!!

If you live around Camden, SC.....stop by 1311 Gordon Street and give us a holler ;)

Love all ya'll,
Vic

Tin Cans..........

Hey ya'll. I haven't posted in a while.....been busy, busy, busy. Thought I'd share a little craft I've been doing lately, and actually been doing quite well in my Ebay store. I have been using plain recycled tin cans and painting or rusting them and using them for pencil holders, utensil holders in the kitchen, or filling with silk flowers for a little prim arrangement. They seem to be going pretty good. When I first started making these, Rob laughed and said, "Mom........surely you don't think people are gonna buy those??!!". He doesn't understand "Prims" anyway. But now...who's laughing!! I remember he said the same thing about my rag balls!! You can check these little cans out in my Ebay Store, my online store and in my Etsy Shoppe. I can also make special orders..special color combinations if needed.

Love All Ya'll,
Vic