Discovering Auctions!

I have a new past time... auctions! It must be the thrill of holding that little number up and battling it out (really, I'm a wimp) while racing the "clock" with the fast talker (do they go to auction school for that?!). Steve and I met up with his friend Ray on Saturday and hit three auctions before 2 p.m. Seriously, it hurt waking up that early! The first two auctions were take-it-or-leave-it in addition to cold and windy, but the third had some very unique things only found in that part of Pennsylvania on that particular day. It was great! We came away with some much needed (and wanted) items: a large Persian-style wool rug, an oak swivel office chair, an electric griddle (for PNP, a resist used for etching metal), and an old wood and cast iron sled... at $71 for everything, we made out! Of course I am currently thinking back longingly about a couple of things, but that's to be expected. Then there's the added bonus about auctions; you can buy whatever you want... so long as you're willing to pay for it! Three cheers for giving new life to old objects!

Update: Above you will see a picture of our new rug. I love it. The colors and design work well with our little farmhouse and we really needed something on the floor to separate the living room from the dining room. Nevertheless, as my mom says, "there's a price for getting things so cheap..." With rain comes humidity and thus new odors in our rug have surfaced. Despite doing EVERYTHING I can come up with, we have been confronted with (like a brick wall) the ever permeating smell of WET DOG! Tonight I'm taking the third pass with the steam cleaner! Help! Any suggestions?! Editors Advisory: although we don't have a dog, we think dogs are great, but YUCK!