Ever have one of those thrifting days when nothing seems to go your way? That was pretty much today in a nutshell.

This probably isn’t the case for many people, but thrifting sort of falls into the category of “job” for me. Granted, most of the time it’s a fun experience. But at the end of the day – like American Pickers has said – we need to buy things so we can make money.

Still, I certainly don’t expect every day to be Find Curtis Jere Day.

Anyhow, it started out with waiting in the rain for two estate sales in the morning that didn’t open on time, and both of those had pretty much nothing but yuck. Mood (and head) dampened, I embarked on the usual 7-store-Friday-thrift run but came up against piece after piece of damaged ceramics and glass. I’m not even going to show the pics because it’s depressing.

I bought some pieces, like a small Heath Ceramics ashtray, without even realizing it was cracked almost in half. I picked up a Matthew Adams ashtray that had a chip on it – but I felt like I HAD to buy it, because I simply wasn’t finding anything. We usually avoid ashtrays that are damaged.

I bought a 3 tiered Laurel Pottery tidbit tray, only to realize it didn’t include the hardware for the bottom plate – so it’s pretty much a 2 tiered Laurel tidbit tray with a piece of metal sticking out of the end and an extra plate. Great.

I just wasn’t on my game today, and because of that, I figured I’d just think of it as just getting exercise. Oh, and also, to cheer myself up I bought a bacon avocado burger for lunch.

Positive thinking indeed.

Immediately afterwards, I picked up this Nino Parrucca vase.

These are handpainted by him and his family at a workshop in Palermo, Sicily. He’s been making ceramics like this since the 1960s. I have to admit that I know next to nothing about this Italian artist – Italian ceramics are still an area I need to work on. There’s a website for the company which is still producing ceramics.

But it was still a nice find, and its bright colors sort of brightened my mood. I know that every thrift run isn’t going to be rewarding, but I was glad to at least find something. Thanks Nino Parrucca for saving this otherwise bleah thrifting day.