Finding wheat among chaff

I'm Jennifer, a transplanted Midwesterner, living in Pennsylvania for the past 25 years, and I'm so happy to be a contributer to this great blog. It's written for people after my own heart, who love to find the glinting piece of gold amongst all the junk. Although I love old things, I have no interest in walking into an antique shop. There's no sport in that - it's like shooting fish in a barrel (assuming you have the money, which I don't, but more to the point, there's just no thrill.) The joy is in finding something great in a box under the tables at the church rummage sale, in the recycling bin amongst all the tattered TV Guides, or tossed out on the curbside. It takes a good eye to spot a gem in an ugly context, like a vintage planter hidden by Avon bottles and home-made ceramics at Goodwill, and be able to recognize its beauty or potential. Unlike many of you, I'm not a visual artist. I'm a writer and PR person living in a big constantly-in-need-of-repair Arts & Crafts house in suburban Philadelphia with my husband Chris and our three boys. I've always adored old people, old houses, old things. I'm drawn to vintage linens, baby clothing and accessories, books and paper ephemera. Tales of finding such things will be my primary storyline here, I imagine. I've always wanted to be a correspondent! Thanks for having me, Jenny.