Recent Thrift Store Finds

Do you like going to thrift stores?

A couple of weekends ago, CountryBoy and I stopped at a couple of thrift stores so that I could find a few things to wear to an upcoming event.  See, most of the clothes I have while traveling in the fifth wheel are casual clothes.  You know, those clothes that are comfy and are 'staying at home' type of clothes. wink!

As a child, I hated going to thrift stores.

Granted, Mom and I rarely went but when we did I wanted to hide.

Now?

I love going to thrift and secondhand stores!

Why do I like it?  I like the fact that I can buy perfectly good, often-times brand name clothing for a fraction of the price of the piece when it was new.  I also like the challenge of 'the find'.  Finding those pieces that fit and look decent on me.

Here's what I found that day...

 

White jeans & skirt, a blouse, a denim skirt and jacket from St. John's Bay, Dress Barn, and Coldwater Creek to name the more common brand names.  Score!

We also found a few other items (another reason I love checking out thrift stores!) such as practically brand new pots,

a couple of storage baskets, a sushi mat and books!

Overall, I think it was a successful thrift store shopping trip!

We also went antiquing and thrift store shopping on our way home from Kentucky.

Here's what I found on that trip...

antique Ball blue jars (cuz one can never have too many of those!) and a Pyrex mixing bowl to add to my collection.

Won't they be perfect at our new farm?

I also picked up a bunch of lace and thread.

What deals have you found recently while shopping at thrift stores?

Ever Have One of Those Days?

Yesterday was that kind of day for me.

I woke up feeling good.

I had a mental list of things I wanted to do.

Some necessary things like laundry, balancing the check book, paying a few bills and writing a thank you note.

And some fun, relaxing things like finish crocheting my latest scarf (before another cold snap hits this weekend), deciding my next crochet project, begin sewing some quilt pieces, and whatever else hits me.

Instead, I did two loads of laundry, wrote a blog post and started balancing the check book.

That's when it all went down hill.

The check book would not balance.

All morning I spent trying to figure out the problem.

It's in our favor, but still...

I was a bank teller, I should be able to figure this out.

Nope.

I stopped long enough to go have some lunch with my sister-in-law.

I wanted the soup of the day and a baked potato.

Nope.  No baked potatoes until after 4:00.

At least the soup was good.

After lunch, I checked my figures again in the check book but found nothing amiss.

I finally put it away but by then I was frustrated.

And, it seemed, whatever else I touched turned into a problem.

So, I decided to touch nothing except the current book I am reading.

Which, happens to be a book by Beverly Lewis, a well-known author of Amish fiction.

That's where I needed to be for the rest of the afternoon.

Caught up in the Amish lifestyle.  Ah.

I did manage to cook supper without incident and CountryBoy and I had a relaxing evening.  (Everything's always better when he's around!)

I'm not touching the check book until next week.  I refuse.

Maybe it will fix itself.  (One can only hope!)

And, today, I intend to do what I didn't do yesterday.

It's going to be a good day.  Yes, it is!

Coffee's on board, blog post is being written, gluten free English muffin thawing for breakfast with butter and homemade strawberry jam, birds are telling me it's time for their breakfast, yep, a good day!

You can also probably tell what kind of day it was yesterday because I have no photos for you today.

Yea, I know, for shame!

I'll see if I can remedy that this weekend for ya...

I will show you my thrift store finds from the other day.

I went to Goodwill and a Hospice thrift store when I went to town.

Here's what I found...

Napkins (six total), a thick book on digital photography (since I left all mine at home), a cool cake decorating thingy with all kinds of attachments that I have no idea how to use them all, and a bottle opener.

All for around ten bucks!

I've already used the cake decorator thingy to add avocado mocha frosting to some gluten free chocolate cupcakes.  It worked really well.  And the cupcakes were good too!

I hope y'all have a fantastic weekend!

CountryBoy and I are hoping to explore a bit of California on Saturday.  He wants to show me where he works and the surrounding areas.  I'm crossing my fingers for some good photo ops.

Till next time,

Steady Visitors & A Thrift Shop Find

When I came to visit CountryBoy for our anniversary and Thanksgiving last November we bought a bird feeder and hung it in one of the trees that can be seen from our living room (and now from my sewing table as well).

Although we had quite a few visitors those first few months a full feeder would last a couple of days.

Now, I'm lucky if a full feeder lasts for two hours.

I kid you not.

Steady visitors until it's gone.

I've added a small bird bath which these desert birds have thoroughly enjoyed.

The weather is getting nicer outside so maybe I can get some shots of them in the bird bath.

~~~~~

Last Saturday, CountryBoy and I stopped to check out the Goodwill store in town.

I really like the way they organized the clothes by color.

I don't know about you but I tend to gravitate toward the same colors when shopping and having my favorite colors all in one area just seems to make it easier to shop.

But, I wasn't shopping for clothes.  (There's only so much closet space in a 5th wheel!)  We were just browsing.

As of late, whenever I'm in a thrift store, I've been finding myself in the craft and fabric section of the store.  (Imagine that!)  I've found some deals on yarn, knitting needles and fabric.  (Speaking of, I still need to make use of those needles and learn how to knit.)

While CountryBoy was looking for anything that might could even possibly be used as a pan for panning gold (yes, working at the mine, and not the one we just visited, has given him the gold rush fever, ha!) I was checking out the linens.

Look what I found...

 

Two beautiful napkins!  These napkins are so me... I love the colors, the pattern, the texture and the leaves on them!

And the best part?  I paid .49 cents for both of them.  That's right... I said BOTH of them, woohoo!

Do you have a thrift store find that you've been thrilled with?

Till next time,

Great Finds

The other day, Country Boy & I took a coupla' boxes over to our local thrift store.  They were happy for the donations and I was happy to have the stuff outta' my house!  Definitely a win-win situation!

While we were there, we couldn't resist meandering through the store to see what kinds of goodies were waiting to be snatched up and given a new home with new life and purpose!  I was never one to shop in these kinds of stores in my younger days.  But, the older (and more mature!) I get, I have found that one can find really good stuff at really reasonable prices.  And with today's economy, who doesn't love a good bargain?

I found this really cute skirt...

That will go great with my pink boots!

I also found these napkins...

which I believe may be vintage because of the cutout design and finishing work.

I may be wrong about the vintage part, but for .50 cents, it's a great deal even though there were only 3 napkins.

I also enjoy browsing thrift and secondhand stores because I like the idea of conservation.  I try to reuse, recycle and repurpose as many things as I can.  It's less wasteful and very practical.  Those two concepts seem to have gotten lost in today's fast-paced, disposable society.  Look at all the waste created from man-made foods filling up our land-fills and dumps, to just name one.   There's also the way they package things these days.  Have you tried to get into one of those vacuum-sealed, hard plastic containers lately?  Good grief!  One has to have a really good pair of scissors or you'll end up cutting yourself!

A county north of us needs another dump.  They don't want it in their county so they're asking to put it in our county.  Really?  Just because the majority of the county is rural doesn't mean we want a dump!  Most of us take care of our own trash and some of us even have very little trash to begin with.  Knowing the greed of our county commissioners, I am sorry to say that, it will probably happen.

When something breaks, we tend to throw it away and buy a new one rather than fixing it.  Granted, sometimes it's not worth the money that it would take to get it fixed, unfortunately.  Which leads me to another point... they just don't make things like they used to.  Buying an older item from a thrift store that was made better and made to last seems like a good idea to me rather than a newer, cheaply made item!  An item probably made in China!

I am also striving to buy items made in the USA.  It has been difficult to do.  Who knew that almost everything that is available for consumers nowadays was imported!  Start checking the tags and you'll find that we don't make very much stuff here!  There are a lot of people who need jobs... let's make some stuff here AND people will have jobs!  Seems simple enough to me!  Yea, I know it's cheaper to make it overseas. but, you get what you pay for!

Wow!  I really jumped onto a soapbox!  Sorry 'bout that!  Back to my original point... check out your local thrift store and see what goodies you can find.  One man's junk is another man's treasure!

No phone call yet from my post office to come pick up my chicks *sigh*... I'm still Ready & Waiting!

Till next time,