Reading and Writing
13 Aug 2008 2 Comments
in i buy stuff, thrifty Tags: books, paper, thrifty
Aunt Banana was here for the day on Monday and we ventured out to the teacher supply store and a thrift store. I am mad about drawing pads and tablets lately. I picked up a handwriting tablet for Arwyn to practice writing her letters. I also snagged that Melissa & Doug doodle pad for 99 cents and a paint-by-number kit that I have squirreled away for later. We can never seem to have too many paper pads for little people to create their masterpieces.
We came home with a Hello Kitty cover from the thrift store (already washed and put to use inside Arwyn’s “tent” in her bedroom) and this giant stack of books. I could have gotten more books, but I tried to reign myself in and put a few back. The shelves were overflowing with wonderful finds, but you had to dig through a lot of piles and my arms were tired and the baby was hungry, so we had to go. It was worth it for the Richard Scarry activity book alone.
Yard Sale Season is Upon Us!
07 Apr 2008 2 Comments
in thrifty
A few of the bargains I picked up Saturday morning at rummage sales.
1. tablecloth — I’ve been wanting to do some work to my dining room and I think this will make a nice autumn seasoned table covering. $1
2. five bucks chair — I’m thinking this may go in our future bedroom. $5!
3. bushel basket — Another fun item for fall. $1
4. kitchen — Bargain of the Day -> A Little Tykes “Party Kitchen” for Arwyn $5!
5. care bears — Arwyn’s new “babies”. 25 cents each
6. mm puzzle — Disney puzzle. 10 cents.
90 Cents
31 Mar 2008 Leave a Comment
in thrifty
Picture this: it is day five of Spring Break. The previous four days have been filled with activities to distract you both from the fact that there is no school this week. You tried to go to Target to make a baby registry, but they wouldn’t accept your password, even after you called India Customer Service on your cell phone from the lobby of Target, so no gun/scanner thingy for you. The apple juice from Sonic was consumed in a matter of milliseconds. It is too cold to go to the park. What else is there to do? Why, visit a thrift store, of course!
Here’s what 90 cents will get you at one of our local thrift stores. But only if you have a three year old with you who is touching everything in sight, crawling around on the extremely dirty floor, and trying to hide in the racks of clothes. Not that we “need” any more books or glassware, but they really wanted to come home with us and who was I to condemn them to a life of feeling unwanted on the thrift store shelf?
I just couldn’t live with that kind of guilt.
Better Than the Library
04 Dec 2007 1 Comment
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When you are married to a graphic designer, you can’t just go out and buy any old run-of-the-mill Christmas cards. Fir trees and reindeer just won’t cut it. If you are married to my particular designer, you have to think of a concept and it has to be awesome. Then you have to execute this awesome concept in all it’s glory in the short weeks leading up to the holidays when work deadlines and obligations are at an all-time frenzy. Wouldn’t it just be easier to go to Target, you ask? Easy, schmeasy. Easy is for wimps. We believe in making things as difficult as possible in this household.
Saturday found Bubby and I on a day-long mission to find props for this year’s Christmas card. I took a slight detour and found this newest stash of books at a Salvation Army. Some have already been added to the full-time rotation. Some have been stashed away for when Miss A is a bit older. One has been added to the baby stash. One snuck downstairs to my craft table. I love old books and children’s books. Well, basically books in general. Our collection is growing and I think it’s time to sort through them and start rotating, maybe by season like Amanda seems to do? If you hear a big crash and then yells for help, that’ll be us buried under our mountain of thrifted books.
Stay tuned for the annual holiday showcase, where we show the greeting card industry how it’s done with pizazz.
Antiquing in New Harmony
08 Nov 2007 2 Comments
in thrifty
A little unsure about labeling this post under “Thrifty” considering I paid $22 for one of these items (I’ll let you guess which one). But then, some of the items were 75% off, so it all evens out in the long run, right?
I don’t know when I turned into one of those people that likes diminutive pitchers (also known as My Mother) but I seem to have a growing collection. It was cute and yellow (she said defensively)! The dishtowel was my grandmother’s.
Arwyn thought these colorful little scoops were for her play dish collection. Hands off, sister! These are Mama’s toys. There is also a turquoise scoop larger than the orange one, but it has already found a home in the flour canister and I couldn’t be bothered to remove it and wash it (again) prior to the photo shoot. I’m lazy like that.
This little beauty will someday live above the kitchen sink. I think it is from the 50′s and it still works but it’s electric (boogy woogy woogy woogy) so we need to find an aesthetically pleasing way to run the wire to the outlet. This is what six years of marriage has taught me: I’ll hang it up there all willy-nilly and then Bubby will figure out a way to make it look good.
The coolest find. It was hiding behind some other junk AND it was in the 75% off booth. Score! Bubby got some things too, but I think he took his items to his other house (i.e. work) so I missed out on the photo op.
We Shop in Places That Smell Like Urine
27 Sep 2007 1 Comment
in thrifty
It has been rainy and wet here the past few days. I am typically so not a rain person (someone remind me of this fact when I start yammering on about moving to Portland), but it has been a welcome respite from the heat of a summer that flat out refuses to quit. Yesterday when I saw that the sun was playing peek-a-boo, I dropped the trash I was getting ready to take to the curb, grabbed my camera and the dishes and ran outside to get a few shots before the sun scuttled away behind a cloud again.
Saturday Bubby and I visited a few consignment stores and I came home with these treasures: an old Minnie Mouse mug that I enjoyed drinking my OJ from this a.m., a Pyrex loaf pan that I am looking forward to baking something in, an Ovenware bowl that I have been looking for forever, and a Salem Daybreak platter that I think is from the 50′s that is currently holding fruit on the dining room table.
The cute little Fireking bowl has already met an unfortunate end. I wasn’t the one who did it and that’s all we’ll say about it. RIP, little bowl.
And to Bubby’s inevitable question of when will we have enough dishes, I say NEVER. And since a plate and a bowl were broken yesterday alone, I think its time to go shopping again. Don’t you?
Saturday Morning Tagsales
27 Jun 2007 Leave a Comment
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Last Saturday morning I got up early against my will to forage for good deals at the neighborhood yard sales. It was worth it.
1. thermos, 2. orange crush, 3. mug, 4. green tub, 5. candy man, 6. bunny, 7. blue hawaiian, 8. blue bag, 9. hot pot, 10. grease, 11. books, 12. bo peep, 13. orange crush
Thrift Monger
11 Jun 2007 2 Comments
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I got up bright and early Saturday morning and hightailed it to a neighborhood yardsale and these are my treasures. A fun vintage sheet for a quarter. I have no idea what I’ll do with it, but it was a quarter! I can picture some cute bags a la Posie. Too bad I can’t sew like she does. The white bowl is a Sunbeam, I’m assuming from an old mixer. It matches a larger one that I have.
The cloudy sheet set will someday go on Arwyn’s big girl bed, if she ever moves to a bigger bed. That’s right, she will be 3 in a week and she still sleeps in her crib. Judge me if you must. We’ll get there one of these days. I’m not quite ready to give up the freedom having her in the crib still allows me. She’s never tried to climb out, so I see no reason to change right now. The green and blue bowls are enamel and were a quarter apiece.
Lest you think everything I purchased was a quarter, here is my splurge. I have wanted chairs like these for a very long time. My grandparents had some of these, which I now possess, but are so rusty I’m not sure we’ll be able to salvage them. Bubby had to cut most of the bolts off to get them apart and we are thinking of having them sandblasted. So these are the stunt doubles. I almost didn’t get them (I went back four times!), but I finally decided I would regret it if I didn’t.
I’m not sure I’m allowed to go to any more yardsales after coming home with those chairs and two large Crate & Barrel shelves. And I didn’t even get anything for Arwyn or Bubby this time. Bad girl!
Alone Time
01 Mar 2007 2 Comments
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This week I was able to get all of my cleaning, laundry, grocery getting and errand running (my life is so thrilling) finished before Thursday, so I had some free time while Arwyn was at school. I chose to spend that time hitting a few thrift stores. I only had time to visit two, but hope to remedy that sad situation over the weekend.
I was feeling a bit of a thrifting slump, feeling quite sorry for myself actually, which is ridiculous. But THEN I ventured into an area of the shop I normally forget is there and found these two beauties for 25 cents each. When I got them home and removed the price tags I discovered that the one on the right is Harmony House China in the Blue Snowflake pattern.
I also picked up these vintage books for the girl child. Currently she could care less, but I thought they were awesome.
The rest of the images are from the “Around the World Cutout Book” by Annie Galst, which is just so incredibly darling. It is copyrighted 1964 and published by Wonder Books. It has a price of 29 cents on the cover. It is in excellent condition and has instructions on the last page for making your own cutout picture book.
All of the images look as if they are cut out of felt. It reminded me of Roz’s work.
I might have to keep this one for myself. The thought of sticky little hands tearing the pristine pages makes me want to scream a little bit.
Have a wonderful weekend, all!
No School!
01 Feb 2007 2 Comments
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Today came the day I never thought I’d dread. A snow day. If I’ve learned anything at all in 31 months of parenting, it’s never say never. Our Moms Morning Out program follows the local school system. They were operating on a two hour delay, so we were out of luck. Arwyn was crestfallen when I told her there was no school, until I added that friends were coming over to play. Friends to the rescue!
Does that whopping quarter inch of snow on the ground that doesn’t even cover the grass require us all to be stuck at home? I think not. Whoever is in charge of making school cancellation decisions obviously didn’t grow up in the kuntry where you learned how to put on snow tires and chains at age 10, throw some firewood in the back of the pickup truck for added leverage and take off to run donuts in an empty parking lot.
A few additional items I picked up at the thrift store on my last trip.
