Thrifty Finds

I've been trying really hard to keep away from the thrift stores pretty much all summer.  With my daughter going into a rental house for university, I did venture in for the sole purpose of outfitting her with a few things.   I picked up a chair to round out the four I purchased through Kijiji, and a very nice set of all-white dishes (sorry no photo there), among other helpful "necessities".

But for myself, I curtailed my shopping because it was actually starting to bring me down a bit.  My house is full.  My cupboard space is full.  My closets are full (and I don't have a lot of closet space in the first place).  And I started to question over and over again "do I really need any more things??!!   The answer, as you might guess, is a resounding "NO!" 

But the sign above my local thrift shop states that thrifting is "the ultimate treasure hunt".   I wish they would take that sign down, because it reminds me how much I like to go on that treasure hunt. 

 

I went over to visit my dad on Saturday.   My visits with Dad are not always pleasant.  For the past few weeks he's been in a miserable mood, and making me feel like a total B***H of a daughter to him.  I know he's not mentally himself anymore, but his words are harsh and bitter.  One thing my dad always liked to do is sing.  He had quite a repertoire of songs that he would regale us with over the years.  Musical plays were a favourite of his. 

 

So when he started again on the topic of what a miserable bunch of wenches we all were for not letting him live with us, I started to sing "All I Want is a Room Somewhere" ("My Fair Lady").  He was hooked.  Oddly enough, although he can't remember my name, or what town he lives in, or even what "a.m." on his clock radio means, he can remember most of the words to his favourite old songs.  I read once "the brain forgets, but the tongue always remembers".   After these rather trying visits, I've been treating myself to the thrift store ... and what do you know!  A Gilbert & Sullivan song book awaited me ;)

 

 

Did I mention my dad has been ornery for the past few weeks during my visits?  Yeah, so I've been to the thrift store a few times lately and picked up more treasures.  But I honestly had my little cart filled with much more and I was quite proud of myself that I was able to return most things to the shelf once I had a little time to think about what I truly wanted to keep.

 

Ceramic jars ... with lids! ...

 

 

... still a weak spot for me.

 

A nice-sized bean pot for Baked Brown Beans this winter ...

 

 

It's got that nice two-toned brown & white that has been appealing to me lately.  AND!  I have Mom's old recipe for the baked beans :)

 

 

A trio ...

 

 

... of nesting boxes ... with lids!!

 

 

I'm pretty sure these are Ikea's seagrass boxes, and they don't look like they've been used and still smell like seagrass and not someone's basement.  Do you sniff items like this before you buy them?  I try to do it discreetly ... sometimes you just can't wash a smell out of an item, and I'll leave those on the shelf.  They look nice all grouped together on top of the dresser ... great for hiding away bits of jewelry ... or thrift store receipts!

 

 

In hindsight, I should've left this figurine on the store shelf.  She's cute, but I bought it out of pure impulse and it's not my usual type of purchase.  It reminded me of a little figurine of a boy by "Hummel" that my mom once had (and I ruined it when I was young and always felt badly about it).

 

 

Maybe I bought it to appease my guilty conscience.  I think I'll set her in the bathroom on a tiny shelf ... my bathrooms all lack any sort of decoration.

 

A blown glass ball.  This one had some inner strands of glass and a small tag attached described it as "The Tree of Life".  I have a few other glass balls hanging in my sunny windows that Mom bought for me at craft shows ... the collection grows ... the window space doesn't.

 

 

And I know we're not there yet (nowhere near, right?!), but I liked this little cookie stamp.  This is from a set that I believe Eaton's had out one year.  My husband bought me one with Santa on it, and my kids and I make shortbreads using the stamp and they used to be the cookie set out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

 

 

The ceramic cookie press on the bottom is fairly cute, and I'll be making more shortbreads with it soon.  My kids don't leave cookies out for Santa anymore, so the entire task of eating the cookies falls to us ... sigh ...

 

This next piece I bought last year sometime, but I don't think I ever blogged about it.

 

 

It's a very delicately thin decorative pottery plate.  The only name on the bottom is "Joanie", so it makes me think that Joanie made it up in a pottery class at some time.  I really like the colours in this fish, and think it will eventually be hung on the wall somewhere.  It's been sitting on a bookcase for the past long while, but I'd like it to be more visible.

 

This little stove-top percolator caught my eye in the housewares.  I put it to use this afternoon and brewed one very strong pot of coffee.  Usually I make coffee in a coffee maker, and not that often (prefer tea), so I need to experiment with this cute little pot a bit more before I dare serve my coffee to anyone else. 

 

 

 

And that's it!

 

I hope you're also able to keep your treasure hunting in check, or our kids will be lamenting the day we ever discovered thrift store shopping.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Wendy

 

PS ... this is my 100th post!

 

 

This Downy Woodpecker visited me beside the patio on Sunday :)