#ilovethrifting Day...

In case you missed it, Saturday was the 1st (hopefully annual!)I Love Thrifting Day. The brainchild of Rashon Carraway, better known as Mr. Goodwill Hunting, it was a day for celebrating frugality and creativity that thrifting affords. Shoppers across the country, from Charlotte to the West Coast participated. Since there wasn't a local "I Love Thrifting" group in my hometown, I was on my own. And it turned out to be a good thrifting day for me!

There are a couple of Goodwills here, and I hit them both. Usually I am looking for things for the house when I thrift, but this time I decided to peruse the clothes too. And it wasn't long until I found something I'd been wanting-a denim jacket. Only $5!

Just a couple minutes later, I found a winter coat for the G-Man. Nearly new except for a missing hood, which is okay, since my little guy likes wearing toboggan hats instead. The really nice thing about this is that it is two coats in one. The lighter jacket zips out of the shell, so it can be worn 3 ways: the lighter jacket, the medium weight shell, or together. And a steal at $3!

Later I went to our other GW and snagged this pair of like-new jeans for $3. Can't tell that they've ever been worn.

Two jackets and a pair of jeans for $11. Not a bad day!

Just a Little Bit of Fancy...

So I painted up my thrift store tray the other day, but it was missing something. I tried scrapbook paper in the bottom, but I didn't have anything that really worked. So last night I got inspired by something I saw online: harlequin diamonds. I set out to learn how to measure and mark off the lines and found this great site with a calculator that tells you how far to space your lines. However, when I got up this morning and started, I decided that my mind was way too fuzzy for all the math, so I just eyeballed it, all the while hearing the Nester's voice in the back of my mind reminding me that "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!"
However, just as I was about to paint, I looked at my tray and realized that I didn't have a harlequin diamond pattern, I had a lattice pattern. After staring at it for a while, I decided that I kinda liked the lattice pattern, (not to mention that there was no way I was tearing off all that tape and starting over!), so I went ahead and put the paint on. I wanted a slightly aged look, so I left the paint a little streaky.
It may not be what I set out for, and the paint lines certainly aren't perfect, but I really like how it turned out.

"Tray" magnifique...

Mom kept the kids for me yesterday while I went to get my hair cut, and she told me to "take my time" getting back. Far be it from me to not mind my mother, so I took the chance to visit a little thrift shop in her town. I found another small silver tray (50 cents) and a wood tray that I've been looking for ($1). It was plain, and a little shorter than I would have liked, but for a buck-I can live with it!

As usual, I forgot to take a before picture, but it is like this (only shorter):I took it out to the garage and gave it a coat of cream colored spray paint (Do It Best-Sand). I must tell you, my family was astounded that I didn't use black! Between you and me, I think I did the off-white just to throw them off a little.

We have a few projects planned for the weekend, too. I'm trying to finish the project that I alluded to here, and The Megster has decided that she wants to build a birdhouse. So The Hubby and I are donning our Bob the Builder hats and tool belts for a busy weekend!

Mystery solved...

Remember this jar? Paula said that it was similar to

a sugar bowl her mother had. That made much more

sense than the "shaving cream jar" idea (sorry hubby!).

Then this morning, I noticed how similar its design was to a Pfaltzgraff soup tureen that I already had in my kitchen. I couldn't make out the stamp on the

bottom of the little jar, so I looked it up on the Pfaltzgraff website and sure enough, Paula was right!

The sugar bowl and tureen are part of the Heritage pattern, and the bowl sells

for $9.99 directly from them ($14.50 retail). This just made me even more excited, since I paid a whopping 75 cents for it!

I just love a bargain!

Monday's Thrifty Treasures...

I didn't get to go yard sale-ing this past weekend since we had a day trip planned with my parents, but I did get to go a couple Goodwill stores today after my doctor's appointment. I did find a few treasures while there.

One of the first things I zeroed in on at the first GW store was something I've been looking for ever since the first time I saw Kimba's furniture rehab-a lonely pair of dining room chairs that had seen better days. I didn't want both; just one would do, and at the bargain basement price of $5, who could resist? Me, that's who. Believe it or not, the woman who had been looking for months for a chair to rehab passed on it. I couldn't decide if the sort-of-fakeish-wood would be easy to work with, and I wasn't sure the seat was easily removable for padding that I would add. I guess I made the right decision by not getting it. Before I had even left the store someone bought them. I guess they needed a couple of chairs worse than I needed one to spray paint!

I was not to be out done, however! I did find a few things to share with you.

I found this jar with a lid for 75 cents. I'm not sure what it was used for (hubby thinks it was a jar that held shaving cream in it), but it will look nice in my kitchen.

I also found a couple silver trays. The oval shaped one (50 cents) is going to get the chalkboard paint treatment, and I have just the place for it to hang in my master bathroom.

The other one ($1) is actually the bottom half of a butter dish, I'm thinking. It is heavier and looks more like real silver than the oval one. Silver plate, probably. I'm thinking about putting some white pebbles in it and using it for a soap dish, also for the master bath.

I also got the little G-Man a shirt and a pair of warm-up pants for $1.50 each. Neither of them look as though they were hardly worn.

What did you get this weekend? Hop over to Rhoda's and join her thrifting party!

Calgon, take me away...

Ever have one of those days when you just want to crawl under the covers and hide? Yesterday was one of those days. NOT a good day at school. So bad that if someone offered me a job at just about anywhere else yesterday, I would have seriously considered it. And to top it off, Derek and I didn't seem to jive too well either. Let's just say there was a serious disturbance in the force. One even Obi Wan Kenobi would run from. So what's a girl to do? Go shopping, of course! And I did find a few nice things. Not a big haul, but just enough retail therapy that I am feeling much better (I think I can even face my students Tuesday!).

I knew before I left home that I wanted to look for something for the flowers in the master bathroom. They had been in a crystal bowl that we've had for, well, since we married 10 years ago (it held a bouquet on the guest book table at our wedding). Its pretty, but being crystal, doesn't hide the fake flower stems very well. I found this urn at Goodwill for $2.50:

Later I went over to the Dollar Tree. I was searching for those little Ballard-like pumpkins that Susie over at Bienvenue... found at her DT. I'd looked at the Dollar Tree in my town last week with no luck, but today I found them at the store in the next town over. They'll look great when I get my autumn decorations out.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a thing at Vendor's Mall. I was looking for a small table for the corner of the dining room (found one that would be perfect, but apparently it wasn't for sale-it was their display table) and for a dining room-type chair for next to the piano. I found a few chairs, but they cost way more than I want to spend. I'll keep looking though. I know the right chair and the right table is out there somewhere!