Thrift Shops

Usually I am dumpster diving for useful products. I like to joke "the price was right!"

Recently I was planting 99 cent flower seeds in medium and big pots that I spent a half hour fishing out of the dumpster. I am hoping for exquisite beauty in a few weeks or months.

The power of faith. Recently I ate some avocados, then stuck 3 toothpicks in each pit to dangle them over a cup of water. Eventually they began sprouting roots, so now I am going to have avocado plants growing.

Next I've shopped at thrift stores and found some amazing articles. One store overlooked the fact that they had some 14K earrings up for sale for only $2. WOW! I splurged and snatched those up. Usually thrift shops send the gold off to be melted and pocket the profit. This was a charity shop. Maybe the volunteer didn't understand the difference between costume jewelry and 14K.

One day recently I found a gorgeous red silk kimono that fit me perfectly. I am wearing it now while I sit here typing at 6am. Generally I have very bad luck finding clothes I like that fit me. I feel so spoiled yet I only spent 25 cents on it. It did not come with a sash, but that's OK. I am wearing a simple black Tshirt dress I slept in, with my silk robe over it. Originally it was 50 cents, but I was shopping on senior day and when the cashier gave me the senior discount, I did not argue one bit.

A few weeks later I was in the same shop and there on a lone hanger was the red silk sash. I asked them if I could have it to go with the kimono I had previously bought. Simply amazing!

My 5th wheel kitchen is far larger than my previous Class C efficient galley. For the first time in 8 years, I can consider owning a few select kitchen appliances.

Recently I found a brand new but old food processor. The style seems to be 20 or so years old, yet the plastic bowl and sharp blades appear to have never been used. It even came with the manual folded up and stuffed inside the bowl.

Did someone keep a food processor for 20 years and never once use it?

I brought it home, washed it for good luck, then tossed in cabbage, carrots, honey, vinegar, mayonnaise, garlic, dill, salt and pepper. I gave it a few whirs until the veggies were chopped and the dressing was mixed.

Delicious homemade coleslaw was on the menu for dinner now.

Another of my favorites is I cook a lot of dried beans. When I get down to the last cup of leftover beans, I can throw them in the food processor with assorted additions coming up with a tasty bean dip that will spread on crackers or cucumber slices.

A few weeks ago, I was bragging because I came home with beautiful dining chairs that swivel, rock, rotate and roll. They are built of solid oak and ultra-suede fabric. I paid $20 but when I got home and flipped them over, I looked up their tags online. These chairs sell for $455 each new.

At another store, they were selling personal care products that had been donated by drugs stores. I stocked up my bathing and medical supplies for about 10% cost. They also had heavily discounted dishwasher soap in small boxes. I bought them out and ended up with enough dishwasher soap to last me all year for a pittance. I am oh so spoiled because this 5th wheel came with a compact dish washer.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to cook for my friends with "someone else" doing the dishes. In this case the machine. Wow.

Even Harley dog has lucked out. He is always trying to hog my afghan blankie and I don't always want to share it with him and I get tired of the doggy smell and having to wash the entire queen sized afghan so often to get rid of his canine perfume.

In the baby department I found this gorgeous baby sized afghan that was handmade and selling for the princely sum of 50 cents. It looked like it had never been used. I presented it to Harley and he was thrilled to have his own blankie now. It's so small, it's much easier for me to keep it washed and odor free. Now he doesn't covet my afghan. So it's a win win situation. 

90% of the time when he is lazing about inside, he is flopped out on his little afghan on the couch. He likes to rearrange it until it is nicely wrinkled up then he settles down on it with a contented sigh.

I need a chair for my living room, so I keep visiting various thrift shops in hopes that one day the perfect chair at a decent price turns up.

Yesterday I found a comfy chair, but it was too big.  However, I found an amazing designer tunic made of  100% cotton with matching pants at the thrift store. It looks new. It had a color coded tag. When I went to pay for it, that colored tag was half priced, so I paid 25 cents for a gorgeous outfit.

Outside on my patio area I am trying to do some container gardening to jazz up the ambience. Occasionally I am finding beautiful outdoor plant stands at the thrift stores. My garden is starting to look interesting with the plant stands enabling me to have some of my little plants at various heights.

Life is goof.

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