Extreme Thrifting

January 19, 2012

Warning: The following adventure is extreme in nature and not for the faint of heart.

It was all Martha’s idea.

It was brilliant – I wish I could take credit – but it was Martha’s brainchild. After spending an afternoon thrifting together in the fall, she suggested we make a day of it next time.

If we started early enough we could possibly get to two more towns. TWO! Think of the bargains we could find!

It would require lots of miles on the road – but if she was game for it – so was I. I mean really – a whole day with a good friend in thrift stores?! Sign me up!

Besides – she was driving! :)

It took us awhile to find a day that would work, but Angel Girl and I finally met Martha and her daughter Bethany on Monday morning for adventure.

Martha had a map and a plan. We were ready for a day of Extreme Thrifting.

Big SaleJust look at those girls – already three stores in and still looking fresh!  Nothing like a big sale at your favorite thrift store to put a smile on your face!

Early on in the adventure the girls decided to find something matching at each store we went to. Believe it or not – they almost did!WendysWith two towns down, we stopped to refuel at Wendy’s. French fries dipped in chocolate frosty’s was just the high octane we needed!

We were on to new territory! Good thing Martha had a list and a GPS. Gypsy did us proud.

The weather was perfect – we had highs in the 60′s and sunshine all afternoon!

"Go</p

Still smiling in our fourth and final town. Yes – it’s after dark and yes – they are now wearing coats. The temperatures were starting to fall.

Note the stuffed duckies – they were still on the hunt for matching things this late in the day!

ChickenWe did it! Time for stop at Chick-fil-a before heading back down the highway home.

The stats on our day of Extreme Thrifting are impressive!

We traveled to 4 different towns.

Stopped at 11 different thrift stores.

And drove over 173 miles.

But we’re not saying how much we spent!

Will our husbands ever let us do it again? I hope so – ’cause boy did we have fun! :)

PS – Hey Martha – I’m free next Thursday! <wink!>

By Country Gal | Posted in Adventures | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Oh Yeah – Like Awesome Dude!

November 5, 2011

My zany college roommate  Kimmer is here!

And anywhere that Kimmer is – there is laughter – lots of laughter!

We were browsing through the racks at the local thrift store when Kimmer quickly picked up on the fact that my kids thought our taste in clothes was a little dated – so she started pulling out ridiculous pieces to show them.

She was gushing and embarrassing them royally when – out of the craziness – Dagmar finds a nice pair of jeans of Pedro.

I look at them and say “awesome”.

Kimmer looks at them and says, “Precious!”

Dagmar almost chokes. “Awesome and precious?! Oh really! These are beastly sick pants!”

Kimmer and I look at each other blankly, “Beastly sick?”

Dagmar just shakes her head and moves on.

Okay – so maybe it’s more than our taste in clothes that’s a little dated. ;)

At home later on that afternoon -  I asked Pedro to try on the clothes that his sister found for him.

As he come out wearing his new pants, we looked at each other and tried very hard to remember the words Laura used to describe them.

Now – I should insert here that the night before we had stayed up much later than any two 40-something mothers of nine kids should – so we were pretty much brain dead.

As we were frantically trying to remember the correct terminology – Kimmer blurts out, “I know – the word starts with an F – I know it – they’re fruity!”

The room erupts with laughter.

There’s never a dull moment with Kimmer around! :)

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Memories, Teenagers | Tagged , , | Comment (1)

Annie and the Thrift Store

June 3, 2011

SandLast weekend at our family reunion – I was able to slip away with my 3 sisters-in-law and Jan’s mom to hit a couple garage sales and my favorite thrift store.

We left our very brave husbands home with all the kids – except one – Annie.

Annie to go because there was just one seat left in the van – and she was the only little one who wasn’ t muddy yet.

I’m not sure how excited she was to go an adventure with her aunts – but she was a good sport and soon learned that Auntie Melinda’s thrift stores are quite a bit different then the ones in the big city where she lives!

As soon as we walked into the Mission Possible Thrift Store Annie spotted the row of baby dolls perched right at her level on the shelves. She made a beeline for them exclaiming, “BABIES!”

Every lady in the shop stopped what they doing and said “Ohhh…how precious!”

From that moment on she had the run of the store.

She hugged baby dolls for awhile, then moved on to scarves. After she found a silky pink one and wrapped it around her neck, she moved on with Nana to the other side of the store where she discovered shoes.

Annie loves shoes. Really loves shoes.  Especially shoes that are too big.

She was in her element!

She would try on a pair of shoes and parade around the clothes rack carrying a dolly and wearing her pretty pink scarf.

The other shoppers smiled.

Her favorite pairs were a pair of fuzzy red slippers and a metallic silver heel.

At one point I overheard her say to Nana,” I think you should buy these pretty shoes Nana.”

Nana replied, “Oh my, those are very pretty Annie, but I just don’t have any metallic silver dresses to wear them with.” :)

Nana did however buy the fuzzy red slippers and Auntie Melinda bought her the pretty pink scarf.

So she left the store with a few treasures of her own and several new admirers.

She and I sat on the courthouse steps across the street eating pretzels while the other gals finished up.

When they joined us in a few minutes they were exclaiming about the great prices and their sweet finds.

I just smiled and said, “You just can’t beat a small town thrift store for great deals.”

And I’m sure Annie would add, “And lots of fun!” :)

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Thrifty Ideas | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Puzzling Thoughts

January 5, 2011

Puzzle Angel Girl is our puzzle princess.

She can take a 1000 piece puzzle and whip it into shape in no time.

Her favorite way to relax is to work on a puzzle while listening to Adventures in Odyssey or Jonathon Parks.

So while we were thrifting with Aunt Julie last week – she grew bored quickly while looking at clothes and went in search of puzzles. She found 2 of her favorite kinds  – The Hometown Collection – and bought them.

When she sat down on Monday to start the first one – she had an interesting surprise.

The puzzle pieces in the box did not match the picture on the cover.

Oops! The perils of thrift store shopping!

Now she has a puzzle to put together – but she has no idea what it should like.

I’ve noticed that it’s taken her a lot longer to work on this one – a lot more trial and error as she studies each piece for clues.

She doesn’t have the big picture.

How much easier it would be if she could just study the box lid!

It struck me that often in life I live like that – not seeing the bigger picture. I spend lots of extra time trying to fit the pieces of life together by trial and error.

It’s silly really – because I have the “box lid”  available to study – the one made by the manufacturer.

It’s called the Bible.

In it, God has given me everything I need to make the daily decisions of life. He knows how all the details should fit into place – how the finished product should look.

But I’m much too  busy trying to fit things together myself to take the time to see what the Master Designer has in mind for me.

I’m missing the big picture.

Spending  some time in the word today – and everyday – will help all those little details in life to fit together so much better!

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Deep Thoughts | Tagged , , , | Comments (7)

The Celebration Continues!

December 28, 2010

Christmas may be over – but the celebration continues here!

My sister -in – law Julie and her 2 boys are spending the week with us. It’s a week we all look forward to because they are so fun to have around.

The boys will keep themselves busy building Legos, playing the Wii and out sledding in the snow.

Meanwhile we girls will be hanging out with Aunt Julie.

Just saying that makes me smile – because Aunt Julie is really fun to hang out with.

We’ll be watching a movie when she will suddenly sit up and say, “Do you what would taste really good right now?” And the next thing we know we’re eating strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar – or eating a brownie covered with ice cream and hot fudge.

Yeah – she’s pretty fun to have around!

Do you remember the week that we had my three special nieces? Julie was here the whole week to help. She even brought meals.

Do you remember the epic one day Vacation Bible School we hosted last summer? Julie was here the entire week before to help us set up. She even taught a lesson, made the curtains for the puppet theater and created a dolphin puppet.

But we have no big projects this week. Oh no. The next few days will be spent relaxing and enjoying.

We’ll watch movies, drink hot chocolate, eat lots of goodies, and check out our favorite thrift stores.

We’ll play games, work out, go cross country skiing, and laugh – a lot.

But most importantly – we’ll make some memories!

So the celebration continues…

 

 

 

By Country Gal | Posted in Family Traditions, Friends | Tagged , , | Comments (7)