This and That

Been wanting to write about what I have been up to for a while but between appointments and putting up veggies from the garden, I’ve been pretty busy.

I love thrifting. Flea markets, thrifts stores, junk shops and yard sales (we call them ‘tag sales’ up here in Nutmeg country) are favorite haunts. Lee and I have been hitting as many of those as we can find lately in our travels, including Goodwill and Salvation Army. They have online sites that you can pull up and type in your zip code and find the ones nearest your location. My latest best buy score was a set of rubber stamps from a barn sale last Sunday. I got all of these for $1! They are all used, but in good condition, other than needing some cleaning. The roller stamp appears to be self inked and it does work on all three patterns. I do have a collection of stamps and will add this to them. I haven’t played with them in a while.

I also got this neat CD rack for $3. It has screw holes in the back on the top so you can attach it to a wall. With that wide base, it won't be too tippy. I am sure I can find a corner for it. I have a lot of CDs.

Lee figures brand new it would have cost around $30. It is sturdy and with the wide base, fairly stable. I have a lot of CDs, besides my favorite folk rock albums of the 70s, I have a burgeoning collection of Celtic, New Age, and other world music (I like a lot of Native American flute stuff.) Those are my writing music, and I will pick out something that suits the mood and put on the headphones and get to work. I have been making up playlists for Windows Media Player so that I can have over an hour at a time of just a particular theme if I choose. Saves wear and tear on the original album CD too, because once they are ripped to the computer, I don’t need the CD in the drive to access it. That also allows me to use that CD drive for something else.

I got these little chests and the candle at Goodwill the last time I had an out-of-area doc appointment. I love asparagus and grow it, so the candle was a no-brainer. The fairy and angel came from Salvation Army. The fairy was NOT chipped when I brought it to the counter, I think the lady who wrapped it got careless. A touch of Sharpie will hide the nicks. I collect fantasy figures because that is primarily what I write. The "New Arrival" angel ornament is going into a bag for a neighbor couple who just had a baby girl back in June. It is in perfect shape. Under $5 worth of stuff there. I now have rings in one of the boxes and earrings in the other.

Going to Goodwill or Salvation Army is one of my ‘rewards’ for putting up with all the hoopla and rigmarole the surgeon’s office is putting me through. I have been doing workup tests and appointments all year for possible bariatric surgery, and it has been a HUGE hassle to say the least. Last time, they had ‘forgotten’ to put my appointment in the computer, so after Lee got up at 6:30 AM with me and drove us nearly 40 miles to be there at 9AM for nothing, we were both a little miffed. But hunting through the less-crowded morning aisles of the Goodwill store in that area was fun. That place gets jumping in the afternoon, you can barely move in there. Thrifting has gotten very popular and trendy.

I’d show you some more of my other recent acquisitions, but they are going to be presents, and the recipients will likely see the blog and know what they are getting in advance. I am lucky to have people in my life who don’t mind getting used things as gifts. I can afford to give someone a lot more as a gift when I can include used items. When I am out there, I am always looking for things I know those folks will enjoy.

Here are my two latest crochet projects right after they were finished.

The bag holder now has a hanging loop, and when full that mesh really stretches. Had I been able to get the skinnier part frogged (rip it, rip it, rip it apart) when I wanted to, it would have been a bit easier to use. But it is hanging in my bathroom full of plastic shopping bags, which I use to line the wastebaskets and clean the cat litter pan into. Yeah I know, those plastic bags aren’t biodegradable, but at least they are getting reused. I do have tote bags that I take shopping, but I have yet to find a viable and more environmentally safer substitute for lining the wastebaskets. Any suggestions? I don’t want to spend a lot of money on it, with 6 people in this household, I have to find budget-conscious answers to everything. The other thing is the matching toilet paper holder. It’s just something I threw together as I went along. I didn’t have patterns for either project, I just made them up as I went along. I could write one out if I took the time to count rows and stitches, and likely should have, but I was watching the ball game at the time and didn’t feel like making notes. I think they came out pretty well for unplanned projects.

Last pic is gratuitous, a big pot 8 quart of meat sauce I made the other day. We’ve been eating it off and on for several days. With Frank (the other half) on a weird work schedule and the boys in and out with college and work, it’s nice to have something you can just heat and eat. We depend on leftovers here. That way I know my family (which includes my 75 year old mother and Lee BTW) will have a hot & nutritious homemade meal. Most of the tomatoes in this were from frozen purée we had in the freezer when I ran out of canning time and jars last fall. Hamburger is 90% lean from the warehouse clubs, and that is where I get most of the spices I buy in bulk. The tomato paste I thickened it with came from annual canned goods sales and discount coupons – I will do anything to save us $$$. LOL Lots of onions too, just because I love them. Mmmm, this is good stuff. It is 3/4 gone. I can always freeze the rest.

Just some bits and pieces of my busy life…