I'm sorry I disappeared over the last few days - we have been so busy, and by the time I had a free moment I wasn't sure anything I would type would make sense. I was SO tired!
Thursday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a hike at the park. It felt so wonderful to have the sun on our skin! When we came back, we went to work again in the yard. It seems like it's never ending! I did score a few nice plastic pots at the Dollar Tree on the way home for $1 too, so I am excited to set those up soon! I was mostly turning dirt while DH was stacking branches that need to be cut down for yard waste. We still have some leaves to rake up too in the one corner, and then we'll be spreading some of the compost where we plan to plant. We leave the leaves in the one corner because the soil is so sandy that if we didn't, it would all run down the hill with the rains. The dirt in our yard is so sad :( That's why I try to do as much container gardening and raised beds as I can.
I've been on the hunt for seeds since while I still have a little extra left from last year, I'd obviously like to plant a lot more this year - but no one has anything but rose bushes in at the moment. I'll keep stalking everyone I guess.
Then yesterday we headed across the bridge for DH's eye appointment. We started our day at Goodwill by the pound as I call it (It's an outlet store where clothing and textiles are $1.59 a pound). Even though we arrived shortly after it opened, there were folks there with cart fulls - one had SEVEN carts. Seriously. He had a look out stationed to keep track of them.
...and then there was the woman with a newborn, who left the cart at the front of the store with the baby in the carseat. Seriously - anyone could have made it out the door and been gone so fast! Why do women do that??? The sad part is she even had her husband/partner/whatever with her, except he was too busy grabbing shoes to obviously sell back home to bother with holding the baby.
Grrrr.
Anyways, my "goal list" was mostly looking for vintage linens, and cloth napkins, fabric, etc. Oh, and a small valance for one of our windows. It was already so picked over, I really didn't come out with much. We purchased a couple of vintage books - one was from 1918, and it wasn't that we needed the books, but I couldn't bear to see them being trashed. (There was a guy who was digging through the book bins just flinging them across, destroying some of them. Y'all have no idea how much I wanted to thwap him with a nice, thick book!) I did find two sort of ugly napkins that I ended up taking as back up, and the kiddo ended up with an Old Navy t-shirt that said Here Comes Trouble. (haha!)
I used to love my weekly trips to this GW when we lived closer, but I think this last trip cured me for awhile. We also hit up another GW, where I managed to score a brand new dish towel, the linen kind like I like, for 99 cents.
Not a lot of thrifting luck. Oh, sure, if you like clutter, there are always lots of things to clutter your home. No thanks. I don't even find most of it tempting.
...and I've totally come to the conclusion that most women in Washington do not ever wear skirts. There hardly ever is any skirts at the thrifts we visit, and if there is, it's usually either plain black like an older suit skirt, or the same old floral patterns over... and over... and over.... again. I swear it's the same three fabric bolts. Trying to find ankle length skirts around here is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Ditto on the shirts - lately all I see are either very matronly button down shirts that I think came from the late 80s/early 90s, or tops that you have to fear your chest popping out of. There seems to be no in between! I envy those of you who can find more modest clothing in your thrifts!
Then we had a really nice lunch at the Olive Garden thanks to a gift card I had cashed out for from one of my survey panels - YUM! I tried the new chicken ravioli dish (I forget the name?) and it was soooo good! DH's appointment was across the parking lot, and as we were crossing, they called and said their doctor was running late and pushed out appointment back 15 minutes. Not a big deal, there was a Sports Authority in the same shopping complex so I asked DH if we could waste a few minutes in there. I like visiting the camping equipment! lol It wasn't a wasted trip at least, because they had some Coleman watch giftsets on clearance, and DH has been needing a new watch for work (his gets a beating) and this one was partially waterproof so it was perfect. We get to the register and I was distracted with the kiddo, so I let DH pay and walked out. Big mistake - when he came out, I asked him for the receipt and yep, go figure - he was charged the full price. Sigh! So I had to go through the hassle of doing the return, and of course, the clerk was having issues and yeah... you know my luck. So DH hurried over for his glasses while I finished that up, and he checked in for the appointment.
This was a TOTAL disaster. I am not sure what was going on, but I was so angry when they kept seeing other people before my DH. And hour and a half later, we finally choose to leave. We would have left sooner, but DH needed those glasses so bad I was biting my tongue and telling him we could wait. Finally I was so frustrated I just told them it was outrageous that they were ignoring DH's appointment and left. I mean c'mon! We had asked several times about how much longer it would be, too.
...apparently someone else in the office found out about what happened, because they called to apologize later in the day. Still doesn't make me happy, because we were all the way on that side of town specifically for that, and half our day was wasted. <<<<---- this makes me a cranky mami. lol
We finished off our day visiting the Grocery Outlet that we used to shop when we lived closer. I used to find some great deals there, so I am always excited whenever we have a chance to stop by. Sadly, not so good this time around - sniff, sniff. I had been hoping to score some #10 cans, since they usually have some great prices on them, but they only had a couple this go round - salsa, cheese sauce, and jalapenos. If I buy anymore salsa or cheese sauce, I think I am going to go crazy. We have plenty! lol At least I managed to stock up on some yogurt and cheese for a little cheaper than coupons at the grocery store, so that made me happy. Oh, and I grabbed some Sara Lee bagels for 99 cents a package, so I wouldn't have to bake today. They had the small bagels which are the perfect size for kid, and then I grabbed some everything bagels too. Mmmm... I do so love bagels! and they came in handy, because I was too tired to make anything else for dinner when we came home. LOL I couldn't get into bed fast enough!
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