chock-a-blog

Ah, the Friday after Thanksgiving: the cleanup, the carcass, the glorious bloat. Sally Lunn bread and pumpkin pie for breakfast. A day that feels like Sunday but is really Friday. What to do? Visit 22nd Street Thrift Store, of course! After a protracted conversation with DH about the lack of income, it's especially satisfying to come home with two giant bags of stuff, all for 33 dollars and 24 cents: Cassie got a new baby. She loved it. Loved it's nose right off.

Hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I spent the day with my parents, my sister and her family, DH, and Jack. We cooked the usual: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, brussels sprouts with chestnuts in maple butter. While dining we each declared our must-have food for Thanksgiving, the food without which Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving. Mine is Sally Lunn bread. Above is a picture of the Last Slice, along with the pan we baked it in and a cup of coffee. The table ware is Frankoma pottery. Mom bought a hodge-podge set at a garage sale and gave it to me when I moved into my first apartment. I've added to it here and there over the years. We've used it as our only dishes ever since then, except for a three year stint when DH's parents gave us eight multi-colored Pfaltzgraf settings that we used for awhile. We're back to the Frankoma and I'm always looking for new pieces but ...

Another 5 Generations My last post reminded me of this picture. I wish my mom had been there. Clockwise from top left: Grandma Breene, me, Jack, and Grandma Agnew. That's five generations, if my mom had been there. I could photoshop her in, but if you're familiar with my photoshop skills, you'll be glad I didn't. This picture was taken in June of 2002. Jack was about 10 months old. No noteworthy thrifting as of late; I've been staying home! What a novel concept! I've got a lot of reading to do for my class, lots of thrifty projects to work on, and I'm actually writing a story. I'm also wasting a lot of time doing puzzles on Lunchtimers. ((((Insert warning here))))

All Souls Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys which you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. Today, the first Sunday in November, is recognized in the Episcopal Church as All Saints' Sunday. We celebrate the lives of the saints, remembering that they did not become saints because they were somehow better than the rest of us, but because they were ordinary, everyday people who allowed the Holy Spirit to work through them. All Saints is a day for remembering and giving thanks: remembering the good people we have known and giving thanks for the goodness of God. So, some good people I have known, who have taught me to be thrifty: Not all of these goo...

all this for $7.83!! After school on Friday Jack and I went to 22nd Street Thrift Store for our weekly (sometimes twice weekly) fix. I had the 50% off coupon from the Tucson Shopper (and I have another, good 'til Wednesday!) so without it we would have paid twice as much for what we got, which still would have been a good deal. But $7.83 for this small load of goodies...neighbor, that's a ganga. First find: a goodie bag of Playmobil bits and pieces, including one genuine Playmobil horse and three knock-offs (rather interesting in their stylized appearance), five guys, a few bushes, and a handful of accoutrement, including two sets of keys. Jack was practically in orbit. Bought a strange set of 4 flat, die-cut rubber shark caricatures, each about 12 inches across, for Evan. Have no idea what they're for, but I feed Evan's shark frenzy whenever I can. I found a beautiful pair of black Kenneth Cole boots for $29.99, which would have been about $15.00 with my coupon. But th...

Thrifty Halloween: A Retrospective For his first Halloween (2001), Jack wore an Old Navy suit I paid FULL PRICE for. This was in the days before thrift store shopping (microbes and whatnot) became my raisin detray. For his second Halloween, Jack was a duck. The costume was inspired by the cap, which came from The Gold Mine Thrift Store, owned and operated by my mother's former church in Cave Creek, AZ. It's a sweet little gem of a thrift store, and Ginny L., the manager, is a second grandma to Jack. I bought the onesie at WalMart and dyed it yellow, then attached feathers from a yellow feather duster to the hiney. The feet are cut from a sheet of orange craft foam. For his third Halloween, Jack was a dalmatian because, at the time, 101 Dalmatians was his favorite movie. None of this costume was thrift-store purchased, but I did spend a lot of my valuable time sewing those little black felt spots on it. For his fourth Halloween, Jack was Batman. I made the costume myself, wi...