Thrifting Finds #71: Purely Practical

Well kids, once again Hubs and I were unable to make our usual weekend rounds.  Saturday was spent doing outreach for Hubby's office, which meant all of our Saturday chores had to be pushed forward.  That left precious little time for thrifting.  Still, we managed to get to one Goodwill, and I made multiple purchases.

Not that they were exciting purchases, you understand.  Sometimes, all the thrifts yield are practical items, and I'm okay with that.  It's not like we have a huge house, and I have those unfortunate hoarder tendencies to begin with, so I need to be careful.

Enough blathering.  Here's what I got:

1.  Rubbermaid Jar!  Got this for the purpose of hauling my Half & Half to work.  I bought a newer one but the lid doesn't snap on as tight and it leaks a little bit.  Can't beat the vintage stuff!  Well, it's probably from the '90s, but I think that's considered vintage now.  Goodwill, $.50

2.  Cocktail Shaker! I don't know anything about this, but something tells me it was originally filled with some brand of premixed cocktail.  Not sure why I get that feeling, though.  The top has a crown symbol on it, but I don't recognize it as being the logo for any brand of booze.  Not that I'm an expert, you understand :)  Anyway, I bought this not to make cocktails, but for a different project.  One that I'll report on as soon as I have all the pieces.  Stay tuned--it'll be exciting!*  Goodwill, $1.48.

*Totally won't be exciting.

Discovery Department:

So, does anyone remember the Christmas tablecloth I got a few months back?  No?  Well, why would you?  So here's a picture to jog your memory:

Fast-forward to yesterday when I was looking through the Sears Christmas Wish Book for 1966 and spotted this:

That's the same one, right?  So apparently, my tablecloth was a Sears purchase.  There was no tag, so now I know it's rayon and cotton (that'll be helpful if I ever when I iron it.)  I don't know why, but I always enjoy it when I learn the provenance of things.  Maybe that's why I like it when I get something with the original price sticker on it.

And that's about it for this week, kiddos.  As far as I know, we should be able to cover more thrift ground next week, so hopefully I'll have something fascinating to report--maybe some Christmas Pyrex!  Yeah, like that  will ever happen!

P.S.  The instant coffee I mentioned last week?  Nope, still nasty.

Linking up this week with Sir Thrift A Lot, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, We Call It Junkin  and Vintage Bliss Tuesdays

Thrifting Finds #70: Hot Stuff!

Meaning "things to make stuff hot."  You people...

Anyway, you can probably guess that last week was less than fruitful, thrifting-wise.  I did a little better this week.  Nothing truly exciting, still, I'm happy with what I got.

As an aside, it seems like the thrifts have been overflowing with stuff lately.  Crap, of course, but a lot of it.  Have you noticed that too?  I just wish there were something a little better than Wal Mart junk with all the Christmas stuff they're putting out.  Oh, well.  First World problems, right?

So here's what I got!

1.  Regal Hot Pot!  I picked this up because of the coffee situation at work.  I could join the coffee club, but it's a Keurig machine and I think those little pods are way too expensive, not to mention they create an unholy amount of trash.  I used to percolate my own, but the only facilities for washing out the pot, etc. are not very convenient.  So I'm going to see if I can get used to drinking instant.  It used to be pretty nasty, but maybe they've improved it in the last 20 years?  Savers, $2.00.

2.  Yes!  More Corningware!  Hubs pointed this out to me, but I said we already had the serving tray.  I looked more closely though, and discovered this was the Electromatic Heating Tray!  Yay!  You can never have too many heating appliances when the holidays come around.  Unfortunately, the cord for the Electromatic percolator doesn't fit.  Dang,  Now I'm going to have to look for one on ebay, and you can bet it'll be 'spensive.  Goodwill, $5.00.

What I Made Department: More precisely, what I didn't make.  These:

"Meatballs Deluxe."  To be honest, I almost made these.  I had everything done to the point where they were simmering.  I leaned over and took a whiff...  Disgusting.  Really foul.  Horrified, I tasted the sauce.

Easily the worst thing I ever put in my mouth.  Ever.  You cannot imagine how vile this was.

Thinking quickly, I scooped out the meatballs into a strainer and rinsed them off.  Even the garbage disposer gagged when I unloaded the sauce.  I made some brown gravy and saved the day.  But it was a close call, lemme tell you.

Job Update:  Things are settling down some, which is a good thing.  There were a few glitches to take care of, but nothing major (so far.)  It'll take some time before everything beomes routine but isn't that always the way?

And that's it for another installment.  Linking up this week with Sir Thrift A Lot, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, We Call It Junkin  and Vintage Bliss Tuesdays