Monday, December 8, 2014

Thrifting Finds #74: It's beginning to look a lot like

Christmas!  Yay!

Please bear with me--I have a feeling there's going to be a whole lot of rambling today.  More than usual, I mean.

Okay, to get right to the heart of the artichoke, so to speak, my thrift finds this week were nothing.  Again.  I could tell you how sick I am of looking at crappy Christmas stuff, but I believe we've already covered that in depth.

So this week I'm going to talk about other stuff, mostly Christmassy!  Your ol' Uncle Veg loves Christmas, dontcha know?

In keeping with the season, I've been perusing (again) my collection of Christmas catalogs, mostly from the 60's.  We're talking the major players here--Sears, Montgomery Ward, and Penneys--as well as some Minor League names--Gamble/Aldens, Spiegel, National Bellas Hess.

There are two themes in these catalogs that just kind of surprise me.  And it's not just one company--it's all of them:

1.  His 'n Her's matching outfits.  These catalogs have tons of these outfits--matching shirts, pants, sweaters, jackets, and on and on.  Did anyone actually wear these?  I don't ever remember seeing any couples in matching clothes.  My parents never did this, nor did the parents of any of my friends.  You find this thing throughout the 60's.  Weird.

2.  Slippers.  OMG, each catalog has a section of just pages and pages of slippers--for Mom!  For Dad!  For the kids!  Dozens of selections for each member of the family.  Were cold feet a problem back then?  Were winters particularly harsh?  Was one expected to have a wardrobe of slippers?

See?  Rambling.

In other news, Hubs and I joined the 21st Century!  Those who know us know that we don't watch much TV.  Remember when I dropped FIOS TV?  Generally, we'll get a season of some old show from the library and watch a couple of episodes a night, on my vintage Zenith Avanti:

I love the set and it looks great in the den, but it's finally starting to go.  I could try to repair it myself (I've repaired TVs before, with varying success), but it seemed time to maybe upgrade a bit.  So I went out and bought ourselves a Smart TV:
It's a Samsung

Normally, I hate when my appliances are smarter than I am, but we're loving this.  There is a ton of stuff you can do with this, but so far, we've just watched DVDs and stuff on Youtube (did you know you can get the Christmas 1968 episode of Hollywood Palace on Youtube?  We'll be watching that, for sure!)  I just need to figure out what to do with it.  For now, it's on top of the Avanti, which is a look I hate.  I could mount it on the wall, or I could get a stand for it and trash the Avanti.  What do you think I should do?  Help!

What I Made Dept:

The Annual Cookie Extravaganza has officially begun!  So far, I've made three different kinds.


Cherry Jumbles!  I actually made these before Thanksgiving and stuck 'em in the freezer.


Platinum Blondes!  This picture is a retread from last year, but they look the same.  Also sitting in the freezer.


M&M Cookies!  My brother's favorite, and my Yearly Sacrifice (I hate making cookies.)  So far I've made 6 dozen, and have another 6 dozen to go.  But at least I'm halfway through, right?

By the way, I found the best cookie scoop ever.  I went to Bed Bath & Beyond looking for an Oxo scoop, but I wasn't impressed by it.  The I found this one:


It's super comfortable.  It was 10 bucks.



The House is Decorated!  Anyone who's read this blog for a while will not be surprised by the following pictures.  I have no imagination so I end up doing the same thing every year.  Hubs and I realized just yesterday that we only have white trees this year.  Not quite sure how that happened.

The Big Tree!  I don't know why it always looks pink in pictures, because it doesn't look that way in Real Life.


The Hubster's Tree!  The string of lights gave up this year and we had to replace it with LEDs, which I'm not crazy about.  They're too bright for one thing, and the colors seem a little "off" to me.  Here's a closeup of the 

Toys Under the Tree!  My goal is to turn this into a vintage toy tree, but until I have enough miniatures, they'll just go under the tree.  Most are Hallmark ornaments, with a few others thrown in.  The Chatty Cathy talks--even makes the "string pulling" noise!  The record player plays "Rudolph".  Loud.


You've Seen This Before!  Shiny Brites in the urn, my Dollar Store candle shade, and the talking Santa pillow I fixed.  If you look closely, you can see the decoration Hubs made when he was just a little tad.  Cute?  I'll say!

Hohman, IN!  This year, I got to put up my Christmas Story houses 'n things.  These are already a few years old, and far superior the the ones they're selling now.  I'm really glad I got them when I did.  Sorry for the crappy picture--I was using the zoom feature on my phone.


Basho and Tinkles!  They wish you the Merriest of Christmases!!



My Cubicle!  Not many people seem to decorate around here, but I thought I'd bring a little cheer to the office, so I made this.  I don't know if you can tell, but there are lights in it.  Other than the wreath itself (4 bucks on sale at Michael's), everything came from the Dollar Store.  I used a lot of hot glue...

And that's about all I can think of for this week.  I think I used more pictures in this post than in any previous one, even though there are no actual thrift purchases.  I guess that says something, but darned if I know what!






17 comments:

  1. I despise LED lights, they ARE totally too bright and they hurt my eyes. So refuse to get them. Lights on a tree should be complimentary NOT blinding and painful. Your's actually looks nice so I'll let it slide : ) What is UP with slippers, seriously so many of them even today. I never wear them, does anybody?

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    1. I do wear slippers, but I only feel the need to have one pair, not a pair that coordinates with every outfit!
      Yeah, not happy with the LEDs, but they were the only multi-colored lights we could find with a white wire. I hope we'll get used to them.

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  2. You are so lucky to have Christmas catalogues - I have lots of regular ones but still looking for an affordable Christmas one! Someday...

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    1. Luckily, a lot of them are ones that have been in the family since they came out. I have bought a few but only if I can find them at reasonable prices--which is near impossible these days!
      Have you checked out http://www.wishbookweb.com/ ? It hasn't been updated in a while, but it's a whole lot of fun.

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  3. I remember all the pages and pages of slippers! LOL! I remember wearing slippers growing up. Everyone in the family wore them as my dad wouldn't let us go barefoot in the winter. Now I hardly ever wear shoes in the house. I think he thought we would get a cold. I will have to ask him. Love your trees!

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    1. Thanks--I really miss our trees when they come down.
      Isn't it weird about the slippers? I think Sears offered more slippers than, say, winter coats. Maybe there was a huge profit margin there?

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  4. I am so impressed that you make so many cookies, yet hate making them. I like making cookies but am lazy and will eat them, so no cookies get made at my house. I have to tell you my slipper story. My mother INSISTED on my brother and I wear slippers in the house because of the oils from our feet. I kid you not, oils! She claimed that really most body parts were oily and would mark walls, furniture or any surface they touched. So, slippers on the feet to stop the ooze. She claims that my aunt's house smelled like feet, because they went barefoot.
    I am still trying to recover living with an OCD mother who cleaned as though God himself was watching.

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    1. I LOVE your slipper story! We had to wear them because Mom was afraid we were going to step on something and INSTANTLY get tetanus. And I think she was under the impression that cold feet led to sickness. Moms...
      I'm getting a little better at the whole cookie thing. I still hate to make them, but the right equipment sure makes the process a whole lot easier. P.S. What I don't give away gets frozen. Otherwise, Hubs would devour them in a couple of days!

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  5. Toys under the tree...oh how I love it! I use a lot of dolls and vintage toys in my decor, too! Happy holidays, Diane

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    1. Why thank you! And the same to you and yours.
      One of these days I'll post some pictures of my "full size" vintage toy collection if anyone is interested.

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  6. Least year, too many weeks before Thanksgiving to take advantage of any good sales, our box of a TV died...pop...smoke...sizzle. My wife quickly disengaged it from the cable box, picked it up and put it out in the yard. So, we reluctantly had to buy a TV. There are no more boxy TVs anymore, so a slim black rectangle was in order. It has a great picture if you're the only one in the room sitting directly in front of it, otherwise, it is a little weird. It isn't big, but it sits only about a yard from us while sitting at the table. We have a super huge box TV in the living room. We know it will go some day, but hopefully not any time soon. The problem with the slim TVs is that we don't know what to sit them on. The tables we have are so deep that they look funny with a skinny TV on them. I think the new ones should hover in place! Also of note: Chatty Cathy...had one...loved her. My sister had a Chatty Baby. LED lights...yuck! Maybe next year they will "improve" by dimming them down! We can only hope!

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    1. There's a chance I could save my console TV, but even I have to admit that life's a lot easier with the current technology. The only problem I have with the new flat screens is that I don't like that big flat slab o' blackness. I wish there was something you could stick on the front to make it look like a picture or something while you're not watching it.
      I have a Tiny Chatty Brother in the queue waiting to have his voice repaired. I want to practice on him before attempting my Chatty Cathy.
      I'm with you on the LED lights. They're almost blinding!

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  7. His and hers outfits! Hilarious. I'm pretty sure my parents didn't have any of those! :) I put my TV inside an armoire so I can close the doors and not look at it when we're not watching it...although the kids are ALWAYS watching it. ;)

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    1. I've seen pictures where people hang cafe curtains in front of the flat screen TV to hide it. Yeah, that's really not happening!
      Those His 'n Hers outfits just kill me. There were also a lot of matching mother-daughter outfits, but at least those made a little sense.

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  8. Oh wow, I had one of those talking Santa pillows as a child and had completely forgotten it until I saw your photo. Thanks for the memory!

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    1. I never knew about it until I saw it in a Wards Christmas catalog. I think some gas stations sold them as premiums, as well.

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    2. I never knew about it until I saw it in a Wards Christmas catalog. I think some gas stations sold them as premiums, as well.

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