Thrifting Finds #45: The Streak is Over!

Well kiddos, this wasn't such a great week for thrifting around here.  Your ol' Uncle Veg got sick on Wednesday (another drippy, messy, snotty cold) and now The Hubster has it, so not only did we do hardly any thrifting at all, but Chez Fondue is now really nothing more than a petri dish of bacteria.

The odd thing is that in all our years together, Hubs and I have never shared a cold.  I have no idea what happened this time.

Anyway, we went out on Saturday just long enough to do the marketing and stop at a single Goodwill.  Unfortunately, the trip yielded nothing.  It was the last Saturday of the month and they were having a 50% off all clothing sale, so the place was mobbed.  I don't think I saw a single thing that was the least bit tempting.

Of course, I'm always thinking of you dear readers, so I snapped a single picture of something that well, just cried out to be photographed and preserved on the interwebz:

If you don't click to embiggen, you'll be sorry

What Is This?  The Girl Child also received this picture with the same question.  She was apparently as befuddled as I was.

So let's break this down and see if we can make some sense out of it.  It seems to be a poodle.  A poodle wearing shoes, a hat, and a rather dressy outfit (one doesn't wear marabou just anywhere, you know.)  Said poodle (who walks upright) looks to have been shopping, as evidenced by the shopping bags in her left hand.  Paw.  Whatever.

I see that she is also carrying a matching purse and a ball of...what?  Flowers?  Shiny crap?  What is that?
In conclusion, then, what we have is a well-dressed poodle who has been out on a shopping spree.

 Your homework:
1.  Why does this exist?

2.  Who thought it up?

And really, that's all I have for this week, I'm afraid.  Hopefully we'll both be feeling chipper next weekend and will be able to get out and find lots of cool stuff on which to report.  So stay tuned, okay?

Abashedly linking up with Sir Thrift A Lot, Thrifter/Maker/Fixer/Farm, The Nifty Thrifty and We Call It Junkin.