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?
First off, I mentioned last week that I was going to stop in to a little thrift that I had never been to. Turned out to be not worth the trip. It was a tiny little place, mostly women's and children's clothes. But it was run by dear little Church Ladies, so it was fun to at least visit.
Anyway. We usually do the bulk of our thrifting on Sundays, but this week we went to the Hubster's office and we filed and shifted files and basically worked our tails off instead. The reward, of course, was to go thrifting on Monday since we were both off.
What we weren't expecting was the mob as Savers. I had gotten an email saying they were having a 50% off sale on clothes and bed/bath, departments neither Hubs nor I are interested in. Turns out, they were giving 50% off everything and word must have gotten around because the parking lot was jammed.
Well. So back to the Hubster's office for a minute. While we were there, I took a couple of pictures of his glass collection, in case anyone's interested:
As I told him Sunday, "If you ever decide to have a Margarita party, you're set."
We did hit our usual stops on Saturday. Nothing at the Goodwill, but I did find a couple of things at the Rescue Mission thrift. I always feel bad when we go there because we hardly ever buy anything. It's one of those places where you pick out what you want, take it up to the front, and the person there makes up a price. Not my favorite way of doing business, but the people there are nice, so I don't mind.
1. Andy! Again! Yeah, I realize I just bought this album a couple of weeks ago, but I saw it sticking out and thought I could finally make a purchase. Plus, the cover's in better shape than the other one and still has the plastic on. Rescue Mission thrift, $1.00
2. Little Drummer Boy! While I was grabbing Andy, Hubs started flipping through the records and came across this. His family used to own it when he was but a tiny tot, so we bought it. The jacket isn't in very good condition and the record itself has a lot of wear, so we got it mainly for sentimental reasons. Rescue Mission thrift, $1.00
3. Singer! I had seen this book last week and meant to check whether I already owned it or not. Of course, I totally forgot, so I just up and bought it because I figured it wouldn't hang around forever. Turns out I don't own this particular one, but a slightly newer edition. Well, no big deal. I can either try to sell this on ebay or just re-donate it because it was only a buck. Rescue Mission thrift, $1.00.
And remember--"What's new for tomorrow is at Singer today!"
I just realized that I saw two individual end tables this weekend that I totally would have bought if they had been pairs.
I'm going to save the best for last, so here's what I got on Sunday.
4. Dinner in a Dish! Here's another Betty Crocker cookbook that I just had to have. I've seen some recipes from this book on some of the foodie blogs I read, and it looks like there's a lot of hilarity inside. I picked it up and told Hubs that I was only going to get it if A) the checkout lines weren't too bad and B) I found something else. Savers, $1.00 (half-price day.)
4a: Disappointment! I have been on the lookout for one of those microwave turntables because my microwave is quite old and doesn't have one (it's a genuine Radar Range, and when you close the door, it's like closing a vault.) So I was pleased as punch when I found one in a plastic bag on Savers' Wall O' Crap. Unfortunately, it didn't work, so it's getting tossed. Well, you win some, you lose some, right? Plus, it was Half-Off day, so it was only $1.50, and there were two random spoons in the bag as well.
Have you seen what those turntables go for on ebay? Crazy.
Okay, now for my Big Find. Well, big for me. A lot of you find really cool stuff all the time. Me, not so much. So I was quite pleased to bring this home:
5. Cathrineholm! I saw this out of the corner of my eye and immediately thought "That's not Cathrinholm, it's some Japanese knockoff, right?" So I picked it up and nosir, it's the genuine article! No chips, no dents, one small scratch on the side. The lid and stand were taped to it and the burner was inside. I did a little happy dance! It looks kind of pea-green here, but it's actually avocado.
I guess you want to know how much I paid, huh? Well, I'll tell you.
Are you sitting down?
Four bucks.
I know!!
Second happy dance! And that's not even the best part! The best part is that I managed to grab it before Douchebag Guy* got his grubby mitts on it! I kept wanting to prance around, waving it in his face and singsong "I got it and you didn't!"
Yes, I'm a terrible, terrible person. I'm not proud of myself.
And you can bet I've already posted this puppy on ebay! Special thanks to the Hubster, who determined that I spelled the name wrong in my listing (I thought it was Catherineholm. Turns out it's not.)
And while I was at it, I posted a couple of other things on ebay, including the patterns I got a couple of weeks ago.
*Douchebag Guy: This is a guy who is always at the Goodwill, checking the value of things on ebay, scarfing up everything before anyone else can get to it. Clearly, he's a reseller and this is how he stocks his store. I once stood behind him in line while he bought--literally--$429.83 worth of stuff. At the Goodwill. So you can imagine the sheer volume of stuff. I had one item in my hand, and he didn't say "Why don't you go first?", as I would have done. Hence his name.
Well, so kind of exciting, no? This was the best week of thrifting I've had in quite some time.
Oh, wait. I almost forgot. Time for our
Weekly Dose of WTF Saw this at the Goodwill and at first I couldn't figure out what it was. I think it's a monkey. I always like when people leave the batteries in things like this. Enjoy the video.
What I Made Department:
What with one thing and another happening this week, I hardly had to do any cooking at all. So I made
Renae's Taco Bake! This recipe came from (I think) a Taste of Home cookbook. It's basically Chili Mac, so nothing to get excited over.
Meanwhile, it was 50 degrees yesterday. Today, they're calling for 6-10 inches of snow. Sheesh.
We have a saying here in Maryland: If you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes.
Now I'm sure every area has a similar saying, and I'm sure everyone thinks their local weather is particularly variable, but the last month has just been crazy, weather-wise. We've had snow, freezing rain, sleet, regular rain (a lot), wind, fog, bitter cold, and the week before Christmas, the temperature was 70. What is happening here??
I'm grateful I don't live in say, Minnesota, where the temperature yesterday was -17F. That's seventeen degrees below zero. Not counting the wind chill. Crazy.
Anyway, things have been cooking right along here at Fondue HQ. Honey got her stitches taken out (just before Christmas, she had a little goober removed from her neck that turned out the be benign, thank goodness), all the Christmas stuff has been put away, and I'm trying to get a start on de-cluttering Chez Fondue. Let's see how long my resolve lasts.
Oh. Remember the ceramic Christmas tree I got last week with the stupid birds? Well, I found a local source for regular-shaped bulbs and replaced them. They were more expensive than getting them from Amazon ($14.50 for 145 of them), but I supported a local business and the woman who sold them to me was amusing. So I'm happy.
All the dire weather predictions this weekend made us trim our thrifting rounds a little. Still, I came home with a few things that made me happy. Before I start, though, here's a question for you: since the last week of the year is when everyone makes their donations to Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. (for the tax deduction), shouldn't the stores be packed with stuff? In my experience, everyplace we went had mostly bare shelves. What's happening here??
Okay, let's go!
1. Magazine holder! Yeah, not very exciting, but I can always use another one of these. Savers had two of them--one was $0.99 and the other was $1.99. Guess which one I bought?
2. Max Klein sewing box! This will replace the one I currently have, which doesn't have the tray insert. Consequently, everything is just rolling around in the bottom. I don't know about your monitor, but this looks like a ghastly pea-green to me, but it's really quite avacado-y in real life. Goodwill, $3.00.
3. Me in My Kitchen! Remember the copy of Your Money's Worth that I got a couple of weeks ago? Well, I found three more volumes from the set at a Goodwill 40 miles away. Who'd a thunk it? I haven't really looked through this yet, but my hopes are high for it. The other volumes I found were Crafts for Fun and Profit and Travel and Leisure.Had I known that the Goodwill was having a 50% off day, I'd have bought the crafts book, but I didn't, so I, uh, didn't. Goodwill, $1.31. (P.S. Notice the 10-cent price tag from somebody's garage sale. Yeah, I hate when that happens.)
4. Doll clothes patterns! I spotted the Skipper pattern sticking out of a basket of patterns in the crafts section of a Goodwill. This is not an area I generally look at. But I picked it up and started rifling through to see if there were any more vintage patterns. Well, you can see what I found. One of them is for Miss Revlon and one is for Betsy McCall (I think) and I don't know the names on the other ones. I got them thinking that they might be worth something on ebay to doll collectors. Not sure if that's really the case, but at 75 cents a pop, it seemed worth taking a chance. Goodwill, $0.75/ea.
Which reminds me. I still have Mom's doll collection. I should probably do something about that some day.
What I Made Department:
A: More goop!Moisturizing goop, that is. Turns out it's pretty good stuff. This time around, I used a different scent of baby lotion (Hubby likes it better) and somewhat less petroleum jelly, as I found it a little hard to work in the last time.
B: Pea soup! With smoked sausage. Yeah the picture is kind of unfortunate, but I never claimed to be a photographer. Suffice it to say that the soup tastes better than it looks.
C: Roast loin of pork! I decided we needed to start working on that bigass piece of pork we got last week, so this was the first meal from it. Yeah, it should look browner and a whole lot better (and I'm not showing you the roasted potatoes that I ended up having to finish in the microwave), but like the pea soup, it tasted pretty darn good.
If there weren't so much candy in the house, I'd have made some peanut butter fudge, too. I'll wait a little while before I start in on more candy making; we'd like to continue fitting in our clothes.
Wait! There's one more thing!
Redneck arm-farting dude!
This is not something I found at a thrift store; it was brand-new on the shelf at Big Lots. My question: Who would buy this? No, really, who? I didn't look at the price. This sort of thing just makes me kind of sad.
Greetings, everyone! (I did a little re-reading of past posts, and discovered that about 95% of the time, I start off with the word "Well." Not sure why I do that, but I thought I'd try something a little different this time!)
Okay, so it was another disappointing weekend at the thrifts. Hubs and I even stopped at a yard sale, something we never do because around here they're usually all about children's clothes and Little Tikes toys. I almost bought an old reel-to-reel tape recorder but reined myself in at the last minute.
We did, however, come across a bumper crop of WTF this weekend, though. It seemed everywhere I looked, I screwed up my face into that WTF expression, which is doing my crow's feet no good whatsoever! I took a few pictures to share, but first, here's my sole purchase of the weekend:
Click to embiggen
1, Hot buns! Well, a bun warmer, anyway. I already have one but it's not very practical, so I got this to replace it. It has the original box, which I love, but the wrong cord was inside. Luckily, I have the correct one, so everything works out. I'll need this for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it's a purely practical purchase, even though it's vintage and cool. Plus, the people on the box are pretty groovy. $3.99 at Savers.
In totally unrelated news, I discovered this coffee maker on ebay the other day, and I think it's something I need to own:
Awesome, no? I sent this picture off to the hubs and asked what he thought. His reply? "I think this belongs in our kitchen!" I'm waiting until I find one at a price that I like, though. If anyone comes across one of these in their travels for five bucks, keep me in mind, won't you?
Okay, on the the weird stuff. Bear in mind that this is only a selection of the stuff I found this weekend. There was more. Much more!
Click to embiggen and enjoy its creepiness
A. Whaaaat??? What is this? I don't even know. It's playing some kind of instrument, I think. This is super-creepy in real life. The stuff of nightmares.
Click to enjoy some serious boobage
B. Boobies!Dirty boobies, to be exact--Native American woman really should have had a bath before being donated. But my goodness, that's some cleavage, no? When I saw it, all I could think of was "motorboat!!"
And that makes me want to rant think: why do people donate filthy stuff to the Goodwill, etc? There was a cookie sheet at Savers this week that still had the grease spots from the last batch of cookies! Come on, people, wash your stuff. Donating dirty stuff is just nasty.
Don't click or you'll be sorry
C. Obligatory Creepy Clown! Yeah, the face is bad enough on this one, but there was something about the distended belly that kind of made me hurk a little. It's like he, I don't know, has some kind of disease or something. Ew.
Click to enjoy embiggen
D. What. The. F-word! This is a framed photograph. Of a gun. And bullets. WTF people, WTF? The frame was actually kind of nice, but that picture of a gun just gave me the willies. Who does that? Who frames--and presumably displays in their home--a picture of a gun?
If I were not the wonderful, kind person that I am, all of these items would have been purchased as Christmas gifts for friends and relatives. And let me tell you, I was tempted!
So, yeah. In summary, Hubs and I took a lovely cruise on the Fail Boat this weekend, thriftily speaking. We went to all of our usual stops, and even went to a smallish flea market as well. Getting out of the car at the flea market, I remarked to Hubs "Geez, I hope it isn't a bunch of Avon stuff and baby clothes."
Here's what we found at the flea market:
1. Avon stuff.
2. Baby clothes.
Maybe in the future I'll learn to keep my big yap shut.
I was really hoping to find some old slides now that I have that keen slide projector, but nothing. There was ONE piece of Tupperware I wanted (I'd never seen it in navy blue before) that would be perfect for keeping my flour in, but it looked like it was used as a sandbox toy, or led some otherwise difficult existence, so I left it there.
There were a couple of other amusing items that I also didn't buy, so I thought I'd share those with you. Because that's the kind of guy I am.
You really need to click Ami to embiggen the pic
1. Ami! Ami looks to be a friend of Barbie, but I can't be certain. This is the first fashion doll I've seen dressed as an operating-room nurse (I guess? Maybe?) Also, she's compliant! (Click the picture for proof.) She's also comfortable, well-protected, and energetic.
Plus, she's got a great personality. Just watch out when you take the mask off...
2. Weird creature! Don't adjust your monitor--he/she/it really is that color. Why? I do not know. I just take the pictures.
To be honest, I'm not sure what this is supposed to be. To me, it looks like nothing more than the offspring of a human and a hedgehog.
I should totally start buying these things and leave them lying around the house.
3. Bad nose-job bobblehead! This has so much fail I don't even know where to start. There's that nose, for one. It's pretty big even with part of it broken off. How big was it originally??? And that smile. I don't even... Who is this supposed to be? Why does it even exist?
I wanted to buy this and label it "Smile, darn ya, smile!" (extra Internet Points to anyone who gets the reference.)
In order not to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, I present you with the following totally-unrelated-to-anything-else video. This is now my all-time favorite commercial. I can't figure out who I like best; Janette? Her customer? The bored husband and grandchild? The two gals under the dryers? The sandwich itself?
If anyone out there lives near a Pals, please go there and get one of these and report back.
Hubs and I went to all our usual weekend stops. Hubs got a few things, but I got zip. Zero. Nada. Not even the humblest piece of Tupperware. And actually, that's okay, given my hoarder tendencies. I guess I need an occasional week of not bringing anything home. And look at all the money I saved!
Still, I don't want to disappoint, so I at least took a few pictures of things I didn't get. To wit:
1. Creepy Granny! Yeah, Granny here is about 2 feet tall and even creepier when you see her in person. One wonders where the original owner kept her. Even her hands were old and wrinkly. Ew.
2. Creepy Egg Dude! This may not look like much in a photograph, but he was absolutely horrifying in person. And what made it worse was that there was a hanger on his head, meaning he was a Christmas tree ornament. WTF? Who would want this on their Christmas tree?
3. Weird candle holder! This is another item I texted to The Girl Child. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to represent Mayim Bialik during the "Blossom" years.
4. Singin' Bing Crosby! Creepy? Or awesome? Yeah, it's definitely a little creepy, but that is totally trumped by the huge amount of awesomeness. I'm kind of regretting not buying him now, though I'm not sure if he worked.
Well, we were only slightly thwarted this weekend. We managed to hit all of our stops with the exception of one Goodwill: As we approached, someone (another customer, I guess), told us that the store wasn't open because the manager hadn't shown up with the key yet. We didn't wait around to see if the manager ever made it.
We didn't get too awful much, but I really like both of the things I got. So here goes:
1. Shiny Brites! I was pleasantly surprised to find these among the Dollar Store Christmas Crap on the shelves at Goodwill. They also had a box of red balls and one of blue balls, but they were just plain ones. I really like these indents and other fancies. But wait a second. Let's dolly in for a closer look at that price tag...
One dollar. I know! This was definitely my Buy O' the Month.
2. Tupperware! It just wouldn't be a worthwhile trip if I didn't come home with at least one piece of Tupperware. I had planned on getting a deviled egg plate (because the Girl Child will be visiting and she likes them), but when I saw this official Tupperware Deviled Egg Keeper, I had to get it. Now I can make them and they won't stink up my fridge (side note: I don't think I've ever made deviled eggs before. Wish me luck!) Goodwill, $1.50
And that's it, really. As a Public Service, I'd like to also show a couple of things that I didn't get. To wit:
A: Pyrex! This set was in darn fine condition, and I don't think the price was too bad ($4, $6, and $8, top to bottom), but I don't collect this pattern and I really have no need for these casseroles. But this set (and a promotional casserole I saw a while ago) brings up a question: Even if I don't collect a particular Pyrex pattern, should I be buying these things if they're reasonably priced and in good condition? I hate to leave them behind if there's someone out there in Blogland who wants them, but I just don't know. Thoughts?
Click to embiggen. No, really. Do it.
B: Pissed-off skater girl! This is one of those things I had to take a picture of and send to the Girl Child. Her response? "She's actually kind of fabulous with that blush and those highlights!"
In my defense, I did not cover it with creamed corn. There is, after all, a certain level below which even I will not sink.
I actually thought this might be good. Tamale loaf? Check. Chicken? Check. No creamed corn? Double check. The recipe actually contains a whole tablespoon of chili powder, which is practically unheard of in 1967. So why not?, I thought in my desperation to find something--anything--to make for dinner (I now understand Mom's position that cooking was the easy part, it's figuring out what to make that's the real pain.)
(And right here I almost apologized for the lack of pictures, when in reality I would only have to apologize if there were pictures.)
Anyway.
As I was preparing this, it occurred to me too late that what I was basically making was a pound cake with chicken in it. I also tossed in some sliced black olives, which ended up looking like raisins, really hammering home that whole chicken cake thing. In addition, the batter was extremely thin and runny and as I poured it into the loaf pan (vintage Corningware, natch) I thought "This is never going to work." It wasn't pretty. And it didn't smell that great either. I did mix it up in my Pyrex 404, so at least that part was pleasant.
I debated just tossing it and starting over, but hubs pointed out that we'll never know unless we actually try it. So into the oven it went.
It took a little longer to bake than the recipe indicated, but it actually solidified into a chicken cake Tamale Loaf. Of course, it stuck to the bottom of the pan, which reeeeeeeallllly didn't help the aesthetics any.
The verdict? Edible, but just barely. Certainly not worth making ever again. I knew right away this was going to need as much help as possible, so I swathed our servings with cheese, salsa, and sour cream, all of which helped to take the curse off the underlying entree.
Always on the lookout for that silver lining, I decided that at the very least, this would serve as a good Bad Example. At some point in the future, I will likely serve another loser, at which point I will be able to say (I hope) "Well, at least it's not as bad as that Chicken Cake Tamale Loaf..."
That is the sum total of money hubs and I spent in the thrifts this weekend.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to do our normal Sunday rounds; we only went to one Goodwill, and that's the one where we hardly ever get anything. We did our usual two GWs and the Rescue Mission thrift on Saturday, and it was at one of those GWs that I found my one purchase.
So what'd I get?
1. Tupperware! This canister is enormous. I wanted a piece of Tupperware to keep my flour in the freezer, but this sucker won't fit on the shelf! I suppose I could put it in the bin down below, but it might take up more real estate than it's worth. I could probably fit about 10 pounds of flour in this and there's no way I'll ever buy that much. It'd be great for keeping powder detergent, but we usually buy liquid. So now I have to come up with a good use for this, because there's no way I'm getting rid of it. $2.00
And that was the only thing I bought. Even hubs didn't get anything.
While we were out, I did take a couple of pictures of things I didn't buy.
1. Amish man! Amish man disapproves of your shenanigans. Also, is that a cold sore?
2. Nun! I totally cracked up when I saw this. The expression on her face is priceless. I call her Sister Agnes Meh.
That's all, I'm afraid. Hopefully next week will be full of Pyrex and Tupperware and all sorts of cool stuff!
Afraid to say that thrifting this week was not very productive. Hubby found a couple of interesting Martini glasses and a candlestick on Saturday, but I found nothing at all that I couldn't live without. Sunday being Easter, we did no thrifting at all. I hope to get back into our usual groove next weekend.
In the meantime, here are a few pictures of some things I didn't buy. I'm betting I don't need to explain why, either.
Belleh casting kit! All righty. Apparently, pregnant women are now able to make a plaster cast of their pregnant selves. To do what with? Hang on the wall? Serve dip? I don't get this. Is this a thing? Do women actually do this? If so, why?
Creepy lamp! This little boy clutching a doll just creeps me the you-know-what out. I think it's the eyes. The beady little eyes. That haircut's not working in his favor, either.
Creepy figurine! Imma eat dis puppeh! Nom nom nom! Clearly a homemade product, I'm not surprised it ended up on the shelf at Goodwill. There was a matching girl, but she wasn't quite so creepy. Again, I think it's the eyes (though this time they're huge and soulless.)
Also, pimp cap.
Sexy gnome! Hey, bebeh--I got something you might want to take a look at... Just never expected to ever combine "leering" and "lecherous" with "gnome" in the same sentence.
Hard workin' dragon! It's a statue! Of a dragon! With a lawn mower! Because that makes sense!
Hope to be back next week with some actual purchases.
I plan on posting pictures of stuff I pick up at the various thrift stores, but those pictures will probably be few and far between. I seem to have terrible luck at the thrifts. I read all these other blogs where people come home with good stuff all the time but for me, if I get something every 20th time, I'm doing well.
And that's okay, as I have a new hobby: I love taking pictures of weird/ugly/crazy stuff and texting them to The Girl Child. Here are a few of the gems I've come across that I didn't buy:
I don't know what this is, but I don't like it.
This doll was about 4 feet tall. Hubs and I called her Miss Havisham:
