a(nother) thrifty tale

I was struck by a moment of panic recently whilst driving down "the high street" (as our main street shall hereby be known thanks to my dear friend helen), when I noticed from the corner of my eye that the doors to my local vinnies were not open at a time of day when they most definitely should have been. In fact, the shop was quite empty, devoid of all its mysterious contents, and it

had quite the air of abandonment about it. Oh no, I thought to myself, could it be gone? Was the competition just too fierce (there are three other op shops in this town, which should give you some idea of the amount of crap that people have to offload around here). Upon closer inspection, I realised there was a little hand written sign taped to the door ... reno's in progress, back in three weeks. Phew. But, seriously, three weeks? What the heck were they going to do, put in turnstiles and door security?

So, for three weeks we waited patiently. It wasn't easy, but luckily, like I said, there are other places that one can go to in these parts. And then, as I was leaving the supermarket the other day, I noticed the magic doors were once again open and off we went, jasper and I, to see what we could find. Little did we know, but it was actually the grand re-opening day, and there was a bit of a frenzied atmosphere about the place. You see, the people were keen to see the fresh white paint, the new glass shelves in the windows, and the new racks full of clothes swapped from other vinnies. I wonder what happened to all of our tired old stuff...maybe it's in taree or some other far off destination.

So, we wandered, jasper and I. We wondered past all the shiny new stuff, thinking maybe there was a nice little vintage coat or even a dress just perfect for me waiting there. Wishful thinking. Poor jasper, I could see the disappointment on his face. We left the linen till last, didn't want to rush things.
just as we were about to leave, I cast one last look over the shelves. There were the usual suspects. The faded cotton kmart sheets so common at this time of year, having been cast aside in favour of their fluffy flanelette cousins. But there, on the bottom shelf, sat three baskets full of undisturbed linen, just waiting to be rummaged. That red and green sweet thing found it's way into my hands first, then the hand embroidered butterfly number which will be just the thing for my next garden party, and then, oh joy, three juicy yards of grey and yellow vintagey rayon. I see a new dress in my future after all.
And, as if that wasn't enough, a perfectly lovely tea cosy in just the right colours for keeping my tea warm on these chilly winter mornings.

Needless to say, we came home from our little adventure feeling quite pleased with ourselves, had a "coffee tea" (as jasper likes to call it), and remarked to one another how good life really is, especially with an op shop within walking distance of one's home.

opportunistic

well, it wouldn't have been much of a holiday without a bit of op shopping somewhere along the line. I managed one trip to the nearest place of thriftiness, ie. in the next town, only to find that my most beloved of all op shops, the one where I have in the past found some of my most treasured treasures, the oppiest of all op shops, was indeed devoid of all goodness. It was full of crap. Now, I'm just going to let that slide. In my mind, it was just having a bad day, and when next I return, it will once again be brimming with good stuff just waiting to be picked up by the likes of me. So across the road I hopped, to the other, lesser op shop, the one that never really has much at all, and managed to at least score a couple of scraps of fabric, in pink and red, which as it happens are in rather short supply in my shed, so that was a good outcome I guess.so off we went home then, feeling just a little dejected (can you imagine the disappointment of the children at having no vintage treasures to share the back seat with them?), and we're driving back through the streets of my little home town, when all of a sudden I spy a roadside chuck out (er, council pick up). I can spot one of those a mile off. Actually, my husband is even better than me, but he was busy negotiating a winding road with oncoming traffic at the time.
Now this chuck out consisted mainly of furniture, and if I'd have been lucky enough to have had a trailer attached to the back of the car, then some very appealing orange vinyl chairs would certainly have made the journey home with us. But, as I was limited to small items that could be squeezed in amongst children and scooters and suitcases, this rosy tin was the only thing that I managed to salvage. and, I can honestly say that I would have been happy with that, because that really is the rosiest of tins. And, to top it off, it's a "willow" tin too, which are our favourite type of tins. But the story doesn't end there. As I'm perusing this chuck out, making sure I haven't missed anything, I happen to notice the occupant of the (very gorgeous original 50"s green fibro) house looking at me through the window, and then I'm thinking "oh, great, she's going to tell me this isn't a chuck out after all and I have to put back that sweet little rosy tin", when instead, she says "um, there's more stuff inside, if you're interested". Like I wouldn't be? Who the heck wouldn't be interested in the contents of a very gorgeous little fibro shack that looks like it hasn't been changed in last 60 years?so, off I trot down the front path, and through the loveliest of front doors, with the highest of hopes, only to find that the place had already been ransacked by other opportunists who obviously had some prior knowledge of the loot that lay waiting that day, and all I managed to find were a few plates and a little kettle for the cubby.
but then, as I'm leaving, I almost trip over a big pile of linen in the middle of loungeroom. Yes, my friends, linen. And there, in that pile of linen, I spied the tiniest peek of chenille. "Um", I uttered, in a tiny little voice, "are you getting rid of that too?", for surely no-one in their right mind gets rid of chenille. "Yes", they said, "everything".
So that, dear friends, is how I came to be the proud owner of a pair of matching totally groovy chenille bedspreads that day. Oh, and a pretty rad little cushion too. And if I were a braver mamma, and perhaps one with the type of children who regularly grace the pages of my favourite magazines, the type of children who can be trusted with such things as white chenille bedpsreads, then those bedspreads would surely be covering my childrens' beds and making them look totally cool right now. But, they are not. The type of children I have are a two year old with a texta fetish, an almost seven year old who can't help but make a mess wherever he goes, and a 9.5 year old who is frequently covered in weepy scabs, so I'm afraid white chenille is out of the question right now. For now, they will be stashed in my linen cupboard, along with my original pink ballerina version I had when I was three, waiting for the day when they can come out of hiding again.

more good stuff

went for a walk in the sunshine today, to the shops with mum, and dropped into the local vinnies as we always do, and scored the above loot. Apparently I am doing something right lately and the vinnies gods are smiling upon me. (Or would that just be St. Vincent himself? hmmn). Just the other day I was giving my very thrifty mister instructions to find me some red fabric, because it seems to be very hard to come by, and lo and behold, I walk into the local and there are two lovely specimens just waiting for me. You gotta love that. Also, a knitted school cardi I took a punt on for the willow, which he surprisingly loved and wore immediately, and says he will wear to school, as the school jumper hasn't been a big hit. Not cold enough yet, I guess.

Oh, and we're doing this now:
and also this:
I do apologise for that blinding light in the top right hand corner, but it was a bit hard getting him in the shot with all that new-found bounciness.

a pleasant day

finally had a good day today after a few ordinary ones (won't go into too much detail here, except to say that there was a dissatisfied ebay customer with very poor communication skills involved, amongst other things). Rearranged the kitchen successfully this morning whilst the baby slept, and then reluctantly had to go to the shops for nappies and other necessary supplies. On my way out the door, glanced at the rather large bag of stuff to go to the oppy, which has been sitting there for some weeks, and decided that I would in fact take it there on my way, as I'm a little tired of looking at it. I tend to have these big clean outs and get rid of things that we don't use or are sick of, and put them all in a big bag in the front room, where they inevitably stay for weeks, or even months until I finally get sick of looking at them and actually get rid of them. Does anyone else do that?
Anyhoo, since we were at the oppy anyways, we had a little look, as we often do, and found the very thing I was about to have to go and buy brand new, a size 0 bonds suit. Would you believe that when fin was a baby I didn't know about the tucky-in hand cuffs? That is one clever idea. Also found these very groovy pants, mmm, velour! After that we went to the big scary shopping centre and found a "parents with prams" park right outside the front door. What are the chances of that? All in all, nothing outstandingly marvelous happened today, but things went smoothly, and smooth is what I like.
in other good news, this lovely book arrived in the post for me last week, and I've been quietly devouring snippets of it mainly while feeding jasper, which seems fairly appropriate I guess. I'm really enjoying this one, just for the simple fact that it inspires me and has reminded me of some everyday things we can do as a family to make life more interesting (although I'm not sure we really needed much help in that department!). And guess what, it's a signed copy!! I did consider pre-ordering this one when that option became available last year, but that was never really going to happen, because I always forget to do these things. So, when I saw it in her shop recently, I went ahead and bought it. Well, actually to tell the truth, I told the mr to buy it, for mothers day. So, I guess good things really do come to those who wait.

souvenirs

no road trip would be complete without checking out what the country op-shops have to offer. Although I did not visit nearly as many as I would have liked to, due to the weather (which we won't mention anymore, as it continues outside) and also the small matter of not wanting to stop the engine too many times because the baby would wake, I did manage to bring home this modest pile of vintage linens. There were a couple of times where arran actually did a few laps of the block while I had a quick squiz. It's hard getting away with going in by myself these days though as fin and willow have developed quite a liking for the oppies as well, what can I say, it must be genetic.

I also scored five of these fab plates. Aren't they the most perfectly hazyjaneish flowers you've ever seen?

a very thrifty easter

this morning we got the little man all dressed up in his new hazyjanes that I whipped up yesterday morning while he slept for three hours, and his very funky tie dyed jacket from the lovely bohemian babes, and braved the weather to attend the annual patonga easter fete. Fin and willow both had colouring competition entries to enter, so it was a great excuse to get out of the house for a while. And look what the thrifting fairies had waiting for me:

yeah, I'm pretty darn happy with that flowery letter rack, I like the way it says "memos" rather than "bills". So much friendlier, don't you think? Another letter rack, because, you know, you can never have too many of those, a few vintage kids books, a nice little plate, and that wonderful vintage bassinet, which happens to be exactly what I've been looking for, to take away on holidays in a couple of weeks. Sadly, the kids did not win the colouring competition, but they were consoled with scones with jam and cream; my boys do like to partake in the odd devonshire tea if there's one going on.

I thought I might also add today a "real" corner of our home, because a friend who reads my blog came over recently and commented on how neat and tidy the place always looks in the pics, and how do I manage it with the kids? Well, the truth is, I don't really. The place generally looks like a bomb's gone off somewhere and also, one would think that it is a carpenter's shop, because on every available surface you might find a tape measure, maybe some screws, the odd wood sample, or if you're very lucky, even a power saw. I do have random cleaning frenzies, and arrange all my things, like my prized pippi longstocking book that the lovely mr bought me for christmas, so that they look nice, but then someone comes along with a roll of tape, or a deck of pokemon cards, and we start all over again. I've come to realise that everything in life is a work in progress, and that living with four boys will always be messy.