Silver trees and vintage stocking

Erin found me this neat vintage stocking with a flirtatious (sleepy?) reindeer this year. Love her.(The daughter and the reindeer too.) The small (18 in. silver tree) was from Patricia last year and this year is surrounded by some of the thrifty goodies she collected for me this year. I am not crazy about the way I decorated it this year but I was pretty distracted.... by the one she just brought me today! It's about a four footer and revived my will to decorate more. Jack and Jeff put even more lights outside the house while I got all the rest of my ornaments out and went wild. Even added about 100 more to the big, green tree in the living room. We agreed here, you really can't get too many ornaments on a tree.

Santa Work in Progress

My Santa and his sleigh need some help. The elves are ALL OVER IT. But really, the collection of reindeer goes on. Thrifty friend Pat just came by and gave me this new assortment of goodies for my eventual display. She used styrofoam to hold everything in her gift pack together and totally inspired me... for next year. I need to save styro slabs and get the whole Santa/reindeer show under control. Anyway, here are my new additions from Pat (what a handsome reindeer!) and my last year's collection on the counter. By next year they will all meld together, and maybe the elves can give Santa and the deer some space.

Pat: Thank you, thank you! You are the best.

International Santa Bonanza

I was thrilled to get one Int. Santa this weekend. But if you collect those guys and live anywhere on the Treasure Coast, better drive fast to the Hospice Thrift in St. Lucie West. I got eight new ones, in original packaging today. They are charging $3.00 each, but so many were ones I thought I'd never find that I started thinking I'd have to get them from Ebay. Except from there they start around $5 for what I was looking for, and then you get to pay twice that on shipping. Well, I did leave about FIFTY for anyone else. I'm just astonished. I've been wanting Latvia and Estonia forever!

Top row: Estonia, Romania, UK, Latvia. Bottom row:Germany, Patriotic USA, Russia's New Year's Eve Boy and Morocco.

I am a happy camper this morning! I also located a Billy Idol CD I think JB will love, and a Charlaine Harris book for Erin that I've never, ever heard of!!!

Sunday at Goodwill

We wanted to walk the beach this morning but we found there wasn't much to see. The surf was so rough, there was little beach to comb. So since we were close to Stuart Goodwill, we decided to pop in. Boy am I glad we did! I scored $.69 International Santa (USA) for my ever growing collection of those. Then a great planter shaped like a seashell (guess I still had beach on the brain). Goodwill is charging lots more these days for books but friend Mary and I have both been searching for copies of The Orchid Thief. Well, My heart skipped a beat when I located a pristine, lovely copy this morning. Then I opened it..... SIGNED!!! And the final find as I was leaving, this great old Santa. He is about nine inches tall and makes me happy. What a nice Sunday morning break.

Wednesday Finds

I hadn't been having much luck lately at the thrift stores, and then yesterday, score. A tour of Jensen Beach and PSL yielded four Vera cloth napkins, a great round vase, bought for the pretty dragonfly painted on it, brand new Dexter flower sandals in my size, and a 100% silk blouse with a flattering collar and best of all, fritillary flowers on it! Not shown, a couple of spectacular finds for E & B to be given as a "thrift gift". Just a hint on that purchase, got them home, looked them up online and discovered I "saved" over $150!!!! Great considering I spent $12 to get the secret items!!! They will LOVE them. (and I love teasing Erin well in advance of Christmas....)

Wicker Goodies

Last week, before the flu overwhelmed our home, I found this great old wicker fern stand at Dogs and Cats for $7.00. I know that is a hoya in it, there are no pretty, fresh ferns to be found right now at the garden shops. But I keep looking. It was white and gray peeling paint, and I had a can left of Nutmeg satin spray paint left from when I did last year's wicker table (which the kitties think is a very pretty cat bunkbed). So on the pool deck, pretty, freshened up, nutmeg colored wicker goodies!! The cat bunkbed/table was even less than the fern stand, if I remember correctly, about $5!

Fossil bag and Agatha too

Yesterday at a new (to us) store in Vero called Serendipity I scored. It says thrift store on the awning, but it's thrifty upscale consignment. Beautiful clothing, all designer, but too much in sizes 6,8,10 for this crowd! I fell hard for the Fossil bag. Suede and leather, numbered etc, and still with the key in super pristine shape for $12.00. And three great old Agatha Christie books, nicely bound, from the 1960's. They were all three for $5.00. Not my lowest priced thrift trip, but I am in love with all.

Back in the Thrift Zone

The last couple of trips to the thrifts, I have found nothing. Nada, not one single thing. Then today!!! They had the grand opening in Jensen Beach of the Goodwill Boutique. I was number thirty eight in line, and was astonished that photographers were there to record the event. Anyway, I got a book. And a couple of secret Christmas Thrift Gifts. But then, we moved on. The sweater is amazing. All knit in Peru from cotton, and with hand painted ceramic buttons. And little tiny Peruvian dolls in all the hot air balloon baskets? Well, that one set me back a whole $1.90. And the books? Thrifty pal Patricia is currently in school and taking a class called "Teaching Music to Elementary Students??" Well, no brainer there. If she already has the books, she will at least adore the 1961-1963 art in them. La la, happy thrifty day!

And all I got was this stupid T-Shirt

We stopped at this thrift store yesterday (Angel Aid on Beach Blvd, across from WalMart) And it had a huge sign that was 75% everything in the store. It was crazy.

Sometimes I have this dream. I'm not proud of this, but here it is. I'm shopping, and the store has all this stuff I love, and it's all CRAZY cheap. I mean cheap enough that even my husband would say, "Of course you should get ALL of them!". Well this shopping trip was like that.

You can click this to see these bigger. Almost all the kid clothes were 25cents. Books were whatever 25% of 50cents is. The girl dress was 25cents. I had to buy it for my friend Annette's daughter. I mean I HAVE to see a little girl in that dress! Then the work type shirts for my husband. They are all exactly his size. That never happens! Then they are mostly fancy designer name brands. AND about half of them had original store tags!

Jacksonville will miss you, apparently dead guy with Brian's same size and taste who donated all your clothes to the Angel Aid thrift store. We will take good care of your entire wardrobe. Yeah, that book is Blubber. That book has special secret meanings for me. (NOT because I'm fat either) But it's a secret and I don't want to kill you so I'll just go now.

Books, Kitsch, Ben and Jerry's Tour

It has been a crazy summer with our two week vacation, one family wedding in St. Augustine and the second family wedding in Vermont which left little time for thrifty adventures. Tomorrow we set out on the Christmas in July thrift store tour. But for now, a pile of books from yesterday, two little acryllic seashell goodies, Yankee collectable pillows for Jeff and a photo of a Ben and Jerry's tour ticket. That is in here because if you get near Stowe, Vermont, don't miss that place. The tour is a laugh a minute, and thrifty because admission is only $3.00! The fresh air and mountain scenery is all free.

Free Shopping at my best Thrift Store!

So a few weeks ago (actually about two months now) we adopted a dog from the Humane Society Animal Shelter. Every few weeks they send me a survey about him and if I fill it out I get a $10 gift certificate to the Animal Shelter Thrift Store. (Which is my favorite one in town)

I went today and got the kids a weird wheel shaped container that is for storing matchbox cars, a pile of magazines and a few T-Shirts that have the Animal Shelter logo on them. Then I saw it. The most lovely chunky necklace ever. Two dollars! And it goes with almost everything I own. I really love it. I'm not a huge jewerly person, but I've been wanting to get a piece like this that would go with a lot and make a nice touch to my outfits. I wear a TON of solid colored shirts that are similar to this one. I mean I have like 30 shirts like this and 3 other shirts. So this is perfect. And it was FREE with my gift certificate! And I'll get another gift certificate in a few weeks! And I have a dog.

The dog is sort of a thrift find, I mean I got him used...
His name is Wilbur. I picked him totally based on personality. He is super gentle with the boys. That was pretty much my only criteria. He's friendly and super smart. He's pretty cute. He's also a bit of trouble. He is still a puppy (9 months) and he chews a lot of stuff. He also digs holes in the yard. I'm working on doing lots of training to keep his mind active to help with these problems. In good news the kids NEVER leave their toys out anymore! My home has never been more clean. And I never skip my morning walks. There is a huge difference in his behavior if I take him on my morning walk or if I don't.

New Computer, hope it works

I have just uploaded photos from the "old" camera, onto the very new computer. Whole new way of doing this, and soooo much easier. Let's see if it works. First, a sweater. perfect for sister Sue, Sigrid Olson. It was $1.98 at Goodwill. And mine, a Christmas sweater, lightweight and blue, and perfect for FLA winters, same cost at Vero Beach ..... works for me.

Goodwill Gurley Greatness!!!!!!

I was in the right place, at exactly the right time today. That would be Olso Road, Vero Beach, Goodwill, at just about 2:00 PM. The man is putting out a yellow bin of new stuff. And RIGHT THERE ON TOP!!!! a whole set of Gurley Thanksgiving candles. No wear, unburned wicks.... they did ink out the original price of ten cents on the little ones, and 49 on the big, but hey, I paid $3.70 for this whole group of real live Gurley candles!! I am over the moon.

Free, Pretty, Pretty Planter

I had my stepdaughter Katie with me yesterday, so Patricia , Katie and I headed out to a community wide flea market. I can't put in the photo of the delicious Woodland Pyrex mixing bowl we got for $2.50 because it's already full to the brim of leftover corned beef and cabbage dinner. We got a book and a pair of shorts to wear in the garden. But the story is, we are in the first aisle and a nice but frazzled lady grabs me and says, "are you the lady that just bought my golf clubs?" I assured her I'd just walked in, hadn't bought anything yet. A few aisles later she grabs me, "are you the lady that bought my golf clubs?" I told her, no, you already asked me. So she goes away. Finally we are leaving, outside in the foyer, and here she comes AGAIN! "Are you the lady.... oh, wait, haven't I asked you already a couple of times?" I assured her it was not me who bought her clubs! So she says, "But it was a lady in a brown shirt with her daughter.. just like you". Turns out that mystery shopper was so excited about the golf clubs, she left this darling porcelain planter she had paid for. The poor frazzled lady just gave it to me for free. She was totally relieved to be done with her search, and I am quite sure she really thinks I bought her golf clubs too. Ah well.

Getting crafty

I want to share a few things I have made with my thrift finds and a set of recycled glass!

First is a plain old record!

You can make a cool record bowl like this:












Super fun and easy to make- pre-heat oven at 200 degrees. Get a cookie sheet and an oven safe 9 inch bowl. Put bowl upside down on cookie sheet place in oven then center the record on top of it for 5 minutes. Take it out and shape it. Don't like how you shaped it NO problem but it back in oven and heat it up again and re-shape it. Records are super cheap at my local thrift store- 99 cents! Then you still have the album cover to use in another project, maybe a journal cover???? So, for my 99 cents I can made at least 2 cool projects! These would be so fun to use as a gift basket. Think of all the possiblities!

Another thing I think is super fun is to make a terriaum out of old jars that you get at thrift stores. Here is one that I made with the plants for around $2.00.




















I took the lid of to get a better photo of it! Another sweet gift in my opinion!

Then finally, I will show you the glasses that I pick up for .49 each- I got all 4 of them that they had. They are made out of the bottom of a beer bottle! So cool and GREEN (in more than one way...lol)



















Oh yes, that is Lil William that I got at the thrift store too! He is saying HI! He makes me laugh!

Have a great Friday!

Books and My Sad Camera

My wonderful husband is working "remotely" which means he works all day, but from home. They get to do that now and then and he always gets twice as much work done. But I try to stay out of his hair on those rare days he choses to do that. So I grabbed my friend Carol and we were only going to the Home Depot to "look" at flowers. Right. There are four great thrift stores right there within seconds of Home Depot. So, I got ANOTHER stack of books. Two things about me, I LOVE BOOKS, and I hate my camera. But anyway, Carol, who is something of a professional shopper (working in another career right now, but darn she's good) did not share our love of thrift stores. Till once I took her and she got two brand new thermos bottles for something like $2 each. She was stunned - and awakened to thrifty goodness. So today, we hit Goodwill, Dogs and Cats and St. Vincent DePaul. My "non thrifting" buddy got stacks and stacks of books! Stuff she wanted from the library and they never had in. Stuff she always wanted to read, but.... She is converted. She spent less than $10 today and it took a good while to unpack her thrifty goodness from my car. And yes. We got some plants. And soil, and manure, and paint and..... at Home Depot.

Anyhow, here is my today stack. The "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" is an old fave, but I only had it in paperback. And this one is still in plastic shrinkwrap. Hmm. And I included a shot of one of our bedroom walls, which probably won't come out (darned camera!) and you can see that I have to get new bookcases. Those are FULL!

Finally something to post

I just hate WI in the weather no thrifting :( I did hit up my local goodwill this weekend and scored this desk and chair of my oldest son's room! Only 10 bucks and he loves it!




















Have a wonderful weekend!

Garden Art, Indoor Art and More

I didn't even think I felt like hitting the thrifts today, but I am so glad I did it! Great new shirt for me in the prettiest colors, with palm trees on it. The usual pile of books, one new Hamilton for Erin's collection. Then I found this neat tin which I bought (fifty cents, I mean really!) just because the colors are beautiful. Then at a used furniture store I found these three stone birds! That thing weighs a ton, and is going either in the garden or maybe on the pool deck. Finally and maybe my favorite thing of the day, this old watercolor print of pansies. The paper on the back says "A Turner Wall Accessory" over and over on it. Does that make it a "Turner print"? I didn't really care, It is beautiful and was just $7.00. So.... happy day for me!

I have to get a new camera soon, this one just isn't doing what I want. And I apologise, Gypsy Kitten seems to have found her way into at least two photos. She loves when I bring new things into her home. Grocery day is beyond thrilling for her.

Thrifty Job for me!

I sorta got a thrifty job! Well it's volunteer. And come as you please, no schedule. But ANYHOW I signed up with Friends of the Library today and was looking at their books. (got 7 of them) So I ask about volunteering and the lady was so excited to have me. So Saturday mornings, when I can, I will go down there and sort books. There is a huge warehouse and just gobs and gobs of books. Tens of thousands of books. Can you believe it? So I'll go in and sort them into grouped by author's last name, Like a box of A's and so on.

AND I get first crack at the books I am sorting. AND every 3 hour shift I work I get to take two free books. Not that they are expensive or that I mind paying for them, but still FREE books? SWOOON.

I don't start until after the super huge Friends of the Library book sale that is in a few weeks. Until then it's serious working going on, getting the 5 semi's ready to take books to that. Oh and I get to go to that the day before it opens! That's because I joined, not because I'm a volunteer.

I'm way excited, I've wanted to get involved in something that I could do without cutting into family time. This is perfect, if the family needs me I simply don't go. If we are just haning out I do go, and it's just in the mornings.

I thought you guys would appreciate it. :)

Mostly Books

I recently decided that it's silly how I keep checking out the Laurel K Hamilton books out of the library over and over. So I want to own them. ALL of them. The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter ones and the Merry ones. I don't like short stories, so none of those.

I have these great bookcases that are half empty, so it was time to hit my thrift stores for books. (note the thrift find mushroom, which Mom hated, and all my Atlas books, also thrift)

Me and the kids have been sick so I only did one store today. I got all these. (Oh Mom, I want the Mammoth Hunter books now too. I apparently have Plains of Passage) The Feast for All Seasons and the Stephen King one are for mom. I got TWO Hamiltons! And oddly they are both from my library and discards... I wonder if there is a list I can get on, "If you discard any more Hamiltons please call Erin because she wants them" list? I also got this shirt. Not much to look at, but I have FOUR skirts that needed this shirt. You know, to make them winter wear.

Here is one of the skirts. I decided it works with my Ireland tee shirt too but the cream looks even better and will carry it to church for me. I share the skirt pic because that's also a thrift find... as is the table and chairs in this pic. LOTS of thrift stuff here at Casa De Kellogg. (Stephen took this pic, I think he took it at the most unflattering angel ever. I promise I look skinnier than that in MY mind at least. I thought I looked pretty hot today... ) All my finds (well the books and shirt, I can't keep track of tables and odds and ends like that in photos) are from the Humane Society Thrift Store on Beach Blvd in Jacksonville, FL. It's an awesome store. They did paint over the awesome mural though. I keep forgetting to ask why, it was BEAUTIFUL.

Thrift Store Ambiance

I got caught up this morning on that addictive website The ThriftShopper. Some people were telling awful stories about nasty smells and dirty things found in the local thrift stores. Well, we must be lucky here on the Treasure Coast. I've never run into the awful dirt these folks are talking about.
But I do have one neat story to share. I was in the Goodwill store a few months ago. This shabby, confused looking young man walks in and goes to the back, to where someone had donated a beautiful piano! ($150, bet it didn't last long). This guy sits on the bench --- and started to play the most wonderful music! It wasn't long before people were all gathered around just listening to him. He played for about half an hour, then got up and walked out of the store. It was just amazing! I think about him from time to time and wonder who he is, if he's okay.....what a talent.

Rhinovirus Recovery Thrift Trip

I haven't been out of the house in over a week! I caught a really ugly cold. People who think we don't catch colds in FLA are just plain wrong. That was yucky! Anyway, thrifty friend Pat said we had to get out, since it had been at least twelve days since my last thrift! Plus we were dying for lunch at the Cracker Barrel. And boy was that good!.... I could not resist these beautiful shorts for my sister Sue, who's coming to visit all the way from Massachusetts, in June. I love them so much, I'm getting her two shirts, non-thrift, that will match from the local Bealls. Then... same store, Hibiscus House Treasure....(where everything is always at least 50% off the marked price) a great wool sweater for her husband Fran who is apparently out of sweaters up there in the north. Silk shorts and pure New Zealand wool sweater, total $4.00. I'm on a roll.

I found the two Corelle cereal bowls in a pattern I've never seen for $1.00 at a new place in Port St. Lucie, and along with those, this 250 count box of baseball cards for Jeff. Those were $2.00.

Then a quick visit to Goodwill who had one luncheon plate, Old Towne pattern for Erin's collection.

We were not ready to quit so we went to a new "antique emporium" in Fort Pierce, and I think I really scored there. Erin wanted a 2.5 qt Pyrex casserole with lid. Well, there it was calling me, the Crazy Daisy pattern that I believe is supposed to coordinate with her Corelle Spring Blossom.. Two and a half quarts, pristine condition with lid, for $8.00!! I think I did well on that. All the other Pyrex I see does not have lids. Or it's smaller, or scraped to death. Anyone think $8 is pretty darn good on that large casserole???? And I almost forgot, Erin's long awaited butter dish. Milk glass, perfect condition, $1.00 (??? hooray) at Goodwill.

Gosh, it's good to feel healthy again, it's good to get out and thrift!!!

And it was really quite thrilling to see our blog here mentioned on The Thriftshopper! One of our friends asked Erin, "is that you guys?" Yep, we enjoyed our little bit of fame there. I'm in mid south FLA. Erin, my daughter, is in Jacksonville. My stepson Jeff is here with us and with his mom in Stuart FL. Then Kim, our dear friend, is up in Wisconsin! I still stay envious though. Looks to me like the best thrifting ever seems to be done in Philly, Pittsburg, that general area.....