THANKSGIVING ADVENTURES

Did everyone eat too much turkey? Too much punkin' pie? Too much chocolate pie.I tried to be good, really I did. I only had one plate full of food and two pieces of pie.

We had 15 for dinner on Thanksgiving. Not the biggest crowd we have had, but big enough. Adults, teen-agers and children. Quite a mix.

After dinner at 1:30, SweetiePie wanted to go down to the park in town so the kids could expel some energy instead of bouncing off the walls at our house. Good idea! Some of the adults went along and got a nice little stroll around the baseball field. Some of the bigger children went horseback riding.

Daddy needs a few last minutes tips on how to win this race.

ready....set...GO

SweetiePie was a close second

After the adventures in the park. We came back for dessert. I don't know about your family gatherings, but here at out house we have almost as many sweets as we do food for the main course. I put the coffee on and we dug in.

As we were cutting the desserts my daughter noticed water on the floor in front of the sink. Not a good thing.
Looked in the cabinet and there was water EVERYWHERE. Not a good thing. The drain pipe under the sink picked Thanksgiving to finally let go. The metal section of the pipe, where the dishwasher water comes into the drain had eroded and there was about a 2 inch hole in the pipe. Lovely. All of the dinner dishes had been washed and only the dessert dishes were left. Lovely, all sticky and sweet.

I'm pretty sure that this is NOT where the dishes are
supposed to be washed. Complete with peanut gallery!

After dessert it was entertainment time. Some went on a magical unicorn ride. Some serenaded us with their guitar.

giddy up

After all of the fun and games it was time for peace and quiet. Why did I clean my house before everyone arrived? I found chocolate cake crumbs in lots of places and glasses and napkins and forks and.......

But it was fun and can't wait to do it again next year....minus the sink thing.

I did get a new faucet out of the deal. As long as we had to fix under the sink, SweetiePie decided to go ahead and replace the old leaking faucet. Yeah....bonus.

WHY SO EARLY?

Hey!!! What's everyone doing up so early?

Oh, I see. Everybody is coming to your house for Thanksgiving.

Me too.

So, get off the computer and go clean the bathroom and get the turkey in the oven.

Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Don't eat too much pie!!

I'VE CREATED A MONSTER ....... OR SOMETHING

Who woulda thunk it!!

I have created a thrift shop monster. No, not the Halloween costume kind. The real kind.

If you lead someone to the thrift store you can't make them shop. Or can you?

My SweetiePie has become a thrifter. Now, if he knew I told you he would take away my car keys or something like that. Like that would work....

On Wednesday I had several packages to got to the post office and he volunteered to take them. I was knee deep in inventory that we had picked on Tuesday. Before he left he asked if I wanted to go with him. Oh, and maybe go by the GW while we are out.  Hmmmmm.....let me see. It is 1.5 miles to the PO in town and another 5.5 miles to the closest GW. It's kinda hard to GO BY the GW by accident.

What caused this turn around?

He has found some good goodies.

A Brighton belt, those are expensive.
A real Armani shirt, those are expensive.
A Tiger Woods golf shirt, those are expensive.
A fancy, smancy pair of ski pants, those are expensive.
A Ermenegildo Zenga shirt, those are expensive.
A Dale Earnhardt SR cap, not expensive but HTF.

I  have always told him he has an eye for the good stuff. (He married me didn't he?)  He He.......

Now he has proven me correct.

WHY I LIKE MY OWN BREAD

I didn't mean for it to sit there this long.
I just forgot. Then I remembered.
And then it was a challenge to see how long it would last.

What is that crazy person talking about?

A loaf of bread. This loaf of bread specifically.

Nothing out of the ordinary about a loaf of bread, right?
Some things you need to know. Our closest Kroger store closed the first week of July, 2011. This loaf of bread was purchased in November of 2010. See the best used by date of Dec 19? That would be Dec 19, 2010.

Why has said crazy person kept a loaf of bread for a year? See first paragraph.

I have found the perfect recipe to make bread. I love the bread I make. It is fresh, smells good, I know what the ingredients are and we eat it.

Not being gross or anything, but this bread has been sitting in my bread box for ONE YEAR. Where is the mold? Where is the gross stuff that happens when things decay? Do you see any of that on this loaf of bread?
Me either.

Kinda makes you wonder what kind of preservatives are IN there. And what kind of preservatives are IN YOU when you eat this bread. (No need to be embalmed when you die)

I am not picking on Kroger bread. This just happens to be the loaf that I forgot and it came from Kroger. I am sure that they are all alike.

Now THAT is a scary thought.

I think I'll keep making my own, thank you very much.

Think I should go for another year?

A THRIFTING PARTNER

I never thought this would happen.

I now have a thrifting partner. SweetiePie

SweetiePie was disabled back in March, had surgery and can no longer work. He is finally getting disability, thank goodness. It was a long time coming.

His dream was to get a metal detector to occupy his free time. He finally got one a couple of weeks ago. So far he has found less than $4 in change. Well...no one said that he was going to get rich with the thing. It just keeps him out of trouble and out of my hair.

The thrift thing. He saw me listing stuff on ebay. When stuff sold I would tell him my profit on the items. He was slightly impressed. Then he saw a couple of items that I purchased for a dollar or less and sold for a bunch more.....he was impressed.

Normally when I go thrifting I go alone. I ask him from time to time if he wants to go, but he always says he has something else going on. A couple of days ago he suggested we go to a different GW store after hearing me complain about the local GW. Well, we have already scored big on three of the items that we picked up that day and it looks good for several more.

Oh my.....I think he is hooked!!!!!

And yesterday he found a REAL Armani shirt all by himself.

That boy is going to be dangerous pretty soon.......

THINGS BETTER LEFT BEHIND......AND SOME THAT MUST COME HOME WITH YOU

I started to call this post "Things I Shouldn't Have Bought". But that is not true. Now that I have purchased these items I will KNOW next time.

The story begins with SweetiePie. He has decided that this thrift shop thing is not too bad. Why? Because he saw my paypal balance and realized I was making $$$. I keep records. Boy, do I keep records.

OK, so here are a couple of things that SweetiePie found and wanted to purchase for resale. I should mention that when we get to the thrift store we both go to different areas and start looking. He concentrates on mens clothing and I do housewares, childrens, ladies, linens, books and toys. He always brings stuff to me for approval.
Now, at first glance you see Gucci! Wow, how did the clerks at Goodwill miss that one. Normally it will be in the glass case with an armed guard. I has the GG logo, Made in Italy, Gucci....hummmm we will take a chance.  Honkkkkkkk  wrong. It is NOT Gucci. Oh it says Gucci. Could be Fred Gucci for all I know. The give away, other than the fact that the GG on the shirt is not right, is that there is no tag with fiber content. NOW YOU KNOW.

Ah, an Armani. You would think. Again the name and that is all. No Made in Italy tag and no fiber content tag. Honkkkkkkk not an Armani.
So now we are the proud owners of TWO fake shirts. Neither one is one we can wear. Honestly, I would never wear that Gucci one, ugggg...lee.

Now to stuff that needed to come home with us.

We went to a more upscale section of town and scored on some shoes. The local GW has taken to marking any shoes that appear to be better quality (Clarks, Born, Rockport, etc) with higher prices. Anywhere from $5 to $25 when all other shoes are $3.39. There was even a sign at the register one day that advertised a
comic book, first edition, for $450 firm, with a note that it was selling on ebay for $700. Well, list it on ebay then. See how long it takes you to take pics, write a description, list and wait for someone to buy the thing.
Geeze....give me a break.

But I digress.

I found these shoes for $3.39 and less. Some were $2.75 at one store. So there....take that GW. Three, maybe four of these pairs of shoes are brand new, never worn

This took 1/3 of  my cash budget for the day. But I know it will make me some $$$

It's a 12 qt. pressure canner. Retail is $75 -$100 depending on the store. Looks like it was used one or two times. Still has the paper work inside. I have the cat guarding it.


Found these today at a little store close by.

 The planet porcelain mugs are Italian cappuccino or espresso mugs, two Big Ed mugs, a California Pantry plate in gold and the single atomic salt shaker in harvest gold.

  

 I love these hugmugs! I wish they had their saucers because that would multiply the selling price by about 4. My daughter says they look like toilet seats.

I guess sometime it pays to go to the more upscale neighborhoods and sometimes it pays to stay close to home.

Hope everyone found treasures this weekend.