7 year itch?

To my husband on our 7th wedding anniversary:
I knew right away that you were the one for me.
And you knew it too...
You all but worshipped me.
You were a bad boy with a beautiful heart.
You made me laugh
We wanted the same things in life you and I. Marriage and kids and love and life.
We dated for 6 weeks before you asked me to marry you.
Somehow, in that short time, we both knew. Your soul spoke to my soul. Your soul possessed my soul. We were linked and locked and madly in love.
People thought we were crazy. People thought we'd never make it. But it's been you and I together against all odds ever since.
Truth is, if I could be with anyone...I would still be with you.
You are my happy.
Sure there have been bumps and struggles along the way. And there have been unforseen twists in our path. But we just hold hands and forge our way through together. You and I against the world my love. That which might have broken us has only made us stronger.
These 7 years have brought us our two beautiful children and three sweet angels up in heaven who we'll meet and hold someday. These 7 years have taken us from house to house and city to city, but wherever you are is my home. We've been up, we've been down, and we've been stuck in the middle together. Through tragedies and hardships, through miracles and celebrations, through sickness and health. Through rich times and poor. Then, now, and forever...

You were the light in my darkest time. And,when sadness was my ocean, it was you who encouraged me to swim. 
There is no one else I would rather wake up next to, or fall asleep beside. There is only your hand when I reach out to anchor myself. You are the listener of my stories, the encourager of my dreams, you are the rock upon which I build my home.

Despite everything and through it all, I still know. You are my soulmate. You are my love. You are my life. I can't picture doing this thing without you and I love you more now than I did that frigid day seven years ago when we made our vows, to each other before God and family.
Happy Anniversary baby. You own my heart and soul and I love you more than anyone but you may ever know.

A really lot of pictures...

A lot of people tell me they don't have the patience to shop thrift stores.
I then give them a skeptical face.
You do, if you do it right.
OK, ok...right is subjective, and of course by right what I really mean is MY way.
This is how I thrift...
I just scan.
Yup. I walk the aisiles I'm interested in (womens clothes, shoes, purses, books, toys, home) I let my eyes scan the racks or shelves and if something wants to come home with me or have me take a second look, it catches my eye. Yea, sometimes I pull something out of the crammed to the max rack and go "Um..no". Sometimes it is not my size, this is slightly more disappointing because a lot of times its REALLY cute, but a size 0 or extra tiny is not gonna work on these curves, or its unfortunately too big..a size 22 I'm not. Sometimes it's too grimey or broken. But usually, it works. Particularly with books. The book shelves can no doubt be flooring for someone...especially a book lover like myself, however since I usually have little people in tow and need to keep moving fairly briskly I have trained myself to rapidly scan the shelves and only stop when something grabs my attention: An interesting title, a pretty cover, or something I've heard talked about.
That's what I do and it usually works for me.
Sure there are some days when there just isnt' much of anything for ME in a store, and that's ok. I have also learned not to buy something just to make the trip in "worth it". If it's not gonna work, its not gonna work. That's life.

Anyway...PICTURES!!
Some of these are new finds...I will indicate by saying (new) (clever I know..and I believe I mentioned I am a HUGE fan of the parentheses?)
Older stuff (older) (I am a genius!)

Woo hoo!
Buckle up, hold on tight, and away we go...

Boots. ( I don't know why some pictures are big and some are little..I have a feeling it may be my fault though...)
I know pointy toes aren't for everyone. But I happen to like them. These are genuine leather. Nine West. And $2.20. Yep.
Oh, the jeans are thrifted too...Old Navy Sweetheart Fit size 6 short (ALWAYS on the look out for these, they are my favorite "everyday" jean and less than $3 a pair..I had 2, but one just ripped the other day...ah well they had a long and well used life)

Oh..wait...(new, the boots. old, the jeans...both Value World)

These baskets were a find where I bought them just to buy them because they were so cheap without a real plan in mind, but it worked out in the end because they now house my stationary supplies. :)
And for .20 a piece how can you go wrong? They also had a previous gig as a plasticware holder at one or two of the kid's birthday parties. .40 well spent in  my opinion.
(old Value World)

I can't rotate it. I have mad photo/computer skills, clearly.

This was actually a "pricier" buy. And probably more for me than for K my 6 year old. Whatever. I like American Girls, ok?

It is a packet of paper dolls, recipes, fun history activities, etc. It's for homeschool. In theory.

$2.92, but I STRONGLY believe I had a half off coupon the day I bought this.

(Oh you dont' know about half off coupons at thrift stores?? WHAT?!! Value World fairly regularly sends out 1/2 off coupons. And that is 1/2 off EVERYTHING you buy the day you use it, not one of those pick one item to get the deal on..ahem JOANNS)

(old Value World)

 

The bowl.

It is a nice, hardwood, hand carved bowl. It's a little dinged up and scraped in a few places, but I just really loved it. It spoke to me. I had thought I might craft it up somehow, or sand it and restain it...instead I kinda like it's previous life look and it holds my elephant ostrich egg...(that my friends is another story for another day) Oh, and if memory serves (and it usually does being mostly idetic) it was less than $1

(old Value World)

 

Dick and Jane book.

Old Skool...capital.

It's a newer printing of the classic Dick and Jane stories. With an emerging reader in the house I thought it would be a good one to have on hand..and .40...yup

(new Value World)

 

I know it's not a very good picture of the dress, but I like to think the cuteness of the girl makes up for it!

Cute dress with smocking on the front. A true little girl dress, not like the crap they sell for girls this age nowdays (yep, I'm ONLY 30)

Here is another not so great view of the dress (the kid's still cute though!) With a sweater I made her, out of stash yarn, and buttons....yup..we poor...just kidding...we are, but I think it's pretty cute on my blue eyed girl regardless!
The dress was like $1.50 ish..the sweater, basically free (Some of the yarn I was given, the green was leftover from another project so doesn't count in my cost analysis...I can do that.)
(old Value World...and my yarn stash ;-) )

Nancy Drew books. .50 a piece. I have a confession............................................
I have never read Nancy Drew.
So, I bought these for me. K can read them when she gets old enough.
Hardcover books for 2 quarters, come on now!
(new Value World)

Hooked on Phonics for P (Go ahead, I know your head is saying 'Hooked on Phonics worked for me!') $1.21, for P's homeschool since he is only 3.5 and doesn't get a "real" curriculum yet.
(new and Value World)

Thomas Sheets.
To be made into "yarn"
To be made into a rug for P.
Someday people, someday...
.30
(old, value world)

Those faux stenciled words to put on your walls. They're like $15 at Target... mine were .80...yep...less than a dolla...
Someday they will actually be applied to the wall too! Really. Someday. Soon. Today?
(old, value world)

This is another thing I bought with the intentions of upcycling. It was .40 and a fairly nice piece of wood...I mean ANY wood for .40 come on! Then...well, it grew on me..and now I sort of REALLY love it. And it goes on my collage wall. Well I think it does, and really what is home decorating other than reflecting what YOU like? Well, that's what it should be at least in my opinion. :)
And here it is on my collage wall..or gallery wall, or whatever the cool thing to call random collections of junk hanging on walls is these days...

Yes, that is a spider web on the curtain rod. Don't judge.
(old, Value World)

Skinny jeans. Yes they are leopard print. My bff was rocking some the other day. (Her's weren't leopard print..though I bet she wishes they were..she used to have a leopard print living room, complete with leopard print chair shaped like a high heel...true story) So then I clearly needed to try some. And for $2.20...I mean you can't get a better try a trend out price. The jury is still out on them. Mom and Sis say that I am neither too fat nor too old to sport them. Hubby says "They're weird skinny jeans" Helpful isn't he?
(new, Value World)

I even get my stuffing at thrift stores. Sealed bag, .40...I get a lot of stuff for forty cents eh? Anyway, always a useful find. And yes, I did take a picture of my fiberfil...:-p
(old, value world)


Also, see my plaid couch? Free. From a lovely friend of mine. It's super comfy and the colors match my living room. So a total score..and a shout out to KM, thanks for hooking me up!

And, sometimes a girl really does have to splurge..and pay ::gasp:: real prices for things that are too fabulous to pass up...like these shoes for my sister's wedding...

$35 at Penny's....and WELL worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY
(I have a bit of a shoe..problem...)

And sometimes I let my hubby dress me..

Total look...::gulp::$107...
It's not a good picture of the dress, but whatever...dress, jewlery, nail polish, and hair styling...totaling more than our hotel room for that night...sometimes a girl has to be expensive...
(and my wonderful mom did buy the dress, jewlery, and lingerie..so really I only spent $20 ish on hair and nail polish)

 

 

 

Here it is! My Salvation Army! (Well the 1/4 of it I could get in the shot while keeping hold of a...boisterous 3.5 year old with the other hand...
We went a couple weekends ago...and I did not do as well though I had more time, because I also had Thing 1, Thing 2 and husband in tow. Go ahead you can laugh, it was a ridiculous idea.
I did end up with a couple things that are waiting to be made into outfits and photographed. I also passed on a couple of fab items...
Like these shoes...

They were a size 6, which is what I wear, brand new, no scuffs on the soles...and cheap...and cute!!!
Sadly, my feet were a tad too wide, so I had to leave them behind (I'm sorry shoes, I hope you are having a grand time on a stylish lady with narrower feet!)

The other was a mid thigh, black leather, jacket...it was so cute, and it fit, and...it was $20...which isn't bad, for what it was...and I had it in the cart all the way until waiting in line to check out and that's when my budget talked me into ditching it. My wardrobe is still crying over his, but budgie won out that time. I shall think about the coat fondly and picture it with my outfits for quite some time yet. I hope you too find a good home dear leather jacket...perhaps with the Chinese Laundry shoes?

MUST work on better photos...

So I said I would post pics of my Salvation Army finds...

the 2 problems are this,
a. I'm not at the weight I would like to be, though I am down 25 lbs (and stalled...)
b. I have a not quite 6 year old photgrapher.
c. I only have my phone...and there is a crack in the lens...because someone might have dropped it at the beach on the sidewalk into the sand. And it wasn't one of my kids. I'll say no more.

Shirt=$3.99
leggings, sadly will not be worn in public because they are sweater material, and this shirt is too short to cover the sheerness that the knit sweater material becomes when it is stretched across the derriere...so regular, solid, opaque leggings it is!
boots, I've had for 3-4 years, they were a Christmas gift from my mom, so of course they came from Penny's since that is the only store in existence for my momma
Purse, Salvation Army $6.99

This is a bit equestrian to me...and needs a scarf or big chunky necklace...neither of which I could find when I was taking these pictures.


See, like this....OOOh chunky necklace AND a scarf?!??
(This was my inspiration pic by the way from pinterest....of course)

Dress (new with tags) at Salvation Army $5.99 (some Target brand...eXhiliration?)
shoes Salvation Army (brand Charlotte Russe) $4.99
earrings that you can't really see..MOPS craft..yea...that's how I roll
What do we think of the weird greyish/kahki/oatmeal/weird colored stripes with the red shoes? I think some red jewlery or scarf might tie it in?

Fabulous mirror shot...yep...::~~~you do not see the broken radio and doggy bootie in the background...you do not see the memory verse writing on the mirror~~::

Old Navy dress $3.99

socks=actually sleeves cut off a tee shirt and hemmed 3 years ago or so, yea pinterest I was making mock boot socks before you even existed! So there!

It's a whole lotta brown, especially considering my nail are currently painted "Hot for Chocolate" by Revlon?

Too much brown? I kinda want to call this my girl scout uniform (Brownie, get it...haha I'm soo hilarious..smh..smh)

There is also a cute Tommy Hilfiger shirt/tunic but that pic isn't even presentable. Let's just say it's cute but maybe a little too big/loose to be flattering...the problem is to get a shirt to fit my ...*ahem* ample bosom I have to go up to a L or XL and then it can be tent like everywhere else...this may be the case on the Tommy H shirt. The jury is still out on that one...
And there you have my recent Sal Arm finds (minus the tunic/shirt)

Trying the blog thing again...

So, yea...here's a not so secret secret..I suck at blogging.
Now you know.
This in theory will be mostly about thrifting...and/or crocheting...or my kids...DIY...pinterest pins that I've attempted
OK, I clearly have a hard time staying on task...or point, or whatever.

Oooh shiny...;-)
Ok at any rate I just went to my nearest Salvation Army store last night. I have lived in my current location for almost a year and this is my first time going. Which in truth is shameful.
Not to say I haven't been to a thrift store in a year, let's be serious...but I have been driving about an hour to go to my old regular familiar haunt otherwise known as the Y-town Value World. My love affair with this store and this location in particular can be traced ALL the way back to 1996...yep before I could even drive and had to beg rides there I was rocking the cheap, fun, funky fashion mecca. They even had a different name back then..Value Village, which, let's be honest has a much better ring to it than Value World, but they didn't ask me before the big name change..so yea..

(see off topic)

At any rate the Sal Arm in my neighborhood was gorgeous. No, let's try again, it was GORGEOUS!!!!!!
Hugenormous, bright, clean, well laid out...ahhhh

Now on another tangent I will say that Value World (particularly in Y-town) CANNOT be beat for low prices...so while I am sure Salvation Army is considered "low cost" thrift to most of the "normal" world (ahh I love quotation marks and parentheses..."yay!") I find myself with a bit of sticker shock, simply because I have been spoiled by the dirt cheap prices at V.W.

Case in point, this lovely lady....
Now she is NOT leather, but a good imitation I'd say...

$6.99~!

Now I KNOW (remember I have YEARS of experience backing me here) she would have been $2.99-$3.99 at Value World. Hey a couple of bucks can be a whole 'nother piece at a thrift store!

I shall post more pics of my finds from last night soon,...you know...when I try them on and take pictures.

Oh speaking of trying on, this is where Sal Arm beats V.W. hands down...they have FITTING ROOMS! I can't tell you how many times (1,999,999,999,999,999,988,876?) I have bought something at Value World and come home to have it not fit or actually see it on and go "whaaa??" So while I didnt' utilize them last night (I got there at 8:05 and they close at 9:00 I was practically sprinting through that giant mecca) they are a feature which is maybe worth the few extra dollars you may pay overall.

Salvation Army also has paperbacks 3 for .99...

And furniture. I have a thing for other people's old furniture.

Oh come on, who am I kidding, Value World you are still my favorite!

Do you thrift? If so, where is your sweet spot?