Every Garden Needs a Shovel

Hot. It's what summers around here are.

Water. It's where we go to get some relief. Lucky for us the Snake River runs through our town and when it's hot people are in it.

Fun. What I had when my friend called me up to see if my kids and her kids wanted to go down the to swimming area.

Gardening. My husband and I's fledgling summer hobby. We are novices at best, however we still need shovels, and since there are two of us two shovels would be great, but until this post, we only had one.

Drowning. That describes the garden shovel I found buried in the mud in the swimming area my friend and I had gone to. I made sure it wasn't actually a "lost sand toy" by the surrounding kids and I took it home.

Happy. Me upon discovering that good deals can strike anywhere.

Free Day

Friday, 9:00 pm 
My sister informs me she has a voicemail from my mom.

Friday, 9:30 pm
My sister returns call to said mom as she is leaving my house. My sister waives her hand in the air, giving me the "no big deal/not an emergency" signal. I still mouth to her, "what's up?!" She then mouths back "oh just good will stuff." I let it go, she and her husband are leaving my house, she is on the phone and out the door.  I can't get the details, but If my mom calls my sister and the subject is goodwill, something is up and I go to be a bit curious.


Saturday, 10:30 am.
My husband, my children, and I go down to river to check out the jet boat races. My husband calls my dad to join us. Perfect, I can discover the news. So after my dad visits awhile I dig in,
"Dad, what was mom calling Amy about last night?"
"Oh, she was just telling her about free day at St. Vincent DePaul, your mom came home with bags of stuff, tags still on some of them."
My mind explodes, free day?! What? I've never heard of a free day. Of course I haven't, I am new.

Saturday 1:00 pm
My curiosity finally takes over and I head down to St. Vinnies (as we affectionately call our local St. Vincent DePaul) and I discover a very much picked over store, but sure enough, waiting just for me, one pair of J. Crew sandals. I take them of course, who cares if they don't really work out because, they are free and they are J. Crew. I gather a few other items, thinking well if they don't fit or work out, I will just give them back. I rather nervously head to the check out, will I have to mention it's free day? I mean how do you check out, when it's supposed to be free?

Saturday, 1:45 pm
I am in the check out line when I realize they are taking coupons. I panic. Coupons? I don't have a "free stuff" coupon. Will I have to pay? What if I don't want to? Will they think I am a complete and total cheapo not wanting to give $2 to St. Vinnies, it's charity for crying out loud.

Saturday 1:50 pm
Much to my relief no coupon was necessary. Much to my surprise they do this EVERY YEAR, before school starts. Well guess who is marking their calendar to be checking in at St. Vinnies next year around late August?

Saturday 2:00 pm
Sitting in my car I am, once again, feeling a rush of accomplishment. So of course I picture text my find to my sister. I need, I suppose, an "atta girl" from the pro. Then I turn over the engine of my suburban, back out of the parking lot, and head over to the Goodwill store...because once your hooked, you're hooked.

Thrifty Friday

I like clothes. I like my sister, Amy. I like my sisters clothes. All too often a have conversation that goes like this:
Me: "Hey! Is that new? Where'd you get it?!
She: "Goodwill."

After about a zillion of those exchanges, I finally asked to go with her, and we went. We browsed through rack after rack of clothing, collected our potential winners, tried them on, browsed some more, collected some more, tried on some more, and finally left with our spoils.

On the way home we relished in our deals, even Googled a bit to see just how good the deal was, there was laughing, there was smiling, and most importantly there was a sense of accomplishment (if one considers shopping an accomplishment that is.)

Later that evening, as I folded the jeans and sweaters I had acquired into a pile in which to admire (my little victory), I had a complete and total absence of the shopping/spending remorse that I usually experience. I had a pile of clothes with out spending a pile of cash (not to mention a few things for the kids to boot.)

Best deal of the day? J. Crew patchwork skirt $1.99 (by Amy of course, the pro.)