Thrift + Laughter = Awesome Saturday
Yesterday started as a rather ordinary Saturday with plans for ordinary activities. On the way back from lunch with Ian, however, I received a phone call from my local friend Svea with an odd note of panic in her voice. "I'M TIRED OF BOYS!" She was freaking out. "I'M WITH BOYS ALL THE TIME AT SCHOOL! THERE ARE ONLY BOYS AT HOME. I NEED SOME FEMALE ENERGY! What are you doing today?" she asked. I offered to go see "Sex in the City" with her since that was the most estrogen-filled activity I could think of. Once united, we decided to do something cheap instead. First stop was to visit my mother so Svea could get a Mom Hug. Mom showed us some things she's making for and has already purchased for Flounder, my mermaid niece who will arrive in October. Then at Svea's suggestion, we went garage saleing and to some thrift stores!
It was then 3:00 in the afternoon, so most garage sales had long since rolled up the sidewalks and gone in. We hit a double one with two houses next-door to each other. No good finds, but it whet the appetite. Then Svea introduced me to the local Salvation Army and Goodwill stores. I'd never actually been in one. I admit I was a little creeped out thinking of the overall "cootie count" of everything in the store. I finally answered the question that I always wondered about -- do they launder donated clothes before putting them up for sale? HELL NO, I believe is the answer here. Was careful not to touch things more than necessary. I bought Ian a CD of the old game "Oregon Trail" for $3 -- I highly doubt it will even run on modern computers, but it was still too amusing to pass up. What I did pass up was a $2 copy of Sarah Ban Breathnach's wonderful book, Simple Abundance. (Marie, Marne, do you each have this book? Because you both need it. Gail, you, too, now that I think about it... oh, and quaero_verum and sweetcharity... okay, every single woman who has even just one homemaking bone in her body should own this delightful treasury.) It just so happens that I recommended this book to another woman just the other day. I regret passing this up so much that I may go back over there today and snatch it. Ultimately I bought one article of clothing: a denim miniskirt from the Gap for $3. I have to admit that I'm positively giddy about throwing this into some hot water and color-safe bleach later today to try it on! I might overdye the miniskirt purple since I'm from the 80s and very likely to do such things now and then. While I loathe normal shopping, this bargain hunting was a treat! I think I'm hooked! I might check out some garage sales next Saturday, too. I don't actually want any more stuff, but the looking was fun! Plus you never know when you'll find the one piece you've been looking for, like that book (even if I didn't know it at the time).
It's routinely in the 90s here in Texas about this time of year. Even the few hours of in and out of the car, although mostly indoors really sucked the life out me. By 4:30, I was done, and happy to just sit down to behead enemies with Ian. We gamed together for a few hours to the tune of a very great deal of laughter. We went to the "Lactation Plains," as I've dubbed them. We ran around marking crafting resources on our maps, debating and then looking up the origin of the chemical symbol for Copper -- I was right, incidentally, it's Cu. My dictionary seems to suggest that the original Latin term (cuprum) may have been derived from the Latin name for Cypres (Cyprium). That was cool -- anyway, I amused Ian because I have this habit of marking things on my map that relate to surprising or amusing incidents, even though they're randomly-generated encounters. Now there are markers on my map for things like, "Goddamn Pict Tree," "Crazy Bitches," and "Large Negro." We played Ding-Dong Doorbell Ditch with the Hyperboarean Gong in the middle of the map. There was a very great deal of laughter, and it was the picture of our ideal life, pretty much.
Then dinner at the same Mexican restaurant we visit several times a week. Over dinner we had a good talk that ranged over the society we wish to build around ourselves, the kind of people with whom we like to vacation, places we would enjoy vacationing with or without friends, and all matters in between.
T$
It was then 3:00 in the afternoon, so most garage sales had long since rolled up the sidewalks and gone in. We hit a double one with two houses next-door to each other. No good finds, but it whet the appetite. Then Svea introduced me to the local Salvation Army and Goodwill stores. I'd never actually been in one. I admit I was a little creeped out thinking of the overall "cootie count" of everything in the store. I finally answered the question that I always wondered about -- do they launder donated clothes before putting them up for sale? HELL NO, I believe is the answer here. Was careful not to touch things more than necessary. I bought Ian a CD of the old game "Oregon Trail" for $3 -- I highly doubt it will even run on modern computers, but it was still too amusing to pass up. What I did pass up was a $2 copy of Sarah Ban Breathnach's wonderful book, Simple Abundance. (Marie, Marne, do you each have this book? Because you both need it. Gail, you, too, now that I think about it... oh, and quaero_verum and sweetcharity... okay, every single woman who has even just one homemaking bone in her body should own this delightful treasury.) It just so happens that I recommended this book to another woman just the other day. I regret passing this up so much that I may go back over there today and snatch it. Ultimately I bought one article of clothing: a denim miniskirt from the Gap for $3. I have to admit that I'm positively giddy about throwing this into some hot water and color-safe bleach later today to try it on! I might overdye the miniskirt purple since I'm from the 80s and very likely to do such things now and then. While I loathe normal shopping, this bargain hunting was a treat! I think I'm hooked! I might check out some garage sales next Saturday, too. I don't actually want any more stuff, but the looking was fun! Plus you never know when you'll find the one piece you've been looking for, like that book (even if I didn't know it at the time).
It's routinely in the 90s here in Texas about this time of year. Even the few hours of in and out of the car, although mostly indoors really sucked the life out me. By 4:30, I was done, and happy to just sit down to behead enemies with Ian. We gamed together for a few hours to the tune of a very great deal of laughter. We went to the "Lactation Plains," as I've dubbed them. We ran around marking crafting resources on our maps, debating and then looking up the origin of the chemical symbol for Copper -- I was right, incidentally, it's Cu. My dictionary seems to suggest that the original Latin term (cuprum) may have been derived from the Latin name for Cypres (Cyprium). That was cool -- anyway, I amused Ian because I have this habit of marking things on my map that relate to surprising or amusing incidents, even though they're randomly-generated encounters. Now there are markers on my map for things like, "Goddamn Pict Tree," "Crazy Bitches," and "Large Negro." We played Ding-Dong Doorbell Ditch with the Hyperboarean Gong in the middle of the map. There was a very great deal of laughter, and it was the picture of our ideal life, pretty much.
Then dinner at the same Mexican restaurant we visit several times a week. Over dinner we had a good talk that ranged over the society we wish to build around ourselves, the kind of people with whom we like to vacation, places we would enjoy vacationing with or without friends, and all matters in between.
T$