Thrifting! March 21, 2007

Today was a great day at the thrift store! I went to THE. BEST. THRIFT.STORE in portland. The only thing that I don’t like about Red White and Blue is that they don’t have dressing rooms (try pants on under a skirt!) and that they organize by color of clothes not size. Oh well, you just need to look and look and you find great deals!
I was shopping for pants (which I found three pairs) and ended up with some toys for Ruby, and a dress for me! The pants were an amazing find. One was a pair of prAna pants that still had tags (original price $60) and I got them for $10. Also some black capris (nice enough to treat patients in) and some capri causal pants because my comfy ones from last summer are just too big. I’d post a pix, but one pair of black pants ( or three) aren’t exciting.
The dress I happened upon was a Hanna Andersson summer dress that looks brand new. For $8 you just can’t go wrong.
Hopefully it will look good on me!
Next up I found some awesome toys for Ruby. A little toy train set for $4. She already likes the truck that came with it
TrainAnd this cool magnet board thing. I know she won’t really have interest in it for a while, but I will hang it in the kitchen and we can get used to changing the months and adding magnets.\magnet board What’s really funny…. I called my friend Jackie to tell her about my cool finds, and she LAUGHED when I told her about the magnet board. She donated that very one to the same thrift store two weeks ago.

I have had some amazing decluttering success, and have a whole post on it coming tomorrow (I hope!)
I have some thoughts on advertising and what not – we were just in San Francisco a week ago— that is a town for shoppers! but it’s bed time, so I’ll save it for later… meaning, who knows when.

Just for fun… March 16, 2007

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In like a lion March 3, 2007

February is behind me – the long (although short) dragging month that it is. March has begun, and it’s time to evaluate what’s happened in those 28 short days…
Decluttering – Well after my last post, I went through a huge box of clothes that had been put away when i was pregnant, and got rid of 45 items of clothing. I gave a lot of it to a friends semi foster daughter who is getting her life in order. It felt great to give them to her.
A big pile of kitchen stuff that should have been taken to Value Village – Ryan ended up schlepping it down to the basement while I was in San Diego last weekend. So it’s not out of the house… but it’s in a pile of things that need to get OUT anyway. Anyway it brings the total to just over a hundred for the month. Not the best, but not the worst. We had a lot of travel, and sick… so I didn’t have a ton of time. Unfortunately, we have a lot of travel in March also.. so I doubt I’ll meet my goal of 500 in march, but I’m gonna try.

Buying stuff – I haven’t bought anything new that wasn’t on my list. When we went to the coast for 3 days a couple of weeks ago, I forgot to pack underwear and socks. Ha. Ha. Ha. I actually needed new underware anyway, so it wasn’t a complete waste. Ryan did buy new jeans, but the guy hasn’t found jeans that fit in 5 years, so I don’t blame him. Thrifting has gone well and has been fun. I find myself wanting to go to the thrift store often, especially as I clear out my closet, and find that so much of my clothes just don’t fit well anymore. Once I finish de-cluttering it all, I will reward myself with a few ‘new’ things (ie: thrifted). The thrill of the chase is fantastic, especially when you find something awesome.

Keeping a clean house – Not so perfect in Feb. The travel and the sick knocked some of that down… but in general, house has been pretty clean, clean enough for visitors, at least.

Sooooooo My goals for March remain the same. More decluttering and organizing. I’d like to finish the kitchen, and get through my closet/drawers, and move on to the guest room. Jo and her family are coming to visit mid march and I’d like to be able to find the floor in the guest room before then. However… we’re heading to SF/Sac for 5 days and then are gone for the end of March/beg of April for a little fun in the sun, So I won’t beat myself up if I don’t get a ton done.

Overall, I’m having a lot of fun decluttering, I haven’t removed a lot from the house, but it feels cleaner and clearer. Not buying new hasn’t seemed like a chore at all. I guess I’m realizing that I didn’t shop a lot to begin with, which is a nice revelation.

As far as enjoying life has gone… I am trying to eek out time to knit/craft when I can, but baby has been needy, so not much has gotten done. I did knit a gorgeous merino wool hat/scarf for a patient of mine who is dying, but I gifted it before I took a picture (of course) and I made a head band for myself, just need to find time to take a pix. Speaking of which.. I’m going to take this time to knit, as Ryan is upstairs snuggling the nugget to sleep.