Goodwill Haul

Ever since a friend introduced me to the absurd concept of the "haul" videos that litter Youtube - where some chirpy teenage girl shows you all the ridiculously unnecessary, expensive, and inappropriate items she bought at the mall with daddy's credit card - I've joked that I needed to do a thrift store "haul" video sometime, as a parody.  I don't actually have the time or inclination to set up a video camera for such a silly thing right now, but I thought I'd share pictorially the results from a recent "lucky" trip to Goodwill I had.

Really, this is all just part of my plan to convince more people to start giving thrift stores a chance!


So, here we go..

An interestingly-colored long silky skirt with velvet trim ($3.99).  Tom HATES this.  I tried it on at Goodwill, and he gave it double thumbs-down.  Teeheehee.  But there was just something about it...it reminds me of something women would wear in the 1850s.  If it was a little longer, I might try it on with the petticoat from my wedding to pouf it out more.  Also, it was very well-made from good-quality fabric, and I appreciate that.

A fun navy-and-white sequined Boho skirt, slightly past knee-length ($3.99).  Tom did like this one a lot.  It's probably too cold now for shorter cotton skirts, though, so this will be saved for summer.

 Super girly pink dress, 18-month size ($0.25). It was priced at $3, but the lady marked it down for us since a jewel-button is missing.
Cute gray monster mittens ($2). Maybe Sly's hands will be big enough for them next year.

Cool ship picture printed on fabric ($1).  I LOVE ship paintings.  If we don't find a good place for this, I might take it up to our cottage at Lake Erie, as that seems a fitting place for it.  It was priced at $5, but the lady marked it down because of some light staining.

Parenting with Grace by the Popcaks ($0.99).  I've been curious about this book for awhile, so it was nice to find my own copy.  I think it's funny how dated all the outfits are on the cover.  Totally 90s.


Total cost: $12.22.

I'm aware that these items may not be everyone's style at all.  But at Goodwill, one man's trash TRULY is another (wo)man's treasure.  I was pretty pleased with everything, and it will all get good use.  But don't say it's because my local Goodwill must be a "good one" or something.  Not true!  You just need to take the time to search, and be willing to check back often.

Moving Soon

We spent the past four days up at my Cottage on Lake Erie. It was a nice little getaway, and chance to relax. Even when we did nothing but sit around, it was so much nicer than just sitting around at home. Because at home, you always feel guilty that you are sitting around, instead of cleaning something, or fixing something...

The first two days, it was just me, the hubby, and the babyman. Then on Friday, we were joined by six of our friends. The weather was pretty terrible - cold and rainy the whole time. It was pretty miserable even going outside (which is usually a big part of what we do there). But it made me feel a little better to hear that everyone back in Pittsburgh was experiencing even MORE cold and rain than us!

While up there, we got the news that our application for a house (rental) we had looked at last week was APPROVED! This means that in just a couple weeks, we are going to start the laborious and much-dreaded task of transferring our entire household across the city to the new place. Definitely exciting, but oh-so-stressful.

The new place is going to have more space. The downstairs is just a kitchen and a living room, as we have now. But the living room is definitely bigger. Upstairs is where the real room is. There will be FOUR bedrooms, instead of the two we have now. So the current plan is for us all to sleep on the third floor. Then we can turn one extra room on the second floor into an informal family room (where we can have the tv, the computer, Sly's toys, etc.), and the other one into a library (something Tom and I have dreamed about for ages). Being able to shut the door, and finally stop Sly from ripping all the books off the shelves (we have seven bookshelves. There is no way to block them all from a baby!) ten times a day will be invaluable.

But if we're to go through with this plan of having a downstairs living room (which needs a new record-player/stereo-containing piece of furniture), an upstairs family room (which needs a new tv-containing piece of furniture, at least one couch, some end tables and lamps...), and a library (which needs at least a couple lamps, a table, one or more comfy armchairs), it's going to mean that we need a lot of new furniture!! Ok, well not "new" furniture, because we don't have the money for that. It means we need to really get cracking, checking all the thrift stores, garage sales, and Craigslist for nice-enough used furniture that just happens to fit our exact specifications, while not being too expensive. A pretty tall order.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 8)

1.  Check out this AWESOME idea for a maternity Halloween costume!

If I was ever "big pregnant" in October, I would definitely consider it!

2. Sly has had a weird rash in his "diaper area" for a few weeks now.  I've had the doctors look at it several times, and they can't figure out what it is. At first, they were thinking herpes (!!), and were asking me embarrassing questions such as, "has he been sexually abused?" and "who watches him during the day?".  It was kinda uncomfortable.  Thank goodness the tests for that came back negative.  The latest theory is that it's some sort of bacterial infection.  He's on another medicine, and the doctor instructed me to boil ALL our cloth diapers.  Oh man.  Good thing I have that enormous stock pot!

3. I know Christmas is still months away, but I'm already starting to think about a particular Advent tradition that I would love to start in our family.  I want to get a lifesize Infant Christ statue in a manger.  The empty manger could be set out all during Advent, and then Jesus would be there Christmas morning!  I've also heard of families having their kids put one piece of straw into the manger each time they do some charitable act, or make some penance, creating a nice soft bed for Jesus before He arrives.  When Sly's a little older, we might consider that.  This is the particular statue I have my heart set on.

Isn't it beautiful?!  It comes in many sizes: 5", 8", 12", and 20".  I would LOVE to get the 20" one because then it would be truly life-life.  It costs $150, though.  I have been slowly slowly saving up a little stash of money from past Christmas and birthday gifts I've received (Tom is so jealous about this!).  I think this might be a worthwhile use of that money.  It doesn't say anywhere that the child can actually be removed from the manger...but I'm assuming it can (?).  And if not, I'll find a way to get it out!


4.  Another item on my "wishlist" recently is a Dust Buster.  Man, it seems like Sly just leaves crumbs and little messes everywhere he goes these days!  It would be very nice not to have to drag the heavy vacuum up from the basement all the time.

5. At my family's cottage, we've always had an enormous oak tree in the front yard.

Last year, much to everyone's sorrow, it had to be cut down.  It was rotting from the inside out.  The tree was probably a few hundred years old.  In anticipation of the sad day, I had spent our week up there gathering a bunch of acorns from the yard.  I hoped - as several other relatives did - to grow some "babies" of our beloved tree.  Once Spring came this year, I planted a number of them in pots.  Only one ended up sprouting.  But it was better than nothing, and I proudly shared my triumph with the entire extended family via Facebook.
 

My little seedling

With the exception of one aunt, no one else had had any luck in getting their acorns to germinate.  As the summer went on, my aunt and I kept each other updated on the progress of our single trees.  Somehow, mine was growing spectacularly!  By the end of July, hers was less than a foot tall, while mine had grown to about five feet!  The entire family was impressed.  I was told by everyone that I needed to get that tree planted in front of the Cottage this year, instead of waiting until next summer as originally planned.

But then my dad was over our place for Sly's birthday party.  I saw him in the backyard, looking at my tree with a doubting sort of expression.  I asked him what was up, and he informed me that this was not, as he'd apparently been suspecting for a while, actually an oak tree!  It was a huge, stupid WEED!  WHAT?! I've been nurturing this dumb thing all summer!  Transferring it to bigger and bigger pots, watering it every day, staking it up!  I can't believe it.  I still haven't gotten up the courage to notify the whole family about my mistake.  They will NEVER let me hear the end of it!

6. It constantly amazes me how much babies can pick up without being explicitly "taught."  Sly gives kisses on request.  On the mouth.  I hardly ever kissed him on the mouth before.  He could only have learned it by seeing Tom and I kiss that way!  Also, pointing at things.  Just one day, he started doing it, and it was clear that it was intentional.  He'd learned just by watching us.

But dancing?  I really think that one's all instinctive.  Even at a very young age, when he would hear certain little tunes, he'd start rocking back and forth.  So cute!

7. Last weekend, after eating dinner at my dad's house, he informed me that "it was time."  Time to clear out all my stuff from my former bedroom.  Even though I haven't actually lived with my dad for years, I've still been using my room there as a convenient storage space for all the nostalgia and trinkets that I either didn't have room for at my current abode, or that I was just too lazy to sort through all these years.  I have TONS of stuff there.  He agreed that I could wait until we've moved before I have to take anything.  I know there will be things I'm fine with giving away, but there are still so many items I intend to keep.  A lot of toys I'm saving for future daughters, drawers packed with old drawings and notes, decorative knick-knacks, books....Ugh.

See Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes

Back in the Burgh

I just wanted to put up a quick post, so people didn't think I disappeared. Our vacation to Lake Erie was very nice. I knew it was going to be a lot more work to look after a baby, but I don't think I fully understood that vacations for me now, are no longer going to be synonymous with "relaxation." I never had a chance to just kick back on the beach with a magazine, or laze around on the front porch for longer than two minutes, before I had to jump up and stop Sly from doing something he shouldn't.

Here are a few pictures from the week.

trying to eat a rock

with my dad

watching the sunset

releasing sky lanterns

The Best Place on Earth

When my dad's father was a boy, his family would sometimes travel up to New York State to spend a few weeks on the shores of Lake Erie. When he had children of his own, he and my grandmother took them on frequent trips to the same area - mostly to a particular little turn-of-the-century quiet beach community. Sometime in the 70s, they finally bought a cottage of their own. And that little place has come to mean so much to my family. Although it has a name, as they all do up there ("Maple Oak"), it's referred to simply as The Cottage.

The little beach homes up there are all known as cottages (not beach homes, not cabins for goodness sake!). They are simply made from wooden boards over a frame - without any insulation. They have big open front porches, swings or hammocks in the yards, and some of them (like ours) have wooden board walls that don't actually reach the ceilings (to allow for air circulation, in a time when people didn't have fans and air conditioning).

Life up there is perfect. Simple, beautiful, and relaxing. People walk or ride bikes to get where they are going. The neighborhood is pretty small, and yet there are woods, three playgrounds, tennis courts, volleyball courts, soccer field, basketball court....and of course, beach. None of these things, I feel the need to say, are "well-kept" or "monitored" or in any way pretentious.

I've been going up there my entire life, and I can confidently say - as can every member of my large extended family - that it is THE best place on Earth. Each summer, we have one week which is designated "Family Week" where the entire extended family goes up together. My grandparents (who are no longer living) have 8 kids, 26 grandkids, and (so far) 19 great-grandkids. When you factor in everyone's spouses too...it's a big crowd! Two of my uncles have purchased cottages of their own, as have two of my dad's cousins. That makes five cottages under our family name! And believe me, we need all the space we can get during Family Week.

I write about this now because we are leaving to go there today. Even as an adult, I still long for this week all year, and get a thrill in my heart when we finally arrive at The Cottage. This year will be especially poignant, because I'll be introducing my son to the place for the first time.

I could go on about it for hours and hours. But instead, let me just share some of the story through pictures. I hope you readers can get a small glimpse of what makes this place so amazing for me.