Sunday, July 31, 2011

Captain, Converse and Combustion


I think I see how my weeks work. I work Monday through Friday during the day. Saturday morning we sleep in a little, and then wander around the world. Sundays we bum around the house, maybe clean and do laundry. I guess I can't explain. I just keep thinking I should be doing more on Sundays than watch TV and read blogs. The husband seems content to watch TV, nap, do his laundry and eat. It is just so dang hot even with the lower ceiling in the house that I have no ambition. I don't like putting the dogs outside in fear they will spontaneously combust.

I guess I need to resolve myself to be a "bum" on Sundays and get things done the rest of the week or make myself crazy.

Yesterday's adventures sent us to a thrift store listed in the paper as now open to the public and only open on Saturday. Of course my curiosity was peeked. We went down a long industrial shop, gentleman's club lined road to get to it. It was puny. It was also open all week long. I was a bit disappointed. But then I saw them. Huddled near the CDs and the LPs were two shelves of 8 track tapes. Now I only found one that interested me... Movie Theme Songs from 1972. But it is a good one. Filled with the theme from Shaft, Godfather and Brian's Song to name a few.

The year I was born and decent songs. I am a sucker for the Shaft Theme. So we are up to eighteen 8 tracks. There are only 7 slots left in the carrying case. That means I need to get more specific in what we want for the small collection. I am thinking KISS would be cool. How about a disco compilation. Or Captain & Tennille, who I thought were cool when I was a wee child. There’s something about a guy in a captain's hat and a chick with Dorothy Hamill hair.

The husband and I started heading south. I used the web site http://www.thethriftshopper.com/ to find somewhere worth checking out. This is my second time using it through my phone's internet. It was okay. The reviews could be recent or years old. But it gave us a place to start. The husband does the driving and I navigate.


We tried Goodwill in St Augustine. They had more than just clothes! Lots of books. The husband found a putt return thingy. I found a book about what to do with your life - thinking of my oldest niece and her eternal question. I also found an elephant hand puppet. Not that I need more puppets, but it was $0.59. There were plenty of golf related items. Of course the St Augustine people are into that. I kept pointing each item out to the husband since he keeps buying golf items, but still hasn't golfed.

Then it was onto The Betty Griffin House thrift store. It was in a shopping center set back from the road in what looked like a very old grocery store. It was, like we have found with Domestic Violence thrift stores, filled with all sorts of things. I like that - good finds and a great cause. The husband found 3 more 8 tracks, all from Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Lots of good songs and one was wrapped in plastic. That's a real treat, unused. We found a lighthouse mouse for the father in-law. I found a snowflake trivet.


The Betty Griffin web site says they have a second thrift store. An excuse to check out another store. Yeah! I hope it is as good as the other one. I have found that having no expectation works for thrift stores just as it does with coworkers. Just when you think nothing will be found you find something you really needed.

http://www.bettygriffinhouse.com/

Then we went hunting for the Humane Society thrift store, which was no longer for Humane Society. I forget what it was but they were involved in children’s education. They had a bit of everything and it went on for several rooms.

We found two old, wood TV trays for $1.50 each. I found a few books. One was an old cookbook. Yes, the many blogs I read are having an effect on me. Plus wouldn't a redone kitchen look good with some old cookbooks.

Finally we ended up at a St Vincent de Paul Thrift store. We never made it to the one in Jacksonville during our all day trip there, so we were curious. The sign says they help people who need help. The store looked like an antique store. They had a TON of books. Since I already bought 4 I figured I better not look. They had some serious antiques, but the prices were higher. We were only 2/3 of the way through the store when they announced (making me jump like someone was saying it right behind me) they were closing. This was 20 minutes before their posted closing time. Plus they started turning off lights and hustling people out. So we left empty handed.

The husband wanted to check out Georgie's Diner since we had been talking about Greek food. He had the grape leaves and a Gyro. I had Chicken Kosta. It was yummy and filling. They could make perfume out of the awesome smell of garlic, lemon, chicken, broccoli and mushrooms.

Since we were so close to the Converse outlet store I brought that stop up. The husband first wanted to check out the other outlet mall on the east side of I-95. I always thought that one had nothing good, but of course he found a clothing store that he found camo jeans. He ended up with a pair of camo jeans, carpenter jeans and a pair of regular jeans for less than $60.00. Yeah, he annoys me. Today he counted and he has 9 pairs of jeans.

Finally we made it to the Converse Outlet. I couldn't believe how many people were in there. I almost fell over when I saw all the low priced shoes in my size had no hi tops. The husband revived me by reminding me it was back to school shopping time. Once I revived I realized I would have to come back another time to catch a deal. I was still depressed, but have hope of finding something on my next visit. The prices do appear to keep getting higher and I don't like tons of people messing with my outlet store.

I got the husband to buy me a Wendy's berry parfait. It was berry good, but I was still depressed after it was such a small bit of ice cream for the price. It looked so big in the commercial. Wendy's, you are letting me down. We drove home and I wallowed in my misery by going online to rate the stores on the Thrift Shopper website.

No comments:

Post a Comment