Napoleon is Dynamite!

Today while working our way around town buying pig feed for our sow Bonnie Bonita.....

and taking two winter coats that I thrifted to the cleaners, my son and I made a stop at the Salvation Army.

While there, I came across this:

It is a Napoleon Bonaparte Dresser Caddy. At first I thought it was one of those planters that you put a cactus in and let the hilarity insue. But then I started to really take a look at it and came to realize what it was.

You can store your wallet or cell phone in his hat. His arm can hold your rings or watches. And put all that cash in his pants or the little area at the base.

My husband and I decided that he looks a little like Conan O'Brien with a Bill Clinton hand. Go Team CoCo!!!

I looked all over E-Bay and the internet to see if I could find out any information seeing how it didn't have a tag or a maker name. It could be Napco, McCoy or Freeman-McFarlin. I am thinking Napco just looking at the other caddies made by them but I am not sure. I couldn't find another like it anywhere. It doesn't matter. I think he is cool and he will fit into the French theme I have going on around here.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!



Dressing On A Dime: The Copycat Edition

This morning I was looking through my blog roll and I came across two different fashion blogs that were sporting the same idea of an outfit. Both Kimberly at Fab Finds Under $50 and A.at Academichic were wearing variations of a blue striped shirt over a white dress. I decided today that I would pay homage and try to do my take on their look.

Gray tank - Old Navy

Blue and white striped shirt -Target

Belt - thrifted

White skirt - thrifted

Shoes - Target (highly clearanced)

Bracelet - Downtown Disney

I don't own a white dress and I have a long white skirt that I bought on a cruise once but I didn't care to go on an Indiana Jones-type adventure looking for it. I did have a white skirt hanging on the back of my door. Although my outfit isn't as flowy as their two outfits, I think it still captures the essence of summer with a touch of nautical.

Thanks Kimberly and A. for letting me be a copycat today!

That Price Just Ain't Right. Just Ain't Right At All.

Tonight after taking my husband to the nerd holyland Best Buy, I made him take me to my promised land Goodwill. I really had high hopes that I would find something way cool and easy on the budget seeing how we are broke educators trying to get through the lean, mean summer months. Well one out of two doesn't a successful thrift trip make. I found several pieces of Pyrex one of which was a Spring Blossom fridgie (w/o the lid thank you very much) but the exorbitant price of $8.95 seemed ridiculous. I carried it through the store but there was absolutely no way I could bring myself to pay that much for a tiny little dish.  I nearly cried when I put it back on the shelf.

I love you Goodwill. I truly do. I appreciate all that you do with the funds that you raise. I know that you have changed many lives. But..... I wish that someone, ANYONE would price the things in your store in a reasonable and consistent way. I could probably go tomorrow to another Goodwill or even to the same Goodwill and find the same item and it would be marked with $1.95. It is extremely frustrating. 

That is enough ranting for tonight. I am sure that my will power will pay off and I will find a complete set of Spring Blossom Fridgies (do you hear me Pyrex Gods?) for an extremely reasonable price. I'm crossing my fingers and toes. " )

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!

Dressing On A Dime; The Where In The Heck Have You Been Edition

Hi everyone! I know that I have been gone too long. It has been a rocky three months. Let me see if I can give you the run down.

A. My car was totaled.
B. Our house was broken into twice. They took our laptops, all my cameras and my son's gaming stuff.
C. During all this time, my son's FFA pig had babies which not too long after they were born had health issues resulting in losing half of them to staph infection.
D. We received a $1000 tax bill because my son did not qualify for the child tax credit because he was 17 for a whole three days in 2010.

I could go on ( I am serious there is more) but I am depressing myself and I am sure you too.  So let's move on!  I decided I needed to make a post and dress up and do a Dressing On A Dime segment. Here it goes...

Denim Jacket - Thrifted

Yellow Tank - Wal Mart

Skirt - Thrifted

Shoes - Thrifted

Ring - L.A. Garment District

I love this outfit. It felt light and breezy and I finally felt like summer was here. Seeing how California was still having rain and cloudy days all the way into May and June, I was beginning to think that I would never get to say that. Whew! I will have to remember this post when it is 100 degrees and I am wishing for winter to hurry up and get here.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!

Peter Rabbit

Last week while tooling around Salvation Army I came across this:

Wedgwood Peter Rabbit Children's Place Setting

Normally, I would have admired this set but I would have left it there because I do not really have a need for a children's set of dishes. But this time was different. There is a teacher at school that is having a baby next month and I thought what a wonderful gift. I have never gifted anything thrift before so this will be new for me. I am sure it is all in the presentation so I plan to find a Peter Rabbit book and put this set in a basket with a blue and white striped sleeper I bought and some other goodies. I think this should be a hit.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!

Goodwill Did What?!?!

I have long contended that the powers that be at our local Goodwills have been taking the long hit off of a large bong. The prices on most things were outrageous. Well, imagine my surprise while watching tv a commercial appears that touts new lower pricing at our local Goodwills that will last forever! What???? I knew that I had to make a trip and see what was going on and if for real they were going to lower the prices. Forever!

On Sunday I loaded up the boy and headed to the downtown location. I walked in and headed straight to the shoes (after all they were right by the entrance.) Low and behold, they had lowered the prices on shoes from $3.50 to $2.50. Not bad for stinky shoes that others feet have been in. After perusing the shoe area, no cute ones that would fit me were found. Bummer! I headed over to the kitchenware and knick knack section. No Pyrex was to be found but I did find some cute rabbits and a little duck that are going to make a cute Easter display. I will share these next post. Prices were extremely decent for Goodwill. The most I paid was .95 cents. Crazy I know!

After finding all goodies I could in that area I headed over to look at the clothes. I found the following:

Torrid Skirt $3.25

Torrid $3.25

Sorry the pic is so cruddy. Don't get me started on my most recent point and shoot camera. The skirt is white with green and yellow polka dots.

Notations Skirt - $3.25

Floral Camp Shirt - $2.25

I also bought a pair of pink capri pants for $2.50. They will go great with this shirt.

Apparently I can't wait for spring. Everything I bought has sherbert colors in them. I am going to where the black and yellow skirt today. Of course, I will have to winter it up since in is supposed to be in the high 50's today.

Overall I was impressed with Goodwill's attempt to listen to their customers and lower their prices. I am now more willing to buy more knowing that I will not have to take a second on my house to afford it.

 Kudos Goodwill!!!!

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!

Autumn Finds

I really haven't been thrifting a lot lately. First, because of a lack of paycheck (boo!!!!) and secondly there just isn't a whole lot of time in my day. I finally received a paycheck this last week so I made my way to a few thrifts with the little bit of time I had. What did I find?

PYREX!!!!!

Last night at the Salvation Army, I found this orange baking dish. How perfect is this for Halloween? I want to go and buy a bunch of the mini pumpkins and gourds and make a centerpiece for my dining room table. I just love it!

I found these bowls on Thursday at the other Salvation Army. It is a set of Autumn Harvest mixing bowls. It is missing the largest bowl the 444.  This is the first time I have found a set together. I think I may move some things around on my china hutch and display them for fall.

And finally.....

I have found my first Pyrex coffee pot. It is missing the lid but it doesn't matter.

 I just love the starburst design.

I am linking this post up at Pyrex Collective. What a great place to see everyone else's great Pyrex treasures.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!



Dressing On A Dime - The Wedding Crasher Addition

Today, I attended the wedding of my husband's niece.

Here is my husband and the bride. (Please excuse the fact that he is wearing a t-shirt and shorts. He had a gig tonight and he had to set up before the wedding and he didn't have time to change.)

Top - Merona (thrifted)

Skirt - Apt. 9 (thrifted)

Belt - (thrifted)

Shoes - Fioni (thrifted)

This outfit is entirely thrifted. I bought the black tank this week at the RAD Thrift Store. As you can see, it has little sequin dots all over the front. I went with the tan and gold shoes because the skirt has gold dots in the center of the flowers. You can't really see them in the picture. I decided to finish it off with bronzy gold belt.  I also had a gold bracelet and 2 black bead bracelets on my right wrist. I am not sure why I am hiding my arm.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!

So Very Hard To Go

Have you ever went thrifting and felt sad that you had to leave a treasure behind because it was too expensive or you just knew you had no room for it? Well, this has happened to me twice this week. Twice!

I had a few minutes before I had to be at work on Thursday so I stopped by my favorite Goodwill and what did I see on the shelf? Not one, not two, not even three but four Pyrex casserole dishes.

Photos courtesy of Pyrex Love

One was the Golden Acorn design and the other was the Golden Hearts design. I couldn't find the pics of the other two. The were beige with gold design too. I had to leave them because they wanted $10 a piece. They had no lids and I really couldn't see spending that much money on them all.

Today as if to add insult to injury, I walked into the Salvation Army and found a vegetable dish in this pattern:

And...it was only $2.64. But, I had to leave it. " (

Why did I leave it you ask. I already have 4 of those veggie dishes and to be quite honest they take up a lot of space. I really don't use them and I just have no room for it. I did walk around the store holding it in my hand. I was seriously sad when I had to put it back on the shelf.

I am sure that the thrifting gods will smile on me soon and I will find some Pyrex that I can take home. Cross your fingers for me.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!! 

UPDATE: I went back to the Goodwill to see if the heart Pyrex bowl was still there. It wasn't but two others were. I left them there. What willpower!

Road Trip

Saturday was the first day of our 3 day weekend. My husband, as per usual, wanted to head out to the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas. Seeing how everyone and their dog Chuck was headed to Vegas this Labor Day weekend and I really had no desire to be stuck in traffic for 5 plus hours,I set my foot down and said no. But as a consolation, I told my hubby that we could take a 45 minute drive up the mountain to the local Indian casino.


This appeased the cranky in my house.Woohoo!!! And since I been working like a dog fitting and altering my son's high school marching band uniforms all by my little lonesome, he decided that he would reward me and take me thrifting in good ole Porterville California.

We got on the internet and searched what was available. It showed 5 or 6 different places.We mapped out our path and away we went.


Our first stop was the Salvation Army. It was a nice store. There wasn't a whole lot to it. I did find a piece of Pyrex and a spool holder for my thread.

Spool Holder - $3.24

All of the people that worked there thought it was from a car dealership to hold keys.  I even had a lady who asked if I was sure I wanted it because she was a quilter and she could definitely use it. Yah, I am sure I wanted it. I sew and I have thread everywhere too!

Although my camera decided to photograph it in blue (grrrr....), this is actually a green piece of Pyrex. It is a nice size piece. In the words of Goldielocks, it is not too big or too small. It is just right. I may have to bake some brownies in it soon.  

My husband also bought a Quincy Jones cd. He needed to replace his old one that was horribly scratched up. It did make good road trippin' music. " )

That was the highlights from the trip. We tried to find the other places on the map and they were either closed on Saturdays or they didn't exist anymore. We did find one place that wasn't on our list but as soon as we entered, I had to get out of there. There were clothes piled up to the ceiling and there was basically a tunnel through the middle of the store. A fire trap for sure. This is kind of sad because they could have had something cool.

The day ended at Eagle Mountain Casino. I won $60 and my hubby won more than I did. I don't know exactly how much. He was my little Rockefeller.

Half Off Means Twice The Fun

Hey everyone! I know that it has been awhile since I have posted anything. Let me show you the reason why.

This is my son Marcus and his pig Bonnie. He is raising her to show in our county fair at the end of September. We go to the school farm for 2 hours a day to clean her pen, feed her, give her a bath and walk and train her for showmanship. It is time consuming but it has been such a rewarding experience for us all.

Now To The Good Stuff!!!! 

Today, I had a few minutes so I stopped into The Salvation Army. When I walked in, I was quickly informed that it was the second Thursday of the month which meant everything was 50% off. Sweet! There was no Pyrex today but I did find this uber cool set of drinking glasses.

Brockway Glass Company Birth Month Flower Glasses - $3.12

They have a flower representing each month of the year.

January - Carnation, February - Violet, March - Daffodil

April - Daisy, May - Lily of the Valley, June - Rose

July - Larkspur, August - Poppy, September - Morning Glory

October - Cosmos, November - Chrysanthemum, December - Narcissus

(the glass in the pic is the one for August. I grabbed the wrong one)

I also got this cute little jar.

Blue Jar - .75

The lid has a wire grid. I think this is to arrange flowers with.

That is all I have for right now. The next time I post I will have to say howdy to some new followers ( I have 20 followers now! Woohoo!!!!) and I will hopefully have some finds from our last trip of the summer to share.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!

Calling All Detectives!

I am in need of some help from all my friends in blogland. I have acquired a piece of Pyrex that I cannot find any information on at all. I have looked at Pyrex Love , ebay and all over the web to no avail. It is driving me nuts!

Here it is.

It is a lid that goes with a divided casserole dish. It has a hot air balloon on it. I have considered that someone could have possibly took etching cream and put this balloon on themselves but I am not convinced that is the case. I know that Pyrex has a chip and dip set that had a hot air balloon motif so could it be possible that they had a promotional dish that had this lid? Hmmmm...... I wonder.

If it is genuine, I would like to know what the accompanying dish looks like.

Any info would be appreciated!

In other Pyrex news: I have three new pieces to share.

Divided Dish - $2.50

I know I need another divided dish like I need a whole in my head but I really like this pattern and I would really like to collect more of it.

 

Square baking pan - $2.98

Large lasagna pan - $3.98

I always go to the RAD thrift store. In all the times that I have been going there I have never seen this kind of Pyrex. I have seen the tired, old clear Pyrex but never any of the patterned stuff. I nearly fainted when I came upon these two pieces. This is the pattern that I am trying to collect. What are the chances? Apparently good! Haha.... It will join its brethren in the form of a medium cinderella dish and a small cinderella bowl and several pieces of Corelle.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!

A Sunday Dressing On A Dime

The boy and I ventured out of the house to do some grocery and thrift shopping this morning. We tried to get to the Goodwill but they didn't open until 11am. We were very bummed. We were trying to get all of our stuff done early so we wouldn't be out in the 90 degree plus Central California heat. This meant no thrift for us today. " (

My Outfit Du Jour:

Dress - Merona (thrifted)

Necklace - Target (highly clearanced)

Belt - thrifted

Bracelet - thrifted

Shoes - Target

My husband said I looked like a greek goddess. He is currently on meds so I took that into account. Haha... Just kidding! (kinda)

 This dress held up so nice in the heat. So nice in fact, I didn't realize it was 90+ degrees outside. For me, that is good. I need more dresses like that.

SHOUTOUT TIME!!!

Well it is official, my followers list has ballooned into the double digits. What!?!?! I know way exciting. So with that being said I would like to say welcome and give a big shout out to my new friends Pixie, Mick from Everybody Goes To Mick's You gotta love the Casablanca. Kevin from Hollywood Forever, Kevin,  He has the most beautiful home go and check it out. You will be jealous.  Lime Vintage She has some great vintage finds.  Amber at I Heart Everything Go to her blog and you will see the coolest tiki bar arcade that anyone ever owned. Toronto Yardsale Snoop loves Pyrex, owls and all kinds awesome stuff. Someday I am making a roadtrip to Canada to check out all the places she finds her great bargains. Debbie at DebbieDoos. She also has a gorgeous house and some great eye for thrift. Finally, Reduce, Reuse and Rummage has a wonderful blog. I think she likes jewelry and owls just like me. " )

 Welcome and expect more posts since School's Out For Summer (yes I am singing Alice Cooper). Hahaha...

Happy Thrifting Everyone!

Who Loves Owls? Who?

Me, that is who! We took another trip to Laughlin and the Colorado River during Memorial Day Weekend. And as per usual, I took a trip over the bridge to Bullhead City, Az. to visit my favorite thrifts.   I wasn't disappointed. I found a cute blue Melmac divided bowl and another Pyrex carafe ( it was clear and nothing too exciting to photograph). I also found a red table runner which will be perfect for the Fall and a lovely Izod skirt for the summer. I wanted to share my favorite finds from this trip. My owls!

Avon Owl - $1.99

I thought it was small, cute and I knew that it would look great on the shelf in my bedroom. It still has smell of the perfume that it held.

Owl Painting - $4.50

When I first saw this painting, I fell in love. I really wanted it but I kept on walking because I didn't believe I had a place for it. The whole time I was in the Salvation Army I kept racking my brain trying to think of a place where I could put it. As I as standing in line with my other purchases, it hit me. I knew the perfect place. So where is this perfect place you may ask.....

 

How about above my washer in the laundry nook in my kitchen. Now I like doing laundry so I can go and see my little owls sitting in their tree. " )

Happy Thrifting Everyone!

Am I Blue?

Hey everybody! Sorry I have been absent for so long. The end of April and the whole month of May has been and is CRAYZEE!!!!!! Between concerts for my husband and son, performances for my colorguard students and end-of-year awards ceremonies, I am exhausted. I think the whole month of June is going to spent recovering from May. Haha.....

I just have a few minutes so I thought I would share my outfit for Mother's Day.

Dress - Target (thrifted)

Jacket - St. John's Bay

Belt - ??? (thrifted)

Shoes - Once Upon A Fairytale (thrifted)

Owl Necklace - Mexico

My mom wanted to have pizza and wings for her Mother's Day dinner so that is where we went. Thank God I wore the jacket because otherwise I would look like a prison matron. Where is my billyclub? " )

That is it for now. I have some exciting things to share with you all as well as I need to welcome some new followers. As soon as I can find time I will be back. I promise. Until then Happy Thrifting Everyone!

Dressing on a Dime

Once upon a time, ok well it was really 3 months or so ago, I started a blog called Dressing on a Dime. The theory was that I was only going to buy only thrift for my fashion needs for the year 2010 and I would chronical this journey through daily pictures of my outfits.

I started out with a head of steam. I made sure that everyday I had my husband, son, co-workers take my picture so that I could post. I was faithful for a time. Then after a rather stressful day at work, I would come home and forget to take the daily picture and change my clothes. I would try the next day to make up for missing the pic but it is not the same as the day of. Then if tired, I would just skip the picture all together.

Here is an example of the day after. Not pretty!

The final straw that broke this camel's back was that I felt that no one was looking. If no one was paying attention, what was the point? So I quit posting on Dressing on a Dime and concentrated on this blog.

What a nimrod am I? Recently, I got a wild hair to go and see if anyone had said anything or if there was any life. Lo and behold, I had two followers. What!?!?! I know. And these followers actually left comments. Exciting! I felt guilty that I had abandoned it so quickly. But as time is a premium, I know that I did the right thing by focusing here.

Then as if a ray of sunshine came down from the sky and shined on me, I had an a brilliant idea. Why not combine my love of fashion and my love of thrift? I could post my outfits here and share with you all my thriftiness in the realm of fashion. So with all that being said, once a week I will do a round up of my noteworthy outfits. 

Even though I let my fashion blog go to seed, I still have kept my challenge of a thrift only wardrobe for 2010 alive. I am excited to share and see what treasures I can unearth for this fat and sassy girl (ok old lady geesh!!!) Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!

More Vegas Finds

I finally have time to finish sharing my last trip to Vegas and some of the lovely things that I found.

Glass Bowl $1.99

I love these little press glass bowls. When I find one, I always imagine them being used for Thanksgiving dinner. I could see it filled with black olives (our family loves olives) sitting on a buffet.

It has a diamond shaped bowl. It makes me feel all fancy without all that bothersome sticker shock.

5 saucers $1.49; 4 dessert plates $1.49

I found saucers and dessert plates to match my cups and cream and sugar set I bought a little ways back. It is perfect because I have 5 cups and I found 5 saucers. What are the chances?

Front

Back

Creamer $2.99

I loved the delicate trees on the front and back of this creamer. It is from the Misty Isle Collection by Noritake. I am pretty sure it is not that old but it doesn't matter because I like it.

Eiffel Tower $1.99

This little beauty shall join my collection. I think it will end up on top of my armoire with another tower that I have there. Did I mention that I have a collection of 30+ towers? No, well I do. : )

Creamer and Sugar Bowl $2.99 each

I really don't know who made these but I thought the color was pretty. It is hard to see in the picture but it is brown with a light green glaze over the top. There was a set of cups and saucers that went with it but I really didn't have room for them and they were a tad expensive. I had guilt for a minute that I was splitting up the family but I soon got over it. I guess I am just a little homewrecker.

Book $2.99

I love to mix cocktails and after this school year I will definitely be trying some of these recipes. Heck, I may have to have one tonight. Is it summer yet?

I have spied a few new shops here in town. When I get time, I am going to go and investigate.

Happy Thrifting Everyone!!!