Saturday, March 22, 2008

...stuff shortage??

No, NOT at 'MY' house !!

I had to drive myself to work on Friday, as the person I normally car pool with was observing 'the holiday'. ~SO~ since I was in the area, I had to do 'the junk shop run (JSR)' after work.

~WARNING: TEDIOUS BACKGROUND INFO TO FOLLOW!!~
... I live in town 'A', commute 30min/20miles to the west to town 'W'... if you continue another 10min/9miles to the west you reach town 'G'. 'G' has (1)consignment shop -LE, (1)church thrift -CC and (1)Junk Shop - SHS. Usually a fun way to spend some time and get a good fix, but nothing earth shattering or worth the gas$$ of driving 40min... UNLESS I happen to be more than half way there anyway!! Enroute from 'A' to 'W' is 'S'. 'S' has a church thrift -HC and a Salv. Army - SA. The JSR can include 5 venues! 'A' (my town of residence) has a Volunteers of America - VOA, Salv. Army - SA and a Rescue Mission - RM. that generally aren't included in the JSR!
~BACK TO OUR ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM~

so, after work I did the JSR - cut short by 3 because of observations of the 'holiday'! The ones that were open had many EMPTY SHELVES!! I was talking to one of the workers and she said donations were WAY DOWN and they just weren't getting the stuff in! Will this change when warm weather arrives in CNY? Is everybody hoarding in fear of the financial market? Is it all being sold via cyber-land and Junk Shops are heading toward extinction? Not Good. Not a Good Friday.

That's not to say that I didn't manage to come out with a few goodies!

'V' - you can never have too many 18"tall, 3D, chunky resins of your initial! Only .29c !



I knew when I picked this .25c pillow case up that the design had to be a VERA... but where was the signature? Can you find it??



A cute .99c square, silk VERA



-Metal, Retro 'candelabra' (.35c)... I'm thinking spray paint... porch... fun BBQ dinners...

-TINY Craftsman 10' tape measure fo $2. - I always carry one in my purse, and I try to keep a stash for when they get misplaced, broken or 'borrowed'!!! Not easy to find!


What finally put the 'Good' in my day was returning home to find this on top of my stack of mail....

'REAL', 'HAND MADE', SNAIL MAIL!!
I am all about the tactile, the way things feel to hold in your hand - the weight, the temperature, the texture. The handwriting - the way people form letters, the type of writing instrument they use & it's color, the pressure used in writing, the layout... Unconsciously I always try to calculate who a letter is from without the aid of the return address label. First identifying the writing, if that doesn't work the post-mark is usually a good clue. This card startled me at first glance! The way the 'S' was printed was that of an old high school 'Best Friend' that I have been out of touch with for 14 years! I was wrong (Hmph! That must be a first - ha, ha!!). It was from Sweet Shara at Monkeybox!! This woman is in the middle of a Flood - Garage Sale - Holiday, and she still found time to make (and mail!) this adorable card - complete with Glitter!! THANKS SHARA!
Completely off 'any' subject... can anybody out there give me the sequence/combination of keys to type a 'cent' sign??????

ANS: Were you able to find the VERA signature in the pillowcase?





Hope the Easter Bunny treats you all well 8-)!!!!

3 comments:

Sarah and Jack said...

The thrifts here are virtually empty too, and have been for a long time. Since at least New Years.

I suspect that everyone is hoarding because of recession, perhaps to have yard sales and try and eek out a dollar or two for themselves?

Whatever it is, I have not seen the thrift stores like that in, well, ever actually. I am a bit afraid garage sale season is going to be the pits too.

Shara said...

Thanks for the shout out for the card. ;o) I printed that on my computer and took about 1.2 seconds to throw some glitter on it. But, I thought it turned out cute enough. Love that graphic.

Oh yes, before I forget. Press the ALT key then hit 1-5-5. ¢ Makes cents, huh? ;o)

The Salvation Army is empty here too. But, I sent an entire pickup full today so they have new stock. Just none for me. Which is good since I got rid of half a garage full this weekend. Yea, for me.

Monica said...

Love Vera items!!!