Kim's version of family vacation-Day 3

It's time to get back to my version of our summer vacation. Today is day 3 which was Wednesday August 19, 2009.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to go to thrift stores. And anyone who knows me, also knows that this is a fairly new obsession for me. Prior to meeting Mike I had an aversion to thrift stores. I have always loved antique stores, but thrift stores, yuck!!!

I remember the first time Mike took me to AMVETS (thrift store in El Cajon). I couldn't wait to get out of there. I didn't want to touch anything. I was afraid of what I might catch. I couldn't wash my hands soon enough after leaving. But luckily, I got used to going to thrift stores. And now I love thrift stores more than antique stores (only because they are cheaper).

I still can't buy clothes from thrift stores (I've always hated hand me down clothes & that is what thrift store clothes feel like to me), but household items, I'm all in. So while we were in Arizona I wrote down a list of a bunch of thrift stores that I wanted to check out. The Phoenix area has a ton of Goodwill thrift stores and a bunch called Savers.

So on the third day of our vacation we decided to hit up as many thrift stores as we could find. It helps that we had a GPS for finding each store. I think we went to about 4 or 5 Goodwill stores. We never did get to any of the Savers thrift stores.

Here is the loot that I picked up. I had to be picky as we didn't have much room in the car for taking stuff home back to California.
I love, love, love white pumpkins. So I was happy to find this little treasure for $1.50. It was 1/2 price.
I found this perfume bottle for $2.00. I have a perfume bottle collection (in case you didn't know). But then, what don't I have a collection of? Brandon thinks I collect everything. Not quite, but close.
This candle holder was also 1/2 price. I got it for 50 cents. Yup, I collect glass candle holders as well. I didn't need this, but it was only 50 cents. I couldn't pass it up.

And you know that I am into tablescaping right now. I've always had a dish fetish. Now it has progressed into napkin rings & other items for my table setting. These turkey napkin rings will look great on my Thanksgiving table. Mike thinks they are ugly, but he would be wrong.

These 4 silver snowflake napkin rings came with the turkey ones above. I got all 10 napkin rings for $5.00.
I got these 8 silver napkin rings for $4.00. I like the look of the tarnished one on the bottom left. I'm hoping that all they tarnish like that.

After a day of thrift store shopping we got back to the condo to fix dinner. Mike & I fixed beef & chicken enchiladas. They were so yummy!!!! Mike is a much better cook than me. Too bad I can't get him to fix dinner every night at home. We had lots of left over enchiladas. You will hear about what happened to them on the last day of our vacation.

After dinner we played Dominoes (we did this every night). Brandon took this photo from the loft area above the living room. I was also looking at blogs on the computer while playing. Jesse was outside talking on the phone to his girlfriend.
Here I am reading something while I was also on the computer while playing Dominoes. I did better at Dominoes when I wasn't paying that much attention. I think I won 3 games in a row this way.
Jodi taking photos with her new camera she got while on vacation.
After a few games of Dominoes, Jesse, Mike & I went to the game room to play some ping pong & pool.
Jesse & Mike playing ping pong.

Here I am in the gym on the elliptical. Does anyone believe that? I didn't think so. I did try it out for a couple of minutes. Thought I was going to die, so I stopped. Probably a smart move. Who wants to die on vacation?

Jesse & Mike playing pool.

Well there you have day 3 of our vacation. Exciting huh? I really enjoyed this type of vacation. We did everything at leisure. We didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time, didn't have to go anywhere at a certain time. And I got to shop!!! My kind of vacation so far.

It was very hot on our vacation. Over 100 degrees. Probably more like 108 degrees. But it would have been that hot at home. Makes it kind of hard being outside. Luckily we were mostly in air conditioned buildings all day. We hadn't had any rain up to this point in our vacation. It was monsoon season in Arizona, but no rain yet.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for day 4 of our vacation. If you missed day 2, you can read all about it here. And day 1, here.

Kim

Today's Thrifty Finds

It's been a couple of weeks since I have shown you my thrifty finds. To see other's treasures be sure to visit Rhoda at Southern Hospitality.

I found this green Christmas tree platter at the Goodwill in Moreno Valley (where I work). I paid $2.99 for it. It doesn't have a maker on the back. But I love it as it looks like Bordallo. This will come in handy at Christmas time.

This set of 6 berry bowls came from the Goodwill in Moreno Valley as well. They cost me $2.00 for all six.
I love the fluted edge on these with the black trim. I have a set of black & white Spode dishes these will go perfect with. There is no maker for these bowls.
This butter plate came from the local thrift store where I live in Sun City. As you can see, I paid 50 cents for this plate. I love it as it has pink roses.
Here is the maker mark on the bottom of the plate.
This ironstone veggie bowl came from the same local thrift store. I paid $1.00 for this bowl.
Again I purchased it as it has pink roses.
It is made by Johnson Brothers.
This veggie bowl came from Goodwill in Moreno Valley. I paid $2.99 for this bowl.
More pink roses.
This bowl was made in Poland.
On Saturday I was back in my home town of El Cajon & went to the Amvets thrift store. I found this saucer there. I paid $1.95. That was more than I would usually pay, but I loved the pink roses & thought it would go with a cup that I have that needs a saucer.
Here is the bottom of the saucer.
These 2 butter plates came from Amvets. I love the pink roses in the center & the gold border.
Here is a closeup of one of the plates. They were 95 cents each. I bought two.
This ironstone veggie bowl was from Amvets as well. I paid 95 cents for this.
It doesn't have a maker on the bottom.
These shower hooks came from Amvets. I paid $3.95 for them. They will go in the boys bathroom. I had been wanting these for quite some time. I love when I find the wanted item in a thrift store for a fraction of the cost. Love it!!!
This needlepoint picture came from my local thrift store in Sun City. I paid $2.00 for it. I love it and the oval frame. Hubby thinks it is ugly.
These angels I picked up on Friday at the local thrift store in Moreno Valley. My mom had this same set when I was growing up. Except hers were ceramic, these are plastic. But I still got them as they bring back fond memories. The music box on the boy is broken, but I will get hubby to fix it. I paid 35 cents for the pair.
At that same thrift store I picked up these 2 fence toppers. I am going to make a patriotic flag holder out of one of them. I will post photos when completed. I paid $1.50 for the pair.
At Goodwill in Moreno Valley I got this wooden basket. My plan is to paint it white. This was a 1/2 off item so I paid $1.00.
And finally I got this goblet at my local thrift store in Sun City. I paid $1.25. I have been searching for 1 last goblet so that I would have 4. It takes awhile sometimes to complete a set, but now I have finally completed both sets of my crystal goblets from thrift stores.

And there you have today's thrifty finds. I love going to thrift stores to treasure hunt. You never now what you will find. Now go visit Rhoda & her blogging friends to see their fabulous finds.

Kim

It's Thursday! Let's do a thrifty tea party

It's Thursday so it's Tablescape Thursday time. This fun even is hosted weekly by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. This is the 39th edition. Wow!!! Can you imagine putting together 39 tablescapes? Well there are some who have. Not me though, this is my 14th time. I'm pretty impressed that I've done that many. And I have so many more running through my brain. I just need to get all the little things together and find the time to do it. I'm trying to use stuff I have around the house, but I can't help it if I buy a little something to use now and again.

This week I am also participating for the 1st time in Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh at Tales From Bloggeritaville. A lot of the items I used in this week's tablescape came from a thrift store. Or I got a thrifty deal.

Now I don't have any daughters (boo hoo) or any grand daughters (we can always hope). But I do have 2 nieces who I call my faux daughters. I'm lucky that my nieces only live about 15 minutes from me, so we see each other quite a bit. I decided that we would have a tea party. Only problem is, I forgot to invite them and we don't drink tea. But I love tea cups, tea pots & everything else that goes with a tea party, so I thought I'd throw a faux tea party for my faux daughters Danica & Taylor.

Since the weather has been beautiful here in SoCal aka: Southern California, we would have our little tea party out by the pool. Oh, oh, looks like someone forgot to put away the extension cord & hose as well as sweep before taking the photo. Men!!! (Did you notice that I'm not taking the blame?)


Here is the tablecloth I started with (I really took this photo when I was putting everything away, but if I hadn't brought it to your attention that the cement is now all cleaned up, you wouldn't have even noticed. Would you?) I got this tablecloth at a thrift store when I lived down in San Diego county. Don't remember how much I paid for it, but knowing me, it wasn't over $5.00. Most likely only a couple of dollars.
Then I used my Bordallo cabbage plates. I only have 3 of the dinner plate size. That is why this tea party is just for 3 of us. The plates came from Ross back in Jan or Feb. I got them on clearance for I think $3.50 each. The silverware is new!!! I got it at Ross a few weeks back. $12.00 for a service for 4. I love the dark color of the bamboo.
Next I layered on my thrift store china salad plates that I got a few weeks back. I paid $2.00 for 4 of these plates plus 2 smaller plates in a different pattern. I love the pink flowers with the green cabbage plate underneath.

Here is a close up of my new silverware.
Then on top of the salad plates I put a different tea cup at each place setting. This is for me. This is my favorite tea cup. It is by Lefton. I got if off ebay. I may have splurged & paid $10.00 for this. I loved the green color with the pink roses.
Here is the tea cup for Danica. This came from ABC Distributing catalog. The bottom says "Formalities". I paid $4.95 for this tea cup. Again, I love the pink roses.
And the tea cup for Taylor. I used a Royal Albert American Rose tea cup but put it on a completely different saucer called June Bouquet by Duchess bone china England . But I think it goes together as they both have pink roses. Both the tea cup & saucer came from the thrift store. Most likely paid less than$1.00 each. I then attached little vintage napkins along with a reproduction vintage print as a name card to each tea cup handle with a drapery ring (in this case it is more like a hook). I love the medallion that was on the ring. I think it looks vintage. I'm finding that drapery rings work great as napkin rings. And they are cheap. I got these at Ross & paid $2.99 for 7 or 10 of them. Since they are actually hooks, they will come off easily from the cup handle. The napkins were part of a lot of 40 vintage napkins that I won from ebay for $9.99. I also put a packet of flower seeds (25cents each from Dollar Tree) at each setting as a little take home gift. I have them on forks bent to make easels (forgot to take photo). Here is my place setting. I love Shasta daisies. They were my favorite flowers when I was a teenager. Now my favorite flowers are roses or hydrangeas.

Here is Danica's place.
And Taylor's. Don't you just love the basket on the napkins? For the centerpiece I started out with this wooden basket that says "Fleurs" on the side. I got this at Costco at the beginning of the year. They originally came with succulents in them, but they were dying so this was a clearance item. I got it for $6.00. I think they originally sold for $20.00 or so. Since I don't like succulents, I didn't care if they were dying as I was throwing them out anyways. I only wanted the wooden basket.

Then I added some silk peonies. I thought the color of these flowers matched the pink in the flowers on the tablecloth.
Next came a birdhouse. I got this a few years back to use in my wedding. Can't remember where I got it from though. I just love this birdhouse. I sat it on a vintage napkin inside the box.
Then I added this little birdie & bird nest. This came from Michael's last year on 50% off sale.
And then I added this iron candelabra. I got this at a trade show in Vegas a few years back. I paid $2-3.00 for this.

I love how this turned out. I guess I should have lit my candles. Oh well, just pretend they are lit.

My tea service items all came from thrift stores, ebay or were free. The pink & white pitcher was an ebay find I'm sure I paid less than $10.00 for it. The tea pot was a freebie from my niece Danica. She had bought it at a thrift store to use for a friends Mad Hatter birthday party. She gave it to me after the party. The sugar & creamer came from a thrift store.

I just love my tea pot!!! I normally collect china that has roses, but I love how this pot has little blue flowers. Something different from what I normally collect.


The goblets are my Libby glasses from Walmart. I think they were like a dollar a piece.

I love how each place setting is a little different. But they all still look good together.

One final look at the table. Did you notice that the concrete is now swept? Isn't hubby a doll for doing that for me? Thanks for joining my faux tea party. Now I guess I better invite Danica & Taylor over for a real tea party. I know they will be asking for one when they see this.