This Week's Thrift Store Finds

I have been looking forward to Labor Day for a WEEK.  The day off notwithstanding, both Goodwill and Hospice Thrift were having their 50% the ENTIRE store days at the same time.  What's great about this is the stores are about 15 minutes apart.  So I can be at Goodwill when they open at 8am (an experience all its own, let me tell you), leisurely peruse their second-hand wares, try on clothes, debate furniture, all with time to spare before heading to Hospice to get in line there for when they open at 10am.

I do have to interject here.  It was a fantastic thrifting day which I heartily enjoyed, right up to the point that I got stuck between two earth mamas in line at Hospice, both of which were there for the same painting of St. Germain.  Who is Saint Germain, you ask?  Well, I asked the same question of Google later.  I pretty much stopped reading at "Lord of the Seventh Ray".  But that is just the icing on the fat, egotistical slice of hippie cake I was served all while simply waiting to get into a store. 

By the time I did get in, I'd had quite enough of Boulderites feeling like they needed to ask the Universe for forgiveness for not purchasing the painting at full price, and how divinely blessed they were that day, and how they could sense each other's moods and feelings which therefore caused missed calls that morning.  My panties were in a bigger wad than I ever thought possible.

But, fortunately for me, they were unwound by the time I reached the book section.  I scored quite a few tomes today, from hardbacks, one in particular that just came out by John Hart (for a dollar - ha!), to a couple of antique books of some quasi-popular works, and of course, the handbook everyone needs: How to Survive an Evil Robot Takeover.  I kid you not.  It's now right beside How to Survive Waking Up in a Horror Movie in my library.

My favorite find, however, was a huge leather-bound Bible from the 1960s that was given to someone at their graduation, and doesn't look like it was ever touched again.

 Complete with Anglo-Saxon Jesus.  Classic.  But in all seriousness, it is a beautiful book - kind of how you'd think a Bible should look.  It was a steal at $2.50.

I found a stunning 1950s gray jacket, along with some other clothing steals, including a pair of Silver jeans for $3.  A complete set of vintage place settings and napkins with beautiful hand-stitched flowers (side-note: if you ever wash anything with red and turn everything pink, put them into a sink full of hot water and 1/2 cup Oxi Clean.  The pink will literally disappear before your eyes...not that I would know...).

Also steals were this set of hand-done, expensively framed projects by a woman in Amarillo, TX  (I couldn't help but wonder if she knew my Great Grandmother - Grandmarillos - Nar and I stuck Grandma and Amarillo together when we were tiny, and she has been that ever since).  They were strewn throughout the store, and I'd actually eyed them prior to the 50% sale,  but couldn't justify dropp $30 on them.

I could, however, justify $15. 

 Kitsch.  Adore it.

Finally, during all this, I was staining the retro table I found at ARC over a year ago.  Here's a close up of just how bad a shape this thing was in:

Water marks, scratches, horrible mustard finish.  I will tell you right now, this is the first, and last, time I will ever strip a piece of furniture.  Three times I thought "Screw it, you were $15, and now you're free by the curb."  But I love the shape of this table, and the special place in my heart that had kept me from using it as a new chew toy for Keebler.  I also think it turned out pretty nicely for my first (and last) stain project.

I will never part with this thing.  Sorry for the wordy post!  Less talking, more picture-snapping, Kendra, I know.  Maybe tomorrow.