Apron Thrift Girl

thrifting-rent to own

If you scrounge the Craigslist ads a lot you might notice a theme with high end items. A lot of people will say "bought last year for $1200, selling for $200". If you do the math that's around $83 dollars a month to use (kind of like renting) the item. They might be selling for a number of reasons but I seem to see a lot of people who just change their mind about something once it is in their house. They realize that they don't want it.

Those of us who buy 2nd hand don't experience this on such an expensive level.This is the beauty of thrifting. We can change our mind every day if we want and overall we probably won't lose too much money. I love my couch and I plan on keep it for the next decade but if I do decide to sell it, I would definitely sell it for more than the $50 I paid for it. A "rent to own" where the cost is actually beyond free.

I look at thrifting as an investment and at the moment, it is paying off for us. Last week we learned that we most likely have to sell our sweet home because renting it will not even begin to cover the mortgage. Our money is going to be extremely tight in Santa Monica. At the moment we plan to put the house on the market at the very end of March. Which means I have to get it emptied now. Last weekend I had a burst of energy and listed a bunch of items on Craigslist. We sold over $400 in furniture and other items.  Two more people are planning to come this weekend and leave us with $450 more. This money is going straight in our savings account for our move. One of the items I sold was an old oak English pub table. I bought it at Goodwill for $25.00 five years ago. It needs to be refinished but still is an amazing table. I priced it at $100.00. It sold within the hour to a woman who plans to refinish it. Now if you do the math okay I need the calculator for this one we were paid $15.00 a year to own this table. That's my kind of "rent-to-own" scheme that I like.

I don't feel guilty at all about making a small profit on a table that I used and loved. I researched first and found that tables in good condition are listed for around $350 on Craigslist. Maybe I could have asked more but I wanted it to sell quickly. I have a 1200 square foot basement and a 950 square foot apartment that are both filled to the brim with stuff. The woman who purchased it was very pleased with the table, happy about the price and will probably make the table look fabulous. We are both satisfied.

We also sold our hutch this weekend and the woman is coming tomorrow from Seattle to pick it up. I love this hutch but it is so big and I have no idea what our little rental in Santa Monica will be like.

Anyone remember when I bought it? It's funny but I thought I paid $250 for it but we paid $175.00. You would think that I would have a better thrift memory. I think I need to write this stuff down. It sold for $300.00 which I think is a good value. I will still make a little money on it, it was basically free to use for the last couple of years and it pays for the teak, danish modern piece that I picked up for Craigslist for $50 that will replace this hutch.

I tend to look positively on my Craigslist transactions. I don't try to take advantage of people but I do sell an item at a price that I think it is worthy of. I mean if I had the skills to do something else like teaching, being a doctor or a lawyer, maybe I would be doing that instead of the art of Reselling. But that's where my skill is and I try to use that skill on a daily basis. Besides it is the other side of thrifing. While I love to buy thrifted items, I equally love to sell. I couldn't think of a more satisfying job for me. I love researching an item and figuring out the best price to sell it. At least it keeps my brain active.

Do you thrifters ever sell an item for more than you thrifted it for? Do you feel guilty? Pleased? Share with us your own favorite ReSale.

changing style

Thanks to my friend Jacki, my tastes have evolved over the last year and a half. Which makes sense when you have a scanner personality. In fact it will probably change again as my tastes just seem to be fluid rather than stay stable. But for now I'm into Mid Century Modern or Danish Modern. When we moved into our home 3 1/2 years ago I was so into Shabby Chic. I stocked up on chenille, bark cloth, embroidered linens, peeling  peeling furniture and so on. I devoured Country Living magazine and tried to replicate from those pages what I could in my home.

When I started thrifting with Jacki though my tastes started to change as I watched her pick up funky pottery, modern style art, furniture and more. As someone who is as emotional and scanner driven as I am, I fell in love with this design. And I had to have it for myself. I began to box up the shabby chic stuff and started to look for this Mid Century Modern items when I thrifted. Funny enough I had already started to love Ben Seibel and Vera which fit very well into MCM.

I thought I would share with you how I pieced together a somewhat MCM living room on a frugal budget and within one year.

Danish Modern Leather & teak couch $50.00 from rummage sale

Vintage Flowery Chair $28 Goodwill in Seattle (Ballard)

Stan Bennett Chicken Kinetic Sculpture $2.00 yard sale in Port Townsend

Vintage Lamp $16.00 for the pair. The light from the shades were a creepy dark orange so they both have temporary shades for now until I can replace them.

Pillow on left from Urban Outfitters, found at Goodwill Outlet $1.99

Pillow on right, Christmas gift from Jacki

Oil painting of Dogwood Tree flowers, a favorite of my grandmothers. $4.99 thrift store on my way to Port Townsend.

Peeking behind couch is a set of Danish Modern Teak coasters with stand, $5.00. Teak side table is a nestling set of three. Purchased at a bootsale in England for 10 Pounds/$15.00 back when I had absolutely no interest in this style but wanted a nestling table set.

Ikea chair $10.00 from Craigslist just to get us through the holidays but for some reasons till hanging around. Orange shag pillow $1.99 Goodwill Outlet, Wool blanket from somewhere for a cheap price.

A Dansk Jens Quistgaard design candelabrum $3.00 rummage sale and a Kosta Boda glass piece $10.00 from an Obama fundraiser yard sale.

A collection of pottery, none of it was probably priced higher than $2.00 each.

Books full of mid century design, free to borrow from the library.

Teak coffee table $31 from Goodwill in Ballard. 2 Catherine Holm design enamel bowls. I think I paid $5.00 for the set. I can't remember the price of the orange bowl.

Saving my favorite for last, a Bitossi vase. I found this in a shop in Port Townsend. I really pushed out the boat and paid $42 which is definitely the highest price I've ever paid for a vase. But I fell in love with the color and the design and I thought it fit into my new living room perfectly.

Dave and I now feel that we are kind of adults now. That's it's time to get the martini supplies out and start to throw some parties. Our house has always been a jumbled mess of half painted furniture, chipped dishes and junk. I feel that evolving into this Danish Modern style that our house is more grown-up. And surprisingly I want to keep it cleaner (gulp) and neater. I'm starting to love my house just as we are about to leave it. I have to laugh at the irony.

the what ifs

Dave and I have been playing the game of the "what ifs" lately. Last night we started our "what ifs" conversation after a short discussion about both Microsoft and Intel planning to lay off 9,000 jobs between the two companies. Microsoft is one of our local companies and again the Pacific Northwest will take another hit after losing WaMu and Safeco. Part of our what-if game comes from the fact that Dave had considered applying for a WaMu position a couple years ago. And we even talked about moving to Hillsboro, Oregon to work for Intel. The entire plant at Hillsboro is planning to close. In the end Dave is just relieved he stuck with his company.

With two very large companies laying off so many people though, we are starting to talk about the worst. It's not like we are doom and gloom people but we want to be smart and prepared in the case that he loses his job. Which brought us around to the "what if" game last night. "well what if we sold our house and took the money and went to live in the boontoolies?" or "what if we rented out our apartment attached to our house so that our mortgage was smaller?". Even if worse came to worse we talked about renting our house out and living in our 950 square foot apartment.

The nice thing about being a Reseller is that I do have the freedom to live anywhere in the case that we had to leave the area. People are selling stuff in every corner of our country and there are always bargains to be found. And people will always need help selling stuff too which is the other angle of the business that I have been playing with lately. 

When we went to bed after we finished our "what ifs" discussion I think we felt overall better because of it. I tend to feel that the more choices you have, the more empowered you are. Sure living in a 950 square foot apartment with 2 kids, a dog and a cat isn't brilliant but we would have a roof over our head and a home that we were comfortable in. Dave said he'd work downtown at the local grocery store if they were hiring to keep food on the table.

I think this recession is about being prepared and staying close to our frugality. I heard a woman on NPR who lost her job saying that she only had 3 weeks worth of savings. I'm guilty of not having lots of savings. I don't know why, I used to be over the top obsessed with savings. I used to save at least 50% of my paycheck before I met Dave. We decided on Wednesday evening that we needed to have $10,000 saved up in order to move to Santa Monica. The move is still on for now but we are uncertain if it will go through in the end. We are okay either way. So I started a savings jar and I'm going to try my best to fill it with Craigslist sale money and cut our spending drastically each month. We have to curb our desire to eat out and have decided that we will only eat out 3 times a month (gulp). I have two vices: eating out and magazines. Both give me such insane pleasure. Ironically we only like three restaurants on the island. But two of the three are truly addictive: one being a curry house and the other being a BBQ place. Lip smackin' yumminess that is hard to resist.

Have you been playing "what ifs?" Or did the "what ifs" already happen in your life? I'm still sticking with my positive, Pollyanna attitude. I just want to have some back-up plans just in case. 

View over West Port, WA.

sleeping

There are times when you thrift that you might have to make a difficult decision to buy something. Last Saturday I arrived home from a Coscto run and popped on the computer to quickly check my email and Craigslist. I did a search for our local community and my eyes immediately saw a post for a natural latex queen mattress. I have been looking for one of these for the last 2 years and quickly grabbed the phone and called. I didn't even think about the fact that I hate to make phone calls to strangers. I knew that I had to have this bed. Part of being a good thrifter is the skill to be quick to the draw and being persistent.

 When we moved from England to Herndon, Virginia I immediately went out and started thrifting. We had such a tiny house in England and all the sudden we had a 5 bedroom, split level house. It had uneven walls and was poorly built but it was massive compared to our little home that we left in the UK. I now had the chance to fill it. I came across the most amazing King size bed by Natura. It was $500 but to me that was only 250 pounds since I was still mentally on British money. And the fact that I laid down on it and fell in love with it immediately helped my quick decision to buy it. It nestled my body perfectly and I didn't want to get up, despite the fact that the person selling the bed was watching me questioningly. I had never experienced a latex mattress before and the Natura is one of the best. The one we had was a mix of wool and cotton and natural latex. A lovely cocktail for someone who likes to stick close to natural as possible. We bought it and loved that mattress until we moved into our tiny little 1927 home, with it's little tiny rooms that couldn't possibly take a huge King size mattress. We gave the bed to my parents and my perfect night's sleep were not as perfect any more.

That was until last Sunday. Dave and I went to look at the mattress on Saturday night. The woman selling had it on the floor and we had to awkwardly try it out in her dining room. It didn't feel the same. Dh kept asking me in his caveman protective way about what to do about the lack of a box spring. It didn't come with one and we certainly didn't have one hanging around the house. I told him not to worry about that, I would find one. I just wanted to see if the bed was comfy. We left undecided and told the seller that we would think quickly about it. She had two other people interested.

The children seemed to fight all the way home (1/2 mile) and we couldn't even discuss the mattress. I went to my computer where it was quiet and looked up the brand of the mattress. It was an Englander and she was asking $300 for it. It seemed like so much money, especially because she bought it new for around $1,000. I don't know about you but I love to pay maybe a 10th of the original price. Paying a 1/3 seemed like almost breaking a thrift rule. I looked at Natura and saw that their queen was around $2,000. I've been sleeping miserably on a nice thrifted mattress but nothing like the latex/memory foam feel. I could easily go out and buy a memory foam but they are chocked full of chemicals and could off-gas for years. I think the Natura is the higher quality mattress so in my head I compared the $300 price tag vs the $2000 price tag for new. I also considered the fact that it is so incredibly rare to find one of these 2nd hand. The reason the woman was selling the mattress is that she found it too firm. The fact that she lived so close to me was icing on the cake. I found one other mattress for sale about six months ago in Seattle. The seller wanted $900 for the set. I passed with hope that I would find one cheaper and closer.

I called the seller and told her that I wanted the mattress. She offered to deliver it the next day since we lived so close. That's what I call great thrift customer service. Next I went on the computer and sent an email to all my local lists looking for a Queen box spring. I had one within the hour, ironically from someone we knew. Dave picked it up on Sunday and by Sunday evening I threw together our make-shift bed.

 

Now all I need is a proper bed frame to go with it. But my sleep was incredible and funny enough in our own home perhaps without people watching us it was as soft and mold-able as our last Natura mattress. Now my only problem is forcing myself to get out of bed in the morning to start the day.

a little honesty

I had a business consultation with a coach a few weeks ago. I started to feel weird again regarding business. For those that know me, I switch roles more often than my seasonal wardrobe. Some of her (Holly's) advice was a bit brutal but good to hear. Especially after I got over myself. I asked the question I always ask myself: "What do I want to be when I grow up?". I'm turning 37 in April and I still don't have an answer to this question. Luckily Holly did. She told me "focused". That's what I am going to be. It won't mean I'm a doctor, lawyer or teacher. But I will somewhere find the discipline to be focused in my life.

I mean it's obvious in one way, but in another way I never ever considered trying to be focused. I mean I'm a scanner, focus is really the last thing on my mind. Sometimes I feel like a butterfly just fluttering along in life with no destination at all. Holly said that part of my lack of focus is the fact that I can be at home. I'm married to a man who has a good job and brings in the majority part of our income. It's not that the money I contribute doesn't help, in fact last year we really survived on the extra money I earned. She said that in some cases, I would make more money working for someone else. I do much better when someone tells me what to do rather than being left to my own devices. I did very well at the cemetery. I started as a grounds keeper, made it to cemetery supervisor (I think my organizational skills helped nail that one) and eventually I was promoted to work in the office full time. I excelled partly because I tend to have good communication skills or maybe it's just that my dad taught me to say my pleases and thank yous.

I love being self-employed though but I do lack focus. Part of the reason I chose my post header is that I wanted to be honest about this blog. I don't' know if many of you have followed me on this blog since the beginning. I started off strong and my obsessive nature really put everything into the blog. I wrote nearly every day. Yet one day I went to write and it was almost as if I didn't have any words to say. Remember when Forrest Gump ran until he was finished? It's like that for me.

I switched computers at that time from a PC to a Mac and I couldn't get my photos to load correctly. I lost my passion for blogging and instead focused in the direction of book selling. I began to post monthly on my blog with many people writing me to say that they missed me. I felt guilty but I just couldn't force myself to write. I think this is a trait among scanners. It's hard to force us to do something when our soul has lost the emotion.

I felt that I had come home as a bookseller. My great grandmother Nanette, had a used book store in Berkeley in the 1920's. I still own some of those very books including an original Maxfield Parrish book full of his illustrations. I treasure this book and often think about Nanette and her book store. I put my all into my books and quickly went from selling a mere $500 a month to $4000 a month in just six months. I worked and worked and worked until this last summer. When Dave and I were driving down to CA for our summer vacation I once again felt frustrated in the work department. I didn't like the competitive nature of other booksellers. Some were so mean and I backed away from their meanness. I like people with heart and who think of other people first. I felt that I wasn't cut out to be a book purchaser. As a seller I think I do well but fighting with those people just isn't my thing.

We decided that I should refocus on my blog and take a break from book selling. I'm a huge dreamer and always had the vision of earning millions of dollars for some idea that I haven't quite found yet. Being a thrifter has given me such rich taste. I have no need to for cheaply made products when I can get such high quality items on the 2nd hand market. But at the same time I'd love a fancy Viking range to cook on and a sub zero fridge like we used at our last home exchange. And of course a swimming pool to go with my dream mid century home. Are scanners bigger dreamers than other people? I'm not sure but I know that I always dream beyond what I can afford. Which I am okay with because overall I'm content with what I have now. I love my house and my life. But I still am a dreamer.

I tend to want to find that job that will make me millions. I think I'm starting to let that one go though. I don't know if I have the focus to find one. I mean this guy made a million by one simple website. That's my kind of money making idea. I like it simple, quick and fun.

Starting on our vacation last summer, I began to write again on this blog. I took the weekends off so that I wouldn't burn out. The passion was back and I so enjoyed writing again and connecting with people. Not to mention creating new friendships. We arrived home from vacation and I could hardly go back to selling books. Each book I shipped I did so with a pretty bad attitude. I didn't list any books for ages and when I did so it felt like such hard work. And that is how strange it is to be me. I kept plugging away at the books though and finally in December the passion returned. I had to wait 6 months to once again love my book selling job.

I guess as a scanner or maybe just as me, when one passion rekindles another dies away. In the same month I started to struggle with posting on the blog. I took off two weeks or so during the great snow of 2009 and when I started with my post in January I ran into a photo problem. I still can't get photos up on my laptop. Maybe I subconsciously created the problem.

I'm so fired up though about books and reselling in general. I revamped my website and updated all of my services. I even sat with a notepad the other day and wrote down my dream job. Basically it is to go into a home and buy the entire contents and sort through everything.  I guess the official name is clean-outs or buying entire estates. I don't necessarily have the funds to do that but I came up with some services to get me close to that idea. I love the sorting and researching of this kind of work. It's what I thrive on.

Holly suggested that I really focus on the Finder Service. This is where people tell me what they are looking for and I find it for them. I love this idea. I'm already bartering my singing lessons in return for finding things for my singing instructor. It is such a satisfying feeling to search for something for someone.

This long winded email is really to share what is going on inside the mind of me. And also why my blog posts are not as frequent. I wish it wasn't as convoluted as it is but that's just the way my mind works. And again, I'm okay with that. I need to honor my passions and follow them but in a more focused way. I am going to try hard to still post frequently although the posts might be somewhat shorter.

I need balance and focus to be a part of my life. And if you are up for it, I hope to share my path with you as I take this journey. If you are a scanner, I imagine your path might be similar.

the newness of the new year

I just adore January. The biggest reason is that we are past the winter solstice which means the days are slowly getting longer and the nights are getting shorter. Spring is my favorite season of the year. While many bloggers rave about the Fall, I rave about the Spring. I don't do winter so well although I will admit that this is my best winter so far living in this dreary and dark climate. I discovered that dressing myself from ankles to neck in woollies (as we call them or long underwear which might be their official unattractive name) every day and night, warms me to the core. Last year I froze, this year I am comfortable and content. If I put on a pair of Smart Wool socks then I am over the moon with warmth.

With my warm core, my fantastic cold brew coffee and finally having a strong friendship after many empty years, my outlook on winter has shifted. I used to literally get to February and nearly check out for the month. I couldn't work, I would sink into a depression and usually spend my free days looking at real estate in warmer parts of the world. It wasn't until spring really appeared and the world became a visually prettier place with flowers blooming and trees exploding in leaves that I would slowly come out of my dark mood. This year I don't feel any of this darkness.

Which means I can focus purely on the reasons that I really love January. It's a time to really start with de-cluttering and getting rid of everything we don't need. I was listening to some self-help tapes by Barbara Sher that I just picked up at an estate sale. She was telling me to get rid of clutter because it talks to me. She implied that we all have conversations with our stuff. Sometimes stuff screams at me. She used the example of the half knitted scarf that I might feel guilty about for not finishing, the home course for being a travel agent that I feel guilty for spending the money on and not completing (this was back in the 90's when they were in every town still), or the box of unsent Christmas cards that remind me of my poor habit of procrastination. Barbara said to get rid of it and don't think twice about it. 

Yesterday I spent the entire day cleaning my office. And It's day three of cleaning my office and I am still not finished. I'm much closer though and by the end of the evening I felt so good and free of the junk that I sent out of the house. Or the items that were put away in their home. I was in such a good mood I even did some laundry which I'll admit quietly that I just loathe doing. I'm definitely one of those people that choose to do the fun stuff over the things I should be doing in the home. The more organized I get, the more energy I have to tackle the not-so-exciting jobs around the house. The more organized the house is, the more smoothly everything falls into place. Sort of like a puzzle. Before if I did do the laundry, the children's rooms were so messy that I had no place to put the clean clothes. Now all of Cerys's clothing are hanging in the closet. She loves this new system compared to using a dresser. Now I take her clothing to her and she puts them away with a smile. Now that is a rare thing indeed.

Do you have de-cluttering or organizational goals for the new year?

turning nine

Cerys didn't want a birthday party this year. Instead she wanted to take the ferry to Seattle with only me to go shopping. No daddy, no Keiran, just Cerys and me shopping to our heart's content. And my heart gave a pitter patter when she said that she wanted to go to the Goodwill Outlet. What a dream for me.

The outlet was our first stop. We grabbed a cart and began looking together through the bins. I find the outlet a bit of a challenge with two children, but with just Cerys, it went smoothly. She found books, some small toys, some dead cell phones which she thinks are the coolest thing ever. She adores to play "teenagers". I can relate, I still have a handwritten telephone list that I used to pretend call with names including Ralph Macchio. My friend Ginger and I used to call these fake numbers and talk for hours on an unplugged phone.

I found 2 feather pillows for my sofa with linen covers. When we were waiting for the ferry to come home, I found a tag inside and discovered that they were from Urban Outfitters. They were $1.99 each.

 

We moved on to the Hanna Andersson store where Cerys spent most of her birthday gift money from family. Thankfully over half of the store was on sale and everything Cerys purchased was drastically reduced. Lunch took us to Chipotles and eventually to the Goodwill in Ballard. This is by far my favorite Goodwill in all of Seattle. I picked up this amazing chair and teak mid century coffee table there.

 

The chair is on the right. It's floral but a very laid back floral, the design reminds me of Vera. It's amazingly comfy and very high quality. It is probably 50 years old.

Slowly my new mid century obsession, thanks to Jacki, is taking shape in my living room. Cerys now thinks the new chair is her birthday chair and is drawn to it every time we hang out in the living room. I'm happy to share it with her.

Here's the ever thoughtful Cerys debating about her wish with one candle to go. She is wearing her new Hanna winter hat and overall very happy and content in her nine year old self. Our relationship is just golden at the moment. We are very close and I'm trying to enjoy each morsel of this time together. I'm not sure what her teens will be like. I'm hoping that keeping our relationship close at this time in our life will make her teens a little smoother sailing.

Whew!

Well this is a start to the changes that we thrifters want to hear from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Read this breaking news. If you have the chance, please spread the word about this.

taking a risk

There is an element of risk when thrifting. Well not the lose-your-life type of risk but going outside of your comfort zone risk. With the yard sales being next to none up here and the thrift stores running dry I am finding my addicted to thrifting self depending more and more on Craigslist. I check it sometimes hourly for items in my town or I'll pick a specific search like "books" or more recently "teak". I try to avoid looking in Seattle since it just sits there as one giant tease. It's just too expensive to make a run over for a single item.

The night before last when I did a local search I saw that there was an estate sale planned to start Wednesday which would last for well over a week. I emailed them to ask if they are indeed starting on Wednesday and whether they are going to start at 9am or let people in early. I have gone to countless sales that said "no early bird" and when I arrive a few minutes before the planned start time, buyers are walking out with arms full of stuff. The woman replied to my email to let me know that I can come a day earlier if I wished to. She left her phone number and asked me to call her.

I stared at her email for at least 10 minutes. I stared at the phone for another five minutes. I weighed it up in my mind about calling her or just arriving at the sale the day it was going to open. Really this phone thing is such a nuisance. My stomach was in knots and I nearly broke out in a nervous sweat. Eventually I just picked up the phone quickly and dialed her number as if trying to outwit my mind. Luckily she answered on the first ring. She said I could come by at 9:00 am the next morning. We hung up and I rang Jacki and asked her if she wanted to come with me. She said yes (of course) and we planned to meet the next morning at the children's school. I went to sleep dreaming of estate sales. Sometimes I'm too silly for words.

We arrived at 9:02 yesterday morning. The daughter of the father who recently died answered the door. She was so friendly and kind. And overwhelmed since she doesn't live in the state. I went straight to the books to look for inventory for my store and Jacki started looking at items in the living room. It wasn't long before we both started making our piles.

The doorbell kept ringing and other people smart enough to call her too began to shop with us. This included three dealers from Seattle looking for sterling, photos and books. They carried flashlights with them even in rooms where the lights were on. What is that about? They acted like they were detectives.

When I was going through the books though I had a bit of a shock. I discovered that I knew the person who had died. This was a first for me in all my years of going to estate sales. Although I always try to think warmly of the person and their belongings that I am picking over, it's easier to not feel too emotionally tied to the idea that someone's death means that I gain something. I was taken back when this person's name appeared in a book. I went to find the daughter and tell her that I knew her father and what a wonderful man he was. We had worked together volunteering at Friends of the Library sales. The daughter seemed so happy that I knew her father and that I was buying some of his belongings.

It made the rest of the sale somewhat strange. I got to see a glimpse into his life, far more than I ever did when working with him. I saw what he loved to read, what movies he watched and what art he collected on the walls. It was just so odd to personalize a sale.

Jacki did very well buying a green house, a rototiller, a lawn mower, art work and various other bits and bobs. With a move in our future I had to stick to smaller items. Despite the other dealers, it was wonderful to not have to fight with the other buyers. I took a personal risks to call this woman and it turned out better than I imagined. I got to say a private goodbye to an acquaintance and I bought enough inventory to get me through January. Oh and I found a brilliant submarine book for Keiran which he was delighted about. 

I had photos to share on some other sweet finds but for some reason my camera isn't speaking to my computer at the moment. Or maybe my computer is ignoring my camera. Either way I have no idea why and will need to get dh on it.

catching up

The holidays were so strange this year and very unpredictable. Gifts for teachers were not given and the last two days of school were canceled due to snow. Snow, snow and more snow arrived which left us snowed in on our hilly little island. Cars and trucks were stuck in ditches everywhere. We were not sure if we could get out to finish our holiday shopping nor were we sure if anyone would be able to even get to our house in time for Christmas Eve. We even had power outages to add to the fun. In the end the UPS, USPS & Fed Ex trucks couldn't even make most of their Christmas deliveries. All of my gifts from Dave were stuck in Seattle or Renton for Christmas. The only reason Dave had anything under the tree from me is a trip by foot & ferry to Seattle to buy him something from the city. I couldn't even get to our local mall on the other side of the one bridge, off the island.

I took a long blogging break as you can see to try to keep up with the children, sledding, once the snow was gone showing Dave's mum around (visiting from the UK for a month) and trying to start our spring cleaning early. I had all the intention to write a long post with photos today when last night it started snowing. Again. I woke last night around midnight as the snowplow went by only to realize the power had gone off again. Sigh....Now we have a two hour delay which means Kindergarten is canceled and Cerys's school will start at 10:45. My first day without children is no more.

Overall, all of these unexpected events proved to be a Christmas to remember and despite all the hiccups we enjoyed our Christmas very much. It was incredibly beautiful and it made us so grateful when the rain returned. Through the snow and ice Dave managed to get to the closest wal-mart and give me some Martha Stewart craft items to open up on Christmas Day. After the holidays gifts began to stagger in so my Christmas was extended for a week and it included this book which is my favorite to curl up and read on the couch at the moment.

Hoping that school will be on for tomorrow for both children, I'll plan for my new blogging year to start then with more tips of frugality, inspiration for living a thrifted life and more photos to share. Happy New Year everyone.