A Case for Thrifting

Yesterday I had a thrifting bug. I had to go to the thrift. And not
just any thrift, the super cheap thrift, It's only open a mere ten hours
during the entire week, so when it's open, I have to go. We drove out to
it - it is in a neighboring town with absolutely nadda to do except visit
the thrift. Much to my chagrin, it was CLOSED. Bummer. It is CLOSED
Tuesday and Thursday for restocking which means Saturday the parking lot
will look like Wal-Mart at 5:30 on Christmas Eve. DH drove right past
there yesterday and I mentioned that I should have had him make sure it
was open today, but then again, why wouldn't they be. They do have a habit of closing for restocking with no real notice. Well, next time I will have him check, that's for sure. It's only about 8 miles out there, but that's another 8 miles back and gas was $2.89 last Wednesday and today it was $3.29, so I really can't be wasting gas looking for a tencent goodie. Well, okay, I supose I can. But, I really shouldn't.

So, that nasty thrifting bug just wouldn't go away, so I decided to go to the Salvation Army even though they rarely have any vintage goodies to peak my interest. But, sometimes we find movies or books or an occassional interesting item. Today I spent $3.20. Records were 10¢ each,down from the usual 25¢ each. They used to be $1.00 each,m shich is crazy since no one really even has a record player anymore. I know some records are worth money, but other than Elvis and the Beatles, I am pretty clueless. I do like to look through them for graphics and maybe an occassional autographed
something or rather. I found a set of Square Dancing Records. There were four in the set, but two were missing. I liked the graphics and decided it was still worth 20¢ (yes, they count the records in a set and charge you X x 10¢).

My main item of the day set me back $3.00. This vintage Samsonite Suitcase. It is smallish and not a huge one. It will be perfect for storing scrapbooking paper or my evergrowing collection of felt for shoes and donuts. They actually had three of them in three different sizes. If they had been the type to stack symetrically, I would have bought them
all. But one was more squarish than the others. I would love to have a stack of them at the end of the couch for an endtable/storage unit. The larger one still had the original paper on the inside and had some sort of a folding hanger situation that seemed to me a closet in a suitcase. It weighted about 15 pound and it ws empty. It would have been interesting trying to lug that thing around with all your clothes in it for a trip. And shoes. And hats. And girdles. And
dressing gowns. Etc.

The thing that really peaked my interest in these suitcses is this - inside each one of them there were various silk pouches on the sides and edges. Pinned to each and every pocket was a different medalliion with the Infant of Prague on it. In the suitcase I bought, here was a gold one, a pewter one, a silver one and a cheaper tin-y version. I "googled" it and read the history of the Infant of Prague, but I still don't really understand the pinning in the suitcase thing. If anyone can enlighten
me, please do. I'm sure it was "Good Luck", for lack of a beter term.

Thanks for all the great comments on the last post. Looks like the giveaway will be a good one. Svelte asked when I started my blog. I think it was in October of 2005. I love to write and never really had much of an outlet for it and this blog has helped me write. It might not always be earth shattering or enlightening, but I write it! I majored in Journalism and creative writing and really need to do something constructive with that someday. I need to combine my love of thrifting, junk and writing into some sort of a money making format. I wish!

Thanks again everyone! And, if you haven't signed up for the giveaway on the next post - please do so!