Trade Me, Op Shops, and a bit of Retail.

I have been mixing up my shopping of late.  I love my weekly excursion to the Op Shops, and I enjoy hunting on Trade Me, and right now most of the retail shops are ON SALE!!!  Music to my ears.  Apparently winter is over so all the winter duds are on sale, and alot of it is old stock, ie not this seasons current everyone must have!!  So I guess it now gets down to what did I get?? 

This delightful little cabinet I got off Trade Me, it is about 50cm tall and 30cm wide.  How could I not bid on that??  I have a bit of a thing for small storage things.  Probably because when I was young and playing with my barbie doll my dad made me the most beautiful wardrobe for all her clothes.  It now is my Medicine cabinet that sits on the bench in my kitchen.

Yes this is the one Dad made me.  So I would have had this for well on 40years now.  It seemed such a shame not to use it and seen as I don't play with old Barbs anymore I thought medicine cabinet!!  The hinges on the door are made from leather and the draws have been dove tailed.  Techo talk for builders!!

My srumdiddlyumpshish boots I got from my friend that owns a shoe shop.  They were HALF price so how could I say no to Leather fur lined boots that lace up the back.  I rolled the top over so you could see the soft fluffliness that is the fur.  These are like slippers to wear so ultra comfy.

Now the gorgeous bright coloured Russian Doll scarf I got off Trade Me.  I love Russian Dolls and this scarf just begged me to buy it.  It is really light and down right gorge!!

The wooden feet I suspect are from Bali or somewhere similar and think they are candle holders.  I got them and the Swedish wooden stacker toy from Habitat yesterday.  The toy was only $3 and the feet were a $1.

Not the most flattering picture of my good self but I wanted to show off my spotted cardy I got in a sale.  I have a love of spots and stripe so was well made up when I saw this little beauty.  The black ruffle skirt under my layers which you cannot really see was a dress I got in a sale that I chopped the top off to make a skirt.  I love layering my clothes and with my spots and stripes and a splash of red I felt pretty happy.  I had alot of ladies telling me they loved my leggings, and I said "so do I"!!!   I also got myself a pair of Leopard print tights in a sale which have yet to be worn and a leopard print fur shrug thingy that is coming up from Christchurch as the shop up here didn't have one but Christchurch did and it was such a good sale price that I didn't even mind the $10 shipping costs.  That won't be at my door until next week so I shall slap an outfit together of fur and leopard print and my new boots to show off when it arrives.

I am off to watch Sues son play rugby this afternoon.  Due to the fact that she has abandoned him for 10 days to live the life of an Islander in some tropical paradise, I am to be his stand in mother.  So I am going to let him stay up late, eat junk food and do what ever he likes.  The fact that he flats with my son and is 20 is irrelevant, I am going to let him behave badly!!!!!   Hope she has a splendid time away.

♥ Gotta go, so have a great weekend ♥

SuesDay again!!

How fast do the weeks roll by?  Just seems like only yesterday it was SuesDay!!  Today was another fantastic day out with my wing-woman Sue who was on a roll in the shopping stakes today. She nearly filled up the entire back seat.  I only purchased a couple of things today, and I did try, and was tempted so many times.

I got this bright red Virtue dress which looks shit on a hanger but trust me its nice, has a fancy woven detail on the front.  Also grabbed this gorgeous aqua scarf with bobbles on and they look wicked together.

We did a total of 7 op shops on our SuesDay tour of duty today.  Lots of bits and bobs on offer but some of it is just too pricey for this non working bird.

Found all this lovely lace for 99cents, too good to pass.  Always good to have lace to frou frou up some sewing.  Speaking of sewing, now that I have ample time on my hands I think I need to get that sewing mojo into gear and attack the cupboard full of beautiful fabric.  No excuses now not to get into my room and play!!

I finally got a photo of  my granny mobility scooter today.  Complete with Ape hangers and chrome. Even has a case on the back for your shopping.  Think suitable clothing would be in leather with fringing!!!

I would have to put a basket on it somewhere so Oscar could go out with me tho'.

Guess who found a bunch of Leis and decided to treat me to an Island dance??  Due to being Rarotonga bound and very very excited it was a must!!

So next week I will be op shopping on my tod!!  No Sue for 10 days!!!  She will be missed :-(

This evening I could smell my Daphne bush from my deck, so I just had to go pick a bunch for inside.  I planted this bush when my dad died as he also loved the smell of Daphne.  It always reminds me of him so it is nice to have a bunch sitting on my dinning room table.

I love fragrant flowers.  I have daffodils popping up and have planted my sweet pea seeds. Also put in some of those wicked poppies, the opium sort.  I have been squirreling seeds and seedlings from friends and now planting them all.  Not so sure when to put my giant sun flowers seeds in the ground.

The dogs were having another one of their friendly wrestling matches late this afternoon.  Oscar nearly always ends up on the bottom.

Thursday tomorrow and NO WORK!!!!!  Crikey I could sleep in if I was a sleep in type of person.  I think I will just make it up as the day unfolds and do whatever takes my fancy!!  Hope the sun is out again, I do like winter when the sun comes out to play.

♥♥ Good night all ♥♥

Friday, Funeral and the future

On Thursday I decided to resign from my Grown Up job as I realised I really wasn't grown up enough or maybe I was too grown up??  The nasty gossipy woman got the better of me and I thought it was best for me to go.  They think I just felt the job didn't suit but one of the Surgeons and owners of the business knows the truth.  As I said to him, it was my problem not theirs and they will probably find another person that will be happy to work with these women.  So I am foot loose and fancy free and quite frankly, I LIKE IT!!!!

I finished on the Thursday and this worked well for me as I had the funeral of a dear old friend to go to on the Friday.  My old mate Dot passed away at the ripe old age of 96.  She had finally needed to go into a care home two and a half years ago and from then the gradual decline began.  Dot was an old friend of my Grandparents, they all lived in the same neighbourhood for years.  Years back I ended up becoming Dot's cleaner and when I went back to work I did her cleaning on a sunday morning.  It was more like a fortnightly catch up with some housework thrown in.  Dot was a lovely woman who was so interesting and quite the hard case.  Her husband had dies 20 years ago and they no kids.  The reason she lived so long I think!!!!  So it was good to be able to go and pay my respects to this dear old friend.  There was only 20 of us there, but I guess at 96 most of your friends have already passed.  

With time on my hand, being free of work and all I took in a couple of Op shops after lunch.  The two embroidered cushion covers were $3 each, the magazine wrack was $7-50, the ivory carved necklaces were $3 each, and the pile of books, a series of 5 were $7-50 the lot.  They are for my friend Dawn as she loves Medieval period stuff.  Big fan of wizards and crusades!!  Hence her pottery being quite mystical and whimsey.

These are the necklaces closer up.  Quite intricately carved and thinking quite old.  I would hate to think the barbaric practise of killing animals for their tusks was still going on.

Last night TOF and I went out with friends for dinner.  Dianne was celebrating a 50+ birthday so it seemed only reasonable that we all went out for a bite to eat, catch up and watch the rugby on a big screen.  Our beloved Chiefs were robbed of a win by a somewhat dubious call from the ref, but hey that's how it goes.  We went to a pub called The Speights Alehouse and the meals were humongous!!  Real man sized fodder, luckily I ordered a light meal.

Last week I went to an indoor skate park to take photos of Jak doing his thing.  I was invited when he was the only one there, the uncool factor may have come into play here, so off I went.  I am now allowed to attend when his mates are there tearing the place up!!  The artwork on the walls (Graffiti) was awesome, so of course here is a sample.

 

got to love the colours.

this beats tagging hands down, taggers could learner from this.

 

So my Saturday came and went, as I seemed to be quite knackered and spent a big part of the day sleeping.  This happens from time to time, I think it is me just catching up on the sleep I don't always get.  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and that you are all well and happy.

♥

 

Got pimped on SuesDay

Well pimped is a slight exaggeration, we got hair cuts!!  But before we left we thought "Photos", I set the self timer and I ran, and.... well yes, didn't quite set it long enough so you get me back on in full flight!!!

So after a few more minor mishaps in the art of self timing, finally we managed to get one of us together all dressed up ready to face some shops and my hairdresser.

I am saving the close ups for later on so you get the before and after effect.

Look even Oscar was wearing Red, talk about colour co-ordination!!!

We had 1/2 an hour to hit Habitat before we went to be beautified.  So we headed off round the corner to Habitat and basically slid into a car park, abandoned the car,  and dashed inside.  Oh and I dropped off a bag of magazines and things also.  Made Sue go through it before we went there so she scored some jewels.

Sometimes I get the feeling that Sue is just taking the piss out of Op shopping!!!

 

 




She is a bit of an old scrubber so was delighted to come across a cleaning ladies caddy and a mop!!

 





I was test driving one of the old lady shopping trollies but opted for the rather cool basket instead for $4!!

With 5 minutes to evacuate the building and get over the River via one of the bridges on offer, we headed off to Deb my hairdresser.  I was first to be pampered as I only needed to be trimmed and then it was our Sues turn.

That's the gorgeous Deb attacking, I mean pruning, no I mean styling our Sue into a visual symphony!!  Even Deb was colour co-ordinated with us!!  Pleased to report that Sue was so well behaved that she is allowed to go back for future haircuts.  Well done Sue!!  Back into my trusty Red wagon (good grief even my car is colour co-ordinated) and we were in desperate need of lunch, it was after all 2pm now.  It was sod Jenny Craig and hello Jenny-lunch-bar-lets-get-a-filled-roll.

Before

After

Doesn't Sue look farking gorgeous!!!!  I think Deb did good!!

 After we had eaten our healthy filled rolls and gulped down a steaming hot cuppa we were good to go again.  We only went to  couple more Op Shops.  I got nothing at the Salvo but at the SPCA shop I got this Circle of Friends $5 and this very cool stretchy belt $2 that I will adapt because I seriously doubt it will go anywhere around me apart from a thigh.

Just as I was about to leave I discovered these two hand knitted doggy jerseys for Sheba.  We put her in the one on the left this afternoon and it looks hilarious, but good.  I will have to put a bit of elastic around the neck because it is a bit loose.

We mucked about in a retail shop for a bit and then decided another cuppa was in order and someone needed to use the lav AGAIN!!!!

I have to fess up to going to four Op shops this morning while Sue was at JC weighing in.  I had gone out to register the dogs, $64 fricken each, and had time to take in the  Frankton Op Shops.

This reversible bag I picked up for $4 and it is rather sweet.  All pink and white gingham on the reverse side.  I got a fake silver and paua silver fern brooch that also doubles as the lid to a wee container for $4 as well.  You might see it just above the bag if you look real careful like.

The skirt didn't photograph well, but trust me its quite cool, a real textured fabric with a double ruffle at the hem for $6.

I couldn't resist the bright little ethnic bag, Nepalese I think for only $2-99 and some wicked Balinese batik fabric for $2-99.

Then there was this awesome fur coat that had some cat fur on it and just needed to be de-fluffed.  It is mint and I paid $14-99 for that.  

I am gonna be so toasty warm in that bugger I tell you.

Another SuesDay bit the dust and again it was humor filled and I am sorry I cannot tell you what had me laughing while driving today apart from the fact that the conversation got quite X-rated!!!   My parting photo for you all is us hamming it up in the Mickey Mouse ears Sue bought today for our sons.

taking the Mickey!!!

 ♥ Good Night All ♥

The week so far....

..has been great!!  Monday Funday was a blast as per usual, and I only had a couple of coughing fits that nearly made me pee my pants, but I didn't, thank goodness or is that the pelvic floor muscles?  The WoMan Flu is all but gone, just a cough left to kick into touch so that is brilliant.  On Monday we had a good old fashioned hearty Waikato frost, the crispy sort where everything outside looks slightly magical, depending of course on who is looking at it.  Me, I love the way the bird bath freezes and I hope the sparrows will go ice skating when I am not looking!!  I knew we would end up with a good sunny day, but not overly warm so I went for layers.  Even put my long red boiled wool coat on top of all the layers.  I was toasty!!  In the shop the changing rooms have some surprising features that reflect the place and are very quirky.

Like a foot to sit on or rest your handbag......

Or a silver hand to hang clothes on.....

how about a big hand to rest on............

then you can always hang your bag of this guys nose!!!

I can always tell the first timers because you hear them commenting on the interior of the changing rooms.

Then along came today, Tuesday and I headed out to my mate Dawn the arty-farty Potter to put together my doll that I had been inspired by our very own Helga Von Trollope!!!  She is pretty darn cool, and can be posed in so many ways due to her limbs being copper wire.  I am tempted to make her a handbag and maybe some glasses, possibly even some necklace of pearls!!!  If I make another one it shall be a Sarah doll wearing a lime green poncho!!!  What do you think of that Sarah??  Of course there could also be a Vix doll and a Sue doll, my god I could be making these for ever!!!!!

Then there was my Rainbow sheep, the wee colourful lamb that is the representative in the flock for all the gay sheep.  He has yet to be named but it will come.

Dawn has made a flock of these in plain white and they are so gorgeous.  

Apart from making sheep she has been making the most unbelievably cool toadstools.

 

Her first lot have ended up dotted around in the garden of her studio.

So that is the first two days down and of course tomorrow is SuesDay and we Sues have an appointment with my gorgeous hairdresser Deb to be transformed into beautiful creatures, so look out for evidence of that!!!!  And hopefully we will come home with armfuls of treasures from our favourite Op shops.

WoMan flu on SuesDay

Yes it appears that I  have WoMan flu which is a strain of Man flu without the loud sniffing, coughing and constant moaning!  But  did this stop me from attending the weekly SuesDay?  Not on your life!!  Being under the weather and not up to my usual bright self we only did a couple of places.  I got me another pin cushion for $1 and this cute as Xmas decoration for $3.  JOY, yep I was feeling the Joy for sure.  Especially when the lady at Savemart wanted to check our bags and then have us leave them in the car or behind their counter.  I DON'T THINK SO!!!!  We let her check our bags, apparently for knives and or scissors??  Someone has been cutting and slashing clothes.  Seriously, do us Sues look like slashers???  Flashers maybe but not slashers.  We kept out bags and I told the lady someone was more likely to keep scissors or a knife in their pockets.  I also think my days of shoplifting are well over, can't speak for the other Sue but suspect I would know if she was light fingered!!!  Anyway after that we headed to Spotlight where I think we more than likely have shares in the place as we seem to have been there alot and keep spending.  I got more fabric and some wool with bobbles on.  To buy braid with bobbles is totally out of the question so at $7 a ball I have the next best thing.  Just need to find my sewing MoJo so I can get creative!!

Today I phoned in sick, taking the day off, wagging work, take your pick but I am at home.  I have a hot date with, Ms Tissues, Ms Panadol, Ms Ventolin, Ms Tablet, Ms book, and of course, Ms Fur blanket and Ms heater.  The thought of going to work today and enduring 8 hours didn't appeal so I am safely tucked up in my own home hoping to knock my WoMan flu on the head.  Of course I do have my dogs for company and they are loving it. And Jak is on school holiday but I am sure he will bail out to hang with his mates pretty soon so the house will be all mine!!!

 Also today is one of those bleak grey old mother fluffer winter days but my girl  mother nature still knows how to make it look beautiful.  My resident spider has obviously been busy overnight and created yet another spectacular web that is covered in morning dew.  Spider webs are amazing!!!  Then there is the one lonely flower that has manged to grow up and above the shrubs.

Well it is time I had some lunch and I feel the urge to have a pie, some man food,  this is quite clearly a side effect from being unwell.  SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiifffffffffffffffff!!!!!

Slim pickings on SuesDay

Yes today was SuesDay, but for the rest of you it was Wednesday!!  Me and Sue did a total of  10 op shops today and I came home with very little.  I did see alot of things that tempted me but some were a little pricey, so they are still in the shops for someone else to have.

I got this gorgeous Green boiled wool hat at Hospice for $4 which I ended up wearing as the wind was one of those nasty icey buggers today. 

The Anne Geddes book was from Habitat and I coughed up $7-50 for that, only because it is mint, signed by the author and, well, actually I just love it!!!  Best reason to buy something really.  The fabric is from Spotlight and they were having a sale and I got taken over by the fabulosity of fabric and went for a half meter of each of these.  Thinking along the lines of a seriously wicked apron, but I would quite like it to be worn as a over top sorta thing.  Have to see what I can come up with.

We went into this amazing gallery today.  We drive past it most SuesDays's but today we were walking so we headed in.  We go "oh look at that" to each other all round the place.  I am going to try to get TOF to come in with me, but that doesn't mean he will be as excited as me, but I did do the Bunnings tour so it works out even.  There was the most amazball sculptures, one in particular was of Calla Lilies made from copper and clay and seriously farkin great.  Only $1500!!!!   Might have to take my Potter mate Dawn in to inspect.  Speaking of Dawn, I was at her place playing in her Studio yesterday.  I was under glazing a sheep I had made which is going to be like a rainbow so I am calling it my Rainbow Sheep as in Rainbow Youth, so it is the wee gay one in the flock.  I also under glazed a dolly that will be called "Helga"  and when you see her it will all become obvious if you know the lovely Helga Von Trollope.  Photos will be blogged when I have finished these artistic delights off.   Such fun playing with clay!

Big thumbs up and thanks to Sue for another successful fun filled day of op shopping and laughing till I cry while driving.

Tomorrow I go to my real grown up job so you won't hear from me for a couple of days because it sucks the life out of me having to be so grown up and all.

So enjoy the rest of your week, and wrap up warm if you are experiencing the winter blast like me.

Take care and remember this:

Don't cry because it's over,

Smile because it happened.

I saw that on a coaster the other day and like it so much I wrote it down so I could share it.  I am that type of person!!

♥