Thrift Store

On a whim we stopped at our thrift store this afternoon. We weren't looking for anything in particular. But we found a couple of good buys.

We got a white coffee mug with little Apple logos in red all around it. I wasn't familiar with the all red logo, so I wasn't 100% convinced it really was the Apple logo. Violet was sure, and she has better eyesight than I do. We got it for Mr. Incredible who is a huge Mac fan. Mr. I. looked online when we showed it to him. He didn't find a date or origin, but did find a dealer selling one as a rare collectible for $25. We paid $1.

(Which by the way, is a little high for thrift store prices. Our thrift store is a boutique thrift store and tends to be a bit pricy. But their profits go to some really great local organizations including one that helps adults with disabilities get job training and learn to live on their own or in small groups, and our county homeless shelter. As another "by the way" our homeless shelter is trying to build a permanent facility. Currently it is a "traveling" shelter. It is housed at 7 different churches, each one night a week. They need all the $1's they can get since they really could do more great work with a permanent shelter. I feel good shopping at our thrift store.)

Where was I? Yes, great find number 2. Violet got a box set of 3 books, still shrink wrapped. The series is called "Three Swishy Mermaid Tales". She had read the first book but didn't know there were more. The original Borders price tag said $17.95. We paid $5.

I bought graduation thank you cards, an unopened box of 20 cards for $1. You see, I keep talking about how next Spring we'll have an 8th grade graduation party for Violet. After we had the cards at home for about an hour, it finally connected in my brain. Violet is starting 7th grade this fall. She won't graduate 8th grade in the Spring. I mean, homeschoolers are smart and Violet is tops, but gosh that would be pushing it.

Talk about your brain lapses!

Now I just need to not lose the cards in the next year and a half! If I don't lose them and she gets to use them, then that will also qualify for a great find.

Feel the power

The storms early Monday morning have wiped out power for about 800,000 people in our area. We are extremely lucky, our power flickered a few times, but never went out. We think it was flickering again during the night last night as our smoke detectors (wired into the electrical system - local ordinance) kept bleeping LOUDLY very briefly. New power outages seem to be occurring here and there, including stop lights, making traveling interesting. You never know if you will be able to get where you are going and if the power will be on when you get there. We've learned to call ahead.

My parents had no power for over 24 hours, but it is on again. They have well water, so no power to run the pump, so no water as well. They have an office not far from their house with power and running water, but no shower. Mom called this afternoon when the power came on, after she'd taken a shower and started the washing machine.

Violet has an art class this week at the community college. We showed up yesterday, less than an hour after the storm to find the power out there and the college closed. She did get to meet the instructor and really liked him. Today the college was open and she loved the class. He is teaching another drawing class in 2 weeks and she had me sign her up for that too. This week it is mythological characters, the next class is fantasy and sci fi.

It isn't as hot today as yesterday, but still humid and sticky. People are milling about businesses if the power is on. Our library was advertising on its website that they have power and to come on over and recharge your cell phone and laptop there. It is supposed to be much cooler tomorrow, that should help everything get back to normal.

The electric company is telling people it could be Thursday before their power is back on. Most of the branches are cleared from the roads, but it was pretty bad Monday morning. I think branches coming down now are what is taking out power in new places. I think generator sales in the area will be sky high for quite some time.

The storm was so brief and no one I've talked to has thought it seemed very bad. But, boy did it do some damage to the power grid.

New Hat

I bought a knitting book called Kids Knitting. It has a lot of neat, easy projects for beginning knitters just like me. I did some experimenting first, and tonight I finished my first project: a hat with tassels. If you click on the link above and search for page 38, you can see how the hat is supposed to look. This is how mine turned out:





It looks better on Violet's head. She can make anything look good!

There is a scarf that goes with it, that will be my next project. My stitches are not perfect, my seams are particularly bad. But I am improving greatly.

I used to do a lot of embroidery. I mean A LOT. When I look back at my first pieces compared to my last, there is a vast improvement. I'm hoping that will happen with knitting too.

In other news, Violet turned 12 on Sunday. We had a nice family day. We got her a big Lego set, a teen cookbook and a pillow pet. Her party is this weekend. We've tried having her party closer to her actual birthday, but since her birthday is on the holiday weekend too many people are always out of town or otherwise tied up. She's having her Girl Scout friends over to watch the Yogi Bear movie, plus classic Yogi Bear cartoons. Pizza and cake will round out what we expect will be a fun evening.

Remember my promotion? Turns out quite a few people got promoted at the same time. I was pretty disappointed that the promotion might have just been because everyone was moving up, but I feel better now. Mental had some great advice. Thanks for being a sounding board for me. I'm going to enjoy my new title. Let everyone else worry about their own new titles. I'm a manager!

I'm not getting nearly as much done this summer as I'd hoped. (Maybe if I didn't spend all that time knitting, eh?) I am doing a lot of reading too. I'm working my way through the Dortmunder series by Donald Westlake. They are comedic crime novels. Quite entertaining and not deep. Perfect summer reading. I'm also working on the readings for Classic Moms at Abigail Adams Academy for next year. I've read the John Holt and am working on Pride and Prejudice. I really ended up enjoying Classic Moms last year and am looking forward to the new year.

Eventually I'll start the cleaning and organizing I need to do. I've done a little. But I've done more goofing off.