KITTEN NOSTALGIA

Those of you who go on regular thrifting ventures know how much strength of character it sometimes requires. Not for the things we buy—for the things we don’t buy! The cute things, the clothes that almost fit or are almost the right color, the things we’re sure we will fix up. But sooner or later you learn that you absolutely cannot take home everything that catches your eye. Even if it's in the free box.

Even if it's a cute little kitten!

Yes, this adorable ten week old baby was offered to me this morning, but I was strong. My resolve was aided by two factors. One was the amount of money I've spent this year at the vet on my existing menagerie of two cats and two dogs. The other was the fact that when I held this little guy he did not purr. I'm a sucker for a purr (though even if he’d purred like a buzz saw I would still have thought of those vet bills and resisted). And as cute as a baby kitty is, I'm not in the market for one. Now if he had been an elderly cat (and purring) we might have had a different ending to the story. I adore geriatric pets. I melt over silver tinged muzzles. We’ve been lucky that most of our pets through the years have lived to ripe old ages. But one of our best cats was at least twelve when we adopted him.
This was our Puddy (he came with that name attached). Homely old dude, wasn’t he? But what a sweetie pie. He belonged to friends in Oregon, and had outlived all their other pets, and couldn’t be inside because of their allergies. So we brought him back to California with us. He strolled into the house, calmly said hello to our other pets, and settled right in. I've always claimed he was my husband’s 50th birthday present, since he arrived during Steven’s birthday week. We got a lot of mileage out of an elderly cat as a 50th gift. Way more fun than those obnoxious black balloons and over-the-hill jokes, and he was an excellent role model for growing older.
Puddy was with us for about three years. He’s buried in my backyard, and a Mexican sage robed in purple fronds waves over his resting place.

PUDDY SONG

You should always say ‘yes’ to a Puddy.
A Puddy’s a wonderful thing.
They’ll purr for you in the autumn
And summer, and winter, and spring.
They lay by you in your bed at night
And sing you a soft lullaby
And during the day, they’ll get in your way
And crouch where you want to walk by.

You should always say yes to a Puddy.
A Puddy’s a wonderful guy.
They’ll smile with you when you are happy
And mop up your tears when you cry.
They eat whatever you give them,
Then bump your head with their nose
And when dinner’s done, they lie in the sun
In a perfectly artistic pose.

So always say yes to a Puddy
If a Puddy should come to your door.
He’s wise and he has much to teach you
And a Pud can't be bought at the store.
Though at first you might think you don’t need one
And you try to say no, not for me.
You’ll never regret a Pud as a pet
Just try one, and then you will see.
So I hope that cute little kitten found a home today. But I've got my eye out for a worthy successor to the Pud.

Lest you think I spent the entire morning being noble and not buying anything, I’m afraid that was not the case. In fact once again I spent a fabulous sum…$15.75! But you’ll see that I got my money’s worth:

Several ten-cent Mary Engelbreit cards.
I think I might frame this one.
A couple of DVDs…
…and CDs.
This odd looking contraption is used to hold an umbrella at the beach or a sporting events. I got it thinking it might work to hold up one of those glass totems (made of glued-together vases and glass plates) in a flower bed. If not, it will make a terrific Goodwill donation.
Bought these earrings solely for the posts…
…so now those blue beads I found a couple of weeks ago can be earrings.
You know I'm big on repurposing, right? Well, I'm repurposing these kitty treats…
…into doggie treats! I need to do some clicker training with our two dogs and these should be good rewards. Kitty food is one of their favorite things—next to bread.

Cast iron frog doorstop. He might be in for a paintjob.
Found another piece of vintage Winfield china, the coffee pot in the Dragon Flower pattern.

Not sure what I'll use this sweet lace collar on. Maybe I'll just leave it on the vintage velvet swing coat that my dress form often wears.

Finally, this was the deal of the day. Twelve pairs of the best undies in the world, brand new, still in their packages. Woo hoo! And even better is knowing that buying just two of these at the suggested retail price would have cost more than I spent today on everything I found.
At one of my last stops, another shopper was trying on a crocheted hat. I told her she looked really cute in it, and the older gentleman helping with the sale said, “We will have to give you a commission!”