Perfection

One of the things I love about thrifting is embracing imperfection. When I buy something in a store, new, retail price, I expect it to be pretty darned perfect – which can certainly lead to disappointment. But the secondhand…we expect imperfections, and they let us relax. Really, perfect is a pain in the butt. One must be careful around the perfect.

These musings were brought on by some of the vintage linens I picked up last week from a free box. Especially this lovely hand crocheted panel.

It had a glob of black shiny something stuck to it that I decided was melted plastic. I was able to get the big glob off,

but nothing I tried would remove the remaining marks.

Do I throw away this piece because of its imperfections? Heck no! I’ll do a little mending where the glob left a hole, and I’ll drape the piece over one table or another, and maybe I’ll place a strategic vase or plate, maybe not. All you have to do is move your eye away from the imperfections to see how lovely it is. Someone spent hours making this, and their skill and work deserve more than to discard it for a flaw.

Shoot, just think what trouble we’d all be in if we got discarded for a flaw or two!

Of course, even I will admit there are levels of imperfection. I picked up this frog sprinkler at a sale this morning.

I’m not sure I’d ever admitted, even to myself, that I’ve wanted one of these since the first time I saw one. The price tag of new ones was off-putting (would you believe they run in the $40 to $50 range??) but this one was just right at a buck. I figured there’s not a whole lot that can go wrong with a water sprinkler. But when I was googling to see how much these babies cost, I came across a recall order for a toad lawn sprinkler.

The reason for the recall? “A small hose inside the toad can fail, allowing water to fill the toad's cavity. The increased water pressure can cause the toad to explode, posing the risk of injury to anyone nearby.” Zowie, your cute lawn sprinkler suddenly turns into a grenade! Now THAT’s what I call imperfect!

My non-exploding version was my only purchase today, though I found two items yesterday at the Episcopalian rummage sale. Just haven’t been many sales near enough to home the last few weeks. I had to laugh, reading someone else’s blog the other day, where he was lamenting that everyone in his town has their sales this time of year, and he wasn’t able to get to every sale last weekend. He was pleading with his neighbors to spread out their sales – for his convenience. Wonder how perfectly that will work?

The rummage sale started on Thursday, which I didn’t realize, so it was somewhat picked over when I arrived on Friday. But about a minute after I walked in I spotted a wine glass with some other bric-a-brac under one of the long tables that I recognized as Lenox Windswept.

Which I knew because I found one of these on a driveway a couple of years ago. That one got broken a while back. We’re terribly hard on china and glass, and it would kill me to smash something I’d paid full price for. Turns out the one I bought Friday is actually the iced tea glass (which looks just like the wine glass but is taller) – which you can find at Replacements for about $55. Each. Right. I’d be terrified to drink from a $55 wine glass – unless I’d paid fifty cents for it.

My other find was this cozy, heavy cotton hooded sweater.

Should be perfection for those chilly early morning trips to the dog park!