My Last Mistake of the Year. Maybe.

Between holidays and bad weather, there have been no driveways to shop on lately, and Judy and I have been missing our Fun Fridays. She went to some thrift stores down in Albany with her sister a while back, where she found this cool guy for me:She had no idea I had put a similar pencil sharpener on my “Want This” Pinterest board, where I stash images of things I would give house-room to if money were no object. Which in this case it turned out the money WAS no object; Judy found this at our favorite price point of fifty cents.

Since Craigslist showed only one estate sale on our end of town Friday, we decided we’d check that and then go down and tour the Albany thrift stores. You know how it is…if you once find some good score in a particular store or neighborhood, you’re always sure there’s going to be something there again. (Or am I the only one who does that? I’m pretty sure it’s what keeps casinos in business.)

The estate sale had nothing we wanted, and the thrift stores proved equally barren. However, we happened upon another estate sale by chance, where I found a shirt I liked.Black linen with lace inserts, nicely made. Tags are gone but there was an identical shirt in white with a ‘Lafayette 148’ tag. Smart Judy told me to take a picture of the tag in the white shirt so I could look up the maker when I got home. I’d never heard of the company, and now I know why. Their shirts retail in the $350 up range. So I ended up with quite a score. I always knew I had expensive tastes!

I saw an ad for another estate sale on Saturday, not too far from home, so I took my hopeful self over there. Turned out there wasn’t much overlap between their tastes and mine. But everyone can use safety pins, yes? And for a dollar I picked up what I hope will be a lifetime supply.I was taking a last look around to make sure I hadn’t missed anything when I noticed a stack of baking pans, and remembered I need something rustproof. I bake bread several times a week, and usually have a pan of water in the oven to help create a wonderful crust. The old cake pan I’ve been using is pretty rusty, and when I spotted this vintage roasting pan I figured it was just what I was looking for. Alas, I hit a snag as soon as I opened the oven door.It doesn’t fit in my oven! Which is a rather compact convection oven; it bakes great, but it’s happened before that a pan wouldn’t fit. You’d think I would have learned after the last time (a cookie sheet) but I didn’t.

So I was kicking myself for spending a buck on something I can’t use. I know, it’s only a buck, and that won’t change my lifestyle. But in my personal monetary reckoning, that’s the equivalent of four cashmere sweaters! And here we are at the end of the year, and I just had to get in one more buying mistake. I haven’t looked at my spreadsheet to determine how many others there have been, but that will be part of my year-end tally.

However, I may be able to erase this particular mistake. When I checked eBay sales, it seems this particular pan does have some resale value. I may shine it up and try to resell it. Hopefully it will find a good home, I’ll make a few bucks, and be able to take this dollar out of the ‘buying mistakes’ column.

Now here’s hoping all my future mistakes (buying and otherwise) are this inexpensive and easy to fix!