Eight...and Counting!

Easter weekend = not a big thrifting time. Judy & I each found something practical at the only estate sale we went to. Hers was something garden-y but don’t ask me what, I've slept since Friday. Mine was a new-to-me quilt to top my (actually) new waterbed. (The old one sprang a leak we couldn’t find, but we bought it nearly 20 years ago so I'm telling myself I got my money’s worth from it.) 

I needed something to brighten up that room after this El Nino of a winter.

Zoë likes it too.

We checked the other few sales but found nothing, and then tried out the new crepe place in town for lunch. (My review: nice folks, good crepes but a bit dry. Some Hollandaise or béchamel would go a long way. I'll let you know how the dessert crepes are when we go back to try them.)

I just checked my calendar, and tomorrow is this blog’s 8^th birthday. Zowie. My blog would be in third grade this fall. (Am I the only one who equates any age with a grade in school?) This is the 430th post, and my statistics counter puts page visits at 546,875, and while I know there are famous blogs out there that get that many visits in a day I was secretly pretty chuffed when I passed the half-million mark.

For a little blogiversary fun, I decided to look back over the past 8 years and pick out one bought-on-a-driveway item per year that I still use and love. And it wasn’t that easy, because I use and love stuff every day in every room of my house that came to me second hand (or third or fourth or more). But here we go:

From 2008:

Quilted fabric cookbook cover. It has been on the notebook I use for stray recipes since July of that year.

2009: 

I had no idea how much we would use these scales. Multiple times a day, mostly for cooking but also for mailing stuff. They cost fifty cents, and even came with batteries!

2010:

Fabulous Fifties lamps. Still use ‘em. Still love ‘em.

2011: 

Four vintage Hans Wegner dining chairs set me back twenty bucks. I rewove the seats. We use them for every meal.

2012: 

This standing-wool rug came with a note explaining its history.

Zoë has been in love with this rug since day one. If you tell her ‘sit’ when she is in the kitchen, she backs up until her hind feet hit that rug, and then she can sit down. But she is NOT going to plop her butt on that bare tile floor!

2013: 

A pair of Reidel wine glasses for a buck leaves you enough money to buy some nice Oregon pinot noir to go in them!

2014:

They rock, they swivel, they’re vintage. I sit in one every morning while Zoë throws her ball off our upper deck and runs down to retrieve it. Best way to wear out a dog, ever.

2015: 

My $3 set of Lincoln Beautyware was quite shabby when I found it, but with a bit of elbow grease they showed their true shine.

2016: 

It's early in the year, but it was still hard to choose just one picture! However, I can tell this hand-painted jacket from one of the church bag sales is going to be a favorite. I've already worn it several times…and it gets a lot of attention!

Thanks for coming along for the ride over the past eight years. I had such a blast looking over my past purchases that I can hardly wait to see what is waiting out there to be found in the future!