If you know me even just a little bit you probably are fully aware of my dislike of thrift stores. Dislike is definately not a strong enough word. I tend to see everything as just junk, I HATE picking through racks, I hate them almost as much as I hate garage sale's. But yesterday I was looking at some blogs about great thrift store finds and ways to repurpose things and I was inspired. They had some cute things on thier blog. Cute things that started out ugly and they spray painted or changed a little. And I'm in need of a LOT of buttons for a birthday party we have coming up (totally accepting donations if you have buttons to spare, just let me know)
So, this morning we (I) decided to hit up a few thrift stores. Becasue of my dislike of them I'm not 100% aware of where the "good" ones are so we started at Ditto's. Lot's of things there, not all junk, but in my opinion a lot of it was overpriced. (Just my opinion) I found a couple of books for the kids, but in the end put them back on the shelves and left with nothing. Then, on the way home, we hit up the Holland Rescue Mission store on Chicago Drive. I've been to this particular store before and found it to be clutterd. But for some reason I gave it another try. Good thing! They have cleaned it up a lot, in fact there were some kids there volunteering (I'm assuming) and cleaning everything! It's pretty organized, as organized as a thrift store could get I assume. While looking around we found a snare drum from a big drum set, it was marked 9.99. I was going to get it for Elliot thinking he would love it and it's louder than his other drum set that he got for christmas (who doesn't like loud?). The drum set he got for Christmas was only $20 from Meijer and it was worth about $20 or less. It doesn't stand up on it's own, pieces are always falling off, just a disappointment for a three year old that loves drums. So anyway, on with the story... were walking around a bit more (still looking for something that I can repurpose) when Elliot looks up, almost to the ceiling and says "Mom, there are more drums up there". SURE ENOUGH, it's a full drum set, kid size. Before Christmas I was looking at sets like this but was NOT going to spend the $80 plus shipping to obtain one. It's not perfect by any means, it's well loved, but it would have been well loved by Elliot if not by someone else, so who cares. It was only $10. I was excited and I think they were excited to get it down for me and out of thier store! Elliot has enjoyed playing with it this afternoon, and it is a LOT louder than the other one. So, if you come over anytime soon, please bring earplugs or be prepared to deal with the noise!
And after all that I just may start to like thrift stores, but more likely next time I will go I will just get frustrated and then wait another year to go back to one!
See, I knew I would have a reason to go back soon... just found this post that looks interesting on "Our Best Bites"
Apparently she thought the best idea would be to EAT it. She didn't like it, but that didn't stop her from doing it... again and again and again. She was covered in blue paint!
And green paint (see it in her hair and on her neck)
I think she picked the blue for the lips b/c it looked so good with her eyes! Don't you agree?
She wasn't the only thing covered in blue paint... this is why I love the laminate floor!
And then it was bathtime, which she loved as usual!
And, just b/c he is so darn cute I had to add a picture of E!
