I can hardly stand the excitement

Family game night just got excruciating.

I've said "shish kebab" too many times now. Sounds weird.

"Oh. Don't mind me. I'm just checkin' out your kebabs."

What... just... what!?

Having just had a garage sale with my sisters-in-law, I fully understand that you just put stuff out there, slap a price sticker on it and hope for the best. If it sells, you make a buck or two. If it doesn't, it goes off to the thrift store or the trash. Some of it's wacky, some of it's funny. But you try. No harm done.

Just stop and take it all in, would ya? She's crying. There's a silhouetted couple in a lovers' embrace on wind-blown autumnal leaves. Five dollars.

That said, there are some things - case in point, this picture - that I might be too embarrassed to include in my garage sale. Where people come to my house. And know that I owned this. And owned it for what seems like a good 30+ years before deciding to part with it. 

After climbing all those stairs? What do YOU think?

"Not tonight dear. The atomospheric pressure is 101.4 kilopascals and falling. Whoops, sorry, I was reading the barometer by mistake. I mean no, I would rather watch the late late show."

"Now about that mink" - that's right, bribe him for an old timey fur coat.

Is that a carpet sweeper in your hand?

Or are you just happy to see me?

It's prerfect just the way it is

Are you also trying to figure out how this all came to be?

I am having trouble deciding which is more shocking - the blend of sun-faded subjects portrayed on this framed art/clock, or the price sticker.

Who? Who created this masterpiece?

Ah, the lost art of macramé.

Who? Who? Who would have thought I'd be making a comeback!?

When we switch our daughter from a crib to a toddler bed I may just hang this thing in the hallway outside her bedroom door. Imagine sneaking out of your bed at night and opening your bedroom door onto a dark hallway with this set of eyes boring into your very soul staring at you?

I think I should write a parenting book.

*****

Fun fact: Eight years ago I moved into a house that, before me, had only had one family/occupant since it was built in the late 40s. In the living room were lovely fake wood paneling walls, and on one wall in particular there was a darker area on the wood that I know, without a shadow of a doubt, was the outline of a macramé owl that had once hung there. How LONG must that have been hanging there, on a wall that got no direct sunlight, to have left its mark? Either way, that "shadow owl" spurred my ironic love of macramé owls from then on out.

For the expat who has everything

Instead of a key to the city, they just gave me a can of air.

Best served ice cold.

Smells like a Salisbury House Nip.

T.G.I.F. (a.k.a. Thrifty Gem I've Found)

There are times when I stray from my "take only pictures, leave only footprints" approach to thrift shops, and that's when I find a true gem.

These gems are usually books. But sometimes they're neat picture frames for projects (that I don't end up completing...). Or a delightful crocheted blanket that matches my basement decor. Or the perfect dress for a 90s prom-themed party (v-shaped waistline, puffed sleeves, and more - it was an early 90s dream come true).

On other occasions, these gems are things that I think are swell, but may not have a place for in my home/wardrobe/life.

This was one such occasion:

 A retro Chiclets lunchbox!

I thought it was worthy of a picture. Not weird enough to fit in with my usual "finds", but nifty enough to be documented. (That said, I can't look at it without reading it as "Chiclets fruit flavors flavored gum" which is redundantly delightful.)

Happy weekending, tout le monde.