Vacuuming in high heels & pearls

Hello my poor little neglected blog, has it really been TWO WEEKS since I last wrote? Eek. My absence is due to being out of town, being sick, and just general laziness. It seems the same general ickiness that has beset me for a week now has also landed at Sarah, Shara, Kirsten & MeLisa's houses. Hope you're all feeling better soon, ladies! I wouldn't wish what I had on anyone and have tried hard to keep DH and DD from getting it. I noticed yesterday afternoon however that DD has a drippy nose and has been sneezing quite a lot. Oh dear. I'm SO over this stupid 'being sick' thing.

The 'out of town' portion of my excuse was the 3 days I spent in Southern Colorado visiting my grandparents. My mom was in the area for work so she flew in and we took Maren and drove down to visit, leaving Quin and the dog to hang around in their underwear and eat pizza for 3 days. One of my favorite things about going to the town where my grandparents live is that there is a great junk/thrift store. It's a small town and the store is privately run so prices are pretty much rock-bottom. One drawback is their proclivity for writing the prices on everything in black Sharpie, but I guess everything can't be perfect.

It's a junk/thrift store, emphasis on the junky part. You have to be willing to DIG to find the good stuff but I'm always up for the adventure. Here are my takings for this trip: Japanese stacking mug, $.25 (why do I keep buying these? I don't drink coffee or tea and rarely drink hot chocolate), 5 vintage Shiny Brite ornaments $.10 each, vintage Gurley candle, $.50. The neat old buckles are from a big bag that included a bunch of other buttons and notions. The bag was $1.00. The red and aqua vintage tablecloth was actually from a different thrifting trip and was $1.95. I love it and it's on my kitchen table right now!

This thrift store has boxes and boxes of patterns all priced at a quarter which is cheaper than I can find them at any of the thrifts around here. I went through every single one of them but was very selective in my final choices. I chose these specifically for the images, to be used in a future craft project. I had to giggle because I think I've actually bought the one on the top right before but either Maren destroyed it or I gave it away. Funny that it would turn up again! I LOVE the skirt on the bottom right with the birdcages and the birds. Oh, how I wish big, full skirts with birdcages and birds were in fashion still! That looks like an absolute delight to wear.

And last, 2 more darling vintage apron patterns for my collection. Love the shape of the bib on the one on the bottom right. If only I had the 18" waist to go along with it!

Finally got my Pink & Brown swap all finished up and now I just need to pack it up and get it in the mail! Next project is to make Valentines, as I've got to get them in the mail ASAP. I've also got a Valentine craft in the works that I hope to show you in the next day or two. Time to get busy!