I’m constantly getting suggestions on my FB feed to buy things from Etsy. And while I’ve purchased a few odds and ends there in the past… these new items didn’t make me want to break out my credit card anytime soon.
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Unless it’s Halloween and I’m dressing to attract a male polar bear? I see absolutely no need for these boots.
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Good grief. I don’t want fully operational and functioning gnomes, why would I ever want defective ones?
Along with Etsy, Amazon is flooding my feed with crazy cat items it thinks I need to purchase for His Lordship.
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Yeah. That’s not happening.
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And look at the face on that cat. I don’t think fur is the only thing that’s going to be terminated.
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Okay, they’ve got me here. Lord Dudley Mountcatten might actually like a pool table of his very own.
I went out thrifting with a friend the other day. We both love a bargain and had a ball at Goodwill and Salvation Army. You never know what treasure awaits.
Banana Republic linen blazer for $3? Yes please. Talbot weekender chinos for $2? I was all over that.
And as we stepped into the parking lot at Goodwill?
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A car that’s definitely easy to find.
After a morning of thrifting, we had lunch and hit TJ Maxx… which I think of as new merchandise thrift.
I had to laugh at this dress on the clearance rack. It was a size extra large with strategically placed cutouts.
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Being a woman of a certain size I can assure you that is not where extra large women want less fabric.
In case you hadn’t guessed our recent scenic drive up the coast wasn’t random, it had a particular destination in mind.
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The often heard of, always praised… BCB.
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It didn’t fail to impress.
The place is huge.
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As advertised… it’s a giant chicken barn with the bottom floor devoted to a multi dealer antique store and the top floor home to over 200,000 books which sounded like pure heaven to me .
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We entered the building and turned left, happily strolling in and out of treasure filled booths. Husband is obsessed with old glass water jugs, but he already had this one and reluctantly put it back.
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I saw Benjamin Franklin… complete with kite.
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And the type of vintage crank phone I’ve been wanting for the man cave/Barn Mahal… though this one was in terrible shape… so there it stayed.
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The downstairs seemed to go on forever but when we were through with the left side of the barn and returned to the middle entrance to peruse the right side, the temperature started rising. ( Husband is seen here examining a wooden egg crate, but we already have 3… so I said no ) This old building has no air conditioning and it being the middle of summer… things were starting to get downright uncomfortable. For some reason the farther right you went the hotter it got so I was basically speed walking through the stalls trying to work my way back to a cooler section.
And because I don’t need any more vintage wooden crates for my vinyl record collection?
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A veritable mountain of vintage wooden crates for my vinyl record collection.
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And this … because a big chicken barn needs a randomly placed big chicken.
I’m ashamed to report I did not have the stamina to peruse the books. I climbed the large staircase, reached the top and literally couldn’t breathe for the heat. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say the temperature rivaled the surface of the sun. Okay, maybe that’s extreme… but honestly, it was unbearable and everyone who ascended to the second floor came right back down. I wish I’d known this before we came, I would have planned a fall or winter visit.
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We took a different route home and drove through one of the prettiest coastal towns in the state, Camden.
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We thought about lunch but the downtown area was packed solid with wall to wall tourists so we just breezed on by….
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With me wanting a hobbit doorway under our porch like this one.
Our third and final antique store of the day was the one we set out for in the first place.
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Housed in an old refurbished mill in Waterville it was a wonderful place, full of charm and character.
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Check out that door!
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It was a bright and airy space with well organized dealers.
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I’ve been searching for an old wall phone exactly like this ever since we built the man cave/ Barn Mahal. This one was dirt cheap…. but the broken mouthpiece and missing crank handle were the reason why. 🥺
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My bunions hurt just looking at these shoes.
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A little bird whimsy for your viewing pleasure.
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Here’s the husband, checking out some vintage golf clubs.
And then?
I turned the corner. Which was a big mistake.
Huge.
Because it was there I found the horrors.
Brace yourself.
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Christ.
As if creepy old dolls don’t give me the heebie jeebies when they’re complete… I have to run into the eyeless, hollow headed, zombie babies from Hell.
The frost danger has probably but who the hell knows because it’s Maine passed and now it’s time to fill that beautiful raised stone bed my husband built last year.
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My first trip to the nursery made me realize another trip is in order. Such a hardship.
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But look at our little crabapple tree.
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Finally in full bloom.
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So far… this is what will be living in the garden.
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I realized I chose too much pink and purple so the next trip will be for peach, red and maybe white to round it out.
The used car shopping continues. Miles upon miles of traveling only to be disappointed by condition or mechanical problems.
Funny part of this saga? We met up with a friend of ours on the journey who happens to sell cars on the side. When the husband told him what we were doing he gave me a strange look and said, “No offense, but I know money isn’t the issue. Why don’t you just buy new?”
To which I rolled my eyes, pointed, and said “Ask him”.
That launched my husband into his usual diatribe about how new cars are an over inflated rip off that depreciate as soon as you drive them off the lot. Then he got started on the car salesman two step. You know the dance… spend half an hour dickering on price only to be told to have a seat while he talks with his manager. Husband hates the whole process.
Because really, used car salesmen are so much better.
🤣
Our last stop of the day was a dealership almost 2 hours from home.
I immediately spotted the car I wanted him to buy.
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Don’t recognize the logo?
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Yeah.
Just a snazzy little runabout in which to do the weekly grocery shopping. Did it cost more than our first house? Sure. But money’s not an issue remember.
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Someone came in right behind us and put a down payment on this thing. To which I thought… what a giant waste of hard earned dollars… but hey, whatever floats your boat.
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This was the vehicle we came to see and might seriously be a contender.
To be continued…
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 