No Scenery, Just Shopping

We didn't do anything yesterday.  I didn't even get dressed until about 2 PM when I went out to get lottery tickets.  While I was out I stopped at Bargains Unlimited, the private-run thrift shop in Sister Bay that earns funds to support a senior living complex nearby.  A few years back my friend KS, who lives up here, took me there and we had a blast.  Now I try to stop in whenever I'm up this way.  As with all thrift stores, some days it's a gold mine and other days it's a wasteland.  Yesterday it was a gold mine.  I didn't really have anything in mind although I always check for ladies' hankie and yarn.  Found a skein of acrylic yarn I can make something for LC from but no hankies.  I found a single vintage dish towel and a batik panel that will look excellent as the center of a quilt or on a tote of some sort.  For some unknown reason I sorted through the flatware, finding a single silver fork for a buck.  I flipped through the purses hung on the wall but nothing caught my eye, then I looked at a pole with the big-ticket purses and EUREKA!  There it was.  One of those Miche purses with the "shells" that stick on the basic purse with magnets.  There was one shell on the purse and three more sticking out of the top.  The sticker was $65 and I almost put it back but decided to carry it around while I kept looking. I could always put it back.  I didn't put it back.  I looked at the shells and they're all animal prints, some completely and others partially.  Animal prints are big this year, plus one is red patent and giraffe print.  I love red and I love giraffes.  Sold!  The rest of my items added up to $5 so I only spent $70.  When I got back to the room I searched for the purse on the web.  (They evidently have parties like Tupperware.  Who knew?)  Because all of the shells are from 2008-2010 (all but one have a name and issue date printed on the lining) the exact ones weren't there but the least expensive ones were $25 and the purse, still available, is $25.  That means I got at least $125 worth of purse for $65.  The only drawback is that it doesn't have a shoulder strap but I can live with the handles, that's not a deal breaker.  I think that was a good day's shopping.  AND the inside of the bag looks like it has never been used.  No pen marks, no dirt, the elastic pockets aren't stretched out, it's pristine.  Like I said it was a lucky day.  This morning I unloaded my current red purse and loaded up the Miche bag, all my stuff fits perfectly, and I slapped on the giraffe shell.  I'm good.  And kind of in style, an odd occurrance for me.

I worked on Sari Purse Dickey #2 yesterday.  I got about halfway before I realized that I had gone overboard the other way and this fill-in was too narrow, so I frogged it until it spread back out and I'll take another run at it today.  The sooner I get done knitting with this silk yarn, the better my fingers will feel.  Reclaimed sari silk has absolutely no give so it makes my hands hurt, the same with all-cotton yarn.  But I'm sure liking the way this is looking.  Hmm, I must be in a purse mood these days.  I feel sewing coming on too, garment and tepee sewing.

March 28--Jim Barber, Sextant, Compass and Chart.  Chloe needed to find out where she was.  The dark was absolute except for the pulse of heat lightning far in the distance.  She was afraid to move, afraid she would fall into one of the little canyons carved by the spring snowmelt from the mountains.  Falling was a sure way to break something and be unable to find her way back home.  Searchers wouldn't find her in one of those dusty draws filled with sagebrush, tumbleweeds, and broken fence.  There were searchers looking for her, she had to believe that.  She had left her car at the trailhead and you had to say where you were going when you picked up a hiking permit.  What day was it, Thursday?  Probably.  She had planned to be back by late Tuesday, they had to be searching.  When would this night end?  In daylight she would at least know what direction to travel.

Okay, I have big plans for more doing nothing today, nothing except knitting, that is, so I'd better get right on it.  Breakfast first, Honey Bunches of Oats instead of Cheerios because I'm on vacation.  Toodles.
--Barbara