Thrifty Is In The Eye of The Beholder

When I was a child I had four steadfast buddies.  We walked together to school beginning in first grade, went to church together, got sick on the Zipper at the Ark-La-Miss fair together, memorized the words to every song on the Grease album together.  We had each other's back in that war zone known as an elementary school playground. 

When we got older we drove to school together, shopped together, stuffed ourselves at Swenson's Ice Cream together, flunked out of lifeguard training together, sweated within an inch of our lives on dance team together, skipped school and got fried by the pool together, cruised the McDonald's parking lot together on Friday nights.  They stood by me, or maybe put up with me is a better way to say it, during a three year relationship with a boyfriend who was physically abusive, controlling, and toward the end, hellbent on making my life as miserable as possible .  I stood up in three of their weddings.  Two of us moved away.

And I can count on one hand the times I've seen or talked to them since then.

For the last month or so, God's been bombarding me with girly stuff - girl-friendships to be exact. For a while it seemed like everywhere I turned, someone was speaking of that very thing, and speaking it directly to me. One devotional suggested that, as women, we should be praying specifically for God to bring friends into our lives. Y'know what? I couldn't remember a time, ever, when I asked Him for friends. Over the last twenty years, after moving away from my soul sisters, a string of amazing, talented women have just come into my life when I least expected it. At the moment, most of them have drifted out too.

So I asked.

And these past five days have been some of the strangest I can ever remember

Last weekend, after 25 years, I got a facebook message from one of the steadfast four.  We're now planning a trip together for sometime soon, just us girls, God willing.  Somehow, I think He might be.

So what does this have to do with thrifty?   NOT A THING.

But I already had the photos loaded from last weekend's Eddie Ross/Metrolina fling so here we go:

The only item I purchased while we were actually with Eddie (he shops fast, y'all!):  A pair of Everlast aluminum ware bamboo candleholders.  Ten dollars for the pair.

Tarnished silver (love that stuff!) tray and 19th c. blue bowl, $10. The vintage hoof ashtray set also came from the Metrolina, just not on this trip.

My most favorite find of the weekend:  Alabaster grapes.  I fell in love with the white ones that Joni from Cote de Texas has on her coffee table and have been on the lookout ever since.  I did find white ones last weekend but they were $165, marked down from $225.  Too rich for my blood at the moment.  These are missing their stem so they weren't quite so much.  I don't care if they have a stem or not - I lurve them anyhow.

Side note:  see those lamps? I got the shades a couple weeks ago at the Goodwill for $2.99 each. They probably heard me squealing over in the next county that day. And yes, I know one of them is crooked.  There's nothing wrong with it - I just was too lazy to take another picture after I straightened it.

This came from a really neat dealer called OldeGoodThings.  They have an amazing website too.  Check it out here.  It came out of a foundry in Pennsylvania that was established way back in the late 1700's.  During World War II they made Sherman tanks there.  This sign supposedly hung from one of the ginormous cranes that traveled overhead.  Sadly, the place has now been closed and stripped.

The pair of Chinese horn paintbrushes on either side of the urn were $50 for the pair.  I thought this was a pretty good deal since Tuesday Morning sells cheap plastic (broken!) knockoffs for around twenty bucks each.

Another side note: See these lamps? (I know, I have lamp issues.) Those are Beverly Cosgrove lamps I found at the consignment store, $150 for the pair. Do y'all have any idea how much BC lamps go for? Let's just say I'll never have any brand spanking new ones at those prices.

That's it for today.  I'll be back with Part II soon.

Linked to Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.  Thanks, Debra!