the best time to go thrifting is on snowy days

After being trapped for almost a week in my house because of snow, I decided I needed to brave it out and go grocery shopping on Friday. So I went to my local Safeway then I decided since I ‘m out and about I might as well stop by to my favorite thrift shop on the way home. I figured there’s probably no one brave enough to drive on this snowy condition, and I’ll have the store all for myself. I got stuck on sleek ice twice on my way there, but manage to slide my way through the front door half hour before they closed. I ask the store clerk how much time do I have, she said half hour, no problem I said, I only need 15 minutes to see if there are any good stuff in the store.

I come in this store regularly. I know where everything is. And I don’t spend no more than half hour to find things that are worth something to me. This is by far my most favorite thrift shop in our area; it’s fairly clean, hardly do I see noisy kids running around, the clerks are friendly and they bring out new inventory daily all throughout the whole day, and the best thing is, most of their items are pretty reasonable, everything is about $4 or less. I’ve got the most unusual, one-of-a-kind treasures in this store, and I’ve found the most valuable goods that only cost me pretty much nothing.

Anyhow, I'm glad I went, I found some real gems and will be listing them as soon as we get some sun around here, so I can get some decent photos. But here’s some pictures of the pretty tea linens with butterflies and flowers, a complete set of Seymour Mann tea/coffee pot and cups made in Japan, a cute ceramic owl lantern, a couple of tall green and lavender bottles and a nice vintage green tray.

merry Christmas!

So were still recovering from inhaling way too much food from our family “noche buena” which was hosted by my brother at his house last night. Noche Buena is a Philippine traditional dinner feast that is shared on the night of Christmas Eve, usually after the family has attended the late evening mass, except we didn’t go to any mass yesterday because there’s still plenty of snow on the ground, so we just ate all night. My mom and sis-in-law prepared the dinner and everything was delicious.

The kids were very excited with all the gifts they’ve got this year. They got so many; we came home with three huge garbage bags full of loot. Jovan’s most favorite one was a gumball machine. He wanted to sleep with it last night and when he woke up this morning it was the first thing he asked. Forget the 127 pieces train set, a big robot or the Hotwheels, all he cared about was his gumball machine; kids are so uncomplicated sometimes.

Hubby and I didn’t exchanged gifts this Christmas, actually this would be the 4th year we agreed not to buy each other gifts. It’s so unromantic I know, but we’re thinking more on a practical side. We always buy the things we needed when we need them, and plus I’m so picky with everything it would be waste of his money and time to buy me anything cause I would just return them for money. Now give me two hours a day, five days a week to go shopping at my favorite thrift stores while you babysit the kids without telling me what junk am I taking to the house again and do not make me feel guilty that I’m neglecting the kids with my thrifting obsession. Now that would be the best Christmas present ever!

the weather outside is frightful

It’s been snowing non-stop here in Seattle since Thursday and we have been homebound eversince. Four days of not being able to go anywhere because of the 7 inches of snow proved to be very challenging with my 3 year old twins.

They are driving me nuts! And so is my husband! I am running out of ideas to entertain them. The kids can only spend half an hour the most painting and coloring until they discover it’s more fun to color the walls, smear play dough on the carpet or paint their faces. We had baked so much cookies in the last two days, I have enough treats to give to all my neighbors in the whole block. The tree and the ornaments had taken some beatings as they love taking them down and putting the ornaments back up, ughh. oh, and I’m running out of food in my house. Heck, forget the food I have not gone to my favorite thrift stores in four days, I am having withdrawal! When is this snow going to melt?

I never liked snow. When I used to live in Eastern Washington many years ago, sometimes it would snow there until February and March and stays on the ground for weeks at a time. I never could drive in snow so I'd stay at home all day and watch TV, lucky my job was just next door to where we live, only about six steps from my house.

Anyways, with only three days to go before Christmas, alas, I'm not done with my shopping yet. I think I’m just going to whip up a bag and a wallet for couple of people on my list instead.

Here's a picture of our tree. I placed the pretty, vintage ornaments on top so the kids will leave them alone.