Thrifting haul!

I love going to thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets! I have found some wonderful treasures and it is such a great feeling to find a bargain. This morning Russ said he felt like going out and about and he asked me if I felt like going to the Goodwill store. For future reference, the answer to that question is always yes. I love when bloggers show their "haul" from thrifting, so I thought I'd share my haul from Goodwill today. Cue Macklemore playing in the background.

I LOVE fall! How cute is this turkey set? The tureen was $2.99 and the napkin holder was only .99!

This purse looks almost new and it has a long strap, which I love. It is so hard to find a purse with a long strap lately.

These are for keeping dips cool or warm at parties. We love having parties and I thought these would be great. The snowman was 2.99 and it was half price (1.50, yay!) and the snowflake one was also 2.99 but it was full price. I saw the snowflake one on my last trip but didn't get it and regretted it. I was happy to see that it was still there waiting for me.

This little "house" is so cute and springy. It has a shelf inside. Not sure yet where I will use this, but I thought it was adorable. More than likely, John will use it as a hideout for his action figures. It was $2.99.

Dora and Diego dvd for John (1.99), a Christmas cd and a Celtic music cd for John's sleeping music .99 each.

This frame/shelf is neat, I haven't seen one like it before. I has a groove (for plates?) on the shelf and the bottom part holds 5 pictures. It hasn't been used, but it's chipped, so I will paint it. It is quite heavy. It was $3.99.

I got a bag of pine cone ornaments for the holiday tree in my dining room (.99), a new travel coffee mug (1.99), a bag of four metal cookie cutters that I actually don't have (.50), and a nutcracker ceramic dish (.99). John loves nutcrackers; I figured he could put this in his bedroom.

I also got a pair of shorts and a faux suede shirt for $2.00 each. All in all, quite a successful trip. I love thrifting! Have you found any good deals lately?

Injustice

  In April of last year, my friend Fred was killed by a driver that was texting. Some things had fallen out of the back of his truck onto the highway and he stopped to pick them up. A state trooper stopped to help him. They were on the side of the road and the trooper had his lights flashing. The driver was texting and he hit them both. Fred died in the ambulance and the trooper was left with injuries that left him unable to continue in his position. The trial for the driver was yesterday, 16 months later. The driver was charged with involuntary manslaughter for killing Fred and reckless driving for striking the trooper. The judge threw out the involuntary manslaughter charge because the district attorney failed to prove he acted with disregard for human life. His cell phone records were inadmissible even though they showed he had been texting throughout his trip because it had been 5 minutes since his last text. This doesn't mean he wasn't texting when the accident happened, it could just mean that he hadn't yet sent it. He was sentenced to 12 months, with 6 months suspended. He will only have to serve 6 months in jail. Fred was a husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, friend and a deacon at his church. He was a good man and his family is devastated by the loss. I know that a longer sentence wouldn't bring Fred back, but it would have sent a message to people who text and drive. Fred's wife Patty has been speaking at high schools about the dangers of texting while driving and lobbying to have the laws changed. This won't bring Fred back either, but maybe it will save the life of someone else's loved one. Please, please, please do not text and drive and teach your children the dangers when they are old enough to get their licenses. There is NOTHING that is so important that it won't wait. NOTHING.

My little Superhero

     So, John turned five in June. Five. I know, right? I have no idea how it happened either. Anyway, we had quite the celebration. Several in fact. The day before his birthday I sent cupcakes to his preschool. His birthday was on a Thursday which is a difficult day for parties so we went to the carnival with friends. He had a great time.

On Friday we had a party at a bounce place with his friends from school. I think we had about 15 kids there. Again, he had a blast.He got to sit in a throne to eat. A throne!

On Sunday we had his family party. My sister and her family came, my FIL, my SIL, John's cousin, and just a few friends. The theme was superheroes. I love, love planning parties. Give me a theme and I'll run with it!
We had superhero themed food:

The cupcake picks were so cute! I ordered them from amazon and they looked 3d in person. Very cute. I also ordered a pack of wall size superhero posters for photo ops which are now hanging in John's bedroom.
 We even had a Spiderman pinata. That's Russ in the Superman shirt. We all had superhero shirts; Russ and John had Superman and I had Batman. So fun!

A few weeks before the party, the ice cream truck came around and John got an Iron man ice cream bar; they also had batman, superman, etc. I thought it would be super cute to have them at his party. Well, you can't buy them in stores. Of course. I contacted the company and they said they don't sell directly to the public and suggested that I go to a store that sells them and ask them to order them for me. I tried several stores and they were unable to order them. Russ happened to be at the small deli that we get sandwiches from sometimes and he saw them in the cooler so he asked if they could order them and they said yes! Of course we paid far too much for them but they were such a cute addition to the party and everyone loved them, especially the adults. We ended up with Batman and Spiderman.

Now that's the face of a happy 5 (gulp!) year old! My little superhero!

John enjoyed all of his parties and I think he felt so special, which is exactly what I wanted for him. It has been rough since Mary passed away and we all needed some fun. This sure fit the bill!