Tuesday, June 02, 2015

More Like It


This .99 cent dress from Goodwill is doing wonders to make me forget my recent retail disappointment. Thank you all for your kind words, and refraining from calling me stooopid.
With any luck, those structures you see in my garden will have patty-pan squash vining up them shortly. The peas are nearly done, and the string beans will go in their place. It is still freezing here, so we've had to improvise with the gardening a bit. I've had my best-ever crop of peas though, given the extended cool weather.
Borage flowers made it into last evening's salad. Everything on the plate came from my garden, which pleases me no end.

Now, a bit of sad news. The arborists showed up yesterday with chainsaws to deal with limbs near power lines, and taking down dead trees. What you see in the photo is Blondin looking for where his favourite perch/stash of food formerly sat. We watched him run frantically through the tree, and across scattered limbs on the ground looking for his carefully hoarded food. It was heartbreaking. The birds seemed out-of-sorts as well, having spent so much time pounding seeds into cracks in the bark. At least this tree is healthy, and remains-the other was felled leaving but a short stump in the lawn. Blondin has been on our patio most of the day begging, understandably. At least it is early enough in the season he can rebuild his supplies for winter. Poor fella.
"It was RIGHT HERE! I know I'm not losing my mind! What the hell?!?"


Speaking of wildlife...

I did not buy this, though Danny really wants it. After several months at the thrift store, the bunnies made it to the half-price room, but I still think $25. is a bit steep for this "textured" (to look like an oil painting) print. The frame is OK, but not for that kind of money. He's considering buying it with his own money so he can hang it in his own place some day, and ensure he'll be remaining single for the rest of his life.
"But they're killer bunny rabbits."

Danny made friends with a sales assistant at the local department store's perfume department. He fell in love with Shalimar Souffle (which resembles Shalimar in name only, but that's the world of flankers) but at $127. a bottle, he was hoping to try a small sample and see if he liked it enough to invest in it. Samples are hard to come by in the low-end department stores, and they had none. The SA, amused by a perfume obsessed 10 year old boy, sold him a refillable atomiser that holds 1/2 ounce for $15. and then filled it for him from the tester. Filled it all the way. That's a whole hell of a lot of Guerlain for $15.  I suspect he'll want a large bottle, and being a limited edition that I don't think will be a big seller (oh god, two kinds of vanilla and a shit-load of citrus, blerg.) it will likely be gone soon. I will probably get him a large bottle, and give it to him at Christmas...so shhhhhhhh. The blue bottle is very pretty though, I will say that.

Outfit Particulars:

Dress-Goodwill
Necklace-Salvation Army
Earrings-Hand-Me-Ups
Shoes-Hand-Me-Ups
Brooch-Goodwill (I think?)
Shell bracelet-Hand-Me-Ups
Handbag-Thrift World
Fragrance-Guerlain Jardins de Bagatelle
Lippy-Loreal Fuchsia Flash (I love this lipstick so much I wish it went with everything)

I'm off to cook Blondin dinner do some chores.  If you see a confused, weeping squirrel in the vicinity of 90th and Dodge in Omaha, toss him something good-he's had a rough day!

7 comments:

Sue said...

I loooooooooooove that dress!!! SPOTS!! Perfect fit, colour and everything, oh and the pearls just put a big EF in FABULOUS! Poor Blondin, lucky he has you to cook for him.

Mim said...

Nice dress! Clearly the Thrift Gods have not turned on you for your disloyalty ;-)

Poor old Blondin! It's a good thing he's got you to see him through. That salad you made looks delicious too, I'd come scrounging with the squirrel if I lived any closer.

Bibi said...

Where do they give out proper samples of perfumes in the US anymore?
Certainly not at Macy's, even formerly generous Nordstrom's is a bit chintzy.
Usually all you get now is the spritz on the paper tab.
Stand alone Estee Lauder boutiques still give out generous samples
I see Shalimar Souffle at the duty free shops in India & the UAE quite a bit. Actually there's usually a wall of Shalimar flankers near the check outs along with a pyramid of Davidoff's Cool Water. I think I tried Shalimar Parfum Initial when it 1st came out- it was a HORRID fake berry/skittles/koolaid cupcake thing with perhaps a shot of Angel & a drop or 2 of Flowerbomb to appeal to youngsters I suppose. I never tried another one.

Beth Waltz said...

There's an earlier comment floating out there in the blogosphere...

Bless you for noticing the plight of poor Blondin! I'm sure there will be an especially nice of bit karma accruing to your account for rendering aid to a gourmet rodent whose larder has been desroyed.

Those polka dots are too subtle for plastic accessories. Kudos to you for topping this lady-like frock with suitably scaled pearls!

ThriftyParka said...

Your 'everything came from my garden' salad looks delicious!!! I am envious of your gardening skills, sadly I have a brown thumb. Love that delicious polka dot dress. I think it would look fab with a hat and a swing coat too.

happy thrifting ;)

Goody said...

@Sue
I really did think of you when I bought it, knowing how you love a spotty dress.

@Mim
As long as you don't try to climb up to the balcony, you'd be welcome ;)
Imagine the good times we'd have if you did live close.

@Bibi
Samples end up for sale on line, which makes me think *someone* is getting them. Anyway, it seems short-sighted on the part of the stores as there are so many other places to buy perfume. Samples build loyalty from customers, but yeah, it is all paper and testers around here. The Souffle is OK but don't expect it to have any resemblance to Shalimar. It seems more wearable in many ways (vanilla and citrus won't have the typical office complainers going on about it)but I guess I don't buy perfume with a consideration for not annoying people-I would if I worked in close quarters though. Give it a sniff next time you're in a duty-free. It isn't awful, but it isn't Shalimar.

@Beth
I'm not really a squirrel fan, in general (we had one that got into the walls of the farmhouse a few years back) but once you name it, and train it, I guess he's mine. He's been calmer today-probably in mourning.

@Thrifty Parka

I wish I could say I'm doing something special with the garden, but most of it is down to a good location, good soil in the beds, and dumb luck.

Curtise said...

Oh poor old Blondin - he's got some work to do now, but luckily you are soft-hearted enough to help him! (Go on with you, I know you are really, don't try and act all tough...)
A swishy polk dotty frock, and a delightful perfume addict of a son - your life is pretty damn good! xxx