I bought them in April because of the upcoming tariffs. There were only five left in red. They had to be red. They were delivered to my neighbor’s house since I’m not always here. They came unassembled. I tried to put one together. I had the diagram, the parts, and the time. I did okay… Continue reading Five Red Chairs
Category: shopping
A Week in the Woods
(re-run from 2023) When both my mom and sis started having big health problems at the same time, I flew back to Iowa to collect my older sister and bring her to California to live with me. Eighteen months later, my younger sister flew back to Iowa to get our mom and bring her to… Continue reading A Week in the Woods
The Thrill of the Deal
(re-run from 2021) Before the pandemic, I would go to a thrift store every week. I had thrift-store withdrawals in late March, but what could I do? They were shut down for the pandemic. Then in May, when many of them reopened, I was one of the hundreds of people looking for a place to… Continue reading The Thrill of the Deal
Tea Cups, Anyone?
It’s been a crazy ten days of selling $700 worth of tea cups and dishes to six different women on four occasions. Two pairs came and two singles, although the last single woman had three children under the age of four with her. Yes, you heard that right, three little kids. I have three dogs,… Continue reading Tea Cups, Anyone?
Five Errands and a Passport Photo
(re-run) My daughter is going to her college friend’s wedding in India. She discovered that her passport was about to expire, which got me to wondering if mine had expired. I hadn’t used it since I got divorced. I found it and saw the expiration date was 2019. That’s what the pandemic will do to… Continue reading Five Errands and a Passport Photo
The Good Karma Post
Sunday morning, I was in my beach town, so I ran down to the post office to buy a Sunday Chronicle out of the newspaper dispenser machine thingie. Another guy was parking at the same time, and we walked up together. “I’ll bet we want the same paper,” I said. “The Chronicle,” the guy said.… Continue reading The Good Karma Post
Through the Tunnel
(re-run) Today I ventured through the Caldecott Tunnel that connects the East Bay with Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco. It was sunny on my side but foggy on the other side. Still, traffic wasn’t too bad, and my car almost drove itself to the warehouse sale off of Fruitvale Avenue (yes, that Fruitvale – think… Continue reading Through the Tunnel
Highway Dog
(re-run) I’m in my little beach town, up the road a bit from Carmel. At the end of each month, the block of thrift stores in the Barnyard Shopping Center near Carmel Valley put their merchandise at 50% off for a day or two. Yellow Brick Road was on its second day of sale yesterday,… Continue reading Highway Dog
The People I Meet When Thrifting
(re-run) I have a deep need to thrift. I do it at least once a week, even on vacations. I’m not talking consignment stores where people bring in items, hoping to get some money back. I’m talking about stores that take donations and sell things on the cheap because they got them for free. Last… Continue reading The People I Meet When Thrifting
Ketchup and Noodles
(re-run) When my son was two and his big sister was in kindergarten, I saw a window of opportunity to go do child-free errands, if I could just find a place to park him for two or three hours. Enter my neighbor Peggy. She didn’t have a childcare license, which limits the caregiver to six… Continue reading Ketchup and Noodles
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 