I just got home from an intense 48 hours of going to the beach, watering all my potted plants (gophers), and collecting more teacups for my dining-room side hustle selling dishes. It looked like sunshine, but only the first half day. After that, clouds and more clouds, but good for working in the yard weather.… Continue reading Weed, Water, Thrift
Category: thrift stores
Life is Short, Use the Pretty Bowl
Maybe it’s a senior-citizen thing. Maybe it’s because I’ve lost three neighbors in the last 14 months. Whatever it is, it’s my new mantra: use the good stuff in my day-to-day living. What am I saving it for? My life is more than half over. No one lives into their one hundred and twenties. I’ve… Continue reading Life is Short, Use the Pretty Bowl
Three Banks, the Post Office, and a Picasso
(re-run) t’s that dreaded time of year again. April is next week and so many things are due to be paid: Estimated Federal taxes Estimated State taxes Property taxes Accountant’s bill IRA contribution I am considered self-employed, so no taxes are withheld from my pension or royalty payments. That means that four times a year,… Continue reading Three Banks, the Post Office, and a Picasso
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
Roller Coaster Week
After three chorus performances which were fun but way too close together (three in thirty hours), I woke up Monday to some great news. My Penguin editor emailed me to say that a book I wrote twenty years ago was being picked up by an educational publisher to use in the classroom, and my cut… Continue reading Roller Coaster Week
Give Us Money!
It’s the holiday season and the end of the year. Every single day I have three to five requests in my mailbox for donations. Today it was a cancer group, an international aid group, and one other that I can’t remember, and I’ve already 86’d the envelope. Yesterday was the same thing. All last week… Continue reading Give Us Money!
Living in Two Worlds
I have a house in suburbia, where I sing in a chorus, go dancing with friends, and shop at amazing thrift stores and then resell to the public through Facebook Marketplace. Then there’s my beach town, where life is slower, the ocean is one shade of blue, the sky another. Deer wander in front of… Continue reading Living in Two Worlds
Serendipity and Tea Cups
Tuesday is senior day at many of my thrift stores and Ten per cent Tuesday at another one on the circuit. I headed out this morning with high hopes for some great dishes (I sell them on Facebook Marketplace). The first thrift store after my massage and grocery run had beautiful Spode dinner plates. I… Continue reading Serendipity and Tea Cups
Five Red Chairs
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
Car Week in Monterey County
(re-run) For 17 years, I’ve owned a house in Monterey County, California. For sixteen years I’ve participated in some of the car events during Car Week, always in August, with events happening In Pacific Grove, Carmel, Monterey, Seaside, and of course, Pebble Beach. Only this year I’m mom-sitting while my sis and her hubby take… Continue reading Car Week in Monterey County
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 