Sunday, April 28, 2013

Mark Another Off the List!

One thing you don’t see too often on a driveway is a Cuisinart food processor. Or at least not in my price range. I still feel very happy every time I use mine, which I bought about 7 or 8 years ago (pre-blog!) for eight bucks. Brand new, still in its unopened box. The lady selling it told me she never cooks, that it had been a gift. And now she was getting married and was sure someone would give her another for a wedding present, even though she still didn’t cook and had no plans to begin. So she was happy to have it gone, and I was happy to get it.

A couple of years later I found a set of seven disks and a rack for another three bucks. And since we do cook, these puppies have gotten a workout over the years. So much so that the bowl that came with the processor wore out and had to be replaced. Cost over $30 just for that one piece…as you can imagine, I was appalled! So I added “Cuisinart for parts” to my search list. I’ve been searching diligently for probably three years now, but the only ones I saw were always held in too-high esteem by their owners. I know it would drive me nuts to pay three or four times as much for something to part out as I did for the original new-in-box machine.

I have certain standards to uphold, after all.

And then on Friday morning, there it was. A friendly little sale not far from home, but with nothing of interest. I moved along the tables of mugs and glassware and stuffed toys and a couple of DVDs of depressing movies all the way to where a little old lady was examining stuff at the back. I’ll never know what she was looking at, because she was standing near a box that held a food processor. I recognized a Cuisinart lid and bowl immediately. And I saw the green sticky dot with $5 written on it. A quick examination showed that everything seemed to be there, so I picked up the box and turned to the ladies having the sale.

“Any chance you’d take three for this if I give it a good home?” I asked, and as most people do, she laughed. “Sure. If you promise to love it!” I promised, and pointed out I was already hugging the box.

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Three bucks changed hands and off I went, elated at the prospect of marking another item off my watch list, and amazed once again at the usefulness of offering to give something – anything! – a good home. This one phrase is probably the single most important tool in my bargaining arsenal. I’m sure it has saved me hundreds of dollars over the years. Try it and you’ll see – and I want a full report on your success!

Didn’t have time to do any garaging on Saturday. But I still ended up with some thrifty spending. We had a meeting in Eugene in the morning. Then we went to a lady’s house on the south side of town where she is simplifying her landscaping and dividing and selling a bunch of perennials. I found her via Craigslist, and we emailed back and forth during the week. Since we are relandscaping the entire yard, we need quite a few plants to get things rolling. We left her house with a huge clump of crocosmias,

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clumps of shasta daisies and rudbeckias,

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two or three kinds of coreopsis, some heucheras and more,

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all for $45.

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Naturally, I promised we’d give her plants a very good home!

One last reminder to vote for our Edward so he can be the Face on the Dog Treats at our local pet store. Voting ends this Tuesday night. Last time I looked he was number three, which is okay because they’ll use the top three vote getters. Huge thanks to all of you who have voted for him already. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your lovely comments too. I’m pretty sure he’s the only dog up there who is getting votes from all over the U.S. and even from other countries. But don’t worry, it hasn’t gone to his head. He’s still the same humble guy he’s always been, ready to give a friendly wag to anyone and everyone. And of course to relieve them of any treats they might have on them!

Edward, ever humble

Friday, April 19, 2013

Vote Early! Vote Often!

As of this morning, Edward has slipped to 4th place in the voting for the honor of being the face on the dog treats. We need to be in the top three! If you have a Facebook account, please take a moment to click over to HERE and give his picture a ‘like.’ Then if you would be so kind, strong-arm encourage your friends, family, and acquaintances to do the same. Let me know if you’d like a flyer to post on the bulletin board at work or school, with little tear off tabs at the bottom with the URL. (Yeah, I made one up for the dog park bulletin board.)

After all, Edward is a very handsome boy. He was an adorable baby

Infant Edward  ED1

a heartthrob as an adolescent

Edward 11 mo

and is aging (he’s almost 11 now) with grace and dignity.

Dignified Edward

He’s unfailingly helpful around the house.

Edward helps with laundry Yummers

He was the best little brother that Lizzie could have had

Little brother EdwardLizzie & EdwardGIMMEKONG_WARS

and has been instrumental in civilizing Zoe.

Big brotherBehave, young ladyA moment of calmBig Brothers are so Comfy

He rarely does anything wrong, and if he does he’s sorry.

Edward is sorry

He is not above a friendly gossip session with his friends.

Gossip dogs

Edward is a friend to man

Charming the Gardeners

and beast.

Edward with Noll Pillow snuggly

Vote for Edward!

Edward poster

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Vote for Edward!

Calling all Facebook users! Our local pet store is having a photo contest, the winners of which will have their picture on their new line of dog treats. They definitely need our Edward as their representative! If you’ve ever seen him at the dog park you know he is the biggest treat mooch in town. Besides being quite a handsome guy.

Here’s his picture that we entered:

Edward portrait

Click over to their Facebook page here and give him a ‘like,’ would you? And have your friends and family vote for him too. Voting ends on April 30th at 11:59pm.

Vote for Edward! Vote for Edward! He’s the best!

Thanks!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Where the Heck ARE They?

It’s Spring. Definitely. Things blooming all over the place, including a zillion daffodils in my yard.

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The Japanese maple has adorable baby leaves and the birdbath is full of pink cherry blossoms.

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So where the heck are the yard sales?

Rain? You think the rain is still stopping things? I bet you’re right! And okay, I admit there have been sales in town, but so widely scattered I haven’t even been tempted. Not with gas prices the way they are. So it’s been strictly local, which for the past couple of weekends translates to two sales, and a total expenditure of six bucks. But again everything I found was on my look-for list. I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to wipe out that whole list this year…and what I’ll do if that happens! Actually, I know the answer to that. I will be the luckiest woman alive because I’ll have nothing left to want for, and can just spend the next forty years or so (yes, planning to live to a very ripe old age!) enjoying what I have. Now that’s a plan.

So what did I find at these two sales? Last weekend at a sale set up on the wide front porch of an old Craftsman house I picked up three cotton turtlenecks.

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I had been thinking I might have to buy some in a store, because I wear turtlenecks constantly for about 7 months of the year, and two or three of my current supply are at least twenty years old. Guess it pays to buy good quality, huh. They’re tatty, but so soft and comfy, hard to give up. Now they can go to a well deserved rest in the rag bag.

Another fifty cents went for a set of fondue forks

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to use with that Dansk fondue pot I found almost exactly a year ago.

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Someday I hope to find some classy Dansk forks, but in the meantime this set should encourage increased fonduing. Fondueing? Fondue forking?

This Saturday we stopped at one sale on our way up to Portland (more on that in a moment). Her Craigslist ad said she had over-shopped and over-collected and was selling off her crafting stash. She also said she had “the usual garage sale stuff” which included tatting lace. To me the usual garage sale stuff is more along the lines of used candle stubs, stuffed toys, and a handful of rusty tools. Had to go to her sale just to find out what “tons more etc.” might entail. Sadly, either she’d already had a bunch o’ buyers by the time we arrived, or she overstated the merchandise a bit. No, a lot. Steven took one look around and decided that price-wise “she was dreaming.” However, even here I found something on my list, and it was fifty cents.

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I decided last December when I was hand-cutting homemade dog biscuits  to give as Christmas treats to our dog park friends that I had to find a small cookie cutter or two. This should speed up production considerably. And with a bit of elbow grease I was able to remove most of the vintage price-tag goo.

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The drive up to Portland was to attend this plant sale. Our relandscaping still requires quite a few plants, and we were able to make a dent in the list in this one place. Doesn’t look like all that many plants grouped in their boxes like this

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but I’m very pleased with what we found, including Himalayan maidenhair ferns for under that Japanese maple,

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three kinds of lavender, a couple of salvias and a penstemon, and several varieties of heuchera which will go around the birdbath to take over when the daffodils are finished. I can hardly wait to get everything in the ground.

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But you know, I just realized that even when every item on my need-to-find list has been found and brought home, there will probably ALWAYS be another plant that I will want!

 
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