February Thrifting Haul—Part One

A thousand apologies, Gentle Readers, for how long it’s taken me to post this. Like the man said, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. I’m currently involved in a musical written by one of Mom’s piano students, a talented young lady who recently passed her tenth birthday. I’m also ploughing through the huge bundle of sewing piled on my head, as it’s become a bit of an obsession and is starting to affect my health. :-O Of course, it didn’t help that my hip (the same one I tweaked when I fell on the ice last year) decided to go on the fritz three weeks ago—and is still a long way from recovery—nor was that allergic reaction I had two weeks ago exactly conducive to blogging. (For the record: The reaction was brought on by stress and the mold spores still lurking in all our books, which we couldn’t bear to leave in California…and no doubt aided and abetted by all the refined sugar I’ve been eating since my birthday. *Innocent whistle*)

Anyhoo, I am finally able to share with y’all the wonderful wardrobe pick-me-ups God provided during my Birthday Celebration on the 1^st and 2^nd (of February, that is). We’ll begin with my “loot” brought home after my Birthday Outing with Kellie and Tasha….

I spotted this adorable western-style blouse (by Wrangler, to boot!) at the CdA St. Vincent de Paul, on our way to the back of the store (the girls like to work their way up to the front):

It’s so rare—in my experience, at least—to find women’s blouses with feminine details like gathered sleeves, I simply had to get it. The girls both agreed it was *me* (Kellie said if she’d seen it without my being present, she’d think of me), so that decided it. We poked about the dishes and tins and figurines for a while, browsed the books and videos, and perused the linens, where Kellie scored some lovely finds. As we made our way through the men’s and “Funky, Western and Vintage” clothing, we stopped to paw through their dollar bins of hats and whatnot, where this little number jumped out and declared, “I’m for Tom!”

Y’all remember Wesley the Weasel? No? Well, no matter; it was a long time ago I mentioned him. In a nutshell, I eventually decided that piece of fake coyote fur wasn’t my color, so methought white would be better. And I guess the Good Lord wants me to go ahead with the idea—why else would He have the perfect white “mink” fur waiting for me at St. Vinnie’s? For a dollar, too! *Grin* I must admit, it was a little tempting to keep it as a hat and play Russian Princess…until I tried it on and the thing went down to my eyes. :-P

 Our visit to the Goodwill turned out to be quite profitable, as each of us found some really cute things that seemed to have our names written on them, or that were on our lists. I’ll let the girls speak for themselves, but as for this little wench, I found four things that will fill out my wardrobe nicely:

This fun little number obviously needs a snap or two in the front placket to make it modest (it’s a bit too big, too), but it’s cute and Summery—and turquoise! I have practically nothing in this color, which is one of my best, so it was a real blessing to find it.

I almost left this little sky-blue gingham on the rack, but it simply begged me to take it home! And it reminded me of my aquamarine gingham shirtwaist (purchased last Summer)—which has become one of my favorite blouses—so I gave in. Good thing, too, because it fits perfectly and only needed an extra snap in the placket. My favorite kind of alteration—simple!

This sweater is obviously too big, but the color blends beautifully with a turtleneck I bought last Fall (which has been very hard to match). I suspect it of dating back to the 1980s, when tops were oversized and shoulders were wide. *Snort* I have some ideas on how to alter it more to my liking…but that’s another story. ;-)

I’ve been wanting a pair of black velvet jeans for a while now, for the really cold weather up here that goes right through my black twill trousers. And miracle of miracles, these ones fit like they were tailor-made for me (apart from the slight gap in the back waistband)—even the length of the legs (I like my trousers above the ankle) and the height of the “rise.” Being kinda “tall in the saddle,” if you follow me, it’s sometimes difficult to find even regular pants that actually come up to my natural waist…let alone above it.

And you’ve already seen the copy of Jane Eyre I picked up at Wiggett’s Antiques. So there you have it—my thrifting haul from my Birthday proper. Part Two will detail the goodies Mom and I found on the 2^nd.

Until then, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~

♥