Hi everyone. Long time away from this thread for me. I'll try to report from memory, best I can.
ohblondie, we had an amazing Progresso soup sale at my favorite grocery store and thought of you as I bought 32 cans.
The discounts were 4/$5 for regular and hearty soups and 5/$5 on the "light" soups. I am really enjoying having those cans on hand for days when I haven't gotten it together to cook dinner.
After Christmas, I made a round of stores, looking for those 70% off Christmas deals.
At JoAnn's, I found gift bags to add to my collection. I have several to cull that haven't been used for years. The ones I bought are a better size for the type of gifts I give.
Because I had gone through all my decor bins before Christmas, I had developed an idea of a new tabletop decor composition so I was also looking for some additional elements for the tableau.
At Michael's, I found a white glitter painted branch, a package of raffia fill with green, white, and red. A buttered rum scented candle.
Over to Fred Meyer and found a decor piece with the word "peace", in red glitter covered metal with little round bulbs, movie marquee style.
Back over to JoAnn's for two rolls one ribbon. A nice wide, wired ribbon with a red berry branch pattern, and a gold, medium ribbon with gold dots.
Ultimately, I didn't use the white branch or the red/green/white raffia but I did use the "peace" piece and am enjoying the tableau very much.
This week, I bought a caramel scented candle and a cinnamon scented candle to use as I have mostly burned down the previous candle.
I posted photos in "crafty bits" for anyone interested.
Clothing acquisitions last month were very moderate. Got a free, long coat-like sweater. Heather-gray, mohair and nylon yarn, ribbed. Nice notched collar, two pockets. Fits perfectly and nice and warm.
A taupe, gray, cream batik printed silk scarf for 25 cents that I had been eyeing at the smaller local thrift for the last month.
A fantabulous bargain: charcoal gray wool peacoat, new-with-tags ($89!!), on half-price day for $7.50.
I am rich in wool peacoats. Makes me feel vaguely guilty, if you have 2 coats, give away one, etc... but I guess not enough to reduce my inventory.
A pair of shoes, taupe suede saddle shoe style. $1.50. Super comfy.
Another smokin' bargain day purchase, a jersey knit long sleeve, calf-length black dress. Cold Water Creek brand. Great condition, super comfy. 99 cents. Seriously. Makes a super outfit with the long heather gray sweater.
Am searching for some low-heel black boots to pull it all together.
That's it for clothing. If I come across any corduroy pants, in any color, I'll buy them. I love corduroy in the winter and always want to stay a bit ahead on my inventory. Same with shoes, as a size 11, I am almost always willing to just buy them when I find them. Except vinyl/man-made or too worn.
I'm pretty set with turtlenecks and sweaters, though if I found a particularly nice wool or mohair sweater I would probably add it to my collection. For whatever reason, I have not seen ANY natural fiber thick sweaters at the thrifts this season. Same with corduroys. I'm okay for the rest of this season, but my pants especially are getting more worn looking than I usually like.
Craft supply acquisition has been moderate. A skein of bulky Lamb's Pride yarn in turquoise, yum. 3 skeins of the semi-bulky Lamb's Pride in charcoal gray. Have knitting patterns picked out and ready to start for both colors. I think they were about $4 for each group?
Got 4 small, fat-quarter size pieces of batik fabric, 25 cents each. I found an embroidered necklace design that I'd like to try as a portable stitching project.
I don't need any more yarn or fabric but am currently resistant to shopping my own stash. :shrug:
A real goofball acquisition "spree", at a new location of a local inventory liquidation type store. Small biz, acquaintance owned. Amazon returns, etc. Wandered in to say hi and felt a bit compelled to buy things. A universal remote with the hope of getting the huge, free tv to work. Doesn't match up to the needed remote code, now in the donation box. $5. A large painting canvas, $10. Had an idea for it, but it's too big for the planned spot. Will fit in a different spot. But, another craft project material... 3 bags of chick starter feed, an excellent brand and a super bargain. So useful purchase there. And a small jigsaw puzzle, beautiful picture of a Montmarte flower market. Large pieces. $4. I seem to keep forgetting that I don't have a flat work space for such activities! Ah well.
And this weekend, 3 free books from a little lending library, and 5 CD's from the same library. Give a book, take a book sort of spot.
So, overall, very moderate acquisitions, nothing that I couldn't live without though, and all in my usual acquisition-candy categories.
I had meant to do an acquisition list for last year and do an evaluation on my usage. I won't commit to it but if I get enough gumption I'll go ahead and do that list and evaluation.