Thrift Shop Treasure

We headed out to C today for a peek at the furniture outlet that is closing. It seemed a waste to drive all that way for only that one stop (still no couch for those of you following the condo couch saga!) so I decided to head over to another shopping center to see if I could find the children's thrift shop and used book store that were supposed to be there. I happened across a teaching supplies store so we wandered there first. Spent more than we should but it's all in the name of education so that makes it okay, right? The ladies there pointed me in the direction of the stores I was looking for and off we went.

First stop, kids' consignment shop. Dropped Ryan and Felisa in the play bin and took a look around. Picked up a pair of shorts for Ryan (can't remember what size he was wearing last summer so not sure how we're doing on that... but another pair of jean shorts never hurts!) and a box of six 100 piece animal puzzles for Ryan. 100 pieces seems to be a good size for him to do independently - challenging but not frustrating. Then I picked up Felisa and discovered her wet undies (that's right folks - I've given in and started the potty training officially. She really is doing remarkably well considering she's just turned 2!) So pay for the purchases then head back to the car to drop the bag and change Felisa. Then Ryan and I needed to go potty to so we went back to the kids' shop once more for a pit stop.

Second stop, the general thrift store next door. This was the best one of the day. Picked up 3 games, and a puzzle for $5. Ryan calls these stores "The Leftovers Store". I made sure to point out the low price we paid for the big stack of stuff and that our money was going to help families in need. Not sure if he was listening but maybe it will soak in subconsciously! Back to the car to drop the bag.

Last stop, used book store. Not a single Magic Tree House book - must be very popular! Prices seemed decent though you really had to search to find what you wanted in the kids' section. Didn't venture into the adult aisles since Felisa was about shopped out by this point. Did find though, amazingly enough, a video of The Witches by Roald Dahl that we had just finished listening to. So of course we got it then headed home to watch. As usual, the movie was a little different than the book and there were a couple scary parts that Ryan didn't like but overall it was nicely done. Perhaps we can donate it to the library for their video collection when we are done. It seems like all of their videos (at least at our branch) are short - no feature length films. We did get Mouse Detective though once, on loan from another branch.

So, all in all, I would say that it was a good afternoon.