The Intentional Thrifter does Cruise Night (plus a handy hint and a free e-book)

First, the e-book: Courtney Carver's Mini-Missions book is free for Kindle right now.

I was given an unexpected thrifting hand recently, i.e. a bit of cash to buy a few extra fun things. I also had the chance to drop in at the Salvation Army store, just for a change, since the summer Cruise Nights have started and I can tag along with Mr. Fixit and Grandpa Squirrel. Cruise Night trips are short, because we don't stay at the show very long; so I have to make my mind up quickly about  buying things. The store has a bit different atmosphere from the one where I volunteer; also it was the end of the day, so there were more families, more kids running around, more stuff tossed around on racks. There are only a couple of changing rooms, so you usually have to wait while somebody makes their mind up and their toddler bangs the door open and shut. But the clerks are friendly, and I've often found good things there.

I started at the dress rack, and this long dress-or-skirt kept catching my eye. Not the most practical thing, I thought, but I really liked the navy batik print. (Dark navy? Black? Somewhere in between.)

I found an off-white lace top that could go over the dress/skirt, and ended up buying both of them to make an outfit. I have other navy tops that would work over the skirt as well, so it wasn't just a random choice; and the top will go with all kinds of things too.

Handy hint for thrifters: if you don't own a stitch ripper, you should. I have used mine many times to remove sewn-in labels, or bits of label, from clothes and scarves. Sometimes people snip labels off, but they leave the sewn-in bit behind, which looks bad, itches, or both. This white top had a large, visible label sewn partway down the back (the back isn't lace, but you could still see the label through the fabric). I very carefully picked the stitching out. Surgery successful.

I was pretty happy already with the long skirt and lace top, but then I found this purple Miik bamboo dress for eight dollars..amazing. I like Miik's ethos and style, but it's usually (way) out of my budget. The weather has cooled off just enough that I might even be able to wear it this week.

I finished the shopping-spree money today, back at my regular thrift store, with a $1.50 pair of grey jeans from the last-chance rack. I feel like I should be packing these clothes up for a vacation. (But I have a big term project to get through first.)

Some things we did this week

1. Met Coffeemamma and three of the Blue Castle progeny in the park, along with another Ambleside Online mamma and her family. It was so nice to talk in person after all these years of long-distance chats!

2. All the Squirrels went to the Elora Gorge, and had a good time wandering through the woods, oohing over the precipices, and climbing up and down 59 steps (Ponytails counted them) carved out of the rock.

3. Mr. Fixit, Ponytails and the Apprentice went to Cruise Night with Grandpa Squirrel. Ponytails says, "There were a lot of people, and we met one of our cousin squirrels, and he had some new wheels--it was long and black, one of those cars with no roof, and it had red seats, I think. It was really cool and it made nice smoke."

4. Ponytails made Shrinky Dinks (Shrink Art). Note to Coffeemamma: "thank you so much for the Shrink Art, it's very fun!"

5. We played a new game called Woolworth that we found in a Dover books preview. (This isn't the card game Woolworth, it's played with two nickels, two dimes and a printed-out playing board which would be really easy to copy yourself. If I can find this online anywhere, I'll post a link.)