Wednesday, February 13, 2008

You may have heard that Starbucks is doing some major retooling of their business due to the recent news of their dropping profits. Well today we benefitted from this in a rather unexpected way. DH was walking by one of the many neighborhood Starbucks and found this basket on the curb along with lots of other random stuff. (the nuts were not included. Those we also got for free from a relative in Oklahoma where apparently pecans grow on trees.) The basket is a nice size and made from wire so its pretty sturdy and in good shape.


DH also found a bag full of sample size cups to use for glue for his students. (no he doesn't teach first grade) Incidentally, immediately after this picture was taken I picked up the basket and dropped it on the floor spraying nuts everywhere. I then tripped on some and almost fell. I wonder if I can sue either Starbucks or the state of Oklahoma for that...I'll have to call one of those lawyers who advertise on TV late at night and find out.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Seattle is a rainy city. There is really no denying it. As a Seattlite and a parent of a young Seattlite its important to know (and to teach others) how to survive a winter in Seattle, especially now that we don't own a car . Hannah has a pair of rain boots courtesy of her grandmother and recently I found this coat at a thrift store:


Its so cute no? I know its a little overboard with the pink, but its 18-24 months meaning it fits now and may even still fit next winter (or this spring, summer or fall for that matter). It only cost be $2 so I figure I would have to make do with the cutesy-ness.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

For those of you, gentle readers, who do not know my husband is a graphic designer and as such he has always had a fondness for letters (as in the alphabet), posters and other random bits of paper. He also has taught college for the last 5 years or so and has occasionally gotten some pretty fun gifts via his students.


Above is a large S (about 2 feet by 2 feet) from a remodeled Savemart one of his students worked at. It was just going to be thrown out to make way for newer (and I guess the management was thinking more sophisticated?) neon signage. This S has been in our family for many moves and always finds a prominent place in our home. Recently Dan also acquired an N, which was placed on the facing wall and coincidentally also orients us to north and south. This old signage has been a fun and thrifty addition to our home.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Last week when Dan was riding his bike to work he came across this in the QFC parking lot:

I know its hard to tell, but its a large bag (actually "Super Mega" size. Don't get me started on diaper package sizes. When did small, medium and large go out of style?) of diapers that has apparently been run over by a car. The bag was ripped and since it had been lightly raining some of the diapers were wet, but the entire package was there. These are my DD size so Dan grabbed them. At first I was unconvinced that these were usable, but now that they have dried you'd never know they had been run over and rained on. We're a cloth diaper family, but these come in handy when traveling and/or when feeling lazy. Its nice to know we have a some extra lazy days prepared for now.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Basket Case


For the past several months I have been in major purge mode around my apartment. I just felt overwhelmed by the amount of stuff crammed everywhere. As part of this purge I got rid of my handled baskets, which I was using to hold tea. Now baskets are kind of a pain because they don't fold down and those with handles take up a lot of space. However, ever since I got rid of them I missed my baskets. They seem like such a nice way to contain things. So today I replaced one of my old baskets with a new thrift store find. It was only $1.50. I consider that an ok price to pay to realize what I need and what I don't.

Back to G.O.

Just two posts ago I mentioned the Grocery Outlet and gave it only a so-so review. Well tonight I have a good find from them so maybe I need to amend my previous comments. Dan and I were in Kent and stopped by the local G.O. in hopes of finding some cut-rate whole wheat flour. Instead Dan walked out with a new pair of Teva tennis shoes.


Now Dan's standards for shoes are not that high. You may remember that he has been wearing shoes for the last 6 months or so that he found on the street and previous to that he mostly relied on his brother's cast offs. Since his shoes were getting old and since the Tevas were only $25 (they normally run around $100) he went for it. Although this definitely qualifies as a good find I am still on the fence about the Grocery Outlet. Just think about it, we went in for baking supplies and came out with shoes. Its hard to understand how that kind of impulse purchasing would happen at your local Safeway.