A Great Charity Shop Haul and a Monster Thrown In For Free!

Well thank goodness it's the weekend!  We've had a very stressful week unfortunately, and would you believe we are STILL waiting for our answer as to whether our offer will be accepted on the new house.  It feels like we have been going around in circles with the whole thing lately, you will recall from my last post that we were waiting to hear whether a "very interested" couple were going to put in the offer they had promised the estate agent they would.  They viewed our house on Monday, again on Tuesday, told her they "LOVED" it and even wanted to put in an offer higher than the asking price to secure it. 

Anyway, to cut a very long story short, they decided after all that, that they didn't like the house anyway.  Hmm..moving on, we still have the lower offer which is still on the table from the first couple that viewed, but of course now we are still waiting for our answer from the seller...he has today promised us we will get that answer next Tuesday afternoon (after he has seen his financial advisor, apparently), though we have of cousre been promised that before, twice already. 

 

So as you can imagine, after the events of this week, I was in need of a little something to cheer me up, so we headed up to the local school charity shop which opened back in the Summer.  For this week they have sub-let the shop to another local charity, and today was their last day.  Now we often pop here on a Friday, especially when it's the final day before another good cause takes over, as there is almost always an absolute bargain to be had!  Though I have to say, i've never experienced anything quite like this afternoon - I was in heaven!

 

Baby Boy and I first went in on the way up to collecting Mia from school, so didn't have long, but much to my absolute joy, every item of clothing was just 50p...and so was this gorgeous silk MONSOON dress, which came complete with the original £150.00 price tag!!! And to top it off - it was in my size and absolutely immaculate, obvioulsy still having the price tag on, it had never been worn, and was pristine!

I've found it a bit hard to photograph so I've found these other two images of the very same dress on Google images:

I tried it on when I got home and fits perfectly, though unless I decide to wear a very high pair of heels, I will probably need to have it taken up a few inches, though there is a local lady who does this and her prices are very reasonable.  I just can't get over that i've found a new with tags silk Monsoon dress worth £150.00 for just FIFTY PENCE!  We may have at least a couple of weddings to attend next year so this will be perfect, and I already have a pair of shoes and facinator that will match very well indeedy!

 

Next I nabbed this vintage hand-crocheted shawl, again worth it for just 50p!  Perfect simply for snuggling up on the sofa with a good book in the Autumn/Winter months;

 

 

I could have bought a whole lot more - but I abstained, my wardrobe is crammed as it is, and I was more than happy to settle with what i've got. 

 

Now for the books - again I could have gone mad, but I held back and settled for a couple of vintage Enid Blyton's and a total bargain as ALL books were just 10p each!  Funny enough I've just been catching up on Lucy's blog "Tales From The Faraway Tree", and she too found the exact same " Adventurous Four" book this week at the charity shop!

 

 

While I was browsing and trying to hide my utter joy at the bargain Monsoon dress, Baby boy was getting very grouchy, and the lovely old ladies running the shop were trying to cheer him up - without success i'm afraid, as he's a little under the weather today, his teeth I think, but his blue eyes won them both over and they GAVE him two little teddies to "cheer him up" bless. 

Now this leads me to the "Monster" mentioned in the title of this post.  Upon seeing Baby Boy's "free" teddy bears on the way back from school, Mia was more than a little miffed, especially as once upon a time it had always been her who had managed to bag a freebie at many a charity shop or jumble sale - usually from a lovely elderly lady.  I told her that as a special treat, we could pop back to the shop and I would buy her one little thing as she'd been good and because Baby Boy already had something.  Oh how I regret that now...!

 

We went in for another browse, and upon looking over Mia, I noticed the she was doing a very convincing job of looking extremely sad at the teddy bears, whilst making a fuss of Baby Boy at the same time and glancing over at the old ladies.  The little monkey's ploy worked - one of the ladies said "oh dear is this your little brother? I didn't know he had such a pretty big sister and I gave him a little something earlier, now I must make it fair - would you like to choose something?" And Mia immediately beams and points to the most HIDEOUS monster on the top shelf - I hadn't noticed it earlier.  The ladies seemed more than happy to hand the thing over, and insisted she take him, despite my polite attempts at "oh you don't need to do that" and I of course because of their generosity simply couldn't tell her to "put it back!" like I normally would, and even popped 50p in to their collection box for their kindess.  So, home with us came..."ALF"!:

 

 

 

Mia carried him all the way home on her shoulders, and even around our local TESCO when we called in for a Friday evening treat - a bag of gingerbread men.  She was CHUFFED, Baby Boy is SCARED of him, and I spent the whole way home trying not to think how awful he'd look in her lovely room against the Cath Kidston boat print duvet cover!

 

She is tucked up in bed with him now as I write this...his ugly face beaming in the light of her lamp...the free Monster..out of all the things she could have chosen it had to be ALF!

 

 

Wishing you all a lovely weekend xx