The gods wanted me to go to Goodwill.

I went out on the thrift store circuit today, in search of some items for a Secret Santa gift I'm putting together. While I was at my favorite Goodwill store, I decided to check and see if they had any shirts that I could get for work. I picked out about ten to try on and scored a dressing room right away. Sweet...usually you have to wait for 10 or 15 minutes. When I went in, I saw that someone had left jeans piled all over the bench. Nice, new-looking jeans. Mall-brand jeans. And they didn't look tiny. Barely daring to hope, I pawed through them, tossing aside the 4/5 pair and the size 6, and found a pair in the pile that fit like they were made for me. My one pair of jeans that still fits well is starting to get a little frayed, so finding another pair that fits = awesome. Especially since they cost $5. One of the shirts I tried on actually fit and looked decent. I poked around a bit more and ended up finding a pair of really nice black pants for work and a pair of carpenter jeans for MB. :D

Since the shoe section is near the jeans section, I gave the shelves a quick look, even though I never find shoes that fit my big wide Hobbit feet at resale shops. Never, that is, until today...behold, the $3 ballet flats of wonder!



Since I have a few friends who have kids and / or are pregnant, I poked through the baby clothes bin, too. I found a few outfits to send to a friend, and then I found a few things that I'm going to hang on to for future badger spawn, because they're just that cool:




As icing on the cake of a successful shopping trip, the clerk--who was totally the kind of girl I think I'd date if I dated girls--only charged me 10 cents for each baby item, and 30 cents for the adorable pair of rainboots I bought for someone whose initials are WXY (and whose mama appreciates a bargain, so I don't have to feel bad about revealing the Rainboot Miracle).


After I left Goodwill with my amazing haul, I went to one of my least favorite thrift stores. I chose it because of its proximity to Goodwill, and it turned out to be a lucky move. It's a really overpriced store, which is annoying, but they have piles and piles and piles of junk to dig through. The layout of the building is really weird. I don't know if it used to be a house or what, but you totally have to wind around through all these little rooms and hallways and more rooms. But there are no windows, which is really strange. It feels like a giant maze, and no matter how much cool stuff I find, I constantly find myself thinking about how if there's ever a fire in there, most people probably won't make it back through the maze in time. On especially claustrophobic days, I have to resist the urge to weave through the place while shrieking, "We're all going to die!"

I lucked out today in that not only was there not a fire, but I also stumbled across a whole row of baskets full of great items for the secret santa gift of mystery. I also found this wacky thing:


I don't know if it shows up well enough to tell, but it's this tiny, incredibly delicate woodcarving inside a shadow box. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I couldn't pass it up.


Then I drove home and found my parking lot swarming with firefighters. There were three trucks plus the chief's car and maybe even a rescue truck. No one stopped me from taking my stuff and going inside, so I guess there wasn't any real danger, but it was kind of unnerving and interesting all at once. I unfortunately have no idea what happened, but it sure made for an interesting arrival.


And finally, with no further ado...it's evidence of a squirrel kegger gone way over the line!


Or maybe it's just a lampshade lying on the lawn.