November 7, 2008

Taking Stock




1950’s stripy balls. 2007.



Himself: Did you have a good day at work? “A Really good day. I’m not bored any more.”

Herself: Survived swimming and five hours on my knee and hip. Reverted to swollen legs and hives. All I can do is laugh after three months of nausea, no swelling, and no or minor hives.

Food: Grape Nuts and rice milk…….twice. Chocolate chip cookies. Ham, potatoes, three salads, and berry upside down cake. Stomach fine. Obviously.

First of all, I confess. Not only did I not reset the clock next to my chair in the living room, but I didn’t reset the watch I was wearing. The result? I arrived at the thrift store one and a half hours early on a new bus route that took only one hour to go a mile.

Even thrift stores are being hit hard by this recession. The local parent organization laid off six paid employees at headquarters. Not only are the natives not buying, they aren’t donating.

At our store, not only are they buying, they are donating far more than they ever have in the past. Among the donations were three full sized trees, five or six small trees, two rooms of boxed items, and so much stuff we didn’t even have room to display it all or the energy to put it out. After five hours of hard work by a good number of volunteers, much of the stuff was out so over crowding the store that the title “Christmas Boutique” was an oxymoron.

We are a Christmas Store.

Last year there were only two small trees, so this year the boss said for us to bag up the ornaments in groups of threes. I did weeks of bagging. This year, we had tons of trees and only bagged ornaments. Last night, as we unboxed the ornaments, we took them over to a table where there was a group of lovely ladies unbagging and tagging ornaments singly. Now all the trees are decorated. Lushly at times.

Our big old tree sits over against a wall in the back. It’s branches look smashed but gobs of decorations flutter round it’s aging branches, and a tiny train runs around underneath. It’s a good starter tree for a young family. I just hope someone buys it. I’ll take my camera with me to work today and get a sentimental farewell picture.

2 comments:

  1. That would be nice to see a photo. Does the family buy the tree and all the ornaments as it stands?

    I've been trying to convince my daughter to go with an "alternative tree" (e.g. a hat rack with wire tree outline), but she sure isn't biting.

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  2. Nope, just the tree......which is an 8 footer on rollers. Yes, I took a picture of it today at the store. Sentimental me.

    Yes too, I used to do alternative trees, and every year my youngest daughter would bring a real tree home the day after christmas. Now days I have a small fake tree....which will have to do for a while.

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