Thrifting with Farm Fresh

Who knew my favourite piece of clothing would be a muumuu? Who knew I needed a muumuu in my life? Annette. That’s who. She knew I needed a muumuu in my life.

But let me back up to ‘pre-Covid, still hanging out with friends, going into thrift stores’ times. Annette and I made plans for supper out in the town and a trip to our local Value Village. Now, I’m not a clothes shopper typically when I hit up the thrift stores. I do not enjoy clothes shopping. I may have mentioned this repeatedly? But Annette being Annette, made it fun going through the racks. { You can read a little about that adventure HERE } She’d pick random things for me to try on. And I did. I can’t say no to Annette. I’m not sure anyone can. Have you met her??

Anyway, one of the random things she found was a muumuu. And she made me try it on. I’ve never had a muumuu, tried on a muumuu or had anything to do with a muumuu. Except for this one amazing client I had…she would meet me at the door of her perfectly-her home in…you guessed it…a muumuu!!

Here I popping out of the dressing room in the soon-to-be-mine muumuu. I was not convinced I needed yet. It seemed like a dumb thing to buy. What 44 year old wears a muumuu?

Well, once you put it out on the internet that you have purchased your first muumuu, fellow muumuu wearers come out of the woodwork!! One old high school pal informed me she prefers to call them caftans! Sounds way better and yet, I still refer to mine as my muumuu. Want to know what Hannah calls it? My cowcow….hmmmm, thanks Hannah….

Here’s me, enjoying a cup of coffee on my pretty new patio set, in my muumuu. The girls are mortified that I step outside the door in it. But hey, I’m 44 and give zero poops.  Clearly they haven’t worn one yet. I love getting out of the shower, slipping this on until I’m no longer damp or warm from my shower before getting dressed for the day. My housecoat is way too heavy and warm, but my muumuu, it’s perfection!

S’mores, our new kitten, loves my muumuu, too. Pictured above is Monty trying to figure out where that brat kitten went. Where is S’mores? Hiding in my muumuu, of course!!

So tell me, do you have a muumuu? Are you Team Muumuu or Team Caftan?  Do you live it one – leave the house in one?

Warmly,

Lori

Finally!  I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to share the results of the challenge I put out there in February or not!  By some random fluke, I couldn’t upload pictures to my blog!  And what’s a great thrifting challenge without pictures??

So, the general plan is to take a selfie with a $20, and then see what you can find second-hand with it.  You can read my original post HERE.

I had a some friends join me in the challenge this time around which always adds to the fun – life is better with friends!  Jann from Tea with Jann as well as Laura from My Life in the Sun played along.  Sheila from Waterside Designs did some shopping, too.  I tried to convince my girls to join in but they didn’t bite.  Lena always manages to score awesome clothes, she doesn’t get it from me!

I’ve had some real fun over the course of the challenge poking around the shelves and racks at my local Value Village.  I had great intentions of exploring some other places, too, but it just didn’t work into my schedule this go-round.  A few fellow bloggers have mentioned Mission Mart in Bayer’s Lake so I’m adding it to my list.

One of the random things that took place in the aisles of VV was my friend/Associate Pastor Annette challenging me sourcing an outfit blindly.  Yep. Find the section with your size, close your eyes and when your partner says stop, whatever item your hand is on is now a piece of your outfit.  I gathered up jeans, a shirt, a coat, purse and carefully selected shoes { toe injury prevented me from some of the crazy heels we found }  I thought that the jeans were going to be too small, but thanks to my ‘Seeking Wellness’ journey, they fit and I actually bought them!  The rest I left behind…. but it sure was a lot of fun!

So, what did I find with my $20?  A pottery candle holder, a turquoise woven table runner, a copper watering can, white pottery bowl, colourful floral painting and a small footed wooden bowl.  Pretty good haul, eh?  And if you’re curious about the price break down, here it is:

Pottery Candle Holder $3.99

Copper Watering Can $2.40

Floral Painting $4.00

Wooden Bowl $3.00 { shown in stacked image at top of post }

Pottery Bowl $2.99 { not shown }

Runner $2.40 { not shown }

So what did some of my fellow thrifters find? Well – you need to go watch Jann’s video HERE to see what she found!

And below are some of the wooden pieces that Sheila found that I just know she will turn into amazing things, like that painted piece shown here, too!

Laura also found some great treasures – like the tea cups!!  Aren’t they the prettiest, boldest teacups you ever saw??

And my inspiring thrifting friend, Norene, scored some beauties, too….check out that beaded runner!!

And my thrifting soulmate, Krista, of course found some amazing treasures for so little money!!  I love when she posts the stories over on Insta getting you to guess how much she bought her treasures for.  She wrote a post outlining all the goodies she scored this go-round.  You can check it out HERE.

That wraps up this winter’s Thrifting with Farm Fresh Challenge!  Thanks to those who played along, got out to see what the shelves of their favourite thrift store’s where holding and what was worth breaking a twenty for.

Warmly,

Lori

I sure do enjoying hitting up the thrift stores and having a little poke around.  I’m not one to look for clothes, I find that rather frustrating but I love shopping the home decor items.  My kids love looking through the clothes and usually find something to round out their wardrobe.

I had shared already some of the finds that Hannah and I gathered for our #thriftingwithfarmfresh challenge in THIS POST.  But I didn’t share a picture of Hannah’s new outfit for their big Valentine’s Day Dinner { which you can read HERE }  She had found a dress on a previous trip to Value Village but when she saw this one, she knew she wanted to upgrade!

It’s so perfectly Valentine’s Day, isn’t it? I love that it has those little built in shorty shorts since it’s rather transparent…I think it must be for gymnastics or ballet?  She still has $5 left to spend of her $20 but it didn’t work out for her to join me on my recent thrifting trips to see what she could score.

I had $9 left to spend.  And I could’ve spent it a bunch of different ways.   And I’ve been poking around the thrift stores frequently shopping for set stuff for Marion Bridge so I’ve seen lots of great things and kicked myself for not buying a few things when I saw them. It’s like shopping at Winners, you best grab it when you see it, because it won’t be there next time!  It’s kinda like buyer’s remorse but the reverse…

What I did find was a nice milk glass pot/vase/whatever but when I found it, it was filled with hideous faux flowers.  I wish I had snapped a picture!  But it is just the right size for my new Pilea plant!!  It makes me happy, I love plants in milk glass.  Cost was $3 but the Pilea was a Sobey’s find – I’m always on the hunt for new plants and was happy to find this guy.  Hannah named him Archie. 🙂

And I spent my last $6 on this painting:

I usually do a quick once over of the picture shelves at Value Village, never really buying anything from that section.  But this painting, with its chunky texture and red and turquoise spoke to me and so it came home with me.  My first plan was to paint the frame, I wasn’t in love with the wood but now I think it’ll stay.

Those are the rest of the purchases for the #thriftingwithfarmfresh challenge.  I sure enjoyed hearing from all of you about your thrifting adventures, many thanks to those of you that took part – I think we’ll do another round once yard sale season starts!  Time to start tucking the quarters, toonies & loonies away!!

Colourfully yours,

Lori

The other #thriftingwithfarmfresh posts are HERE and HERE