With Strings Attached

Did you ever receive a gift with strings attached? Normally I'd suppose that to be a negative, but yesterday I got a wad of cash with strings attached, and I was so excited! I loved it!

Read on to see why.



My friends, Lynn and Lynette, were taking me out for my birthday which is coming up this week. This has been our tradition for many years on each of our birthdays. Sometimes we go to breakfast, sometimes dinner, and we usually also include some other fun event as well. Maybe we'll see a show or a movie or hit a flea market. Of course, there are always gifts! For my birthday this year, the plan was to go to breakfast and then do a little shopping or whatever my heart desired. We had missed the flea market last week, so I wanted to hit Homegoods and do a little consignment and thrift store shopping.

In light of this, one of the gifts the girls gave me at the start of the day was contrived to inject a bit of a challenge into the day. I love a challenge and anything even hinting at competition. Their gift was so clever and fun, I just had to share it. Some of you may want to sock this idea away and use it for someone sometime.

I'm typically the type who holds onto my cash and won't spend it, just in case something better comes along. In an attempt to counter my penchant for being miserly, here is what they came up with:



It was 50 one dollar bills! Woo hoo! I was rich. Lynette's husband, Paul was actually the one who came up with the idea to tie the money with strings. Clever man, that Paul! So there I was with a wad of dough, but it came with strings attached; I had to spend it all by noon. Could I do it? Well, I was up for giving it a try!

So after breakfast, we took off. One of the places we had planned to stop was Homegoods, because there were some linens there that I wanted. When we got there, I found that they still had them, but I also found this lantern:



Decisions, decisions. I could have bought both, but I put back the linens and snagged the lantern, and it now graces my mantel. Since I still had $18 left and we hadn't even begun to hit the thrift stores, I just had to save some of those dollar bills for another stop, just in case I spotted something fantastic. We needed to get a move on; the clock was ticking.

After visiting another shop, we stopped at one of our nearby Goodwill stores with little time to spare, and I immediately spotted a few of these.


As I looked around, I found more and more until I had 16 of them. These are not your typical silverplate salt and pepper. Most of these shakers weigh almost a half of a pound. Heavy stuff. The inscription on the bottom of some of them says: Quadruple plated heavy duty metal - WR mfg. co. and different numbers on the different styles.

Goodwill wanted $4 each for most of them, $3 each for the three smaller ones. What!? That would have come to $64.66 with tax. Ridiculous! Way beyond my limits and the limits of anything I could call thrifting. So I went in search of Lynette and conscripted her to find and woo the manager with the need to reduce the price for the lot of them. Well, Lynette has skills, and she was able to talk the woman into letting me have them for half price. We are just in love with these. In LOVE I tell you! The color on many of them is a light golden cast. A few have a more silver coloring. Each one is worn, aged and vintage beautiful, and as a group, they make a huge a statement. Kind of like me and my friends. Hardy har, har!

Of course when I saw them, the first thing I thought of is the gorgeous little vases that Betsy at Mysalvagedtreasures.blogspot.com makes out of silver plate salt and pepper shakers. Check those out HERE. I'm not sure what I'll be doing with these other than watching them be beautiful. They really are so glamorous looking. They have a vintage charm that warms my heart.

The bevy of salt and pepper shaker beauty.

Practical, beautiful, utility

There are five different styles and the lines on some are so graceful.


On top of those items, the girls also gave me a stack of magazines and this adorable tray! So cute and colorful and it looks sweet on my aqua table. Gives me ideas for other things to make. We also went out to lunch and hit a bunch of other stores after the cash ran out. It was late afternoon and Lynn had to leave, but Lynette and I carried on with our treasure hunt until it was nearly dark.

There is much more I could tell, but I'm attempting a less wordy post than usual. It takes everything within me to keep the blabbing to a minimum. I'm working on it. Anything for you all!

All in all, it was a memorable birthday celebration with the most wonderful friends a girl could ask for!


I'll be sharing this with:

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home
Be Inspired @ Common Ground
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Creek Cottage
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style


Knick of Time Tuesdays @ Knick of Time

Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Mop it Up Monday @ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things
Sunday Show Off @ Twigg Studios