Sesame Street Bookend

I've just got a quick post for today's thrift share as it's been one hectic weekend! I found this neat Sesame Street bookend that is actually a little shelf for a set of books.

Have I mentioned before that I love Big Bird? Such a sunny, happy fella.

This little birdie seems to pop up everywhere in Sesame Street books but I don't know if they ever refer to him by name.

I hope to be back later this week to show you this MCM chair that I picked up... I need to get your thoughts on it! I'm linking up this post with Flea Market Finds and Thrift Share Monday!

Ghirardelli Brownies in Pyrex!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I have to share some photos with you of some yummy and easy brownies we like to make at home.

You can see from the photo above that I like to use my workhorse Pyrex pieces - the yellow Fridgie and raised lettering measuring cup.  We don't normally have dessert or cake mixes in the house, but when we stumbled upon this one, we figured we had a winner.

We love making this with our nieces because you basically add in the wet ingredients and mix! Kids seem to love mixing...  The brownie mix is made by Ghirardelli, which makes some pretty rich and tasty chocolate goods. They call this mix Triple Chocolate, and it's actually crammed with little choco chips too.

The best part about the brownies is the nice crust that develops after baking. Yum!

Of course I have to serve these on Pyrex too, namely my beautiful Delphite side plate. Mmm, I love the corner piece.

FYI this is not a sponsored post or anything, I just really enjoy these brownies and wanted to share my Pyrex in Action!

Linking up to Vintage Thingie Thursday!

Vintage Care Bears Cheer Bear Plush

One of my most distinct childhood memories is as a five-year old in a toy store, whining to my parents that I wanted a Care Bear. I believe I even remember that it was almost $30, a princely sum at the time.

You see, my parents have four kids, and my mom stayed at home with us - we didn't just get new stuff for no reason! I feel so bad now, remembering how I was sobbing in the aisle of the toy store. Lo and behold, at the next Christmas or birthday event, I unwrapped my beautiful brand new pink Cheer Bear!

I have loved that Care Bear since then... and I also love the lesson my parents taught me. Yes, in the end I got the toy, but I was given the opportunity to realize that it was expensive and not something to hastily purchase. To this day, when I want to buy something, I prefer to think about it, research reviews on it, price shop, and then finally purchase it if I am sure it is a good quality product.  I think this experience probably made me cherish my beloved stuffed bear even more!

A few years ago, when the new vintage Care Bears were rolled out, I thought it was really amusing that the price in modern-day dollars was around $30 as well. I guess these days they are mass produced in China, and it's just a different world. I would imagine my old 80s toy was made in North America somewhere, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the completely faded tush tag.

I have so many wonderful memories of my Cheer Bear. I remember when my Mom wanted to wash her, I was so nervous that she would get damaged. I remember supervising the whole operation, and being quite upset by her appearance when she was drying on the laundry rack outside. Haha! I also remember that my brother could make me stop crying by hiding behind the bear and "magically" flapping her arms as though she was flying.

This is one vintage item I own that wasn't purchased at the thrift!

Linking up with Vintage Thingie Thursday, Flea Market Finds and Thrift Share Monday!

Review: Thrift Stores in Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island

To wrap up my series on our Thrifting Adventures in Victoria, I am going to share the stores we visited and the items we were able to score.

I put together a spreadsheet of sixteen potential stores and church sales that would be open on a Friday, and marked up a map before we left for our trip.

When I was researching stores before our trip, I was surprised to discover that there were over a dozen thrift shops in and around the Downtown Victoria area. How exciting is that!? Thrifting it up in our Provincial Capital is a great way to explore the town. =)

The weather wasn't ideal - there was snow and slush on the ground, and the forecast called for freezing rain. We persevered and sloshed on through. Our first stop was the Bibles for Missions Thrift Shop. I found this cute Peanuts magnet for 55¢ showing Peppermint Patty being kissed by Snoopy.

This store was huge and the prices were low - we also purchased a small wooden wine rack for $2, and just for reference's sake, they had Corningware casseroles in the Blue Cornflower pattern for $2.

We made our way to the church thrift sales, the top two stops on my list, but unfortunately, the volunteers did not make it in that day due to the weather. The chain stores were open though, so we tried the Salvation Army next and found a blue wood handled screwdriver for 99¢.

This Sally Ann store was pretty rough; likely because the social services offerred by the Salvation Army were in the same building. There was a security guard posted in the store - that's the first time I've seen that at a thrift store!

A friend of ours speculated that the high number of thrifts in Victoria may be due to the concentration of social services in the city, like low income housing and general assistance for the needy. The stores were certainly busy and well utilised, so that was a good sign.

The best find of the day had to be at the Women in Need (WIN) store with this beautiful Pyrex Butterprint fridgie! I loved it even more when I saw the price tag...

Yay, $2.95 and in perfect condition! There was a really nice sign inside this store that read: "Please do not steal from WIN. If you need assistance, please talk to us - that is what we are here for."

Next up was the St. Vincent de Paul store where I scored this great Sesame Street book for 50¢.

These alphabet pages are just a feast for the eyes. Some of the pages were damaged, but I just couldn't leave it behind. Check out the Sesame Street interpretation of the Quaker Oats label. Hilarious!

We had a great time thrifting in Victoria and realized that there are many needy people in this city. Thankfully, it appears that there are also many resources and services to assist people. In fact, many stores we visited were exclusively selling used clothing, and things like coats and scarves were very reasonably priced.

Our most surprising observation was that many of the thrift stores offerred free fresh baked bread! We had never seen this in Vancouver before. Do thrift stores in your City offer food or bread to the needy?

Linking up to ATG's Thrift Share Monday and HLA's Flea Market Finds!