The sweetness and the sorrow

When I arrived at the store one day last week I was greeted with this jacket. I am often greeted with bags of plastic walmart sacks, sometimes homeless who have slept in the alcove, sometimes people making a mad dash for the city bus. But on this day I saw both the sweetenss of someone going out of their way to make sure we got this jacket and the sorrow that maybe this coat had so much significance that it was worthy of a soltary trip to be dropped of, nothing else accompianied it, just the jacket.

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on."
Luke 21:1-4

What the heck is this?

A single item today-- a couple of the guesses from the staff were some sort of can opener or some kind of utility hook. Do you have any thoughts? Whatever it is you can purchase it for the bargain price of .50. Com'on over for a closer look.

You just know it has to be a scam....

I entered a contest a few weeks ago and then entered a couple of additional times throughout the allotted time period, which by the way was supposed to be over today, Feb. 22. Time goes by and I kinda forgot all about it.

Skip ahead... last Thursday I received an email saying that I was a runner up in the contest and they wanted to offer me two tickets. The email gave instructions on what I had to do to be eligible for these tickets. I followed the instructions and figured it was probably just some sort of scam. I figured if they wanted to offer me tickets they meant for some sort of $$$ deal.

I was telling Jim about the email and we decided we would go check it out this morning and see what happened. Jim told me under know circumstances was I to pay anything for these tickets, because he was mad at the cost of this particular concert and was not paying for it.

I sheepishly went up to the ticket office and showed her my email and told her I was sure it was a scam but I had to check it out. She looked it over and asked to see my ID and low and behold my name was on the list because I had followed the email's instructions and she handed me two FREE tickets to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert. Unbelievable!!!

Jim is a huge Elton John fan and really wanted to attend this concert but would not pay the ticket price. This is the only way he would've gone. I know you're not gonna believe this part-- the concert is this Thursday, February 25th, which just happens to be our 21st anniversary.

So, Happy Anniversary, honey!! LYMI

Every penny counts...

At the store Thursday we received a dining table and chairs. I wish I had taken a picture of it being carried into the store as the leg fell off, but I missed that. Anyway....we are really short on furniture at the moment so in an attempt to get the most we can out of this donation we went to work to change it's worth.


We screwed the leg back on with reinforcements, we used scratch cover and a shiny layer of old english to make it shine. And then we used donated staples and a staple gun, donated upholstery fabric, and lots of manpower and changed....

THIS NASTINESS

TO THIS LOVELINESS

Now what seemed like a donation worth maybe $60 --is now a wonderfully clean and polished dining room table and four chairs priced at $125. That $60+ difference could buy 7000lbs. of food from the regional food bank. I love my new job!

OK...TTYL

Jenna had her first showchoir contest yesterday. They had to be at school, on the bus at 6:00am, yes in the freaking AM! Plus she went with hair done and make-up started. So that backs us up to about 4:40am Wednesday. I am tired just remembering it. Anyway....

At about 12:30 she texted me just to touch base. I have to admit that I am a reluctant texter. I understand it's versatility and it's many uses but I never was much of a typist and it seems to take me forever to text out a message, so I was so proud of my abbreviation skills when I responded

Me: R U tired?

to which my, obviously not keyboard challenged, daughter responded

Jenna: Surprisingly, No.

Really? Surprisingly? Which even now while typing on a full sized keyboard I spelled wrong both times I typed it. Kids?!! Such show-offs!! TTFN--TTYL.

What the Heck is this?

When reorganizing and cleaning out the kitchen gadget area of the store we came upon quite a few items without explanation. Any thoughts?

A little reminder...

Two parts of this reminder--

1. Be sure and check your pockets before you donate old coats.
2. Be sure all the things were done on your to do list before you donated it. It is quite possible that the person on this list never got a sympathy card for her loss in 1997.