Saturday 23 January 2016

Books, Puzzles and Cards

A little round up of the past week is needed.
Back to last Saturday and we were toying with going to Winchester for the day.
The record fair was on and G likes to go for a mooch to see what he can find to add to his vinyl collection.
However in the end we decided to stay local as G was going to Portsmouth in the evening to see The Temperance Movement and one eye would always be on the time thinking about when we needed to get back so G could go out again.

We took S and her friend L down to the park instead.
They scooted and we wandered at our own pace.
I took my camera, but yet again I forgot to check it contained it's memory card so no photos to share.
We walked round the football pitches and strolled by the river and stopped for a while so the girls could run off more energy in the play area. 
Our route had been planned so we would finish at the shops.
 At The Veg Shed we purchased the parsnips for our cakes, then we stopped at The Songbird - coffee for the adults and ice cream for the girls.
Within the clutch of shops is a branch of Barnardos which is always worth popping into.
G certainly came up trumps in there.
For £10 he found 5 LP's and he was particularly pleased with ones by Cream and The Kinks.
My purchase was less exciting.
A pack of 10 Christmas cards reduced to 69p which will be perfect for sending to our neighbours when the festive season comes around again.
When we got home G checked on-line and found the records were worth a little bit more than he had paid and so this week I made sure I dropped off to them the 3 bagfuls of donations, mostly books and some clothing, from our latest round of delcuttering.


Talking of books I've made a good start on this month's book club read. The tag line describes it as 'A reimagining of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the servants'. So far so good.



On Wednesday afternoon I had to go into work as we were having our annual first aid refresher session, so for the morning I made sure I had something to do to make the most of the time off I did still have. I planned on having a charity shop session primarily because I needed to buy a birthday gift.
When our friends G and M came over at Christmas with their young children M had been drawn to my new cat jigsaw puzzle. G text me a couple of weeks ago to say that since then the four of them have gone jigsaw mad.
As G and M are keen charity shoppers I knew M wouldn't mind a birthday jigsaw coming from one of them and I hoped that the 7 I had in mind to visit would turn up something suitable.
The first shop didn't have anything for M but I found a great book for me, a copy of Cath Kidston's Stitch for £2.00. 



The next few shops also drew a blank and then the 5th one was where I found exactly what I hoped I would find.
A 1000 piece jigsaw of Liverpool Street Station in London. To go with it I bought a bottle of London Lager. Fingers crossed he likes it.



Thursday was squirrel appreciation day which meant that there was only one choice of ear-ring that day.



Friday was a bit different this week as I had the morning off.
Once the children had gone off to school G and I took ourselves off into town for breakfast.
One of my Christmas presents to G was a mini poster of rock guitarists and he is on the look out for a frame. There is a shop in town we wanted to try for one whilst we were there but they didn't have anything suitable so that quest goes on.
I ended the week as I started it by buying another pack of reduced Christmas cards.
These were 29p and are for S to use for her school friends. 
Luckily she liked them so they've been stowed away with the others.


10 comments:

  1. I love, love puzzles. I have one that I bought over the holidays that is 750 pieces, and I haven't gotten it out yet. Once it's out, I will get nothing else done!

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  2. It's a long time since I've done a jigsaw, I don't have anywhere to leave one out and I suppose it would take ages with all the other hobbies I have going on. You picked up a lovely one for the birthday gift though and what a bargain for Cath Kidston's book. Your book club read sounds interesting, I noticed the little elephant sticking out the top.

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  3. You remind me of me when my boys were younger. I loved the charity shops and it was the only way we managed to be well dressed when money was tight. These days it's mostly eBay but even so, it's recycling at its best.

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  4. Oh what a great week you've had.
    Winchester is a lovely place to visit and although you didn't get there you certainly made up for it.

    Yes ... I too have bought some Christmas Cards at a reduced price from a local Charity Shop ... well it certainly helps my pocket and it's money going to a good cause.

    I love the sound of squirrel day - one of our grandchildren's school classes is Squirrels!

    Hope the new week is a good one for you.

    All the best Jan

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  5. You had some great finds! Your new book club book looks intriguing! xx

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  6. Some great bargains for you both and another brilliant gift idea!

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  7. some great charity shop finds !

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  8. ooh,you did well! Some great finds there for all of you! I'd totally buy Christmas cards now if it weren't for moving!xx

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  9. I'm reading that very same book at the moment. So glad my MIL passed it on to me - it's a great read. That CK Stitch book is a great find and I've just been reminded to get some charity shop Christmas cards too. I also like to buy them at this time. I bet your friend will like the presents. Have a great weekend!

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  10. Oooh, I've had that book on my Kindle for ages, Lisa - let us know if you enjoy it, won't you? x

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