I haven’t been to FL for years. I get enough humid heat in summer here.
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We can have fun speculating. I think between unwanted gifts and impulse/status/aspirational purchases by Gens X, Y and Z, that accounts for most of what good makes the thrift shops.
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Giant wine stems are such a waste of wine and storage space. A pour for 4 takes a whole bottle, and any chill is gone well before the wine. If you can’t nose from the ISO tasting glasses, a giant fishbowl isn’t going to help.
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I was in the Humane Society store yesterday. They had the motor - but only the motor - of a $300 Omega food juicer listed for $12 (I looked it up because I first mis-identified it as the motor for a stand-alone meat grinder). But none of the implements. Just the motor.
As I was checking out with my Spider Swatter (used $3 sorghum broom) the manager came by the desk and in chatting I mentioned it to him and showed him the Amazon listing. He said he’d probably move it to the online store and/or see if he could find the missing parts on ebay and then resell as a whole.
Last week at another one (unimaginatively named, “THRIFT STORE”) they had a set of 4 alloy wheels for a Hyundai Sonata marked at something like $50 for the set. She (the manager there) said they couldn’t price anything higher than $50 given their clientele. These could probably sell for $175 each. I suggested she call a Hyundai dealer and find out what they might be willing to pay for them (she had no online sales). l had a daughter mangle a wheel (Ford) this Spring and their “core charge” for the mangled wheel was $50.
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I was looking for my pet goldfish! ISO is right up my teaching alley. 
. I’m not a stingy host - there’s always more food - and more wine - ready and available. It’s not necessary to have a glass that will hold your first 3 pours … CONSUME MSSS QUANTITIES!!
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Thats ok… I have spent my share of time in WI winters. I break out in hives at the sight of snow. Lol
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Yeah, it’s a different climate. Warm summer/cold winter can take their tolls. But, I look out my window and see green as far as they eye can see. Everything’s growing great. No hurricanes, megadroughts (yet), hotter than hell temps, venomous critters, etc. Tornados, cold and blizzards ain’t sht to most of us.
On the other hand my mom (Sun City, AZ) loves the desert climate and all the activity Sun City offers. She keeps moving down there. Still doesn’t buy green bananas. Love their second had/discount shops down there. Grocery shopping is kid-in-a-candy-store for me.
Something for everyone here in the USA.
I worked for a big company that had its HQ in WI, but I was at another site down South. I’m originally from the Midwest and love playing (and driving) in snow. One time I was visiting the WI site in January and late one night after the local mall had closed down took my rental car out for snow/ice spins in the parking lot. Cop flagged me down and asked if I’d been drinking. I said no, this is just the first time I’ve gotten to play in the snow in 4 years since I moved down South!
He said, “Carry on - but don’t hit any light poles, I’ve got your tag number”.
I’m surprised he asked if you were drinking. Back in the day it was expected. “If you’ve ever ditched your car without spilling your beer, you might be from WI.”-Jeff
My fave is to engage four wheel drive, stop, and gun it, and you’ll spin like Taz. Still do it when nobody’s lookin’.
Then, when I’m done, I head to look for second hand kitchen tools.
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I had Taz floor mats in my Wrangler
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HELL YES!!! Dasshit’sgreat!
Ahem. I remember foraging through such things as I sought kitchen tools, simultaneously.
I guess I see TJ Maxx as 1.5 hand. Some decent stuff priced right. But often because it wasn’t the best effort of the manufacture, something off, true overstock, whatever. Never junk, IMHO. Of course, if it felt like junk, put it back.
Best useful find I ever got in TJ Maxx was a carton holder. There are plenty of them around on Amazon for quart and half quart milk/juice cartons, but this one’s for a pint. It’s stainless with a black handle. Perfect for half and half, or, my preferred but hard to find in many grocery stores, table/light cream.
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Photo, please?
Thanks. Huh, never seen one of these before. If I had larger refrigerators, I might get some.
The one quart size lives on. Interesting that one of the reviews said they’d gotten a pint sized one at TJ Maxx- I don’t see this branded as Metrokane, but I also have the quart and half gallon sizes. Don’t remember where I found them.
Got this $3 cutting board yesterday in the Humane Society thrift for my daughter (along with a $4 Krups spice/coffee grinder). (Forgot to add, it’s about 18x10x1.25 inches)
How’s this for quirky - Kohler makes a number of cutting boards, but this one appears to have been modeled after the lid to a toilet tank.
Here’s the cutting surface (before I stained* it)
Here’s the back surface (before/after I stained* it).
I was worried about the potential for tipping so I set it up on the counter at the store and found I had to apply at least an estimated 25 pounds force to an edge to get it to tip.
(*) Stain is coffee. This board appeared not to have been oiled so I scrubbed it down hard, let it dry well, then stained it with a concentrated coffee. Then I oiled it several times, and will continue to do so daily for about a week (“once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year” is the mantra one friend told me long ago).
I’m not sure if this will really “set” the coffee stain or not. If not - if when I test it next week, the color comes off on wet veggies or it comes off when I wash it - then I’m just out a bit of time and effort. And a cup of coffee.
P.S. Yes it’s really a cutting board, not a toilet tank lid. Note the admonition not to use the dishwasher on it.
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This reminds me of the time a guest at a potluck proudly arrived with a salad… in a bedpan.
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There used to be a local army surplus store here that was the source of many magical things to purchase. I still regret not buying the trunk labeled “Human Blood”. With a glass top, what a fine coffee table that would have made, a perfect perching point for hors d’œuvres.
Was the bedpan an old enameled one? That would be perfect!
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