A good day ahead

Well, surprisingly, I don't have unusual aches and pains today. Thank goodness! I've been a little slow waking up, but that's not necessarily unusual, either, especially if I take Tylenol near bedtime. And I always sleep really well when I to, so I'm feeling relaxed and refreshed today.

I'm getting ready to go into the thrift shop for my shift. In the last week, I've learned more about the history, and it is interesting. I've told you that the shop funds the local library, and that the staff of both are all volunteers. As Paul Harvey would say, and here's the rest of the story ....

The shop opened just four years ago. I didn't know that it opened just a couple months before I moved here. In fact, the anniversary was yesterday, and we are celebrating today, tomorrow and Saturday. We are offering refreshments to anyone who stops in, and will have sales on some items.

The shop doesn't over-price anything. They don't deal in junk, but items are priced to move. I think the idea here is that something sold for a nickle today is better than something priced at a dollar that sits on the shelf for months. It's a premise that works well. In the four years, the library has benefited just a few dollars short of .... get this .... $48,000! As the manager said the other day, "That's a lot of nickles and dimes!"

Items are sold for amounts from literally a nickle to about a dollar. A few things will be priced more than that, but it is unusual to see that. The greatest number of things are priced under 50¢, and the most of those are under 25¢! I've bought a few of new clothing pieces with price tags still attached for $1 to $5.

All the money goes to the library. All of it. Well, except expenses, such as utilities. The building is leased from the village for something like $1 a year, and in return the shop does things to benefit, not just the library, but people in the community, as well. If someone comes in and seems to be struggling over paying $1 for something, it is given to them. If someone says "I really need this item, but I can't afford it," it is theirs. If someone says "Could you take 50¢ for this," we say yes. Certain items are saved for people in the community .... suitcases are saved for foster children who often arrive with all their belongings in plastic bags. (Walmart-type shopping bags are bad enough, but can you imagine the message of leaving your home with your things in a trash bag? It happens.) There is a woman who visits a dozen or so shut-ins, and she shops free for little items to take to them. So in addition to supporting the library, the shops gives a great deal back to the community.

Yesterday I potted about two dozen little airplane (or spider) plants. I had repotted some of my plants and had extras, as well as several of the offshoots that I'd rooted and needed to be potted. I had brought home a dozen coffee cups from the shop, and I used several tiny pots and cups from my kitchen as well to house the new little plants. I'm taking those in today to be sold at the celebration sale.

So I guess, I'd better get off the computer and get read to go. Time's a-wastin'!