Shopping for a cause

A new thrift store has opened in Avondale Estates! If you're local, and you've been to Avondale Estates, you know it has several thrift and consignment stores already. As I love shopping at thrift stores, I was quite happy to have a new one open there, especially since it has a totally awesome goal.

Second Life benefits animals shelters. Local animal shelters, including my absolute favorite, Lifeline Animal Project. I've sung the praises of Lifeline more than one time here on my blog, so I won't bore you with that again. What I will say is that if you need some gently worn brand name clothing, you may want to check out Second Life. If you have some items to donate, they are a not-for-profit, so you can get a receipt for tax deductions.

Stepping off soapbox now.

Yesterday was the first day I'd left the house since last Sunday. I'm not sure, only because who really pays attention, but I may not have left the house since the Friday before that Sunday. I got prepared for being snowed in, truly thinking that we'd be able to get out sometime on Wednesday. Ha! I was very foolish. The snow persisted as did the cold temperatures, and while the DOT cleared the highways (finally), many of the surface streets in our area got some sanding or nothing at all. The major one got sanded (some), while those on residential streets that lead nowhere were SOL.

It really got me to thinking about how dependent on government people are to take care of them. I got outside and cleared the road in front of my house. One of my neighbors came outside and helped. Honestly, I didn't want people sliding in the ice and into our mailbox or cars. I even cleared out part of an area for a neighbor to park. It wasn't that heinous a job, and I got to thinking that if everyone went outside and did a little bit how quickly things could have returned to normal. Apparently, with the exception of the one neighbor, I'm the only one who thinks like that.

Anyway, I got out and ran a couple of errands yesterday. None of them involved going to a grocery store until last night's beer run, but I did drive by a few. Earlier in the day you couldn't pay me enough to join in that madness! The Farmer's Market had a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot. I think I can wait another day or two to restock!

The one thing I can't wait to get is a new dryer. Ours died several weeks ago, and last Sunday I spent some quality time sitting at a laundromat drying wet clothes. Tomorrow we'll go buy one, and then I'll spend way too much time getting the laundry caught back up. Something about saying all that makes me feel like a 1950's housewife! Heck, it's been way too cold to even think about a clothesline! The clothes would freeze out there.