Let's just call it recycling ...

Is it the same in your house? I suspect I'm not the only one. I spend days tidying, sorting, clearing, recycling, taking things to charity shops, making space and ... regularly visit the car boot to find things to fill the space again! I can't go shopping without a trip into the charity shops (the bane of M's life) and I can't resist waking up early on a Sunday morning, tiptoeing out of the house and spending an hour or so by myself at the local car boot.
Last Sunday was an exception. My oldest had to be at school by 7am to go up to London to sing for Wateraid. Everything was planned with military precision, packed lunch was made, clothes were chosen the night before (no mean feat) and alarm clocks were set. Everything was done to avoid disturbing our youngest child, who will wake if the wind changes direction and is not the easiest of people to be around when serious lacking in the sleep department (mind you, are any of us?). What we hadn't bargained for was the barrage of phone calls at 6,30am from teenage girls asking for a lift up to the school - aargh! Let's just say by 6.35am we were all (youngest included) washed, dressed and ready to go. So off we all trooped to the car boot - it was nice to have some company but I had forgotten just how much time M spends examining all the CDs whilst I want to be haring around finding all the bargains! Not so many bargains on Sunday but I did find some more vintage French buttons for my (ever expanding, space taking collection). I love their colours and the graphics on the cards.


I also bought this old soap box to add to my growing collection of boxes (and, it seems an ever increasing collection of soaps too - I can't resist the smells of vanilla, almond, honey and milk mmmmm). It's such a pretty box and looks great in the bathroom. Not only does it look good but I didn't realise until I got home that it was crammed full of old letters, wedding certificates, letters, newspaper cuttings, calling cards and old stamps too. A life in a box, a little account of life and death in a rural village a century ago, it was a wonderful read.


My youngest too had a dabble at the old bargain hunting. She found this old 1920's/30's painting and fell in love with it. Partly because it was painted by somebody who shared her first name and also because she said the mother in the woods with her little girl picking bluebells reminded her of me and the little girl looked like her. I think it's very sweet and for only £2 we couldn't say no!


Perhaps the best bargain of the week was these 2 french enamel tins. Great for containing those extra shells we found over the summer and some beautiful "Robin's Eggs" soaps (soap again) that my friend gave me for my birthday. We didn't even need to get up early for these two tins as I found them on the way home from school! Somebody else had been having a clear out and left a pile of goodies on the pavement for people to take! My friend found a beautiful pair of old wooden shoe stays and I also found a lovely little wooden cupboard to paint. Well I couldn't really resist ....