Opping the blues away

Friday was a freezing, foggy day and I didn’t want to face the thought of spending the afternoon saying “Khye get off Maya” and “Khye don’t pull Maya’s fingers” and “Khye take the blanket off Maya” and then finally cracking it with frustration “Khye just leave Maya alone”!!!!!! I’m sure I sound like a broken record and that he doesn’t even hear me anymore. But that’s another story for another time … sigh ... So anyway I packed up my winter blues, my hopes for a peaceful afternoon (and my cash) and took a little trip to a couple of neighbouring little towns to visit their fantastic country oppies. And rather than enjoy the afternoon on our own I invited a friend and her two kids to join us for some op shop fun.

There’s nothing quite like a bit of opping with a friend to cure those gloomy winter blues. Not only did the fog clear, the skies open up and the glorious sunshine warm us, but I found some op shop gold.

First were the brand new, still in packets, never used, all cotton vintage sheets.

Then there was the dear deer that the kids spotted, looked at briefly then returned to the shelf. I couldn’t let her go, particularly seeing as though she was only 50 cents. There were these little golden books. My favourite is the growly bear book, published in the early 60’s, and it’s beautiful illustrations. There were lots of other bits and pieces – fabric, wool, doilies, more books, kids shoes, embroidery hoops, stranded cotton, a kids coat, wire bowl for my market stall and lastly there was this. Oh my how gorgeous! And then to discover it was only 50 cents too!

Thanks AM for coming opping with us. The kids managed to entertain each other and they were even pretty well behaved, except when they ran around the shop shouting and laughing with that huge purple teddy that was bigger than them. The “Pru and Tru” ladies behind the counter weren’t very impressed though, glaring at them disapprovingly over the tops of their glasses!

Anyway hope you all found some op shop gold this week too! Check it out over at Sophie’s.