This is actually a bank to put your change in, but I’m not sure how much change would actually fit in it. $1.50 at Reny’s!
The head lifts off this guy; the expression on his face cracked me up. This was $1.50, too!
This one made me laugh, too. Also $1.50!
Does the cat look familiar? It should, a reader sent me the cat a few months ago. When I walked into Reny’s and saw this lamp (it’s not really a lamp, it’s one of those things you put a tea light in the top of) I had to buy it. Five dollars!
We also hit this great store in Auburn called Marden’s. If you live in Maine, no doubt you’ve heard the “I shoulda bought it when I saw it… at Marden’s!” jingle. I hadn’t been to Marden’s in years and years, but it’s pretty much the same. My mother bought the spud two denim skirts, for FIVE DOLLARS EACH. They’re nice skirts, too. Anything you could possibly want is at Marden’s. There were a ton of books marked down to amazing prices (I didn’t get any, though, because I didn’t see any I wanted). Joe Kita’s book Another Shot? They had probably 50 copies – hardcover – for something like 23 cents each. I would have bought a bunch to give away, but I didn’t want to be hauling a thousand books home. I had limited space in my suitcase, you know.
If you’re new to the area and looking to outfit your kitchen, you can’t beat Marden’s.
This is all I bought at Marden’s, though. $6.99! And look, that’s Meredith from The Bachelorette! Yeah, I’m sure there’s nothing this software can do that Paint Shop Pro can’t, but I’m an impulse buyer, and I couldn’t stop myself.
It’s unbearably adorable – and only $4! – but when I brought it home and put cat food in one side and water in the other, it quickly became clear that it wasn’t going to work out as cat food dishes. They’re just not big enough. I need to find another use for them, because like I said, very cute. Also, yellow!
We have an egg cat collection – I’ve mentioned it before – with a different egg cat to represent each cat. That is, we have a black and white egg cat to represent Spot and Tubby, a black one to represent Mr. Fancypants, a Torti to represent Miz Poo, and so on. We didn’t have a gray one, so I bought the one above to represent Mister Boogers.
And then I had to get this one, too, because Mister Boogers is more of a Blue Russian gray than a regular gray.
Then I had to get this one to represent Miz Poo, because I didn’t think we had one for her. When I got home, I realized that we did. Oops!
And then I lost my mind and started branching out into the non-cat eggs. A squirrel to represent the little bastard who teases our cats.
A crab, because it was cute and they didn’t have any lobsters.
Also, they had a lot of candles on sale. Vanilla Caramel? Heavenly. And the votives were half off. Votives for 80 cents? Gimme some of that! I bought every last Vanilla Caramel votive they had – something like 10 or 11, I think. Awesome, awesome.
I bought a ton of cross-stitch ornament kits that I will cross-stitch through the year and give away next Christmas. These were on sale at JoAnn Fabrics for something like 30 cents each. I also got a bunch of ornament kits from my awesome sister for Christmas!
We went to the Village Candles store in Topsham and all their Christmas stuff was marked way down. I don’t really need all that much Christmas stuff, but five dollars for this Santa! I couldn’t resist.
Similar to the other Santa… yet different! That one’s holding a tree, this one’s holding a present. For the record, I don’t collect Santa stuff (my mother does), but when I see a cute Santa or snowman, I’ve gotta have it.
My mother gave me this Cookie Jar. Not that I make many cookies, even around Christmas, but it’s awfully cute, no?
Also, miniature snowmen salt & pepper shakers for my salt & pepper collection. Adorable, no?
When we were in Hawaii this past summer, the day that the spud and I were leaving, we accompanied my sister to this small store where they were selling suitcases. She got a great suitcase for something like $40, and not long after that, the spud and I left for the airport. All the way to the airport, I kept saying to my mother “Oh, I should have gotten one of those suitcases, too! I love that suitcase she got! If I could do it over again, I’d get the same suitcase, only in gold. Man, am I kicking myself!” Well, I didn’t intend for her to do this, but my mother immediately went back to the store and bought the suitcase for me, and also got a smaller one – in blue – for the spud to give us for Christmas. I absolutely love it!
There must be something *very interesting* going on outside of that window.
Ok, the cat picture was TOTALLY worth putting up with all the cheap, cute stuff. Hee!
The food/water dishes are too cute! I know what you mean about too small, though. Even though I only have two and should be able to get away with a reasonable-sized dish, one of my cats has Food Issues and becomes frantic if she can see the bottom of the bowl (I have no idea why–she’s never gone hungry, ever), so I let her manipulate me into putting out a second bowl of food and they now have about three days worth of food at all times. They only actually eat out of one bowl (I rotate from the full bowl to the empty one so it doesn’t get stale), but it saves me having Lena meep pathetically at me once there’s a tiny bit of the bottom of the bowl showing…
Aww, I just love the picture of your cats!
Rachael – There was a lawn full of birds, teasing the cats. The cats were verrrrry interested! 🙂
Stacey – Spot is exactly like that. If he can see the tiniest bit of the bottom of the bowl, he freaks out and “leads” you to the bowl and gives you the very sad “My god, how could you let me starve like this?” look. We bought a big bowl from the dog section of the store and keep it full all the time, but every now and then we slack, and Spot fears he’ll starve.
I LOVE Christmas Tree shops, but can’t believe you only bought ONE thing there!!! I was in there yesterday and walked out with a ton of stuff!
I *love* the composition in the Spanky/Miz Poo/Bean shot. Of course, I love the subjects, too. 🙂
About the food/water dishes… great for small items like paper clips or rubber bands. Or… how ’bout for snacks like peanuts or goldfish crackers? : )
she looks a lot like Sophie Marceau in that picture…
Awww….the kitties are guarding the family from the vicious birdies! How precious.
That snowman cookie jar?? Looks awfully familiar. I think I had better get in the spare room and see what those hot cocoa mugs/cookie plate sets look like. Someone gave them to me a couple years ago and they never made it out of the box.
I already have toooooo much Christmas stuff!!
Robyn, cute stuff!!
I live in NB (might as well be Maine), and that Marden’s jingle? Seriously – they need a new jingle. I hear it only about 9 million times a day. Multiply that by the 10 years or so they’ve been abusing me with it, and you have someone who wants to slit her wrists every time someone turns on the radio. Not only the song part of the jingle, but the “buh buh buh doom dee doom dee doom dee doom dee….” music in the background. GAHHH!
Christmas Tree Shops – “Dontcha Just Love a Bargain?”
Thanks for sharing your finds, Robyn! Maybe you could use those cat dishes as candy dishes?
The picture of the cats is mah-velous, dahlink. Upon first glance, I flashed back to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and then thought, “don’t go into the light, kitties!! Don’t go into the light!!”
Cheers.
One of the best pics yet and that is saying alot!!
When did Meester Boogers get as big as everyone else? They grow up so fast..sob..
Your cats are adorable 🙂
man, i said it before and i will say it again..you have the cutest things..i just love it..:-)