Best 50 cents I've ever spent

The ol' saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure"....so true for my 5 yr old daughter, Zoey.

We recently took a trip up to Dad's ranch - 105 acres that borders Nat'l Forest near Pagosa Springs, CO. We decided to drive into town & check-out the 4th of July weekend fair - complete with pony ride, flying elephants, giant slides & of course the standard ping-pong in the fish bowl/goldfish game. On our way home (JoAnne & I had taken a separate car from Papa, Daddy & the girls), we stumbled upon the local church thrift shop. Me....always curious of these types of small shops says, "JoAnne - wanna take a peak?" Both curious, we wandered inside.

Now, when I'm alone, I truly enjoy the quiet time of sifting through racks of clothes. (This is my serious "me time".) And even though I wasn't alone - I ran through some racks quickly & stumbled upon a lil' aqua shrug....the looks of Children's Place. It looked a lil' big for Zoey but I thought she might like it & she'd grow into it. Funny thing, I liked that lil' jacket much better when I checked out - a Winnie the Pooh outfit for Karli, summer dress for Zoey & that aqua shrug. My grand total: $1.60 - that was 50 cents a piece & 10 cents for tax. I about fell over - I've shopped thrift stores in the past but this was the best deal ever.

Back at the ranch I proudly showed Zoey the treasures I found. I loved that even when I tell her 'Ganny & I stopped at a thrift shop....', she didn't blink, whine, judge or make comments. She grabbed the summer dress with flowers and spaghetti straps - held it up to herself & beamed a smile of thanks. Then her eyes bolted to the aqua shrug.....she asked, "is that for me?" She tried it on & walked so proudly showing Papa & Daddy....full on twirl to model the whole thing.

Back to the best 50 cents I've ever spent - every day since we've been home from the ranch Zoey gets her shrug & wears it proudly. The first couple days she did it I had to tell her that it was going to be about 110 degrees outside...she pouted for about 2 seconds & then understood. This morning the shrug was being modeled & I started to say something about how warm the day would be & I heard, "I know mom, I'm just wearing it 'til I go to school."

Moral: Don't ever steer away from thrift shops because you don't know the treasure you may find....for only 50 cents!