Major Minimums Results

The Nike sneakers I thrifted for $12.99 arrived in pristine mint condition, with no wear marks or odor. They are very well made shoes and fit my guy perfectly. I think they were a display pair; I found a tiny scuff mark on one of the soles that suggested someone had maybe tried them on and walked around the store with them, but that's all. I can see someone happily paying $50.00 for them as they are now. Because new namebrand men's sneakers are so rare to be able to thrift, much less at the minimum bid, plus it took me months to find them, I'm going to call this my thrift of the year.

The lot of Vera Bradley bags I thrifted for $9.99 proved to be in much better shape than suggested by the listing title (some stains and rips were mentioned.) I found some stains on the inside of one tote that barely show on the outside, and a single rip in the outer pocket of the big duffel bag that is an easy fix for me. The rest are in very good condition, with three in what I'd call unused condition. To my delight one of the bags that I assumed was a purse actually turned out to be an insulated, plastic-lined lunch bag. I looked up the prices of what it would cost to buy these bags (three are evidently retired patterns and one is rare.) The total retail to buy all of them used -- yes, used -- is $307.90. I don't want to think about what they cost new.

The lot of eight quilting and craft books I thrifted with no challengers arrived in very good to mint condition, and will add greatly to my reading pleasure this fall. I can't tell you how many times I've almost bought The Quilter's Bible new. Anyway I looked at all the prices on the books and they totalled $174.72. At half price for used book resale they would cost $87.36. I paid $9.99 for all eight.

The savings by thrifting was wonderful, but what makes me confident all three of these listings were worth every penny of the minimum bids I won them for is simply the happiness they delivered. My guy has new sneakers, I have new purses and more books to read, and all of it won't be dumped in a landfill. It doesn't get any better than that.

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Love Triangle

The Inheritors (also known as The Heirs ) is an older k-drama that is more like an American soap opera, and yet has one of the best high-school love triangles I've ever seen. As the illegitimate son of a wealthy conglomerate chairman, Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho) was exiled to study in California so that his older half-brother could be groomed to step into their father's shoes. Instead he mostly surfs and goofs off. He meets Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye), who comes to LA in order to escape her dismal life in Korea while bringing wedding money to her older sister, only to find out her sister has lied about her marriage, and is living in squalor. After the sister takes the money and runs off, leaving Eun-sang with no place to stay, Tan ends up alternately taking care of her and making her situation worse. He also falls for her, but she finally connects with a friend and returns to Korea. The money her sister took ends up forcing Eun-sang and her speech-impaired mom to mov...

Pretties

While at the antique mall where my donated throws were being sold I saw this pretty portait of a frog made out of beads, brooches, necklaces and other bling, and had to take a photo of it. This artist is so clever with how they recycle vintage jewelry and findings into new art. That day this little guy came home with me. He was cheap, made from a very old crazy quilt, very shabby, and has a serene quality that primitives sometimes possess. He'll be hanging out with me in the sewing room. Was it necessary to buy this? Nope. Do I regret the purchase? Nope. I also bought this apothecary jar filled with buttons, threads and other wonders. If you want to sort through it with me, check out more pics here .

Not the Best Timing

Woo-ri the Virgin is one of those k-dramas that is probably going to have a lot of hate, as it features a religious protagonist caught in a love triangle after becoming accidentally pregnant via a rather ridiculous artificial insemination mix-up. This while she's keeping a lifelong vow of chastity until marriage, no less. While Woori was at times pretty clueless, and some of the drama's complicated plot lines got annoying, I actually thought it was pretty charming. The ending also startled me, which is very difficult to do. Im Soo-hyang plays Oh Woo-ri, an assistant drama writer who is dating police detective Lee Kang-jae (Shin Dong-wook). Both are faithful and in a nice relationship (always doomed in Korean romances) when a mix-up at a hospital leaves Woo-ri pregnant with the baby of Raphael (Sung Hoon), the handsome chaebol son of the hospital's rich and powerful conglomerate owner. As it happens Raphael, who has just beaten stomach cancer, can't father any o...

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