Excitement at the Charity Shop

Today I realised that the beginning of January is a great time to call in at the charity shops. People are clearing out cupboards and getting organised, on fire with the determination to make good on those resolutions. I had never thought of this before, but now I know.

It's Tuesday, so we went off to see veg man, deciding to cross the street at the end of the lane and see what was happening at the charity shop there. They had signs all over for the euro sale--coats and dresses are 2 euro, kids clothes 3 for a euro, and a euro or less for other clothes and stuff. As soon as we walked in, I saw a forest green coat hanging there and thought that it looked like wool. I rummaged around, found the tag, and sure enough, it was 100% wool. I considered getting it to cut up for the fabric, but decided not to--it felt like I should leave it there. Cold weather is coming and it's a nice coat. Someone who might not have a lot of cash could find it, be very happy with it, and really use it to keep warm, which would be better than me cutting it apart. I try to get stuff for making things that is either really worn, has holes, is missing buttons, or that they are really trying to get rid of because it's been there a while.

Then we headed into the books/housewares room. 'Oh my god!' I said, and made a beeline for the back wall. Sitting there was a bread machine and a box with a grater/slicer thing like one my grandmother gave me years ago. First stop was the bread machine. All of the pieces were there, but as is usually the case, there was no price. I took it to the lady at the desk and asked her how much it was. She hesitatingly asked if 5 euro would be acceptable. 'It would be very acceptable,' I replied, and asked if I could set it down there.

Then I went back and looked at the grater thing. All the pieces were there. It is plastic and the one I had was all metal, but I took it anyway. I loved the one I had and I used it so much that one of the little metal pieces that held the blades in broke. Through the years, I have often wished I still had it. Now I have another one--yay!

We also found 4 books--all novels that will be read and placed in the wee free library afterwards.

As we were paying (7 euro for the lot), I was telling the woman that only last week we were talking about how we wished we still had our bread machine. She laughed and said, 'Really? Well this one just came in. You know who brought it in? I did! I was cleaning out the cupboards and found it there. I used to use it all the time, but I haven't made bread in years, so I decided, "Right, time for it to go" and I brought it in. It makes great bread though, and I did test it before I brought it in, so it works just fine.' Woo hoo!!

We'd found a machine in one of the charity shops in Ballinrobe, but when we left there we decided to donate it back. Since we made that move by bus, we were limited as far as luggage space went and that seemed expendable because the tiny kitchen in Killybegs was extremely short on counter space and electrical outlets. I had no good place to use it there anyway, except the floor! But although the kitchen here is very small, it is very good to work in--plenty of counter space and outlets. It will be very convenient to use here.

I was wondering about yeast, though. I did not recall seeing it in the little grocery shops here, but I thought the Organic Farm Store might have it. They did! Same kind I got in Ballinrobe, I think. So now I am off to google the machine--there is no book with it. I am pretty sure it will make a 1 pound loaf*--the pan looks smallish, but that is good. We will not have to worry about the bread getting moldy. We were recalling the very first machine we had 20 years ago in Fairbanks. It made up to a 2 1/2 pound loaf!

Very glad we went in today--it was good timing.

Hope your day has some happy surprises in it too!

*After clicking around a little, it appears that it is a 1 1/2 pound loaf, based on the amount of water and flour the recipes in the online manual call for. It doesn't really matter, now that I have basic amounts!

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