Great Shopping Finds - One Unbelievable!

My son had to go out of town to take a managerial test yesterday and asked if I'd like to come along. How could I pass up an opportunity like that? The testing site was about 2 hours away, making it a great time for us to just spend some time talking.

Autumn Harvest Pancake Pan $19.98 at Sam's Club

While he was taking his test, I went to Sam's Club there. It was a lot bigger than ours and had some really neat items that I've never seen before. I bought the most adorable pancake pan. It make medallion pancakes with autumn designs on them. I did spend more than I normally would, but knew it would be used a lot!

Gurunanda Essential Oil Gift Set $22.91 at Sam's Club

The next find was also at Sam's Club. I use essential oils - usually doTerra brand, but stumbled across a Gurunanda Essential Oil Gift Set for $22.91. It comes complete with:

• 8 Essential Oils - Lemon, Lemon Grass, Peppermint, Lavender, Tea Tree Oil, Frankincense, Rosemary and Eucalyptus (15ml each)
• A wooden storage box that holds 8 oils
• A travel box that holds 8 oils
• A small booklet containing information about the oils as well as some recipes
• A dropper
• Dots to put on top of your EO's so that you don't have to pull them all out to find the one you are looking for

Storage box and travel box

I'm not sure if Sam's just got them in or are clearing them out. I couldn't find the set on their website nor on Gurunand's site. This price is really good. I looked at what each EO runs at Gurunanda, and they are listing at $7.99 each. Even their sets are not priced this good. I'm not sure how great the quality is, as I haven't used them, however, their website states they are safe to use on the skin and some are safe to ingest - but you should always talk to a certified/licensed aromatherapist before ingesting any EO.

BUT the BEST find of the day was at the mall. My son finished his exam (and passed - He's now certified!!! YAY!!! ) and suggested we stop at the nearby mall to see what was there. Sadly, a good 1/4 of it is empty and the last big store, Bon-Ton was in its final stages of clearing out their merchandise. There was barely anything left, but I did happen to stumble upon two sweaters that I liked.

I purchased the same sweater in 2 different colors - the blue shown here and a red one. They are soft and feel absolutely luxurious on. The neat thing about them - the cowls are separate, so you can wear them with or without the cowl, creating 4 different looks instead of 2.  I can also use the cowls with other sweaters as well!

The original price of the sweater was $68 and was marked down to $50.99. That price still would have kept it well out of the range of what I'd want to pay for a sweater. But here's where it becomes unbelievable - since it was a marked down item, they had an addition 90% off plus another $30% off that!! I really didn't do the figuring in my head, but knew it was going to be a great deal when I got to the counter. At the time I took the sweaters to be rung up, I had no idea there was the extra 30% off. When she told me the grand total, I just looked at her and said, "Are you sure that amount is correct? I have 2 sweaters."

My total after everything was all said and done was $7.14 for both sweaters! That's even less than they charge for sweaters at the Goodwill - and these were brand new!!

I am saddened to see another store close its doors. The mall there lost JC Penneys, Macy's, Sears, and now Bon-Ton, not to mention other stores and restaurants. After we got back from our lovely day out, I went online and found that Bon-Ton closed and is closing a lot of their stores. Check in your area and see if your Bon-Ton is one of them. If so, you might find some great buys, too.

Happy New Year

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. We can again begin with a brand new slate and a fresh outlook with new goals. There are no failures, just setbacks that can be learned from or changed. I love sitting down at the beginning of each year and plan. Those plans will be many and I may or may not attempt or succeed at doing them all, but this list of plans always signifies hope and dreams for me.

Yesterday, we went to town to get a pork shoulder for the traditional New Year's Pork and Sauerkraut and of course I have to browse the after Christmas markdowns. We always replenish our wrapping paper and boxes for the next year and look for things that can be used throughout the year as well.

I came across a marked down amaryllis that was abused and begged to be rescued.  It absolutely STANK with the smell of a putrid aquarium - almost a sewer smell to it. The poor bulb was swimming in water and it was hacked off - no flower, no leaves, nothing but a spent mass of smell.

I had to take it home and disassemble it. What I found was a bulb that had the basal plate chopped off, roots trying to grow but most were rotted off.  I washed it off and cleaned it as best as I could.

I really wish I had taken photos of the condition it was in when I took it out of the container, but my main concern was getting this poor thing planted in a new pot in soil and hope that it would recover from all its abuse.

It is now in a sunny window and possibly in soil for the first time in its life. I wonder what it's "thinking" now...

The plant was in a very tall vase type container that was filled with rocks and the spiked stand that kept it off the bottom of the container and kept it level. These things had to be washed and washed to get rid of the putrid smell. They still need to be bleached and then they will all be repurposed. That poor amaryllis will never have to worry about seeing that torture chamber again.

Now we just have to convince it to survive...