Secondhand Sand and a Closet Full of Party Dresses, Because Weather-Appropriate Clothing is Not the Hill I'm Dying on Today

This weekend was all about the thrifting. Of course, we did also go to the zoo this weekend and have Father's Day and watch Toy Story 3 at the drive-in, and last weekend we actually ended up doing a bunch of thrifting, too...

Just go with me, here. This weekend was all about the thrifting.

First, of course, are the Friday morning garage sales. We don't often hit these, but we were on our way over to the Community Garden, anyway, and I did just happen to have a little cash money in my pocket, and that's how we ended up with a Belgian waffle maker, a Ziplock baggie full of little plastic cowboys 'n Indians, and the little kid's new best friend:

For four dollars.

But of course, we all know that there is no thrifting like the thrifting that is the Goodwill 50%-off Storewide Sale. I bought T-shirts to remake into baby clothes, a sorely-needed new pair of blue jeans, subtraction flash cards for the big kid to use on our upcoming road trip, several pounds of that colored sand that you layer into jars to make shelf pretties, two dinosaur books, etc.

The little kid's mania for all things pretty has nearly driven me out of my gourd. I am SO tired of the child's refusal to wear anything but dresses and skirts and tights and leggings and hairbows and barrettes. I have to braid her hair into two pigtails and put a bow barrette at the bottom of each pigtail every day. Every DAY! All the people who are reading this and who knew me as a child are laughing their asses off right now. I didn't even wear make-up to my own wedding, and here I am with a house full of pigtail braids and bow barrettes.

Anyway...this was the last storewide sale until September, which means that it's time to look into the fall wardrobe. I thought about buying the little kid some practical long pants and long-sleeved shirts, and then I thought, "Aw, screw it," and ended up buying her a big stack of party dresses:

It's still morning in these photos so I'd managed to weasel out of the pigtails with bows thus far, but as I was putting that stack of dresses away guess who appeared next to me like the ghost of a drowned Victorian child in a weather-inappropriate velvet dress, clutching a grubby porcelain doll in one hand and a fistful of ribbons in the other? 

Yep, a whole wardrobe of party dresses. Lace and tulle and smocking and petticoats and  puffs and velvet and ribbons:

The child now has party dresses for play clothes. Whatever, she can wear leggings and tights with them when it gets cold.

The big kid has her own methods for driving me nuts, but thankfully clothing is not one of them. A while ago now she tried for a couple of months to insist on "pretty" clothes, as well, but she couldn't stick it. She basically pulls her clothing from the top of her clothing drawers, and as long as she can climb trees in it and get it muddy, she's good to go.

I actually do take pleasure in choosing the children's clothes--even digging through acres of party dresses was fun when I anticipated the little kid's joy in being presented with them, and even though the big kid doesn't much care about what she wears, I take a lot of pleasure in choosing clothing that is centered on what she does like--dinosaurs, horses, farms, outer space--and clothing that is centered on what I like. That's why my kid is occasionally seen wearing an AC/DC T-shirt.

Usually, however, my clothing choices for her look more like this:

When this one grows up, I will DEFINITELY miss being able to dress her up however I like!

P.S. Want to see even more of our fun family activities and adventures? They're over on my Craft Knife Facebook page!