Garage sale finds

Today I spotted a garage sale at my former neighbor's house. I've been to two of her previous garage sales, and at each one I found pants and/or shorts that fit me perfectly. (It's fairly difficult for me to find pants and shorts that fit. The things I found at my neighbor's sale fit me like they were made for me.) This time, I purchased more -- in all, 4 tops and 11 bottoms. I got one striped T-shirt, two long-sleeved shirts, and one short-sleeved sweater (it'll be great for work). I also got a skirt, a pair of khaki shorts that are a little big, and nine (!) pairs of jeans shorts that all fit well.

I love jeans shorts because they go with just about everything. Plus I don't have to worry about what color underwear I'm wearing like I sometimes have to do with khaki shorts. This year I was worried that my current two pairs of jeans shorts would wear out eventually and I'd never be able to find another pair that fit me, because I found both of these used -- one at a thrift store and one at a previous sale of this former neighbor. Six or seven of the new pairs of shorts are pretty cool, and the others will be good for wearing around the house at the very least. The ones I'll wear around the house are still worth having, as I'm currently very low on that category of clothing. Plus now I can give a couple more pairs of shorts that don't fit right to Goodwill!

The best part: 15 items of clothing, three of which I can wear to work on a regular basis, for $7.50.

Electric mower

I have a Ryobi cordless electric mower that has served me well for the past eight years and is still going strong. Unfortunately, they don't make it anymore, but here's another option: the Neuton. It provides only a 14" cut rather than the 18" that my mower has, but it has several desirable features that my mower doesn't have, such as an available extra lift-out battery.

Either mower (as well as a corded electric mower) will pollute significantly less than a gas mower does. Mowing with a gas mower for an hour produces the same amount of pollution as driving a car 50 miles.

Holiday season in review

We've had a busy holiday season this year (as usual). Over Thanksgiving, we drove to Iowa to visit Steph's dad's side of the family, which was great fun. We attended several Christmas parties, hosted one, and went to four family Christmases (well, Steph only went to two). Steph got pleurisy again and had to stay home on Christmas. I hit the after-Christmas sales with Michelle and got some good deals. We shopped yesterday and today with our Christmas gift cards, and now I have more work clothes and we both have many books to read.

For Christmas, I gave many fun gifts and received a lot as well. Some of my favorite presents include a Wheel of Fortune game, the Out on the Porch calendar, two pairs of slippers, an excellent pair of gray pants, a book on living green, and a scribe (for drawing circles on the ice so I can learn some school figures).