Well That Didn't Go As Planned

If you follow me on Instagram you know I've had some luck at Goodwill and thrift stores the past few days. Seriously good luck. In fact, I snagged everything pictured below for just $30. Literally everything. The two framed needlepoints, 30 vintage kids' books, two sheets, a bedskirt and the bookcase.

I figured while my luck was good I'd better hit another store before heading to my haircut appointment yesterday evening. Mark and Charlotte were with me and we had about 40 minutes to look around before we had to head to the salon. We didn't make any great finds, but did find 6 books I planned to get, along with a lampshade. But, as the post title may have indicated, that didn't go as planned.

Instead our quick thrifting trip turned into a nearly 3 hour visit to the emergency room. Ugh. Some frames had tipped over in the home decor section and when Mark when to prop them back up broken glass (we didn't realize it was broken) fell and sliced his leg open. The gash was only about 2 inches long, but fairly deep. The store manager bandaged it up and we headed over to the hospital, which was just a quick 5 minute ride away.

While it is a major hospital, the ER here isn't all that busy typically. I was actually hopeful that we'd be in and out in about an hour or so. After all, it only took a minute or two for them to call him in for triage. I realize for many that a quick ER visit is unheard of, but at this particular hospital it's probably the norm. Except when there's been a fire in the Labor & Delivery building and the two maternity floors are evacuated to the emergency department. That'll slow things down a bit.

Charlotte stayed with us for about an hour and half before my mom and sister came to pick her up. She was so good at the store when we directed her to stay away from the glass, and in the ER waiting room where she gave Daddy kisses and fruit snacks and orange soda. But it was way past dinner time, approaching bedtime even, when she headed over to Aunt Mandy's for the evening. I hear she told them all about what happened on the way home. For the entire 20 or so minute drive. :)

Mark felt better (more mentally than physically, I think) when his leg was elevated so most of our waiting room stay had him looking like this. Yeah, real special. Luckily it was right around when Charlotte left that we got called out of the waiting room into an office cubby. Yup, that said office cubby. With all the laboring soon-to-be-mommas filling the procedure rooms, we were taken to a tiny (smaller than my bathroom) room where a nurse stitched him up. His first stitches ever.

Five stitches later and he was moved to a blood draw chair where he waited for a tetanus shot. In true Mark fashion, he was cracking jokes the entire time. Making the nurse laugh, other patients laugh, the phlebotomist laugh. I don't think he'll be laughing quite so much tomorrow when the pain of that tetanus shot really sets in. He can't recall his last one, but I remember mine and it sucked.

So that's the story of my night. No haircut. No thrifty purchases (although I have high hopes we'll find good stuff when we go back later today to fill out an incident report). But a decent story.

A Bath for Two

A few weeks ago, when the derecho ripped through the mid-Atlantic states, we had visitors. My brother's power was out for a few days, so he and his family stayed at our place. Charlotte was sooooo happy to have her cousin around to play with! And she really loved having a tubmate. Check them out:

You can tell from Charlotte's hair that she was in desperate need of a bath. Such a bird's nest! For the most part the girls just sat at their own ends of the tub, playing with tub toys. They had princess dolls and sea animals and stayed occupied in relative peace and quiet for about 30 minutes or so. Once the cups came out things got a little louder. Probably because Charlotte felt the need to help Penelope wash her hair. At first Penelope was obliging, but things changed quickly when she realized that Charlotte wasn't nearly as careful with the water as her mom or I might be. Sorry P!

And you'd think that when they switched spots and Penelope had control of the water she'd have gotten her revenge, but no. Either Penelope has better aim, or Charlotte is better at keeping her head up, cause Charlotte didn't get a single drop on her face.

Such cuties! And even though we were snug as a bug in a bug around here (that's how Charlotte says it), I'm grateful for the time our families got to spend together. We live close and see each other regularly, but there was something special about these girls waking up together and going to bed together and spending all their in between time together. They played like friends and fought like sisters, which I think is awesome!

Partying, Harry Potter Style

My friends (myself included) are dorks. We are completely, totally unashamed of this fact. And we love a themed party. Any excuse to be excessive is jumped at and this past weekend was no different. The Harry Potter fans in our group have decided to hold a month long movie marathon, in which they watch two movies per sitting and enjoy a meal together. My sister was up first and she is the queen of going overboard. I could give you tons of examples from her life, but figure I'll just let the pictures of this particular event do the talking. Below is a look at her condo, all dressed up for The Sorceror's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets.

Your first peek in the doorway was of Platform 9 3/4. She created this vignette by painting bricks onto kraft paper and hanging it to cover the entire length of the wall. A handpainted Hogwarts Express sign, coupled with a plastic lantern thingie (technical term) that we found at the thrift store really set you up for the awesome that awaited you in the rest of the room. But before you could move on, you needed to be sorted. The graphic in the white frame tells you to choose a card to find your house and you were also free to help yourself to a lemondrop. But, of course, danger was lurking everywhere and you'd best watch out for the devil's snare on the lower shelf.


Rounding the corner was the potions table. She took some of her regular artwork down and replaced it with a bulletin board full of recipes, a thrifted candlabra and a set of scales. A witch's cauldron was the perfect ice bucket and a butterbeer mug (direct from Universal Studios) held straws. Drink up!


On the opposite side of her living area is where the movies were shown. My sister has always had a gallery wall above her couch, but in true Mandy style, she swapped a few things out to keep with the theme. She made most of the things you see, but did purchase the Hogwarts and Quidditch prints here (they go with a third print that she had hanging in her bathroom). My favorite of the bunch is the signed head shot of Professor Lockhart. I mean, right?!


From there, if you look off to the left you'll see a bookcase filled with Harry Potter items, along with a snack trolley next to it. The bottom shelf has some plants and a gardening book, in keeping with that shelf's herbology theme. The middle shelf focuses more on potions and the top shelf is a mish mash of leftovers, including the elderwand (my dad's from Universal Studios).


My sister borrowed the trolley from yours truly. It housed a boatload of goodies. She got a frog candy mold to create her own chocolate frogs, used Ferrero Rochers and gold vellum to make golden snitches and made sure she had some Ton-Tongue toffee on hand too. She even switched out the art in a frame to say 'Anything off the trolley?' Yeah, I wasn't kidding about the whole going overboard thing.


Last up in the tour is the meal itself. Mandy is a great cook, so it's no surprise that she whipped up a full-blown meal for this event. Roast chicken, peas, carrots, brussel sprouts (a crowd favorite - for real), mashed potatoes and a Gryffindor trifle. It's the dessert you can just spy in the second photo in this next group. It's layers of pound cake, cool whip, raspberries and peaches. It's the raspberries (red) and peaches (yellow) that really make it Gryffindor. Oh, and did I forget to mention that she strung up candles (some real, some battery-operated) to create her own Great Hall. Yup. She did.


Awesome, right?! Now we just have to figure out what sort of crazily themed event we need to do next. The Olympics are just around the corner. Hmmmmm...