early April happenings

 Here's what's been going on this past week:

Haircut for Seddy so he could be handsome
 for Easter.   Yes, I do haircuts in my kitchen.
Sorry if you think that's totally gross.

Here's the little man!  I'm not an expert barber,
but I do OK and it saves a ton of money.

from the garden: amazing, beautiful Swiss chard
(I can't take credit: it grows in my perennial bed on its own
every spring.  It's like a weed in my garden this time of year.)

closet clean-out of winter coats

 This pile of winter coats tells a few stories.  First, the pristine conditions of these coats tell that they didn't get much use this year.  We had a VERY mild winter.  Some of these coats were not worn at all!  Others were just worn a few times.

But they tell another story.  As I was pulling them from the front closet, I noticed that I remembered the procurement story for each one of them.  An Osh-Kosh 3T boys coat, found for $1 at a garage sale.  Three Goodwill finds (and I'm not even a regular GW shopper): a furry little girls jacket used for a Sven costume, a wonderfully crazy Hannah Andersson number, and a perfect Columbia women's coat.  Two gorgeous coats from last year's Lands End sale rack: a mustard wool pea coat and a thin plum down jacket.  A navy hand-me down from cousin Eliot.  And the crowning glory: a Burberry wool coat given to us by a neighbor.

I haven't been such a responsible shopper as of late.  For a few years now, if I need something, I'll pop on nordstrom.com and order it--full price.  (Their selection is great and their service can't be beat.)  This can lead to some guilt and buyer's remorse, but I just don't have time or energy to search the internet for sales, and most certainly trips to Rack and Marshall's are out of the question.  But when I see this stack of coats I realize that all the hard work I did in the early years (and even a few recent hunts) just may balance out my current bad habits.  Yay for me!  ;o)