I have inherited this penchant called ‘thrifting.’ It boils down to this: I love finding something second hand for a good price–and not just that, but I also kind of enjoy having to search through a bunch of undesirable stuff to find it. Thrifting is the grown-up version of a treasure hunt!

Of course, I shall try to keep this penchant tame like a kitty-cat, to be used only when we need something. Because it could seriously get out of control if I let go of the reins. But so far, so good! This year, I not only pre-purged before the big sale, but I also went in with a list and searched very intentionally for the things I had determined I wanted/needed.

Monday evening, I headed up to Winnetka to join the ladies:

The always fabulous Mama Kitty . . .

. . . my cousin June, nurse extraordinaire and mother of two darn cute ones . . .

. . . her older sister, the assertive action-woman that is Eleanor (acting bashful here for whatever reason–but don’t let that fool you) . . .

. . . the fun-loving lawyer, landlord and roller derby queen Emily . . .

. . . my cousin-in-law and blonderrific mother of 3, Kristen . . .

. . . the high-energy English PhD, Aunt Jacquie . . .

. . . and Wild Woman! (otherwise known as Pat)

In a fur apron. Don’t ask questions.

We had 3 hotel rooms booked for the week, and I was able to take some time off from work and spend Monday and Tuesday night with the crew.

Monday evening, all day Tuesday, and all day Wednesday, we worked with the other volunteers at the community center to prepare for the massive sale day on Thursday, and enjoyed the privileges of shopping pre-sale accorded to volunteers who work at least 10 hours.

Each night after the work and hardcore shopping, we reconvened for dinner . . .

(looks like I was feeling very intense about those sweet potato fries)

. . . and then spent the evening (into the night) together in one of the hotel rooms going through our purchases, munching on chocolate, tossing around clothes for each other to try on . . .

. . . and organizing our finds.

Like this pillow!

And this tiny tea set, destined for little girls at play:

Or, to give you more perspective on the sheer amount of Rummage finds that 8 determined women can bring home in a day, all of this stuff, heh heh.

It was an exhausting blast.

The very first night, a red tank top was being tossed around. Kristen tried it on and dismissed it as a little too risqué, but I tried it on and loved it. I added it to my pile, not realizing that June (the finder of the top) hadn’t even had a chance to try it on (this is one of the risks of haphazard piles of clothes in a room with 8 women). Soon I realized that I would never live down the red shirt incident, and that June would hold this shirt over my head until we were on our dying beds. I tried to entice her to try it on and take it, but she preferred to hold onto the power of goading me about it forever (sigh).

My salvation came when I was blissfully going through some racks of shirts and found the exact same shirt. Exact same color. Exact same size. I promptly purchased it.

And peace reigneth on earth.

Amidst all the fun and work and busy running about, I proceeded to totally fail to take any pictures at the actual Rummage sale. I wanted to take tons of shots to show you how massive it is, how beyond the scope of anything I ever imagined, and give you an idea of how much work goes into pulling it off.

But then . . . I forgot. So you’ll just have to refer to last year’s post to see some shots of the space, and content yourselves with pictures of us in the hotel room with our massive haul.

June and Kristen found awesome stuff for their kids!

Eleanor fed her two obsessions: bowls . . .

. . . and cut crystal.

In fact, there was a desperate moment in which the hotel’s fire alarm started sounding its jangly tune, and Eleanor quickly debated which pieces of cut crystal simply had to be saved from the fire that was about to consume all our belongings.

Thankfully, the fire alarm stopped shortly after it started, the front desk confirmed that everything was a-okay, and the tough cut crystal decision never had to be made after all.

Next week (yes, I’m taking my sweet time), I’ll share my finds with you all! Get ready for a massive trip down Shopping Lane . . .