What did I buy this week? #8.

This was a big week for purchases, I'm doing my part to shore up the economy. First, my Sholom Aleichem bobble head doll. I admire it happily every time I walk into the kitchen. It was absolutely worth it.

I also bought two books on doing woodcuts and wood engravings (which I didn't draw because they just look like books).

I did a lot of re-stocking at the hardware store: jigsaw blades, latex gloves, chip brushes, sandpaper, a drillbit guide (because the guys in the store DON'T HAVE ONE and can't help when I say I need a drill bit for #10 screws), utility knife blades, replacement pilot hole drill bits with hexagonal ends, and new Gorilla glue and carpenter's glue.

Also two nice big clamps because (1) you can never have too many clamps; (2) I want a way to hold a sheaf of paper (to be perfect-bound into a booklet) together while I hit it with a glue gun - and my current clamps can't accommodate a big enough bar.

Or maybe I can just use this wonderful press which Bob is building for me. I haven't seen it yet - he just sent this picture. It's gorgeous!

What did I buy this week? #7.

I spent all week in Bob's basement using the paints I bought last week to paint Uncle Shlomo's pushcart. This arrived in the mail on Wednesday but I actually bought it a week or two ago: it's a thermal binder, for making paperback books. The instructions inform me I must use their special covers (very expensive) with special (expensive) glue strips, but I saw a video on YouTube and a guy was using regular cardstock and a gluegun. I tried one this way, so far no good. I wonder what's the right glue stick to buy?

What did I buy this week? #6.

Metal hardware has gotten very expensive. The wood for the expansion and fortification of the chicken annex was free (well, not really, but it's been under my porch so long it seems free) but these little hinges and hanger bolts cost a lot!


These supplies for painting the pushcart were also very expensive. "One-spot" enamel is particularly pricey. I went to a sign shop to get it, and I found a bunch of colored aluminum "blanks" to make additional signs on for only a dollar each so I got those.

I also got a new glue gun, because I gave my old one to Menticia last year, and some glue sticks. This is for a different project.

What did I buy? 5b.

Zed found these two posters at the Goodwill. I had a xerox of one of them in my kitchen already, so, score! (Disclaimer: this one was traced.)

What did I buy this week? #5a.

My son Zed is going to tell you shortly about our trip to Hillsborough in search of enlightenment on the subject of "Natural Horsemanship." But on the way back I had to buy a broom, because the broom I had is now behind 58 bales of hay in the shed. It will not be seen until April. You can ask him how that happened.

So we dropped by Walmart and the Goodwill is right next door...

These are perfect shirts for sweaty summer days and they were on sale for $2 each at Walmart, that's cheaper than you could get a shirt at the Goodwill, so I bought five (different colors).

Here's the broom. Also a canvas bag from Goodwill, Zed says this is a drug company handout. Also four books: a thesaurus for Menticia, two Carl Hiaassen books, and a Robert Ludlum book. Give me a break, they were 50 cents each.

I was pretty tired of sketching by the time I got to here. I have to stop buying things for a while. Anyway, a new bag of mechanical pencils which I opened so I'd have a pencil to draw these pictures with, and two dvds for $5 each: "Rain Man" for me (it's a five-star movie in my opinion) and "The Jackal" for Zed.

Technorati Tags: Illustration, Buy, Consumption

What did I buy this week? #5.

I went to Goodwill and bought a "new" copy of the Joy of Cooking; mine belonged to my mother and is falling apart, although it has one of my favorite recipes in it which was expunged from later editions. I also got a brilliantly colored cloth bag big enough to get some hay into; Zed lost the big vinyl bag (also bought at Goodwill) for a while and it caused an uproar. Systems must be maintained.


On the same visit I also bought this skirt, actually I bought two but they looked pretty much the same. I have a lot of print shirts so I keep looking for solid colored skirts. I would wear print on print but it would embarrass my friends. Standards must be maintained, at least in public.


The week's big purchase was Jethro's supply of hay for the winter. It should last until early spring. This past spring I made the mistake of buying some local hay sight unseen and Jethro hated every bite of it. This time I went and bought one bale from the people selling it and tried it out on him. If you were going to eat only one thing from now till April, I bet you'd want some say in what it was going to be! He woofled it down very happily. So I bought 58 bales and the folks came with their trailer and we loaded it into the shed in the dark.

But first, we had to get out the "bad" hay, there were a few more bales. I had Zed put them under the carriage-port. Now I can't get the carriage out. Poor planning.

While they were here, the hay folks told us they'd bought this batch of hay from somewhere up north, also sight unseen, 640 bales of it! And disaster - their horses don't like it! So they are getting different hay for their own horses and trying to unload the first batch around town.

They also invited us to a dressage natural horsemanship clinic today - Jennye said that after we learn her method, Jethro will be instantly obedient. I'll get back to you on that.

Technorati Tags: buy, consumption

What did I buy this week? #4.

So I ordered a dozen chicks from Meyer Hatchery and they arrived on Wednesday. Like last time, I picked them up at the post office.


This batch (just random chicks available at the end of the season) seemed mellower and less traumatized than the batch I ordered last March. They seem willing to sleep in our hands and even upside down.


Here you see two protecting the food supply by sleeping in the food bowl.


I cut the bottom out of a wading pool I got at freecycle and they had their first experience outside yesterday. We can't leave them for a moment or hawks will carry them off.


It's going to be a long time until they're big enough to dig through donkey poop. I hope we can keep them from becoming raccoon chow like all the earlier ones, which I really miss.




Technorati Tags: obsessive, consumption

What did I buy this week? #3.

Not a big week for purchases. I did make an online purchase, but I'll draw it when it comes in a few days...

Now that Zed is living at home for a while, we're looking for ways to keep him from spacing out at the computer for hours at a time. This timer: $2.79. Will it work?

UPDATE: No, it did not work. Not even once. Wow, if you can sell 13 cents worth of plastic as a timer even if it doesn't work, you've found yourself some excellent suckers. Thanks, Walmart!


While I was at the housewares aisle getting the timer, I decided to get a replacement for my smashed candy thermometer (crucial to peanut brittle sessions): also $2.79.


Sunflower seeds for the birds.


Technorati Tags: obsessive, consumption

What did I buy this week? #2.

Zed is home this fall and has signed up for an online writing class at UNC. These two textbooks cost about $140 new and about $100 used. Each is the seventh edition. Has writing really changed so much since last year?


At Yidish-Vokh I met Hy Wolfe, an actor/musician who works in Yiddish theater among other venues, and I traded him a copy of my songbook for this cd. I think that still counts as a purchase.

Technorati Tags: obsessive+consumption

What did I buy this week? #1.

I've been sort of following a blog called Obsessive Consumption for some time now. The proprietress draws pictures of the things she buys.

I thought I might enjoy doing this too, but only now have gotten around to trying it. She posts every day, but I'll gang them up and, if I can keep it up, I'll post them once a week.

I needed skinny socks to go under my sneakers at Yidish-Vokh, because I'm packing light. There were on sale at K-mart.


AAA batteries, for my remote controls which have been failing for weeks, and for the motion sensor lights below.

I got two of these battery-operated motion sensor lights, for the carport and the studio, because the ones the electrician installed all those years ago never worked right.


A new CD player so I can walk and obsess over the mixes on the new cd.


I ordered these wheels from Witmer Coach many weeks ago, they finally came.

Technorati Tags: obsessive, consumption