Category Archives: Shopping

Op Shopping Anywhere

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We have been in Adelaide for a couple of days this week. Shopping was not my prime focus but I did manage to pop into a couple of op shops when we were out and about. It is always fun to check out shops in different locations.

I found a lovely pale blue/lilac short sleeve top which will be perfect when the weather warms up a bit and it would work well under a jacket, too.

It was a short trip which you can read about here and we are now home again so blog posts should return pretty much to normal soon.

Updated Technology

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For several years we have had 2 laptops and we have taken the smaller one when we are out and about as well as when we have travelled both interstate and overseas. From time to time we have wondered about getting a tablet but never taken it any further.

A couple of months ago one of the hinge brackets on the smaller laptop broke but somehow or other the laptop still works. However, we cannot close it nor easily transport it. We enquired about having it repaired but the cost was almost more than a new device.

After a bit of research we ended up deciding on a Lenovo tablet which we are confident will be sufficient for our needs. It is considerably lighter than the laptop particularly for travelling.

Once we picked up the new tablet and unpacked it I realised how delicate and vulnerable the screen was so I decided that some sort of a case was going to be necessary.

So, I set to work with some fabric and materials from my stash. This was the result. It is not super fancy but it is functional.

A view of the inside.

Why a Wok?

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Last week we were doing the grocery shopping and I fell victim to the centre aisle in Aldi. For anyone who is not familiar with Aldi in Australia (and possibly elsewhere), the centre aisle is a relvolving door of special buys which include everything from furniture to homewares, garden supplies and clothing.

Anyway, I bought a wok.

It is not the first wok I have ever owned. Many moons ago I had a lightweight aluminium one, however, that went by the wayside and was replaced by a fancy ‘non-stick’ wok which had a small flat base which was more effective on the cooktop I was using at the time. That eventually was deemed unusable due to wear and tear on the surface and it was really too big for our current requirements for just the 2 of us. I have not had a wok for a couple of years but instead used a large stainless steel frying pan which was adequate at best.

It is now just over 12 months since we changed from gas burners to an induction cooktop. You can read about that here. I was fortunate to have stainless steel saucepans which work perfectly on the induction cooktop but the large frying pan from the same set would not work. I have a smaller cast-iron pan which I love but it is really not large enough for stir-fries so a debate about getting a wok or large pan ensued but with no clear outcome.

That was………until we walked into Aldi and GMan spotted this medium-sized stainless steel wok with an added steaming rack for $50.

Last night I made a vegetable stirfry which turned out perfectly. There will definitely be more stirfries, curries and risottos coming up.

This is the steaming rack which I have yet to try.

Accessories Acquired

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We were out and about today with some time to spare so we checked out a couple of op shops.

I scored a couple of bargains. The first was a pair of Zeira shoes for $5. These have had a bit of wear but are still in solid condition and of course, I love the colour. I think I will benefit from adding some insoles to give a bit more support and I am looking forward to wearing them with jeans and trousers during the winter.

In another shop I was idly perusing the shoe selection when I noticed a navy handbag sitting on the end of the shelf. It appears to be brand new and will be perfect for use with the 2 navy dresses which I own – one summer and a winter one. The bag can be used with the long metal chain strap or it can be removed completely. The bag was $6.

I am very happy with my purchases from today.

Alterations – For Me and Others

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I bought this coat at the op shop a few weeks ago and knew that it would need a bit of work to make it really wearable.

Both the main fabric and the lining were very creased and looked as though it had spent some time crammed into a bag of donations. Anyway, I managed to improve that by ironing it inside and out with lots of steam. The other problem was that the lining of the sleeves was too long and hanging below the finished edge.

I unpicked the bottom edge of the lining from the main sleeve and corrected the length as well as making a slight adjustment to the overall sleeve length. Then it was a relatively simple matter of slipstitching the lower edge of the lining to the sleeve.

I am really happy with how it looks now and am confident that I will have plenty of opportunities to wear it in a variety of ways with both dresses as well as jeans and shirts or jumpers.

Meanwhile, I seem to have established a small enterprise for my spare time in doing alterations for other people. The majority seem to be taking up jeans and trousers – there must be a lot of vertically challenged people in the town where I live. Other jobs have included lengthening sleeves, putting side splits in the side of tops, removing sleeves, making tshirts smaller, taking in the waistband of jeans and even shortening the straps on reusable shopping bags. I charge less than commercial rates as this is not much more than a hobby for me and the bonus is knowing that in many instances the clothes in question would have simply been discarded.

Anyway, I am heading out to dinner tonight for a family birthday celebration and will be wearing my newly-altered coat over my dress.

A Lucky Find

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While some of my op shop bargains have been deliberate purchases, many are simply incidental finds.

My win from today was not even in an op shop. We were walking the dog and as we approached the main street there was a small rack of secondhand clothes outside a craft shop.

I spotted this coat and immediately thought of our elder granddaughter who is coming to visit for a week in July. Since she lives in Queensland her selection of clothes for a Victorian winter is somewhat limited. The coat is a small size which will be perfect for her and it was $5.

This is the view from the back.

The colour in the first photo is the most accurate. I love the shaping and pleated detail which gives it a bit more style than a puffer jacket or the like.

I barely hesitated before buying it as I figured that worst case scenario was that I would simply donate it if it was not deemed suitable, however, she seemed genuinely pleased when I rang to let her know what I had bought. I have even offered to store it in the wardrobe between her visits as she would not need it where she lives.

Autumn Afternoon

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We went to Melbourne yesterday to stock up on some dry goods for the pantry but more on that another day.

When we arrived home I took a few photos as I wanted to show you GMan’s latest landscaping handiwork. He built this garden bed using salvaged timber from the original front fence. That was a few weeks ago and it has been on hold as he seemed to have hurt his back while doing it. Anyway, the construction is now in place and has been filled with soil. We have planted some bulbs which we salvaged when the fence was rebuilt. I think they are freesias and hopefully we will have some flowers in a few months.

Meanwile, we have added a couple more native shrubs to the front garden which is gradually developing.

The autumn colours are everywhere and we are enjoying the view of the neighbour’s trees on the fenceline.

Finally, we have another good crop of lemons on the tree which are almost ready to pick.

The last couple of days have been rather mild for late autumn so we are enjoying them before the weather is forecast to turn cold and we early next week.

From Black To Navy

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Over the last few years I have been looking to gradually transition at least some of my dark neutral pieces of clothing from black to navy.

My latest 2 op shop purchases support this transition.

The first was a dress I bought when I was in Brisbane recently. It was brand new and still had the original swing tags attached. I am not familiar with the brand and the fabric is simply described as ‘cotton blend’. The style is very simple and super comfortable to wear and it could be dressed up or down depending on the accessories chosen. I am thrilled with this addition to my wardrobe for a mere $10.

Last week I spotted a Liz Jordan navy jacket. The fabric is 40% wool and 60% polyester. It is fully lined and no front closure. It needs a little bit of attention as the lining seems too long for the sleeves so I am going to do some running repairs. I paid $15 for the jacket and am sure that I will get plenty of wear from this piece during our cooler weather.

I have numerous other navy pieces, both plain and patterned, in my wardrobe and I will show those another day.

Daily Doings

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In the week since my last post I have celebrated another year around the sun. My birthday was fairly low-key but enjoyable. GMan and I had dinner at the local hotel and I was overwhelmed by the many celebratory messages from family and friends both near and far.

The soundtrack to our lives for the past several weeks has been the heavy machinery working on completely resurfacing a couple of kilometres of our road. It is the main truck route which bypasses the historic centre of town and some sections were in very poor condition so the upgrade is welcome. It should be finished within the next week or so.

These are a couple of views at the moment. It is all wet as the water truck had just been past. They are working hard to minimise the impact of dust on adjacent properties.

As you can see from the photos we are enjoying some glorious autumn weather but we know that winter is not too far away.

Hence, one of my activities today was to cook up a big pot of leek and potato soup. I bought a 5kg bag of local potatoes from the farm gate about 10 days ago so the soup was a perfect way to use quite a few of them. I bought 3 large leeks a few days ago.

Here they are sliced up and ready.

I like to have a stock of premade soup in the freezer as it is perfect for a quick lunch or evening meal in the cooler weather. I have a bunch of celery which will also be turned into soup. That could be a job for tomorrow.

Making A Decision

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I can remember telling my elder daughter that making decisions was part of being an adult. She was about 14 years old at the time and vacillating about what to do in a particular situation and really wanted me to make the decision for her. That was not going to happen, hence my comment.

Today we went to Melbourne with the express purpose of making a decision. We agreed a couple of years ago that our next car would be an EV. Since then we have been debating about when we would actually go ahead and buy one. Several things have happened, including the current global instability which is substantially affecting fuel prices and supply. This is not expected to improve any time soon so we were convinced that now was as good a time as any and we needed to make up our minds about exactly which EV to buy.

Coincidentally, the Melbourne Motor Show began today and runs for 3 days. We were armed with all of our research so far and a short-list of about 4 or 5 vehicles that seemed to meet our various criteria including price, range and features. So we set off with hundreds of other car enthusiasts and would-be buyers. Once we saw the vehicles in real life and were able to sit in them our previously preferred option of the Geely X5 appears to have come out ahead.

The final step will be to organise a test drive at the dealer closest to home which is about 80km away.

Decision making is never easy and this has been particularly challenging as we are comparing features and capabilities such as battery power and range with which we have no previous experience.