Goss ‘n Shop Op Shop, Sunshine

Today’s op shop: The Goss ‘n Shop Op Shop at Holy Apostles Anglican Church, 100 Anderson Road in Sunshine

The Goss ‘n Shop is one of my favourite op shops.  Truthfully, I haven’t found much stuff there for me personally, but it’s such a nice bright little shop with lovely people working there who are always up for a chat. Prices are reasonable and they sometimes have specials on certain categories of items:

Last year, I picked up a nice 1970s secretary dress or two from the rack on the right:

The toys area is mostly made up of soft toys, though there are a few games and other toddler toys:

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was this gorgeous flash of orange. A second later I had to contain myself.   S C O N E   H O L D E R ! ! !

From now on I just KNOW that scones will not taste good unless they are served in my new-old scone holder.  My mum was thrilled when she saw it too, she was “oh my goodness, I have not seen one of these in years and years”.  Thanks Mum but it’s MINE.  Even though you offered to wash and iron it.

How about you?  Ever found a scone holder?

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Wayside Bargain Centre, Sunshine

Today’s Op Shop: Wayside Bargain Centre, 30 Withers Street in Sunshine

 

I had a bit of a surprise walking in to the Wayside Bargain Centre, because it’s no longer your typical op shop.  Things have been repainted and moved around so it’s no longer as cramped and musty as it has been in the past.  I’m not sure when they completed the store update but it looks much better in there, however the upstairs area which formerly had books and games is now off limits. A worker there today told me it has changed from being an op shop in to more of a bargain centre. I must admit I felt a bit disappointed to hear this as I prefer op shops with their individual items as opposed to bargain centres with their lots-of-identical-items cheapies, but once I started browsing I saw the op shop element was still there. Womens dresses were the most expensive, priced at $6 each.  Skirts were about $5 each (in the past I picked up vintage pleated skirts for $1.50) and tops were around the $4 to $5 mark:

The books area is much smaller than it used to be but still good for a browse:

Wayside still have a selection of furniture, in the past I bought two fantastic 1970s vinyl pouffes in mint condition for $5 each:

The china and glassware section is also smaller than it was, previously it was all lovely and cramped and very op shoppy but now it’s more spaced out:

Unfortunately my shopping here today was a bust in op shopping terms.  But I bought some of the bargain centre items: three ball gowns for DeeW’s dolls at $2.50 each and two pairs of socks for $1.50 (DeeW is always losing one sock). These were new ‘bargain’ items, not secondhand donated goods.

Wayside have the problem of people dumping their stuff overnight.  I’ve driven past many times during the evening and the outside is full of bags that spill out on to the road. If you want to go in, don’t be put off by stuff that has been dumped by the door.  It’s difficult for the shop to manage it.

There’s a large parking area right across the road from Wayside, and the Salvos op shop is a couple doors down. The St. Vinnies is also pretty closeby, within walking distance. Wayside also have coloured ticket sale days, where ticketed items of a certain ticket colour are half price. This half price sale goes for a week.

Red Cross Op Shop, Moonee Ponds

Today’s op shop: Red Cross Op Shop, 64 Puckle Street Moonee Ponds:

Puckle Street in Moonee Ponds always had two op shops and today I discovered that one of them (the Care Bargain Centre) has closed down.  That sucks, because it was a good one. So after lunch, DeeW and I visited the Red Cross Op Shop. This op shop is mostly taken up with clothing, shoes and accessories:

I was all oooooh over this lovely 1940s wedding dress (size XS if you want to go check it out) for $90. I didn’t have as much time to stroke it as I would have liked because going to an op shop with children isn’t exactly the brightest idea:

 

The clothing wasn’t on the cheaper op shop prices side, but things appeared to be carefully selected and labels included Country Road and Trenery, thanks to a recent collaboration with those labels. The Moonee Ponds Red Cross shop is set up more like a boutique, not a cramped dusty oppie. There was no toys/games area so options for kids were pretty much the clothing racks and not much else apart from a few soft toys. There was a small table with some bowls, platters and assorted ceramics:

I found these sweet yet gives-me-creepy-vibe postcards and paid $2 for the eight of them:

I have no idea what it says on the back.  Probably something about being cursed if I don’t pass the cards on to sixty thousand friends:

I also picked up a $1 VCR tape of the Inspector Gadget movie for the kids. The downside is I’ll have to watch it too.

Op Shopping amazingness: 1940s Wood’s Ware ‘Beryl’ dinner set

Today’s op shop: Trinos Op Shop, 150A Cumberland Road Pascoe Vale:

The Trinos Op Shop is one of my favourites. Every few weeks we drive past that area and I try to drop in because they seem to have a pretty high turnover when it comes to their stock. Better still, it’s one of those op shops where the prices are still relatively low enough for you to score a great bargain. Every few months they have a half price off storewide sale and I’ve picked up some great buys, which I’ll blog about soon.

There’s a table of clothing for children where each item is 20 cents. This is pretty hit and miss in my experience as some clothes show heavy signs of wear but I have picked up a few new looking tops:

The crockery and glassware area has a lot of stuff, I’ve bought a few striped old coffee jars in the past:

I loved this tv tray table (with the collapsible legs you can’t see here) but decided against it. If only the design were something different!

Lots of records and sewing patterns:

Cutlery and kitchen utensils:

Now for the fun part where I get to squeeee about what I bought. I found this cute little layered paper picture in a frame for DeeW’s room. I think I’ll put it in a different frame. I also picked up these bags of ribbon and sewing embellishments for DeeW’s sewing boxes:

The last thing I need are more drinking mugs but this $1 mug was too sweet to pass up. I also got an Oxo veggie peeler for $1 (usually a minimum of about $8 in stores) and this spoon (because I liked it despite the crack and I have the same one with a pink handle) for 20 cents:

I collect vintage/retro tea towels and lately I’ve been on the hunt for anything pineapply. This is in unused condition and cost $3. I’m going to bust it out in the hot weather:

And now one of my favourite finds of all time. Forget the drumroll, this calls for a Pharrell Williams and Will.i.am song penned just for me:

A WOOD’S WARE OF ENGLAND THIRTY PIECE ‘BERYL’ DINNER SET FOR $20. FROM THE 1940s! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Can you believe it?! It’s in great condition and just needs a wash. The woman at the Trinos op shop said someone else came in yesterday and wanted it and said she’d be back in a day or two but they couldn’t guarantee it would be there. I didn’t catch the rest of what she said, I was too busy trying not to pee my pants:

When I go op shopping, I go for bargains– it’s all part of the thrill!  The Trinos Op Shop is definitely worth many visits.  Check out their website (linked to at the top of my post) for opening hours.  The items in the window are more expensive than what is in store, but the window is where they showcase the more valuable collectibles.

Some other bargains I’ve grabbed from the Trinos Op Shop have been mentioned on the blog before but here are the pics.  Enjoy! (especially the vintage but most likely unused Mastermind)!

Weeks That Were And Food That Was

Here are a bunch of photos of general random stuff.  Including food photos that I forgot all about.  So this post is kind of a “what was eaten over the past month or so plus extra stuffs”.

First up is my latest addition to my kitchen family: a new rice cooker.  My old one had all the bits inside the metal pot flaking off.  And it had a glass lid which was really annoying because the foamy steamy bits would bubble out of the cooker and make a mess.  I loooove my new rice cooker:

I bought the rice cooker from Myer because I had a gift card.  Here are the Myer displays in the city store:

Our house was built in 1930.  The kitchen has an alcove area for cooking which looks cute but it is really quite rubbish.  And it leaks too.  We had some torrential rain here recently.  See?

Water dripping through the ceiling.  We’re hoping to have our kitchen renovation done this year.  I’m hoping the ceiling will last that long.  Our walls are actually a nice mauve colour, the photo makes them look a bit blergh:

Do you forget to take your daily vitamins and B12 during the week?  Me too.  These two brands are vegan and I purchased them from iherb.com:

DeeW loves these mosaic things.  They keep her occupied.  Me?  I don’t know if I can handle any more pink and purple unicorns:

A closeup of the wall that always looks like dirt in my photos, but it’s actually burnt.  Thanks to me switching our portable grill on but forgetting to move it away from the wall.  The smell of burning paint alerted me ten minutes later:

My friend J and I had met up in North Melbourne and went to an op shop nearby.  I had to take a photo of this shelf labelling…

We saw this gorgeous old phone in an antiques store, where we drooled over the breakfast sets that sadly cost $500 each:

I went to Savers and found this awesome old fabric collage.  I never look at the frames area in Savers because I don’t need any but I noticed a woman holding this frame and peering closely at it.  As soon as she put it back and walked off I went to take a look.  And my immediate reaction was YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE SISTAH! And I bought it.  It was tagged at $49.99 but I had a 20% discount.  I adore this and would have happily paid more.  It makes me happy because it contains a fabric I had when I was little (the pink paisley) and I still have the pillowcase.  The trim bits remind me of the clothes my grandmother used to make from scraps for my dolls. I bought this for DeeW but well, it’s kinda mine now:

Food!

My friend T and I went to lunch at Cafe Sarabella:

Wishing Chips!  You may remember these from your school days if you’re my age (old).  If you got a wishing chip in your packet, it was SOMETHING MAJOR.  Now I get bunches of wishing chips in a packet.  It’s not the same anymore  😦

I made orange sesame baked tofu from a Dreena Burton recipe:

Oat and cranberry biscuits with some coconut and hemp seed thrown in:

80s hair Barbie photobomb of hazelnut banana smoothie:

I made some biscuits with cranberry, millet flour and corn flour.  Those flours have a weird aftertaste which I can handle, but the kids thought was yuck.  In a bizarre turn of events, Husband really liked them:

I went to a family function and made this delicious coconut cake from one of Dreena Burton’s cookbooks:

Mum made a batch of kritharaki:

My friend J and I ate lunch on Errol Street in North Melbourne.  I had this vegan burger with salad.  The burger pattie was nice but the salad had iceberg lettuce and well, I kinda think iceberg lettuce should remain in the house.  I’m a lettuce snob, just cos:

I finally got to visit a Crumbs bakery.  All these goodies you see are vegan.  I got a donut with chocolate icing.  It was okay but I probably wouldn’t buy it again:

Mr Banana in vintage pink cardigan:

And that’s about it.  The weather is is quite cold and rainy so this week’s meal plan will hopefully include a lot of stews and curries.  I would say I love cold weather because I get to eat hot curries, but I make those in summer too…