Carbooty Finds

I was awake at 4am Sunday morning feeling ill. I had the most awful stomach cramps and my joints ached. I was feeling sorry for myself but I still felt compelled to go to the Cheshire carboot sale as the weather was good and the sun was shining. When we got home I had to go back to bed for a few hours missed sleep. Such a shame to feel ill on a weekend and it felt like I had wasted most of the day.

So on to my finds....

There was a seller in a car which must have cost a small fortune. He was selling some expensive brands and David bought a large Musto sailing bag with two additional smaller Musto bags for £3. I bought a genuine Louis Vuitton messenger bag from him £20. I assumed it was a fake and he said not. I checked it over carefully and it is clearly well made and a quality item. It came with an LV dust bag too and I reckon that it is genuine. I tried haggling on the price but he was not for reducing his price at all as he said it had cost a lot. It's a great cross body Citadin messenger bag and I like that it is in a buff colour rather than black or brown. Sold.

I found a fabulous Starbucks stainless steel travel mug with a brilliant vacuum seal on the lid. It looked as new. The seller only wanted 20p. This will be great for work and for a drink in the car when I am stuck in the usual nasty traffic to and from the office. I reckon I will use it in the office too because I am always getting distracted and then find I have a half cup of lukewarm tea or coffee left to drink. At least this will keep my drinks warm.

A lovely Le Creuset stoneware utensil holder (also "as new") in the blue colour that matches my pans for 50p. These currently cost £32 so I reckon I have found a bargain.

I bought some wax melts for 50p each - five in total. They are made by a brand called Imperial Candles and come in various scents. There were three Christmas scents and a couple of others in Mango Peach and Rainbow Sorbet. These are £1.99 each on line. The brand sells candles too which contain a piece of jewellery hidden in each candle worth between £10 and £1,000 each. I've never heard of them before or the novelty jewellery concept. They smell heavenly anyway.

My usual selection of toiletries. These included 6 items for £3 (50p each) from the man I bought the LV bag from. There was a large 125ml bottle of Elemis Jasmine & Rose bath milk and a tube of hand & nail cream. Both are still sealed with a foil cover over their opening. The bath milk normally costs £43 for 400ml so I've calculated my 125ml bottle would cost £13.43. The handcream normally costs £19 for 100ml so I've calculated my 20ml tube would cost £3.80.

Two weekend away 50ml travel sized bottles of Molton Brown Gingerly body wash. They both smell gorgeous.

Two 30ml bottles of L'Occitane facial toner with spray spritzing nozzle. These are part of the Immortelle facial range of skincare which I have used before and like very much.

A double pack of Champneys "a little pick me up" Citrus Blush Enlivening shower cream & body lotion for £1 for both. These normally cost £3 each but are on offer at 3 for the price of 2 so £2 each with a total of £4 for both tubes. I made a £3 saving.

I bought a couple of hand made Lavender items - a bath bomb and a soap for 30p each.

Now I love Avon Sleeptherapy pillow and linen mist. I can no longer buy this as it has changed and is part of their Planet Spa range and slightly different. I've been looking for some on carboot sales all last year without success. Well they were like buses on the carboot sale (you wait for ages and nothing turns up and then three arrive at the same time) and I managed to buy 3 bottles from two different sellers for a total of £1.80.

On the Avon front I bought a couple of other items at 50p each. A Strawberries & Cream bath gel and a Neroli & Olive shower gel with the name of Calming Tuscany (who thinks of these names?). I've looked on line and these are normally just a couple of £ each so no great savings but they're good for everyday use.

I bought a couple of decoupage card kits thinking they were for making just one big card but on closer inspection at home I realised they make 5 cards each. These cost just 50p each so no great loss and they are now destined for selling on eBay.

I bought lots of DVDs including a number of box sets for between 30p and 50p each. Cheap entertainment if you ask me. In particular I am looking forward to watching Homeland series 1 to 3 and the full set of The Darling Buds of May. I loved the Darling Buds series when it was originally on TV as it was such a gentle series to watch.

Well this were this week's buys. Mostly hits with one fail with the cards. 

Welsh Weekend Away

My regular readers will know how much I love North Wales. Depending on which part we visit the journey only takes between an hour and two and a half hours for us to visit some of our favourite places. This last weekend we stayed near Abersoch which we have been visiting for the last thirty years together.

We arrived late Friday afternoon to a cute apartment with a view out towards the sea and the mountains beyond. It was for 4 people with two bedrooms, one with twin beds and one with a double. We unloaded our bags, had a quick shower and change of clothes and it was out to Dylans restaurant in Criccieth. We'd pre-booked a table and arrived to a bustling place with customers sitting outside as well as in due to the warm sunny weather.

I ordered my favourite Bloody Mary drink and asked for it spicy. When we last visited in March we had taken my dad with us and he had asked for a sip of my drink to taste it. He had responded with "WOW that's hot" so I guess I must like them extra spicy. We had a lovely meal before heading home for a good nights sleep all ready for a busy Saturday.

Saturday morning we visited Pwllheli and visited a couple of charity shops. Our favourite is the RSPCA shop as it has sensible prices compared to the silly prices asked in high street charity shops these days. I bought ten magazines, Country Life & Gardeners World at 20p each. They are all dated 2016. I also bought series two of the award winning Indian Summers starting Julie Walters. I missed this when it was on TV so was pleased to find it for £2. Now I just need to find series one and I can start watching it! I'll put this away until I find series one. The first series tend to come up on carboot sales more than later numbered series so I am sure I will be in luck at some point. I also found a January 2017 Vogue for 50p in Porthmadog which we visited in the afternoon.

We drove to Abersoch in the evening for a Thai meal at The Coconut Kitchen. It is a small and extremely busy restaurant and we were pleased that we had pre-booked a table here too as we had to wait at the bar with drinks for our table to become free. It was packed. The food is always delicious and after crispy sea bass starters I had a bowl of divine Pad Thai with crunchy peanut topping. Delicious. David opted for a crispy noodle dish.

Sunday morning and I was awake at 5.30am. I wish I could sleep in on lazy weekend away mornings but I haven't used an alarm clock for years and just wake up early. We were on the road at 7.30am to visit a very busy carboot sale in Porthmadog. It is so tiny compared to the massive Cheshire carboot sale that we are used to. I only found a few items but was pleased with all of them. My favourite is this sheer kimono style jacket from Next. I love the nasturtium flowers and little lady bird on a leaf print. I wore this on Sunday evening over a long black t shirt dress and thought it looked great.

I bought some clip & click plastic tubs for 20p each and a microwave soup mug for 30p. All for packed lunches when at work.

My final two purchases were a DVD of Victoria Wood's Dinner Ladies - the complete set for £1. I love her work and feel she is such a loss to the comedy world. Having said that have you seen the drama Housewife 49, that she starred in? Based on true events it is such a charming but sad film based before, during and just after WWII. I also bought a 50p paperback written by Helen Lederer also a brilliant comedian.

We travelled from the carboot sale to spend the day at Abersoch after a pit stop at our base for a cooked English breakfast. We took a few snacks and drinks, some of the magazines that I had bought the day before and our folding beach chairs. We spent about 3 to 4 hours sitting in the sun with our toes in the sand and people watching with boats bobbing by. After a while David said he fancied a beer in the Zinc Bar which has a terrace at the back overlooking the harbour so we packed up and headed there. I was driving so just had a tonic water and pretended their was a gin in it and David enjoyed his beer in the sunshine.

We headed back late afternoon and after a shower and change we were out for one final meal. We opted for traditional fish and chips with mushy peas and a hot chocolate fudge brownie with ice-cream. Up early Monday morning to drive home and in time for me to work from mid-morning onwards. The end of a great weekend away and just enough to re-charge our batteries.

Three Carboot Sales

My cat woke me early this morning by gently placing her paw on my face. It's not love just hunger. Once I fed her we got a wriggle on as there were three carboot sales to visit. First off was the Cheshire carboot sale. David bought nothing - a first for him. I had a few good finds and here are my purchases:

Nine home magazines; Ideal Home, House Beautiful, Real Homes etc. at 3 for £1. I bought nine which cost me £3 which is less than the cost of one when new. They are from January 2017 backwards to the middle/end of 2016.

A 100ml bottle of Dolce & Gabbana L'Imperatrice 3 which was £10. This is new and unused. The seller worked at Debenhams and had bought it at staff rate. I also bought this Louis Vuitton 30 Speedy style bag from her for £5. I have a few of these type of bags and just have them stored in one corner of my bedroom.

I bought a few bits of costume jewellery. This cubic zirconia ring for 50p and this set of 8 pairs of stud earings for £2.

From the same lady I bought a jar of her homemade marmalade. I normally buy her homemade lemon curd but she said she was behind with her preserve making so all she had was the one jar of marmalade.

Some Hugo Boss reading glasses for £1.

A brand new golf shirt and wool gilet which still had the tags on for my dad. I'll put this away for him for Christmas.

That was pretty much it - slim pickings and I have to say some pretty rude buyers pushing in front of me. At this point we decided to head towards home and call in at the more sedate and genteel carboot sale in Dunham village. I bought masses of DVD boxed sets from one seller. They are all like new and he was charging £2 a set. I bought The Blacklist Seasons 1&2, Black Sails Season 1 and the complete series of Alcatraz.

I also bought a Laurent Perrier hessian case for 50p. David faired better and bought quite a few CDs and cassettes.

I bought a couple of designer carrier bags for 50p each. I'll pop these on top of my wardrobe and use them for storage. Who can resist a real Louis Vuitton and Mulberry bag, even if they are made of cardboard.

I couldn't resist a vintage Halina Viewer complete with box & instructions for 50p. David still uses slide film and we have lots of slides from holidays gone by so we can use this to view them all rather than set them up in a carousel.

We then moved on to the final carboot sale at St Margarets church. It is always such a cute sale here and they serve tea and cakes inside the church. Someone was playing Lord of the Dance on the church organ when we went inside too. So British!

I bought a pair of new Hotter Mabel pumps for £2 which are in a teal green. The colour is actually called Lagoon. I couldn't be bothered trying these on and sadly they are too big for me so they are destined for selling on eBay.

I bought a load more DVDs as they were 25p or 3 for £1. This included another boxed set of a series called Bones.  I have plenty to keep me occupied if there is nothing that takes my fancy on the TV over the next month or do.

I bought a couple of reels of silver twine which were new and sealed and priced up as £2.49 from WHSmith. I paid 20p each for them and will use them for tying up Christmas presents and gifts.

Well that's it for this weekend's bargains. We are away in Abersoch, North Wales next weekend so will miss the Cheshire carboot sale but we do have the little sale in Porthmadog to look forward to.