Latest garage sale finds

It's a Saturday morning ritual now. We play in bed with the boys for a little while (until someone gets hurt), have breakfast and then I head out with the latest garage sale listings from the local paper.

For me, it combines a great many things that I love: me time (naturally), bargain hunting, giving old things a new lease of life. Plus, of course, it serves as a great way of stocking up on presents and buying everyday household stuff (my regular buys range from toys and garden pots to books and picture frames) without trudging through the shops (have I mentioned I hate shopping centres?).

Last week, I wanted to maximise on family time so we all went. Graeme wasn't so keen, until he spotted a fish tank at one house. Five dollars.

Brilliant, we've been thinking about a small fish tank for a while now.

We snapped it up, then headed out to buy some fish and fish food. Except there's more to keeping fish than we thought... There's the water conditioner, water ager, plants, pump...

Anyway, here are our new pets. Pip, Tat, Syd, Monk and Pop (all named after characters in Luca's books... kind of). Trouble is, we only remember who Pop is.

I thought Luca would be the only one getting any pleasure out of it, but oddly enough I love watching them swim around in our kitchen. They're strangely calming, though I do have to get used to the deep-fat-fryer sound of the pump.

Today, I came back with a $2 basket – just the thing for toys that drive me wild don't have an actual home, a few 2011 Country Style magazines and a stunning hydrangea plant.

I love hydrangeas. I love their fat, blousy flowers heads and their creamy lavender and violet-blue colours. One day, I'll have great big sprawling bushes of hydrangea, so that I can have them in vases around the house.

So I had a lovely Saturday. Afternoon spent on the sofa with magazines while all the boys slept, followed by a swim in the lagoon and lamb on the barbecue.


How was your Saturday?


Vanessa