February 28, 2006
Goodwill, Somerville, MA

How to Be Well Dressed, Joan O'Sullivan, $0.50.
How to Decorate with Color, William E. Hague, $0.50.
How to Help Your Husband Get Ahead, Nina Fischer, $0.50.
How to Shop Wisely, Charlotte Montgomery, $0.50.

These four booklets are from the Amy Vanderbilt Success Program for Women which was published in the late 1950's - early 1960's. I previously bought several of the other booklets at the flea market in Wellfleet, I think I was with my Terrible Brother. The nice flea market lady gave me ten of the booklets for $2. She was happy to get rid of them, and I was beside myself with glee. Other titles AVSPfW include How to Be a More Interesting Woman, Serving Food Attractively and Add Spice to Your Life.

Ahead of me in line was a lady with a cart full of things. She asked about the staff, whether they were volunteers or paid employees. Manager X was summoned and said most were paid, with a few volunteers, mostly adults with Down's Syndrome from a local workshop. She announced her desire to volunteer, so she could 'get to the good stuff first'. He was nearly speechless, a rarity for him, given the number of crazies he deals with daily. He then said 'and that would be the problem'. Most of my local thrifts have a '24 hrs. on the floor before the employess can buy it' policy.

When it was my turn to pay, Manager X looked @ How to Help Your Husband Get Ahead and announced the title to those in line*. He said 'A head is a good thing to have, married or not.' We all had a good laugh and talked about the difficulty in not having a head, without a mouth, how would the husband have asked for a date in the first place?



The Mystery at Lilac Inn, Carolyn Keene, $1.00
The Bungalow Mystery, Carolyn Keene, $1.00
The Secret of Shady Ranch, Carolyn Keene, $1.00
The Secret at Red Gate Farm, Carolyn Keene, $1.00

The Nancy Drew books are in pristine shape. I don't think they've ever been opened, much less read. They are excellent reading when one is ill. Try it.

Total: $6.26

*Behind me in line is a cute boy I see thrifting out and about every once in a while. After we finished laughing about the headless husband, I complimented him on his Irish fisherman's sweater. He thanked me and said he got it @ the Goodwill in South Boston for $2.99. I babbled on about the history of Aran sweaters, how each village had different patterns. "Why?" he asked. "So when their fishermen washed up dead on the shore, they could be identified" says Miss Useless Information. He looked a little horrified, then told me he had a driver's license and didn't need to be identifed by his sweater. God, I'm bad at flirting.