~shopping satisfaction~

Yesterday was the last time I will be making one of these for a while, as school holidays here have now begun. For his last primary school lunch L ate everything except the sandwiches, which returned home in their wrapper completely untouched. I suppose that is my hint to try something new next year, instead of peanut butter day after day! I made a quick visit to the shops to get the last 2 balls of yarn needed to finish my Azuki top, and snapped up a few extra items I’d like to show you. First more Christmas tree decorations – these “sweet home” hearts are from the Japanese $3 shop near Borders Books:

Every year I pop into Smith & Caughey’s wonderful Christmas section to add a few more to my collection. I was a bit later this year and the selection was getting low, but there were still a few must-haves, like this wooden reindeer and Fimo Santa:

and in true recessionary mode I snapped up these ones for only $3 each:

At the $3 shop I also picked up some pretty pretty Japanese origami papers. I am sure I will find something fun to do with them – decoupage maybe?

But my biggest, most exciting purchase is next. After making all those Christmas cookies I searched high and low for my cheap plastic a la supermarket icing set to no avail. I suspect it may have been used as a water pistol at some stage and now lies buried in the garden – who knows?! All I do know is that it isn’t where it should be!

I prefer the syringe icing sets to the bag icing sets, and it seems everybody else does too, because bags were all they had left in Smith & Caugheys and everywhere else I looked, until finally I found some in a kitchenware shop (Stevens) next to Masco Wools. But I gasped with glee like a child finding candy when I looked further behind them on the shelf, and saw this:

I had to have it! My mother has an original 1950’s set, and I’ve always admired it for it’s quality and fine nozzles. And of course it has nostalgia plus plus plus!

But at $89, could I justify it?

The other model was half the price. Mmm.

It was the last one. Mmm.

After a couple of minutes consideration I walked tentatively towards the counter. Mmm.

Then I saw the sign:

25% off everything today only!

Well that immediately stripped away any feelings of guilt, and out of the store I skipped, the delighted owner of a beautiful Tala icing set, made in England, packed in a retro tin in all its shiny gorgeousity, complete with a quaint instruction booklet and superfine writing nozzle.

Now I feel like a domestic goddess!

I also treated myself to the November Country Living magazine, and whilst reading it on the bus on the way home I stumbled across my brand new icing set featured on page 16. Isn’t it funny how sometimes little things happen, and they really seem like they are meant to be?