No, one thing has nothing to do with the other!  It’s been a busy strange week.  The week before lockdown in 2020 I joined Assistance League of Omaha.  We are a large group of woman who take the community to heart and embrace it and help where we can with community outreach programs.  We have a Thrift Shop.  Assistance League bought a new building, more centrally located and we are doing very well.  When I received a phone call to help price things for the new thrift shop I said, “Absolutely.”  This was the first thing I did with the league so I asked about pricing etc.  I was told to put a price on it that I thought would sell in the thrift shop.  We have very generous donors and some things we receive have a certain amount of value.  In handling some of these items, I realized that if we put things online sent them out into the world, it would give us the opportunity to find the right buyer and we could do so much better and really help our community so much more.  I made this comment to the shop manager but there was no foundation to do so. One thing leading to another I offered to put some things online myself and donate the funds back to ALO.  I did this for a few items and then suddenly the National Assistance League had the same idea.

I’m proud to say we are in a test group of 8-10 Assistance Leagues nation wide doing a startup with Shopify.  I know nothing about building a website and when we are having our Zoom meetings with our coordinators they are speaking Greek to me.  Luckily we have a tech person who is also in ALO who has tirelessly put together our site.  What I have done is photographed, researched, and put together descriptions and posted over 100 items for our shop.  I have learned so much about so many different things.  Sometimes the research is amazing.  We go live tomorrow!  I am so excited.  This is going to be a really great thing for our organization.

An Omaha shop that I love because it’s in a restored old building in downtown Omaha Prairie and Bloom has opened another location in west Omaha.  

They are having their soft opening and they are just chalked full of realistic faux plants and flowers and really fun seasonal and non seasonal home furnishings.

  This place is a treasure trove and now on 142nd and Center it is much closer to me, although I still love the old location just because of the building.

A new antique shop has opened in Ralston NE.  A suburb of Omaha this cute shop is full of vintage and antique finds.  

It’s called The Rustic Roost and is heavy on chickens but has cool door knobs, a wonderful birdcage, a nice old desk, old prints, wash stands etc.  Worth a stop.

Then there is the book.  This book I ran into last March at Barnes and Noble.  It grabbed me but I didn’t buy it that day because it was expensive and I was buying other books.  I went back a couple weeks later and it was gone.  It has been sitting in my Amazon cart for eons and I finally pulled the trigger.  I’m so glad I did.  

The Rebirth of an English Country House St Giles House.  You know I’m a sucker for scruffy and a derelict falling down house story is right up my alley.  Add in the fact that it’s English, and has beautiful architecture, moldings, floors, doors, and gardens well let’s just say I want one soooo bad.  This book grabs you from the first sentence.  Yes, it’s the story of a house but it is also the story of Nick Ashley-Cooper the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury.  An Earl who was never meant to be the Earl and the need to save this house that had fallen into ruin.  The story is so compelling and the photography sublime.  He walks you through the house in all it’s abandoned gory details and takes you through the restoration process and the reasons for the decisions they made.  It’s a great read and the eye candy doesn’t hurt either.

I will leave you with a sunset taken barefoot in the back yard on a 66 degree day.  Today in February!

Thanks for stopping

Shelley