This Black Friday Was Pretty Green

I had one mission to accomplish today - Doc wanted a big frying pan. When I was recuperating from dinner yesterday, I saw that JCP had Farberware saute pans on sale for $29.99. So I went over and got one - it's nice and deep, has a lifetime warranty, and was marked down from $80. When I brought it home and took off the wrapper, there was all this advice about how you can't cook with nonstick pans if you have birds. And you especially can't burn things if you have birds. Who knew?

I also got him the big pillow he wanted. I didn't get up early, so I got there around 8. It wasn't at all crowded, but after my trip to Lutheran Family Thrift, the mall was packed on the way home. I heard on the radio that 4 ladies got in fights at Kohl's - one pair fought over panties, and one pair fought over baby clothes. Weird. Find some other outlet for your energy.

So onto Lutheran Family Thrift. It's on Harbor Boulevard, which basically runs the entire length of Orange County, so I don't really know what city it's in. I think it's Anaheim. It could be Orange. I've been there once before, and scored a Dolce and Gabbana belt and a BCBG warm up set. It's a big crammed store and I had to dig. But they sent me a card saying that everything was 40% off for Black Friday, so I figured why not? I looked at some of the stuff in the mall on the way out of JCP, and it all looks cheap. If it's not cheap looking, then it's way overpriced. So off I went, after meeting a friend for coffee.

We will start with the score of the day. This might actually be the score of the century.

This is a boucle knit suit and matching skirt. The sleeves are bracelet length and the buttons are exquisite. Now for the reveal.

OMG. St John. Size 2. And the red tag said $4.94. Yep, less than 5 dollars. I was sure that when I took it up to the cashier, that they would tell me that it was $49.94, but nope. It's in perfect shape and fits perfectly. It's yellow with black and white boucle and black braid and black and white buttons. Even $49.94 would have been a steal. When I got home, I looked up St John suits, and one very similar suit was $1595 at Neiman Marcus. But there's more.

I got another warm up suit. That's what I call them, but I thnik there are different names for them. It was brand new with tags. It's maroon velour, made by Style and Co, and has mesh trim. The trim is around the hood, the pockets, down the side of the legs and sleeves, and on the inside. Here it is.

It cost $10. I looked this up also, and each piece is $49.95. Then I also found a dress that was new with tags. It's made by Rhapsody.

I had never heard of this brand before, but it turns out that it is also sold at Macy's, and the closest one I could find was $129. Doc didn't like the dress - he said it looks shapeless. We'll see after I get it all styled and everything. That makes a difference, but men don't know about that stuff. The last item I got was a Peck and Peck sweater. They sell those at Stein Mart. It may even be a Stein Mart store brand. It's black with tiny pearls on the sleeves. The retail is $59.95, but they are almost never full price, since Stein Mart has continuous sales. It was $2.

So I added it all up, and it appears as though I spent $53 for $1900 worth of stuff, including the pan, which was the most expensive item. I will go to Lutheran Family Thrift again next year. I keep finding treasures there. That's what it said about them on Yelp - if you don't mind spending an hour looking, you can find really good deals.

But that's not all. Back in 2009, I left one hospital to work at the one I work for now. Right as I was leaving, there was a class action lawsuit involving underpaying of wages for missed meals and overtime and such. I got a letter in the mail today telling me that my share of the settlement will be $900. Not bad for doing nothing. I was reading the names of the 5 employees who initiated the lawsuit, and sadly, two of them have died in the intervening five years. One of the dead people had ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and one of my dear friends helped him to the end of his life. So I have to call her and tell her - he had no spouse or children, so somebody is in line to get his share, which is $20,000 according to the letter. Maybe it's her. She took care of him after he could no longer walk, eat, or even breathe, so if she is his beneficiary, she certainly deserves it. If not, that 20k get redivided between all the members of the class. IT would only mean a buck or two for the rest of us. The entire settlement was on the order of 16.5 million dollars. Bad hospital - you shouldn't rip off your employees.

Well, I have no exciting plans for tomorrow, but one never knows what may arise. I'll keep you posted, and I look forward to seeing everybody else's Black Friday scores!!!