Dover/West York: September 2009 Archives

I love art. I get that from my mom, who is good at almost any art that comes her way. I, on the other hand, am normally not good at it, but I do it anyway!

So when our pastor's wife - a local artisan - offered a mosaic class to our church's members, Mom and I both jumped at the chance. Over two sessions, with a little homework, we each created a masterpiece for our house.

Here's Mom's, an abstract piece that works with the colors of our house:

Here's mine. It's sort of "impressionist" - it's supposed to "be" something, but it might not be obvious. Can you tell what?

If you're interested in creating your own masterpiece, The York Town Craft Guild offers classes just like the ones we took, also by Lynn Gilbert. Check their site for details; the next two-class mosaic session will be Oct. 24 and Nov. 14. They offer tons of other classes, too, so if breaking glass isn't your thing, maybe you can find another new hobby! I know I will definitely be making more of these in the future.

Many of you know that frugal living is among my passions. Reading newspaper ads and coupon-clipping are like breathing for me.

So imagine my delight this week, when one of the most expensive things I buy - disposable razors - turned out to be an awesome deal!

The Bic Soleil razors are on sale at Target, advertised as a 4-pack for $3.99. Now, that in itself is great. But this Sunday's paper had a coupon for $3 off the Bic razors. So I'm thinking, four razors for $1.05 with tax? Awesome!

It just kept getting better, though! I got to Target, and in the bin with the sale label, were bonus packs with two FREE razors.

All in all? Six razors. $1.05. Happy Joan!

The highlight of my Saturday was a trip to the Totally Free Yard Sale held on the grounds of the Mount Royal Auction in Dover Township.

If you hadn't already heard about the event, the name really was self-expanatory - people donated their unwanted "stuff," and, yard sale style, it was laid out in the yard of the auction house, free to anyone who wanted it.

We donated a BUNCH of stuff - mostly books, but outgrown clothes and toys of my daughter's, too - in advance of the event, but we had a few more things to add, so around 11 a.m., we headed up to drop those off and see how the event was going.

They had already given away LOADS of stuff by then! It was amazing.

(Pardon the image quality, my cell phone camera is being really weird. Among other things, the sky wasn't dark, as it seems to be here!) The neat thing in this picture is, look at that heap of boxes toward the top left. Those were just some of the empties!

For my part, I was thrilled with how well it turned out, glad to see people finding things they needed or wanted, and, yes, I admit, I found a cool pair of brown sandals, which was a great side benefit! (And Hubby found some interesting books donated by other people!)

If you want to know more, check out the full story here.

Faithful readers of this blog know that I split my grocery shopping between Weis, Giant and Walmart depending on what's on sale. (In fact, I'm pretty fanatical about it.)

One thing I noticed while at Weis recently is worth mentioning: their campaign to help the local food banks, as the weather turns colder and the holidays approach.

They have an option where you can buy a bag of prepackaged "most-needed" food, which they will deliver to a local food bank.

There is also an option at the checkout to easily add a donation of $3, $5 or $10 to your order, which netted me the nice sticker pictured here. You can read more about the program on Weis' Web site, here.

I'll be excited to receive a news release at the end of the campaign, telling how much was raised. I'm hoping that even in the tough economy, it'll be pretty significant.

Hubby took me for a "fair date" tonight. Best date ever!! He won me a Kit-Kat and Starburst playing the candy spinner game, and then... I introduced him to the infamous Boxall's I Got It... and I won!

I chose a very lovely new lasagna/roasting pan as my prize.

Other cool trivia: Among the other contestants/spectators were Congressman Todd Platts and his family. (And I'm happy to say someone in his family won a prize a few rounds before me, too.) Only in York County indeed!

This one comes from loyal reader Jo, a devoted member of the Greater Dover Historical Society.

What is this item?

It was found in a barn in the Dover area and donated to the society. It's fairly small, but very heavy for its size.

Any ideas? Leave us a comment. I'm at a loss; someone earlier had suggested a harness of some sort and while I could see that (with the chain at the one end), it seems odd that you'd use something so heavy.

Help!