Another bento, and some thrift store finds

While the power was out on Tuesday, I went through old pictures that were saved on my laptop and found this bento that I never posted. Not sure why, it must have been a busy week (as compared to all the other weeks that are so uneventful and slow, haha). This one was a dinner for the girls, and had dry salami chunks on panda food picks, bacon-wrapped green beens (I just steamed a few green beans then wrapped them in microwaved bacon), black olives, bird nests made from coiled whole wheat buttered noodles, and cutie oranges for dessert. The girls were kind of lukewarm on the whole wheat pasta stuff, by the way, and actually so was I. The next time I'll use Barilla Plus pasta instead, which we all love (it has extra protein, which is nice if your kids don't eat enough meat). You can see all of our bento pictures and read about where we get the equipment by clicking "Bentos" up at the top of our site. I can't think of a good transition from bentos to thrift store shopping, so just picture that screeching sound when you run the needle over a record and I'll jump right in. A few folks heard me say that Ree's purple sequin vest on fashion friday was from a thrift store and asked about our other thrift store finds. I'm always happy to talk about a good bargain, so here's a pic of the most recent goodies for the girls that I've found at local thrift stores. The items averaged $1.50 each, and I really like the purple tie-died t-shirt (Ree can't wait till it's out of the laundry and she can wear it), the red-white-and-blue halter dress (which I'm thinking will look cute for the 4th of July), the red and orange butterfly overall dress from Pumpkin Patch, all the Gymboree shorts, and all the fun sparkly or velvety princess dress-up stuff in the bottom row. The pink sequined dress is going to be used as a photo backdrop for a bento, then my mom will convert it into a long vest for the girls' dress-up box. Fun stuff! I usually browse around for a few minutes after I drop off bags of stuff for donation. So far I've managed to drop off FAR more than I bring home, which I'm sure TubaDad appreciates. Heh.