goodwill peacock

i don't think i had been to goodwill (or salvation army or d.i.) for probably 10 years until i moved here. i shopped there all the time when E was a baby, we were poor and it was a good place to find cheap stuff. i don't know why i stopped - i'm guessing i went in there pregnant and morning sick once, and the smell almost sent me over the edge.

well, the goodwill in our little town here is quite good, and sometimes i take my kids in there when we need to kill half an hour while waiting for karate class to finish.

we found E's halloween costume there a few years ago. i wish i had a better picture - she had a walker and knee-highs and orthotic shoes and an old lady purse. (i know you're catching a whiff right now, just from looking at that picture!)

i now go in every few weeks. sometimes i totally strike out, and sometimes i hit the motherlode.

i found this treasure about a month ago, just after i finished repainting and paneling my dining room:

i loved his mottled turquoise coloring. but he had some very special blue rhinestones glued to the center of each tail feather. i wasn't so sure about those, but since i wash everything i bring home from goodwill (you REALLY never know where it's been!) i stuck him in a sink full of sudsy water, and the blue sparklies fell right off.

he still smells like goodwill, though. i think its coming from inside, where the ceramic has not been sealed, and therefore absorbed stale cigarette/old person smell in his previous home.

i wonder if i can spray some polyurethane inside and seal the ceramic. what do you think? do you think that will stop the smell?

in the meantime, he is sitting in my newly painted dining room, making me happy. i just use a lot of air freshener.