Challenge complete! Five Goodwill stores in five hours, lots of great stuff, one big weird, fabulous chair that was an amazing bargain, and a really great day with my Mom and Dad.

I usually arrive at Goodwill wide open for adventure. To me, finding something completely unexpected and amazing — something I didn’t even know existed— is one of the best things about thrifting. 

But this year I’m trying a new approach.

I realized that arranging flowers into the coffee mug took a little more care than plopping them into a vase. For starters, a mug is much shorter than a vase so the stems need to be cut more. On my first attempt, I cut the stems too long, still too long, then—oops!—too short. Then I got the length right, but the stems kept falling out of place.