I was a mere baby of 21 when I arrived at Union Station with a touch under $600, a cat that hadn't peed in 27 hours, and no place to live. Grand images of living in a big weird city sustained me. I dreamed of a city that would receive my dream of wearing a giraffe print skirt. Toronto crushed me fast. Oh so bland and grey this city is.

Egg cups: $.49/ea at Goodwill

Wooden candle holder: $0, roadside find

Rare are my feelings of betrayal. However, I felt like a triple-crossed Shakespearian heroine the day the Dollarama jacked their prices to $1.25, $1.50, and $2. Dollarama Plus they called it. Judas kiss I called it.

But I still can't resist.

Pointy Buddha: $1.25 at Dollarama

Fat Buddha: $1.50 at Dollarama

Iron Buddha: Souvenir (therefore price is no object)

And so you've reached the end of my scheduled posts. The dirty secret is that I've been in Japan and I'm just about to head to Hawaii. Okay, it's not a dirty secret because I've been yapping about it non-stop for three months. However, despite my best pre-blog efforts I must leave you with a 10 day electronic silence. Perhaps longer if Hawaii treats me too well . . .

In the meantime, go visit Laura and Emily and they can help you out with Christmas shopping.

As far as my good memory can reach, I've always had a Mason jar full of plastic animals and a Pocahontas.

Take that for what you will.

Psychoanalysis waiting to happen: $0

"I figured it was gaudy enough for you."

I could feel the objection in my throat. You know, the coming of the justification for poor taste, likely a sentence that starts with "Yeah, but . . . "

Then I gave up. It was true. It is gaudy enough for me.

Lamp: $0, roadside find

I like National Geographics because it doesn't matter if you take a few decades to get around to reading them. Nothing says timeless journalism like a Norwegian on a grass raft.

Memories of a decade I never knew: $0, roadside find

Now who on Earth would leave these two pretty birds locked in a rusty tin can just 'cause their tails were broken into four pieces? I almost pulled a CSI:NY and hunted the perps down in 48 minutes or less.

Birdies: $0, roadside find

Plate: $1.49 a Goodwill

And so this life is complete.

It was like 14 Christmasses, 87 birthdays, 10 pounds of ice cream, 3 fuzzy kitties, and a case of beer of joy when I discovered chairs that matched my teapot and cozy.

Four chairs: $0, roadside find