This weekend it is free to visit Historic Scotland properties and Arbroath Abbey is a somewhere where we have kept meaning to actually go to but to date have never managed. So despite it being drizzly and not so warm and the place being a ruin (even if it is a very pretty and fascinating ruin) I stuck to my promise and off we went. We actually had a great time and the small people even got to dress up. Here are my wee Monkettes in action. 
So once we'd climbed all the stone spiral stonecases we could, read all about the Abbey's history and the fact that it had suffered a fire so intense that it had melted the bells!, taken in the view from the various walkways, wandered through the graveyard which my wee one's found quite sad as many of the gravestones had the names of very young children on them (inevitable as the Abbey is over 800 years old), checked out the painting of Cardinal David Beaton (who sounded quite a character as he took himself a mistress and fathered 7 illegitmate children of whom he gave 2 churches to the two favourite sons) we bid farewell to the lovely staff and walked into town to treat ourselves to a feast of Subway.
Well we live in a small village so such things are a rare treat to us. Once in town I had to pop in to the charity/thrift shops just to have a look.
And am I glad we did.
I picked up 5 books in MarieCurie Cancer Care shop for £1. That's 5 books for the total of £1 Craziness! * Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About by Mil Millingbton
* My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson
* Unravelled by Maria Housden
* The Firework-Maker's Daughter by Philip Pullman
* Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
One of which is a book that I've been wanting to read for ages so at last it is now crossed off my list of longing.
The next charity shop full of goodness was The Heart Foundation Charity where I found the cutest wee owl for 99p!.
Man my hand looks ultra weird in that picture. I've just signed up for my first big swap over at Craftser. The Owl Swap. So when I saw this little guy sat on the shelf I just knew I had to get him as my inspiration and memento of the occasion. Isn't he just the sweetest little guy?While in the Heart Foundation Charity Shop wee one spied a Bratz Hair Styling Head. She had her eye on them around Christmas time but it never made it on to her letter to Santa. At the time I seem to remember them retailing around the £20+ mark but how much did it cost us? £1.75 and wee one hasn't let her out of her sight since the money changed hands. She wouldn't even let the lady in the shop put her in a bag. I couldn't even get to put it with the rest of my purchases to get the full group shot but here she is after she's had a good wipe down and had her hair re-styled by wee one ;) The necklace is actually one of wee one's bracelets that she decided would look just great on Mrs Big head, A mini stylist in the making me thinks.
Is it just me or are they dolls really strange looking?And the fun didn't stop there..straight out of that shop and it was a short walk down the street and into the Cancer Research Charity Shop where wonder of wonders I found 2 more books that have been languishing on my wish list.
* Vince and Joy by Lisa Jewell
* The Family Way by Tony Parsons
Another bargain a £2.75 at the check out :D
After all that excitement we had to call our shopping spree to an end as big one was due at a friends for a sleepover. Today was a good day. I can go to bed tonight (probably with a book) knowing that everyone had a good day. What more can you ask for.
