Surprise snail

It's not easy buying gifts for people when you are frugal and hate wasting money. I always go through agonies trying to justify spending more than a couple of pounds on something which the recipient will probably put into a drawer and forget about. It's not that I am mean or too tight to shell out the dosh, I would happily treat people with a gift if I knew exactly what they needed.

This is why I don't do Christmas shopping, I traipse around for hours wracking my brains trying to match the exact gift to each individual person, then give up and go home with nothing. It's wastefull to buy stuff that someone doesn't need. They smile as they open the wrapping, and carry on politely smiling, when what is really going through their mind is, what on earth has she given me this for?

I am going down to Hampshire this weekend for my best friends 60th birthday party, I spoke to her on the phone last night to ask her for any hints as to what she would like. Carol doesn't actually need anything, having chosen a much more lucrative career path than me, I know her house is lovely, and she wears the best clothes and accessories. I asked if she would like something for her garden and she replied an ornament would be nice.

I had a trip to the garden centre in mind this morning when I finished my business in town. I called in the hospice charity shop on the way back to my car to see if they had some new knitting wool in. Down at the bottom of the well stocked shop is the household and ornaments section, and then I saw it, straight ahead on the middle shelf, the perfect garden ornament. A very large painted snail, perfect, only it wasn't a proper garden ornament it was a biscuit barrel. But it's lovely, and you don't have to put biscuits in it, I am sure it will sit happily under a hedge and play with all the other snails. I hope Carol likes it.

Daily spend - £3.50 charity shop
£1 Redcurrant bush. £1 Plant feed.