Ben's ShopGoodwill Picks: A Day of Summer Fun

World, meet Ben. He is the ShopGoodwill Manager here at Goodwill of Central Iowa and sees all of the unique, amazing, and wacky finds that come into the shop each and every day. Over the years, Ben has learned which Pyrex dishes are extremely collectible and can identify which pottery has the markings to be recognized as an antique. He has agreed to share his knowledge and passion for Goodwill with the world by sharing his commentary on his favorite weekly finds that are available for bidding on ShopGoodwill.com/DesMoines. For now, we’ll let Ben begin.

The past few months have brought on a lot of gardening, closet organizing, patio sitting… domestica at it’s best(ica). I for one am going to have to figure out what the heck I am going to do with the impending crush of tomatoes. No seriously. My two plants are the size of small livestock. I am going to have to figure out what to make other than sauce, sauce, sauce, caprese, or sauce so please let me know what else I can do. If you are doing some gardening we have some Duluth Trading Company Overalls that are perfect for you. They haven’t even seen a garden (yet), because they are new with tag! What’s better than one pair? Two!

Shop Green Duluth Overalls
Shop Blue Duluth Overalls

I know the forecast is calling for rain for like the next five days, but it can’t rain that whole time, right? Right??? Surely there will be some moments of sunshine (we definitely need it). My recommendation is to take full advantage after gardening and play some Bocce Ball. We have a set right now that even comes with instructions so you don’t have to google it. (Plot twist I just googled it and it looks like a lot of fun.)

Explore Bean Bag Bocce

Okay so maybe it does rain for literally forever this week and we’re all stuck inside. Everything is clean, everything has been organized, you even dusted the ceiling fan. What to do, what to do… Want video games? We got you covered. We have a Wii system, with two controllers, with two nunchucks, and a microphone, AND eight games! All that’s missing is some household competition on Karaoke Revolution. May the worst singer win.

Shop Wii +Games

I also learned how to make incredible brisket about two months ago. We don’t have a smoker so we did it in the oven. The trick? (Well one of them) Use a large onion for every pound of meat that you have. Cook those down for like an hour under really low heat, then put them on top of the brisket before putting it all in the oven. Okay now I need brisket. I can’t bake my way out of a barn, but if you can then I bet you would really enjoy this KitchenAid stand mixer that comes with attachments.

Shop KitchenAid Mixer + Attachments

After dinner/dessert, what’s better than pulling out your old turntable and listening to some classic vinyl? Etta James, Joe Cocker… maybe you even have a little music room with green leather chairs and that oriental rug that has been in the family since you were knee high to a duck. We can help you out with that too; how about some Vintage Beatles Records?

Shop Vintage Records