kitchen blues

I believe everything here was either purchased at garage sales or thrift stores.

I keep an eye out for towels & hot pads in good shape.

Now and then I find them for a quarter - or less!

'Cause of gas prices (and a full house), I haven't been "shopping" so much lately.

If I see a sign or pass a thrift store going somewhere else,

I often stop though.

Just to check it out.

The egg cup is upside down. It holds more toothpicks this way.

I broke down and purchased the blouse/shirt so as to have SOMEthing to different to wear to church this morning. It's a comfortable shirt with an interesting pattern. The gorgeous pin was an unexpected gift from Claudia. It arrived with a book of poetry that I "won" in her recent giveaway! Thanks, Claudia!

After all the fun coloring them, they forgot to take 'em home!

happy easter from our house to yours

We've had two of our ten grandchildren with us the past few days.

I'll be back to "normal" Monday. At least that's the plan.

I'm hosting Easter dinner tomorrow...

Chicken cordon bleu

Romaine/mandarine orange salad/poppy seed dressing

Cooked broccoli

Sweet potatoes

Angel food cake with whipped cream, strawberries & pineapple

what the easter bunny brought

One of the very few bunnies left when our daughter (now 32) outgrew her bedroom full of bunnies!

Now he (she?) is on our mantle waiting for Easter.

Look what the Easter Bunny brought in out of the rain today?!

After it dries off, my husband will begin to repair it. It probably will be painted.

The more I read Janie's Blog (and her daughter Annie's),

the more I'm getting into painted furniture!

The pulls on this dresser were worth getting wet for!

There is an eagle in the center of each with 3 stars above it.

Great storage here. I can't wait to see the finished product.

an eggs-planation

What to do on a cold, damp spring day?

A rare (for me) craft experience!

Used up fabric from old wall-paper sample books.

For further eggs-planation, click HERE.

Sophie

Does it get any cuter than this? My sweet friend's child, Sophie!

(In enlarging the photo, I lost some clarity...but none of the cuteness!)
Thanks, Christy.

weekend wardrobe

Dark, windy and damp...

maybe a little color will perk me up...

I often forget to add a scarf to my outfits -
(or simply despair of tying them attractively).

Not this morning!

I found this scarf in a thrift store while on vacation recently.

It works with the striped shirt from my "closet".

a view from the heights

This morning, I took my mother to look for a dress to wear to her granddaughter's wedding. No success. (She decided to wear something already in her closet.) Then we wandered to the shoe department. She wanted to show me some of the high heeled shoes she'd seen when shopping with my dad a few days ago. That's me on the left; her on the right. I decided to try these on. I held on to both sides of the shoe aisle to walk to the end where I took this picture in the mirror.

Honestly, the actual foot part was quite comfortable.

The height, however, was ImpOSsIBLe!

The price was about as steep as the heels were tall!

(I'm SO spoiled by the price of my thrift-store-purchased shoes.)

Wearing these shoes, I was close to 6' tall!
Having lived 62 years at 5'5", I think I'll stay down here.

It was quite a view from the heights!
Sheila is the "Queen of Shoes" (and accessories) as far as I'm concerned.
She frequently views the world from the heights.
She's also a couple of decades younger than me, I think.

no idle chair!

This is the high chair we found curbside a few weeks ago.
Gary repaired it and painted it white.

We moved it into our dining area yesterday.

It stands ready to seat a little one when they come to share a meal with us!

It is not an IDLE chair!

Until it is called into service, I thought I would put it to use

holding these colorful, vintage "Companion Library" books.

I found these books (each containing two young peoples' classics) at a thrift store.

I filled a grocery bag with books for a total of $5. (These were just a few of them.)

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

(William Morris)

pfalzgraff

Many years ago, my parents gave each of us girls a basic set of Pfaltzgraff dinnerware - our choice of patterns. I chose Heritage.. I've not been sorry. (I had forgotten the name of the pattern but looked it up when someone asked me recently.)

Pfaltzgraff Pottery was founded in 1811 by German potters in Pennsylania. Pfaltzgraff started making dinnerware in the late 1940's . The longest running pattern has been Heritage, designed by George Briad. This first was introduced in 4 colors: Bennington Brown, Williamsburg Green, Burnt Olive, and York White. York White is what we now refer to as Heritage. In the early 1960's, the business was renamed The Pfaltzgraff Company. In 2005 the company was sold to Lifetime Brands, and Pfaltzgraff patterns are now manufactured overseas.

One of my sisters also selected Heritage.

It's nice to share when one or the other of us needs extra pieces to serve a larger group.

I happily pick up additional pieces of Heritage at thrift stores when I see them reasonably priced.

I've found Heritage to be a most versatile pattern.

It blends nicely with other white ironstone in my collection.

I think it's well-named!
I'd like to think that it may be passed down to one of our children
who will appreciate its traditional simplicity.

more free and just-about-free

Free eggs and the pink basket I found for next-to-free at my favorite thrift store yesterday
AND
the free chair (found curbside), assembled and painted!

Today I'm wearing a denim skirt with pockets and these comfortable shoes that I can slip in and out of easily as I slip in and out of the house! The sun is shining and there is work to be done in the flower beds!

I like the pattern of this vintage barkcloth. It was an old curtain.

I've used the fabric to cover the seat of this chair and to make pillows.

peacock feathers forever!

While in a thrift store during our vacation a couple of weeks ago, I spied this belt. If I could lose about an inch at my waistline, I could actually WEAR it! It really is beautiful.