Yard Sales

I used to be an avid yard sale-er but now that I work full time, I really don't have the time that I wish I did to go to yard sales. I did see one in my neighborhood on Friday on my way in to the office and drove past it, then backed up and I'm sure glad I did. I picked up a very pretty little plate and asked the price when she said ten cents I picked up a few more old things that caught my eye and then found some old books that I wanted to stack to vary the height of some objects in the bedroom. Anyhow, I photographed my loot for today. Can you believe when I asked how much, she told me $1. I gave her two and left happy!

Out of Your Comfort Zone

I participated in the "Out of Your Comfort Zone" challenge at my favorite crazy quilters yahoo group. I'm a newbie stitcher and I just had to complete a block and the challenge was to do something you don't usually do. I have never done any silk ribbon embroidery before so I knew that would have to go into my block. I also have never had a feature patch on a block that I did. I was disappointed it that though, the patch that I bought on etsy was printed on a tightly woven fabric so it was kind of hard to stitch through it. Maybe I needed a smaller needle, not sure what I may have done wrong. Anyhow I didn't get the block finished by the deadline so I'm still working on it, but here it is as I photographed it for the challenge.

Happy Birthday Molly!

My little girl has grown into such a lovely young lady. She will be turning 22 today and graduating from college in December and who knows what after that. She has a lot of ambition so I am sure she will do well in life.

We will be celebrating with a shopping trip on Wednesday. She is working in Harrisburg doing an internship today and will probably be exhausted. She just arrived home tonight from a weekend in LA and is somewhat jet lagged,add that to the fun filled jam packed weekend and I'm hoping she won't be to tired to shop!

The photo is of her 2nd birthday.

Happy Birthday Molly.... Love ya!

Auction

Today I cleared my schedule and did something that I enjoy doing, I went to an auction. It was an estate sale and located down the street from where I live. The family lived in the house from 1943 until about 9 years ago and the sale was today. The weather was almost perfect and the sale was held in a big old tent.

There was a lot of depression glass....I don't collect depression glass, nor do I collect slag ware or milk bottles which were all in abundance. There was a lot of primitive stuff but among all that, there were a few treasures....

I love the candelabra that I purchased, it looks great in my turquoise dining room. The large pitcher and glass has a repair and is not perfect. I was not happy to hear the auctioneers announce at the beginning of the auction that they don't have time to inspect the glassware and you buy it as is....so they were not announcing the condition of anything.... I don't like that at all.....I bought the pitcher to put on the floor in the kitchen to fill with hydrangeas or something dried so it's ok that it isn't perfect. My husband put it on top of the china closet in the kitchen when I brought it home and it may stay there for awhile.

For $1 I bought some vintage dresses. One of them is already on my mannequin, they were not in good condition but good enough for Miss Frannie. I got great buys on doilies and dresser scarfs, etc. I was able to get the stuff for $5 a box. Can you believe no one else wanted them!

I love ironstone so I am always on the look out for it; the only ironstone that they had were two large platters. The biggest one is a size I don't have and weighs 8 pounds....can you imagine that platter with a 20 pound turkey on it? I would need to have someone carry it to the dining room for me! They sold them together and I bought them. I'll be using the large one to replace a metal tray I have propped up on the top of a bookshelf. The smaller one will be added to my collection of ironstone platters in the dining room on the shelves above the windows.

So that was my day.... I needed a day to just sit and do nothing! Today was the day.

Babies!

This past weekend Molly came home so that we could visit the newest baby in the family. My nephew, Tim and his wife, Emily had a baby boy born 13 months to the day after their first child that makes two boys for them. I guess that will be an active household. Molly loves babies so she was excited to go play with Evan. He slept the whole time we were there (that's the kind I like). Anyhow, congratulations to Tim, Emily and Tucker, here's wishing a bright and happy future to Evan.

Photo of Molly and Evan Devine. That reminds me....I want to paint Molly's old high chair white, it was wooden and the finish baked off in the attic so I want to get it prettied up for Tucker (the older of the Devine boys) to use when he comes to visit. So be watching for that project.

Wild Black Raspberries

Last night Molly text messaged me to let me know she would be coming home to visit today.  I had something planned that I knew she would be excited about and sure enough when she said "what can we do?" I was ready with an activity and I suggested that we go pick black raspberries.

From the time she was a little girl we have had a secret black raspberry patch that we can walk to and pick from.  We don't get a lot of berries  but it has always been an activity that we have done together and have done every year. 

The night before on my evening walk with the dogs I discovered that they were ripe and I picked a few and thought to myself that I'd be picking raspberries with the dogs this year.  So as it turned out I was as glad as she was that we could pick raspberries together again one more year.

It's Lunch!

As an avid blog reader I am surprised at the number of women out there who blog about the beautiful food they prepare. I'm not one of them. I've got an idea that the world is divided into two groups of women, those who love to cook and those who cook to survive! I would be a member of the "cook to survive" group on most days.

I do enjoy sitting down to a beautiful table and beautiful food, but believe me the effort is wasted at my house. I have good intentions and have a small garden with lettuce and basil and other veggies growing and today I actually remembered to use them. Just for me, I picked some lettuce and basil and added it to my hamburger roll along with a couple pickles. I used more of the lettuce for a bed to put a dab of potato salad on and then cut up a strawberry to add a bit of color to the plate and I ate in the dining room and felt quite special.

Ok, so if you are not a member of the "love to cook" group, I have a challenge for you to go the extra mile this week with your food presentation and see if your family isn't impressed!

Time for an update

My computer is not feeling well....  the M fell off and has been glued back on, it seems to be running slow and the battery is about dead.  I ordered a newer, faster one and as soon as it comes, about July 2....  I'll be blogging again. 

In the meantime since my computer is only working sporadically, blogging  is not working well for me...  till later....  

A New Boyfriend!!!

Ok, she says he isn't her boyfriend but they have been dating since about January and tonight I finally got to meet him. He graduated from the college Molly goes to in May and is back home looking for a job in Pittsburgh. Anyhow he is visiting with Molly and I met them both for supper before she had to go to her evening class. So I took the opportunity to take a quick photo.

The reason I was in Selinsgrove was to take the dogs to the PetSmart spa. Pardon me if I upgrade it to a spa in my mind, it was over $1oo to get a haircut for two dogs. Rusty did get his teeth brushed and had special shampoo.  Here is a photo of Rusty while he was getting clipped. The girl did a great job and they look and smell great!  And Stewart relaxing at home.

Mosaic Monday

I took photos again tonight of what's blooming in my garden in Central Pennsylvaina. I'm guessing these flowers are all pretty famaliar. One of the white ones is wild honeysuckle. Does anyone else have this one? I have a love-hate relationship with it, mostly I hate it because it is so invasive and is everwhere. But right now for a few days it smells heavenly when it is blooming. So today I almost love it. But as soon as the blooming is over I'll be out there with my clippers trying to get rid of it...again!