Where Have All the Spoons Gone?

You know that black hole where socks disappear? I think there's a black hole for spoons, too!

I started with 48 teaspoons 10 years ago (two 60-piece sets). This is what I have left! I still have plenty of knives, forks and tablespoons!

Where did they go? Well, no one is talking.

The cost of replacing them with the same pattern (now discontinued by Oneida) is over $2.50 each. Ouch and ain't gonna happen!

Fortunately I have a set of my MIL's silver for the holidays, so it's everyday flatware that's the problem.

I have a solution, however!

Vintage spoons!

I picked up 12 from a antique mall I like. I love the old mixed matched look and the fact that they were only 50 cents to a dollar each.

No two are the same, but they have a similar feel. I think they're from the 40s and 50s. I like them so much, I think I'm going back for more. And maybe forks... knives and tablespoons.

Uh oh, I fee a new collection coming on.

I hope there are no black holes in your spoon drawers.

Till later,

~Katherine

Linking to these Parties:

Mockingbird Hill Cottage's My Favorite Thing #30

My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday

You know that black hole where socks disappear? I think there's a black hole for spoons, too!

I started with 48 teaspoons 10 years ago (two 60-piece sets). This is what I have left! I still have plenty of knives, forks and tablespoons!

Where did they go? Well, no one is talking.

The cost of replacing them with the same pattern (now discontinued by Oneida) is over $2.50 each. Ouch and ain't gonna happen!

Fortunately I have a set of my MIL's silver for the holidays, so it's everyday flatware that's the problem.

I have a solution, however!

Vintage spoons!

I picked up 12 from a antique mall I like. I love the old mixed matched look and the fact that they were only 50 cents to a dollar each.

No two are the same, but they have a similar feel. I think they're from the 40s and 50s. I like them so much, I think I'm going back for more. And maybe forks... knives and tablespoons.

Uh oh, I fee a new collection coming on.

I hope there are no black holes in your spoon drawers.

Till later,

~Katherine

Linking to these Parties:

Mockingbird Hill Cottage's My Favorite Thing #30

My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday

A Peek Into History in an Old Cookbook

I love old cookbooks. Like this one below. It's just beautiful with it's embossed cover. You don't find books like that today. But it's more than just a pretty cover, it's what's inside. And I'm not talking about old recipes.

I'm not sure where I came across this book. Maybe an old bookstore, but the embossed cover had me. It was published in 1932, the heart of the Great Depression. 

It's filled with frugal recipes that stretch a little meat a loooong way, like this recipe for Chicken Corn-Meal Soup: 6 cups of chicken broth, 1 cup of diced chicken, some onion and diced potato and 1/4 cup of corn meal. Hmm. I guess the corn meal thickens the soup and makes it feel more substantial. 

There are more recipes that sometimes leave me scratching my head. Grape Nut Omelet!

Different. Maybe GrapeNuts add an extra crunch. Or fiber?!? 

While I could browse these old recipes for hours, it's the other little treasures archived inside old cookbooks that I like to discover. 

In this cookbook there were a bunch of treasures. Old handwritten recipes written in the back of the book: Mrs. Schnader's Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake looks worth trying.

Pieces of memorabilia like this 1969 dog sled scene from the Los Angeles Times Travel section. It makes me wonder why it was saved. Was the the lady of house dreaming of travel or was it just something that caught her eye?

The most interesting piece of treasure was a letter  folded inside the book that gives a little insight into the original owner and proof that things never change. Even in 1933, divorce, movie ambitions and family dysfunction prevailed.

I hope there's no dysfunction in your life and all it beautiful on this lovely day. 

Till later, 

Katherine

Linking to:
A Favorite Thing @ Mockingbird Hill Cottage 
Sunny Simple Sunday Link Party @ Sunny Simple Life

I love old cookbooks. Like this one below. It's just beautiful with it's embossed cover. You don't find books like that today. But it's more than just a pretty cover, it's what's inside. And I'm not talking about old recipes.

I'm not sure where I came across this book. Maybe an old bookstore, but the embossed cover had me. It was published in 1932, the heart of the Great Depression. 

It's filled with frugal recipes that stretch a little meat a loooong way, like this recipe for Chicken Corn-Meal Soup: 6 cups of chicken broth, 1 cup of diced chicken, some onion and diced potato and 1/4 cup of corn meal. Hmm. I guess the corn meal thickens the soup and makes it feel more substantial. 

There are more recipes that sometimes leave me scratching my head. Grape Nut Omelet!

Different. Maybe GrapeNuts add an extra crunch. Or fiber?!? 

While I could browse these old recipes for hours, it's the other little treasures archived inside old cookbooks that I like to discover. 

In this cookbook there were a bunch of treasures. Old handwritten recipes written in the back of the book: Mrs. Schnader's Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake looks worth trying.

Pieces of memorabilia like this 1969 dog sled scene from the Los Angeles Times Travel section. It makes me wonder why it was saved. Was the the lady of house dreaming of travel or was it just something that caught her eye?

The most interesting piece of treasure was a letter  folded inside the book that gives a little insight into the original owner and proof that things never change. Even in 1933, divorce, movie ambitions and family dysfunction prevailed.

I hope there's no dysfunction in your life and all it beautiful on this lovely day. 

Till later, 

Katherine

Linking to:
A Favorite Thing @ Mockingbird Hill Cottage 
Sunny Simple Sunday Link Party @ Sunny Simple Life

Time to Fly!

I'm officially unemployed again! I probably should be upset, but I'm not!

No, instead I'm ready to soar!

It was fun and in another life it would have be a dream job, but my six months at the Mouse Factory was just a job. Now it's time to get back to my real life! Yayyy!!

The little guy in the pic is a symbol of how I feel. Isn't he cute? He a solar-powered flying pig. He doesn't really fly, but his wings do flap when he's put in a lighted location. And the brighter the location, the faster his wings flap!

My oldest son gave him to me at Christmas to join my flying pig collection. He's been sitting on the coffee station for a while and this morning as I was photographing him, I started to wonder.... "where is my flying pig collection?"

Moving, rearranging and working has taken it's toll on my poor little collection, but I did find a few of them.

Some were hanging out in chest in the living room. (Hi guys! Sorry I haven't talked to you in a while!)

And another was tucked in a corner on a craft shelf!

But where are the others? Well, that's anyone's guess.I think it's time to find them all and gather them in one location again.

While I'm doing that, hope you're having a wonderful Sunday and are ready to soar, too!

Till later...

Linking to: 

Sunny Simple Life: Sunny Simple Sunday
Mockingbird Hill Cottage: A Favorite Thing

I'm officially unemployed again! I probably should be upset, but I'm not!

No, instead I'm ready to soar!

It was fun and in another life it would have be a dream job, but my six months at the Mouse Factory was just a job. Now it's time to get back to my real life! Yayyy!!

The little guy in the pic is a symbol of how I feel. Isn't he cute? He a solar-powered flying pig. He doesn't really fly, but his wings do flap when he's put in a lighted location. And the brighter the location, the faster his wings flap!

My oldest son gave him to me at Christmas to join my flying pig collection. He's been sitting on the coffee station for a while and this morning as I was photographing him, I started to wonder.... "where is my flying pig collection?"

Moving, rearranging and working has taken it's toll on my poor little collection, but I did find a few of them.

Some were hanging out in chest in the living room. (Hi guys! Sorry I haven't talked to you in a while!)

And another was tucked in a corner on a craft shelf!

But where are the others? Well, that's anyone's guess.I think it's time to find them all and gather them in one location again.

While I'm doing that, hope you're having a wonderful Sunday and are ready to soar, too!

Till later...

Linking to: 

Sunny Simple Life: Sunny Simple Sunday
Mockingbird Hill Cottage: A Favorite Thing

Christmas Traditions

It's beginning to seem a lot like Christmas...

LOL, that song has been playing in my head for a couple of weeks.  The fact is, I'm not totally ready yet... this coming weekend is the big event, however. We'll be hauling in boxes and boxes of Christmas stuff. But I do have a few Christmas traditions that take place right after Thanksgiving. Like putting up the Christmas treasures I've accumulated this past year. The pink Christmas tree above is a recent purchase... for the girls. They decorated it the other day with the sparkly butterflies and fairies (and the CO detector is new, too, and UGLY! But what can you do!).

And I can't wait to have cookies and hot cocoa with the girls with this cute set I found at a sale last summer.

 

And my big find a couple weeks ago at the thrift store... these vintage-looking Santas. They're not really vintage, just resin made to look like carved wood, but nice, nevertheless. I scooped these four fellas up, plus a ceramic Santa, too. It looked like someone was getting rid of a Santa collection. Kind of sad, in a way, but I'll make them a nice home.

 

And then there's my Christmas coffee mugs. The morning after Thanksgiving, I pull them out. They're a mish-mash of styles and all mostly from the thrift store or gifts from office mates. There's something really comforting about pulling out those cup and sipping my coffee or tea. And that, of course, is what traditions are all about.

How about you? Do you have some favorite Christmas traditions? Or pretty finds?

 

 Linking to:

Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here

It's beginning to seem a lot like Christmas...

LOL, that song has been playing in my head for a couple of weeks.  The fact is, I'm not totally ready yet... this coming weekend is the big event, however. We'll be hauling in boxes and boxes of Christmas stuff. But I do have a few Christmas traditions that take place right after Thanksgiving. Like putting up the Christmas treasures I've accumulated this past year. The pink Christmas tree above is a recent purchase... for the girls. They decorated it the other day with the sparkly butterflies and fairies (and the CO detector is new, too, and UGLY! But what can you do!).

And I can't wait to have cookies and hot cocoa with the girls with this cute set I found at a sale last summer.

 

And my big find a couple weeks ago at the thrift store... these vintage-looking Santas. They're not really vintage, just resin made to look like carved wood, but nice, nevertheless. I scooped these four fellas up, plus a ceramic Santa, too. It looked like someone was getting rid of a Santa collection. Kind of sad, in a way, but I'll make them a nice home.

 

And then there's my Christmas coffee mugs. The morning after Thanksgiving, I pull them out. They're a mish-mash of styles and all mostly from the thrift store or gifts from office mates. There's something really comforting about pulling out those cup and sipping my coffee or tea. And that, of course, is what traditions are all about.

How about you? Do you have some favorite Christmas traditions? Or pretty finds?

 

 Linking to:

Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here

If Pigs Could Fly

You know that old figure of speech, "when pigs fly?" It's generally used to scoff at the improbability of something. I'm a rose-colored glasses kind of girl and to me it has a different meaning. "If pigs could fly..." well, then, anything is possible. Flying pigs, therefore, hold a very special place in my heart.

Flying pigs are not easily found... real or otherwise. I've been collecting them for years. I have a small collection for inside the house, mostly packed away awaiting to be found again. So it's outside where my flying pig fantasies have to reside. And at the moment, I only have three to show. 

I take my flying pigs anyway I can find them. This little guy came to me with a broken wing. Thank goodness for gorilla glue. He sits outside my front door.

This rusty fella is looking for a home. I'd think he'd like it better in some tall flowers. Maybe next year.

This little girl has the perfect spot, snuggled under a Virgina Creeper and next to a pot of inpatients.

I'm always on the look out for a new flying pig (I break for flying pigs!).  Hmmm....

Maybe that's my problem. I'm always looking eye level or below for a new pig to add to my collection. Maybe I should be looking up...

You know that old figure of speech, "when pigs fly?" It's generally used to scoff at the improbability of something. I'm a rose-colored glasses kind of girl and to me it has a different meaning. "If pigs could fly..." well, then, anything is possible. Flying pigs, therefore, hold a very special place in my heart.

Flying pigs are not easily found... real or otherwise. I've been collecting them for years. I have a small collection for inside the house, mostly packed away awaiting to be found again. So it's outside where my flying pig fantasies have to reside. And at the moment, I only have three to show. 

I take my flying pigs anyway I can find them. This little guy came to me with a broken wing. Thank goodness for gorilla glue. He sits outside my front door.

This rusty fella is looking for a home. I'd think he'd like it better in some tall flowers. Maybe next year.

This little girl has the perfect spot, snuggled under a Virgina Creeper and next to a pot of inpatients.

I'm always on the look out for a new flying pig (I break for flying pigs!).  Hmmm....

Maybe that's my problem. I'm always looking eye level or below for a new pig to add to my collection. Maybe I should be looking up...