Honesty.

Dang, it tries my patience sometimes.

On Wednesday, I went to the thrift store that seems to have severely overpriced furniture, but also has cool stuff like the blue glass cake plate and the aqua Pyrex, with weekly markdowns.

So I got this:

I remember when I first saw it for $29.92. I loved it, picked it up, tapped it, and it sounded great. Yay. But not for $30.

I think last week it was down to the $14.91 price. However, I saw the $6.96 on Wednesday and HAD to get it! No chips or anything on the lid, but the gold has worn a bit around the rim of the lid. AND it's Austrian. Pretty. (I tried to find the pattern on Replacements.com, and think I found it - $117.95. A same dish by this maker, just with a different floral pattern, is $155.95!!!! Yikes. I'll have to investigate further.)

So, I go to pay, and had also gotten a book about Victorian customs $2.92, I believe), a 60¢ Mary Engelbreit mug, and was thinking about this aqua vase. I asked the lady to ring up everything except the vase first because all I had on me was $10 and they only take cash.

I get frustrated with this place because it's at the end of my thrift store "rounds" and it closes at 6 - SO early, and they only take cash. So half the time I'm all rushed there.

Anyway, I ask her if she knows what color tag will go 50% off ... they do that on Fridays. There was a neato Grandma's Flower Garden quilt top I was looking at $14.xx, so I wanted to wait for 50% off. Actually, it wasn't there anymore when I checked on Wednesday (it was there Saturday, maybe), but I just wanted to know.

She says she thinks it will be 50% off, she's wrapping the dish in newspaper, and she goes to give me the total, and I'm like - "Did you ring it up?" She totally didn't!! Dang. I could have afforded the the vase if I'd let her do that. Ha! So she realizes she didn't, thinks about unwrapping it to check the price, then asks me, and I tell her, and she says "I trust you!"

So she puts it in and gives me the total, and it's $11.34 after tax. Crud. I ask her to take off the Engelbreit mug, then. She's looking at the register, then starts digging in her pocket, and I'm like, what? Is she going for a key to the register or something?

She ends up throwing in the extra buck for me (I had 34¢) just to not have to do an override. She asked if I was there often, and I said at least once a week, and I thanked her and told her I'd pay her back next time I was in.

So there it is. An Austrian covered dish for $7, A TOTALLY REPRESENTATIVE SYMBOL of my unquenchable habit of being honest. Urgh. I think that's worth at least $7.

That's what I'm gonna think about every time I look at it. That's not so bad.

I also stopped by last night on my way home from work to try to give her $1 (even though I only had $20 coming straight from the ATM!), but they had just closed, the door was shut, they didn't want to let me in, and couldn't understand what I was yelling through the glass door since they didn't feel like opening it!! So I left. Will try again next time.

While I was taking pics, though, I found a HUGE chip on the bottom of the dish, another with another smaller chip on the inside lip of the bottom. Boo hoo. I will have to be careful because the big chip flaked a little bit, too.

I think it's a pretty good deal, though, and at least the chips are where I can't see them.

That's the bummer about that place, they have nice stuff, but sometimes when you wait for it to go lower, it's been all dinged up and whacked about in the meantime. Like that set of Japanese teacups and saucers, with the teacups all broken now, in the bad! Tragedy.

But hey! I'm honest.

1,000! Whee, attention.

Yay, a milestone. I woke up yesterday to see "1,001" and that was nice. Thank you all for coming and I hope I'm not boring the dreck out of you!! And thank you to all who have left comments. :)

Cupcake frenzy!!!

I am totally on a cupcake kick because I am apparently a huge follower. I see other bloggers' posts on adorableness thingies and I seem to develop a hankering as well.

So lately, it's cupcakes. And candy. It all started with a picture of a cupcake candle, and then I found one at Target. And now ...

Like, look here, at this Christmas display I took a picture of in Target:

I saw it and decided it was going to be my new favorite Christmas theme for the tree. Even though I already have tons of decorations, actually.

I decided I totally loved these gumdrop ornaments AND THE LITTLE KNITTED SWEATERS!!! The blue is my favorite because it has the most sequins, but the pink is nice too. If the tree is green I think there is no need for green ORNAMENTS. I say that because they have the knitted sweaters in a lime green.

Here are the cupcake ornaments that I was SALIVATING over and finally got a few of!!! I'm pretty sure they are all sold out in the stores now, actually. I think I got 2 of the white and a half dozen of the pink. Mmm, pink. Pink pink pink.

So the new tree theme I have is white/glass, light blue/aqua, pink, and GLITTERY!! Will take pictures of the tree when I put it up. Dang, I'm behind on a lot of decorating stuff.

In my hunt to FINALLY find a picture of the darn stuffed cupcake from Target, along with the PINK cupcake candle (that I missed out on!!!), I found THIS from Hallmark:

It was pretty pricey, probably something like $24.99. Oy. I will look, but not touch.

However!! Since I got the sewing machine from Target for $65 over the weekend, I can now indulge my craftiness and start in on the quilting stuffs (been buying up old flat sheets at the thrift store for nice, worn in, recyclable material!!) as well as the cupcaking creating.

I found gorgeous pictures and ideas on other sites so here they are!

This is from eBay. I can TOTALLY make this.

Betz White is apparently totally famous, with her own book, and on Martha Stewart, and she makes stuff like this:

She also sells kits where she has coordinated the sweaters and fabrics and you put it together. They are so sweet and adorable!! There are several sites with directions for how to knit your own cupcake pincushion but I love the idea of recycling sweaters into something adorablemente like this.

Lastly, these girls are totally diehard!! I am swooning over their Gymboree find of cupcake-themed children's clothing and accessories. So! Stinking! Cute!!

Sugar high - over.

I got a bit lucky, Pt. the 2nd

1. The Estate Sale.

Here are some pics of the craigstlist listing that got me hooked. I still have some of the Christmas ornaments that I've been meaning to take pictures of ... bummer I didn't pick those up the other pink ones that were at this sale, because they are selling like hotcakes on eBay - just regular, pink, vintage, Shiny Brite glass ornaments! I did see another lady swoop down on those things and grab a half dozen boxes, though. However, I like my clear glass with white and silver glitter, etc. ones better. I picked out all the more fancy pink ones that I could find, too.

We walked through the driveway which was lined with the bigger furniture pieces, to the garage which had the bulk of the stuff. This was the view into the back of the garage. Lots of people were just digging through the piles of Christmas storage on the floor - in the middle here. All the boxes at the bottom of the picture, in the middle, were full of Christmas things. The umbrellas I neglected to look through were on one of the back shelves! The also had some vintage fruit crates with original labels, but they were in such sad, horrible condition - totally grease-stained and everything, and looked like they had been stacked up in the garage for makeshift shelves of greasy greasecans.

Here, they had set up a row of shelves about in the middle of the garage. Can you see the Pfaltzgraff canisters in the upper right??? :) There was some Pyrex, too, but I passed on that and a lady walked off with it shortly thereafter.

Here is the covered patio area that had the more "valuable" small stuff. I just picked up 4 Glasbake mugs, though they did have some pretty, white, milk glass.
The Glasbake mugs were on the table on the left, though I know you can't hardly see what's on these tables here. It was nice browsing, though, and much less crowded in here.

And here is the beautiful picture from The Hunt for Vintage which inspired my eye for vintage Christmas ornaments. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs, and I love her pictures, and she has SUCH a good eye AND gets amazing prices!!!

I love this display and think it's such a good idea. I've been collecting quite a lot of candy jars, and covered jars - from England and Italy, incidentally. Mini-ornaments in a jar or glass bowl would look nice. I also got a GIANT Italian blown glass jar filled to the brim with various old wine corks (no way on earth I would EVER drink that much wine, sheesh) which I have been playing around with for display. There has to be over 200 corks in there.

Christmas and other catchy-uppy posts next. :)

I got a bit lucky.

I ran into a spot of what I would call "luck" last week out hitting the estate sales, and thrift stores, and the Vets Stadium Antique Market!! I am so addicted. It'd be nice to have a hunting buddy but it's cool to also just wander by myself.

Alright, I'll keep it to 3 excursions:

1. Estate Sale.
This one was from craigslist, I believe, and there were lots of people there bright and early!! I got lost on the way there, even though I had looked up the directions. (That is why I will be looking for a dang GPS on Black Friday!!!) They advertised it as an 80-year-old collection of items. While I was there, I believe I heard that it was a couple of spinster aunties that lived there!!! Never married, and they kept EVERYTHING.

I love love love love love the vintage glass Christmas ornaments that I got, thanks to inspiration from another blogger (link to be added, and pics, when I get back to my apartment and computer!), but I was MOST pleased with this set of canisters:

I saw the set, liked the country feel, and noticed that they were Pfaltzgraff. I asked about them, the nice, nice, nice jolly man running the front said $15 for the set of 5 (I actually have a salt one instead of the Cookies one in this picture), though I wanted $10, and he went to go ask his associates to run it by them!! The sugar one even had a big old bag of sugar in it! In the end, after I dug through 4 boxes of old ornaments, I went to another more supervised area - got 4 Glasbake mugs (one green, one blue, two pink - all pastels!) for $4 - to check out, and she counted the set of canisters as $7. Um, I didn't correct her.

It was at the end of this sale that I walked out and saw a young teenage girl with a red umbrella WITH A STRIPED CANDYCANE HANDLE. I was suffused, awash, with regret, because I remember seeing a stack of a half-dozen umbrellas in the garage when I had been digging through, and ignored them. It is the HANDLE that did it for me. Yowza. It honestly even looked like Bakelite, darn it. However, despite its cuteness, the pattern of stripeyness was a bit smushed and marred around the curve and bend of the umbrella, making it look like a measled zebra. It would have been $1. I asked the guy. So I keep telling myself about its perceived flaws because I'm a bit sad I missed out on it. I did get another browny and pink vintage umbrella fro 50¢ later at another sale, though.

2. Thrift store.
I have a mad obsession with Pyrex. It started out with the clear glass stuff, like what I used in chem class, and especially what I prefer to use for storing leftovers in the fridge. Also, Anne's nice mommy gave Jen a pink gooseberry mixing bowl for her wedding shower, which I've seen Jen using, and now I absolutely love pink glass. I've been fortunate enough to find a few sets of cups, and bowls, too, in the pink. So I definitely keep an eye out for this stuff when I'm out and about, and on Friday, I found this:

It was not sold as a set, but they were priced individually. It is not my favorite patern, but I love the color because it will go with my strawberry stuff!! (whee, aqua and red, just like in this picture, incidentally!) The large was marked $8.98, the medium $6.98 or $4.98, and the smallest was $2.98. Not great prices, by any means, but cheaper than eBay, in good condition, and it was okay.

When I got up to the counter to check out, I had them stacked together so that I could carry them properly. The lady took a look and only entered the price for the large one. Yikes! Stuff like this has happened before at this place so I should watch it. I pointed out to her that the other bowls had prices too, so she picked up the smallest one, rang in the price, thanked me for being very honest, and then wrapped it up.

She never did enter the price for the medium one. Oops. So it was a good deal (at least, in this area) for that set.

3. Vets Stadium.
This one is sooooooooo cool. I had to rush to church so I didn't even go through half of it, this time, when I usually do prefer to browse as long as possible, and there were some really awesome things and deals this month. (I still am meaning to post about last month, when it was completely surreal with the Santa Ana winds blowing through like the dang Sahara desert ... it was sad and pitiful to see all the broken and smashed glass and pottery all over the lot! I fully regretted not having my camera with me.)

I found a wonderful linens seller that I don't recall seeing before ... her aprons are what caught my eye (Nov. 21 was National "Tie One 'Round" Day, did you know?). Then I saw her table runners, and hand embroidered napkins, handkerchiefs, and pillowcase. THE PRICES ARE GREAT!! $4 for a tablerunner, $10 for matching pair of pillowcases. Everything clearly washed.

The most amazing thing I found was a giant, like, king-size, redwork embroidered flat sheet. I really must take a picture of it, it is just stunning and compelling. It was tagged $25, which I thought was a steal for the sheer effort.

Well, I was digging through the table runners, to make sure I had a good look at everything, and the lady running the booth saw me with this sheet, which I had set on the table, and she picked it up and it looked like she was going to take it away. I told her that I did want it, and she asked if I knew how much it was. Her nice, nice, nice, NICE husband said that we had just been chatting and the price hadn't even come up yet. I said, "Well, I saw the tag for $25." She stopped, looked at me, and said, "Oh no, no no, this is $35. You go anywhere else here and they will charge you at least $65, $70, this is all hand done." I felt very very mild irritation but told her I still wanted it anyway, while I continued looking.

I'd found a gorgeous delicate appliqued table runner (pic coming as well), along with another embroidered table runner that was ALL FRENCH KNOTS. She told me her table runners were all $4, "even all this, look at this, mija, this is all hand done! for you - $4," but I did notice that the french knot table runner was marked $12.

Anyway, I got everything together, folded it nicely (folded the $12 price tag inside the runner), and told myself that I would just let her have a look at the pile and if she saw the price tag and wanted to charge me that price, I'd probably go along with it because they were JUST that nice. She looked through everything, didn't open anything up, charged me $4 for each price tag, went down on the price of the pillowcase pair, threw in a free apron, basically ... but still said the embroidered flat sheet was $35.

So I bought it. And honestly, when I post a picture, you will seeeeeeeeeeee ... stinkin' price tag was CHANGED! From $25 to $35, I think it's pretty obvious. Grrr. Anyway, I think I don't care because it is definitely worth at least $35. Totally. And the table runners themselves are beautemous. She said there were originally pillowcases to go with the sheet, but we never found them, and then she said she thought she was arranging at home and they were shams, and she had pulled all the shams out. I said I was definitely interested in the shams, for the set, and asked if she could call me if she did find it, just so I would know to come the next month. "Oh, no, I can't, I'm so busy, I'm working 40 hours a week ..." Hmm. I guess she does this as a hobby???

The husband was nice enough to inform me that they got all the items from a rag distributor, and they are usually in sad, horrible, awful condition, but she washes and bleaches them and spruces them up. I CANNOT BELIEVE what some people use for rags. Yeesh. She also had a nice pink tulip quilt but wanted $75 or $65 for it. Le sigh. Quilts are dang expensive.

I hope they have the shams next month!! And I am GLAD I hid that stupid price tag, what with her changing the price on me.

Pics to come when I get back, and once again, happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving - and Black Friday.

Hello, peeps.

Happy Thanksgiving!! It's such a nice holiday. I have been looking forward to it all month, and especially, WEEK. It's been hectic having parent conferences, the kids have been totally wired, and I just need a break!!! We had a good day, though, I had the kids bring soups, veggies, crackers, chips, drinks, etc., for our "Thanksgiving Feast" and we made "Friendship Stew" for lunch. They all seemed to really like it, and I admit it didn't taste too bad. Basically we dumped everything in the crockpot and stirred it together. I tied in themes of hygiene (washing hands, preparing food, cleaning up after a meal), nutrition (veggies, portions, balanced diet), table manners and etiquette (table settings, waiting until everyone has been served, saying "please" and "thank you"), and social studies - celebrating Thanksgiving. I have pics, and I will post this weekend!!

What I REALLY wanted to do after school today was to go home, relax, turn on the computer, and post about all my latest forays into the secondhand business. I have a billion crazy things going on upstairs all jumbled up.

But no. After a fairly wonderful day - and it was quite fun, even if I spend SO much of the majority of my time coralling these dang heathens - I decided to hit the shops. I hit a couple little thrift stores that I usually love, and only got a bag of about 6 big candles (including a sweet pea scented White Barn Candle Co. jar - new!!!, a flowered glass candle, cinnamon, etc.) for $1.91 and a set of 3 shot glasses, also for $1.91. They go with the other set I bought at an antique dealer's yard sale a few weeks back. Oh yes, I also wandered into two "antique/furniture" stores in little dumpy places ... I might go back, might not, but you never know what you can find!!! And before I went to Target (2, and it was nearly 3!!), I hit another thrift store that I usually don't find much at, and spied some very pretty blue and white plates - they were Pier 1, and I ended up passing on them for $1.51 each - but looooooove the red plates that just jumped out at me from the shelf. They were red, and look stoneware, and when I turned them over, they are German, but produced in Spain. They just have this LOOK. They are a bit too bricky/slight tinge of orange to go with the aqua/red theme I'd like to get going some time, but they would work for Christmas. I'll have to pull them out and put them next to some other pieces to see how they go.

And then!! Mad Target shopping! Pretty much all I got were Christmas ornaments. There is a new line of ornaments out (perhaps it was around last year, and I did not notice, since I was focused on other things) that I love - pink, and sugarplum-themed, and all that goodness. I looked at the stuff when it first came out, after the big Halloween clearance, and loved it!! And they have pink stuffed cupcakes! I admit I took pictures in the store because I loved the display so much. Anyway, I anticipate that after Black Friday they will have their typical 15% off Christmas things this next week and I will just go get a price adjustment. Hee.

I am looking forward to Black Friday and should have prepared more, since I could have gotten the things at Target and just gone in Friday or Saturday to have the price adjusted, but I kind of like the feeling of walking into the store very early and joining in the fray. Last year was fairly calm in Target, and they were very well-stocked. Circuit City was another crazy store, and I mistakenly let a 2G SD card slip through my hands ... $2!!! I haven't seen anything like that this year, I'm afraid.

Anyhoo, I then REALLY need to clean because my stuffs are taking up my LIFE!

Tomorrow we are having dinner with middle sis' bf's family who flew in from Texas, up at the apartment in El Segundo that he shares with our cousin. I met his sister last Saturday and think it will be fun to meet the rest of the family. It's interesting to hear what she has to say about his family dynamics and compare it with our own. It's also quite likely that they will be engaged soon and possibly get married next year, so we need to all meet and see where this is going! I think it was very nice of them to fly out for Thanksgiving. And his mom already has the tree up at their home because they won't be back until next week.

Food!! Sis was making cheesecake brownies earlier and will make a few other dishes in the morning. I am in charge of salad and drinks so those will be quite easy to whip up. I should make my lists of what to bring, Miss Scatterbrained!!

Ok, and because Miss Wendy requested it, I will cut this long post off now because I'd like to talk about something else and am switching topics. :)

I TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY LOVE GOODWILL *scream*

Yesterday was just about AWESOME.

It started a little poopy, with a no-show parent conference (the FIRST scheduled, which was, like, not a good sign), the second then rescheduled, but the third - which technically ended up being my first - was nice!! Such a nice, fun, sweet momma that is, with a cute little girl.

So, I made a few rounds to a couple thrift stores before declaring to myself that I was going back to Cafe Corleone. I really thought about going to one chemical-smelling thrift store that is a little bit out of the way, but decided not to since I was basically running on empty in the big ole yard sale van, and wanted to try to get to Corleone's for the lunch prices. I still adore the wholly eau d'vintage-shopping strappy tie aprony-looking tank top I got there last weekend, though.

I'd been lamenting how I wouldn't be passing by a Stater Brothers to take advantage of the 10 2L Pepsis for $10, when I remembered that there was one across the plaza from a Goodwill on the way home from Corleone's!!!!

So I left Corleone's (they sadly didn't have the risotto, which was the ONE new thing I wanted to try), I stuffed in a few pieces of awesome hot garlic bread before diving in Goodwill, then browsed and browsed and browsed.

Found a cookbook with Mediterranean recipes (love the cuisine! love seafood! love Nice, France! and Italy!), then started glancing through the dishes section.

Would you believe I FINALLY FOUND THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

I was seriously hunting up and down and all around town for a stinkin', frinking, frikkin' frakkin' set of these goshdarn goldang PLATES!!!!!!!!

And they were $5.99!!!!!

I grabbed them and hugged them and clutched them and nearly wet myself wanting to jump up and down I was so half-miserably afraid that I was dang hyperVENtilating, it was so surreal.

Yayness!! The universe smiled down on me!!!

I cannot even being to describe the relief now that I have found them. The inner gleaming, the gloating ... (a word which I have taught my students and which they find common occasion upon which to use it LIBERALLY, to my unending bemusement). I think my set is now complete. Now just watch me use them. Which I will probably not do, or do reluctantly, because I HATE IT SO MUCH WHEN STUFF BREAKS AND THEN I DON'T EVEN HAVE A SET ANYMORE!

So I guess I'll just have to go back and keep checking to get more of the stuff.

!!!!!!

Hee!! Glee!!!

Sometimes I just wonder about all the little arrangements that had to come together in order for me to be in the right place at the right time to scoop up the right item, like these gosh-o-malley darn Chelsea floral salad plates.

So much love, it is indescribable.

But I'm easy to please.

I did end up getting the Pepsi (only wanted 5 or so to last me the next few months, I'm really not a huge soda drinker) but they had 10 for $10 AND a $2 off coupon in the store flyer, making it 10 for $8!!!!!

And then I got sea salt and vinegar thick-cut potato chips for 10/$10.

It turned out to be a production, though, because the lines were huge and long - then a manager did open new lines up, and even motioned for me to come to a new line, but I felt bad because I'd already seen another lady waiting for at least 5 minutes, with a giant ole turkey, so I asked her if she wanted to go first before her turkey defrosted for her in line.

And then the nice manager guy never did ring up the Pepsis for $8, NOR the chips for $1 each, so I am glad I checked the receipt before leaving the door!!!! I got that all taken care of before I left and was somewhat taken aback by the manager going back to the chips display where I TOLD him there was a sign that 10 bags were $10 ... he didn't have to THROW the "old sign, they forgot to take it down" onto the counter like that. Eeps! So, instead of a $44 expense (got orange juice and some chicken and pork to try out my crock pot this week!!!), I even got $7 back. Whee!

And I am so stocked on Pepsi and sea salt and vinegar chips it's not even funny. I have the Archer Farms ones from Target, as well.

I'm so addicted to this flavor of chips, and I exactly remember coming upon a half-finished bag that my college roommates left on the dining table, that I helpfully polished off for them. It is so not a combination I would ever have found interesting before then, I think - but Becca was from Massachusetts!

I even ended up hitting another thrift store (the one where I found the blue glass cake plate!) and didn't see anything super mesmerizing, but they had loads of trim - looked like a store discard - so I got beautiful red tassel edging for about $3. Red red red, that is the color for me and my vintage and my kitchen.

And tonight, I went to my new favorite giant thrift store (the one with the Shabby Chic quilt, and Cath Kidston pillows!) and ended up only getting a tile.

It looked a little weird at first, but caught my eye because it was painted in blue on an ecru kind of background, and I love those colors.

At first it looked like ... "Toods Historical Museum"? I wondered if it could be English, since it was a picture of an oldish-looking building ...

Foods Historisch Museum?

And then it dawned on me - Joods Historisch Museum.

Jewish Historical Museum, in Amsterdam. I knew I had a little Dutch locked away in me somewhere!

It was a great find because that part of Amsterdam is one of my most favorite tucked away corners in all the WORLD, QUITE LITERALLY. And the museum is right next to the big square where the Nazis rounded up all the Jews in Amsterdam.

Man. I love my little tile. If I can bear to use it (it's probably just a cheap little tacky souvenir, even if it's going for the Delft-painted look), I'll probably use it as a trivet. But I love anything that reminds me of Amsterdam.

As I was going to check out, another patron I'd noticed earlier up and saw me walking by with just my little tile, and she said, "You know, I'm gonna ask you!"

I always wonder why people say that to me, when it happens.

Anyway, she had her cart full of a few things and wanted me to convince her to put it all back.

She obviously asked the WRONG GIRL!

I started out with the giant wooden abstract bunny on a metal stick, which she said she was going to put on her porch.

Then I asked about her two rose paintings in gaudy weird frames (she said she KNEW she was going to keep those - they were decent, at least oil paintings).

And there was a ceramic (not plastic) picture frame of lavender - then a white milk glass compote - and then she had a couple dishes (cute black silhouetted Venetian/French couple), and a set of dishes for $13.

I tried to ask her what she was going to do with it all (she had answer for everything) and if she could afford it and if she needed it ... and she informed me that I wasn't really doing such a great job of getting her to put stuff back, but I just HAD to tell her that she had good enough reasons for getting everything, if she had the room and finances, and frankly, she knew herself better than I did so I'm sure her counterarguments were FAR more compelling!

Anyway, looking at those little silhouette plates - I asked where they were from, and she said American, and nothing's made in America now, so she knew they were [antique], and that made me want them! because it reminded me of some beautiful cards and stationery I bought when I was in Venice, Italy ... anyhoo - made me want them, and then I pined for them for about 5 minutes when I got in the car. Oh well. I wonder if she ever did put them back. In the end, I told her, that my basic philosophy was - she picked everything out for a reason, and I was totally the kind of person that would much rather buy something, and regret it, and get rid of it, than put it back, regretting it for the next 10 years. I HONESTLY CANNOT STAND THAT FEELING!!

The cashier lady seemed very interested in my tile and was trying to figure out what it said, also, so I explained to her about the whole Dutch thing.

And here I am STILL typing away when over an hour ago I wanted to get all my dumb huge messy piles of stinking dirty laundry over to the laundromat (ugh, HATE laundromat, want and need a washer NOW!) ... so maybe I'll have to actually forgo watching TV to have clean linens and clothing.

Ack.

Nice week so far, just wish it would cool down!!!! One of the kids actually had a heat rash today!!! Ugh. And they have nosebleeds, and are always begging to go get some water, and take off their undershirts, and have me turn the fan on ... I need to stop thinking about it because I either get depressed or very irate.

Goodnight. :)

900 visitors!!

Oh, hooray, I love attention.

Thanks to all who have come to visit and spent an "average of 1:34 minutes" viewing "1.8 pages". Whee, it's like, 2 visitors a day!

I came on today and saw this and wanted to melt. So close to 1,000! That's like, a landmark for me. So will be 100 posts.

*throws a tea party with her stash of goods*

Fabric patterns and designers - like Cath Kidston!

One of my all-time favorite, favorite, favorite designers is Rachel Ashwell, as people who know me can attest to. I usually buy the Simply Shabby Chic stuff she has out at Target (especially when it goes on clearance!!!) and I really like her bedding. I like the mix of colors (never thought I would like white that much, or even pink, much less froofy roses, but like I have said before, I am TOTALLY turning into an old granny cat lady, except sans cat) and the paleness, the pastels, the florals. I haven't ever seen and I doubt I could ever afford her Treasures stuff. But I find her ideas, her look, and her home philosophy utterly inspiring and am always on the lookout for things related.

I only first heard of her when I was over at Jen's house, and her younger sister, who was studying interior design at the time, I think, happened to have a Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic book out on the table. I remember looking at the cover, reading the title, but never picking up the book or even leafing through it or anything. But that is the first time I heard of the chick, and shortly after got really into the Target stuff. (Incidentally, I've run into Jen's sister - and mom - TWICE now, as of yesterday, out on thrifting finds. First time was a local estate sale in their neighborhood, and then just yesterday, at Goodwill! Heh.) This was at least 3 or 4 years ago.

So I love searching for stuff on eBay (have a few things I missed out on during the sales and would love to get), and on some google searches, ended up finding other blogs about thrift store shopping, yard sale-ing (if that is even a verb, though I attempt to make it so) while I was looking for what was then my newest Target obsession - the Chelsea line of dishes!! I wish I had a pic of the flatware, but I've been too lazy to take a picture of it. It's what first caught my eye in the line a few months back when it was regular stuff on the shelf, and I remember making a note to myself to come back when it went on clearance. I never even looked at the salad plates, and then the stuff totally FLEW off the shelves once it started clearancing!!! Horrible.
I love, love, love those floral plates. I was able to get a set of large dinner plates, 2 sets of 2 bowls, and the mugs for 30-50% off. They only had the salad plates in the dots or stripes so I decided to go with the dots, since I think the stripes are a bit ugly. I did, however, get the large salad/serving bowls in the dots and stripes because that was all they had. And this stuff is porcelain!! So I have the floral salad plates, with the polka dot salad plates, floral bowls, and floral mugs. I liked those last two because they have the little butterfly peeking out from the inside. I suppose I could have gotten some polka dot mugs, too, but I really wasn't in love with them. Oops. (They really are very Cath Kidston, though. She has something almost exactly like it out, just for, like, three times as much.)

So the picture I found is this:

from the adorable site freshvintage.typepad.com . The odd thing is, I also came upon a vintage Mikasa set of dishes like the blue pictured there, and I hadn't thought of putting them together. I nearly got the blue Mikasa for full price, but was able to hold off until it went 50% off. It was a slightly different line, but the colors were very similar. What I really need to do is get everything out and set up on the table like I have it imagined in my head! You'd all be impressed, I swear.

So then, I found a link off the freshvintage site and discovered Apron Thrift Girl ! I LOVE her site. She posted about a set of sheets she got, a Cath Kidston print from Ikea.

I was starting to recognize some of the elements of Cath Kidston stuff and was interested in checking it out. A few weeks later, I saw these at a thrift store ...

These aren't exactly the same ones from the store, these are off an eBay listing, actually. I saw one of the flowered print pillows way high up on the shelf in the bedding area, and whacked it down, and a sweet dear old fellow shopper informed me that there was a matching 2nd one!!! I grabbed them both. I unzipped them to check to see if they were slipcovers only, thusly easy to wash, and moreover, to see if they were Ikea - which they were! (Though nowhere did it say Cath Kidston). Then she said she thought I had good taste. Ha! They were $6 each, and one was even labeled $14.95. Don't know what exactly it was for, because it was a hand-made tag, so it was probably for resale in a little shoppy boutique somewhere and couldn't sell! (I do always wonder about gorgeous adorable stuff that ends up at the thrift store somehow!!) And yes, the tag also was labeled "Shabby Chic pillow." The are larger than regular square pillows. These two covers-only sold for $10.50 with $8 shipping. At the thrift store, i also ended up chatting with a nice older lady who noticed the pillows in my cart and was eyeing then. She ended up buying a white-painted cast-iron garden chair that I was hoping would last until 50% off. Oh well!!

So now I officially also have Cath Kidston on the brain, and have a new color combo that I'm diggin' - reds and blues and whites and teals. I was able to get a vintage tablecloth in the 40-ish red/blue/white/smattering of green combo, for about a buck.

Like the Target "Summer Strawberry" line that I got on clearance over the summer!! (Along with a nifty aqua rolling cooler!)

(The color on the plates is way off, somehow, it's more like the strawberry plates right here:)
I love all this stuff. I love matching colors, I love putting things together, and just making it look nice. I just need to find some way to properly STORE and ORGANIZE all this craziness!!

Anyhoo, lately I've also had a mondo quilt fixation (still meaning to post some pics of ones I've gotten lately since for them I hold mondo adoration) and have gotten several off eBay, and a rather uninspired, yet somewhat quaint, patchwork from Goodwill for $6. This is one I am currently watching on eBay, love the colors!!

I had also eyed this quilt because it totally reminds me of the Cath Kidston palette. It was a cutter, though, like, already pieces chopped off the sides and everything. Darn it. The colors, and patterns, and prints, and sheer WORK that was involved in making something like this is quite staggering. What a pity about this little piece, though. It is very sweet and I wouldn't have minded just a swatch for my future "inspiration board".

I'm also hoping to get this one soon, it reminds me of spring gardens!
And, to end this surprisingly long post, at the same glorious thrift store where I found the Cath Kidston pillows, I found this quilt (new, with the new smell, but no tags) for $9.95. It's Simply Shabby Chic from about 4 years ago! I have the matching duvet on the bed right now. And coincidentally, Target has the twin quilt for 50% off and the matching pillow shams for 75% off. I SO remember seeing these in the store and passing on them because I wasn't into it at the time. Agh, naivete and ignorance!! So I bought a few sets of shams and a quilt, why not. I figured I was meant to since it was free shipping with any order over $50.

Still raging over the missed out pink rose quilts, though. That's a story for another time.

Bathroom.

Well, it's Veterans Day and most of the day has gotten away from me already/again!! It is very nice to relax and do absolutely nothing all day though.

It just feels later because it's so dark so much earlier.

Anyhoo, I usually like to start my cleaning frenzies in the bathroom. Since, you know, I use it a lot, and also, it's the smallest room with the least amount of stuff and thusly the easiest to clean.

The apartment came with a couple hooks in the ceiling already. Not sure if they were meant for hanging planters, or what, but there's one above the window/counter that I've always thought would look nice with a chandelier.

I happened to be on Amazon and found one for about $23 with shipping:

So I brought it home on Friday and put it up, and it's definitely missing something without having the small tapers in. And it was MUCH MUCH smaller than I thought it would be. And it's only for candles, bleh. But it looks nice! It fits the smaller bathroom also. I love how the bathroom looks. I've also been meaning to put up a green-matted rose print in a thin burgundy wooden frame that I got at the thrift store for $4. The original price tag was still on it, and it looks like a ca. 1980's tag - $9.99!! Not that much cheaper, but I don't care. I will take a pic soon.

I just really, really, really am enjoying putting things together and finding things that match and what is imagined up in my brain is usually much more productive and complete because it takes a whole heck of a lot less time!!!

Darn, and this long weekend I meant to finish grading up some papers so I would be ready for this week's frenzy.

But I still love my bathroom.

Little Italian Restaurants.

I have two local places that I really like for Italian food. The funny thing is, they are both mom'n'pop - with one spouse being Latino (Mexican and Peruvian) and the other spouse being the Italian one.

Anyway, one is around the corner from my parents' house - Franco's. Their marinara is UNBELIEVABLE. So good, and chunky, and just awesome. It goes so great with the fried calamari. They also have a totally WONDERFUL "minestrone" that is more like a vegetable soup. My favorite, though? Is the stinkin' Chicken Marsala. So. Intensely. Good. Also, $17 a pop for 2 pieces of chicken breast, sauce, and a small side of spaghetti. So I don't go that often. I prefer to take advantage of the lunch specials but they are only on WEEKDAYS!! All day Saturday is dinner prices. Oy. Anyway, it's good every once in a while when I feel like "splurging".

So, my nice cute new-parent neighbors downstairs told me about this other Italian place a few streets over from where we live - Cafe Corleone! (Yeah, like the gangster. They have the pictures from the movie up and everything.) The husband - the chef - is from Sicily. So my neighbors recommended the place, said the pizza was amazing. We had it together for the first time about 3 weeks ago (the week before the new baby came!) and the pizza was OKAY - perhaps slightly undercooked? Or maybe it just got too cold in the car - because the cheese was a bit hard. But I do love me a stinkin' margherita pizza. Yay! Basil!

However, I tried the spaghetti with meat sauce ("bolognese") and LOVE IT. YES, BETTER THAN CHEF BOYARDEE - yet slightly reminiscent. It is a really, really, really good sauce, and the pasta is cooked SO well. Dang. And it's $7.50. I can handle that.

So Friday after school, I decided I wanted to have that for dinner. I ordered the calamari appetizer (totally thought it was fried, and it turned out not to be!) as well as the chicken marsala- just to compare.

The calamari is fanTAStic. It is cooked in a "spicy" marinara sauce, with chunks of onion, and it is SO good!!! I dipped heaps of the garlic bread in it and that was a great entree in itself - $8.50 for the dinner portion.

Scarfed down the spaghetti (whoo, gorging mode) and loved it as well. What is great is that both sauces were totally tomato based, and you could TELL that it was a distinctly different sauce. I love that. Hate when one place calls it "alfredo" AND uses the same sauce for chicken mushroom. Hmm.

Then later, wanted to try the chicken marsala. THE SAUCE TASTES THE SAME!!! I must freaking love chicken marsala. What is in that amazing sauce?? Maybe I like sweet sauces, too. Anyhoo, it was good, but maybe I don't wanna order it again. There were a couple little chunks of fat in the breaded chicken, and they also serve it with chunks of rosemary baked potatoes, that's not my fave.

I will definitely be having the calamari and bolognese again though. Man.

While I was waiting for the food, I started a conversation with the nice signora (she's the one from Peru, actually) about the giant Italian flag she had up on the wall with "Campione del Mondo". I just asked where she got it, and she said during an Italian festival in LA. So I told her I was in Berlin for the finals and she got real interested and we chatted for a good 15-20 minutes while the food was being made in the kitchen.

She told me the regrettable story of a friend who was in Berlin for the finals and promised to get her an Italian jersey ... and ended up bringing back a Brazilian one instead. Oops.

She also talked about going up to Macchu Pichu, and then mentioned a "secret" "locals" haunt in Venice where the only way you can get to it or know about it is for a local to tell you about it. She says she told some friends about it and asked if they had gone there on their trip, and they said they went, but never got in, because the line was so long!!!!! Dang, Venice can have some great food, and there is also some gross tourist junk. But when you crave fried calamari at 9pm, what can you do???

I must HIGHLY recommend the Trattoria da Bepi (near Piazza Apostoli, off the top of my head, if I recall correctly -- whoops, I just looked it up and it's actually Campo SS Apostoli) in Venice because the owner is just SO NICE. Such a nice sweet man, and I ate there 3 times while I was there. Will definitely go back there again. That's where I had the BLACK SPAGHETTI (omg, so scary-looking - made from cuttlefish ink). But it actually tastes not-dissimilar to another very black dry noodle dish in Chinese cuisine! I found that funny. The arugula salad was disappointing, though. Old, tart, tough arugula leaves in a bowl with vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper brought out. That was it!! For 5 Euros.

Anyhoo, I told the Cafe Corleone lady I would love to get directions to the Venetian place some time so I will go back for that. Maybe bring my map!!

And lastly, I nearly forgot about a super cute little mom'n'pop place near my last school. A lovely fellow teacher treated our entire first grade level to lunch on our first day back at work and I started going there regularly! The wife is Italian, I think, and the husband is Greek - they go on vacation every summer, and they always remember my name! And they know I love their Italian Wedding soup, the soup of the day every Wednesday. They are so sweet. Prices went up a year or so ago, but they used to have daily sandwich specials - 6" for $2.99 (BLT, meatball, Italian sub, etc.) which they no longer have. And a linguine with clams (I liked the white sauce) used to be $4.95. You just can't beat it! Great great large, unlimited topping pizza for $9.99, and it is just as good the next day. It's the best next-day pizza ever.

The Deli News, in Los Altos!!!!

But nothing is likely to top the margherita I had for 4.50 Euros in Naples at da Michele.

I LOVE those last two shots. And of COURSE I am going back.

Horribly embarrassed, mildly mollified, thankfully rectified.

I went back a couple days later to the nice little Wok Express Chinese fast food joint because I OWED THEM MONEY FROM last Saturday.

It was earlier in the afternoon.

They recognized me.

They were nice and friendly, yet again.

So I paid and asked them not to give me change since I was short on Saturday.

And do you know what that nice nice owner Chinese-speaking lady said, when she saw what I did? "Aww, it's okay."

Such nice people make my day. I will make it my point to stop by there more often for late night noshy quasi-sustenance.

I think it says a lot that they would do that for a first-time customer.

Or maybe I just looked really sad and pitiful that night!!

Subway.

Good morning! Happy Sunday!

Exactly one week since we turned the clocks back. Man, I love that time of year.

It was very very weird to be getting up at 7:15 with the sky not even light yet, since we had it so incredibly late this year.

It certainly helps with getting up earlier, though. At least for a little while.

So I'm gonna try to squeeze this in since I have responsibilities at church today and should get there on time. Also, it's better (maybe? will check with Snopes in the near future) to gas up early in the morning when gas is colder, thusly more dense, thusly you get more for what you are paying. Hm.

Anyhoo, had Subway seriously FOUR TIMES this past week. They currently have the 3-footlong-subs-for-$12.99-after-4-pm deal. There is nothing else like that tangy Subway funk!

I like to take advantage of the higher-priced sandwiches when this deal comes around so I tried a couple new ones. They were okay. Here are the ones listed in INCREASING gastronomical goodness order!!!

1. Chicken and Bacon Ranch - this one was okay. It's strips of chicken, but Subway's bacon is always nearly half raw. I think it gets soggy from sitting in that fridge bin? Anyhoo, this time I had them toast the thing WITH the bacon on top BEFORE putting the cheese on and I ASKED for Swiss but they put shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack or what have you. It did not taste nice with the mustard AND ranch.
2. Grilled Chicken Breast - this is basically a hash brown-shaped semi-grayish chicken patty. Mmm, appetizing. This one was decent, but for me, nothing much to rave about.
3. Carne Asada - I liked this one okay, except for ooooooone little piece of stringy muscle-something I had a hard time chewing through. I like this much better than the cheesesteak-y one I had before, BECAUSE I HATE ALL BELL PEPPERS AND ONIONS, EVEN GRILLED.
4. And now there's a big big big space here between the ones I like okay, and can tolerate, and the ones that I LURVE.
5. More space.
6. Big, big -
7. Space.
8. Begin!!
9. Cold Cut Trio - This is my STAPLE. I love it. I think I order it 8 times out of 10. Because I am not allergic to nitrates and nitrites, apparently. And because I am the kind of person who has, and has enjoyed, and can occasionaly be found, ingesting BOLOGNA FOOD PRODUCT. I always get it on the Italian Herbs and Cheese bread and my style is with mayo, obscene amounts of mustard, lettuce, extra tomato, olives, extra extra pickles, oil, vinegar, and black pepper!!! I love it! I love that firm chewy COLD chunk of dense tissue right in the middle!!!
10. Mah ultimate fav at the moment: Meatball Marinara on Italian Herbs and Cheese. Apparently, the way I like it is a bit weird. I don't care, I find it utterly delicious!!! Meatballs (yummy), minimal sauce, only a little teeny smattering of lettuce, loads of spinach (yay!), loads of olives, cilantro, shredded carrot, oil (maybe - sometimes), vinegar, heavy on the black pepper, and RANCH DRESSING ALL OVER IT. Yes, that is what I like.

I also highly recommend the Honey Oat bread. It is nice for regular-degular sandwiches, like turkeybreast, BLT, etc. It is quite sweet.

Yum, food.

Horribly embarrassed.

So, it was about 8:40 and I hadn't eaten dinner and had weird rampant cravings for cheap, nasty, quick'n'dirty Chinese food. I looked up some places in the area (not familiar with what's around here so far) and found a nice little place - I was just happy they were open!!

Talked for a bit with the nice Chinese lady there, who mentioned that she wouldn't have guessed *I* was Chinese, because apparently "people don't look like they used to anymore, you can't tell these days anymore."

I would agree.

So, I got the eggrolls I was craaaaaaaaaving (I swear I would have made a run down to Jack in the Box if they didn't have any, because I was darn near salivating for those), and the nice orange chicken, and fried rice, and the total was $5.40, and I ended up having exactly ... um, $5.09 in my wallet.

WHAT THE HECK!!!!

I love the convenience of POS (point of sale, people, not the other p.o.s.!) but it seems like so many times I end up needing cold, hard, cash - for school lunch, yard sales and garage sales, the thrift store ... and this place was cash only too. They had an ATM machine but it was $1.50 charge. GAH.

So I handed them the five and left the food on the counter and told them I'd give them the rest as soon as I went out to get the rest - and the chick looked at the clock and apparently they were closing in 10 minutes. Gosh darn it.

But you know what? The other chick that had just come out and was behind the counter told me not to worry about it and I swore to them that I would come back and pay it next time I was in there and that was so incredibly stinking nice of her.

So I will be back.

I didn't even finish it all, which, I mean, come on - for those of you that know me and my relationship with foooooooooooooooood ... well, that is just unheard of.

Or maybe it was because of the rest of that liter of Pepsi that I polished off when I ended up having to buy it at Rite-Aid this morning so I could withdraw cash with the debit card so that I could pay $3 for the set of 4 pink swirl glass goblets (likely Arcoroc, since they were imprinted "France") and two old, dirty baby/doll dresses.

HEEE!! I love little baby/toddler/children's dresses and things now. I am still meaning to post about my weird antique flea market experience a couple weeks ago (the day of the start of the big recent wildfires, sadly), since that's when I bought my first ones and had such a lovely talk with that nice lady.

Anyhoo, the dresses I got today were a great find because I went to take one last look in the garage (that's where I found them, when I was just looking for a stool!!!) and there was this stuffed cardboard box of nasty rags, basically. It was all doll clothes and hankies that had been converted to like, grease rags. (Better than the random pair of BOXERS I inexplicably found myself handling when I was digging through a box of what I THOUGHT were towels and tablecloths and aprons earlier in the sale!) It was kind of a pity, because some of the fabrics were really cute and it all looked cheery and vintage and everything, but boy was it all in a sorry state.

It was worth digging through, though. Everything in the garage (and kitchen) was 50% off, with everything else 20% off (guess they started yesterday), and I totally just stumbled upon it when I saw the sign from the major cross street intersection. So weird, since the one I went to last week was right around the corner and it was like deja vu all over again. So the one dress was only 50¢ so I will practice washing vintage fabrics (i.e., experimenting with bleach!) on it and see how I do.

Because I got a gorgeous, lovely, undeniably tattered quilt last week that perhaps I paid a little too much for but I have not fallen in LOVE with some random weird old item like that in a long, long time.

Quilt post to come shortly.

But for now: aren't these glasses cute?? :)