March 22, 2010

• A Late Post

  It feels much later than it is, but still, me writing at 9:00pm is unusually late for me!

  We had an active and productive weekend.  The great snow was just that - great!  We measured some places right outside our back door that drifted into 10" high mountains!  I'd say we got about 5-6 inches here and larger drifts, of course, around the sides of the house and the porch. 

  Most of the snow ended by late Sunday morning.  Many churches were closed.  We didn't even attempt to get out to go anywhere.  It was beautiful to watch and I spend much time on my heating pad, reading a book.

                

  I tackled the dining room's china cabinet.  It was emptied out for several reasons.

  1.  It will need to be moved when our friend is ready to paint and he doesn't always give us much notice as to when he will be coming.  We still have to buy the paint we want - the 2 shades of taupe.

  2.  It hasn't been cleaned in years and the dust sneaked through cracks in the door fittings, making everything dirty and the shelves HORRIBLY dusty!  That was magnified when I removed the china that had been occupying spots on the shelves.  A clean round dish space, a clean place where the bottom of a glass had rested . . .

  3.  Since I needed to move the china dishes up from under the low cabinet storage so I could start using them, I needed to rearrange everything on the shelves, anyway, to make room for the china.

         

  I have my work cut out for me!

  My dining room table looks like a junk store, flea market table, or a garage sale table full of garbage!!!  The silver is tarnished to a nice brown/black color!  The crystal is dusty and the glass bowls are clouded with . . . well, I don't know what, but they aren't shimmering light prisms through them, right now!

         

  I took the most expensive crystal glasses (from my Mom & Dad's wedding) and made a barricade around them of heavier dishes, just in case Chirper decides to snoop on the table in the middle of the night.  I don't want any surprise sounds of crashing or breaking glass waking me up!

  The "crystal" glasses in the lower right corner of the picture above are actually glasses you buy from Arby's at Christmas.  Buy a roast beef sandwich and for one dollar you can buy a water goblet with a winter snow scene etched on them !  Ha!  That's the contribution *I* have made to the crystal glass collection!  My parent's crystal is quite a bit more than a dollar per glass!

         

  I found some pieces I really like and I enjoyed handling them just as much!  Lots of memories.

  This is a piece of my parent's china from their wedding gifts.

  
  One of the teacup sets I recently ordered is similar to this pattern (one of the reason's I liked it).  Long story short, someone was given my mom's china to sell on a commission and the entire (extensive) collection was lost because that "person" failed to follow up on it.  It was in California and I lived in Oklahoma, so there wasn't much I could do.  When my grandmother died (my mother's mother) my Aunt Doris (my mom's sister) found this dish and sent it to me.  It meant a lot to me because THESE are the dishes we ate our formal meals on at the dining room table.  I grew up with this pattern and many memories are attached.

  My mom tried her hand at ceramic classes, while I was VERY young, and she made some pieces I have been able to preserve over the years. 

  This is a candy dish.

         
  It's kind of a crackled gold leaf.  It has her initials carved into the bottom.

  Another thing my Aunt Doris sent me after Grandma died, was a set of pheasants my mother had made about the same time and given to her mother as a gift.  I LOVED receiving these from my grandmother's house.

            
  The pair normally sits on the top shelf of the china cabinet, out of the reach of animals and small children's hands!  

  Someone asked if I had moved the china dishes up where I can reach them, and the answer is yes and no.  The whole set needs to be washed before we consider using any of it.  But, it IS all on top of the dining room table.  The whole set is there, right down to the sugar bowl and creamer!

      

  I chose a moderately priced china by Noritake.  The flower popular in 1972 was daisies, so those are the pattern on the edges of the plates.  They have a platinum edge, a simple white flower on a less white plate background.  Very simple and a pattern I still love.  I bought an ornate silver pattern to go with the simplistic plates.  But, I didn't even buy silver-plated utensils.  Just stainless steel that is made to look fancy.  Lots of curls and ornate carving on the handles.

           

  The plate photographed like the silver is rubbing off, but it's not.  They are as perfect as the day I received them!

  So, now we have to wait for that one wall to be painted before the china cabinet is moved back in place.  Meanwhile, I have all of this "stuff" on my table.  No sense trying to clean it, not if it has to be left out.  I'll polish the silver and wash off the china and crystal right before I put it all back in the china cabinet.

  So, no fancy meals here.  Not yet!

  I'm still searching for recipes and liking a large percent of what I've tried.

  I wrote three letters (pen and stationery) this weekend.  I intend to make that a weekly habit - that's a good excuse to get to buy more nice stationery!!!

  I finished my last book and have started on a new one today.  I continue to log the books as I finish reading them with the date, a 1-5 star rating, and a comment. 

  I continue to write in my journal. 

  Making a point to set time aside in my crazy life to do these few things isn't hard, because I enjoy the things I'm making myself do!  What's not to like about a good book, pretty china, good food, rich stationery and warm thoughts of a friend or relative?  Suffer, I must!!! LOL

   

  I should go - I need to send some money to a friend.  She just did a bunch of sewing for me!   My clothes are about ready to come out of the dryer.  Dresses!  I HAVE to hang them up immediately when the dryer stops.  AND, it's about time to crawl into bed!

  Be Blessed ~

  • 10:48 pm
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