Some sad news....

I have been missing in action since Friday. My husband has been in the hospital and we lost him on Tuesday. I will be taking a short break from blogging. I will be back next week. Please keep my family in your prayers. This was a video he found a few weeks ago and had asked me to have it played for his funeral, which is tomorrow. It was one of his favorite Christian songs to listen to.

Vintage Christmas memories....

I remember seeing wrapping paper like this when I was growing up. 

And just about every year, somebody sent out a card that had the choir boys on it. 

I used to have a set of the kissing S & P Santas. I would love to find another set.

Do you remember Christmas corsages? We always got a new one for our coat lapel to wear throughout the Christmas season.

And I miss the big old fashioned light bulbs on the trees. 

Did any of  your mom's or grandmother's have one of these cardboard fire places?

I just love vintage Christmas.

Veteran's Day

My Daddy. He was in the Navy during WWII on an air craft carrier. When he got out of the Navy, he joined the Coast Guard.



Thank you to Veteran's everywhere for your undying loyalty to protecting our great nation.

Weekend finds...

I found these two cute Christmas decor items at Food City (local grocery store) for $1.99 each. I fell in love with them. 

I went to an estate sale over the weekend. I have never seen so many cat figurines in one place at one time. I love the tall slender one. I also have a weakness for sleeping kitty figurines so I had to have it as well. 

They had a bag of vintage doll clothes for $1.00 each. I had to have this little dress. Not sure what I am going to do with it, but I am now looking for a vintage doll to put it on. 

But my favorite find was a miniature tea set. One of my favorite collectibles. It is just so precious. I can't wait to put it out at Christmas. 

I was very pleased with my finds. 

A rainy day...

How do you deal with a rainy day when you have to work? Simple, you fix a cup of hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows in your favorite mug and open your blinds and watch the rain. 

This weekend I found me a new favorite glass at Walmart. It was from the Pioneer Woman collection. Loving it! I am reading Sandra Brown's Smash Cut. It is awesome. It is 366 pages long and I can't put it down. I only had about 74 to go last night and I settled in to read, eat Junior Mints and drink Pepsi from my new glass. I only made it through 12 pages before getting sleepy. I will finish it off tonight I hope. 

Come back tomorrow to see some cute finds from an estate sale this past Friday. Have a good Monday. We are closed on Wednesday so we get a four day week!

I recollect when.....

rec·ol·lect

ˌrekəˈlekt/

verb

remember (something); call to mind.

Do you remember sitting around listening to elderly people who talk about "back in the day" and say "Well, I recollect when...." 

Well, today I recollect when.....

Laundry day was actually a whole day.... or two. Mom washed our clothes in a wringer washer. We had well water and it wasn't a very deep well so we had to watch how much water we ran in a day. 

She had a galvanized tub that she used to put the rinse water in. She would fill it with cold water the night before so she would have enough water to wash the next day. 

No spin cycle on a wringer washer. So you had to literally run them through the ringer as many times as it took to get all the water out after washing. (by the way, this is a stock photo, not my mom).

Then you had to swing the wringer portion over your rinse tub, rinse them by hand and run them through the wringer again.

Then you would go out and hang them on the line to dry. 

Once they were dry you "brought them in" to be ironed and/or folded. I remember her having a sprinkler bottle and there were certain things she would sprinkle and then put them in a pile and tie them up in a tablecloth and put them in the refrigerator. Apparently, keeping them cold helped get the wrinkles out when she ironed.

She always ironed in the living room while we watched Hazel, Pete & Gladys or Dick Van Dyke. 

And if it was something like dress shirts or our pretty little dresses, she would use Niagara Spray Starch.

So doing laundry was a two day sprint, not just "toss a load in...do something...move it to dryer...do something else...fold and put away" like it is today. 

So yes, I recollect when laundry took more than a day. But I also recollect that her efforts were all worth it because we made a fine looking family. 

Friday Foto Friends

I love the idea of Friday Foto Friends. 

I am linking up today to show you a photo of one of my favorite fall blankets. For the past ten years or so, my Mom has been doing primitive stitchery on fleece blankets. She did this one about 5 or 6 years ago, which would have made her around 79 - 80 years old. 

Every fall when I get it out and I admire each individual hand stitch she did, not to mention tracing the patterns and cutting them out, I am amazed at how talented she is. I will cherish this forever. She is 85 now and going strong and still crafting. 

Right now she is making some new ornaments for her Christmas tree. I hope to get pics of them to share. But in the meantime, here is my beautiful blanket my mommy made.

Pop on over to Jeremiah-2911.com and link your Friday Foto.