Weekend wrap up...

Technically, my weekend is not over yet. I have the day off today for Martin Luther King Day. I have been in cleaning, tossing, organizing mode for the past two days and am already back at it this morning. 

I did take time to run to a thrift store on Saturday and to Walmart for some much needed stocking up on pantry staples and cleaning supplies. At the thrift store, I picked up a new cook book that is nothing but desserts made with Hershey's cocoa...my favorite baking chocolate in the world. It was just $1.00.

I also picked up this glass for $2.00. This is my favorite style glass and when I saw it had some vintge office stuff on it, I had to have it. I just love it.

I did make a quick stop to Real Deal Warehouse to see what they had. I needed glue sticks for Children's church. These were 2 per pack for .25 cents each. So I ended up with 16 glue sticks for just $2.00. I got a cute case for my tablet for $2.00 that looks like a composition book and an organizer for my earrings for .75 cents and a new book for just .50 cents. I love going to that place. I always find good deals. They buy close outs so you never see the same thing twice.  

While I was organizing, I hung this accordion peg rack up to start hanging my necklaces on. They keep getting tangled in my jewelry box. I put this behind my door so it doesn't show and hung my costume jewelry necklaces on it. I still have more, but it is an untangling process at the moment. I want to get something better than this, but that is all I could find for now. I think i will get a board and paint it and put a bunch of those little gold hooks in it for the necklaces.

I fixed my favorite supper on Saturday....pizza on flat bread. That's by far my favorite way to eat homemade pizza because there is not as much bread.

Sunday, I went to church and then came home and did more cleaning, tossing and organizing. Later that afternoon, I did a good inventory on my Pyrex and decided to go to the FB group to see if I could accomplish any trades. I was able to trade off the black snowflake and the Early American 502 with lid. In return I am getting one of my dream pieces, the Colonial Mist 402 in the blue with white flowers. I am so excited. I am also getting a couple of Hazel Atlas mugs. Now to try to trade the rest of it off today in my other group. I was real surprised the barbed wire didn't go right away.

I ended my evening reading one of my Christmas present books. Barbara Delinsky is one of my favorite writers. This book is so good that it is hard to put it down. I literally have to hide it out of my sight during the day or I am tempted to sit down and read and then I get nothing done. 

What better way to enjoy a good book than to have some orange cream Thin Mints. These are hard to find so whenever our local Family Dollar gets them in, I buy several boxes to keep in reserve. I just found these on Friday so I think it was a great reward for a job well done the last two days. 

Today I tackle the rooms I didn't get to the past two days. 

A 35 year old memory....

It was a cold and snowy day 35 years ago today, January 17, 1981, I had a date. My first date since my divorce 2 years earlier. We worked together, but he was night shift on one side of the street and I was days on the other. A mutual friend thought we would be a good match. So she "introduced" us by simply telling each of us about the other and suggested that Allen call me. So he did on my lunch hour and we started talking. He had seen me one day when he was in the office and I had never met him though. But we hit it off on the phone. We talked every day for three weeks. And every Friday he would ask me out and I would come up with a lame excuse not to go because I was scared to date with twin 2 year olds at home.

I finally told him I just didn't think it was a good idea to date somebody I worked with and while I appreciated talking to him, I just didn't think dating was a good idea. He said he hated that I felt that way but he appreciated my honesty. 

That was a week before Christmas. On New Year's eve I was working the front desk when he came in to pic up his check. Before I even knew who he was, my heart melted the moment he walked in the door. When he told me who he was, I thought "I am an idiot. I should have said yes." 

A week later, I was still reeling from meeting him and broke the golden Mom rule of "Don't call boys." So I called him and told him I had thought it over and since he was nights on one side of the street and I was days on the other side, that I didn't guess it would hurt to date a co-worker since there were no policies against it. 

His response was, "Well, I thought that was a lame idea and I really liked you so I thought I would wait till after the holidays and call you again."

So we agreed to go out the next weekend. I woke up on the 17th, the day of our first date, to find snow on the ground. I lived up a hill and wasn't sure he would come after all. But he did. My best friend Becky and her sister Shelly came to my house and kept the twins so I could go out. 

We went out to eat and to see Urban Cowboy with John Travolta. We both came away saying how much we loved the song "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places." We then went back to his house and had Pepsi and Ruffles as he taught me how to play backgammon. I got home around 11:30. 

He had been a perfect gentleman all night. He was 28 years old and I was 24. He opened doors for me. Walked on the outside of the sidewalk when we went to the movie. When I got home, he walked me to my door and kissed me goodnight on the front porch. We had plans for him to come over and spend the day with me and the twins the next day. I gave him one last kissed, walked in the house, shut the door and leaned up against it, smiling. Becky said "How did it go?" I will never forget my reply...."I'm in love. I'm going to marry that man someday." She laughed at me. 

About a month later on Valentine's Day, I found out he felt the same way. Two months and 10 days from the date of our first date, on March 27th, 1981, I married my soul mate, my best friends, the love of my life. And here I am stand 35 years later after that first date, loving him even more than I ever dreamed was possible. Feeling loved by him in all the multitude of ways he showed me that love. I miss him dearly. He has been gone exactly 2 months today. And even though I know he can't come back and I know he went way before I was ready to let him go, I will forever be thankful for the 35 wonderful years I had with him. Thirty-five years of a love that was forever faithful. He stood by me through thick and thin. His love never faltered. He made me feel like I was the most beautiful woman in the world and like I was his special princess to pamper and spoil.

So happy first date anniversary to my sweetheart. I know you are in a better place and you are no longer in pain, but oh what I wouldn't give to have you back for just 10 minutes today to tell you one more time how much I love you. 

He loved to sing George Strait songs to me. Here are the two favorites he loved to sing. I Cross my Heart was Our Song. 

Heading out....

Starting my day off by going to our Young at Heart meeting at church. We get together to fellowship and feast once a month. In the winter, we do it in the morning so that means the meal will be breakfast. Margaret fixes the best breakfast ever and we are invited to bring anything we want. I am taking my new favorite recipe. It is Cinnamon Roll French Toast Bake. It is cinnamon rolls, then covered with a mixture of eggs, milk and cinnamon. Then you pour on some syrup. Bake it and then cover with the cinnamon roll icing. It is too die for. I took it for our Sunday School class (we are Baptist, we eat any time we can) and it was a huge hit. Not one bite was left. 

After Young at Heart, I plan on heading over to Real Deal Warehouse where you can always find some great deals. They buy close outs so the stock is ever changing. One time, I got $27.00 worth of retail for $6 something.

They posted they had new book stock in for $2 each so I want to check that out today.

While I am out and about, I want to start pricing and looking at new Corelle dishes. I have a couple sets of nice dishes/china but I want to get me a set for every day. I want to go to Corelle because I am not buying a full service since I already have that. I just wanted a couple of plates and bowls for my every day use.

Since there is a Skecher outlet near the Corning/Corelle outlet, I plan on stopping in to see if they have these shoes. I am not getting them yet, but these may be the new shoes I get for my Thirty-One National Conference. I have a pair in white and they are super comfy, but get dirty so easy. I want to check out what colors they come in. They are Go Walk Flash and your feet will never hurt again in these. I wore them last year. We walked over 24 miles in 3 days and my feet did not hurt one single time. 

Speaking of National Conference, I am starting to check out manicures to see what hits my fancy. I normally go with pink because it is Thirty-One's signature color. But I will be carrying a lot of my navy products so I may go with a red to compliment the navy. And of course my accent nail will be a sparkling silver or glittery white. That's become like my signature manicure. Always the ring finger with an accent color and the accent is almost always silver sparkle or white glittery.

Well as you can see I have a busy day. This is the start of a 3 day weekend so I am excited to get going. Have a great weekend. 

Sharing some Pyrex love today...

No matter what Pyrex pieces or patterns I find, I will forever love the vintage mixing bowls the best. It is hard to describe the feeling of collecting these pieces one at a time and waiting for that moment when you complete a set. I love the Cinderella mixing bowls as well. My two favorites are the Colonial Mist and Town & Country. I have completed my Colonial Mist, but I need one more on my Town & Country to replace this solid yellow I am using right now. 

Now that I have my Cinderella's almost complete, I sat all my mixing bowl sets together. I consider all these sets complete as far as what I want. Some of them, I don't have the 404 but that's okay because I don't use that size much. But the rest of them are done except a 402 on the Colonial Mist. 

Now I want to find some more mixing bowl patterns to complete. I know one I would love to find is the Horizon Blue set. 

And the Friendship. I had the 403 but traded and have regretted it ever since. 

I love the dots as well. Had the gold on this and traded because I didn't realize how pretty the whole set was.

These stripes are just gorgeous. 

The is the official Daisy solid pattern. I have the 401 and I just traded for the 402 so it is on the way. That means I just have 2 more to get, but if I could only find the 403 I would be happy.

I did a trade the other day and have the two large Cinderella bowls coming in this pattern. I am going to try to trade them for two of the mixing bowls instead.

I love the turquoise but have never seen this set in person. But it looks beautiful in pics.

I have seen a couple of the pinks before but haven't found any for sell. I would love a set of these.

And of course, like every other Pyrex collector, I love the eyes. Had the little one in the very early beginning of my collecting before I realized how sought after they were.

Well that completes my wish list. Would be interested to hear from my other Pyrex collectors as to your faves.

Spring is just around the corner...

Spring is just around the corner...Thirty-One style! They have some bright new colors in the new spring catalog.

Plus some new patterns. I see a lot of navy and a lot of anchors in the new catalog.

The JK jewelry line at Thirty-One is coming out with cute stuff every time we get a new catalog.

My new favorite is the one with the big white poppies. I just love this pattern.

They have introduced a new line of personalized pillows. These are sure to be a big hit.  

I think my new favorite jewelry is this necklace with the turquoise and the little arrow charm.

I see a lot of "must haves" forming on my wish list. 

I have a question....

I love my followers. You all make me feel so special when you leave comments. I love hearing your thoughts. I love the support you give me in tough times and the encouragement when I venture into new things.

I would love to ask one thing regarding your comments. Many times I want to reply back to you or answer questions you have asked. For example, Linda wanted to know where I found the canister set. I actually purchased them about 20 years ago at a place called Waccammaw in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Here is is my question for you all today....How to handle answering questions on your blogs? Should I respond in the comment section? Go to your link and find your email and send you an email? I just want to be more interactive on my blog so I appreciate any guidance on what is the best way to answer questions or respond to comments. I always worry that if I just make a comment of my own, I don't know if you follow my blog or follow my blog and the comments. Do you get things in your email if I comment on here or should I click your name and email you direct?



So my dear friend bloggers...HELP!

Any guidance is deeply appreciated so I can respond to your wonderful comments.

Patience is NOT my middle name

Oh my. I knew that I am not the most patient person in the world. Once my mind decides to do something, I want to get started right away. But I didn't realize how fast I can accomplish something until I want it really bad. That's what happened with the kitchen redo I talked about yesterday, Rethinking my Kitchen.

So I ran an errand after work and stopped at KFC to eat a quick bite. I even got the buffet bar so I could immediately eat because I couldn't wait to get home. Then the minute I got home, I changed to my comfy sweats and began the process of shopping my house for items for the kitchen.

This is the before picture. The top of the cabinets really needs some work as well.

 This is the after. Put some more pretties on the very top of the cabinet as well.  

I was able to move my flour and sugar canisters over to the "baking" side of the counter. I need new canisters. These are too big and bulky. 

My favorite is the cook book corner. I still need a new lamp. This one is just temporary due to my impatience for seeing how it looks with a lamp in the corner. I want one with a wooden spindle as the lamp and more of a country kitchen looking shade. I love my tea pot.

And I still have some counter space to work on if I want to.

Since I moved the cook book basket off my Baker's rack, I was able to make a prettier display for some of my Pyrex. I have Pyrex all over the kitchen. More on that later. 

So I got up this morning and was so happy with my kitchen and my new baking theme, that I made a Duncan Hines spice cake with salted caramel icing. I am getting ready to put the frosting on right now and take it to work today. Have a great day!