Breakfast For Supper Party

At Christmas, Carrie was in the hospital with Dylan and Kim was watching Elizabeth. It was such a stressful time -- I talked to Lilly about what we could do to help. We decided it would be nice to take supper up to Kim's house. Kim's other grandchildren, twins Riley and Madison, were at her house, too. And Lilly said we should take pancakes. And bacon. She believes everybody loves bacon...

So, we put on our party clothes...

And packed up a party-in-a-bag...

Lilly

We cooked the pancakes at our house -- and put everything in the bag...

Elizabeth, Madison, Riley (who had already shaved his head for Dylan) and Lilly.

The kids set the table, Kim was in the kitchen, reheating the pancakes...

We had some party hats -- dinner was delicious!

They all thought the breakfast-for-supper idea was CRAZY.

For the record -- Lillian was right.  ALL KIDS DO LOVE BACON

Lillian is FIVE YEARS OLD

We all know this reality:  The older you get, the FASTER TIME GOES. No kidding. Time Flies When You're Having Fun, eh?? I cannot believe that Lillian Claire is FIVE YEARS OLD. Holy Cow. It just seems like yesterday I was buying her first little zebra/leopard outfits...

She was a sober baby...

On this day, she was FIVE YEARS OLD...with her best human friend, Memphis...

This post is about the gifts I gave her when she turned FIVE years old...

Everything seemed to have a MOON theme...

Or, my signature Grandma touch -- some ZEBRA...

Inside the pink box -- I put two easy-to-fill photo albums --and 100 pictures of Lilly during the "Year She Was Four"...

She had a wonderful year...and I loved looking back at all the pictures...

Along with the albums, there were a few extra special picture frames, too.

I used the zebra duct tape to decorate the INSIDE of this old jewelry box.

For her main gift -- a Hello Kitty video/picture camera.  This year, she can take HER OWN PICTURES...

There was also a zebra Dream Light (with a light projected moon??!!)

Some clothes

And a new moon/mirror to hang in her room...

The very best part of Lillian's birthday presents is how I DELIVERED them....

Mary's Visit

HEY -- MARY MULARI IS COMING TO TOWN..!! So, of course, you know I'll be too busy laughing and having a good time and helping Mary catch up with all my people...there's going to be a belated birthday dinner, and some thrift store shopping, Mary's working on a new television topic with Nancy, and -- well -- WE ARE EXCITED...

So, I may be hitting the pause key on the blog for a few days...but I'll have lots to write about AFTER the visit, eh??

Laundry and Clothesline Collectibles

Yes, we have breakfast EVERY TUESDAY. Yes, we have been doing it for years. Yes, we know how lucky we are. Yes, our husbands still act surprised...every single Tuesday.

Sandy, Lin, me and Linda...

Often, there is a Sew and Tell portion to our breakfast. Sometimes, we make a little day trip to an exciting local adventure. But mostly, the purpose is just our weekly download.

Of course, AFTER breakfast -- we do our usual GW shopping (Goodwill) -- and there is another thrift store in the same strip mall -- the Discovery shop is run by the American Cancer Society.  They do a lovely job of creating their store displays -- it's always so interesting to  see their new displays every week.  You can imagine how excited I was to see THIS huge display...

WHO KNEW??  Shelves full of laundry collectibles...old advertisements, irons,

A washboard acts as a frame for an embroidery 

Tons of advertisements in plastic sleeves.

I HAD to buy this one.

Yet Another Collectible

One of my favorite things to find while treasure hunting is soup spoons. Many years ago, when I went to Ireland with my sisters, I bought eight stainless steel soup spoons -- and I love the shape of them.

So I'm always looking for that shape I love -- a deep round bowl...and if the spoons are silver plated, with an interesting design on the handle -- or, the initial "F"(this has happened) -- well -- ALL THE BETTER...

At this point, I have a huge collection of spoons

But, Holy Cow, the tarnish can be terrible...

This is pretty unappetizing.

THEN -- ONCE AGAIN -- I was saved by Pinterest!!

The essential ingredients are: aluminum foil, Baking Soda and Salt...

Line a pan (or your sink) with aluminum foil, pour in 1/2 salt, 1/2 c. Baking Soda, and fill with HOT water...

I layered in my tarnished spoons, then covered them with another sheet of aluminum foil.

I let the spoons sit in the pan for about 20 minutes.

IT WORKS!! The spoon in this picture is the same as the blackened version in the earlier picture.

I also like to find unusual "spooners" -- this one used to be a vase...

Although it still took some time,  the Pinterest idea worked really well -- and I realized that I didn't actually have to leave hundreds of spoons sitting out on my counter. So, I packed away scores of spoons...and now only the top 50 are on display for our use.

I've gotta go make another pot of soup....

Vermont Country Store Clothesline Crisp Cotton SHEETS

Lost in a big pile of mediocre bed linens -- I found two sets of Queen-Size sheets. They were excellent, heavy, 100% cotton sheets from the Vermont Country Store. On the first day (when I was there with Sue), they were $2 each. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I found two fitted sheets (very deep pockets -- just AWESOME), four pillowcases, and one flat sheet.

One reason the sheets were underpriced was that they were dingy...I think they had been laundered with a pair of blue jeans...and then stuck in the clothes dryer (DEATH for white sheets).

But I knew with the proper laundering -- and a TURN OUT ON THE CLOTHESLINE IN THE WINTER SUN -- these sheets would once gain be white and crisp.

But first --, I had to shovel a path to my clothesline.  AGAIN.

I've been doing this for months now..!!

White sheets hanging on the line never look like much...

So, I tried to get a little artsy-fartsy with my shadow...

The pictures might be boring -- But, trust me -- THESE SHEETS WERE EXCITING..

On that first day at the estate sale -- I looked EVERYWHERE for the second flat sheet that would complete my two sets of sheets.  But it wasn't in any of the bedrooms, or in any of the baskets of linens, tableclothes, pillowcases, etc.  It was disappointing, but hey -- I was still DELIGHTED with the linens I did find...

Bert and I went to the same estate sale on Day Two. Everything was 25% off.  As I was checking out, I saw the second flat sheet.  EUREKA...!!  It was being used as a tablecloth to protect the large buffet in the dining room.

But -- my heart sank when I realized they had about 60 pieces of crystal sitting on top of it...and the employees were all busy waiting on customers. There was a long line of people checking out.  I knew nobody was going to move all that stuff so I could buy the sheet...

I went home. But I woke up the next morning REALLY bothered that I didn't get the second flat sheet. And now, I KNEW where it was. So, on Day #3 (everything is 50% off), I went back -- and IT WAS STILL THERE on the buffet.   Thankfully, most of the fancy dishes had been sold...and the crowd was light. So they happily took my beautiful, perfect 100% cotton sheet off the buffet and I bought it for $1.

There are many joyful things in my daily life. And the fresh scent of winter line-dried sheets is one of my BEST things. I could hardly wait to wash these sheets and put them on my bed. I soaked them overnight, then did a regular wash cycle with detergent, then soaked them overnight AGAIN, with Oxi-clean...a second laundering...then a double rinse...

THEN -- even though it was below zero AGAIN -- OUT THEY WENT...TO THE CLOTHESLINE.  They were so heavy, I had to hang them between the two lines so they didn't drag on the snow drift...

In 1981, my Dad put these lines up for me...

I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO SLEEP ON THESE SHEETS!!

The Vermont Country Store calls these wonderful sheets "Clothesline Crisp Sheets" and you can still buy them.  $100 for a Queen set is a huge bargain.  The sheets are 250 thread count, 100% long-staple cotton, in a true Percale weave.  (Sateen is a wimpy rip off -- don't ever buy them!).