Thirsty Much?

Hosted by Tam and Diane
Hello to all of you! C'mon and sit down... We've got plenty of pitchers we can fill with all kinds of liquid goodies to keep our mouths hydrated for all day get together! I'm sure Tam, our "Three or More host, will not mind. Go on, get comfy and drink up. Then Diane, our host for "2nd Time Around" and I will tell you about a wonderful piece I found at Goodwill. What? You want glasses, no no no... I did say we have plenty of pit-chers, so choose one and enjoy! No need to be lady like here, we're all friends, plus no husbands allowed on this post! LOL



***The first and middle are Italian ceramic pitchers from Marshall's in AZ, that I've used for Thanksgiving. My dh got them for me as birthday presents. I saw them and immediately fell in love! Can't you just taste the cold apple cider in those or even our traditional Pineapple Orange juice drink at Thanksgiving. I can't wait!

***The 2nd one, a green one, holding the flowers, is the one I found at Ross here. I can just imagine all the fresh milk it can hold for a great breakfast on the first day of summer vacation... or first day of school!

***The Gabbay line by Gibson pitcher is from Tuesday Morning. Normally $20, got it for $7.99! This one is for my middle child's upcoming birthday party this month.

***You know about my Blossom Asian pitcher from Ross. It held lemonade and other drink before that. The sky's the limit. What would you mix in it?

***You remember my Sangria Pitcher by Libbey, right, it's from the set I got at Kohl's, just a few days before Cinco de Mayo. My virgin Sangrias, Berry Citrus and Melon Coconut were both big hits!

***And that one on middle bottom is my vegetable pitcher from Ross back in San Jose, California; I got it for $3.00. It's actually better for ice cold water! The embossed design hides condensation well!

***That last one, that is from our early marriage while living in Downtown, San Jose. I don't remember where I picked it up. This is our everyday, and is older than two of my children! That should tell you careful I am with my treasures...

Glad you got to enjoy our "get together"; next time, BYOG, ok? (Psst... That means "Bring your own Glass".) ;-)

Here's a Goodwill find I want to share... As I'll definitely be using this for my Christmas table. Did you know that though I've done many Christmas tablescapes, I seldom have a picture of them? This year, I'm taking tons and will be doing trial runs so you can have an idea of how we "dress up" for Christmas. :-D

Isn't it beautiful? When I saw it, I thought, "Wow! I can use this at the dessert table or for appetizers!" I don't know if you can see it, but the price was right at $1.99! The cheapest one I found on Ebay was $17 I think.

I absolutely adore this mistletoe on the side at the top of the Christmas tree...
Imagine my luck when I turned it over and it's a Spode! My second Spode, aptly called, "Christmas Tree". Yeah!

A great big thanks to both our hosts, Tam and Diane for another great set of Tuesday memes. Don't forget to stop by and let them know how cool you think they are. And glad to see you all here again! And to any new visitors, welcome, welcome!!!

TABLESCAPING IDEA: ("Brain is lovin' her pitchers) Don't have the perfect vase to hold a great bouquet? Use a pitcher! It's an old concept. If it's a pitcher you use for drinking, make sure to not let the flowers sit in it for more than your tablescape night for obvious sanitation reasons.

A 2nd Time Around Tablescape!

Hosted by "A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words"
Hosted by "The Gypsy's Corner"
Yes, you read right! A tablescape full of 2nd time around goodies! For Memorial Day, we decided that since the kiddos were home and hubby's off, we will barbecue some brisket! Well, as if we had no prepping to do, we still slept in! (head low in shame...) But... to rescue the day, we cleaned some of our storage boxes out and got errands done plus a lunch at Sonic, to the delight of the kiddos as we were also treated to a viewing of a loose all-black rooster feasting at Sonic! LOL

THEME:

"Sacrifice for Freedom"

INSPIRATION:

Red and Blue Tealights

Mikasa Intaglio "Annette" Dessert Plates

On to the "meat" of the post... I'm sure Tam can see the multiples on this table. The 6 Sangria goblets, the 6 placesettings, the 9 mum flower heads and the 8 tealights. But... what you couldn't see is all the second go around items on the table!

The tablecloth, an old twin-sized flat flannel sheet. Also used for my Graduation tablescape. The vases of the mums, the Glade Scented Candle holders turned upside down and filled with water. The mums, back from May 11th, third arrangement for the bouquet. The red napkins, 20-in package, my V-Day find last year, for 25 cents! The dessert plates, my Goodwill find, Mikasa "Annette" from the Intaglio collection. Paid 59 cents each!

The red plates, back from my "A Love Bug Bit Me!" and "Beautiful Together" tablescape; Canopy, $1.96 each from Walmart.

Here's a close-up of the placesetting...

And closer still... The creamy white salad plate is my Thomson Pottery, "Bianca" set. $1 each at Ross. Shelia of Note Songs, found some just recently. It is a great versatile set. The design mimics Mikasa's "Antique White" dinnerware. You see the overlapping design on my Mikasa Annette's? Isn't just beautiful? :-D
It's been two weeks and quite humid in our apartment, but the mums still looked amazing! Of course I wasn't gonna pass another opportunity to use them! See the purple tealights, not purple at all. They are BLUE! But the flame rendered them purplish... ;-) I don't mind... Also, note that my tealights are haphazard, proving that there's no need to "polish" off your centerpiece. My mums made the containers look straight, but they're noooot... :-)
A sideview if you prefer it... See my other sets peeking? If you notice the middle container is inset more compared to the other two and the one on the right, is actually more forward than the one on the left. Was it deliberate? I'll never tell... (hee hee...)
And here we are! The end of the tablescape tour for this tabletop design. Now pick a seat and let's start to eat. Have you washed your hands?
Before we dine on BBQ Brisket, Chandy's Potato Salad (no mayo), Steamed Broccoli, Steamed Jasmine Rice and Asian Melon Sangria (dh found it in the Philippines, and I have to make it at least once a warm season), let's first offer a blessing on the food and offer gratitude to the men and women who allows us to enjoy great food, great company, blogging and tablescaping- through our freedom in this country. May Heavenly Father keep them all safe and to those that passed on, an angel status to watch out for others...

Hope you all had a great one! Thank you again, Tam and Diane for graciously hosting! Make sure to come by and visit them!

Gift, Cookies and a Quiche?

Hosted by Tam and Diane
On Saturday, I made some cookies, one I discovered accidentally but turned out great,

... after trying out a friend's recipe that turned cakey rather than a regular sugar cookie. Still yummy!

Then, I needed a small pizza pan, had none so I used my $3 Goodwill quiche dish for fun! The fam called this "Easy Crab Bready Quiche"; reason to veto it, I had none. ;-)

Then a few weeks back, a great blogger I follow and she follows me, gifted her loyal subjects each a great treat! What kind, for your nails and feet!

A whole bag to carry your grooming kit, my excitement could not be contained a bit! (Hooray!)

Her name is Lynn of the blog town, "Kitchen Life", a great stop for all things yummy! A great lady after my own tablescaping heart, though her passion comes out in her delicious cooking we can put in our tummy!

Thank you Lynn! Please come visit her if you want great recipes as her blog is mainly for all things she's been cooking up so recipes and tips abound! Let's just say, I'm hooked- I visit often...

To our lovely hosts, Tam and Diane, a world of thanks for hosting. To all who stopped by, my heart is puffy from giddiness...

TABLESCAPING IDEA: ("Brain" loves to throw caution to the wind!) Celebrate any day with a great table. Use only what you have and don't worry about rules. Make it pretty and fun. Even if you don't have a fancy menu, eating on a great table makes it that much more delicious!

What Happened to the Party?

Hosted by "Grits & Glamour"

Well... I tried, I really did but our stormy weather said otherwise, so my own patio just didn't get to beyond sopping wet! :-(

So again, I'm left hoping for a patio that looks as good as this one... Sorry, Barb! I tried, I really tried... (sob... sob)

(Chipphi-pi dot org)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday, I went to Goodwill. Yep, Good Ol' Goodwill... I said to dh, "We need a cart." He said, "Why, are you sure you're gonna find anything?" (Imagine his face asking, "what now?" at the same time) ;-) Well, I'm glad I found an empty cart nearby since I found plenty so I know I qualify for the above two memes! Silly dh... LOL

Didn't I mention I'm already getting ready for Fall?

Don't worry, I'm also getting ready for Summer...

These saucers kept grabbing my attention and boy, did I ignore them several times as hubby doesn't believe in saucers. I didn't see them as saucers, I saw them as dessert plates for our Thanksgiving dessert table. Imagine my surprise when I turned them over and I saw this...

They are Homer Laughlins!
At GoAntiques dot com, the J-83 was described as pre-60's.
They have one set of teacup and saucer for $12, but I paid $3.52 for 8 saucers, I mean dessert plates!
According to McCulloh Antiques Dating Info:
"From 1930 to 1960, a letter indicated the month. A two digit number indicated the year and the letter and number indicated the plant. These numbers are in addition to the name Homer Laughlin and the shape in some instances."

Here's another interesting find.
As you know, I love anything embossed and anything to do with Fall,
so when I found this pattern,
it was love at first sight!
I was in total shock when I discovered that the maker was....

Gibson!

I AM NOT A FAN OF GIBSON. PERIOD.

This is the only pattern I've liked.
I couldn't pass up 99 cents each,
the 6 plates were just winking at me left and right!
So I brought them home and I still love them.
I am now more excited about Thanksgiving!

And then there are these wine goblets with a thin gold rim.
The texture is inside of the glass!
I didn't think much of the quality since they were among regular drinking glasses.
Again, imagine my surprise when I checked the quality of the glass
through its sound vibration and they turned out to be crystal!
I got all 4 of them for $3.96!


Goodwill knew I was coming!

Thank you to our lovely hosts, Tam and Diane for ensuring our fun every week. Make sure to visit everyone who joined in so we can see more goodies!

TABLESCAPING IDEA: ("Brain is not picky at all) After your GW trip, wash them all and use them! Just use some votives to make your table pop and enjoy your more than three thrifty treasures a second time around!

1, 2, 3... Oh, It's Tuesday!

Hosted by "The Gypsys Corner"

I borrowed all these pictures online so you can see all the fruits we bought during testing week. Of course, any one of these are present in our home at any given day, but testing week is special so we "power up" our children inside and out! ;-)

Last night, we celebrated my teen daughter's NHS induction and also it is our younger daughter's testing week, so I grabbed the freshest fruits and veggies to feed them to get them ready for any tests! ;-) I think I don't need any explanation on the following. What do you think? ;-)

From Dreams Time dot com



From Babble dot com

From Wise Geek dot com

From Cooking Goddess dot com

Thanks for hosting Tam! I love this meme!

&*****************************************************&
TABLESCAPING IDEA: ("Brain" watches too much Food Network... Thank goodness for that! LOL) For a unique centerpiece, either create a fruit art or "style" your cut or whole fruits. Wash them first! As the guests start to dine, talk about why you chose those fruits (it goes with the menu and dinnerware of course!) then invite them to take some home or have them in lieu of sugary dessert. You'll be a hit for feeding them something pretty and healthy! Make the overall menu healthy with lime ginger grilled salmon or tuna or shrimp and or have ceviche and grilled chicken with steamed veggies!

One Full Tuesday: Three in One!

Hosted by "The Gypsy's Corner"

I decided to focus on beautiful names for today's meme. Thank you Tam, for hosting once again!

I've always been fascinated with how things are named; cars, boats, flowers and even dinnerware. But no matter the reason, the beauty and design is what captures you... You can't help but wonder, if the person who buys the item named similarly as they are, can they see their personality matching or a beauty hidden within?

Why don't you be the judge as you look at these beautiful dinnerware patterns named after women like you and me...

Mikasa's "Brooke" like one of my followers...

Century China's "Jasmine", like my beautiful daughter...

American Atelier's "Lara", like one of my blogging buddies, and former neighbor in Mesa, AZ

222 Fifth's "Gabrielle", reminds me of a playful little French girl...

And, Noritake's "CAROLYN", like me. Can you see me in that delicate detail? It was discontinued back in 1996, the year I got married... I've never known this, but I'm glad I know now.

On to the Toile Party...

Hosted by "Pretty Organized Palace"
I found all of these samples of Oriental Toile in Fabric Finder dot com




****************************************************
Cielo from "The House in the Roses" bestowed all of these awards to those who participated in her Chocolate Cookie Party. And now, dear readers, I share them all with you!





I've never had this one before, how exciting!


I was excited to get this one personally from her because I've always admired those blogs that earned it!

Enjoy visiting all the participants today! Thanks for peeking!

I've Got Pasta!

Hosted by "The Gypsy's Corner"

Thank you again to Tam for hosting another great one!

Here is my new and organized pantry. My darling and gorgeous husband reinforced the shelves and then we swapped out the items to find more space in this little room.

Look at my pasta boxes, I think it qualifies for this week's TOMT, don't you?

I love Barilla pasta; it's the only brand I use if I can afford it. It comes out perfect every time!

Happy Tuesday everybody! Make sure to check the others' posts for today!