Christmas Flea Market

Sunday December 4th there was a christmas flea market held in church basement not too far from my house.

I saw great displays!

 Every glassware fanatic will swoon over this pic!

 Must buy vintage brooch !

 The huge fur boa really reminds me of my mother

 Super cute display!

 I am thinking I should start collecting piggy banks!!!

 Or maybe Tiki glasses and cups!

 I wish I had room to bring all these treasures home!

Lovely Barware! 

I picked up this little guy. He's seen a lot of Christmases!

He's missing some paint but he still lights up and he is CUTE!

I will leave you with this picture of vintage and antique

ornaments that belonged to Dad.

Have a great day!

Hope to blog soon!

Wwwwwhhhhaaaatttt?

In my last post, I wrote about closing the garden.....

Monday morning, I woke up to this!

 Usually the first snowfall melts in the same day....

Not this one!

Definitely time to think about Xmas!

 Those are pics from my house in the suburbs

 I love this little plate! I am so glad

nobody bought in on Easy...

 i still don't know how I will decorate outside because those squirrels

are CRAZY!

I am afraid to loose what Xmas lights are left!

I am sure I will think of something since I am super resourceful

And I will be praying for a white christmas.....

Have a great evening!

Happy Canada Day!!!

To all my Canadian readers from coast to coast I wish you a wonderful Canada day!

Here in Quebec July 1st is MOVING DAY. Leases are usually 12 months and start on July 1st.

Which means that it is treasure day for a trash picker as myself....It is true that I try to limit the stuff I bring home because, let's face it my home is very well stocked, not to mention my Dad's apartment!

Today, returning from a fast trip to the corner grocer, I took the opportunity to visit the different piles of trash on my street....

Boy was I in for a MAJOR find! This is something I have been yearning for for several years....

And it was waiting for me lying on its side on top of a box of empty bottles....

 A safe T blowmold ice cream cone!!!

OMG! I ran home as fast as I could holding it tight just

like a little girl squealing with delight!

I will be purchasing a lottery ticket this afternoon!

 I got new sandals, half off with free delivery....

See how well my toes compliment the sandals?

And they are comfy! BONUS!

 I had to call a company to clean my roof drain, I have a flat roof.

See the dark space in the middle of the picture?

I was informed that hole was home to rats....

RATS! EEEEEWWWWW!

The exterminator is coming Monday morning!

Earlier today while vacuuming we blew out a circuit but we can't reset it...

Oh well, I'll try to have an electrician early next week...

And no week is complete without a condescending email from the executor.

The good news is that I am choosing not to let it ruin my day and that I should be rid of her

by the end of September.

Another good news is that I have found the joy of blogging again!

Be safe, be well

and 

Keep on thrifting! 

Ready!

So 2 of my thrifty finds are ready to share....

First one is definitely a guilty and secret obsession. I LOVE LE CREUSET!

I will try to keep this in check and not flood the apartment as I have with Pyrex....

When Dad passed I found out he had quite a bit of Le Creuset, some badly damaged, I kept the good pieces.

On our day trip on Saturday, I was really excited to find this....

 A nice Le Creuset gratin dish!!!

It was only $6.00! Any Le Creuset under $10 is a bargain!

I have big plans for this dish! Like baked gnocchis...

or maybe some enchiladas!

Next is this little guy!

Hello Frosty! I saw this at a perpetual yard sale...

It is opened 6 days a week except on Wednesday. we stop by

every time we go to Ontario. 

I never know what goodies I will find...

Vintage Coca-Cola glasses, vintage OJ glasses, Vintage cookie tins, Pyrex.....

I lost 2 blowmolds last winter, so I was really happy to find this....Dan (woodworker extraordinaire) paid for it.....

Aaaaahhhh Thrifty goodness!

This feels sssooooo good!

A Vintage Xmas

Hello there!

I hope you all had a great Xmas. Mine was wonderful and vintage!

On Xmas Eve it was still 61F! In December in Quebec! I saw guys in shorts and ladies in t-shirts...and a lot of sockless folks.

I got raves for my tourtiere (meat pie) and ragout de boulettes (meatball stew). We all had a great time.

 Fog in Montreal

 Gifts! (we forgot to put away the bag of chips...)

It ended up being a running gag.

 3 new friends! I had the snowman in the store a couple of years ago and I always regretted selling it....

It was the first time I've seen the cute soldier. And how adorable is the reindeer?

 The mantle

Needless to say that with the heat we didn't make a fire!

 The village

 This was in my stocking. It comes from Russia.

The bag shows fries and ketchup. These are not fries...

These are stale bread chips with seasonings...you eat them with the ketchup!

It was disgusting! We had a laugh about that!

After all the excitement, it was time for a little

nap!

Be well and I hope to post soon!

Oh My!

You know how it is...the end of November and beginning of December has been....work,home,sleep and a bit of Xmas shopping squeezed in between!

When we moved back in late August Dan was oh so sure that we were going to watch tv late on weekdays since we didn't have to wake up at 4:45 am to catch the train.

Well it isn't exactly going as declared because I fall asleep around 9:30 compared to 10:00 before...oh well!

Dan finished the oven surround and it was declared perfect by the installer! So Thursday I celebrated by baking some Pillsbury pumpkin pie spice cookies that were purchased on deep discount.

The new oven is a dream....I can't wait to really bake.

I was soooo happy it was one of the best days of my life!

I felt handicapped without a working oven.

 Love that the light comes on when you open the door.

On another note....

I went to a church basement vintage sale.

I had no idea what it was...

Well I was sure I died and went to vintage heaven!

 I had no idea this existed in Montreal

Pyrex, Fireking, Tupperware,Glasbake....

ALL VINTAGE!

I was so happy to look at all these treasures.

It was full of vintage lovers....and so glorious.

The sales are held regularly.

I will be there next time!

On a different note....

 Friday night, I went thrifting and spotted the Santa coin bank which I bought rather quickly.

I then went on my merry way, I heard Dan's voice tell me: Are you going to regret

not buying the candles? YES!!!

So I went back in the thrift and told them : I am sorry but I have no choice, I must buy the candles....

And the owner shaved a couple of bucks from them.

Not the cheapest, but since the lot was under $15, I say yes to the joy of

Xmas blowmolds!

We started working on interior Xmas decorations

Blowmolds and Department 56 Original Snow Village and Dickens Village

Win Win decor win!

Sleep tight! 

Getting ready

Last year around this time I was 40% ready for Xmas.....

This year I am...let's say 10% ready.....NOT GOOD

Of course there is the oven situation.....

But we are working through it

and Dan is hard at work on patching the hole.

 These are the new Xmas decorations from my work's lobby.

I am grateful they got rid of the creepy leprechaun/Cirque Du Soleil dolls.

I also spied this cutie blowmold in a shop nearby.

What do you know I have the same!

The oven crapping out on me really threw me off. And I am barely getting used to the situation .

So I am writing a lot of lists and I will prep all my cookie dough and pastry dough during the weekend.

I HOPE!

so that is 3 batches of pie crust dough, 2 batches of ginger bread cookies dough, 1 batch of Xmas sandies ,2 batches of pferffernusse dough...and I will see from there

Stay clam, sleep tight

and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Major Progress

We had an amazing weekend!

We worked very very hard on the house. Since we rented a storage space last week, we had to start moving boxes! Loads of boxes! As an added bonus we had the use of a minivan.

Unfortunately the picture of the full minivan did not make it. But the picture of the storage space did!

                                          It is much bigger than the picture shows, but you can see 2 blowmolds!

                                          We moved more than 30 boxes today, an outdoor love seat and
                                           an antique bed frame.
                                           I am so tired I have problems getting around but I think that with a couple of
                                           liqui-gels I should be A-Okay!
                                           For supper I was really please with myself that I thought of cutting veggies
                                           before to add to the grilled chicken salad .

                                Here are some Pyrex bowls waiting to be packed.

                               I will be visiting Bath and Body works tomorrow at lunch and I am super excited!
                               I got a gift card @ Xmas!

                               Be well and sleep tight!

Thrifting

2014 was the suckyest thrifting year for little old me. There were no BIG finds and in a way that is fine since I decided to put the store on hiatus.

But I love a day where all the thrifting stars align and you find good stuff! You just need to appear and pouf! Thrifting magic!

So that’s just what happened on Saturday….We took a small roadtrip to drop a box of donation at the Value Village in Cornwall and cross the bridge for some U.S. groceries….

But our first stop was Michael’s for a Xmas Peanuts flag…I lost mine to a windstorm 2 christmasses ago….I have no idea why they don’t carry seasonal flags , they have Friends and Welcome but no Christmassy joy (SUPER DOUBLE BUMMER)

So back in the car and on to Value Village…I drop my box and went in not expecting much…There was a lot of gooood stuff

But especially a vintage Xmas tree stand new in a box from Zellers. We had the same one , until it rusted out and died and we bought a big ass Xmas tree stand that is super ugly nut the tree never tips over…My step daughter wanted one for a small tree and the price was right at $2.00 ($3.99 minus 50% off).

I also grabbed one of those mixed bags for $1.99 and I was thrilled to find this mini pitcher (creamer) that had been on my thrift bucket list for many years, ever since I bought its big bro in a church basement in Moncton NB…That takes us back to 1988 !

There were 2 other knickknacks that will re-enter the wheel of thrifting pretty soon….

 

 

We also stopped at the Salvation Army and I wa lucky enough to find this

Vintage exterior light set , new in the box for $2.00

 

 

I will use it to replace one of my sets that is cracking under the weather strain.

 

Last but certainl not least...

This is a blowmold vignette that Dan set up for me.

 

It fills me up with JOY!!!

 

                                  I'm off to watch TV because I need to get off my feet. I just came out of
                                 a Xmas cooking marathon! I made cranberry orange bread, cranberry fudge, mini cheese balls and Pfeffernusse dough (I will bake the cookies tomorrow as they taste better the same day).

Tomorrow I will cook the turkey, stuffing and Monte Carlo potatoes....Good times!

Great Sunday

I love weekends where everything seems to glide and flow effortlessy....

Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about a lazy couch potatoey weekend but one where you suddenly get up from the couch and start taking care of business, slow and steady!

The meat pies are all wrapped up and frozen ready for future feasting. The burned out bulbs are replaced.

The basement door is insulated, the garden hose rolled up in the caddy (We bring the frozen hose down in the basement, let it defrost and rolled it up again so It is snug as a bug for winter).

Dan has been a busy bee cleaning out the basement and throwing away broken things. And I decided to start decorating inside!

 A nice and joyous winter scene....

                                      This is our new Xmas frame...It lights up!
                                             SWEET!

                                   As you can see Bandito is totally ignoring my decorating efforts!
                                   He is content to bask in the keyboard's soft heat....

I am now working on a blowmold scene.....Stay tuned!

You just never know

Saturday was the most amazing day!

We got up early and finished the Xmas lights outside, in minus 20 Celsius, this is quite an achievement....

Then we brought the Xmas tree from the basement, and installed it (still not finished but working on it).

Later that day we had a line dancing party and on our way, it was still quite early, we spotted a thrift shop (squeals of joy)

I found this cutie pie...

                                             I had never seen one like this before. I plan to group
                                            Santa blowmolds in a gaggle or clodder.
                                             Now what do you call a group of Santas???

                                At the party I won this HUGE fruit basket!

                                 I gave some to a friend but I am still struggling with finding uses for all this fruit!

There will be cinamon apples and pear compote! NICE

Have a great night and stay warm!!!