AFK

If you're familiar with The Big Bang Theory you might know that this means Away From Keyboard!

I have been AWOL and AFK for quite a while.

Grief kicked my ass and I had several meltdowns (normal) and I went to see my family physician who

prescribed a medical leave....

I just could not cope anymore, I felt so overwhelmed and helpless....

I am told I looked like a deer caught in the headlights! And I felt the same as well.

I felt so paralyzed and lost.

all those books, dvds and cds! 100 facecloths , 70 obelisks , hundreds of eggs.....I just wanted to make it all disappear !

I have been cataloging, packing and cleaning...I sneeze all the time and everyday I have new zits....

Today I took a day off and we went on a wee roadtrip.

I really like the vintage Montreal tile but felt the $9.99 price tag was too much...

 Same here! Who pays  $24.99 for 3 dinner plates and a dozen salad plates...

It is Corning Ware after all not Wedgewood!

  Ditto! $14.99 for 6 saucers???

REALLY?

This was a bit better but I have all the lids I need!

 JAJ Pyrex, It is basically all I've seen lately

 From the Brockville, Ontario Sally Ann

 I nearly bought this platter...

It is so cute and a steal at $1.50!

Instead I got this adorable holly serving dish for $1.00

I have a couple of other pieces but I am so tired I can't remember the pattern name

for the love of God!

It was a glorious thrifting day and I will share

my other finds as soon as I finish cleaning them up

Sleep tight!

What I left behind

So these are some of the pictures of the teasures I left behind on Saturday:

 This was a sweet fondue pot but I already have one.

 Even if I am the crazzy cat lady; I'm not sure I like those enough and I have the teapot in the shop and it is not moving...

 Why is Value Village a cemetary of old microwave glass platers? Please tell me, I need to know!

              
This one was hard to leave behind because I have magical memories of my vacation in Nantucket!
  And I am a sucker for vacation souvenirs....

                                A Fireking Primerose casserole

                                Some JAJ Pyrex casseroles

                                               A cool warmer tray. I must get one, one of these days!

                                          A Halloween blowmold, it was not a Xmas blowmold, that's why I left it there!!!

                                         A cool avocado green shoulder bag. Now I really wanted to get this bag
                                         but there was something wrong with the shoulder strap, so I left it there

                                        Well that's it folks! Today is another scrocher in the Montreal area and my pool is still not READY! AAAGGGHHH! Soon I'm hoping :)

Aaaaahhhhh! The weekend!

Today we had a very productive day!

A quick trip to the hairdresser, a touch of thrifting, we rented a carpet cleaning machine, the balance of the living room baseboard got painted, the hall got a big declutter, the heat registers got a good cleaning, we changed a curtain rod and many other tid bits were taken care of.....and I'm fighting a little cold.

Did I mention I made homemade chicken broth? and veggie soup too?

Here's what I harvested last night, we had a real hot and humid summer with periods of drought and big buckets of rain but the overall harvest is dismal. I thank God that we have other means to feed ourselves, otherwise we would have been skinny and mal-nourished.

The cukes are doing great we had about 20 so far, the green beans, shish....and to my great surprise we have oodles of cherry tomatoes. The italian tomato is a rogue, i didn't planted, it probably came from  the compost pile.

On thursday I went thrifting to Renaissance in Verdun, and I spotted this. This is a fairly rare JAJ Pyrex gravy boat, I was totally in awe. And it was just .99 cents! I forced myself to leave it there because it had 2 big chips on the base. Maybe next time! But I did get plenty of pictures for future FTW? Tuesday!

After all that hard work, I needed a break! So around 5pm I sneaked outside to enjoy the fading day....

 A cold one, one of my fave magazine and my latest Pyrex find!

 I found The Cracker Barrel and in very good condition. I'm guessing that it originally came with a plastic insert to make it more air tight as with the Stack'n'See storage containers because no way will this canister keep your crackers dry! And I hate a soggy cracker!

 However you have a tip on the side of the container.....If you want crisper crackers you can shove the crackers with the glass container in the stove minus the lid of course!

For supper we had grilled steak with Cow Bell Hell rub (from Maine), mushroom barley risotto and field tomatoes (from my CSA basket) 

The temperature has been very cold in the last few days and I'm worried my swimming days will be over soon, rats! I hope to take a dip or 2 tomorrow in between chores. Well they're not realy chores. I see it as TCB or taking care of business. You do what you have to do. Winter is coming so we must prepare!

Thrifty Finds!

I had a super day yesterday! I came down to downtown Montreal in the afternoon and then the marathon began!

I had to stop at the Salvation Army! I just couldn't help myself...lol

I made a quick prayer to the thrifting gods and went inside. I found some nice unused mustard and orange napkins (vintage of course) and a melmac cream and sugar set (minty fresh...) and a really cute JAJ casserole with roses on the side. Those items I'll put in the Etsy shop because I can't keep them, but there was NO way I could leave them there, they were just too nice !!!

For myself I found a Pyrex Sunflower 043 lid and 2 delicious milkglass tumblers, and a special cook book for my dad (I can't tell you which one 'coz my Dad is a regular reader and it would mess up the surprise). In case you weren't aware Father's day is just around the corner....The book was a bonus, the bigger gift is supernice if you're into that kind of stuf....

After I made a quick stop at a fancy grocery store to get fancy ingredients I can't find in the boondocks....then a sprint to the Chinatown for some Hoisin sauce and Oyster sauce (and Wasabi peas...come to me..you little green nuggets of JOY!!!) and last but not least a power walk to Old Montreal where the restaurant was.

I was quite surprised by Steak Frites, the steak was tender served with a nice cream and cognac sauce and green beans...plus ALL YOU CAN EAT HOMEMADE FRIES!!!! How can you beat that??? And a salad was included in the price also! It was bring your own wine....good deal

I had a lot of fun with my girlfriends, I hope we all meet again over the summer and that we never loose touch!