Hand-me-downs make a pretty Easter table

As you'll no doubt see, despite the fact that I am kind of a dishware freak with way more sets of dishes than most people would consider reasonable...I don't really do tablescapes. The reason being that with my two guys plus my crazy schedule, I am lucky if I even get the table set at all before everyone sits down and digs in. And, the guys just do not care. My husband recently tried to serve lobster and filet mignon on the everyday Corningware. (I said, "Are you kidding me! We have *three sets* of china!")

All the same, I like being festive despite the guys' lack of interest, and I had a good reason to set a pretty table for Easter, because for the first time I actually own good silver---my mom gave me my grandma's silver set when I was her visiting earlier this month. Here are a few pics I took before I polished it up.

So, after a morning spent singing our hearts out in celebration at church (DH sang in choir while I sat with the little fella until we sneaked up the choir loft at the end so I could put in my high notes on the Hallelujah Chorus), here is my attempt at pastel Easter jollity, featuring the new additions. Mom gave me the china as well---I am ashamed to say I can't remember who it belonged to, although do cut me a little slack---her dad was married five times and she's been married three, so I have a lot of steps to say the least(!)

If you're wondering what we had, we went full-out Southern, with congealed salad, baby lima beans...

...corn, mashed potatoes...

...turkey (notice the hubby has brought two ugly forks to the table despite the fact that I have a silver fork laid out---haha! see what I mean?)...

...and last but not least, gravy and dinner rolls.

And I just had to share this picture of the little man relaxing after dinner out on the deck with a good book on the hammock.

I'm posting this to Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, because there's nothing so thrifty as family hand-me-downs. Hoping to have some more good thrift stuff next week, as I am in charge of the autism support group's booth at the county yard sale this Saturday---and you just know I will do a little shopping myself!

Trip to North Carolina, Part 1

We took so many pictures this week I will have to just share some of them with you over the next couple of posts, I guess (which is good, since Clint is going into rehearsal for the musical Rent next week, so I will be busy.) So, I'll start with some vintage thingies from my mom's house, because if anybody has more vintage thingies than me, it's my mom (and if anybody has more vintage thingies than her, it's Clint's mom---but that's a story for another time!) Not sure which branch of the family it was, but someone owned an appliance store (Mom also has an old Norge neon sign which is hanging in the laundry room.) Here are some advertising stamps from the store:

Here are a few of her cool old cast-iron motorcycle toys.

Here is a neat old antique compass. My mom's parents did a lot of boating, so it may have come off one of their boats.

Here are some vintage kitchen thingies: a brown Corningware bowl, a mixing bowl that (I think) was her grandmother's biscuit bowl, and I love this old nut chopper.

Finally, here is an old phone. Isn't that fun? I guess you had a party line back then, so you just rang the operator.

I'm posting this to Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Pink Baby Dress and Purse

We're off to the mountains for while as the boys are on spring break. We're going to visit family on both sides, and I get a voice lesson from my grad school teacher---plus in exchange for spending one day of our vacation at a workshop for my job, the federal government is paying our gas money.

In the meantime, just to prove I don't save all the frou-frou for the guest room to spare my hubby's manly sensibilities, here is a little pink vignette from the master bedroom:

This is one of my baby dresses. I guess that makes it vintage, haha! It is a very pale, faded pink.

I carried this little pink purse at my wedding. It was just big enough to carry a tiny bit of perfume, a lipstick, and my "something old" (a handkerchief embroidered by my great-grandmother.)

And finally, on the shelf, a little teapot---given to me by my admin. assistant at my old job---and a thrifted tea cup. Happy Pink Saturday! I hope to find some fun things to share with you up in North Carolina!

Vintage Opera-related Items

As you may have noticed from my blog music, I am on opera and classical music fan. I am a classically-trained singer as well, and my office---from which I usually blog---is also my voice studio, where I practice, and occasionally teach voice lessons. It is a lovely room, with french doors, right off the main entrance so students can come right on in.

So, I wanted to share a couple of vintage things from my studio. First of all, I have some vintage sheet music that I got from a wonderful music store in Charlotte, North Carolina called Brodt. You go in and it is like a warehouse, and all the vocal music is stored in this one little basement hall, on one side. They have inventory from since forever...it's like they just keep it until it sells, or maybe they buy out old inventories from stores that close. So, I was able to find some pretty-looking old sheets, which I framed for the walls.

The fun part is that I have actually sung all of these pieces. The one below all of my students used to want to sing when I was teaching at Southern Virginia University. It's "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls," from The Bohemian Girl. They all knew it because the Irish singer Enya sings it!

I also have this lovely thing, a vintage art-deco record player. It still worked when I bought it for about $25, but now needs a couple of minor repairs. Why would I want to keep it working, you ask, in the day of CD's and iPods?

Why, because of this set of vintage opera recordings! Can you imagine being more connected to history than listening to singers from the Golden Age of Opera, singing under the baton of conductors like Toscanini, singers who were the contemporaries of composers like Puccini? As a freebie, there was also an old Bob Wills record stuck in one of the books.

And here are some knick knacks and such from on top of the piano. First, a funny little vintage lamp that my mom gave me made from a bottle shaped like a violin. The anatomical picture next to it looks vintage but isn't. My teacher gave me a copy of a picture of the resonance areas of the pitches of the soprano range from a vintage singing book she owns (she is a retired opera singer in her 80's.) I wanted to keep it handy for reference, so I copied it on brown paper and framed it.

So those are some of the vintage thingies in my music studio! Sorry about the glare in some of the photos; I have no direct lighting in this room, so photography is tricky.

I am linking to Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Vintage Sign Kit

I am going to do something new and try to participate in Coloradolady Suzanne's Vintage Thingie Thursday. In case I don't get it right, please bear with me; I am still learning about things like linky parties!

I mentioned this Thingie a couple of posts back; in fact you have seen it's handiwork right here on this blog. It's right here in this rough-hewn, stained little box. What could it be...?

It's a vintage sign-making kit from my great-grandparents' general store!

I love how it has these very detailed instructions for lining up your letters with the ruler on the lid...

I think this little cleaning brush that is in the kit is ivory, and there are also some vintage ink pads and a ruler. It obviously saw a lot of use and made many signs over the years.




Some of the rubber stamps have come off of the wood blocks, and I am wondering what would be a good way to repair them. I would like to use it to letter some handmade greeting cards.


Hope you liked seeing pictures of this "thingie" as much as I've enjoyed sharing with you!