A Successful Saturday!

I got lots of new Pyrex.  But the best thing of all...I found a hutch to put it all in.  I don't have it yet, since I'm waiting on the delivery.  Surprisingly, it wouldn't fit in my Civic.  I can't wait!  It's cute, mid-century ('60's, maybe '50's), in really good shape and it didn't set me back that much.

Sometimes I Forget...

...that I have a slow cooker. Well the other day I was off work and trying to get some little project done, but I felt like making something yummy for dinner. And that's when inspiration came.

Chicken? Check.
Mexican frozen veggie mix? Check.
Corn tortillas? Check.

All the makings for tortilla soup.

I always forget how easy it is to just plop the chicken in the pot with some spices and onions and then come back in a few hours and it's done. Then I just opened the bag of frozen veggies, tossed them in with a few more herbs and spices, cut up some tortillas and left it all for a little while longer. Voila!

My Name is Wendy...

and I'm a Pyrexic.

"Hi, Wendy!"

In other words, I suffer from a debilitating disease known as Pyrexia.

It is a condition that has become more common in women (and some men) through out the United States and Canada in recent months. Symptoms include compulsive shopping at thrift stores, garage sales and estate sales, with the occasional visit to antique shops. All this in search of colorful bowls, casserole dishes, and the occasional refrigerator dish.

Initially my prognosis seemed good. I figured I would be on the low-end of the Pyrexia Disorder Spectrum--a mild interest in vintage kitchen ware. I would have a lovely collection of useful and beautiful kitchen accessories. But then I found that I couldn't stop. Every time I'm out running errands I think how I can make my route take me by one of the local thrift stores. I even got up at 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday to go to an estate sale because the pictures posted on-line showed they had Pyrex. (Good thing I did, too, because I scored this beauty. A rare, and very large, New Dots mixing bowl. For only $6!!)


So now I'm a full fledged addict. (I think my metaphor just shifted, but go with it.) While I am a member of two different support groups, I actually think they are making my condition worse. It's taking over my life. I am quickly running out of cupboard space and will soon be out of space on any horizontal surface in my kitchen, dining, and living rooms.

And yet I can't help myself. It's just so pretty! These Butterfly Gold casseroles, while not my favorite pattern, just couldn't be left behind. They look so nice all stacked up and shiny, just waiting for me to whip up a pasta salad or tuna casserole. I recently scored the little one and the big one half-price at the Salvation Army. Eight dollars for both, including the lids. When I got home and remembered/realized I had already picked up the middle one a while back, I was so happy to have put together a complete set that I could not bare to put them away in the cupboard (also, there really isn't room in the cupboards any more.) They are currently sitting on the bar area of the counter for all to admire.

The high of finding any precious piece of Pyrex on the dusty, jumbled shelves of a thrift store is amazing. But when one finds an especially rare or coveted piece, well, I'm pretty sure it's like being on drugs. The other day I went to my new favorite Goodwill. (Favorite because it is well stocked AND the prices reflect that they are in fact a thrift store selling second-hand, donated items, and not in any way a high-end retail department store! Okay, little rant over.) As soon as I was in the store, I made a bee line to the glass kitchen wares aisle. It was a little crowded, but through the cluttered, precariously stacked shelves I spotted something turquoise! As I moved in, not too quickly so as not to alert the other customers of the presence of a desirable item, I was delighted to discover not one, but two, square Pyrex bowls.

Now being the informed collector that I am, I immediately recognized them as a chip and dip set. As I greedily grabbed them from the shelf, I'm pretty sure I said out loud, "Where's the bracket?" You see to make it a true chip and dip set, you need a little metal bracket to hold the smaller bowl full of dip above the larger bowl full of chips. Genius!

Well the bracket was nowhere to be seen in the glass kitchen ware aisle. So I did what any normal (read "crazy, obsessed Pyrex-hoarding") person would do. I started searching the store, muttering to myself things like "It's got to be here somewhere." and "Where could it be?" You get the picture. Pretty sure people were starting to look at me strange, and that's saying something when you're talking about the thrift store crowd. After I finished emptying the metal home decor knic-knac shelves, I was starting to feel a little dejected.

But I reasoned that the bowls surely had only recently been placed out on the shelves, given the fact that no other crazed collector like myself had snatched them up. That, and the fact that the bowls were in super great condition (shiny without a scratch or mark on them, like they had never been used), led me to believe they must have been donated together with the elusive bracket. Some uninformed Goodwill worker just separated them. Racking my brain, trying to think of which section said worker would have tossed the precious bracket into, I headed over to the "random, manly tool section". After politely pushing by some Mexican guys digging through the electrical cords bin, I started scanning the "metal things" bin.

Is that?...Could it be?... (cue the parting of clouds and angelic swelling of music) There it was!! I found it!! My heart started pounding. I snatched it out of the bin and immediately put it together. Here she is, in all her glory:

I walked around the store for a little while longer, carrying the set in it's assembled state with what I'm sure was a giant, goofy grin on my face. But I couldn't concentrate on shopping any more. All I kept thinking was I have to go pay for this--like I was afraid if I didn't buy it right away some Goodwill administrator was going to come out from the back room and take it away saying they weren't going to sell it to me. Luckily that didn't happen, and for a mere $8 the whole set was mine! (The little bowl was $2, the big one $5, and the priceless bracket was priced on par with a piece of worthless metal at $0.99!!)

Oh, how I love my turquoise chip and dip set! I told you I have a disease.

But seriously, does anyone have a nice china cabinet I can have?

Noooo...Summer, you are going by to quickly!

After all the craziness with school ending...

I've been enjoying a pretty relaxing break. Even though I am working a summer job, I am still able to get some "vacationy" things into my schedule.

I've been cooking some yummy dinners. (It looks so much better in one of my new Pyrex dishes!)

What's more summery than watermelon? (Again, all the more delicious when served from yummy turquoise Pyrex!)

I finished a baby blanket for a friend who had had her baby awhile ago. I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of it after I had already wrapped it. This was my first quilt done all by myself--from start to finish. And it was the first time I machine quilted a quilt. (Yeah for the internet!!)

I think I'm addicted...

I wonder who this could be for?

Oh yeah, and my Pyrex addiction--I mean collection--has gotten a little out of hand. I've given myself a budget for how much I can spend each month. I spent the entire summer's budget in just one month!

Thanks to my mom for finding these beautiful casseroles with cradle.

Beautiful yellow Daisy casserole.

Pink! I love pink!

Oh, no! Another project. I wonder who will get this one?

And that's pretty much my summer so far...it's going by waaaay too fast!

The End of an Era

They are tearing down my old school starting Tuesday. Needless to say wrapping up this school year has been anything but normal. In case you were wondering what it takes to get a typical elementary school classroom from this...

to this...

it would be five 8-hour days and 100 boxes, give or take.
Such fun!

I did have some great helpers.

Thanks Tami and Elizabeth!
They packed up my entire classroom library in no time at all.

Luckily, I am not responsible for moving all 100 boxes. The district is hiring movers to move all of the boxes from our whole school to a warehouse until the new school is ready for us--hopefully before school is scheduled to start in September!

One last look

I was a little sad walking out of my room for the last time. It was my first classroom that I got to stay in for more than one year. And while the 70's-colored cabinets and leaky roof were more than enough to make me welcome a new school, I will miss our little "pod." Here's hoping the new Lakeland will be just as wonderful.

What's In Your Purse?

The other day I was reading a random blog and the author had taken everything out of her purse and documented it. Then she challenged her readers to do that same thing and there was going to be a prize. Anyone who linked to the photo of their purse contents was entered into a drawing. I was reading this weeks after the contest had ended but was still entertained by the random things that women carry around with them. You could definitely tell who the mothers were--they tended to have a lot of fruit snacks and Polly Pocket dolls in their bags.

Anyway, it got me curious to see what was in my purse at that moment, so I went over to the kitchen table and dumped it all out. Here's the picture of it all, after I organized it and got rid of all the gum wrappers, receipts and lint balls, of course! :)

The contents, starting with said purse and going clockwise from the edge towards the center, are: make up bag, doggie treats baggie, wallet, 2 necklaces, pair of earings, 26 cents, instant oatmeal, Handi-Snacks plastic cheese spreader, 2 packs of gum and 2 half pieces of gum, 3 gift cards, car insurance cards, ipod, keys, water bottle, purse hook (for hanging your purse on the edge of a table), sun glasses, glasses, 2 bottles of foundations, round mirror, power compact, eye shadow, cuticle cream, 4 tubes lipgloss/chapstick, bobby pins, movie ticket stub, Crystal Light drink mixes, 2 pens and a pencil, paper clip, Advil sinus pills, and a bottle of hand sanitizer. (My camera was in there too, but it is obviously being use to take the photo.)

I had no idea I was carrying around that much stuff. Are you brave enough to post what's in your bag? I double dog dare you! (Leave me a link in a comment so I can take a look. Hey--I showed you mine.)

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GIVEAWAY!!!!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GIVEAWAY!!!!

I thought that I wanted a Cricut machine...but now I want a Silhouette!! Who knew there was even such a thing. Here's hoping I win!