Last week I tagged along with my husband when he had to go away for business, I like when that happens, especially when it's in an area where there are numerous thrift shops and a few antique malls within a nice distance - oh, GPS, you're a great invention!!!
How many times have you seen something on a blog or on Instagram and immediately think you need that item? I've been seeing vintage Valentine candy boxes, it made me remember Dad buying those for Mom, I have never seen them in a shop, so I never imagined I would ever have one! Jackpot - I found a booth that had five boxes - two were red, the others were non Valentine colors, I knew I was taking one, but I came to my senses and took the other red one too.
Both of the boxes are a nice size, about 10 inches in length. The top one has writing on the back - From Warren, 1940. The bottom one is very fancy and still has the Moirs, Halifax, Canada, tag on it. You don't see elaborate things like this anymore. The paper liner is still inside the box. I really don't have anything in the line of vintage Valentines, now I do!!
I've been on an Ideals kick lately, my good friend, Sharon, told me they were great for SMASHing, I never gave them a second glance before, but she was right, they're great - I found a few for Christmas, I used some for pages, some of the pictures are beautiful and some of the verses are ok to use too! Jackpot, again - four Valentine Ideals books!
I can't remember the last time I bought a postcard but these were cheap and cute!
I very seldom ever look at the children's book section anymore, I have quite a few Eloise Wilkin books and any I do see are the usual ones you see all the time. I was just walking past the books and this one was sitting to the side - I grabbed it - it was 50 cents. It's a beautiful book, it was given to Katie from Birgitta, 1st Christmas, 1989 - you should have kept this book, Katie.
I have never seen an Eloise Wilkin illustration that wasn't beautiful!
No trip would be successful without finding a Vera or two - I'm really liking that animal print one - it's different, has the tag attached and was only 75 cents!!!
Cold winter days are the perfect days to make a pot of soup - I made Grandma's Corn Chowder the other day, it was really delicious! Right off the top, I have to say this is not my Grandmother's recipe or anybody's recipe that I know, it's from All Recipes, I don't care who it belongs to, it's a good one! Another thing, I never plan a food post so if I have a picture and it's something worth sharing, I'll write about it, therefore, the picture may not be the very best!!
Grandma's Corn Chowder
1/2 c. diced bacon
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped. ( I used three nice sized red potatoes and left the peeling on, for some color)
1 medium onion
2 cups water ( I used chicken broth)
3 cups cream style corn ( I used one can of cream corn and two cups of frozen corn)
2 teaspoons salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups half and half
Place the bacon in a large pot over medium high heat and cook until crisp. Drain and crumble, reserving about 2 tablespoons drippings in the pot. Bacon would not have to be used at all, or you could just crumble some on the top, for whoever desires it!
Mix potatoes and onion into the pot with the crumbled bacon and reserved drippings. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Pour in the water or broth and stir in corn. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover pot. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until potatoes are tender.
Warm the half and half in a small saucepan until it bubbles. Remove from heat before it boils, and mix into the chowder just before serving!
I froze the leftovers, after each having a nice size bowl, there are two more soup meals in the freezer for us. I have been trying to make soup ahead and not buy canned soup any more, right now I have three kinds in the freezer. It's so much better!!
It's winter, time for more reading, more tv watching but any season is good for going to the movies, I love going to the movies!!
Do you remember the movie, Into the Wild? It came out in 2007, the story of Chris McCandless, who after graduating from university, he abandoned his possessions and took off for Alaska, living in the wilderness. Our whole family loved this movie and when I saw a new book, The Wild Truth, I put it on my Christmas list. I've read it, if you're a fan of the movie, this book will answer a lot of questions that you might have about the film. The book is written by Chris' sister, Carine McCandless - it really does shine a new background on this incredible story.
Right now I'm reading Unbroken, I saw the movie over Christmas, it's one of those movies that grabs you in right from the first scene. It's the true story of Louis Zamperini, set in World War II, he survived events that we cannot even imagine, that's all I'm going to say because I don't want to give it away! This author also wrote Seabiscuit which became another fabulous movie.
Over the weekend we saw "The Imitation Game" another World War II true story - the story of mathematician, Alan Turning who cracked the enigma code along with a group of other mathematicians -great acting and a great story!!
Before Christmas we started watching "Wentworth" on Netflix - if you liked "Orange is the New Black", this series is one to watch, it's very similar but set in an Australian prison, we just finished it up on the weekend, there's two seasons available, it was binge watching, for sure!! Loved it - I think it's the better of the two series'. Now, what are we going to watch?
I must include songza.com - Carla recommended it, now I know why she likes it so much - I always have the XM Sirius channels playing, after discovering this site, we are considering stopping our in house XM service - there is every kind of music you could ever want on here and even better, it's free!!! Right now I'm listening to 70's One Hit Wonders!! It's great!!!
Hope your day is filled with music!!
I can't believe I haven't been on blogger since December 20, where did the time go? Well, I can tell you where I've been spending a lot of my time - on Instagram!! I started on Instagram nearly two years ago, it started out for me the same way that my blog did - taking pictures of thrifted finds and vintage things around the house. My blog changed to include other things, like SMASHing, recipes and the like, there's still the odd thrifty find, but not as much as the only thing I look for actively all year long are Vera scarves and of course, the vintage occasion items.
Since the summer, I've become more interested in Instagram - I'm always looking for something different to photograph and every day I am taking part in Instagram challenges, I enjoy it a lot! Now, I am walking in fields to get pictures of old houses, old cars, stopping on the side of the road to take a picture, chances for pictures that can become amazing are everywhere!! I have to boast here just a bit, my pictures were featured in 104 challenges since the summer - some as stand alone features, others sharing a grid with others. I love to browse and look at other pictures that people have posted, there are just so many ideas, I've learned so much and have plenty to learn yet, one important thing I've learned is that photo editing makes a big difference in your picture!!
I thought I would share this grid with you - showing my most viewed pictures. I find it interesting that six of these shots were taken within the past month - I'm most proud of the first shot, my most viewed, it was featured numerous times on different hubs, it was just a perfect day for photography and turned out perfect!! All of these pictures were taken with my iPhone. I like it that Pyrex is always popular too, but I've probably shared every piece of Pyrex that I own and how many ways can you photograph it?
I'm mackaypj on Instagram and I'm an Instagram addict!!!
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