Cookies, Colds and Crazy Ass Ex's!

Hey guys. After another two month hiatus, I'm going to try to get back to blogging on a regular basis. I shall start this post with a picture of some of my favorite things on the planet:

Vintage Pyrex!! Is there anything better?? I think not. Well, that's not entirely true. One thing that is better than vintage pyrex is thick, chewy oatmeal raisin walnut cookies, which is exactly why I had 5 pieces of vintage pyrex on the counter to begin with.

I decided last week that I really needed some of these cookies so I went in search of a new recipe online and found one here: SmittenKitchen. I added more walnuts than the recipe called for and also didn't chill the dough and I think they turned out AMAZING!! This recipe made 30ish tablespoon sized balls of dough.

 See the finished product? Don't they look yummo? Yeah, they were. I just polished off the last 3 a few minutes ago. Now, before yall go thinking I chowed down on all of those, I have to let it be known that I bagged up 18 of them and took them to a friend. So, in reality, I only ate 12 cookies. Since Saturday. Which in my opinion isn't too bad. Plus, they were semi-healthy with the nuts and oats and fruit. LOL Like the way I justify that, don't you??

And you know it's a labor of love to use Pyrex since it can't be washed in the dishwasher. It's worth it though because look how pretty it is when it's all clean and sitting there drying on the counter. I may or may not have let it sit out for a few days just so I could stare at it every time I went in the kitchen!

                                                        So.......

 

The last 8 weeks have been insanely busy!! I went to SC back on 15 September for 14 days. It was the first time I'd gone anywhere all summer long so it was definitely a much needed break. Unfortunately, the day before I left for SC I started getting a cold and by the time I made it to SC I was terribly sick with bronchitis. So, instead of spending my time down there having fun & visiting everyone, I spent the majority of the days and nights curled up in bed, hacking my lungs up. That was miserable. In fact, I'm still hacking a few times a day and it's been FIVE freaking weeks. And my sinuses are still all congested too thanks to seasonal allergies.

And in other news....

Things here at home have been so stressful. I was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown at the beginning of September, which prompted my visit down to SC. I'm *still* looking for a damn job. You know, one that will afford me to move out without having to eat at the soup kitchen or live under a bridge. It's impossible to find a job! And I'm stressing out about everything. Living here at this house is becoming increasingly hard, despite my best efforts to keep the peace and keep my distance. I'm routinely called horrible names, made to feel like crap, having to deal with his emotional abuse. Most of the time I'm able to ignore it but I won't lie -- sometimes it gets to me and I find myself just crying uncontrollably. I just really need some good thoughts and/or prayers that I'll find gainful employment very very soon. My only other option is to move back to South Carolina and I desperately want to stay in Maryland. 

And with that.....

I'm gonna go. I need to do laundry, clean the house, do the dishes, edit pictures and try to list some stuff on Etsy. Oh, and stop by and catch up on blogs!! I can't wait to see what you all have been up to the last 2 months! 

Vintage Playing Cards

Hola, my vintage-y peeps. Today is Thursday which means it's time to share things for VTT, hosted by Colorado Lady. Yay! I love Thursdays. Not just for VTT but because it's also 25% off day at the Value Village, which is where most of these great items came from.

Today, I'm sharing with you my collection of vintage playing cards. Well, I don't really "collect" them so much as I buy them to turn around and sell, but they do spend some time in my house so I guess we'll just pretend that it's a collection!!

I think the first set I ever bought was the cute little Beagle cards above. I just loved their sweet faces!! And these roses? Meh - not really my thing at all but they were in a baggie full of other items so they are here too.

I don't really care for these lilies either but somehow they ended up in my cart, in the bag and in the house. I should probably redonate these & get them outta here!

Now these flowers? These funky, bright flowers that remind me of embroidery? Yeah, these I like! I think I've sold them all though so all I have left are the memories. I'm okay with that!! Less clutter, ya know?

I bought these duck cards a few months ago and I just love them. They're manly! And the colors are so bright. I mean they're a little too manly and too country for me to ever display them in any way but they're for sale in my Etsy shop and someone else can enjoy them! lol

These are my absolute favorite cards ever! I just love the colors and the horse and the spunky little blond riding said horse. They came in a velvety box which was supposed to have another deck inside as well, except with a boy on a horse but there wasn't a full deck of those. I wish I would've kept a few of these for myself as they'd look fab beside the pastel color horse show ribbons that I picked up at the thrift store a few months back!!

And finally, I just picked these up today! I love vintage bird prints so these are just a super fab find!! I haven't checked yet but it seems like they are complete decks and it's going to be awfully hard for me to part with these. I love how the bird on the right looks like he's hollering out to his birdie wife "hey, where the hell's my dinner?" hahaha

So, there you have it  -- most of my vintage playing card collection. I love cards even though I don't play any card games. Just seeing them around reminds me of my late PaPa. He was always sitting at the table playing cards. I can still picture being a little girl and going to his & MaMa's home and pulling open the drawer in the kitchen and seeing stacks of cards all rubber-banded together. Aww! Of course he never had any of these fancy schmancy cards!! No velvety boxes of cards, just the regular packs you'd buy at the checkout at Revco. I'm definitely more partial to the nice boxed sets though.

Thanks for visiting me today for VTT. I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my fabulous thrift store finds!!

VTT: My Someday House

Hola, my vintage-y peeps. It's that time again: Vintage Thingies Thursday hosted by Colorado Lady. This week, I'm sharing some fab-u-lous vintage dinnerware that I picked up last week at the Value Village. I've always been one of those people that's bought things for my "someday house" and now that I'm moving on with my life, I've started collecting things that I'll use in my own place one of these days. As I've said before, I've always wanted a pink & aqua kitchen and I think these will be perfect in such a kitchen, along side all of my Butterprint and Pink Daisy Pyrex, and my great vintage aqua Club cookware!!

I've long admired this pattern but let's face it - I am cheap - and I was never willing to spend whatever the asking price was. Until last week, that is. I scored the cups and small plates for a mere .45 cents each and the dinner plates for $1.20 each. I'm still kicking myself in the rear for not buying all of the available ones! How dumb was that?? Then again, what was I really going to do with china for 8 or 16? I mean these are adorable and all but not exactly gender-neutral! And as it stands, I don't really have large gatherings of females over for tea & biscuits so the set of 4 is probably sufficient!!

In addition to the 4 cups, salad plates and dinner plates, I also snatched up 2 serving bowls for a very good price! I'm definitely on the hunt for other pieces in this pattern. There's quite a few pieces on Etsy & I'm sure tons of it on Ebay but I'd rather hunt for them myself. That way I don't accumulate too much of it right away!

Anyway, I'm still plugging along here at home. My friend is having one of "those" parties this weekend so I've been spending a lot of time helping her plan our fun little girls night in. The food is hilarious, the decor is going to be great & I'm so looking forward to getting out of the house for a few hours prior to going dancing! Hope you all are having swell weeks - I'll be stopping in soon!!

I'm also sharing my new-to-me dinnerware over at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Fridays. Please stop in & have a look at all of the fabulousness over there too!! 

Hello? Remember Me?

I'm doubting no one remembers me because I've certainly not had any comments asking where I was or if I'd fallen off of the face of the earth!! Haha I've taken a very long blogging break - from posting and reading - and I'm hoping that I can start doing both again. 

So, I've got some important news to share with you all. I kind of eluded to it back in May but I wasn't comfortable sharing anything at that point but now that it's been over 3 months, I'm sure that my decision was the right one. Will and I are separated. Well, as separated as you can be when you're forced to still cohabitate with each other. I've been looking very hard for full-time employment, sent out dozens of resumes and nothing has panned out yet. I did have an interview this past Wednesday and the lady was super nice and seemed interested but she did let me know that she wasn't hiring until the third or fourth week of August. Please, please keep your fingers, toes, eyes crossed that I'll get the job. It's one that will actually pay me enough to live on. 


So, aside from that bit of news, I thought I'd also share with you all this bit of happiness - I've lost 36.5 pounds since April!!! Isn't that amazing?? I take a new picture every week right before I go dancing and I can really see the difference in my face. Here are a few pictures from the middle of May through this month.












Things have been stressful as all hell here at home, as I'm sure you can imagine, but I'm making do as best as possible. My family has offered to come help me pack up and to move me back down to SC but I just really don't want to do that. I mean I like Maryland, this is my home now. I guess if I can't find any permanent full-time work that I'll have to move back but I'm praying it doesn't come to that. 

So, remember the earlier this spring when I was absolutely panicking about turning 30? Well, as it turns out, this has been a fabulous year so far! Turning 30 left me feeling so empowered - the changes have been amazing. I finally felt like I could leave a bad situation, with no regrets, knowing I'd done my absolute best to work it out and that it just wasn't going to happen. I've focused - really focused - on losing weight and getting in shape. I work out several times a week, I've given up beer (replaced it with rum & diet coke!) and I still haven't had chocolate since I gave it up for Lent!! As I said in my last blog post, I go dancing every single Saturday night. I love dancing and that's something I'm never giving up again. I've realized that giving up parts of who I am and what I like, really sucked the life out of me. I'm only sorry that it took me 7 long years to realize that!! 


I was home alone last night and I was feeling a bit down (surprisingly!) so instead of sitting here and allowing myself to wallow in my own misery, I decided I'd do something I hadn't done in way too long - I got crafty!! I started digging through boxes of craft crap, I mean supplies, and I found this:





An old composition notebook I scored at the thrift store for 45 cents. Actually, there are two of them and this is the second one. I kind of forgot to take a picture of the other one before I started altering it! Anyway, the pages are numbered, slightly yellowed and it's perfect for recording all of the new changes in my life. I really found the inspiration for even doing this kind of journal by reading this blog: Thrifty Miss Priss. Robin is so crafty & creative and I just love the journals she makes. They're always crammed full of vintage goodness so I hope mine turns out half as good as hers! 


So, the ugly gray comp notebook went from plain & boring to this:





I used the word bliss as a reminder of what I'm looking for. A life that's happy and stress-free. One that's full of love and peace and serenity. One that's filled with things I truly treasure. Of course, I had to use my favorite colors for the cover and some of the inside pages but I also went through my stacks of magazines from the 30s and 40s and found hilarious pictures that are so applicable to my current situation so I had to rip those out & put them throughout the journal. This one cracks me up:





Bwaaaaaaaahahaha Notice how I had to add in the word "not". And that's just the reality of the situation. It wasn't forever. I mean sure, if I'd felt like spending the rest of my life being constantly betrayed and lied to, it probably could've lasted forever, but I deserve so much more than that!! 


My journal-ish notebook thingie is definitely going to be a work in progress, which is how it should be - I'll add to it here & there, tweak it into what I want it to be and I'll treasure it always! It's a permanent reminder of my life as it is now! 


Anyway, I should get going. I need to clean the house, package an Etsy order, get dressed and go to my second favorite store on earth - Target!! Hope you all are having great summers. I'll try to stop by soon & catch up with everyone!!

 

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hey guys - today is my 30th birthday. You know, the one I've been dreading for the last year. I thought for sure that I would spontaneously combust at midnight but so far, so good!! Unfortunately, I'm spending my birthday quite depressed. You guys, so much has happened in the last month & I just can't get into it right now but I'm dealing with lots of life changes & it sucks spending your birthday all sad and confused.

 Some random pictures from last week while the family visited - like this one from the air show on Friday!

The whole month hasn't been completely terrible though. My sister, mom and niece came to visit me last week. We had a great time together and it was so nice for them to come here instead of me having to go there!! We went to the big air show down at Andrews AFB, to Pennsylvania Dutch country, thrifting! My sister and I went out dancing last Saturday night & had a great time. We used to go out dancing 2-3 days a week when we were younger but after we both got married and I moved away, things changed.

Aren't we cute? I don't think we look anything alike though! No one ever believes that we're sisters!!

Will started his new job on Wednesday - the drive from here in Baltimore to down to the Pentagon is proving to be even longer & more ridiculous than his previous commute to Andrews. He starts his crazy shifts on Monday so that will take some getting used to I'm sure. He did have the first 18 days of May off though and he spent them finishing off some projects around the house, traveling to VA Beach to see his mom and to WV to see the rest of his family. I'm glad he was able to go & visit everyone before starting his new job since he won't have any vacation time for the next year!! Still no follow-on orders but he may decide to try to stay in the DC area. I don't know how that's going to work out yet.

 (I love the Blue Angels - it's my favorite part of any air show. Shhh! I like them even more than I like the Thunderbirds - sorry AF,  but the Navy's show is so much better!!)

Oh, and I've been trying to find a "real" job for the last few weeks. I've thoroughly enjoyed being the stay-at-home wife over the last 7 years but it's time to get a j.o.b. that will allow me to support myself. The whole Etsy business isn't going to provide that so I have to get serious & find something that will afford me to actually live and not just provide some fun money

My silly niece looking out my sunroof while watching the Blue Angels

So, I'm going out dancing tonight to celebrate my birthday. Well, that's kind of a lie because for the last few months, I've gone out every Saturday night. I don't know what happened but one weekend while I was sitting at home - again - I decided that I felt like the life was just being sucked right out of me. I'm not a homebody by any stretch of the imagination and for the last few years, I've just been I dunno, complacent?! and given up all of the things I enjoy doing (besides thrifting!) and I just felt this urge to make some changes. So, I started to go out on Saturday nights. And you know what?? It's done amazing things for my self-esteem!!

 

Aren't goats adorable? We visited this Petting Zoo while in PA and the goats were so friendly!

I'm really hoping that this funk I've been in the last few weeks passes quickly and that this year will be amazing. I'm sure it will be. I've lost over 20 lbs in the last 3 weeks from being all depressed (yay!!) and I want to join a gym & start getting back into working out on a regular basis. I know once I start doing things to improve myself, my depression will go away. I guess I could just as easily go to the dr & get some medication for this but I don't think I need that. I just had to have the courage to do some really difficult things and realize that it's going to suck for a while because change is always hard but in the end, I'll be so much happier!! Right?! Hope you all have been doing well - I need to go around & visit my bloggy friends soon!! Maybe tomorrow while I'm recovering from a well-deserved hangover! haha

VTT - Games

Good Morning my favorite vintage peeps!! I'm actually going to participate in VTT today. Woohoo! I've been slacking for the last few weeks even though I have tons of ideas of things to share on VTT. Anyhow, I'm here today & I'm sharing with you all some of my favorite vintage boards games. I mostly buy these for the awesome graphics but on occasion, we do play them too!

First up, this Educational Play Set. Counting, phonics, telling time - it's all included! Yay!

Here are some of the game pieces - love the graphics!

A couple of years ago I found this plastic puzzle of America. I think I'll repurpose it & use the states in my scrapbook. You know, the scrapbook I'm going to eventually make of my cross-country drive in 2008. lol Yeah, one day!!

I always check the game section at the thrift stores for vintage games and usually I don't find anything worth purchasing but the other week, I totally scored!! I bought all three of these games for less than $5 (total, not each!!) but I found stickers on the sides of the boxes with prices ranging for $4 - $10 which leads me to believe someone either had these in some sort of overpriced yard sale or maybe in a booth. Either way, they were cheap at the thrift & they came home with me!!

There was a game-ish type thing to teach Bridge. I looked in the box when I got home and realized I'm never going to play bridge, even with this very helpful tool. It looks so confusing. And boring. The only time I can foresee myself wanting to play bridge will be when I'm 75 and sitting in my retirement village on the coast of Florida. So, yeah, I have a few years to worry about learning!

Maybe I'll sell this since I'm not planning on using it! Any takers?

And I bought this game in case my mother-in-law comes to visit. Shes' a self-confessed Bingo freak! lol I'm kidding about the buying it for her part but not about the bingo addiction! I bought this because it was a good price. And it has wooden numbers! None of that crappy plastic junk they have out today!

And finally, my absolute favorite vintage game I've ever found - this amazing 1960s version of Go To The Head Of The Class! I almost squealed right there in the game aisle of the thrift store. I cut through the tape holding the box shut, made sure all of the pieces were accounted for & almost had to throw an elbow up in the face of the person getting ready to take it out of my hands! What is it with people in thrift stores? RUDE!!

This boy cracks me up. He looks terrified...like he's about to get his azz whooped for saying a dirty word or something. Wait, is he shooting the bird?!

And how about Dad over here with his smirky little smile. Yeah, you know what's on his mind! And then there's Sister, pointing and taunting. Get these kids some therapy, for real!

Anyhow, back to the actual game! The very same day I bought this, I tortured Will for 3 hours one night by making him play this with me! It was hard!! The question book was, obviously, from the 1960s and some of those questions were so irrelevant to today. I'll have to go through the  booklet again and post some of the questions sometime. lol They were hilarious and I eventually won, which you know I just had to brag about for the following 48 hours. He's used to me bragging because I do it every night when we watch Jeopardy! lol

Aren't the graphics adorable? There is no way I'm ever parting with this game. In fact, I think I'm going to make Will suffer through another 3 hours tonight!!

I mean this game is perfect for us - see, there is even a Cowboy Joe and sometimes Will thinks he's a cowboy! And I always envision myself looking exactly like Mommy, pearls and all. hahaha Not!

Thanks for joining me for VTT!

My Trip to SC - Pictures from Charleston

Hey vintage peeps - it's been a while, eh? I had a perfectly good excuse for my absence the first couple of weeks, but the last two? Nah, just haven't felt like blogging! I had an amazing time in SC though! Will and I went down there back in March for 9 days and we ate tons of great food, went on some day trips, renovated my parent's bathroom. It was great seeing my family & visiting some of my favorite places in SC!

One day, Will and I went to Charleston. I love Charleston & hadn't been there since the summer before we moved here I guess. That was 4 years ago and for as much as things change in that amount of time, it's nice to go back to somewhere that hasn't changed in centuries!! The weather was great - sunny and warm - and Will and I spent several hours just walking through the city & parks and pretending we were tourists.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day.

Our view from the parking garage. We could've easily parked on a lower level, but what fun would that have been when we could drive to the top & take in this outstanding view of the new bridges?!



After we ate lunch at Wild Wing Cafe, we walked down to the Waterfront Park. I was hoping we'd see some dolphins but no such luck. I took a ton of pictures of other things though - like this one of Will. He's holding my Vera Bradley bag. lol



And then there was this guy. His eyes totally creep me out!!



This single, sandy ladybug was nice enough to sit there while I took a picture.



Will and I toured this boat one day while we still lived in Charleston. It was, uh, interesting. And I was quite thankful to get off! I have this issue with claustrophobia and those tiny little hallways weren't helping things. I was happy enough to just take a picture of the Yorktown from across the river - no need to go on another tour!



While we were sitting in one of the swings down at the waterfront park, we heard the familiar roar of a C-17, the planes Will used to fly on before we moved here. Those things are huge!! Funny story - Monday, Will and I went grocery shopping and he picked up a package of brats and was like "these are the kind we used to fix on the c-17s when we'd fly back home from Europe. We'd start cooking them in the oven on the plane when we'd take off and they'd be ready halfway home". I was like "isn't that a 9 hour flight??" and he said "yeah, it took about 5 hours to cook them in the oven." Hahaha Can you imagine?! Five hours to warm up a brat?!



Here's the famous Pineapple Fountain. I don't know why I didn't have some of my wedding pictures done around this thing. We saw a bride getting her pictures made here and it made me really regret my choice of photographer for my own wedding.



One of my favorite things to do in Charleston is to walk around looking at all of the historic houses. I love seeing the old bricks, the old iron fences, all of the details. This house had amazing window boxes.



Aren't the tiles on this roof amazing? I love them. It reminds me of the tile floors in bathrooms.



Here's another picture of my favorite steeple in Charleston.



Our wedding reception was held in this building. It's the Old Exchange Building & Provost Dungeon.



Wow, this turned out to be kind of long so I will come back (hopefully tomorrow) with pictures from our day in Myrtle Beach!!