Belated Birthday Cake

It was my Birthday on Sunday!  

I already posted about the early birthday gift my sister gave me; this cute recipe box full of vintage recipes and clippings.  So, I made my first recipe out of it.  It was for 'Sunday Morning Coffee Cake.'  I have never seen instructions for "sprinkling" batter, so I should have expected something unusual.  The end results looks kind of weird but the cake was good.  Hus agreed with me that it tasted like something an old lady would make.  So I suppose that means the recipe was a success! And super easy too!

 

Hus gave me a Nikon Coolpix 15X zoom camera; so these should be the last 2 photos on this blog taken from my iphone.  Now I just have to learn how to take pictures with my new camera and upload them.

Totally 80s jewellery

So after thinking I had quite enough vintage jewelery, I happened to stop into Liquidation World. At the front of the store was a huge bin of jewelery in little plastic baggies marked down from .25 cents each, to .10 cents each.  After a cursory look, I started feeling like a teenaged girl again, because of all the styles and colours of earrings that I used to wear when I was 12(?).  Here are two of the styles that I bought, and probably will wear - because no one will be able to see them because of my hairstyle....

 I actually wore the blue ones last night.  All of this jewelery was made in Canada or the USA, and I started to carry on this internal dialog with myself asking "how OLD is all this stuff?"  Well, it didn't take too long to pinpoint a date for it, because I came across a movie tie-in in the form of a pair of earrings.  That I naturally bought (after all it was only 10 cents!)....

 E.T.! E. friggin' T.  All this jewelery has been floating around in back room warehouses since 1982!  That's 28 years!  I was 9 years old and remember going to E.T. with my oldest sister and her boyfriend who drove a VW beetle (when it wasn't all that old!)


Well, I suppose that this bin of jewelery does qualify as vintage.  So I picked up a few more pieces.... some necklaces...

And two cocktail rings, which I was thrilled to discover, when I got home, were Sarah Coventry....

I am still shaking my head about how this old jewelery is still showing up - and all for under one dollar!  I am thinking of going back to scour that bin further, but I embarrassed to say that I already rummaged through it for over half an hour. 

Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in

I had a real Godfather moment this weekend....


On Friday, I dropped off about six boxes of various things to donate to a fund-raising garage sale.  I perused the other donations, but was able to withstand taking anything home with me (despite a vintage boxed and never-used cake and cooky press - you know the spelling of cookie made it old!).  Success!  My home will remain decluttered.

This morning, I thought about garage sales as soon as I woke up, but thought "no, I'll just go grocery shopping as planned."  While I was at the checkout at the grocery store, I noticed that the grocery store itself was having a garage sale to fundraise for the Cancer Relay just outside of its back door!  Well, it pulled me it - just when I thought I was out!  But, despite ogling a bunch of glassware, I only came away with this really cool and intricate citrus juicer for one dollar....

 Then, just when I thought I was up to the eyeball in vintage jewelery, I found a whole heap of 80s stuff for just 10 cents a piece at the liquidation centre next door........how could I resist?  Story and photos to follow in the next post.

Food Waste Friday - Wasted Basil

It has been a goal of mine to start submitting my photos (or preferably lack of photos) of weekly food waste.  Frugal Girl started this to shame herself into not wasting food, and I think it is a great idea!  When I cleaned out my fridge before the remodel I was ashamed to see all sorts of odds and ends in the back of it that were well past their prime.  

Now that the kitchen is complete, I have so much more space.  I am consciously trying to keep the cupboards spare, so I can easily see everything I have in them.  I endeavor to do the same for the fridge.  But I still had waste this week....

On Monday I made roasted vegetable clubhouse sandwiches.  Instead of mayonnaise, the recipe called for lemon-basil aioli.  This is the first time I've ever made aioli, but I think I put too much garlic in it.  It was fine on the sandwiches, but I couldn't think of how else to use it afterward.  Plus, since it is made from raw egg, I didn't want to use it after a few days.  Along with it, is one sprig of basil I neglected to use.

So there you have it.  Hopefully there will be no photos next Friday!

Garage Sales and decluttering

We are in the process of moving furniture, dishes, etc back upstairs into our newly renovated kitchen and living area.  We are spring decluttering at the same time.  So, for the next few weeks I am going to try to stay away from the garage sales which are just starting in our area.  In fact, what we declutter I am going to be donating to a garage sale to benefit women's development programs overseas.


Unfortunately, one garage sale already came to me.  There was one at my school as a fundraiser on Wednesday, so I was obligated to go in to support it!  Luckily, there wasn't much I needed or wanted, but I did come away with this pewter bookmark that shouldn't take up too much space.

With my appetite whetted, I couldn't resist looking at the garage sale section of the local online listings.  This was the first one my eyes fell on, and dissuaded me for looking further or even contemplating going to garage sales this weekend.   Can you see why?

Saturday April 17 10:00Am to 3:00Pm

MULTI-FAMILY SALE

Garden tools, wheel barrel, large freezer, wood whipper snippier, lawn mower, crap traps and many more items.

What a reminder about decluttering and a Freudian slip!  Why do I need to go buy crap traps since I am perfectly capable of attracting it myself!  I also can't see the need for a 'wheel barrel' nor a fancy french 'whipper snippier.'

Reno Repentance

First up, I want to say hi and welcome to Acorn Hollow, Mary, Mimi and the Recycle-ista for following my blog!


On the kitchen front - the cabinet maker has started to install the cabinets, and they look fantastic!  So by the end of next week, we should have a functioning (and stunning) kitchen.  It will be several more weeks after that, until it is totally completed with backsplash etc.  So, the before-and-after pictures are still coming. 


I know I have only been posting about my rummaging lately, and not about reducing, reusing or recycling!  Well, during this kitchen reno, Hus and I have not been very environmentally-friendly.  We have given away or sold anything that was still use-able or workable from the kitchen including the old cabinets and the fridge, but had to bring the carpet, tile fragments, drywall bits, and the old linoleum to the dump.  The only things we could reuse, and are going to, are the original doorbell and one of the floor vents.


Being without a kitchen has also resulted in a lot of non-recyclable food packaging.  Most of our breakfasts over the last month have consisted of instant oatmeal, made in the bathroom with our electric kettle.  We've also fallen into making microwavable meals, with all the associated garbage.  


Plus, when the drywall was installed and the ceiling skimmed, we turned the heat way up to help with the drying process.  I'm sure there are a hundred more things for us to be guilty about, but it would take up too much space to list them all.....


....so to finally get to the point of this blog post, I feel that when the kitchen is functional again, I have to repent for all the waste associated with the renovation.  I'm not sure exactly what my plan will be yet, but it will certainly involve cooking from scratch (it won't be a hardship to go back to normal!) and joining Food Waste Fridays at the Frugal Girl Blog.  So, the rummaging will continue, but I also aim to post more about living sustainably with less waste.  I will post the full plan once the kitchen is workable!

Easter Finery

Hus, the dog and I had a fabulous Easter in our hometown with our parents and siblings.  Lots of visiting, laughing and eating.  And, we picked up a kitchen sink and faucet!  


My sisters and I snuck away after Easter brunch to visit Value Village. Can you believe they were open on Easter Sunday?  I bought a trio of vintage brooches.  

More made-in Canada leather-craft flowers!  I also love the enamel flower with the white butterfly. This is similar to one my mom wore in the 1970s, and I could not turn down the little drummer boy by Hallmark.  Either I had this pin, or one of my little friends did, because it makes me feel so nostalgic!  I think it is a little too juvenile to wear, so I'll make it into a Christmas tree ornament by pinning it onto some gold backing or something.


I also convinced my sisters to buy vintage brooches also!  Little sister has some sway!  They both bought intricate gold-coloured ones.  Hopefully they'll wear theirs next Easter or Thanksgiving when we'll be all together again.  (that's a challenge Sistas!)


Later that day some early Birthday presents were exchanged since many of us have birthdays in April - me included.  My oldest sister, on Carpe Diem Vintage, gave me a cool tin recipe box full of some stranger's old recipes and newspaper clippings!  What a weirdo!  But thanks anyway, 'cause I think it is a great gift and am looking forward to displaying it in my renovated kitchen.  I love it!

So does the dog!  There must have been a lot of yummy food smells still haunting this box to make him trot over and give it such a good once-over.  He even licked it.  Here is the inside and some of the recipes:

The clipping are also interesting.  I haven't gone through them all, but they appear to be mainly dessert recipes, egg recipes (maybe the owner had chickens?) and household tips. Here is one for cleaning gunk out of coffee cups:

 On the back-side are some very Betty Draperish fashions from 1959....

And that is my report on how I spent my Easter holiday.