BRRRRRRRR!

When I got up this morning it was -16 degrees--actual temperature!!! The weather guy said -31 with the windchill. It was very sparse in church this morning, at least for the first service. We've spent the day staying warm and inside.

We made a couple of loafs of rye bread in the breadmakers. Yes, I have an "s" on the that. Mr. got really into bread making a few years ago and I picked up a second breadmaker in the single-digits (dirt cheap) and whenever he makes bread, we usually have two going at the same time.

Somehow, I ended up doing most of the measuring and dumping this time-even though I was in the midst of making my own delicious masterpieces. He put the bread makers on the floor in the dining room, because last time, one flipped off the counter when it was kneading the dough. It survived, but he didn't want to take that chance again.

Our little girl was scared out of her mind of the breadmakers. She didn't know what to think at first, but once they got going (and they were loud!), she was trying to squeeze herself between my leg and the couch!

While that was baking, I spent some time flipping through some online auctions. I threw out a couple of minimum bids on a couple of things-we'll see if it amounts to anything. I think it was mostly out of boredom, and not that I really need/want the things I bid on.

I also tried a new recipe. I LOVE recipes from Taste of Home! I have only had one recipe in the past ten or so years from them that I didn't like, and that was my own personal preference. It had Worcestershire sauce (something I can't stand) in it. I was talked into making it from a friend, who convinced me I'd never taste it...I did...it was awful...never doing that again!

Today I made the dough of this recipe . I had a couple of cans of pie filling in the pantry, so I skipped the homemade apple pie filling. I used blueberry. They are sooo good! The crust is light and flaky, and the cream cheese gives it just a little kick of flavor-YUM!!

My mixer gave up the ghost while I was mixing the dough together. It wasn't really the dough that did it in, it was creaming the butter and cream cheese that did it. It got really hot, really fast, and a puff of smoke came out of the motor compartment and that was it. It's amazing how one little puff of smoke could smell so bad, for so long! If it was warmer outside, I'd have had a couple of windows open.

The first few pies didn't look as nice as the last, I was trying to cram too much filling into the tiny little pies. After a while though, I got the hang of it and they turned our pretty nice looking. My guys ate them right out of the oven on top of a giant bowl of vanilla ice cream. I waited a few minutes and ate mine by itself when it was still a little warm.

If you like to try new recipes, and have some time to make this, do it! You won't regret it. Your family will love it!! I only made up one of the two disks (half of the recipe) that I chilled in the fridge. The other one is waiting for a couple of days and will become little cherry pies.

The bread came out steamy and delicious smelling, the pies were flaky and delicious...and it was a great day to stay inside! It's made it up to 3 degrees, so while I really felt like getting out and hunting for treasures, the bitter cold kept me inside.

I tried out my printer with edible ink and rice paper on Thursday and made some fun vintage Valentine cookies. I took some to Bible study that night, and everyone loved them. My family won't eat them. They think it's weird to eat the paper (even though I've explained it's edible rice paper), the other thing I've heard is "it's creepy to eat them with faces".

In my mind, they were going to be so much cuter than how they turned out. I was expecting more vivid colors, but even on the photo setting it just didn't get very bright. I've already begun searching for vintage St. Patrick's images, and vintage Easter images for more vintage baking adventures. This time, I'll have to make some without faces!

Hope you are staying warm!!!

 These were the first batch on Thursday...I didn't have any icing to go around the edges, and tried a little tube of gel-it looked more like blood than icing.

This was the second batch. My guys found the creepy girl and thought it would be funny to have her on a cookie.

 My cute little Valentine's date. Mr had a volleyball game.

 This was the second pan.

Still too much filling-they split when the baked,

They don't look very appetizing, but they were awesome!!

Two loaves of rye.

Now it's time to make some dinner, and get things straightened around for work tomorrow. I hope you're staying warm and safe!!

Have a great week!!!

Another Week Flew By!

Sometimes I think we are just too busy. It's usually when I blink twice and its Friday again. Our weeks in the winter are really jam-packed. So much so, that by Thursday morning, I am worn out! Then Friday (my day off) comes, and I'm all rested and back to normal-even though Fridays are full of grocery shopping, laundry and errands now, more than hunting for treasures. Just getting out of  the house for a little bit without an agenda or schedule is so refreshing!

Today I went to the Ingham County Fairgrounds for their Indoor Winter Garage Sale with my junkin' buddy Auntie from Kitschy Vintage. We had a fun time catching up on life and hunting for treasures. By the time we left, it was pretty packed with shoppers. We both got some great deals.

We also visited all the antique shops in Mason before we headed home.

This past week, I had a few things come in the mail. I finally spent my Christmas money. I also got two treasure boxes from my cousin's mother-in-law. They were filled with some glassware, that I'll probably either sell in my spring garage sale or pass on to friends. Last Friday at my cousin's son's hockey game, her MIL was telling me about some of her collections. WOW! I wish I would have seen some of them before she started down-sizing! She still has a HUGE collection of Aunt Jemima stuff that sounds incredible!

Throw in 3 nights of volleyball with these pictures, and you'll know what my week was like!


This was a purchase last Friday...I still LOVE it, and love looking at it! My mom just bought some and she's planning on melting it in her kiln to make it into a spoon rest. I get the first one!

At Fraser Hockeyland...getting ready to watch my cousin's sons play hockey for Rochester College

 They WON!!! They took back the jug from O.U.! Fun night, and great game!!!

While cleaning out my dresser, I came across some recipes my grandpa sent me for venison...I find myself thinking about him a lot lately, and missing our chats on the phone while I drove to my volleyball games on Wednesday nights.

 I got a package in the mail this week. It was the most interesting package I've ever received in the mail. It was a Christmas gift bag...wine bottle size...one strip of packing tape to close the top-with openings on each side of the tape. I'm surprised the contents actually made it to me. It would have been very easy for someone to slit the little bit of tape and take what was inside.

The back of the bag.

The contents, a Las Vegas tablecloth. There's a big stain, but it looks like I'll be able to get it out-once the weather warms up and the sun gets a little warmer.

Camera phones never show the details like your eye sees them! This was covered in frost and sparkled like diamonds in the sun.

Sunrise. We got about 12" of snow last Sunday, and our little dead-end dirt road got plowed by 8am on Monday! That NEVER happens!! Usually it is several hours later or even a couple of days later before we get plowed out. I was looking forward to s "snow day" of sorts from work because I couldn't get out. I ended up being only a half an hour late.

Rice paper sheets...hoping to print vintage Valentine designs to put on cookies and cakes. The new printer arrived yesterday, just waiting for the edible ink cartridges!

Treasure Box #1...

Treasure Box #2

The contents of both boxes...minus some really cool sushi plates that got snatched up already by my oldest.

Finally arrived and is at least out of the box...Now for a project!!

Just waiting on my edible ink cartridges-looking forward to some fun baking projects!!

This is the last quilt for me...I promise...I hope...I mean it...I think....I've asked Auntie to hold me to it!! I couldn't walk away, it's my favorite pattern, and it's complete, and, and, and...I've got to stop! :)

I bought some tablecloths too...because I don't have very many-LOL! I've got a serious linen addiction!! I am in a Facebook group called "I need a 12 step program for my Fiestaware addiction", Maybe I should start a group called, "I need a 12 step program for my vintage linen (Pyrex, Fiesta, kitchenware, Valentines, jars, bottles, and any other thing that catches my eye) addiction"

I really needed another bowl...and another jar...ugh-I need help! But it's so much fun, and I don't really spend a lot-it's cheap entertainment! I also got three vintage buttons, I'm hoping to use them in a project that I have in mind.

Here's my wish list for 2015. All the things I'll be hunting for while I'm at Flea Markets, Garage Sales, Estate Sales and Antique Shops. I'm hoping to find things mostly at Estate and Garage Sales, and not so much Stores or online.

Notice the red section. It means DO NOT BUY!!! I should probably put the vintage tablecloths in red too...

We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow. It got to 45 today and a lot melted from last week's storm. Hope you're staying warm and dry!! Happy Weekend!! I'm heading over to see what my blog friends have been doing this week.

It's Friday!!

Yay!!! It's Friday, and I didn't have to work or be anywhere at any given time-it was a true day off!! I spent it visiting the new Hobby Lobby in Novi (very nice store!), 2 different Joann stores and an afternoon of just hanging out enjoying the blue skies and sunshine from my warm and cozy sun room.

I found a TON fun things, but only a few of them were things that came home with me! If money wasn't an issue, I would have probably had three carloads of things from Hobby Lobby come home with me! I took tons of pictures so I could drool over them when I got home!

 There are a lot of estate sales going on around me, but after looking over the ads and the pictures, I can't find a single one to go to. I seem to have developed a three item rule. If I don't see at least three things in the ad or the pictures, that I'd be interested in buying, I don't go. Saves gas, saves time, but doesn't do anything for needing a good junking fix!

The main thing I was looking for today was a sewing machine. I found a couple online, but was hoping to find them in a store where I could see them in person and hopefully buy today-that Christmas money was still burning a hole in my pocket and I didn't want to spend a ton of money in case I don't end up sewing a lot.

I was surprised that Hobby Lobby didn't have any machines for sale! I thought for sure they would. I don't know if all of their stores are like the one I visited, or if it was just this particular store. I was glad there was a Joann nearby,so after weaving up and down every aisle (I was afraid I'd miss something), at HL, I went to Joann.

At this particular store, the sewing machine section is run by an independent company and not part of Joann at all. I thought that was odd, but the woman working in the sewing machine department seemed knowledgeable and interested in helping. They just didn't have any in my cheap price range.

I visited the Joann in my own town after that, and they didn't have an independent dealer but they only had a handful of machines-all of which were way more than I wanted to spend. So, I ended up buying one from Amazon. I got the free Prime shipping, and it will be here Tuesday!

Since I was so frugal in my shopping, I was also able to buy a cheap printer, that prints with edible ink and sheets of rice paper-for printing designs on and using on cookies and cakes, and some edible ink cartridges.

I'm dying to make rectangular cut out cookies with printed vintage Valentines on them for Valentines Day, Vintage Christmas Card designs for Christmas, and maybe I can find some vintage spring or Easter cards to print and use for spring.

So, with buying all of that, I wiped out my Christmas money and my birthday money. Yesterday was my birthday, and the birthday texts, emails and facebook messages are still coming in! It was a fun day that felt like a day-long celebration!

At work everyone was giving me cards and well wishes, then I went to lunch with my team at a local Mexican restaurant and ended up with a giant sombrero plopped on my head and a singing trio of waiters singing something to me in Spanish. For all I know they could have been telling me to get lost because I didn't understand a single word!

For dinner, my oldest son took me out. Mr and the youngest had to work. While we were at dinner, my oldest told me he is on track to graduate summa cum laude from the honor's nursing program that he is in! I'm so proud of him!!! I never dreamed he would follow through with it when he first said he wanted to be a nurse. He is so gifted with computers and technology, I thought for sure he'd switch to that field, but he's stuck with it, he loves it, and he's excelling!! I couldn't be happier for him!

After dinner with him, I went to my cousin's house for our Thursday Bible study and they had cupcakes and sang to me. Mr got me a dozen roses, oldest got me an inside antenna (looks like a sheet of paper) for the tv in the sunroom so I can get local channels, and youngest got me blown glass vintage-like clear glass light bulbs for the Mason jar chandelier that we made for over the table in the sun room. I was very spoiled yesterday that's for sure!!

Tomorrow, I'm heading to watch my cousin's boys play college hockey-I'm really excited to go, and much more so now that she gave me a pair of wool socks for my birthday, since the arena they are playing at doesn't heat their stands.

Nothing else out of the ordinary going on around here, Other than the hockey game, a normal weekend is in store for us. How about you?


My birthday roses

The crazy decorations as the Mexican restaurant where my co-workers took me to lunch

How easy would it be to make these!?!  Mod Podge and scrapbook paper on a wooden letter.

It was very hard for me to hold on to that Christmas and Birthday money when I saw this. I literally had to talk myself away from it and keep reminding myself about the sewing machine. That was when I still thought I'd find one at Hobby Lobby.

I saw several mirrors with this type of design. Each one a little bit different.

 Makes me appreciate my repurposed vintage clock with a newer mirror when the ones in the store start at $65!

I must have been in a rusty metal mood today!

LOVE these drawers, but couldn't come up with a reason to "need" them

Maybe, if I had a big summer party looming in the near future...these would be great cold beverage holders!

I was hoping these would come apart and be three separate pedestals, but they were attached as one piece

Love turquoise. Love metal.

So much fun metal!!

I thought long and hard about what I could put in these, but nothing came to mind. If I was a more crafty person, I could have said I "needed" them to hold craft supplies

This reminds me of all of the old brightly painted faucet handles I picked up last summer in Douglas

With all of the scrap wood in the barn, I'm hoping to try something like this when it warms up

I found these at Joann!!! PURPLE!!! Too bad they are wide mouth. I would have liked to have them as part of the chandelier in the sunroom!

These are the bulbs my youngest got me for my birthday...cool gift...sad that they don't fit in the small mouth opening of the jars on the chandelier.

More metal from HL-this came home with me!

Bermuda tablecloth. Not sure if it is actually vintage or if it is vintage "style"

Found a fun way to display a couple vintage Valentines! By the time I find more, Valentines Day will be long gone!

Yellow and purple vintage table cloth=thinking spring!!