Music Evolution

Today's post is gonna be a bit of a break from vintage stuff.  I'm still a vintage loving fool, but I have been collecting much less lately.  Something about a problem with running out of space for goodies.  LOL.

I do have a post of some recently acquired vintage treasures in the works, but for today, I'm going to focus on something completely different.  Today I feel like sharing some of my current favorite music.

Am I the only person whose musical tastes seem to be continuously evolving?  I have always been a rock fan (surprised?  I prefer bands like Linkin Park, Staind, Chevelle, Shinedown, Halestorm, and Sixx:A.M. among others).  But lately, I've felt pulled in a different direction.  My current favorites include some Folk Rock groups among other genres.

Up first:  The Lumineers - Ho Hey



I'm thinking that these Folk Rock groups help appease my love for Rock music as well as my rural American roots.

Next:  Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait



When I looked up this next group, it appears that they are classified as Indie Rock, but they have a really folksy sound to me.

Imagine Dragons - It's Time



Finally, this group isn't folksy, but I absolutely love their sound and most of all, the lead singer's voice.

Last:  Alabama Shakes - Hold On



So, that concludes my list of currently trending music here at the Cul-De-Sac Shack.  I hope you find something on this list that brings joy to your ears.  What is currently trending with you?

Happy New Year!

Glory to God in the Highest!

On this, the day of our Savior's birth, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.  May you and your family know true peace and happiness today.  If you are traveling today, I pray for travel mercies for you.

Where ever you may be, Rejoice!  For today is the day our Savior came into this world to save us all!

Luke 2: 1-14 NIV

The Birth of Jesus

    ¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register. 
    ⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 

The Shepherds and the Angels

    ⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord.¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 
    ¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 
    ¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest, 
      and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Merry Christmas!

Silent Night

I have made it a tradition here on the blog to share the same post each Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Here is this year's Christmas Eve post, along with today's carol, Silent Night.

Tonight we continue family tradition, heading to church for Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion at 6:00 which always ends with the congregation holding candles and singing Silent Night.  Then we're heading over to Grandma's house for dinner afterward.  We have done this all of my life.  Grandma's now 92 years old, and we provide the food instead of her, but we still meet at her house. 

This year's beautiful version of Silent Night is sung by Jackie Evancho.  

Carol of the Bells

My absolute favorite Christmas song is Carol of the Bells.  This unreleased version, by the group Thrice, ranks right at the top of my favorites.

Confession time:  I love the song Carol of the Bells so much, that one of my favorite Christmas CDs that I burnt a few years ago is about 1/3 different versions of this song!

Have an amazing Saturday!

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

 This is one of my favorites, and my Christmas ringtone on my phone.  I'm even wearing my Grinch face t-shirt to school today since it's the last school day before Christmas!  Have a great Friday!

Today's Christmas Song - Santa Baby - as Sung by Eartha Kitt

A true mid-century Christmas classic.  Have a great Wednesday!

Ave Maria

I'm planning on doing a Christmas song each day before Christmas.  Today's selection is Ave Maria by Placido Domingo and The Vienna Boys Choir.  This is by far my favorite version of this song.  Have a great Tuesday!

What This Season Is REALLY All About

I think that Linus said it best.  Merry Christmas!

(Click through for a short video.)

Father / Son Project Time

This may be the death of one of us.  Anyway, spirits are high at the moment.  Dad and I brought his 1967 Mustang Fastback in from it's 30 year hiatus in the pasture at the farm on Saturday.  It's going to be fun if we ever get it done.

Here's the list of things needed:

Everything.

LOL - Actually, the body is almost rust free, just needing to have the floor pans replaced.  Otherwise, it's pretty much a complete overhaul.  Rebuilding the motor is first on the list, followed by a complete gut and replacement of the interior.  I'll let a professional tackle the bodywork.

Have a great Monday!

Everyone Went to Mick's! (Part Two - The Party!)

After a fun afternoon of treasure hunting (see yesterday's post), I returned to my motel to change and get ready for the main event of the trip, Thanksmass!

After a bit of a drive, we arrived at the Casablanca, and I was excited to see the progress of the addition that Mick is building.

The Casablanca was all ready for a night of fun.  Tables were set for a large crowd.  Shortly after I arrived, the rest of the guests began to arrive, and the party was on!

The dinner was exceptional, with everyone bringing something in a Pyrex dish.  All the food looked amazing set on the tables.  If anybody went home hungry, it was their own fault.  There were many more fun activities that evening, which I am going to let Mick tell you about on his blog, Everyone Goes to Mick's (I'm sure he'll have a great write up about it once his Tech Week is over for the upcoming musical at his theatre).

As the evening went on, gifts were exchanged.

From Mick and Patricia I received two fun things.  First, this amazing piece of Pyrex to add to my collection of promos / rare / unusual pieces.  The Pyrex Fish Dish, complete with its original box.  WOW!!!  Thank you!  I have never see this before, and I'm so excited that it is mine!  Has anyone else ever run across this piece?

They also gave me a vintage Salt Lake City wall plate.  Now, there is a bit of a story behind this.  Mick, Patricia, and I all are big fans of the current Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon."  Now that there is a road cast of the show, this plate was a promise that when the show gets close to our area, we are going to go see it together.  I can't wait!

Which brings to mind this song:

Christine, of I'm Not Old, I'm Vintage, gave me a fun creamer of a little chef with a fly on his face and a vintage toy where you have to get the little balls to stop on the cat's eyes.  Fun!  Thank you so much, Christine!  It was wonderful meeting you!

After many of the guests left, we all played a most entertaining game called Paper Telephone, which had all of us rolling in laughter.

With a 6 hour drive home facing me, I knew I needed to get back to my motel and get some rest, so I left the Casablanca at around 1:45 am and fell into bed at 2:30 am.  Glad I didn't have to check out of the motel until 11:00 am!

Some random pics from the evening (before I filled up the memory card on my camera, that is):

Patricia and Mick

Miss Casablanca and Mick

Miss Patricia in her vintage Christmas dress.

It was great to get to visit the Casablanca for the third time (I'm now officially a member).  It's a little more fun each time!  Thanks for inviting me, Mick!

And, now that I'm a member, I have this song on my mind:

Everyone Went to Mick's! (Part One - The Finds!)

Hey everyone!  Long time, no post.  Sorry about that, once school started back up, the blog fell behind on the priority list.  Here's hoping that this is the beginning of the end of that.

This past weekend, the wonderful Mick, of Everyone Goes to Mick's blog, held his annual Thanksmass celebration.  This was my second year for attending the event, which saw me driving a little over 400 miles Friday afternoon on the Oklahoma turnpikes to the great state of Texas.

After checking into my motel and taking a nap, Mick and his girlfriend, the lovely Patricia, met me after their play practice and we went out for dinner and made a trip to Walmart.

The following day, Saturday, was a big day!  Mick and Patricia met up with me and the delightful Vintage Christine of I'm Not Old, I'm Vintage for some thrifting and antiquing.  I found some wonderful treasures (one of which nearly caused Mick to kick me)!

I'm not one for taking my camera everywhere, so I don't have pictures of the thrifting trip, but here are my finds!

First:  We were in a great shop downtown Wichita Falls called Alley Cat.  There are some fun finds there, and it was quite busy due to the fact that they were having free pictures with Santa.  Now, this is the kind of shop where many of the vendors take vintage pieces of furniture and give them a restyle with paint.  I liked some of it, but personally, I prefer wood furniture to have a natural finish.  While wandering around the store, I came to a very large booth filled with many such examples of repurposed furniture.  Most of the pieces were very reasonably priced.  There was a dining chair that was refinished in a bright green paint that I am fairly certain was a piece of Broyhill Brasilia priced at $30.  I looked up from this and spied a two-tiered end table with curved legs.  I knew instantly what I had found, but a quick peek underneath confirmed it.  A Heywood-Wakefield table finished in a purple and gray paint finish that had been distressed so that some of the wood showed through.  Not my taste.  Price? $25.  Well, I'll pick up just about any piece of Hey-Wake for that price, so after deciding that I could strip it down and refinish it (I've got to purchase a refinish kit online), it came home with me.  The lady that owned the booth was there and said to me "I just had a feeling a guy was going to buy that table."  She also told me that she had just put it in the booth that day and that she had been told that the brand of the table might be kind of a big deal (I kept my mouth shut on this comment).  The lady up front when I paid seemed to know what it was and in an almost apologetic way mentioned that the booth owner had told her that the finish on it was in pretty bad shape before it was painted.

In the same store, I came across a vintage aluminum Christmas tree that hangs on the wall.  It didn't have a price on it, so I just passed it by.  After paying for the table, I decided to inquire about the tree, which was laying on a trunk by the register.  The shop owner came over and told me she would take $10 for it.  SOLD!!!  Little did I know that Mick was wanting it as well, and trying to get Patricia to inquire about it at the same time.  Apparently Mick then stood behind me acting like he was going to kick me...lol!  Anyway, I ended up with the tree, but Mick made sure that it was displayed that evening at Thanksmass.

The other treasures of the day:  A vintage Fisher Price car garage like one I had as a child (needs a good cleaning, but I'm sure my nephew will love it!), a creepy looking Christmas book titled "Santa's Twin" and a vintage bottle of Russian Pepsi.

Stay tuned for the second part of the trip, the events at Thanksmass!

Two Horse Town!

Oh my goodness!  I just ran across this amazing video!  I never knew one of these fun 1950s videos was filmed so close to home!

I hope you enjoy this video.  It made my day when I ran across it.  I have owned a couple of Lawn Boy 2 cycle mowers.  They were great pieces of lawn equipment.  Too bad EPA regulations have stopped production of 2 cycle mower engines.

Have an amazing Thursday.

The Factory Town That Lost Its Factory

Here is a great article on a local town.  It's a lengthy read, but it does a great job of summing up what life is like in the area that I live in.  As much as I love the Rocky Mountains, and dream of living there, I have yet to find a place where I enjoy the people more than this part of Southwest Missouri that I live in.  We're fighters.  That became evident to the nation after the Joplin tornado when we pitched in an got it taken care of.

Anyway, this is a story on a neat little town about a half hour north of Joplin.  You can read it here.  My father used to drive a truck, and spent many hours picking up freight at the factory mentioned in the article.

Have a great Wednesday!

The Dogs

After mentioning the necessity of a fence for my dogs on my last post concerning the house I was looking at, JKaye asked me to share more about my dogs.

Funny how I've been blogging for 3 years now, and I've never mentioned them.

Let's start off with Rosco - notice that there is no "e" at the end.  Rosco is a Yellow Labrador Retriever that I rescued from our city pound.  A volunteer at the pound put out a plea for someone to please rescue him, as he had been there too long, and his time was up.  They were getting ready to put him down.  Well, I'm a big softy, so I decided to give him a home until I could find a place for him.  That was almost 5 years ago.  Guess who is still with me?  LOL.  He was about a year old when I got him, and he grew quite a bit afterwards.  He's my bargain puppy.  The adoption fee on him was $10, but the dog catcher waived the fee just to make sure he got a home and didn't have to be put to sleep.  He's my shadow.  I can't go anywhere in the house without him by my side.  He's laying next to me as I type this.  Sometimes it gets a little annoying that he is underfoot, but I'm glad to have him by my side.

Up next is my old man.  Poor Chewy.  Chewy is a Chow Chow and he has been by my side for nine and a half years.  He has always been the sweetest, most loving dog.  Many people believe that Chows are mean, but I have had two, and they have both been great.  In fact, the Chow I had growing up was the best dog our family ever had.  She was a big sweetheart.  I'm not sure how old he is, as he was fully grown when I adopted him from the shelter.  He lived with me the whole time I had my mobile home in college, and the whole time I've been at the Shack.  His health has been deteriorating, and I know that the time is almost here to have him put down, but I just can't bring myself to do it.  He has lost several teeth, he has thyroid problems (which is why he has no hair), he has trouble getting up and laying down, his hearing and eyesight is going as well.  Still, he's my boy, and I can't get rid of him yet.  He spends most of his time laying around, napping.

There you go, now you've met my kids!

Have a great Tuesday!

House Shopping?

I'm kinda in a state of not knowing what to do.  There is a house for sale here in town that is a foreclosure, it is 7 years old, 500 square feet bigger than the Shack, but still 2 bedrooms.  It has a 2 car attached garage as well as a screened porch on the back and a huge front porch (my favorite thing is to read a book on the porch swing at my parent's house).  The house is priced CHEAP.  I know who the owners were, and they took good care of it.  I'm trying to decide if I want to pack up everything and move to a new house.  The downsides are that I don't care for one of the neighbors, the lot is smaller than I have now (I love a big yard), and it has electric baseboard heat (I would have to upgrade to a gas furnace).  However, the house is priced at least 50% less than it should be so that they can get it sold.  Ack!  What to do?  I love the Shack and the neighborhood that it is in.  I don't like that I keep sinking money into it.  I have put new windows, insulation, roofing, shutters and some new flooring in it over the past 6 years.  Every time that I think I'm good for a while, something else pops up (thankfully they are minor things anymore).  Still, the draw of a house that is almost new and would allow me to get money back after the sale of the Shack is pulling me towards a move... Gonna have to make a decision soon!  Thanks for putting up with my rambling while I try to work through my thoughts!

This Week's Thrifts

Oh, the carefree days of summer thrifting have come to an end.  Teachers go back to work for the first day of our contracts on Monday.  School starts next Wednesday.  Sigh.  Where did summer go?

Not wanting to miss one last chance to seek out some fun finds, I went to a few of my favorite stores yesterday.

First purchase - these fun vintage sign letters.  I'm thinking maybe they came from a movie theatre, but I'm not sure.  Anyway, I've been wanting to buy some of these for quite a while to put my initials on the wall in my house.  Unfortunately, the price they go for online is more than I'm willing to spend.  However, these were $3 per letter.  I'm pleased to get all three letters for less than I would have to pay for one online.  Ideally, I wanted red letters, but blue will work just fine.  They had a different style in black, but I didn't care for them too much.

I also picked up this working vintage refrigerator defroster.  Now that I'm almost done with my vintage fridge, I'm going to need one of these whenever I defrost it.  $4.

And of course, there was Pyrex!

I was very tempted in a beautiful set of pink fridgies (complete with lids) for $50, but I talked myself out of it.  I did, however, find a Golden Honeysuckle 2.5 quart rectangular dish (number 055) for $7, and an Opal white unmarked 404 for $4.  Now I just need the 403, and I will have the complete Opal mixing bowl set.  So far, I have $5.50 total spent on the three pieces I have.

I don't usually have any luck at thrift stores finding Pyrex, but this must have been my day.  They had this 8 inch square Flamingo Pink dish for $4.  Sounds good to me!

Have a great weekend!

6 Years!

Six years ago today, I closed on the Cul-de-sac Shack, and it became mine (and the bank's)!  For a little nostalgia - here is what the place looked like when I looked at it for the first time, in July 2006.  Ready for a walk down Memory Lane?

Anyway, here is the front of the house when I purchased it.  Overgrown landscaping and all.

It was built in the late 1950s to be a rental, and the same family had kept it as a rental until I purchased it almost 50 years later.  I don't recommend purchasing a former rental, unless you want a lot of unpleasant surprises.  Rotted out wall?  Just put some paneling over it!  Ugh... it has been 6 years of me going "really?!?!" every time something else is discovered, but at this point, I think I have found all of their cheap cover ups.  The hidden rotten wall in the bathroom being the worst.

Here is the living room, kitchen, and dining room.  The seller thought it would help if they covered everything in hideous grape wallpaper.  It was the first thing to go.  They even used it on the beautiful wooden half wall separating the living room from the kitchen.

Here's the dining room - you can see the poorly built deck outside that I removed.  You had to go outside and walk through the yard to use it - what was the point?

The kitchen is mostly unchanged, except that the awful grape wallpaper has been replaced with avocado green paint.

Here's the bathroom - I've redone it, but I'm not happy with it.  Saving my pennies to really redo it like I want it to be.  I am keeping the tub and toilet.  I already replaced the sink - it was rusting out and couldn't be saved. (One of the very first purchases for the house - a toilet seat, as one was not included...)

And lastly, here are the bedrooms.  The main bedroom had the wallpaper painted over.  That has been fun to remove!  No wallpaper in the second bedroom, but they left the interesting brown 1980s sculptured carpet.

Have a great Tuesday!

Vote!

Here in Missouri, it is Primary Election day.  I'm so sick of mailings and phone calls.  I actually let the answering machine on my home phone fill up so that I can't receive any more messages until after the election.  Ugh.  However, I do feel it is extremely important to get out and vote and have my voice heard.  If it is election day where you live, I encourage you to exercise your right to vote as well.  Have a great Tuesday!

Weekend Finds! How May I Direct Your Call?

Wow!  There were some great things to find this weekend!

Friday morning I went to an estate tag sale here in town.  We never have those, only auctions, and so many people were confused about how it worked (having never attended on in the larger cities around us).  This sale was split in two.  The stuff in the house being the "estate sale" and the stuff outside a "garage sale" for items from the estate.  The stuff inside didn't really impress me, but once I went outside, I filled my car with some great deals!  I went back Saturday afternoon when things were half price outside, and filled up some more.

I got these two Western Electric telephone operator's stools for $1.50 each (half off).  The one with the brown pad is original, the one with the green cushion has a replacement cushion from Western Electric that is for a different chair model.  One of these is going to my classroom.  I also picked up two new old stock replacement cushions for $2.  One is even still wrapped in the original paper.

This awesome glass percolator with the starburst design was $1.50 half off.  It was manufactured by Proctor Silex.

Does anybody else ever pick up these boxes that are filled with emptied out junk drawer items?  It was 50 cents half off, so it was cheap and fun to dig through.

I also got this box of shoe shine stuff for 50 cents.

This box of vintage tile pieces was 25 cents.  Gonna have to come up with a project for it.  There is a good amount of the pink hex tiles in the box.

Other finds at the sale - vintage Corvette hubcap for $1, turquoise trash can for 25 cents, a VCR for $1 - not pictured (I pick these up when I can because I have a large VHS collection, and I know some day I will need a spare or two).  The glass piece is a vintage Westinghouse refrigerator dish (too bad it didn't have it's lid).  It was $3.  The little Tupperware container looks like new, and it was 25 cents.

Saturday morning I went to a garage sale that had the leftovers after a family had cleaned out an estate.  Just some small items, but they were priced at 25 cents each.  I spent $1.50, and picked up something I've been wanting for a while - a working aluminum tree color wheel.  Can't wait for Christmas to use it with my aluminum tree!

I also picked up a vintage picnic basket at that sale for 25 cents - the top has a name on it in magic marker, so I think I may spray paint it using the green spray paint left over from my mail box.  What do you all think, would that look good?  I think it would.  The basket even had a few vintage picnic plates in it.

The rest of the finds from the 25 cent sale - a ceramic kitchen utensil holder that matches my kitchen, a mug tree (a place to display my Pyrex mugs), a desk pen holder, and a small yellow Tupperware container.

It was mostly a weekend of smalls, but those telephone operator stools are sure awesome!  What awesome finds did you pick up this weekend?

Thrifty Finds of the Week

I have been spending some time getting out to some of my favorite shops before I go back to school full time.  I've been working half days on my classroom, and spending time seeking out fun finds during the other half of the day.  Once school starts, it isn't unusual for me to work a 12 - 13 hour day, which pretty much kills any chance of getting to seek out any fun finds during the week.

So, what have I found this week?  Firstly, I picked up this partial set of Ballerina Mist dishes in the Strawflower pattern.  Who could resist that soft blue-gray color?  The set was $6 and consists of 4 dinner plates, three bread and butter plates, three saucers, three cups, and three bowls.  Guess I'm ready to have two guests over.

I also picked up this men's squirrel dresser valet.  I now have three different styles of these.  How many does it take before I can officially call it a collection?  This little guy has been repaired on the back, but for $1, he'll display great if I can ever get the shelves refinished that I want to use to display these on.  I'll share a picture of the three I have soon.

I've had my eye on this vintage 1980s neon lighted phone for a couple of months now, but the dealer at the flea market never had a price on it.  This time, the dealer caught their error, and I scooped it up for $2.50.  I'm planning on using it in my bedroom (if the light doesn't keep me awake at night).  The vintage metal thermos was 30 cents, and the red metal tray was $2.

Finally, I can't forget my Pyrex finds!  Probably my oldest find was this 1 cup measuring cup (it was also my most expensive piece this week at $3.50).  The glass on this measuring cup is thick and heavy.  I also picked up three little fridgies in Spring Blossom and this amazing deep brown (anybody know what set this was part of?).  The fridgies were $2.95 each, and I'm collecting the small and medium fridgies right now for a project (hopefully I'll get it complete and be able to share it before too long).  Finally, I picked up this beautiful orange 471 1 pint size casserole.  The color is amazing on it.  It was a great find for 75 cents!

Today I'm headed to an estate tag sale here in town (they are incredibly rare around here, and I really prefer auctions).  Hopefully I'll bring home some great stuff!

Have a great Friday!

Milestones of the Century

If you are like me, you have been spending a lot of time watching the Olympics this past week.  In the opening ceremonies it was noted that this is the third time that London has hosted the Olympics, the last time being in 1948, reviving the games from a 12 year hiatus due to WWII.

So, I did a little digging and found this fun video clip of highlights of the American team in the 1948 Summer Olympics (don't worry - at just over 3 minutes, it is much shorter than yesterday's video).

I'm also sharing this video (at 8.5 minutes) showing clips from the opening ceremonies of the 1948 games.  Enjoy!

Have a great Wednesday!

Need a Good Laugh? Nailed It

Sometimes I just have to share something that makes me laugh.  I laughed so hard when this aired during the Olympics earlier tonight.  Hope you enjoy it as well!

American Maker

One of the YouTube users I follow uploaded the following video yesterday, titled "American Maker."  This video was produced in 1960 by Chevrolet, but it never once mentions their name in it.

The video focuses on the advancements of American ingenuity and manufacturing from colonial days until modern (mid-century) times.  The scenes in the video offer something for everyone; classic cars and great mid-century homes.  One of my favorite scenes came toward the end when they showed a "modern" bathroom.  The fixtures were avocado green, and the tile around the tub had navy blue along with the green (I love that color scheme).  Who knew they were making avocado green popular as far back as 1960?  Here I've been thinking that the scheme in my house was more late 1960s, but it started about 10 years before!

Enjoy the video, but be warned, it is lengthy (around 25 minutes).  I didn't think I would watch the whole thing, but it sure sucked me in.  Enough so that I added it as one of my favorites.  So, go pour yourself a beverage, pop some popcorn, and relax while watching this fun piece of American history.

Have a great Tuesday!

And the Winner Is...

Thank you to all those who entered my 150 follower giveaway.  There were a total of 12 entrants for the above collection of kitchen goodies.  They were numbered in the same order as they were posted (the first comment was entry number one, and so on).  As such, here are the entrants and their numbers:

1.  hourglass susie
2.  Eartha Kitsch
3.  paperwaterdrops
4.  59KUSTOM
5.  Mick
6.  Wiilykherr
7.  bearrkat
8.  SusieQT
9.  JKaye
10.  Jill
11.  Garnet Scarabin
12.  Periwinkle Dzyns

After determining that all the entrants were followers, as per the rules in the original post on the giveaway, I headed over to Random.org to use their random number generator to pick the winner.

So, the winner is......

Number 9!  Congratulations to JKaye!  Please email me at culdesacshack (at) gmail (dot) com with your shipping information, and I will get it in the mail to you!

Cathrineholm?

The deadline to enter my 150 follower giveaway is 10pm Central tonight.  If you haven't entered yet, click here to do so!

I picked up this enamelware platter which measures 12.25 inches across yesterday.  It is in beautiful condition, and I love the graphic.  There is no marking on the back, but I believe that it is Cathrineholm in the Lotus pattern.  Can anybody confirm this?  Also, can anybody tell me what this color is called?  It's a mix between mustard yellow and avocado green, at least to my eyes.  Finally, does anybody know an approximate value for this piece?  I can do pretty well with values of Pyrex, but this is out of my area.  Thanks for the help!  Oh, and my purchase price? 99 cents.

Have a great Friday!

Revived!

Have you entered my 150 follower giveaway?  If not, do so before Friday evening!  Click here.

The mailbox re-do that I shared on Tuesday was just the first project I tackled this week.  The second, on my long list, was my vintage General Electric refrigerator.  My neighbor's son found this in the basement of a house that he bought, and he was more than happy to give it to me to get it out of the way!  I brought it home, let it sit upright for 24 hours before plugging it in (I had to haul it on it's side), and discovered that it still works beautifully.  So, all it needed was cosmetic attention.  I can do that!

Here it is when I started on Tuesday morning.

I spent some time with a wire brush removing the rust, then sanded it and rubbed it down with some medium and then fine steel wool.  Then, using appliance epoxy spray paint that I picked up, I set to work.  For some reason, the paint took better on the kick panel than on the fridge body.  Ironic, since I painted that piece in like 2 minutes, and spent two days carefully working on the body.  The store is out of appliance epoxy, which means that I will have to wait to get a couple more cans so that I can try to bring a little more shine to it.  Still, I think the transformation has been amazing!

Now I just need to order a new door seal.  Once that's done, the fridge will take it's place in my kitchen, and my current fridge will find a new home in the garage (I have to have some freezer space!).  Next major project - having my Tappan Deluxe restored to working condition so that it can join the fridge.

Have a great Thursday!

Tuesday's Auction Finds!

First off, have you entered my 150 follower giveaway?  If not, click here and enter!

Now, on to that auction.  I am not sure why an estate auction was scheduled for a Tuesday evening, but I was free, so off I went!  I picked up a few good deals, and a couple of things that I wanted that weren't quite as good of a deal, but went along with sets that I am working on.

First up, my absolute favorite find at the auction.  This vintage stand mixer is the first one that I've picked up that isn't a Sunbeam Mixmaster (I love the Mixmasters that I have!).  This one was manufactured by General Mills, sometime in the early 1950s.  It is marked on the side "Sponsored by Betty Crocker."  The mixing bowls remind me of Hamilton Beach bowls, but these are marked Pyrex (awesome!) and then marked General Mills.  Complete with the original book, it even has a feature that I haven't seen before - a built in timer!  Need to mix something for 2 minutes?  Start the mixer and set the timer, when it dings, come back and turn the mixer off!  I think that it was a steal for $5!

Here's an advertisement that I found online for General Mills appliances.  I already have the waffle iron, but now that I have the mixer, I may have to collect the complete series.  Looks like my mixer with the built in timer was $42.95 when it was new.

I also picked up a couple of pieces of Pyrex - the Daisy 444 Cinderella mixing bowl, and the 1 quart Butterprint casserole.  The other two pieces were picked up over the past few days at flea markets and antique malls.  The dark glass piece is actually a piece of purple glass Pyrex (it's hard to tell in the picture).  It isn't very old, but I really like the color, and for $3, why not?

Lastly, at the auction I picked up this cool Kansas centennial souvenir plate from 1961 (aren't those graphics amazing?) and a vintage advertising ash tray.  The yellow Club Aluminum sauce pan was a thrift store find on Monday.  My kitchen is filled with Pyrex bakeware and Club Aluminum for the cooktop!  I now have Club Aluminum in yellow, green, red, turquoise, brown and some really old pieces in hammered aluminum look.  Hmmm.... Club may end up being my next kitchen collection, if I ever finish my Pyrex collection (I am getting closer!).

Have a great Wednesday!  I'm hoping to finish another big project today to share with you all tomorrow!

Don't forget to click on the link at the top of the page and enter the giveaway!