Thrifting Day.

Rummaging through thrift stores, antique shops, church sales, bazaars, flea markets, yard sales, and any place of the sort, is one of my favourite pastimes. There are so many interesting things to discover. Things that someone has discarded or passed on. Being a Pyrex junkie, this bodes well for me since it means I can hunt for my beloved Pyrex and not break the bank. Plus, it's much more fun than buying online! I often stumble upon other things too.

Like these plates! I'm not sure what they are, but they have the bumpy bottoms that Glasbake dishes have. Searching online hasn't brought up anything. In any case, they are super cute and how could I go wrong for $2 for four plates? EDIT: I've found out these are by Federal Glass. It's a pattern called Chalet.

Now on to the Pyrex! I did very well today, finding three Pyrex dishes in excellent condition. I already had the small Shenandoah casserole dish, but I wanted to photograph them as a set. $2

One thrift store near me always seems to have English Pyrex on their shelves. I've been there three times, and all three times I've found something. I first got two Vine casserole dishes, and then this casserole dish, and today I found this Chelsea casserole dish. $3

Butterprint! This is one of my favourite patterns. $3

I also picked up this set of Betty Crocker recipe cards. Some of the recipes look really awful, but some are really cool. $2

I also picked up that woven mat for 99 cents. It reminded me of the braided rugs my great uncle had in his cottage. He had one in every single room, including the bathroom. I always wanted one of my own.

Thrifting is about saving money, re-using, and re-purposing - being 'thrifty' - but in some cases it helps fuel our hobbies too. For $12.99, that's okay. I feel as long as I actually use the things I buy (which I do, the Pyrex gets cycled in my kitchen), and I enjoy it, it's fine to have more dishes than necessary. In my book, you can never have too many pretty dishes!

The Start of Strawberry Season.

Strawberry season has officially started in Ontario. There are tons of fresh Ontario strawberries available, and the local farms are opening their gates to strawberry pickers (please tell me why it is so much easier to find someone to go apple picking with me than strawberry picking!). Our tiny backyard patch has bits of red peaking out, and our hanging baskets are sure producing! These give us enough to snack on, but I would still like to visit a local farm to pick berries for the bigger jobs, like jam making and freezing. Frozen strawberries are one of my very favourite treats.

The rest of our garden is growing and changing, and filling me with excitement for the good things to come.

The tomatoes I planted in the ground are just beginning to grow tiny green bulbs, but this plant (which I had originally thought was a cherry tomato plant) has several plump green tomatoes.

The gooseberries are ready to turn purple.

The currants are already changing to red.

And the raspberries are beginning to flower and grow. We were worried we wouldn't have nearly as many as previous years because Lola runs through the raspberry bushes and she has knocked over some stems during the winter, but they have filled out nicely.

We've also had our usual visit from the Doves who like to nest in our grape vine, a sure sign that summer is here. It isn't a good place for them as squirrels frequent it as well, but they still come back every year.

I'm almost embarassed to post this last photo as my vegetable garden that I envisioned with straight and even rows of beans, peas, cucumber, and zucchini, ended up looking like this instead..

The beans are also very crowded and I'm worried I will have to thin them out a little. I guess it really shouldn't matter what it looks like as long as I am happy with it. I am very glad it is growing well!

Enjoy the delicious strawberry season!

Banana Bread.

It is rare that bananas make it to the overripe stage in this house. We love bananas! If I had to choose only one food I could eat for the rest of my life, it would be bananas. I wish I could choose something more local, something that I could even grow myself, but they are just too good. Yum! This past week we bought too many bananas, even for us. The leftovers sat on the shelf getting more and more brown spots, until today when after a long afternoon of volunteering in an Elementary School classroom cataloging books and re-doing bulletin boards, I needed a sweet homemade treat. I turned to a favourite banana bread recipe, Fluffernutter Bread by ljc. Delish!

Definitely not a healthy treat, with one cup of mini-marshmallows and one cup of peanut butter chips on top of the sugar in the recipe, but sometimes we need to splurge a little - at least that's what I tell myself.

With all of the marshmallows and peanut butter chips, I find that I don't need to use as much sugar as the recipe calls for. I also use brown instead of white.

Mine never turn out as pretty. The marshmallows melt and leave craters all over the bread. Looks aside, it is wonderful. A once in a while special treat, perfect for a banana loving family.

Rain.

Rain and me, we never got along. I always knew the Earth was better for the rain, but I certainly was not. It was wet and smelly and ruined a lot of potentially fun days. After I was considered too old to jump in puddles (which you never truly are, but try convincing my mom of that!), rain meant indoor days at my great-uncle's cottage, wet tents and tons of mosquitos, cancelled trips to Wonderland, postponed picnics and beach days, indoor recess, and a host of other things that equalled boring and just not very good at all. Often my brother and I ended up inventing games or discovering something new and interesting, and we'd have a blast, but when I woke up and peaked out the curtain to be greated by grey sky and wet ground, I was still convinced it was going to be a terrible day. As I grew older, rain meant wet shoes and pant hems, bad drivers, cancelled outings, and closed roller coasters. I really wanted to embrace the rain, but try as I might, I never fully could.

This year rain and I have called a truce. Rain doesn't seem nearly so bad when you see your plants shoot up after each rain fall. When you really think about how important rain is and all that it does for us, instead of just 'knowing', rain is actually pretty cool. It might be a little selfish, but planting this garden of mine has changed my mind. When it rains now, I become excited to see how my garden will change and grow. When rain stops me from doing something, I think about what it is doing for me instead. If the rain has you down, you might want to try planting a little garden of your own.

(Just don't rain too much.)

The Goods.

I really don't like to think of myself as materialistic, although I guess in some ways we all are. Some of us more than others. I hate to admit it, but part of the fun of travelling to the US for me is the shopping. There are stores we don't have here, and things I see posted about all over blogs that come from places that don't even ship to Canada or that charge very high amounts to ship here. It is always nice to be able to go to those places when I'm there.

Months and months ago I saw the Orla Kiely for Target line popping up all over blogs. Cute prints in fun colours on all kinds of accessories. I especially loved the dishes, and kept picturing them at a picnic or on my backyard table on a summer night. I found a few pieces on ebay, but the prices were jacked up and the shipping was incredibly high since dishes tend to weigh quite a bit. Our trip gave me perfect opportunity to search these out for myself, although fitting them in my luggage would be a challenge. You can bet those mugs were packed full of socks and wrapped in t-shirts, and the bowl stuffed with clothes.

They didn't have exactly what I wanted, but I think these are just perfect. The only issue being there are only three plates and three mugs in two different colours. That was all they had. They will just have to be used at gatherings of three, which happens quite often right now - perfect!

Looking a this picture makes me anxious for those summer dinners out on the patio. I can't wait!

Undies are another thing. I always manage to come home with at least five pairs of underwear. At least that keeps me going a while! And they're comfy, which is a must.

Yes, I did just post a picture of my undies!

I did do some shopping at the parks, but I'm happy to say that in a land of Mickeys, very few red shorted mice came home with me.

I mostly stuck to the store in 'Japan' at Epcot where I found lots of Shinzi Katoh (a favourite artist of mine) and other cute stationary. I was very tempted by the stores in 'Norway' and 'Germany' that were full of beautiful Christmas decorations (even Erzgebirge), but the prices were much too high.

Just a couple mice..

(Mike Mouse Vinylmation)

..but mostly park maps (free with admission) to add to my collection.

The Beach.

After all of those roller coasters I posted about yesterday, we were due for some rest and relaxation. What better place to do that then on the beach? It didn't turn out to be as restful as we had hoped due to the beach being extremely crowded (on our last vacation the beach was deserted most of the time), but it was still nice, especially during the sunsets.

Our hotel was two blocks from the beach. The quiet evening walks down to the beach and along the surf - his hand in mine, the waves breaking over our feet while the sun set beside us - were some of my favourite moments.

I also enjoyed playing in the giant waves and laying out in the sun, catching up on my reading during the day. Sand in my toes (and everywhere else, including the bottom of my bag), oversized striped towels, the smell of salt in the slight breeze, and the boats saling past...yes, I love the beach.

But I missed home too..

The Roller Coasters.

Here is a secret to those who don't know me well - I love roller coasters. Big ones, little ones, wood ones, steel ones, water ones, bobsled ones, looping ones, I love them all! Jer whisked me away to Florida for ten days (an anniversary gift to me) to visit several amusement parks and spend three days at the beach afterwards. It was wonderful! I had taken a break from coaster riding due to some medical issues, so it was nice to be back on those trains, flying around giant tracks.

Here is a little peek..

As much fun as I had, it is nice to be out of the crowds and the Florida heat, and back in the comfort of my home. I missed my pets dearly. I can't say I wouldn't go back in a heartbeat if given the chance though!

After I get through the 1000+ pictures I took (yes, that's not a typo, I did actually take over one thousand pictures), I will post pictures of my garden. It has grown so much!