(41): VNA rummage sale treasures and the weekend as it was

As we always do, we found some lovely things

for our home at the VNA.

While it will take time,

we have a lot of Delft (including 3 we just found!) plates to hang up!

I know exactly where I want plates 

(above kitchen cupboards and in hallway up high)

and was so pleased to find these 3:

Plus the above bowl on top right above!

As you can see, we found some lovely pottery to add to our collection!

Also found this cute whimsical teapot!

I have a similar one for Wind in the Willows and was 

excited to find this one as well!

(as usual, Mr Husband actually spotted it and showed me!)

We have a corner cupboard in our kitchen that

was under-utilized so early Saturday morning, before

quilt guild at 10 AM, I cleaned everything out of it,

put most of it back in the bottom shelf only and 

was able to fit the new teapot, bowl, soup tureen and cake stand

in this cupboard! Which means the new buffet we still have for

later.  I plan in advance ;) And while we have a lot of space, with our 

kitchen and buffets, things do fill up... 

***

DV I have having a small dinner party next week Sunday night 

Menu:

Roast Chicken

Roasted fingerling potatoes with parsley

Roasted Brussels Sprouts 

Salad

Biscuits 

I am not sure on the dessert yet, I have various options in the freezer :)

I do know that I want to use my gold rimmed white plates,

the new demitasse cups and saucers 

(I have 4 cups and 3 saucers but have white and gold rimmed saucers

which will do for the 4th one), the matching 4 dessert (or bread) plates,

the new wide blue bowl... 

***

I got one other VNA rummage sale pottery find:

this lovely 3 tiered tea tray! 

It's Royal Albert, Old Country Roses pattern! 

I have the hardware for the gold coloured stand as well,

I just did not want to take the time to assemble it before I put it away!

It was fully assembled when we found it, we merely wisely had

it disassembled before we took it home as there would be much

less chance of it breaking and I store them disassembled anyway.

I can have tea parties now, on the fancy side, as this is the 4th

three tiered tea tray I have found, all from the VNA

(with two being drilled for the holes for the hardware by my Dad a 

year ago! they are so beautiful!)

I found some beautiful jewelry at the VNA for really reasonable prices!

These are both for the wedding I am going to later on. 

I will be wearing DV my silver ball gown and new red hat,

so this necklace, with the silver and red + the bracelet will be perfect for that!

I kinda went a bit "crazy" in the stationary tent.

Most of the stationary is being quarantined for 3 months in

bags and garbage cans in the garage...

(same old same old, making sure no bugs are there or at least not living) 

but the above items were still new/unopened so I got to have them now :) 

Vespers last night for St Innocent of Alaska...(locally)

and for the Conception of St John the Baptist (faraway church this morning)...

church is always a blessing.... 

This cute ice cream *pink* bowl (!) was 1$ at the VNA rummage sale

this past Friday and I was so excited to find it!

It was just the perfect size for a bowl of my favourite

Trader Joes French Vanilla Ice Cream :)

I LOVE this card and it is going off to my godson for his birthday soon!

Belated names day flowers!

(St Elizabeth Mother of St John the Baptist, her day is Sept 18th, 

well, one of her days anyway!)

Dinner of leftovers!

 I appreciated seeing this meme.

Of course Christ did not condemn but also said

"go and sin no more"...

***

I am still preparing for the wedding I keep mentioning 

(DV I can share more after the wedding which is the

first week in November)

and am going back to the makeup store on Tuesday,

not only to return/replace some things but to ask more questions

as I will be doing my own make up for the event and want to do

my dear friend (who is a lovely fun, fashionable smart and deeply pious 

Orthodox monastery-loving woman!)

proud and be pretty for her special day.

***

I realized that I get really stressed at times,

OK actually I have known this for years but it cropped up again,

when I am spending money for "me" and can get way

too anxious about it.

Even though I have plenty of friends who are Orthodox Christians,

not to mention Christians in other Christian churches,

who wear makeup or spend money on their hair or such things. 

***

I felt the same struggle when I was newly in the workplace

and needed new business clothes. 

I struggle with it on and off and have for years;

it does not stop me from buying things 

(obviously as this post RE: VNA rummage sale finds)

but it can really being me down.

***

I can struggle also with a sense of despair that is not of God...

the Psalms (such as Psalm 18) really help me with that...

or remembering what Fr Stephen Freeman said about asking God

very simply and repeatedly: "comfort me"

and also what my favourite Abbess told me about

remembering God is the one one can always turn to,

is always there for us, is fully dependable

and is the Greatest of Friends.

***

I just feel often this deplorable (or perhaps it should read

heavy, grief-laden) lack within myself.

I am fighting this again and remembering Mat Constantina's 

narration of the nun who had been mistreated and could not do 

any self-criticism, esp deeply (the kind that is suppose to bring humility,

not despair) and instead was told, was instructed to practice

daily thankfulness. 

***

Speaking of thankfulness, THANK YOU everyone who commented this week

about my beloved Cleo and my continued grief and love for her.

Each one of your comments really encouraged and blessed me!

I had a good phone call with a dear friend today who understood

that feeling the sadness for Cleo's death is uncomfortable 

and not "Fun" but that the only

way to get past it is to go through it.

And I know she is right.

I miss Cleo. I am sad that she is not with us.  And for many reasons particular to my

life with Mr Husband in our current home in NJ, we can't get another cat

anytime soon, maybe not ever in this home. 

So this is a real journey for me.

***

I am pretty sure the grief about Cleo is mixed in with the feelings of 

despair and anxiety I have been feeling. 

And I know by writing about it and sharing in this way,

I will already feel a lot better.

***

Well.  I have a full week ahead!

I plan on enjoying lots of pots of tea,

allowing myself to watch some perry mason 

(it's somehow linked to losing Cleo)

and I hope bake and do lots of things and seeing some friends as well.

I decided I still need to keep count of the days since Cleo died,

I am not ready to stop counting in other words,

so I am just having the number (41) for today, for example, at the beginning

of my blog post title.  It stands for 41st day without Cleo.

***

No matter what is happening in our lives, 

may the hope and love 

and comfort that Christ can give be with us

and may Christ save us! 

(39th day) without Cleo: the VNA rummage sale

We found many treasures!

One is a 4 cup (3 saucer) and 4 small plates set

and the necklace that is just perfect for the wedding I am DV

going to later this year! 

I am going to wear my new red hat (the one with the flower on it)

and this will go really well I think! 

It's late so I can't write more now but hope to share more treasures later on!

(The weekend is going to be super busy so may not blog until Monday!)

***

May God bless and have mercy on us all!

A fun busy weekend + VNA rummage sale finds

Friday my husband and I went to the VNA rummage sale!

(It's 2x year).  We got there about 9:30 and left about 2:45 or a bit earlier!

A lot of fun, a lot of things seen, a lot found.

We were tired by the end and drove to outside North Philly afterwards,

going to a toy soldier show (my beloved Husband's super fun hobby).

Before and after!

The tea strainer I have had for years, found at an antique store in Halifax....

this strainer was how I knew that both 

the butter dish ($1) and small jug (2 or 3$) would polish up well.

This gem of a find, a 8 piece silver-plate silverware set,

(it's actually 42 pieces, there are 8 soup spoons!)

We are saving this for my Christmas present DV 

for this year! 

I think it's a most perfect Christmas gift.

We are trying to do things (for our definition of it) simple this year

and this is just wonderful, I love the anticipation of it! :)  

 And it's only $1.19/item (excluding box!) so it's a really good deal!

A blurry picture (I have them wrapped up to be sure there are no bedbugs... 

of course having them open in my house quickly I know defeated this purpose

 but I am not that worried!)... I am so excited for these! 

 Found this darling toy silver tea set for our goddaugther!

I just have to get a gift box for it and will send it for her birthday in August! 

New cake stand! it's perfect as it is low to the ground,

as it were, so easy to store! Our other cake stand is wonderful

and much loved...and can be inverted to be a punch bowl...

I am dreaming of having a summer party with punch bowl

and cake! Wouldn't that be fun!

Pretty new spoons as well! 

I am really pleased with this vintage Hazel Atlas depression glass juicer / reamer!

I had been wanting a good one of these, with bowl and handle all in 1 piece for 

years! So really pleased with this! 

We found 2 of these for 5.00/each ... one is being used

for the base for a set of 4 special toy soldiers and 

the other one (at least for now!) is mine to use + the 

other dome as well...

Found these non-crystal wine glasses.

I did not realize, however, how thin they are

(i.e. very breakable) so I may look to replace these at a 

future VNA.... Not that they are not nice,

I am just looking for something more durable... 

I am rather excited about this cake stand! 

I had been wanting another one for a few years

and this one is perfect as it is without the pedestal stand,

making it easy to store! 

And look!!!! I found this pretty three tiered tea tray for $6.00!!!

I had 2 from IKEA and both broke, so this is a real find! 

I am super pleased! 

I also broke my juice jug.... (can you believe I forgot that one can NOT be hasty and

try to make frozen OJ by pouring just boiled water on it? the thick jug

I had for years broke instantly, OOPS!) ... so finding this one was a real blessing!

I had a whole list of what I was looking for and this was on it!

So I have a dream of creating a picnic basket inexpensively....

So these stainless steel cutlery (middle above) was 1$ each and

is the beginning of this endeavor! 

I also found the darling punch/soup ladle... however, it has

a bit of a flaw towards the back of it, a tiny piece is sticking out

and actually cut my husband's hand, so (hard to see in picture 

as my Husband used packing tape) it is taped up for now

until one of our Dad's can fix it! 

(We are hoping it can be filed or something put on top of it .... food safe of course)...

we would not have gotten this if we had known but had already paid for it

when we realized the flaw and decided to keep it simple and try to get it fixed.

I hope it can be fixed as it's really a darling piece and I had been on the look out for a 

low wide ladle for a few years! 

Also, that heart cookie cutter is actually to make 

the Belgian Vol-au-vent pastry... I don't quite understand the instructions yet

but will look at them again soon... 

These 4 bowls are really beautiful! 

I believe they are new/unused as they still had store stickers on 

the bottom of each one and were individually wrapped... 

These were 10.00/each or 40$ for the set.  

They are Noritake White Palace... they are still made today,

from what I can see and one bowl is selling for about the price

that I got the 4 bowls! Wow. 

So these I am keeping for very special events and will keep them 

separated with a clean white napkin...

I have put these away as they are going to be our anniversary gift 

 in Septemeber!

Isn't it such a nice gift! I am so pleased 

and it will go so well with our other white gold-rimmed China pieces!

And for bigger than 4 people dinners, I have other bowls that are white with 

gold or white with a nice design... I love mixing and matching....

I am hoping to have a Slava for our wedding anniversary and hope to use these

bowls then! :)  It would be so pretty! 

Cleo of course had to join in the fun!

I am so excited to have found these scoops!!! I had been wanting more for 5 years,

as I love them for my canisters of flour/sugar ... also that little scoop I got for 25 cents!

It's the 'perfect scoop of tea' spoon that I had been wishing I had since I saw it online....

you know me and the weakness I have for anything related to tea! :)

Also, I did not have a biscuit cutter (I thought I had one once but may have been 

merely remembering my Mother's) and was so excited to find one!

Also got these lovely cheery yellow napkins...
I think it was 10 of them for 5.oo which is not bad

and they wash up so nicely!  I just love cloth napkins... we invariably spill food or water or

what-have-you and these are great and are not wasteful! 

We still use paper towels for some cleaning jobs that necessitate them

but it's nice to do what one can in terms of waste/environmental concerns.... 

Also the glass 'shaker' bottle and spice jars always come in handy... 

so pleased to have found these!

 ***

I also got some cute scarves and skirts for 30.00 

and some other odds and ends... I never did get to the book tent 

this time around, but I did go to stationary and got a ton of cute

things there, including stamps, all of which are being bagged up

for 3 months to be sure no creepy-crawlies come in the house.

So August 7 will be DV a fun day when I get to use this 

new to us stationary! 

Oh yes, also got the above pictured cream coloured teapot!

It is so cute and made in England! Pours really well!

We did not realize it had crazing on the outside so handwash only 

but the inside is great.... it's been a joy to use, as the one we had 

in our dutch (pillowed suitcase like with handle) teacozy from IKEA had broken

a month or so ago... 

We stayed at a hotel overnight (had a swimming pool! was so nice!

Shared the pool with 2 cute little girls and their parents) and 

had a nice time at the toy solider show before going back 

to our far-away church vigil...before church my Husband

had the fun idea of having an ice cream date

and then we ran into the lovely Romanian priest and daughter who 

are here for a short stay (almost up!) to study in the Princeton area... 

so we had dinner with them before vigil!

***

Yesterday was cleaning day...and taking care of all the VNA treasures...

Of course, life could not be simple, right?

Our AC is acting up so a man is coming this afternoon to look at it... of course

that meant I had to spend yesterday late afternoon and evening

emptying out the pantry, a huge job!

So our chapel/guestroom/library is now our pantry LOL....

Oh well, at least it will re-organized... 

And Mr Husband is home and that's super fun for me,

as I got to have lunch and breakfast with him....

So, that's a lot of what's been going on...

I still want to blog about the epic brunch I put on when my

goddaughter and her Mom were here... hopefully sometime soon!

These days are so busy that it's hard to keep up....

I have to accept that I still don't have sewing time or even a lot of reading time.

It was nice however to finally get this blog post done and record the special times

and special things we had right now.

It's so important to remember the blessings and not just the hard times one is in

and that is what this blog post is all about.....