More Vintage Christmas

I have been looking everywhere for a vintage Tom and Jerry's bowl and cup set. Etsy has it, but for an outrageous price! Who knew that the local antique store would have it for $15.00. My Mom and I where out and she bought it for me. You're never to old to get spoiled by Mom :) She also bought me the mistletoe apron.

Vintage Christmas

Autum is Here!

Vintage Federal Glass bowl with pumpkins

My free chair with pumpkins!

Ok, I am ashamed to say this is growing in my front yard, and though I knew it was an Aster, I had no recollection of planting it...until it bloomed! Then I remembered the little plant someone gave me two years ago...you know the ones in the grocery store wrapped in colored paper. It's huge and gorgeous! Can't believe it did that.

This is my favorite time of year. So glad it's here! Enjoy your Fall!

photos by Emily Johnson

Vintage Finds for Fall!

OK, This is a great story. We are at a garage sale and I see these two old chairs, painted but the seat is all rustic. I look at the price tag and it says....FREE!!! I am figuring out how to talk my husband into these chairs...I know just what to do with them. We don't get them, but I keep talking while we look at more sales. Soon he is back in front of the house loading them in the back! Yipee! I can't wait to put a big pumpkin on them!

I love to find vintage Anchor Hocking/Fire King dishes. This cup and saucer are from 1952-1956

I love 1970ish Pyrex mixing bowls!

This is a page from a pamphlet published in 1968 for Teen girls by Carnation. .29 cents was all I paid...I have enjoyed reading these funny out of date excerpts to Emily, my almost teen. Times were so different!

Vintage Finds

I love the thrill of the hunt! Vintage is my thing. I found the 1940's Salt and Pepper at a garage sale for $3. The milk glass tray behind it came in a set of 4, with one surviving cup for $3 at a thrift shop. The December 1969 (Month and year of my birth) Life Magazine chronicling the 60's was.....79 cents! No joke. And the 1940's children's book with rare illustrations was 25 cents at a garage sale. Watch out American Pickers!

Chocolate Chip Zuccini Bread

Lessons from a War Rationing Booklet

I stumbled upon a marvelous find at the Glen Eagle garage sale. In fact, when I saw the weathered, brow folder marked "$1", my heart started to beat a little faster. I am, after all a fan of "American Pickers". I could tell this was something old and cool. I snatched it up, handed the lady my dollar, and ran down the driveway before she realized she had just sold something valuable for $1. I pulled out the contents of the folder with trembling hands to find a War Rationing Book from World War II. "I'm a picker! I'm a picker!" I yelled as my husband drove away from the curb. I had never seen a rationing book before, and was interested to peruse the contents. There was a lot of official info, and handwritten names and addresses of people from a Crawford family. To my amazement, the rationing stamps were still inside, some still in sheets. Amazing. I flipped to one portion of the booklet that stood out to me.

'Rationing is a vital part of your country's war effort. Any attempt to violate the rules is an effort to deny someone his share and will create hardship and help the enemy. Give your whole support to rationing and thereby conserve our vital goods. Be guided by the rules: "If you don't need it, DON'T BUY IT." '

I was struck by two things. First, that it was so important to conserve goods and not waste that it was considered "helping the enemy" not too. I think of how we buy and consume in this country. All the waste. It made me take a second look at what is on my list, and also recommit to buying second hand and making more conciouse choices about what I do and do not purchase.

I also think of our talents and gifts. How wasting them instead of using them is helping the enemy. Your gifts are God-given to be used for a purpose, not hidden away or wasted.

The second thing that stood out was of course the last sentence. "If you don't need it, don't buy it." Yep, something I need to remember. It's so easy to get caught up in consumerism. It's something I'm trying to teach my children as well. It's not "things" that make us happy. They give temporal pleasure, but we don't need a bigger house with a playroom, or a bigger TV to be happy.

I gleened many nuggets out of my first "Picker" find. The war rationing folder ended up valuable to me in more ways than one!