We Will NEVER Have Cars in Our Garage..........

A friend used to kid me that I have never had a car in any of the garages  we have had! 

                              

                             She's right - in our house, garages are meant for storage!!!!

                                  
                         Well, Carol- my 3 car garage was CLEAN for a whole 24 hours- 

                                              

                                                                       Then,

                                                                       THIS
                                                                   happened:

 

D/H, aka, Mr. Green Jeans, rented a truck to help a friend empty out his mother's condo.The mother had passed away, the condo was sold, and the contents had to be removed.

This was all the stuff the friend did NOT want, and since Goodwill could not do a pickup in time,

 D/H brought it home.

      To our clean garage.............

I have spent the past few days (while D/H is in DisneyWorld!), sorting thru' the stuff. I have emptied ALL the boxes!

There are now several stacks of boxes ready to be loaded up in my car for donating to the thrift store; the kitchen counters are full of stuff washed, and waiting to be priced to go in the shop; a few things listed on Freecycle awaiting pickup; and there is a bunch of furniture yet to be unwrapped.

~Have a peek~

I  love this little chair - my mom said she had a similar pair when she first got married - but doesn't remember what they were called. I have tried researching under so many different names- but cannot find a similar style.

Anyone out there know what this chair is??? It is small, low to the ground, almost child sized, altho' I can sit in it comfortably.

Below, are several nice, but not my style, chairs. We will keep a nice, small, green wing back recliner. I had given it to my mother, but she was not strong enough to operate it......so, it's in my room temporarily.

Another piece of furniture I can't use below- a gorgeous, Ethan Allen (?) white on white cloth  6 ft couch. We don't do white cloth in a house with 3 dogs! It will remain in white plastic wrap 'til it finds a new home! Some of these pieces will be sold, to offset the price of the moving van.

                                  There is also a cute pull out bed/loveseat, of country blue gingham

                                                     Lamps or glassware, anyone?

          

                                                                 Sigh...........................

I am keeping this cool old bridge floor lamp, with swivel bulb - if I can find the attachments to hang the shade. I found a company called Paxton online - but I would have to buy the shade and special socket attachment - which would run about $75. I did find a shade there, that I fell in love with, but I am going to try to hold out a bit for a less pricey solution.........I now know  why I see alot of these style lamps turned into planters or having bird cages hanging from them - it's too expensive to replace the shades!!!!

Well, hope you liked the tour of my once tidy (albeit temporarily so) house and garage.

           And, Carol, you were so right, my garage will NEVER house a car!!!!!!!!

Anyone for a Teacup Exchange?????

After participating in Julieanna's Holiday Teacup Exchange (see previous Tea on Tuesday post), I decided I wanted to do an online teacup swap.

It will be fun- just sign up, when I think we have enough players, I will put all the names in a hat/bowl, and pair everyone with a partner. It will be a one on one swap, to be mailed out no later than January 15th, 2011. That way, all the hustle and bustle of the holidays will be out of the way, and we will all be looking forward to getting something in the mail again!!!

There are no rules, other than- if you sign up, make sure you put your teacup in the mail, so you don't disappoint your swap partner! -
Just find a teacup and saucer- one from your collection, a thrift store find, a vintage one, or brand new. If it appeals to you, your swap partner will love it too.

You don't have to be a blogger to participate, and you don't have to become a follower of mine to play. Altho', I love followers -the more, the merrier,  I won't turn you away!!!

Here are some I found recently - only 2 were gifts- the rest came from thrift shops. There are also two footed cups, I found recently at a thrift store, will save those for another post!! Teacups of all kinds are out there waiting for a new home!!!

In the back row, one unmarked vintage orphaned cup,  tiny handpainted demitasse, and a Japanese Royal Ming china.
Middle row, from left to right- English Stanley Fine Bone china (w/yellow roses); Federal Shape Syracuse China- Briarcliff Pattern; Lefton hand painted china w/ luncheon plate
Front row- Theodore Haviland Limoges France delicate bone china (gift); cream colored vintage Czechoslovakia; vintage Flow Blue Japan egg shell (gift)

View from the top - I love cups with an inside design!

These last two just came out of the thrift store. The first one looks like a souvenir teacup, with a decal of vintage Washington, DC on front.

This one looks like Lustreware- cute, even tho' it has a tiny chip on the lip.

Soooo, if you want to play- leave a comment, and sign  up. Send me your email address, or leave it in the comments.
We already have 5 people wanting to swap!!
Pat (that would be me!)
Donna
Teresa
Susan
Judy
Keep your eyes open for that perfect teacup to swap!!

Tea on Tuesday

I am late again, and just arriving for afternoon tea,sharing just a few pictures of tea worthy thrift shop and flea market finds.............

Above is my "new" thrift store tea cup stand, with some thrift store tea cups. I was actually going to paint this stand, and use if for something else, when my mom walked by, and said," You do realize that this is a tea cup stand?" I didn't - but I do now!!! It found a perfect home with me!!

Don't you just love this pair of delicate, vintage, almost translucent,  blue transferware/flow blue teacups that a friend found at a very famous flea market in England( the name escapes me at the moment!). I can't believe she gave them to me!!!! If you look closely, you can see the saucers are uneven, a true testimony to their age. I do love them!!!

My very vintage, thrift shop treasure, a Japanese lustreware teacup filled with dried peony petals. My friend told me, in some of the very vintage Japanese teacups, when held to the light, a tiny image of a geisha will appear. Sadly, not in this one, but I will continue to search for her!!

When company was here, we had a delicious lunch of paninis filled with brie, chocolate and fresh basil, iced caramel coffee, lemon ricotta cookies, and lovely store bought European cookies meant for dipping in coffee!!!

My daughter made the lunch, and insisted great grandma's vintage desert server wouldn't do - she needed a two tier server- so I put together one of my upcycled china pedestals with some daffodil thrift shop plates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And, did you know (or care) that Lady Gaga is a real tea aficionado? She takes her own purple teacup with her everywhere- and even sent someone back to get it when it was forgotten!!!
*****************************************************************

Please visit  our other tea partiers, and join us on Tuesdays! See Kim's blog for a list of Tea on Tuesday participants!