An Okie Style Royal Wedding Tea Party

Yes, I watched the wedding of Prince William and Katherine. In fact, I recorded it and watched it again with my 8 and 5 year old nieces. We had a little tea party, Okie style.

We had flowers and jewels for our hair.

Everyone practiced the "royal wave" (except for Mom.)

We had tasty tidbits.

There was pretty dessert.

The girls had their own little table, which coordinated with the serving table.

There were many brides and grooms, like this pair, who joined our festivities.

We had a lovely time having a party to watch the royal wedding together.

I was happy to use my grandmother's glass snack sets and my large punch bowl. I can't remember the last time I've used either one.

Our Menu:

Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches

Apple-Boursin Cheese Sandwiches

Veggie Crescent Snacks (I used diced red, yellow & orange peppers, radishes & carrots)

Deviled Eggs

Decorated Cookies from Merritt's Bakery

Punch

Did you watch the royal wedding? What was your favorite part? I loved their carriage ride from the church to the palace.

Edited to add:

The 5 year old niece loved Princess Beatrice's hat. She called it the "ribbon hat". Many of the other wild hats at the wedding caught her attention. Perhaps she will be a future world famous fashionista?

Treasures From Great Grandparents

This photo is of my paternal Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather. Everyone called him Dad. We called her Great Granny.

Donna Templeton

born August 31, 1888; died August 1, 1972

Lish Templeton

born June 3, 1884; died April 18, 1960

I was one month shy of my 13th birthday when Great Granny died, so I knew her well. She could always be counted on to give each of her great grandkids an entire pack of Juicy Fruit gum when we visited. I remember she dipped snuff and there was always an old vegetable can at her feet, tucked under the sofa, for her spit. My mom has entrusted me with the last two pieces of Great Granny's crochet work. They are in good shape, considering their age. My sister and I will be sure to tell her great, great grand daughters about the woman who made these lovely pieces.

I was 7 months old when Dad died, so I don't have any "real" memories of him. I only have the memories of everyone else telling stories about him. I do, however, have his oak rocking chair. This chair is not a big chair, but Dad was not a big man. My mom said Dad had this chair when she married into the family in 1953 and he had already owned it for several years. Sometime in the future, one of his great great grand daughters will have this chair in her living room.

What item do you have that once belonged to your great grandparents?

I'm linking up with Coloradolady's Vintage Thingie Thursday. Please click over and join us!

A Special Easter Sunday

The Husband and I went to Oklahoma City today to witness the baptism of our newest grand niece, Lucye Jane. Here she is afterwards with Mom, Dad and older brothers Jesse and Charlie.

Lucye Jane was a good girl for her Great Uncle Steve.

Nothing makes me happier than feeding a sweet baby. 

Here are all our grand nephews. Left to right, Nathan, Jesse, Adam and Charlie. Aren't they adorable?

We had a great day with our family. I hope your Easter was as special as ours!

Happy Easter!

Image courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com

Garden Report

We planted two heirloom Cherokee Purple tomato plants today. Yum, yum. I can taste the first tomato now!

Look at my rosemary plant that came back from last year. Already it is big and beautiful.

Here are sage, rosemary and thyme that I have indoors. I will move them out to the garden in a week or two.

I need to get some dill and cucumbers, to finish out our small garden.

What are you planning to grow this year?

Sweet Baby Girl

We visited with one of our sweet grand nieces today.

She was so good for me. For Uncle Steve, it was a different story.

She finally calmed down a bit for him.

What a little honey. I hope the Easter Bunny brings her lots of goodies on Sunday!

Thrifted Treasures

I stopped by the local Animal Aid thrift store and found these treasures. Each item was marked $1.

When I checked out, I paid a total of $2.24, because of discount day!

The glass container will hold buttons.

The butter slicer is a gift for a special person in my life. (Shhhh...don't say anything! It's a surprise...)

The linen San Diego, CA tourist towel is brand new, never used. Let me just say, I LOVE tea towels like this. I have a an entire drawer of these souvenir towels. Towels that someone brought home from a vacation and 1) never used or 2) gave to family members who never used them. I use them and I love them!

I'm linking to the following party at Coastal Charm. Join us there!

New Roof

We had a new roof put on our old house. It took just two days for the roofing company to complete the job.

On Day 1, they began with the detached garage and the shed by removing the old roof (layers over ancient wood shingles), and then added new decking and shingles. The cool temperature, combined with a constant rain meant they ended their day at 3:30pm.

Two crews showed up at 7am Saturday morning (ouch) to start on the main house.

Up and down the ladders they went.

See how ancient the roof is?

Nice new decking:

The dumpster was full at the end of the day.

Early Monday morning the dumpster was removed. Good-bye old roof!

This week new guttering will be installed.

If you are in the greater Tulsa area and need a new roof, we were extremely pleased with this job by Collins Roofing.

Grocery Store China

We had friends over for dinner Saturday night. The table was bright and cheerful for Easter.

Sometimes a simple centerpiece is the best.

I used my paternal Grandmother's china, which she purchased years and years ago at her local grocery store.

My mother recently gave me Granny's silverplate service for six. I used it and added the salad fork from my sterling.

We served a cheese plate at this table. We had a Hooks cheddar cheese (aged 10 years) and Lambchopper from Cypress Grove Chevre. Thanks to LaDonna at LaDonna's Fancy Foods for her recommendation of these fantastic cheeses. We served them with sea salt crackers, sliced apples, grapes, peanuts and cashews. Yummy.

When we entertain, The Husband and I prep the food as much as possible before our guests arrive. Here he is after putting the final touches on the wedge salads, served with creamy blue cheese dressing, crumbled blue cheese, homemade bacon bits and cherry tomatoes.

The remainder of the menu was leg of lamb, roasted potatoes, plus fresh asparagus and Farrell Family bread purchased at the Cherry Street Farmer's market. We finished with lovely little petit fours from Merritt's Bakery. Everything was most delicious.

Here is a photo of my granny. Her name was Jewel. She was a good cook and loved to eat!

I know she would be pleased that we still use her dishes.

Resources:
Tablecloth: Sewn by little old me
Napkins: Embroidered by my sister-in-law, when she was in high school
Dishes: Grocery store china, Nancy.
Silverware: Unidentifed silverplate, plus "American Classic" sterling
Amethest glasses: Garage sale
Wine glasses: Riedel
Glass compotes: Estate sales, gifts
Candle sticks: Gift
Eggs: Easter Bunny

Nut Choppers

If I remember correctly, this collection started a few years ago when The Husband was making a dish for one of our dinner parties. He needed chopped nuts and we didn't have a nut chopper. We improvised, but decided to pick up a chopper for "next time."

We found a vintage chopper during our next antique mall visit. Some time later, we picked up a second chopper. Then a third. Then a fourth. You collectors out there know the rest of the story.

Do we want to grind the nuts or actually chop them? We've got options.

How many nut choppers do you have? Perhaps a better question, is how many nut choppers do any of us need?

I'll be linking up to Coloradolady's Vintage Thingie Thursday. Why don't you join us?

Springfield Cashew Chicken

I made a new recipe from Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen, Springfield Cashew Chicken. Pretty, isn't it?

For me, the problem is it didn't taste like Gee's East Wind Cashew Chicken from Springfield, Missouri.

Make no mistake, it was tasty.  Especially when adding soy sauce after it was plated. I will make this recipe again, but I'll know it was not what I remember from Gee's.

I may have to have a cooking party with my sister and my friend (who was born and raised in Springfield) to see if we can re-create the sauce. Lord knows, we ate our weight in Cashew Chicken when we were young, footloose and fancy free a mere 25(!?!) years ago.

Mmmm...do you think the 25 years has anything to do with my problem?

Are you from Springfield? Do you have a Cashew Chicken recipe? Would you share it with me?

Things That Should Not Be Donated or Sold

I'm within a hairsbreadth of creating a new collectible category.

I already have "Dead Lady Art" and now I might have to add "Things That Should Not Be Donated or Sold."

I've been working on my new business and while searching for inventory, have seen some items that made me say "Why? Why? Oh, why?"

Item #1
Ceramic painted Bride & Groom, priced $6.50. Inscribed on bottom of bride's dress:
"Painted with love for Ken* & Barbie* on their wedding day. December 28, 1991. Aunt Polly*"

* Names changed to protect the innocent. Or guilty, however you want to look at it.

Item #2

Donated vase, priced $2. Signed KK, with a 2. I assume that means 2nd grade?

Item #3

Five hand painted ceramic Easter eggs, priced $1.99 each. Two with a girl's name and three with a boy's name. Each was signed on the bottom, "With love from Grandma." Unfortunately, I do not have a picture. 

Item #4

A 5x7 framed cross stitch piece of Precious Moments characters commemorating someone's baptism; with the baptism date. Priced $1. Again, no picture.

When our family visited last weekend, my story about these items sparked a conversation about why anyone would donate them.

• We all agree that the Bride & Groom donation could be due to divorce. That would be understandable. 
• But why would you donate your child's art project? For goodness sake, I have my elementary school ceramic pieces. My mom kept them for years and then gave them to me. As an adult, I've enjoyed having them in my collection. 
• Also, why would someone donate hand painted eggs by Grandma? If you don't want to display them (Easter, anyone?), put them away for the day when you may have children. These eggs would give your children a connection to their Great Grandma. 
• And last, but not least, selling a cross stitched piece that commemorates your baptism? Really?

As regular readers of this blog know, I have written on this topic before and I still have no good (in my opinion) answers as to why people don't keep their family treasures.

• Do you keep your family treasures?
• If you choose not to keep family treasures, do you donate them?
• Do you think donation is appropriate?
• Would it be better to destroy the item, if no family member wants to keep it?

What do you think?

Updated 04/08/11:

I returned to the thrift store where I found Item #3 listed above. The eggs were still available for purchase. Here are the photos:

This Tablecloth Speaks For Itself

I'm somewhat addicted to tablecloths. I bought a tablecloth on eBay recently that I couldn't resist. It's so BRIGHT. So CHEERFUL. So LOUD!

The cloth matched the glasses I've owned for more than 20 years.

I decided plain dishes would work best on this busy cloth. Side note: In this photo, notice how the glass blends right into the cloth?

As the centerpiece, I decided to display a few vintage flower frogs on a hammered aluminum two tier tray.

This table makes me happy. How does it make you feel?

Tablecloth: eBay

Linen napkins: Estate sale

Silverware: Reed & Barton stainless steel

Plates: Bed, Bath & Beyond, Fitz & Floyd Everyday Bone China, Nevaeh White

Glasses: Can't remember

Hammered Aluminum Server: Collection built over time

Flower Frogs: Collection built over time

I'll be joining Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday and Susan for Tablescape Thursday.