Suzanne Schaffer

  I got this gorgeous hobnail dish set an an estate sale yesterday for $4. I'm normally not in the market for things like this but it spoke to me. I walked away from it at least five times and finally gave in.   Two serving plates and six dessert bowls and six dessert dishes. Can't you just see some homemade ice cream with berries? They still had the original tags on them. The brand was Daily and they were made in China. Not sure how old they are, they were found in the basement of the old lady's mother-in-law's house.  I will treasure them. And use them! 

Our local TJ Maxx has these in the ladies restroom. I appreciate that they do that and wish that other stores would follow that example. You never know who will need it. If you are being abused seek help--NOW! Don't wait for the abuser to change. 

Did you watch the I Love Lucy Christmas Special (in color)? We watched it last night and even the man -who is not a Lucy fan at all- enjoyed it. It was so much fun to see the apartment, the clothes, the furniture, the HAIR in color. I enjoyed every second of it and actually laughed more than I have in the past while watching Lucy and her antics. I did think that Lucy looked older in color than in B&W. And you could see her makeup. Like really see it, where it was caked on for the TV.  The second episode was the best though. Lucy stomping on the grapes in color. Fantastic.  

This is Joan Fontaine. I purchased her in the gorgeous frame at a yard sale this summer for $2.00 The frame was missing the glass though and I didn't want to hang her in the bathroom without protection. I visited another yard sale and saw a frame with glass that was about the same size and thought, for fifty-cents I'll chance it . As chances go, it didn't fit. But only by a miniscule amount. One of the stores that I do regular work at has a framing department and the store manager gave permission for them to cut it down for me. I'm so loving this! It is just beautiful. One of my favorite finds of all-time. I am wondering though, how this old (it is quite old!) portrait of Joan Fontaine ended up in my town.

Who doesn't love ketchup? On a burger or some fresh cut fries. Mmmm. This is the classic Heinz ketchup, the ingredients include both corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. It also includes natural flavoring, which we've learned can be anything found in nature. Check out this link . Don't think it's true? Just a couple of weeks ago we watched Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and observed as he went into a lab and tasted some of the "natural raspberry" flavoring that companies use. It's natural alright, straight from a beaver's anal glands. You go ahead and enjoy your "natural flavoring"--I'd rather eat a real raspberry. But enough about that, who knows what they mean by natural in ketchup -or catsup as it's sometimes called. Here's a better alternative. It's the store brand organic ketchup. Read those ingredients, you know exactly what they are. This is a much better choice to top your burger with.  Remember: Just...