I can DISH it out!

My husband can attest to the fact that I am a china freak. I'm not talking about egg rolls and wontons. I'm talking Lenox and Wedgwood! I don't know why really. I think I inherited it from my mom. Anyway, when I got married my china pattern was Lenox McKinley. If you've never seen it, they used it on the West Wing when the show aired. 

I loved it, and I remember the day I picked it out at Seawright's Jewelers on the square in Hartwell. But after some time I realized that the pattern was SO uber-formal that I never used it and when I did I was too busy making sure no one whacked one of the little pearl droplets off the plates to enjoy using it! The pattern was beautiful but definitely not me. I sold it on ebay to a very grateful woman who'd long admired the pattern but could not afford it. Win win. I love it when that happens.

After that, I went pure tee crazy. I now have 8 place settings of Lenox Winter Greetings (both the formal and everyday settings), Lenox Summer Greetings, various fiesta wear pieces, a Vera Wang set of chargers, a beautiful set of British china given to me by my husband's aunt Betty, a set of Pineapple by American Atellier, Friendly Village by Johnson Brothers, and many many more. I am bad about getting all sorts of pieces from different patterns. I LOVE the canisters from the Lenox Butler's Pantry. I don't have the place settings but I do have the canisters. I love the shapes of bowls and I am picky about the way a plate feels in your hands, so it's not all about looks. I will usually order one piece and keep it for awhile before I buy the entire setting just to see if it fits in with the madness around here. I don't know why I have this affliction, but I browse china patterns like other people browse for clothes or cars or something. 

     

Next weekend I'm taking my Summer Greetings to set a spring table for my mother in law's spring gala at her church. I'm going to use it with a natural wicker charger. Here it is:

 

Actually this is the oriole plate and you should know that I have every bird variety Lenox makes. I am aware of my affliction and no one needs to point that out. I love to mix and match dessert plates and chargers from different patterns. I'm currently drooling over an Oneida Earthenware pattern called "Wine Country". But, since we're trying to shore up our savings account, I am refraining for now. My birthday is in June. Maybe I can wait till then!  

I mostly browse amazon and ross simons for good china deals, although I've found some great buys on select pieces at smartbargains,com and overstock.com  If you are looking for flatware, ross-simons is second to none. You can get some GREAT deals on stainless there. I have both Oneida Kenwood and Golden Kenwood. I like both of them, and so I haven't bought any other since I've married. But hey- that could be a whole new addiction for someone else out there!  

Tomorrow, I'm being sequestered in order to churn out a chunk of my dissertation. Have a great weekend everyone. Enjoy it for me!

Grape Expectations

Recently I've written a couple blogs related to my locavore habit. More than a few folks have asked me about it. Even though my husband calls me a closet tree hugger, I assure you I am not. I do not recycle. I did not use cloth diapers. I do not drink wheat juice. I do what I can though! I am however in my own way, concerned with the sustainability of our current agricultural practices. Our population is exploding and in order to meet this demand for food, we spray more chemicals, mow down more forest land, and pollute more rivers and streams. Imagine if ALL of us grew just a LITTLE bit of what we consumed, or if we bought it from a farmer down the road rather than having it shipped here from China. What a difference that would make!  Fewer lung paralyzing fumes on the road, fewer pesticides running into streams, MORE nutrition for our own children.  We haven't bought eggs ONCE since Pete built the poultry palace out back! It's a win win situation. Anyway, with that being said, we have planted grapevines this past weekend! Well, let me clear that up. PETE planted grapevines this weekend. Anyone who knows my husband knows he does NOTHING half way. Oh nooooo.... we have the kind of grape vine trellises they probably have in the Loire Valley of France. We have grapevine trellises that will sustain wine grapes! They really do look nice in the side yard!

We planted Cowart and Triumph varieties of muscadine grapes today.  Cowart grapes are reddish colored and are great for both table grapes as well as wine making. Triumph varieties have a greenish bronze tinge to them and make huge bunches of table type grapes. Both are low maintenance varieties and are suitable for all zones in Georgia.  Both are self pollinating as well. If you choose a grape variety make sure they either self pollinate or if you get female cultivars, you need at least one self pollinator for 4 female plants.   Pete built a three row trellis for the grapes, simply because I want it to serve as sort of a living fence. Many commercial growers only use one row. 

Pete also planted some thornless blackberries and there are blueberry bushes waiting in the pots to be planted on the next beautiful day. I am also hoping to plant a couple pear trees and maybe a plum tree in the orchard area in the side yard.  Can you tell I'm losing my MIND waiting for spring to get here??  Pete insists I have seasonal affective disorder. I tend to agree.  Thanks for all your hard work this weekend!! I love it!!!    Have a great week everyone!

Got Milk?

A few weeks ago my dad mentioned that one of the farmers he knew in our community was going to start bottling and selling milk straight from the farm. This caught my attention because as I've mentioned before, I am really really stoked about the local foods movement. I think it helps sustain the local economy, is generally healthier, and more environmentally responsible.  Dad didn't know much about it but after a little asking around and checking it out I found out some information.


The Frank family has farmed this area for almost 20 years and owns the largest Brown Swiss herd of cattle in the state of Georgia.  According to the local paper,  the Franks built a bottling plant on their dairy and began selling their milk locally last month. There are only three such farm-based bottling plants in Georgia and none in this region.  


When I found very appealing beyond my growing locavore habit, was that the dairy produces top quality milk without the help of rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin. rBST is a synthetic hormone which increases milk production in dairy cattle. While I was a student in the college of agriculture at UGA, the use of rBST was a hot topic. While I'm not completely opposed to genetic engineering, I like to have other options available. 


I am also encouraged by the fresh factor! The Franks say that the millk you buy this morning came from the cow YESTERDAY!  I like to know where my food comes from when possible. When you buy milk in the store, it came from all over the country and was pooled at large plants before it came to the grocery store. I'm not at all railing against milk you buy at Kroger. I just think the Frank Farm option is a cool option. They sell straight from the farm as well as in a few local stores.   Of course the price is a little higher at 4 dollars a gallon but I feel good about giving this money straight to the farmer and not to a huge conglomerate like Wal Mart.  The milk is branded as "Southern Swiss" and the only down side?? It's not homogenized...so you have to shake it up or you'll have a big blob of milk fat flop out in your cheerios. Not cool. Definitely not cool. I am planning on getting some chocolate milk this weekend at the farm. Hope it doesn't disappoint!

My fellow finally finished the tea room yellow!

We were cleaning up literally 15 minutes before our weekend company arrived this past weekend, but Pete finished Addie's room!  We like the Tea Room Yellow much better than the Quaker Beige that colors most of the rest of the house. She really likes it. I am so glad I got a good suggestion from a friend (thanks Tammy!) regarding color. I used the same color palette and just chose a slightly different shade. 

In other news, Addie Belle turned five on Monday and we had a wonderful weekend celebrating! Gran and Papa came along with Emma, Sarah, David and Jess. The Mennonite bakery made a wonderful cake and God made BEAUTIFUL weather!

 

Addie also enjoyed a visit from her best friend in the world, Mary Will. Addie sort of pronounces it  "Mer Will" but it's quite endearing.

Sunday was so beautiful, that after church I had to have the horses out.  Peaches is about to wean her colt and she has been acting nutty. She STILL acted nutty Sunday, but after a few suggestions from Ali's riding instructor, I lunged her for a few minutes and the next time I ride I'm going to do that after I saddle but before I ride. We'll see if that works. Her colt is aggravating the stew out of her, jumping on her, biting at her, and he's under her feet ALL the time. She's about to go all MAMA wild on him I'm afraid and I really hope I'm not in the saddle when that happens!  

And lastly, Addie got her hair cut this week. She's been asking for awhile to get it cut and since she's SO tender headed I relented. I'm tired of tears every morning. After she had it cut, I really liked it and so does she!

 Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Tea room yellow almost killed my fellow!

 Since we have family coming in for Addie's birthday this weekend, I've been pestering my husband constantly about getting finished with Addie's room painting!  Poor Addie has been sleeping on the sofa for  over a week because all of her room furnishings are piled on her bed in the middle of the floor. Pete will probably be paying for it tomorrow but he did finish the bedroom and the yellow is really pretty. He didn't get her bathroom or her closet but that's a good rainy day project I guess. Tomorrow I'll be furiously moving her furniture back into place before Addie's cousins, Emma and Sarah arrive.

I bought new Clinique makeup over the weekend and though I used to use Clinique, I'm not sure I like anything  that you can fit 200 dollars worth of in a package not much bigger than a shoebox. I haven't tried it yet. Maybe it will make me look so radiantly young and beautiful that it will be worth it. Something tells me I may be disappointed. :)  Clinique online is really neat though. The online consultants are REALLY good. They don't work commission so I didn't feel pressured to buy things I didn't need. I'll report later on whether the money was well spent or if I'd have been better off just ringing up the local Avon lady.

Let me say THIS about THAT...

Let me say THIS about Valentine's day.. I abhor it and think it is a manufactured holiday contrived to guilt men into using absolutely no thought, spending money on junk just because the TV said so.  Hint for the men...if you REALLY want to impress your wife, surprise her with a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates on a day when you aren't guilted into it by the Hallmark commercials on TV. Even better, clean the house, mow the yard, fix something that's been broken for months- that's the real way to a woman's heart. That's all I have to say about that.

Let me say THIS about the latest CRCT cheating scandal... I am disgusted. Imagine this- our idiotic governor has a wonderful pay for performance plan based on the improvement of students' test scores. I teach my butt off, neglect my own family looking for new and varying resources for my students, spend an inordinate amount of my own family's time trying to remediate the students who are unbelievably below grade level, only to see my PAYCHECK decrease because my students did not improve substantially over last year. Now, that's all well and good. But, what if the teacher they had last year "cooked" their test scores????  As I've ranted about in my previous blogs, my 3rd grader already spends a ridiculous amount of time learning to take a test at the expense of substantial physical education and recess. This state is totally out of control and all the folks in Atlanta just wring their hands and act as if they have no idea why. I could tell them why in about 30 seconds.

And finally let me say THIS about buying steamed crab legs with your Food Stamp card. It ain't right lady...I know that Harvey's steams them for free, but your food stamp card was not meant to buy prepared food. I know the high school kid at the cash register was having a hard time explaining it to you. I have an even harder time explaining why I am in line PAYING for 3 chuck roasts that have been marked down due to an approaching expiration date and you are in line using tax money for crab legs.

Totally random thoughts.....

So much for my recent attempts at willing in an early spring! We had about 5 inches of snow on our back deck this morning. But, this was MY kind of snow! The kids had a wonderful time watching it come down last night and really enjoyed playing in it this morning. Now, by afternoon it's almost all gone. Yes, my kind of snow! This was the girls' first "Georgia snow" and the first snow we've seen since we moved to Burke County several years ago.  I was amazed that the grocery store still had milk when I finally ventured out about lunch time.


 Anyway on to my latest musing. My husband's cousin Rachel is a fabulous new mom. She is also an elementary school teacher and I admire her efforts at frugality. Recently she introduced me to the site www.southernsavers.com  I haven't had a chance to thoroughly check it out but it does look interesting! It reads sort of like a blog with people contributing information about good deals they've found in local grocery and department stores.  There are also a number of printable coupons available there.  Rachel is still trying to recruit me into the world of coupons but I haven't taken the bait as of yet. 

On another frugal note, I was browsing the Limited Too website, and did not realize that Justice has completely replaced Limited Too. While I did find some good buys, and some of the clothing was cute, the vast majority of it looked trashy. A friend reminded me the other day about the great and wise Celia Rivenbark. I read her book "Belle Weather" and loved it. We were talking about the difficulty in finding decent girls clothing and she mentioned Celia's book "Stop Dressing Your Six Year Old Like a Skank". I still ponder why moms pay top prices for such trashy clothes. You could find more class at Cato.