Cheat Day!
This was a change in perspective: a cheat day has 1600 calories in it, most of them good. I wasn't going to have any of the crock-pot eye-round beef but it looked so good and I stopped and thought that it would go along well with the tomato-basil beans I fixed. And who can resist homemade Challah? and home fries? I kept the portion sizes down so that I could have some of these yummy things and 'made at home' always has fewer calories than any 'made from the box.'
Today we brought the new blanket chest upstairs, bob's creation from the buffet table 'leftovers.' It is longer than your typical hope chest and you can be sure that I'll fill it up with the extra blankets, throws and spreads plus a few sweaters that don't have another home. I am afraid that bob will bump into a corner when he gets up in the night but we have already discussed 'retraining' him on the nocturnal rambles - go towards the bedroom TV for support so he avoids the blanket chest corner!
Speaking of buffet table....I've begun looking at places to get pieces to fill in the two sets of china that now almost fill it. I bought some blue willow plates on Ebay today for a very good price. I'm betting that they are unmarked on the back, just like my antique ones, and unlike the Churchill that you can buy today. Most of my serving pieces came from grocery-store promotions of the English-made brand and are actually quite good. The 'Churchill' blue willow on Amazon.com is 'made in Columbia' and the customer comments on there aren't kind; the Dinnerware Depot website also only seems to have the dishes made in some third-world country so to heck with that. I will see what this lot from Ebay looks like.
My other 'good' china is actually some old Pfaltzgraff and I have lots of the fancy serving pieces (my first set of inlaws gave them to me as gifts over the few years I was married to Paul). But the dinner plates and some of the oven bakers have definitely seen a lot of wear and tear - I only have half the number of plates in two of the sizes and I'm missing a couple saucers and a bowl or two. This is all in the 'Village' pattern and the Pfaltzgraff site has almost everything except dinner plates so I was thinking of brancing out into something that complements the pieces, stoneware in brown tones. There were a couple of current patterns that will work and I also have some handmade pieces (like my salt and pepper set) that have come from craft shows that go with the original dishes (Kitty got started giving those to me). Of course, then I spot other patterns that are pretty, in greens...that are on sale...But, no, I haven't bought any, not after winning the Blue Willow on Ebay (I've also been buying vegetarian cookbooks but they are much cheaper than dishes and cost less to ship). I'm thinking I'll take a scouting trip to the store that used to be the Syracuse China outlet that's now a Pfaltzgraff shop. They have evening hours according to the syrahoo site.
Oh well, I'm rambling about ordinary things.
Today we brought the new blanket chest upstairs, bob's creation from the buffet table 'leftovers.' It is longer than your typical hope chest and you can be sure that I'll fill it up with the extra blankets, throws and spreads plus a few sweaters that don't have another home. I am afraid that bob will bump into a corner when he gets up in the night but we have already discussed 'retraining' him on the nocturnal rambles - go towards the bedroom TV for support so he avoids the blanket chest corner!
Speaking of buffet table....I've begun looking at places to get pieces to fill in the two sets of china that now almost fill it. I bought some blue willow plates on Ebay today for a very good price. I'm betting that they are unmarked on the back, just like my antique ones, and unlike the Churchill that you can buy today. Most of my serving pieces came from grocery-store promotions of the English-made brand and are actually quite good. The 'Churchill' blue willow on Amazon.com is 'made in Columbia' and the customer comments on there aren't kind; the Dinnerware Depot website also only seems to have the dishes made in some third-world country so to heck with that. I will see what this lot from Ebay looks like.
My other 'good' china is actually some old Pfaltzgraff and I have lots of the fancy serving pieces (my first set of inlaws gave them to me as gifts over the few years I was married to Paul). But the dinner plates and some of the oven bakers have definitely seen a lot of wear and tear - I only have half the number of plates in two of the sizes and I'm missing a couple saucers and a bowl or two. This is all in the 'Village' pattern and the Pfaltzgraff site has almost everything except dinner plates so I was thinking of brancing out into something that complements the pieces, stoneware in brown tones. There were a couple of current patterns that will work and I also have some handmade pieces (like my salt and pepper set) that have come from craft shows that go with the original dishes (Kitty got started giving those to me). Of course, then I spot other patterns that are pretty, in greens...that are on sale...But, no, I haven't bought any, not after winning the Blue Willow on Ebay (I've also been buying vegetarian cookbooks but they are much cheaper than dishes and cost less to ship). I'm thinking I'll take a scouting trip to the store that used to be the Syracuse China outlet that's now a Pfaltzgraff shop. They have evening hours according to the syrahoo site.
Oh well, I'm rambling about ordinary things.