~Weekend Pickings~

 

 

We had a fruitful weekend! Yippee! This summer has been dreadful for garage and estate sales. The pickings have been SLIM. We finally found some goodies!

 

I instantly fell in love with these beauties and knew they'd be a perfect addition to our shop.

I already listed them! Although, between you and me...even though I'm not a big fan of salt & pepper shakers, I do love vintage dog figurines and I'd kinda like to keep them. Just perfect condition.

 

Another set of vintage S & P. Very pretty birds marked Japan. I believe both sets are circa 1940-50s.

 You know how I adore old jars. We discovered this box at a nearby garage sale.

The box itself has some water damage but the contents are untouched, unused and in excellent condition.

Juice decanter BALL jars??? Never heard of them! An Internet search offered very little info. Apparently, they were produced from the late 70s through very early 80s. I guess people were not that interested in canning juice.

I'm thrilled! The jars are very unique and every box includes a plastic pouring spout lid.

They will make a great addition to the shop! I'll probably sell them individually.

Look at this! How exciting to find such an incredible antique.

A daguerreotype case with a photo of a young boy.

It even has a small, handwritten note tucked inside.

These date to the 1850s. Such a treasure!

The condition is good, with some worn spots on the case. The frame itself has some minor condition issues. The tiny latch and velvet are in great shape.

Overall, it's a lovely piece.

 

Here are a few more finds for the shop...Thanks for looking. 

 Butterfly Gold Pyrex creamer and sugar bowl.



 A blender cookbook published in 1961. Some of the recipes are quite bizarre!

 A Tang pitcher from the 70s.

This cute dachshund planter.



 

Raspberries

~Raspberry Picking & Jammin'~

 

 

Wayne and I went raspberry picking yesterday. Too bad I forgot the camera...it was a beautiful day! We spent maybe an hour in the warm sunshine, plucking 8 pints of glorious berries. Plump, juicy, sweet, tart....aren't they gorgeous?

His favorite jam is raspberry, seeds and all. It *is* tasty, so we whipped up a couple batches today.

If you've never canned, definitely give it a try! All the supplies are easily found at your local hardware store, grocery store or Wal-Mart. I've snagged jars and pots at garage sales, too. For making jams, jellies and pickles a pressure canner is NOT required. Just a simple hot water bath. Easy!

Get your fruit, pectin and sugar out. Get your supplies ready, sterilize jars and utensils.

Smash your fruit to the amount called for in the recipe. (Full directions are included in every box of pectin.) We needed 5 cups:

Add a cup of water and gradually stir in powdered pectin. (Note: I prefer the no-sugar added pectin. You can use anywhere from 0-3 cups of sugar per recipe. MUCH better flavor than the traditional jam, which uses SIX cups of sugar! Ouch.) Bring to a boil and add your sugar. Stir constantly! You can see Wayne stirring like mad:

Ladle into hot, waiting jars and place into the canner. Make sure the water is simmering.

Cover and gently boil for 10 minutes. Remove from canner with a jar lifter. Each batch yielded 8 beautiful jars!

Breakfast tomorrow? Toast with butter and raspberry jam, of course!

Cheesecake Party

The next time I whine about the ginormous spare tire around my middle, please smack me upside the head! 24 pounds down on Friday and how many UP on Monday??? I'll never tell....

Sunday was our second annual cheesecake party, better than ever! We sampled these varieties:

~Chocolate Peanut Butter~

~Funfetti~

~Oreo Cookie~

~Lemon Pistachio~

~Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bites~

Everthing was homemade but looked so professional! We also had a strawberry swirl, a peanut butter no-bake, and these yummy cheesecake filled strawberries:

Thankfully, lots of friends stopped by and most of it was devoured. Leftovers were sent home with every skinny guest. The weight-watchers of the group, splurged for the day and moved on!