Mad Men Glassware

 If you've been reading my blog, you know that I've just come through a very rough summer. As such, I needed to distract myself occasionally and one evening stumbled upon Mad Men on Netflix. One episode turned into four, and now Spouse and I have worked our way through Season 5. This series is about the Madison Avenue ("MAD Men") advertising business and is set in the 1960's. Maybe it's because I grew up in that era that I love this show so much. Although it's a drama (and quite a drama at that!), I like the fact that the series is anchored in actual events from that era. I tell myself that it's historical fiction! :)

 At any rate, one thing you'll notice right away is the pervasive cocktail culture on Mad Men. Everyone drinks all the time, from morning until night, even at work. One evening while watching an episode in Season 1, I noticed this glassware and jumped right out of my chair:

 My parents had a set of water glasses in this same design! I found the set (missing three glasses) out in the garage, of all places. At the time Mom passed away five years ago, Dad and I took a few items to the Salvation Army. The glasses were on the truck to go, but I snagged them at the last minute. Somehow I forgot that they were in the garage all this time, so when I found them this summer they were pretty dirty. Although I've always liked them, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to keep them until I saw them on Mad Men!

As I watched Mad Men over the summer, I often saw glassware in this design -- including the exact set that my parents owned. So I brought them home and carefully cleaned them up. The gold leafing is very fragile, so these glasses definitely can't go in the dishwasher.

 

Then I got the idea to complete the set. As luck would have it, I found a set of three identical glasses on Ebay for just $9. Perfect!

 

Now the set is complete! Sure, they'll probably only be filled with water or tea, but I'll still channel my inner Betty Draper whenever I use them!

 
Now to refurbish that old bar cart that I brought home... :)
 jp

YUM: Pumpkin Cookies

About this time last year, a friend from high school shared one of his mom's favorite fall cookie recipes. It was a crisp autumn day and the idea of pumpkin cookies baking just sounded SO GOOD...so I whipped up the first of what was to be many batches. 

If you like spice cookies and the flavor of pumpkin, you'll LOVE these cookies! They are also very moist (due to the pumpkin, I'm told) and they don't contain eggs. This is a very good thing if you're like me and usually don't have eggs in the refrigerator!

Tip: Add a bit more cinnamon and a touch of allspice if you'd like. I also sprinkled this batch with cinnamon sugar right out of the oven. Trust me...they are perfect with a cup of coffee on a cool fall day!
jp

Pumpkin Cookies
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin -- not the pie filling
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips -- I use raisins
2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon -- add more!
1/2 cup nuts (optional) -- I add pecans!

Cream first 3 ingredients and add pumpkin. Stir in chips or raisins. Sift dry ingredients into mixture and stir well. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees. These are moist cookies and they do not contain eggs.

Adventures in Pumpkin Drilling

This year, we brought home five lovely pumpkins, two to carve and three just to look cute. For the first time in several years, Spouse decided to carve his pumpkin. And I was inspired by my friend Connie to use a drill on mine. I'd tried it many years ago and loved the results, although I learned NOT to attempt it indoors!

  Because I waited so late to buy my pumpkins, I had only one evening to do the carving. As it turned out, the night was freezing cold so there was NO WAY I was going to drill a pumpkin outside! Back inside I went, drill in hand.

No matter what you're doing with your pumpkin, you have to scoop out the innards. This is my least favorite part. The pumpkin gunk makes my hands and arms itch!

Next, it was time to break out the drill. WHAT A MESS! Little bits of pumpkin flew all over the entryway, in spite of my attempts to keep things under control. This time, Spouse found the wood drill bits for me, which allowed me to make even bigger holes...and a bigger MESS!

 

  

Tinsel looked on with alarm from above...

 

 And I'll admit that it was pretty alarming.

 Lily thought closer supervision was necessary.

But when all was said and done (and all of the pumpkin bits were mopped up!), I was pleased with the way the pumpkin turned out. 

And Spouse's menacing pumpkin face turned out pretty well, too. All in all, it was a successful evening of pumpkin carving!

Janet

Feline Friday: Twisted!

  

 We quite frequently see Lily in this position, with the front half going one direction and the back half going another. It happens when she turns to lick herself in a hard-to-reach place...then forgets to turn back around! It always makes me laugh to see her TWISTED!

 

Pumpkin "Patch" Finds

This year I didn't pick up my pumpkins as early as I usually do. When I finally got around to it, it was too late to go to a real pumpkin patch. So on the Sunday afternoon before Halloween, Spouse and I ventured out to buy pumpkins from a vendor who sets up shop in an empty parking lot near us. As it turned out, I was very glad we chose to go there! I had never seen so many varieties of beautiful pumpkins, squash, and gourds!

 If you wanted to make a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin (not a can), they had wagons full of pie pumpkins. Everyone will be glad to know that I'm not planning on making one from scratch any time soon!

 All the pumpkins were so attractively displayed -- all the stems were up! And they were perfectly shaped.

 
   So many gourds!

 
And squash!

 

And these little guys looked like acorns!

 

More squash!

 

 Wagons full of pumpkins!

 

 

 I loved the little striped ones!

 

 I LOVE white ghost pumpkins and finally bought one this year.

 

More gourds!

Tiny baby pumpkins!

Love these colors!

 

My favorite find of the afternoon was a green "Fairytale Pumpkin", which is cultivated to look like Cinderella's pumpkin/coach. I had to have one!

 

After much pondering, we went home with five pumpkins -- one for the three humans who live in our house (even though one is in Indiana!) and the two kitties.
 

 Even though it wasn't a real pumpkin "patch", I'll definitely be back next year!
Janet

Photo Organization Project: Part 2

 I have BOXES and BOXES of photos sitting in my dining room. I've been making my way through them one by one as part of a big photo organization project I started last week. My goal is to bring some order to these unsorted, largely unidentified photos so that I can eventually put a good portion of them in scrapbooks.
 
As I mentioned in my first post, I decided to do a ROUGH SORT based on a few broad categories. One of those categories was heritage photos.  I've spent the most time on this category because I'm the most concerned with these priceless photos.

After gathering them all up in one place, I was ready to do a more DETAILED SORT of the heritage photos to identify them by family and person if possible. This was a bit challenging because the photos were all mixed together -- my dad's relatives, my mom's mother's family, my mom's father's family, etc. When you're looking at older photos of people you don't know, they can all look very similar!

I set up some temporary folders for sorting, each one labeled by the types of photos in the boxes -- such as Mom, Dad, Mom and Dad's wedding, Mom and her sister growing up, Grandpa Weaver, Grandpa Weaver's parents/siblings, etc. Of course, I also set up a folder for UNIDENTIFIED photos. I have tons of them. The folders are just temporary; I'll move them to archival storage boxes once I'm done sorting.

There were basically two types of photos in the boxes I sorted: professional photos (some in heavy mats) and everyday snapshots. The professional photos are permanently adhered to their mats so I left them intact. Some had writing on the back of the mat which identified the subjects (YAY!). By carefully comparing them with other unidentified photos, I was able to figure out a few more mystery subjects. As I worked, I also sketched out a family tree to help me remember who was who. I know I have a more complete one somewhere in one of the many, many boxes I brought home, but this will do for now!

 After spending just a few hours on this project, I had sorted most of the heritage photos into folders and isolated the ones I can't identify. I will share those mystery photos with older family members in hopes that we can identify a few more. The bottom line: This part of the project wasn't nearly as difficult or painful as I had expected it to be. Progress!
Janet

Postcard Album in Progress

 As a side trip from the big photo organization project I just started, I decided to whip together a small postcard album using the 75 or so vintage postcards I found which belonged to my grandma and her brother. Since many of the postcards have writing on the back, I planned to put them in photo sleeves so I could see both sides.

After looking extensively online, I determined there are no divided page protectors with pockets the exact size of vintage postcards (go figure!), so I decided to take the easy route and use 4x6 pockets even though they are a little larger. At Memory Bound, I found a SN@P album with 2-up photo sleeves which looked like it would be just fine.

 I sorted the postcards by theme and found that there were several for almost every holiday. I put them in the album in order by holiday (who is surprised by that? LOL), with miscellaneous postcards at the end.

 The pictures do not do these postcards justice! Some of them are absolutely beautiful. I will try to get better photos in the light of day as I finish up this project!

 

As you can see, the postcards pretty much filled the album, with just a few pockets left at the end for more postcards I am sure to find as I continue sorting through boxes.

 

I decided that seasonally, I'll slip out a favorite postcard and place it on an easel on the "new" entry way table I brought home from my parents' house. At some point, I may also frame one or two favorites.

The backs of the postcards are fun to read. Once I finish this project I will enjoy seeing what I can decipher from them.

There are just a few things left to do to finish up the album. It came with three chipboard dividers which I may use to break things up a bit. In addition, I plan to write a short cover note and include a photo of my grandma, her brother, and any other family members referenced in the postcards. I'll share photos when I finish the album!

This is the type of project I call "low-hanging fruit" -- something easy to finish which makes you feel like you're making progress. When you have miles and miles to go, these sorts of projects are motivating!
Janet

Make This! Chicken & Barley Chili

I tried a new recipe on Trick or Treat night, and I must say it was the BEST recipe I've attempted in a long time! I filed it under "Crock Pot Recipes" because I just dumped everything in the crock pot for a few hours, but you can also make it in less than 30 minutes. We were so busy gobbling it up that I forgot to take pictures, so please enjoy this picture courtesy of Gooseberry Patch, from whence this dandy recipe came.

*** NOTES ***

Fear not the barley. Spouse was a little concerned about this ingredient, but it essentially thickens the soup without adding any noticeable flavor. After quite a bit of searching, I finally found it in the soup section at the grocery store.

Fear not the kidney beans. Spouse has some sort of aversion to beans in general, but he thought the kidney beans were just fine. He has requested that we try it with black beans next time, which I think would also be good.

Rotisserie chicken. Do it.

Skip the cheese and go straight for the sour cream. Trust me on this.

-------------------------------

Chicken and Barley Chili

Source: Gooseberry Patch  

14-1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes
16-oz. jar salsa
14-1/2 oz. can chicken broth
1 c. pearled barley, uncooked
3 c. water
1 T. chili powder
1 t. ground cumin
15-oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
15-1/4 oz. can corn, drained
3 c. cooked chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
Optional: shredded Cheddar cheese, sour cream

In a stockpot, combine undrained tomatoes, salsa, broth, barley, water and seasonings. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce heat to low; simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans, corn and chicken. Increase heat to high; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for another 5 minutes, or until barley is tender. Ladle into bowls. Top with cheese and sour cream, if desired. 

Serves 8 to 10.

Photo Organization Project: Part 1

Of all the items I brought home from my parents' house, the photos are the most precious to me. Of course, I treasure the other keepsakes, too, but the photos truly represent our family's story...and my own memories. This winter I am going to organize those boxes of pictures. This is the first post in what promises to be a long and challenging process!

Bless her heart, my mom had many talents but photo organization wasn't one of them! Over the years, I had tried to organize her photos but none of my attempts "stuck". There were photos EVERYWHERE in the house, and in no semblance of order. After she passed away, my dad stashed them in even more places. So I collected photos all summer long, packing them in boxes and stacking them in the corner of my dining room until I could get a good look at them.

 I would guess that mom had at least 50 framed photos in the house, and of course each framed photo had several more tucked behind it. I kept all of the photos but very few of the frames.This eliminated some of the bulk I would have otherwise had. Still, the photos filled box after box.

 

  

 I have organized my share of photos over the years, but I will admit that I haven't faced a task quite this daunting. So I decided to follow the advice I give out in my beginners' scrapbooking classes: Start with a very ROUGH sort to begin with, then sort each of those categories in a way that makes sense to you: Chronologically, by person, event, stage in life, etc. Choose your sorting method to fit the way you'd eventually like to scrapbook the photos. I haven't yet decided which of these photos will eventually end up in the scrapbook, but regardless of what I do with them, they need to be organized!

ROUGH SORT
For my very broad sort, I decided to start with a few very basic categories:
Heritage photos -- old photos of my parents and generations past
My own school and professional portraits
My daughter's school and professional portraits
Snapshots of our family taken during my lifetime
Slides
Negatives
Memorabilia

 

 I have started working through the boxes of photos, separating them into the categories listed above. I am especially concerned about the heritage photos. Some had paste on the backs, so I placed a piece of archival cardstock between them so they wouldn't stick to each other. In addition, the people in some of the old photos are identified, but most are not. I'm hoping I can get some help with this from older family members.

 

 I'm very excited to explore this box of negatives which we found in my late grandma's attic in 2004. These negatives date from the early 1900's and are in nearly perfect condition. I was very surprised about that, because the attic got very hot during the summer and very cold in the winter. This box contains some amazing images which I hope to have made into digital images and prints.

Like many people who grew up in the 1970's, my family took lots of slides. We already have a slide projector, so I sold the one my parents had and unloaded all of the carousels with help from my husband. Luckily, I had the organizational gene from an early age and had identified a lot of the slides, so I kept the indices I had created way back then and bundled up the slides in the same order. As soon as I can locate a local service, I'll have them converted to digital images and determine which ones to print. It's going to cost a lot but that's OK, because these images are the most precious keepsakes I have.

 I also found memorabilia with the photos, including my parents' graduation programs, my school report cards, and this box of beautiful postcards which belonged to my grandma. This project will be fun and easy. I'll just slip the postcards into divided sleeves so I can see the fronts and backs, then tuck them in an album for safe keeping.

 

 One of the treasures I re-discovered this summer was a family history written by a great aunt. It had been a very long time since I'd looked at it, and once I sat down to read it, I was completely amazed at the detail.

 

It's written in a very compelling fashion, full of stories, humor, and even some illustrations. It's truly a treasure. I plan to scan the pages and post them online for extended family members to access. 

Reading this history (which covers the years 1776 through 1948) inspires me to delve into genealogy. Some of our family's history has been researched so it should be relatively easy for me to find the information online. This is a topic which has always interested me, and perhaps now is the time to pursue it.

 

So as you can see, this photo organization project has lots of different components. Stay tuned as I tackle it little by little!
jp

Feline Friday: Caught in the Act!

 I was watching the news one night when I heard a familiar (in a not-so-good way) noise coming from the kitchen:
DIG-DIG-DIG

With Lily in the house, one ALWAYS investigates these kinds of noises. Sure enough, she was back in the napkin basket AGAIN. This was the THIRD TIME in a week I had caught her in the act of digging out ALL of the napkins! It was too late to save the napkins, so I thought I'd grab a few pictures to document this naughtiness! 

 

I have no idea what prompts this behavior. She goes after the napkins every so often, prompting me to blog about it several times, notably HERE. Lily should know by now that she is too big to fit comfortably in the napkin basket, but that doesn't stop her from trying!

 Napkins were literally flying everywhere!
  

  
Guess I'll be picking up more napkins at the grocery store this week...again! :)
jp