Thursday, June 25, 2009

A Meme & A....Um.......Whatsit

My dear friend NANCY @ MORE THAN ENOUGH recently tagged me for a meme in which I'm challenged to list 6 UN-important Things That Make Me Happy.

All righty then, let's see if I can accommodate her.



In no particular order, because I'm all about randomness, after all:

1.} The smells of holiday cooking, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas times. It brings back such wonderful memories of holidays past, and of dear loved ones who aren't with us anymore.

2.} A freshly made pot of Folger's Columbian coffee; hot, strong and black. Mmmmmm......

3.} Snowflakes swirling and falling. I LOVE snow!
Bonus: Newly fallen snow, before it's been sullied by tracks or melting.
Another
bonus: A full moon's glow on newly fallen, unsullied snow. Magical!

4.} Rainbows, because they're so colorful and vibrant, and because they're God's reminder of His promise that He'll never destroy the earth by water, ever again.

5.} My beloved and greatly appreciated Air Conditioner. And no, I ain't even joking, and I hesitated to even list this, because the meme is supposed to be UN-important things. I assure you, my AC is high on my list of important things when it's 100*+ and the humidity is pushing 100%!

6.} The first fresh garden veggies after a Winter with little or no good quality fresh produce and fruit. Fresh corn on the cob, green beans, yellow Summer squash, cucumbers and bell peppers, all given to us just this week. Yum!

**********************************************************************************
Now, I won't tag anyone, but if you decide to do this meme, please let me know so I can drop by your blog to read yours.Another dear friend, SARAH @ MY WONDERFUL LIFE, recently was gifted with a bounty of fabric and notions and a variety of other things squirreled away by her grandmother and graciously shared her abundance with some of her blog friends.

I am one of those lucky enough to be blessed with some of the bounty, and along with the gifts given to us, Sarah asked if we'd be kind enough to participate in kind-of-but-not-really-a-meme-thingy about the things she sent us.

How's that for clear as mud?

Anyway, Sarah asked us to look through the items she sent and find some things that:

A.] Make us laugh

B.] We will throw away because she couldn't

C.] We will use and enjoy, and:

D.] We will look at and say, "What the heck?!?!"

Now, let's see what I can find to fall in each category.

A.] Things that made me laugh:For one thing, I'm practically a tee-teetotaler, and I know for a fact I haven't imbibed in any intoxicating beverages, but there's a pink elephant, sure as shootin'!

Also, get a load of those rolls of pink double knit. They're sewn together in strips about an inch and a quarter wide, for whatever reason. Unless Grandma was going to use them to make an old fashioned crocheted rug from them, I haven't the faintest idea what she had in mind.

I do know one thing for sure, a rug made from that double knit would be slicker than snot on a doorknob on tile, linoleum or hardwood floors.

And I can't leave out the used elastic. Although I can't say much because I've been known to recycle scavenged elastic myself. ;-/

Take a closer look at that pattern:I don't know if I should feel complimented or what. It's been many a moon and many a fried pork chop since I saw size 38-40, but I appreciate the humor, intended or not, Sarah. ;o)

I'm not sure exactly what it says about me, but if I could wear that pattern I'd sure make some robes/house dresses with it.

And take a look at the price! One dollar patterns are a thing of the past, for sure. I found a copyright date of 1973 on that pattern!

B.] Things we will throw away because Sarah
couldn't:

Well, I hate to say so, but some of these things fit in more than one category, and the balls of double knit strips are one thing that I think I can live without, and quite happily. Also, the pink elephant kind of gives me the creeps, so it's a goner too. More in this category coming up.

C.] Things we will use and enjoy:Several large pieces of fabric that Sarah sent me will be put to good use. And no, she didn't send me the cat, I already had her, but Candy had to investigate all the goodies when I was trying to take photos for this post, naturally.

That pink, purple, orange and white plaid fabric has a strange texture, so I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I'm going to make house dresses with the other pieces if there's enough of each one for a dress, but that plaid may not be suitable for a dress. It's kind of itchy, but that might go away after washing the sizing out of it.

Also, I forgot to take some pictures of a tiered cake pan set that Sarah sent me. It has 4 round graduated cake pans, as you'd use for a wedding cake, etc. As I told her, I'm not exactly sure why I wanted them, but I do.

However, I'm not going to advertise the fact that I have the cake pans, because I don't want to be inundated with requests to make wedding cakes, shacking up cakes, "my divorce is final" cakes or any other cakes.These buttons will also be used, especially the adorable kitties, bunnies, bouquets and lady bugs. I can envision some of these on little dresses and things for Miss Emmy.

Special bonus in this bag: Note the googly eyes in the top left background. :-/

And those googly eyes? They remind me of those Geico commercials that are out right now, with the googly eyes on the stack of money, with Rockwell singing "I always feel like, somebody's watchin' me....." Now that's stuck in my head on a repeat loop.

Gee, thanks, Sarah. ;-)

Which now brings us to the category:

D.] Things we will look at and say, "What the heck?!?!"

There were actually several things I could say that about in the packages Sarah sent, so let's hit the highlights.

As I said, the pink double knit strips made me laugh, I'll be tossing them, and they also made me wonder, "What the heck was Grandma thinking?!?!" when she sewed those strips together and rolled them into balls. So they fit into three of the categories all by themselves.

Also included in the "What the heck?!?!" category is this:Notice the wooden thread spool? It has small rick rack wound around it, but I was struck by the price and the brand name on it. If you'll click to enlarge you can see that the price on it is 4/$1, and it's from T G & Y.

Any of my readers remember those stores? I have many memories of shopping at T G & Y, but they moved from our area back in the 1970's, and to my knowledge they're not in business anymore. If you know different, I'd be interested to hear about it.

As for the lace and eyelet in the photo, that's something else that falls into the category of Use and Enjoy.

And another entry in the "What the heck?!?!" category:Note the date on this Velveeta box, and also the advertisement for the movie, "Willow". It's dated Oct. 6, 1988. Grandma knew how to pack rat, now didn't she?

Oh, but wait, there's more in this category! Look what's in the box!I'd say this falls under "junk drawer" or "various and sundry", but "What the heck?!?!" fits very well too.

And I have to admit that most of this will also fit in the "Things we will throw away because Sarah couldn't" category as well.

Anybody in the market for some mismatched buttons? Half a green crayon? Perhaps you need some old garters that have been cut off a girdle, but only 3 of them? Maybe you need some buckles and belt rings? I can hook you up, my friends!

Thanks for all the stuff, Sarah! I got a kick out of it, and I got plenty of useful stuff too. :-)And I'll leave you with this pic of Emmy and JESSICA playing in Emmy's pool in my back yard on Tuesday afternoon.Summer is here. :o)
Lord willing I'll be back on Saturday evening for my Sunday Dinner post. Y'all have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend.

14 comments:

Nancy said...

Gee, I'm first to comment! First time I've ever been, too! That was quite a post!!! Enjoyed seeing all the things you received. Quite a hodge-podge of stuff, and some of those things were nice and know you will use them. Those little bunny buttons, etc. were darling for Emmy!!! That lady took some time to sort that stuff out and pack it up and get it off to you. I am a throw-awayer person myself...I just toss it out and say GOOOOOD riddence! LOL

Loved the pic of Emmy in her little pool....looks like she was having a grand time! I can remember days like that with my own when they were that age. Oh, those good ole days are just memories now!!!

Enjoyed it, Diane!!!

((( HUGS )))

Mother Mayhem said...

Now that's a wide assortment of goodies for sure. :o)

MightyMom said...

bwahahahaha,

did you notice on the side of that velveeta box it said "sprayer"?? apparently that box has had at least 3 lives!!

oh yeah, a pack rat of the HIGHEST caliber was she!!

I'm glad you knew what those garter things were cuz I sure didn't!! and she had about 40 bra straps/hook and eye sections cut off and thrown in hither and yon..I tossed those!

that weird plaid fabric reminded me of dishtowels for some reason.

awe, poor pink elephant.... sniff sniff...you sure Emmy doesn't need a stuffed pink elephant?? ;-)

and apparently she did a LOT of shopping at TG&Y. I even found stuff still in the TG&Y bags!!

by the way, that's the ONLY wooden spool I gave away so feel speeeeeshiaaaal!

glad you're enjoying your stuff and even more glad it's no longer my stuff!

have fun!!

nancy said...

Thanks for doing the meme. Your answers were fun to read. The moon on the fresh snow could have easily gone on my list.
I have to do my responses to Sarah's package now. What a lot of goodies and strange things!

Jenn said...

My Gramma and my Great-Gramma were huge Velveeta box fans for storing things just like this. In fact, My G-Gramma had several wooden cheese boxes in her stuff when she passed away.

I would have kept that box of odds and ends... lol. They would make great pieces for scanning and creating digital scrapping kits, and then I would have used them on regular scrapbook pages as well.

Reva said...

Wow, what a post and what wonderful fun things you found. The favortie unimportant things you listed were great. Colorado isn't usually all that hot especially since it's dry, but it feels like it at 84 degrees so far.

Carole Burant said...

I can always rely on you to make me giggle:-) hehe When my mother in law passed away at 92 years old, I hadn't ralized what a pack rat she was until we had to go through her things. Even gum wrappers were saved! I can well imagine the fun you had going through all those goodies Sarah sent you but I can see why you would be thrilled with some of the stuff and plan to throw away the rest! LOL

I had seen other pictures of Emmy enjoying her pool and she truly seems to be loving it:-) It's not as hot as it has been here today so it's a welcome change...this gal cannot take anything over 80F! lol Take care my friend. Love ya! xoxo

Linda said...

What a fun bunch of "stuff" to sort through.
How are things with Lamar's eye? Praying that his eye will be healed and that they will find the cause soon.
It was fun catching up with you Diane.

RennyBA said...

Great meme - always great to know a blog friend even better (if possible, since I've followed you for about four years :-)

You know I love snow and new, fresh vegies too.

Love and hugs - all the way from Norway :-)

Dawn said...

That bunch of stuff was amazing - I had to laugh out loud when I saw the garter - haven't seen one of those in a coon's age!

The buttons are adorable - my favorite thing about sewing in the old days was choosing the buttons.

TG&Y - used to shop there when I was in college in Oklahoma, but haven't seen one in a long, long time either.

Fun stuff!

Mountain Mama said...

What a fun post Diane. It must have taken some time to get it up.
Love the picture of Emmy in the pool and a bucket of water ready to splash her.
Sarah sent you some fun items. Those garters made me smile. I have some in a box of stuff upstairs that belonged to my mother.
Mom saved a lot of things I think because of her memories of the depression and war time and how hard it was to get certain things if it was possible at all.
Thanks for mentioning coffee. I had made a cup and forot about it. I just got it and it's still hot enough. YUM!
Have a great week end Diane.

Gigi said...

Diane - you get the prize (well, you would if I had one to give!) for the most fun post I've read in a while!! Thanks for the smiles! Have a blessed Sunday!

Susan said...

Came over from Mighty Mom's to see your box. I smiled my way through your post and description of the various items.
Susan

Betty said...

Your post made me think I had better clean out lots and lots of stuff so my kids won't have to.When some one in the family died it seem like I ended up with all the things no one else wanted and I kept them because they belonged to someone I cared about,but there comes a time when things have to go. I love your blog,and Emmy is so cute.