Never Mind "You're Fired"

Hello friends.

Well, yesterday it was time to throw another log on the fire that is my life. This time it was a very big log.

Just in case I forgot what number my ticker clock had clicked over to, my niece made me this nifty birthday card. It must have taken her hours to find things in the flyers that were 40% off, just so she could collect enough numbers. What state would you compare the shape to? My U.S. geography is not stellar, but I'm thinking Arkansas.

Before I move on, here's my belated present to myself: a Kate Bush interlude.

Well, it was raining Pyrex on my birthday. Part of me thinks I'm not worthy, but the other side hears Heather Locklear's Nice and Easy commercial from back in the day. "You're worth it." At the last minute, I suggested to my sister that she find Mauzy's Pyrex: The Unauthorized Collector's Guide for me. I love the "unauthorized" part. It makes it seem kind of scandalous. Lise was able to order this from Amazon and it arrived in less than a week. More on the book below.

My folks had stashed away a bundle of Pyrex for me, along with some other nice gifts. Somehow the stash was misplaced during the hustle and bustle of Christmas. I'm happy enough to wait. I hope the Pyrex pieces materialize in the middle of the summer when I'm going through a dry Pyrex spell. What amazing kin folk I have. I like saying kin folk.

This book is a lot of fun. Even if you're not a collector of Pyrex, it's hard to flip through the pictures and not be a little charmed by the pieces. Even the most boring person who only buys new boring stuff would have to understand why people like collecting vintage Pyrex after looking at the book.
I just want all the coloured glassware. There are some pieces that I really want. Look below!
If I ever find this beauty, I'll be a happy forty-something. If I ever track it down, I'll more likely be ninety-something. Sigh.
Here's the Early American pattern that I love so much. What I would give to have a piece of Pyrex with a cat on it.
Anyway, here's what our neighbourhood looked like last Saturday morning. This is the classic Canadian weather of my childhood. Here's #1 son messing around with his shovel. Apparently Toronto's going to get walloped by more snow overnight. Torontonians are notoriously wimpy when it comes to a little snow. I can just hear my friend Barb, who hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba. "Try spending January in 'the 'Peg'."
And here's hubby and my lovely next-door-neighbour, Rosa digging out. Yes, I was still in my pjs looking out the window contemplating a nice, hot bath, subconsciously savouring the dog days of my thirties.

Chin chin!

Erin

Snowy Saturday

This snowy day in Toronto is sponsored by insanely happy pop music from eighties Scottish band Altered Images. Does it get any better?

Two moments I've been waiting for will be realized today...

I'll be taking my son tobogganing on this very old wooden toboggan that I bought at a garage sale almost three years ago. It cost $5.00. The woman who sold it to me told me about all the happy memories she had about their family piling on to this beauty. She even made the customized pillow for added comfort. I can't wait to start our own family memories. Too bad my husband's working today. We'll rope him into it another time.
Ahhh. Here's little Duncan when he was two. He's such a big boy now. Note the chocolate on his face. He'll have more fun tobogganing in the snow than on the grass in our backyard.

Here's the other thing I've been wanting to do: use Pyrex fridgies. This is one of the ones Mary Lou gave me. It's now storing apricots.

Cheers,

Erin

Gerry Rafferty - RIP

I just read in the paper that Gerry Rafferty died from symptoms related to alcoholism. That's a shame. He's famous for two songs - "Baker Street" and "Stuck in the Middle With You," the latter song made famous in the ear scene from Reservoir Dogs.

I'll stick to "Baker Street." This song is hated by many for the non-stop sax solo. Of course, I like it for nostalgic reasons. It's another song that I remember hearing on the MUZAK at K-Mart and places like that when I was a kid. My husband's from London and when we were there together, he took me down the real Baker Street - made famous by Sherlock Holmes. Ken used to work at British Telecom which wasn't too far from there. So many memories conjured up in one song.

Spring Blossoms - Already

Pyrex lovers - stop me if you've heard this one before. This morning, my school's Office Administrator, Mary Lou surprised me with a bag of her mother's kitchen pieces that she was clearing out. It was the happiest start to any school day I've ever had. Thanks Mary Lou!

Included was this Corningware coffee pot. It's so seventies that it subconsciously brings back happy seventies memories of growing up.
Also included: a set of Pyrex Spring Blossom refrigerator dishes. I'm so happy that I finally own these. They are very hard to come by and I know they'll actually get used in the fridge.

Ta-dah!

The Party's Over

This post is brought to you by Roxy Music's "Avalon." The first line is, "Now the party's over. I'm so tired." That's exactly how I feel right now and I haven't even been partying. It's a romantic song and the video makes me think of eccentric rich people in England, so it sort of goes with the book Blow By Blow, which I'm currently reading.

Anyway, if you feel like it, you can play the song and have a look at some of my favourite Christmas decorations that I packed away today. I go back to work tomorrow and I realized that if I didn't do it today, it wouldn't be until March that I got my act in gear.

I love stained glass. My dream would be to live in a house with cathedral ceilings and gothic stained glass windows. I bought the pear and two birds at Tracy Hardware on the Danforth near Main Street. Kelly Grunge Queen knows about this store. It's a very old hardware store, run by an elderly woman. Her daughter buys antiques and other curiosities and puts them in the front windows for sale. I found these pieces about three years ago. Duncan was still in a stroller and I used to go on these far flung walks just to get out of the house. I don't think I paid more than $8.00 for the three pieces. I had a nice chat with the proprietor. She had to get this grabby hook thing to reach the pieces down. I eventually had to climb up onto the raised display case to get down the last bird.


This decoration is my favourite. I bought it on the main street in St. Catharines at a gift store. It was on sale. When we got back to my parent's house, we just learned that my uncle had died. Now the ornament makes me think of my uncle. I agree that delight reigns in a garden.
This felt cat came from this big outlet store in Myrtle Beach called Waccamaw Pottery. When we used to go to Myrtle Beach on family vacations, Waccamaw was a huge place filled with all kinds of clay pots, etc. When we were last there a few years ago, it looked like it was closing down. They had a Christmas section and that's where I found this cat for a dollar or two.
On that last trip to Myrtle Beach, I also found a Christmas store. We were at one of those surreal shopping centres that has a dungeon and dragons-style mini golf area. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean there too, I believe. Anyway, I found Halloween Christmas decorations, which was very Tim Burton. I bought a few pieces. I love this witch's boot. It reminds me of the Wizard of Oz.
This is one of my newest favourite pieces. A very sweet boy named Zach in my class gave it to me along with this huge, scented candle. His mother is lovely and she told me the decoration is for Duncan. I love that it's a Canadian nutcracker.
Above and below: foam decorations that Duncan made at his daycare. I'll always remember my five-year-old boy and his amazing babysitter when I pull these out each year.

Another Waccamaw treasure. My sister and I both bought a goldfish. What can I say? It's nice having a fish hanging on the tree.
The tin bird came from a house and home store on the Danforth called Moss. If you live in Toronto, you probably know about it. Duncan has some non-Christmasy tin birds from Moss hanging in his room.
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that Mexican folk art is one of my passions. Not surprisingly, I've amassed a few tin Christmas decorations. I even have a tin nativity set, which I forgot to photograph. I'll try to do it later because it's very special.


Here's a very old felt elf that's been around forever. I'll have to see if my mother remembers where it came from originally. It's so old that a soft sneeze could knock the pompom right off the hat. I love it.
When we were kids, we used to pose the legs in funny directions and make the elf look like he was lounging around.

I'm not sure what happened to his feet.

I bought the white elf recently and now Big Green has someone to have snuggles with. Don't you love a happy ending?

Have you started packing up Christmas yet?

A New Year - New YSS Features

Never lose your sense of fun!

Welcome to Yard Sale Snoop 2011! I'm looking forward to another thriftastic new year filled with old treasures and good blogging friends. I'm also adding two new features. One is "Books I'm Reading," which you'll find as a sidebar on the right. I hope that by sharing what I'm reading, I'll be forced to actually complete books and read more. I'll eventually add a section "Completed Books" where I'll say a few words about the book and maybe even rate it.

The second feature I'm going to add is called "Little Mysteries." Lately, I've been feeling like I'm surrounded by a culture that's overcooked. I'm completely bored with tabloids, useless celebrities, and fluffy banter about things that are boring. I realize that by blogging about little mysteries, I am in essence taking the mystique away somewhat, but this isn't the Huffington Post with a zillion readers. I'm just part of a small, but passionate community of people who like a lot of the same stuff. So what's wrong with that?

I've already filled a page in one of my many notebooks with little mysteries that take me down pathways that a million others haven't. A big thanks to Kate from Love You Big for sparking many of my new artistic interests. Kate also has a reading list on her blog, which is fascinating. Do check out Love You Big.

All the best!

Erin