Stuff.

We haven't had a Saturday with nothing to do and nowhere to go in at least a month, so we're enjoying this one. Todd's puttering in the garage and I'm puttering in my study. We had a late night out last night with a bunch of Todd's former and current co-workers, to say good-bye to one of them who's moving away. So it actually feels pretty good to take it easy today!

I thought I'd show off a few of the things I came home with last weekend, from Ohio.

I have a little collection of china planters. I found the white bowl and the green rectangular planter on the bottom in my grandparents' cellar, absolutely filthy. They cleaned up nice. The top rectangular planter, and the two round green planters, came from the big flea market in Rogers, Ohio, which I know I've mentioned before. Todd planned our trip so that we'd be home two Fridays and thus be able to go twice. It's all about priorities, you know.

I think I mentioned that my grandparents moved into assisted living this spring. Their property has been sold, and now the family is working on emptying out the house. I brought a few little odds and ends home with me. The little yellow pitcher below is from their house.

The sugar bowl and creamer are from the Rogers sale. People were in bargaining moods, and kept making me offers I couldn't refuse! They were made by Shenango China in Pennsylvania, which is near where I grew up.

These are Rogers sale treasures, too:

The teapot is in absolutely perfect condition, and I'd bet it's at least 50 years old. The bowl is Hull, but the teapot and vase are unmarked.

I found this box of wooden spools at a garage sale, and the apron underneath is from Grandma's house.

I like old Coats and Clark spools because of my last name...it's just fun to see your name on things like that. I'll probably pile these into an old Mason jar.

One of these readers in the middle is from a huge pile of old books at Grandma's house, and all the other books came from the Rogers sale. Haven't you always wanted to know 51 ways to save eggs and 101 ways to cook macaroni? I got all of these for almost nothing. Have I mentioned I love the Rogers sale?


I'd never heard of the Rawleigh company, but my mother and mother-in-law were both familiar with them. And it looks like they're still in business, but I doubt they put out booklets this cute anymore.

The one book has a hole punched in the upper left corner so you can put a string through it and hang it from a nail for handy use.

This was the absolute best thing I found at the Rogers sale:

Here's a close-up of the little birdies:


This little picture (it's in its original frame) is quite old and needed some cleaning up. I just love it. I was going to hang it in the little pass-through from the kitchen to the downstairs bath, but now I think I need to find a place where I can sit and look at it all the time, not just in passing!


I don't need more stuff, but old stuff just makes me happy.

I also came home with a big box of old greeting cards that my grandma saved for years and years. I'm scanning them a few at a time and sharing them on a new blog I started. Please do check it out! Greetings, Love and Thoughts of You.

I think I'll stir up some sweet-and-sour chicken for dinner and then we'll probably settle down and watch another DVD of "The Tudors." It's well-acted, but everybody looks way cleaner and buffer than I imagine they actually were 500 years ago. Their teeth are too white and their skin is too un-smallpocked!