I HIT THE JACKPOT!!!

As promised, I'm sharing with you what I found as I was unpacking boxes yesterday.

SILVER!! Lots and lots of silver. Only it wasn't mine. It belonged to my sister, Patty.

She has had it for years and never used it. She was ready to get rid of it but when I told her I loved it she gave it all to me! How lucky can I get?

Thank you so much Patty for being such a wonderful giver and great sister!


It didn't look all shinny like it does now though. It was pretty tarnished. So I used a little elbow grease and now it all looks brand new.

There is a water pitcher, two dishes with covers to keep the food warm, a butter dish.

It's hard to get good photos as everything reflects off the silver.

This cute wine holder. Also, a creamer and sugar holder. I wish I had a tea pot to go with those. Maybe someday I'll find one at a thrift store.

This cute scalloped dish has a crest on it. I'm not sure what the crest is of. I thought it could be the Kennedy crest but I don't think so. I'll have to do some research.

This darling serving tray with a handle, another bowl with a pretty rose pattern going around the edge and another scalloped dish, perfect for candy.

This is a better view of the butter dish (it matches my silverware from my Aunt) and one of the covered dishes. Which can be turned into two uncovered dishes.

You can see the bread basket and a meat tray as well as a better shot of one of the scalloped dishes.

I know a lot of people don't like silver because they don't like to clean it. I found the cleaning to be very enjoyable.

When I was a child I would go to my favorite Aunt's house and she would take out her silver and we would sit there and polish it all up. We talked about everything while doing it. I loved that time spent with her.

So when I was polishing up this silver those memories came flooding back to me.

I also love to see how the tarnish comes off and under all that is a bright shinny beautiful piece of silver.

I can't wait to use these pieces. I've already decided to use several of the pieces at Trinity's Birthday party that we are having this weekend.

I wonder what I'll find the box I unpack today?

For those of you who are interested, I had my first weigh in of the year. I lost 3 lbs this week! That means I made my goal of 10 lbs lost between Thanksgiving week and the first week of the year. I hope you did too.

I've now lost 41.4 lbs. I'm thrilled to hit that 40 lb mark.

One last thing before I go, you must go to http://never-e-nuff.blogspot.com/ and see the wonderful apron she has on her blog that she is giving away. So cute. Be sure to tell her you found her from my blog.

ANOTHER DAY OF THRIFT STORE SHOPPING

I was at the Goodwill when I saw this beautiful silver tray. I loved it the minute I first laid my eyes on it. I had been searching for one just like this. Then there it was.

I picked it up and boy was it heavy. I found out later it was 8 lbs! I turned it over and saw some Hallmarks on it. Then of course I did the magnet trick and it did not stick to it.

I had no idea if it was real silver or not but I knew that real or not I wanted it. So in my cart it went.


Look at how pretty and detailed it is. Of course this picture doesn't do it justice as everything was reflecting off of it.

I did some research and found out it is not sterling, only silver plated over copper. Then I did a bit more research and found it listed for sale for $220. So, even though it wasn't real silver it still was worth way more then then $25.00 I paid for it.

I've also developed a love for milk glass. Don't ask me why? I think it's because I've seen so many ladies in blogland who have collected Milk Glass and have it all displayed together. The whites look so nice in a big group.

Plus Milk Glass goes with everything!

I picked up the vase, the urn and the plate. There were more pieces for sale but I didn't care for them. I left them behind for someone else to treasure.

I think this urn is darling. I may put a little bird nest with some eggs on top for spring. Or I may put some pretty flowers in there once my garden starts to produce more for cutting.

I wanted this little plate because I have cloche jar and thought it would be perfect for under it. I have not tried it out yet to see if it fits but even if it doesn't I can use this for serving cookies or even to hold a candle.

I got this little pitcher after reading a posting on Eddie Ross blog. Have you ever read his blog? If not, you must go there. He used to work with Martha Stewart but now he is on his own. Wonderful tips and ideas can be found on his blog.

Anyway, he had a post about collecting little pitchers to use for when you entertain and serve salads. You can put the dressing in these little vintage pitchers.

So, I picked this one up. I also thought it would be great for syrup for when we have company over breakfast or brunch.

I was thrilled to find these pink depression glass glasses. Now to be honest I am not 100% sure if these are real or not. I do collect depression glass and am pretty good at being able to tell the real from the fake.

I'm leaning on thinking these are reproductions because they seem a little to thick to be real depression glass.

In either case, I couldn't pass these up. First of all they were pink! Plus they were only fifty cents. Well, they were marked .99 but they had 1/2 off green tags and these happen to have the green tags.

Real or fake, who cares. I like them and can't wait to serve some pink lemon aide in them this summer while we sit outside by the pool.

This was the last little item I got. It's such a pretty little dish. Though I have no idea what to do with it.

I just loved the blue with the pink hand painted roses on it. I'll put it in my room for now.

Don't you just love days when you find all kinds of treasures when you hit up the thrift stores. I do.

Well, I think I got my thrift store shopping fix taken care of. At least for the next few days or so.

Oh who am I kidding...I'll be stopping by the very next one I drive by. With new items being put out every day you never know what you will find.

LATEST THRIFT STORE FINDS

I went to Goodwill the other day and came home with a few treasures. I thought I would share them with you.

I found this darling cherub. She was up at the cashier area. I thought someone had put her there to hold her but I was excited when I found out she had not been spoken for.

She is made out of painted wood. She will be perfect for the bird cage garden I'm going to make.

I also found this cute little Valentine's Day tea pot. I thought it would be fun to use if I ever do a Valentine's Day tea party.

I may have a small one with just Trinity and one of her friends. I thought it would be darling to serve little sandwiches cut out in the shape of hearts. Some yummy fresh strawberries, that are now out in the stands on the corners. Then have little cupcakes with pink icing and hearts on them.

I was thrilled when I found this silver tray. It was tarnished but not super bad. I liked the way it looked and was going to keep it that way until I noticed the mark on the bottom.

I ended up looking it up on the Internet and almost screamed when I found out this was a sterling silver tray and not just plated. Wow! Talk about a bargain! I only paid $2.99 for it and it's worth WAY more then that.

Since it was real silver, I quickly polished it up and now it's shinny and looks new again.

The last thing I found was this old china cake plate. I love the flowers on it. It doesn't say but I think they are hand painted.

All in all it was a wonderful day for the thrift store.