I Have a Job!!

Hello World if You’re Out There!

It’s been over a month since I last posted. The main reason that I started my blog was because I was unemployed and looking for something to do during some much needed free time. Well, I didn’t have much time because last month I once again became part of the workforce!!!!!

It’s not a full-time teaching job, but it is with children and it’s full-time and in education, so I am very excited. It is not an easy job, and it’s long hours so quite frankly I have been too tired to even get on the computer.

As of right now I am trying to prioritize my life and decide on what I consider important enough to continue and other time-wasting activities I can give up for the moment. I have definitely decided to keep the blog going.

I don’t think that anybody really looks at this, but it’s important for me to do something that I enjoy and releases some of my stress.

So yes, I’m still here. A little tired, but I’m here!!

Pyrex: Small Addition!

This was not one of my greatest weeks. I had a horrible toothache starting last Friday and going through Monday before I could go to the dentist. So I was in bed for most of the week. This was the only time when I was really glad that I didn't have a job…

I was well enough Friday to get up and do a little thrift shopping, and boy did I find some deals! This was one of those times when I was able to find Pyrex to complete some of my collections at a great price.

For example, I found a small Cinderella casserole bowl to go with my Square Flower Verde collection plus a lid to fit the larger bowl! This was a welcome addition! I pick up Pyrex lids whenever I find them because I hardly ever find a bowl and lid set together. Even if I don’t have the dish, I might some day!

I will be taking pictures and documenting my other great finds soon! 

Reading List: Northanger Abbey

After reading a books as long as A Portrait of A Lady, my mother and I decided to read a couple of little fun classic novels; and what better novels than Jane Austin’s! I am an avid fan of Pride and Prejudice, and no one wants to marry Mr. Darcy as much as myself; but I have to admit that I had yet to read three of Miss Austin’s novels: Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abby. So we decided to begin with Northanger Abby.

I actually started reading Northanger Abby while waiting at the movies late Thursday night during the Midnight showing of The Hunger Games, and the enjoyment that the story brought me made the wait go by very fast!

It’s a very short book, with the characteristic that makes it completely Jane Austin:

1.    It involves young girls.

2.    There are always two men pulling at the heroine’s heartstrings.

3.    A heartbreaking event almost prevents the heroine from being with her love.

4.    All plots are tied up neatly.

5.    The heroine is happily engaged or married.

Northanger Abby has everything you could wish for. I haven’t spoiled any ending for someone who has yet to read this, because you don’t know who the luck man is that is going to sweep Miss Catherine Moreland off of her feet!! A very nice read indeed!! 

Pyrex: Square Flower Verde Casserole Bowls

The other day I came across some Pyrex Square Flower Verde Cinderella casserole bowls. Several months ago I would have just walked by these, but I have started to dig the retro green and orange colors. They remind me of the grooviness of the 70’s. So I went ahead and bought them for a pretty cheap price. Now I just need to find the lids and the larger bowl to complete the set.

They go pretty good on one of my mother’s placemats from her 1975 wedding! What once was considered dated is now considered cool!  

Reading List: The Portrait of a Lady

This week my mother and I finished The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. 

This is the second book in the past couple of months that I have read by Henry James. The last one was The Bostonians. I have to admit that I really was leery of reading another one of this author’s books because I found The Bostonians to be somewhat boring with a ton of narration. Mr. James seems to have a hard time letting his characters do the explaining.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the book! It is based in Europe, which I love, and has a somewhat Jane Austin feel; although Henry James seems to be somewhat anti Jane Austin by the way he depicts his heroines at the same time. I find Henry James to be somewhat of a sexist, but I guess that was pretty common in 1881!

The only thing that bothers me is the main character in the story, Isabel. How can one woman have so many men dying to marry her?! I mean, seriously, I wonder what it’s like to meet a man and have him fall all over you the first time you meet? A little unrealistic…

Other than that and it being over 600 pages, it’s a really great read! It was so good that 613 pages didn’t really feel that overwhelming. Good job Mr. James!!

Buttermilk Pie & Pink Pyrex!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

It has been unusually warm and beautiful here in Pennsylvania for this time of year!! I have tried to take advantage of the weather the last few days because you never know when it is going to turn sour!

We did spend some time in the kitchen this morning. Mother had some leftover buttermilk, so she decided to make a buttermilk pie.

This is a really great recipe for buttermilk pie. It’s from Paula Deen, and you can find it at foodnetwork.com. We love it because you don’t need to have a crust, so you almost always have the ingredients if you have the buttermilk.

Of course, a buttermilk pie has to be enjoyed in a Pyrex Pink Flamingo pie dish! We had a little bit of mix left over so Mother made a tiny pie in a piece of vintage Fire King that I bought at Goodwill for only 47 cents! It turned out great!! And the leprechaun left his rainbow to grab the first bite…

But of course, he had to have his piece on a Pyrex Pink Flamingo dessert dish! So I guess you can say that we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with pink!   

Vintage Poodle Transistor Radio!

I love vintage poodles!!!! I think it’s because poodles are so 50s and 60s which is my favorite era. I also love anything French, and what’s more French than the Poodle?

This weekend I came across this vintage poodle, but it’s much more than that. It’s also a transistor radio!! From what I can tell it was made sometime in the 60s by the IDeal toy company. I love the pink color!

I usually stay away from stuffed toys because of the dust, but it’s in perfect condition and even has the radio label!

This is definitely one of my favorite poodles! 

Cameo Ballerina Depression Glass

I definitely inherited my love of vintage items from my mother and grandmother. My grandmother ran a booth in a consignment shop in Texas for a little while. When she decided to stop she gave my mother some of the items that were left over. One of the items was a green creamer and sugar depression glass set. We were taking some items out of boxes and came across them the other day.

 I decided to do some research on the set and found some surprises. First, the design is called Cameo Ballerina and it was manufactured from 1930 to 1934 by the Hocking Company before they merged to be now known as Anchor Hocking. In the middle of the design is an engraving of a ballerina doing a pirouette! It's really hard to make out the ballerina at first. I initially thought that the design was a letter P (dummy)!

The glass comes in green, yellow, and pink with pink being very rare and expensive. The goblets and plates are hard to find and are the higher dollar items.

This weekend I was looking around and found a Cameo Ballerina platter for $10 which is a really good deal, so I had to buy it! I now am eyeing green Depression glass wherever I go so I can add to the collection! Of course the creamer and sugar set will always be my favorite. Nothing is more valuable than sentimental value!!   

Pyrex: Classic Yellow Bowls

I went shopping with my mom yesterday, and of course we bought some Pyrex!

My favorite Pyrex set is Primary Colors. I think that it is the ultimate classic Pyrex set. If you only have one set, Primary Colors should be it!!

I also believe that if you only have one piece of Pyrex it should be the large yellow bowl. 

Yesterday I found just a yellow bowl for $9.00. It was in excellent shape and a really good buy considering I just saw the exact bowl at another booth for $25.00. So now we have two classic yellow bowls.

I thought that this would be the perfect piece to officially start my Pyrex collection on this blog!!  

Knitting: Classic Washcloths With Leftover Yarn

I had some left over green yarn that I used for a prayer shawl that I made in the past. I personally do not like green, and don’t plan knitting another green item, so I thought that I would make some dishcloths with the rest of the skein.

What’s great about this particular pattern is that you can determine the size that you want the cloths while you are knitting.

The pattern that I used is as follows:

•  Cast on 4 stitches
• 1^st row: knit two stitches, yarn over, knit the entire rest of the row (which will be only two stitches)
•  Repeat the 1^st row until you want your cloth as large as you want. I determined 40 for my larger cloths and 20 for the smaller ones. (I did not like the smaller ones…)
• In order to decrease back down: knit 1 stitch, knit two stitches together, yarn over, knit two stitches together, knit the entire rest of the row. This will decrease your row by one stitch each time.
• Decrease your rows until you have 4 stitches left.
• Bind off

One whole skein of yarn will make around five large washcloths. 

The best thing about knitting washcloths is that they don’t have to be perfect. I made a couple of mistakes, but know body is going to notice when the cloths are at the bottom of the soapy dish pan!!

Tribute to Tootsie

I received a new charger for my camera yesterday!! The first thing that I did after charging the camera was take a look at some of the pictures that I had stored on it. I guess I could have looked at them on the computer anyway, but I didn’t really think about them until I saw the chip today.

I came across some of the pictures of my cat Tootsie. She passed away three weeks ago tomorrow. She was almost 15, and I received her as a gift from my late grandmother who gave her to me on Easter Sunday; so she was really special for several reasons. One of these reasons being that Tootsie was born blind, but this never stopped her from being the queen of the house!!

Tootsie was also born with extra toes (the reason for her name), so she looked like she was wearing mittens. She was definitely a spitfire! She was one mean cat machine! You didn’t want to mess with her sleeping schedule!

So it was really nice to see pictures of all the pets, but it was especially nice to see Tootsie when she was at her best, not what was she had been like the last few weeks of her life. I’m going to miss my first cat, but I still have Weezie. She’s special in her own little way, but that’s a story for later!!

Goodwill = Good Buy!!

I was feeling a little bummed out this weekend, so I decided to do a little retail therapy at one of my favorite stores: Goodwill. I love Goodwill because not only do I find some awesome stuff, but my money goes back to the community. This weekend was a definite success. I found tons of great buys including two vintage Pyrex pie dishes, three Fire King coffee mugs and a pie dish, three Glassbake baking dishes, and a Westmoreland luncheon plate, plus some other vintage kitchen items all for a very low price. Oh how I love Goodwill!!

I also went to what I shall call my favorite little secret store, and bought six items for only $4.60!!! One was a Westmoreland relish tray that is selling for 10 bucks on eBay! So my little shopping adventure paid off this weekend.

I will be taking pictures of all of my finds and collections as soon as Thomas our postman brings me the new camera charger that I bought on Amazon. My other charger unfortunately ran away during our recent move, so I am left without photos until the new one arrives. I will start posting photos and making this a little more exciting as soon as my camera is up and running...

Reading List: The Scarlet Letter

During the holiday season my mother and I decided that we would form our own kind of book club duo. We decided that we would read a classic piece of literature together and discuss it every day.

First off let me describe to you how awesome it's been to read classics after years of reading textbooks with a little bit of children's fiction here and there! I loved reading classics when I was a teenager, so it was definitely an easy decision to begin this project.

So far we have read five books: The Bostonians by Henry James, Howards End by E.M. Forrester, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and finally The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.


Let me just say that I promise never to reveal any important parts to any story that I read. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone! Everyone has their own reading style, and should read books not based on my opinion, but on your own.

So I just finished The Scarlett Letter and I found it to be pretty good, although not my favorite book. I have never been a big fan of Nathanial Hawthorne. I find his writing style to be somewhat boring. I did think that this story was much better than his other major work The House of the Seven Gables. The story is good, although I don't think that you get the know the main characters very well. The overall theme was way ahead of its time, and I'm sure it had some controversy at one point during the time of publication. Either way, I think that it's a great read, especially if you are in to historical fiction during the time of the Puritans.

Hello!! A Little Bit About Me

Hello to all you possible future readers!!

I thought that I would tell a little bit about myself. My name is Megan, I'm 27, and I live in a little town in central Pennsylvania. For the last several years my live has been in a continual cyclone of full-time work and college. My dream is to be a elementary school teacher. I worked as an aide for five years before quitting to student teach.

I received my degree this December, but unfortunately I graduates and walked right into one of the biggest hiring freezes to come across Pennsylvania education. Basically school budgets are anywhere from nada to zip when it comes to hiring new staff. Districts are also cutting funds and laying off experienced teachers, which means that certain people are low on the pole when it comes to receiving a job, and that person would be me.

One comfort in all this madness is that I am not alone in my struggle. Many people are leaving school to find that the road to the American Dream is going to be lot longer than expected. Thankfully I am single without children, so I only have to worry about myself.

Currently I am unemployed and waiting for my teacher's certification to come through. While having some free time I decided to refresh some of my favorite hobbies that I have let go because of constant working, studying, and paper writing. So I decided that I would create a blog on my journeys in the world or knitting, reading, movie watching, and a tiny bit of flea marketing when it's good and cheap! I hope people will be inspired to enjoy their life while on the journey.