Score!

Look what I found! Well, John found them... We stopped by my favorite antique shop in the 'Burg, Highway 13 Antiques, where I found my $25 china cabinet, on the way home today. I love looking at all their goodies: glassware, china, linens, and more. Well, John walked up and handed me a long, thin, leather wallet and to my suprise and delight, it contained 24 pairs of knitting needles ranging in size 3 to 15! The price was $20, but this package (Susan Bates Knitting Needles) retails for $59. That was less than $2.00 a pair!

Now I have just the right size to use on the gorgeous Burly Spun wool that I found earlier this summer! I can't wait!

Thrift Store Finds

Much of my house is decorated in family hand-me-downs or thrift store finds. And I like it that way. Each of the items that I choose for my home has a story and purpose. I just might not know what that story was or what the purpose is. Eventually it is all revealed.
The awesome lotion and soap dispensers were found in Harrison, AR at the Junk-Shun. It's a big red barn filled with amazing treasures. My friend, Shannon, recommended it. The first thing I noticed was how well lit the store was. The second was how clean everything was. These groovy retro bottles (and they're glass) were $4 for the set.

The plastic cracker tray came from the Leslie Antique Mall in Leslie, AR. It was a $1.50 and so dirty I wasn't certain I wanted to pick it up to bring it home. It cleaned up nicely and will make a great addition to my collection of Crazy Daisy (a.k.a. Spring Blossom Green) Corelle that I am collecting.


Shannon came up to visit the first part of June and one of the things we always try to make time to do is to visit the antique stores and flea markets in the area. One of our favorites is Those Were the Days- a three story flea market! There I found something I couldn't part with! And at a $1.00 who could blame me! Clothing for my toaster! Don't you just love it?

25 Bucks!

Shortly after Mother's Day we headed up the road a few miles to one of my favorite stores in the area, Highway 13 Antiques. I have found all sorts of goodies at Highway 13 Antiques: Candlewick glasses, embroidered pillowcases, cast iron, Corelle dishes, and so much more. On this particular day the boys found goodies for their blacksmithing endeavors and I found a CHINA CABINET!
I wasn't looking for furniture in particular. But I did need to find something for my teacups, they were stacked up on the roll top desk! I had looked at a wall mounted curio-type-shelf for $25 on previous visits, but didn't want to commit. On this particular day I found a lovely hutch of sorts, for $225. A rich maple with a honeyed finish tempted me; the "no-lay-away" sign depressed me. But one booth over I found another hutch. This one looked like some sort of office piece with blood or barbeque sauce all over the front of it. Honestly, it was beat to hell. (I wish I had taken a before picture...) The price was marked down to $25! Could that be right? I took the ticket to the cashier to ask if it was correct and to inquire if the seller of the maple cabinet would do a lay-away.

Long story short, the ugly, blood/barbeque stained cabinet was indeed $25. The owner of the maple cabinet couldn't be raised to answer my question so I left my number and bought the $25 cabinet. To my pleasure I discovered that the glass doors were intact and safely stored between cardboard. We were in Grace, the Kia, so we headed back home. Orion and I returned with Maggie, the truck, loaded the cabinet, headed home, and just about the time I finished the second cleaning (about an hour after I got home), the shop called and said "yes" to the lay-away. I was so tickled with my cabinet that I passed! Besides, the storage capacity of the blood/barbeque stained cabinet was twice that of the $225 maple piece.

So I cleaned and I scrubbed and I gave it the once over, twice over, and thrice over with Murphy's Oil Soap. The previous owners left a few wedding or anniversary napkins. While the hutch dried, I scrubbed the glass doors. A few passes of Old English Lemon Oil and I was looking at a nice piece of furniture.

It was so nice I decided to display my china, originally my mom's china from the early '60s, Midnight Rose! Take a look below. It's gorgeous!

Last Friday

Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting with several of our Indian friends (and our our one Vietnamese friend) for dinner. On Memorial Day the Indian Embassy visited the house and cooked up a storm. A mighty tasty storm! I knew I had to invite them back, but this time I would make sure that we cooked for them! I considered a huge, mostly vegetarian, Italian meal, but my friend Manisha, requested to learn how to make fried chicken, mashed taters, and particularly- gravy.

Much of the work (tater peeling, corn husking, cake makin', and roll risin') was done before the Embassy arrived. But while Manisha and John slaved over a hot stove, the rest of us participated in a highly competitive game of Pictionary! Boys against girls. Yes, the boys won!

Dinner was topped off with a great Indian movie and chocolate mayonnaise cake. I had a marvelous time. I can't wait to have the 'kids' over again.

The Indian Embassy in the 'Burg

What did you do on Memorial Day? Did you have a picnic or a barbeque? Did you go out to dinner with family or friends? Did you have a good time? We did!

While the 'Burg is a tiny town of about 14,000 folks, and the University of Central Missouri is considered a small university, we do have a handful of international students. UCM international students have to be some of the nicest folks on the planet. Every fall they cook (yes, cook!) for anyone at the university that wants to come and enjoy a global meal! Every spring they host a multi-cultural talent show.

These international students have to be some of the hardest working and generous students I've had the pleasure of knowing. Several of them volunteer to cook for the Newman Center (Catholic Student Center) on a regular basis.

Manisha, pictured below is a graduate student in Speech and Language Pathology and works as a graduate assistant in our department. From time to time Manisha has brought me samples of her marvelous cooking. And during the past year, she and Orion became good buddies as she helped him on several occasions with his (cursed) cursive, reading, and writing.

Manisha and I are always talking about cooking together, and getting together to have dinner, and yet this past semester was so busy, I had absolutely no time. Finally, we picked a date! I made it a holiday in hopes that I would be home!

(Manisha cookin' up Chicken Curry)

I picked up Manisha and three of her friends at about 1:30, just as it started to rain! Thank goodness we weren't having a picnic! We got to the house and I showed them around and they went to work in the kitchen.

(Manisha, Sadiq, Tanvi (in the back), and Towino smile as they work in the kitchen)

(Sadiq and Tanvi peel potatoes for samosas. Sadiq later made six quarts of lhassi: strawberry, blueberry, and plain)

I was so impressed with how hard they worked and how much fun they were all having. Manisha showed off her "management skills" by organizing everyone and creating chicken tandoori, curry chicken, samosas, pakoras, vegetable Basmati rice, and she applied henna to my hair!

My friends Sally and John arrived at about 3:30. There was nothing for us to do but sit back and watch these students cook up a storm.


Around 5:30 John left to retrieve four more students from campus: Mona, Ankita, and Poorvi (Tanvi's identical twin), all Indian students, and Phat (a young man from Vietnam). Now there were six to eight 20-somethings cooking in my kitchen at any give time!

(No room for me in the kitchen!)

(Towino was only invited for his onion chopping skills! Or so we were told!)

After roughly five hours of cooking we were ready to eat! I couldn't wait! My house smelled great! There were 13 of us eager to eat, eat, eat!

(Manisha stands ready to start the meal!)


(Clockwise from top: curry chicken [short pot], Indian soup made by Sally [tall, shiny pot], 10 pounds of tandoori chicken, samosas, pakoras, and vegetable rice in the center)


(Ankita samples the pakoras)

(Orion and Poorvi fill their plates)

(Sally contemplates all the tasty choices)

I had such an amazing time. Of course, I haven't posted any pictures of myself as my hair was covered in mud and I looked rather scary. We all laugh, visited, ate, and had a marvelous time. I ate too many samosas to count and ate two more before bed! Oh my!

I was impressed by many things yesterday. The first being the amazing taste of everything that was prepared. John and I agreed that this was THE best Indian food we had ever eaten. Yum. The second being that my kitchen was clean before we even sat down to dinner! All we had to do after dinner was put away left-overs and toss the dinner dishes into the dishwasher! Thirdly, I was so tickled by the friendships that these students had forged- their cheerful banter, singing, and joking filled the house. It was a great feeling!

Thank you Manisha for bringing your friends to my house and for cooking for my family and our friends. Thank you Sadiq, Towino, Tanvi, Ankita, Poorvi, Mona, and Phat for your culinary talents, your hard work, the great fun, and a taste of India.

Long Underwear, Down Comforters, and an Evening Chill

Weather in the 'Burg is so interesting to me that I find that I comment on it on a fairly regular basis! But I cannot help myself!

Last week things warmed up a bit! We had lower 80s and upper 70s. The humidity was wicked, but there was still no real need to start up the a/c unit. Then the thunderstorms rolled in! And on their heels, a cold front. After a few evenings of storm watching and enjoying several magnificent lightning displays the cold front arrived!

The lows this weekend were 40! My bedroom thermometer read 60 degrees this morning! And I was most grateful for my down comforter, which I haven't quite had the time or energy to put up yet!

Have You Been Touched?

... By His noodly appendage, that is!

I would like to take a moment to do something I've never done before... That is to witness. Forgive me, but when you feel as strongly about something as I do, it becomes a moral duty to share.

Pastafarianism is a growing religious movement with thousands of members. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) offers something for everyone- including Heaven. For those of us devout enough to hope to gain entrance to FSM Heaven have many glorious things to look forward to- beer volcanoes and stripper factories are only a few of the amazing rewards awaiting us in the afterlife.

Pastafarians in the Midwest walk a fine line and while many of our brothers and sisters around the world worship openly, we remain hidden- worshiping our Maker in secret.

But alas, I feel compelled by His presence and I must share His good news. In that light and in the spirit of spreading His goodwill. I share these photos from a recent FSM meeting (at an undisclosed location). Please note that names have been changed to protect the innocent as we still fear persecution. Until then we continue to pray that one day we can all live in harmony and acceptance- praising His noodly visage. In the name of Semolina, we pray... Ramen!

(We honor our Heavenly Beer Volcanoes and break bread together! Beer Volcano Communion was created by Reverend Brother Pocket Gopher and his spiritual sister and legal wife, Sister Doctor Ocelots.)

(Here we have a most creative expression of one of our most Holy joys awaiting us in the afterlife- the Stripper Factory. Complete with Strippers!)

(Sister Euphemia laughs, embarrassed by the great praise she earned honoring His Noodly Appendages with her art. Well done Euphemia, you made us all proud!)

(The culminating event of the evening was to create FSM shirts for each of our members in hopes that one day we will be free of persecution and may share or love of Pasta and all things Noodly with our heathen neighbors.)

W is for Warrensburg

Warrensburg is small. It’s farming. Warrensburg is the University of Central Missouri. It is safe, constant, and comfortable. Warrensburg is veterans. There’s plenty of snow and an abundance of wind. Warrensburg is 1956, a window into history. Warrensburg is home.

(The President's House, UCM)

(Warrensburg Train Station, Amtrak)

(Howard School, Warrensburg)

(Old Drum, Warrensburg Courthouse)

(Veterans' Memorial, Warrensburg Courthouse)