1955 Good Housekeeping Cookbook

Do not walk, RUN to Ebay and snatch up a copy of this vintage cookbook from 1955, the Good Housekeeping Cookbook ! I found one at Goodwill yesterday and WOW, what a gem! There are over 3000 recipes in the book (760 pages!), from old-fashioned dishes to the "newer" dishes of the 1950's. There are plenty of practical kitchen tips as well. This is a great one to add to your cookbook collection. Vintage and antique cookbooks are so charming...through them, you can take a step back in time to the kitchens of your mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and beyond.

As of this posting you can get this book for as little as 1.99! Check it out! And let me know if you order one! I know you'll love it as I do mine!

A Rain Poem

Rain, Rain

Rain, rain - don’t go away,
Right now inside we’ll gladly stay.
In our pajamas all snug and warm,
We’re prepared for any old storm.
Blankets and pillows for long dreamy naps,
Cuddles and kisses while sitting on laps;
Reading great books by soft candlelight,
Drinking hot cocoa is such a delight.
By the bright, dancing fire we toast our small toes,
Smelling bread in the oven and soup on the stove.
Playing fun games and creating fine art,
Writing new poems straight from the heart;
Hearing raindrops above so heavy and loud
On the roof that we know is solid and sound.
Feeling quite cozy as we happily play
In a tent made of sheets on this dark and wet day;
Soft music flowing through out our calm home,
Thankful we are for this nest of our own.
Eating warm cookies so nice and sweet,
Yes, rainy days are such a treat.
Rain, rain - don’t go away,
We’ll play in the sunshine another day.

~Kim Bouldin
©2008

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some rain! I know parts of the country are still in an awful drought and are dealing with heat, fires, and just plain old misery. I really shouldn't complain, but I thought I'd at least write a poem about rain lest I forget what it is!

I was thinking, as I do every now and then....Wouldn't it be fun to have a "Rain Party" on one of those dark, dreary, rainy days (that we will all hopefully get soon!)? Nothing extravagant, mind you, and no invitations would even be necessary as it would be a small and personal family event. I think some planning would be required, though, because we can never really count on weather forecasts. But a rain party simply must take place when it's raining, don't you think? A few simple items saved up and put away for just the right moment would be all that's required. Most of us with children already have games on hand, but maybe you'll run across one you've never played and decide to put it in your "Rain Treasury" as a surprise for your kids. How about some great poems and stories your kids have never heard? They can be collecting for the rain treasury, too, which I'm sure would be a lot of fun for a child. Some fresh crayons, paper, clay, or maybe even a little paint are great ingredients for an art filled rainy day. Letter writing is a fine rainy day activity as well. And small homemade wrapped gifts would be delightful to set aside for a wet day. So many possibilities!

Fresh baked bread may be a little much for some of us to tackle on short notice, but there are many other less time consuming bread recipes out there (biscuits and quick rolls, whipped up start to finish in 20 minutes!) or what about your favorite cookie or cake recipe? I haven't tried this "Rich Roll Cookies" recipe from the Joy of Cooking but it's gotten great reviews from others. I've been looking for a good rolled cookie recipe for cookies that can be cut out with cutters and decorated - a great rainy day project! Now to buy cookie cutters shaped like raindrops and umbrellas!

Soup is a wonderful rainy day food and I'm sure you have your favorites. My family likes Chicken Corn Soup and Potato Soup best. But a good old can of Cambell's Tomato Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches is just as delicious and is the perfect comfort food.

No rainy day would be complete without lots of candles, so stock up on your favorite scents and have them ready to go when the rain starts pouring. Even when it's too hot for a fire, candles send out just enough warm,flickering light to give you and your family that wonderful, cozy feeling. Better yet, you can buy glass lanterns at places like Wal-mart for $5 - you'll have a bit more light if you want to read or play games by a flame. We used glass lanterns in our kitchen for months during our remodel and I miss them!

Along with decorating for your rain party with candles or lantern light, try making a simple old-fashion paper pennant banner to string across your fireplace mantel. If you're like me, you have plenty of colorful scrapbook paper on hand...just make yourself a cardboard triangular shaped template and use it to cut your papers. I'm in the process of making mine - it will simply read R-A-I-N-R-A-I-N. If you'd like some old fashion letters to cut out and glue to your pennant banner, feel free to use either of the two styles in this R A I N document that I created for my own banner. (The first font is called Quentin Caps and the second is called Mary Jane Antique if you like the fonts but want to create different words to print out.) The way I attach the individual letters together is by punching a hole in the upper two corners of each triangle (with a hole punch) and stringing them together pieces of yarn tied in bows. Ribbon will work well, too. Scrapbook paper would be great, also, for making colorful long paper chains to string up here and there. Oh, I really love the idea of spending sunny days to create rainy day decorations:) It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Saving up for a rainy day" ! After your rain party, just carefully pack up all your decorations and store them for the next time!

If you'd like a copy of my poem to print out for your next rainy day, you can download it here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it!



I haven't been around in over a week - would you believe I finally had my yard sale?!?!? Boy, am I glad to get that out of the way because it required so much of my attention and energy. The highlight of the yard sale this weekend was the bake sale the kidlets had with some of their friends. They had so much fun! Granted, I literally stayed up all night Thursday (I never went to bed!) baking cookies for Friday's sale, but it was so worth it. The kids also sold lemonade, sweet tea, and soda. Below is a photo...you can see that they made a banner like the one I've described above (so easy even for kids!)



I apologize for all the emails that I've missed lately...I've got some catching up to do, for sure! Thank you all for all the wonderful and thoughtful comments about my fireplace idea...I have a semi-plan in mind already!

Colorful and Cool Retro Appliances - or What We Like to Call "Eye Candy"

Of course I couldn't write this entry without thinking of Cottage Daisy and her sweet baby blue fridge that we have all (let's admit it) drooled over for the last couple of years. While we have already bought our average, everyday, run-of-the-mill appliances since our remodel began, I still get a thrill checking out what is available out there nowadays.

Wouldn't these appliances be perfect in a cottage style kitchen? And you can also get them in *custom* colors - weeee!. Range hoods are also available but they haven't yet been added to the site. Can't wait to see them!

Isn't if funny how we get excited about these classic style appliances like men do about old cars?

Where Credit is Due

Digital scrapbook elements obtained from http://digitalscrapbookgrapixs.blogspot.com/, http://dreamscrap.com, and http://flergalicious.com

Lot of 40 + Antique Ladies Home Journal on Ebay...What a deal!

It's not a usual thing for me to make two entries in one day, but I wanted to let everone know about an Ebay auction before it ends.


For those of you interested in ephemera and antique papers and old magazines in general, this auction is for you! It's not my auction, (and I sure wish I had the extra cash floating around to win) but I think this is a great deal:)

Someone is selling a Lot of 40+ Antique Ladies Home Journals dating from the 1800's (1888 to 1896) for the starting bid of $75. I don't know how high the bids will go (no one has bid yet - the auction ends in 1 Day 4 Hours as of this posting), but I *do* know that if these were sold individually, you would pay A LOT more than that. For instance, someone else is selling an older LHJ (early 1900's) for $25. Someone else is selling one pattern from a Ladies Home Journal for $9.99, another is selling one ad from the magazine for $25, and so on. So this is an awesome find!


There would be so many uses for these old mags...framing ads and articles or using the beautiful pictures and print for decoupage. It would be splendid if one of you bids on and wins this auction! The seller has tons more photos on her auction page - check it out! The auction ends on Mar-29-07 16:25:48 PDT (1 day 4 hours)

What $62 Might Get You at the Nashville Flea Market

I had so.much.fun on Friday at the Nashville Flea Market. As I mentioned earlier today, it was just me - no kids or husband:) That meant I could linger for as long as I wanted at any one booth without anyone complaining, hehe. And the weather was beautiful to boot!

Oh how easily I could have dropped $100 or more for beautiful old goodies, but as I mentioned in Friday's post, we were about to use a good chunk o' change for our new doors (see today's earlier entry)and hardware. So needless to say, I had to fight myself to keep from buying too much, lol. So here is what I bought...

A cute little old red and white chair for $11...




And old cream colored woven blanket with cherry red, lime green, and pale blue stripes for $5....



A cute little wooden cottage table for $20....



These old milk bottles are probably my favorite. Someone at some point painted the inside of them white and I love it! I got the set for $20. The little white pitcher beside it was $6.


Oh, and the old silverware in the pitcher, I didn't get at the flea market, but at Goodwill last week for just .25 each. Can't beat that! I don't plan on cleaning them - I love them just the way they are (for decorative use only)!

Canned Veggies Have Never Been So Charming

Work on the house has slowed due to the flu last month, and this month, we've had car maintenance issues to deal with so our renovation budget has been slim...otherwise we'd be finishing out our kitchen ceiling trimwork right now. So in the meantime, I've had to find something creative and fun to work on. What would I do without a project? Go nuts, probably:) It's so much more interesting to wake up in the morning and say "What am I going to make today?!" instead of "What do I have to get done today? :)

On to the subject of charming canned veggies...I guess I should say that a very long time ago, pretty much all canned foods were charming and pretty. What happened between now and the 'time of use-to-be' that caused product manufacturers to stop using such artful and eyecatching labels and packaging? I don't know about everyone else, but I'm such a visual person and I would be more likely to buy a pretty can of corn over a plain, run-of-the-mill can of corn anyday. While I know I couldn't keep every can that I use, collecting the labels and using them for projects sure would be fun:)

A few weeks back, I wrote about a Classic Vintage Label Cd I bought on Ebay. I've had so much fun with it this weekend! Let me share with you what I've done... I enlarged a few of the veggie labels to about 4 inches tall by a few inches wide - just big enough to fit on a can. In a word editor, I inserted the images into a document and printed them out on "fine paper" (I bought a package of "Textures of Ivory" paper at Wal-mart...it contains Granite, Linen, Opaque, and Parchment papers. For this project, I used the "Opaque" paper.) The next time I do this project, I'm going to rotate the image sideways in the middle of paper and only put one image per sheet. This way I can cut a longer, can-sized label that will wrap all the way around the can. Anyway, I used a ruler and an exact blade to cut out the labels.

As far as the cans themselves go, I just used regular cans of tomatoes right out of my pantry. I did not empty them though you could. I didn't want to deal with the sharp edges, plus it just looks more authentic to use real, unopened cans. I decided to first spray paint the cans with "Expresso" brown paint. I'm sure cans of long ago were not brown, lol, but I think that brown makes the cans look more old-fashioned, plus the paint hides the ugly blue computerized codes that are stamped on the top of cans nowadays. It goes without saying that you won't be able to use these cans for food after you paint them - these are strictly for decorative use only. So what you'll need for this project: cans of food sans label (now is the time to use that can of pumpkin that has been sitting in your pantry for two years!), brown spray paint, vintage food labels printed out on good quality paper, an exacto knife, and a craft stick glue (I used Elmer's Craft Bond acid free, extra strenth, non-toxic, goes on blue but dries clear glue - Whew, what a mouthful!). You'll also probably want to spray prime the cans first before painting them brown and then spray a clear protective coat over the entire can after the labels have been added (or else the ink on the labels will run if they get wet). The bowl of beautiful giant pine cones sent from a dear friend in California and the sleeping kitty are purely optional, but not necessary to complete this particular project:)

After cutting out the labels and applying glue to the backs of them, just gently apply them to the cans, smoothing them from the center out to get rid of any bubbles. Then VOILA! You have some really pretty vintage cans to display in your kitchen! I discovered the perfect place for mine. The sides of my island have doors that open to narrow shelving with a beadboard back. I think my new "old" cans look great there! Now I need to create some cans of fruit to complete the collection:) I better wait another day to that, though, or else hubs won't have any tomatoes in his chili tonight!

Beautiful Reproduction Tins, Boxes, and Labels on Ebay

For a solid week now, our entire family has been battling the flu. It sure hasn't been pretty. I felt relatively ok yesterday and had my hands full taking care of the family. Oddly enough, I wasn't exhausted come bedtime. So I decided to spend some time perusing Ebay for inspiration and special finds.

One Ebay store that I discovered that I just have to share with you is called
Andy and Me Country Treasures. Oh my! They have so many sweet things that if I could only choose one thing to buy, I couldn't do it. This is the place to go if your looking for those beautiful old-fashioned cans (tins) and boxes. Their items are all new, but are reproductions of those artful pieces of long ago. They also carry items like reproduction vintage metal signs and other country accessories (some are a bit too country for me). There are items for the laundry room and bath like soap, starch, and detergent boxes, kitchen things like food cans, spice tins, cereal boxes, etc., and other items like old-time tonic bottles and medicine tins. Too many to name! Like all Ebay stores, their items are organized into categories so that you can quickly find what you are looking for. These are the kinds of things that I'd love to openly display for that true vintage and old-fashioned look:) Let me know if you find anything there you just love! Oh, and check out these colorful herb nesting boxes! They are small, but they'd sure look sweet displayed in the kitchen somewhere.

I haven't bought anything from Andy and Me (yet!) but I did buy a Classic Vintage Labels CD. There are over 900 different labels that can be printed out and used however I like, so I'm looking forward to having fun with that!



You can find either new blank tins or just take the label off a food can in your pantry and with a little spray adhesive, add a pretty vintage label...How nifty is that?! Also, you can buy some bars of white ivory soap (or make your own by grating and melting unscented ivory and adding your own essential oils) and print out a vintage soap label to wrap around it and display...buy clear bottles, blank paper mache craft boxes, plates - anything, really, and add these beautiful labels for a whole new look. If this sounds fun to you, then just do a search on Ebay for vintage labels cd, victorian cd, food crate labels or vintage labels.


Hmmm...I think I'll go have some soup now:)

Immersed

Lately, I've been keeping up with the household chores but I've put projects on hold. I've been nostalgic for a time that I never knew or experienced and it seems that every few months I get like this. Just a crazy, bluesy, sadness of sorts, a mourning over the fact that I can't go back to a simpler time. I was just telling a friend that I really need to be a hermit in the middle of nowhere...perhaps out on a farm or deep in the mountains. Just a little old quaint home and a garden and fresh air...

When my folks were visiting from California, I went with them to stake out some new construction homes...spacious and beautiful and perfect. They may be moving here in the next five years so they wanted to see what was available. What is wrong with me that en route to such lovely homes, I couldn't help but to do double takes when passing by all the sad little old, dilapidated, ivy covered, tumbled down and forgotten houses? I swear, it's nearly the same feeling I get when I stumble across a stray animal that needs some TLC. Someone help me.:)

When I visit big box stores, internally I grumble every time over the plastic and mass-produced era that I have to live in now. I groan about the shoddy "craftmanship" (can you even call it that?) of merchandise for sale. I sigh over the lengthy ingredient lists on the foods we buy, half of which are chemicals because I know that way back when, people not only could pronounce the ingredients in their foods, but they knew exactly what those ingredients were and probably produced them themselves. I wince when my children ask for some new fangled plastic toy (that holds their attention for about a day). I'm frustrated that I don't know how to make biscuits or pies from scratch, that I haven't a clue how to garden or can my own foods, that I wouldn't know where to begin making a quilt (or how to operate my own sewing machine, for that matter), that I don't have a woodburning fireplace, that I live on a semi- well traveled street, and so on and so forth.

I was even irritated at Joe Bob Shelf Stocker at Wal-Mart yesterday because he had never even heard of the Farmer's Almanac. "Farmer's what????" *sniff*

Where is that time machine when you need it most?

Oftentimes when I find that I need to "escape" to another world and time, I go to the library and check out many books of the same theme and bury myself in them for days and days. One of the books I checked out recently is called, "A Place Called Sweet Apple - Country Living and Southern Recipes" It was written in 1967 by a very prolific columnist for the Atlanta Constitution (she's been gone for quite a few years now) who discovered a deserted country cabin and fell in love with it at first site.

I knew after reading the first page that this woman, Celestine Sibley, was really me.

Someday I know that my world will be simple and wonderful and for now, I'll work hard be content with sustenance and covering. But, oh, isn't it wonderful to daydream about how things are suppose to be?!

"Once There Was a Farm"

I've never lived on a farm and I'm not quite sure where or how my interest in farm life and country living developed. I am from the South and from a very "southern" family, so that explains some of it. I know that the life of a farmer and his family wasn't easy but there was a certain simplicity to it all, it seems...beauty and closeness to the earth. How I do love reading about farm life and country folks and ways! Eventually when we're finished with our cottage, I'd like to try my hand at growing a bit of food for the table, but until then I just live vicariously through books. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm currently reading Once There Was a Farm, A Country Childhood Remembered. This book particularly interested me because it is a memoir written by a 71 year old woman by the name of Virginia Bell Dabney. In 1917, her mother left her husband in Chicago and moved her father and two young daughters to a 160 acre farm without plumbing or electricity in Virginia. Her mother was extremely hardworking and smart and so far it has been a delight to read about how efficiently she ran her farm and cared for her family.

I read the following paragraph and just loved it. I'll never think of eggs or hens the same way again:)

An Excerpt from
Once There Was a Farm, A Country Childhood Remembered
by Virginia Bell Dabney
Our hens were happy. I awoke on summer mornings to their singing. Hen song is not musical but it is expressive - of food to eat, soft dirt to take dust baths in, private nests for laying, a sunny place to scratch for worms and bugs and a chance to roam in the grass. Perhaps the greatest difference between raising chickens then and now is that today commercial growers can't afford to care if hens are happy or not. The 1980's hen is an egg machine. She spends her productive life in a cage with all the artificially enriched food and water she can consume, and what she eats makes eggs so that she cannot help but lay. The egg drops onto a conveyor belt and she has none of the satisfaction of feeling it under her, of cackling, "See the lovely egg I laid, perfect, perfect!" Hen brains are preprinted with intelligence about hawk shapes and how to warn and scatter, and not about much else, but they do have the capacity for joy. It is slavery to keep laying hens commercially these days. The layer endures perhaps twenty-four months of caged living, making an egg a day, and after that the guillotine. No lovely cool green grass like ours were turned out on about an hour before sunset so they would not roam too far. No dirt to scratch in, the immemorial right of gallinaceous birds. No soft nest to settle into. Our chicken houses were dusty with the busyness of hens, but the nests were kept clean, free of mites and with clean wood shavings for comfort. When a hen wished to lay, she jumped up into a nest box that was curtained in burlap so it was dim and private. Some other hen might argue for possession of the box, and once in a while a nest would be occupied by two determined layers. When her egg was produced she told everybody it was the best egg in the house and went back to sunning or joined her sisters in pursuit of a grasshopper. Though our hens were also shipped out to meet the ax when they were no longer productive, they at least enjoyed a good life up to the end.