Hello! We were on vacation last week, hitting various points east ranging from large cities to small cities to villages. Thus, I'll divide my blog posts into two sections, town and country.
Today's entry will be the "town" portion of our trip. I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pictures due to time constraints on the days we were in urban areas, but I'll show off the photos I have and will discuss what we saw and did.
Pittsburgh: only had one full day there, a Sunday; we arrived Saturday evening and left Monday morning. The day's plans hadn't been firmed up, so we decided that morning to visit The Strip. Didn't quite know what to expect other than a number of eateries there have been touted by enthusiastic folks over at Roadfood.com.
The Strip turned out to be a commercial district with open-air markets, ethnic grocery stores, restaurants and retail establishments. It's an old part of town, so the main street of this area and the sidewalks are both quite narrow. This made it hard to navigate the area both by car and on foot, but we did our best (we parked a few blocks away in a parking lot).
Ate lunch here:
This is Peppi's, a small local chain. A decent sandwich in an old building; some of the seating looked to be old church pews. Perhaps these had been in the church-turned-bar across the street (the Altar Bar). The counter guy was busy, so I didn't ask him about the pews.
Due to the packed sidewalks I'd already mentioned, I didn't get a chance to take more pictures along The Strip, even though the scene was plenty colorful. We went in and out of a few shops, including - to me - the drool-worthy kitchenware store In The Kitchen. I saw a number of things I would love to have, but managed to keep my wallet shut. I did open my wallet at Penzey's Spices next door. Yes, I know we have a Penzey's in Grand Rapids, but we don't seem to get there.
Also saw a nice pottery shop, Penn Ave Pottery. Really pretty inside and not super expensive either.
If it hadn't been so crowded, I would have wanted to check out the Italian, Mideastern and Asian grocery stores in The Strip. I am a fan of ethnic grocery stores. Probably best that we stayed out of them - I might have gotten frustrated over not being able to buy things that wouldn't have held up well while traveling.
On the way back to our car, I took a photo of this:
The Senator John Heinz History Center. Although I'm sure that this is a fine museum, it was the Heinz catsup bottle sign that caught my eye!
We drove around some after that; bridges and hills abound in Pittsburgh and I would have gotten hopelessly lost. But my husband is truly gifted when it comes to navigating; in no time at all he'll be driving around in a city as if he'd lived there his whole life (he has been to Pittsburgh three times before, but hadn't previously driven around some of the sections we visited this day).
Tried to get my husband and our daughter interested in checking out the Duquesne Incline but that was a no-go. Oh well, I guess there can always be another time - after all, the incline has been around over 130 years by now. I guess it's not going anywhere!
Since we'd arrived in the area on a Saturday and left on Monday, that gave us two nights of viewing local TV news. It didn't take me long to discover that Pittsburgh is one of the sports-craziest towns I've ever been to, especially in regards to the Steelers. It just so happened that NFL training camps opened that Saturday, so we were treated to film footage of fans eagerly rushing into the Steelers training camp in Latrobe to watch their team. Then after the Saturday night news, the same TV station (KDKA) hosted a Steelers trivia show - now in its 10th season. We didn't watch all of it, but saw that the format consisted of three teams of three people each, answering questions about the Steelers. One of the teams wore matching shirts with wide stripes; that made them look like members of a chain gang! But the moderator introduced them as doctors from Johnstown.
We're used to the Sunday night sports shows that recap the week's sporting events, but on KDKA, this time slot was filled by a show in which three local sports media guys debated issues - you guessed it, talk of the Steelers dominated. You'd barely know that the local baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, had a very important series starting the next day. But such is the hold the Steelers have on the area!
Cincinnati: this was a quick visit on our way home. Checked into the Embassy Suites in suburban Blue Ash. We'd stayed there before, so we knew to expect these:
Some Embassy Suites have a lagoon-like feature in their atriums, with tropical plants, waterfalls and koi. This one, however, also has turtles; we counted six during this visit.
During our first stay, I asked one of the desk clerks if the turtles ever got loose; there isn't much to keep them in place. He replied that during their mating season, they do tend to roam more and sometimes will end up out in the hallways.
During this visit, I told the desk clerks that we'd thought of their hotel earlier in the year while watching The Tonight Show's Headlines segment. At one point, Jay Leno showed a classified ad someone had sent in to him. The ad read:
"Healthy one pound turtle needs ride to Cincinnati".
Jay Leno found this hilarious and we did too - the thought of a turtle needing a ride somewhere struck us as funny in a bizarre way, and I said the turtle must have been needing a ride to the Embassy Suites in Blue Ash!
The desk clerks I repeated this tidbit to found it funny as well - but then one of them went on to say that the hotel lobby was going to have a major renovation soon. The lagoon is going to come out - more seating and another restroom will go in its place. No more turtles! Bummer! The clerk said she was planning to take one of them home for her son to have as a pet.
We ate Cincinnati-style chili at nearby Blue Ash Chili, but judging from what I saw on others' plates, the double-decker sandwiches looked awesome. This appeared to be a very popular local hangout; a good meal choice if you're in that area.
I only ate half of my dinner; that way I could justify the turtle sundae I got at Graeter's after that. Grater's is an area chain known for its ice cream and baked goods. Very rich but worth the calories!
Cincinnati was just an overnight stay, but before heading north to return home we stopped here:
Jungle Jim's, Fairfield OH. To say that Jungle Jim's is a grocery store is like saying that the White House is where one family lives. According to its website, Jungle Jim's has over 200,000 square feet of shopping space. And although one can stop in to pick up just a gallon of milk or a dozen eggs - there is a regular grocery section - the full name of the establishment is Jungle Jim's International Market.
I first piqued my husband's interest in Jungle Jim's several years ago when I told him the store had a big wine selection. Now that he focuses more on microbrewed beers, on this visit he wheeled his shopping cart over to the large beer section to pick up some cartons.
Meanwhile, I took another shopping cart and headed over to the international market portion of the store. It's divided by countries, with Asian and Latin American groceries having the most shelf space. There is a decent-sized natural foods area too.
I grabbed soba noodles, a bottle of hot sauce and some extra-virgin olive oil that was on sale. But if I had wanted to, I could have purchased kangaroo meat, jams and honeys from around the country, cheeses and butters from all over the world, and more. I didn't even go into the small rooms along one wall that house foods from various European countries - just not enough time. But Jungle Jim's is definitely worth a stop, even for a short visit!
Indianapolis - we just stopped to eat lunch at BD's Mongolian Barbeque. This chain, which began in Michigan, is quite fun to eat at if it's not crowded (we had a late lunch, so it wasn't). If you've not eaten at one of these places, here's how it works: you get to choose from a buffet-like line-up of various meats, seafoods, vegetarian-type proteins, vegetables, sauces and seasonings. You put everything in a bowl and then your selections are cooked to order on a huge grill right in front of you. If you don't like how your meal ends up tasting, you only have yourself to blame!
There is plenty of nice shopping and of course other places to eat in this section of Indianapolis, but after our meal we were on our way home.
Heard a bit of "country in the city" advertising, though - the nearby Indiana State Fair had just begun and so there were several commercials for it on the radio station we were listening to in the car. In 2001, while still residents of the Hoosier State, we had gone to this state fair. Even my city-bred husband had enjoyed it.
Perhaps fittingly, other than driving through the bottleneck known as Kokomo, Indiana, the majority of the rest of our route was through peaceful countryside. And the countryside is what I'll be talking about in my next blog post!
Hello! Some out-of-town trips have curtailed the number of times I was able to use my job jar this month, but when I was home, I carried on as usual.
For instance, job jar tasks pushed me to declutter books - the rejects went to the donations barrel that the local AAUW chapter puts out April-August in advance of their big used book sale each September. Now I have an excuse for buying more books at this year's sale, ha.
I also decluttered some craft supplies, decluttered a messy cabinet and did a clothing repair.
I made donations to two thrift stores, was mindful of giving compliments and looked over some new volunteer opportunities.
I wrote in my nature journal and did some spiritual exercises. Also chilled out with a relaxation CD.
I baked cookies and did several small craft projects. One of these was a small collage with a Thanksgiving theme. I know, it may seem funny to do crafts out of season, but I deliberately included several job jar tasks that involved holiday crafts. I thought this would be a fun way to "think outside the box" throughout the year.
I also carved a rubber stamp. As I had written during a previous job jar post, I had purchased a rubber stamp carving kit a few years back but had never gotten around to trying it - until I made "carve a rubber stamp" a job jar task. My efforts are still rather rudimentary, but I have found it a fun craft - and I've ended up with one-of-a-kind rubber stamps to boot!
Hello! I have picked up fabric samples from various secondhand places, such as at an interior design store's sidewalk sale, creative reuse stores, and, of course, thrift stores. No matter where they're found, they have been very inexpensive.
There are a number of crafts that can be made from these samples, though of course it depends on the size of the sample piece. Typically the samples come in two forms: large squares bound together in sample books, and pieces sold singly. The latter are usually larger than the former.
I haven't really done a variety of crafts yet with my fabric samples, but I do want to show off what I've made thus far.
Several years back, I gave up using paper napkins for the more eco-friendly cloth variety, and I have sewn my own cloth napkins using fabric samples:
Above, two of the several cloth napkins I've made over time. I don't know why the blue/white/yellow one is a bit larger; I thought I'd used the same pattern for both (pattern and directions from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing book). The blue/white/yellow napkin was made several years ago, which is why it looks a bit rumpled (must have run in the dryer a little too long). I don't remember what I paid for this fabric piece, but I paid a mere dime for the brown/white fabric sample. I recall the price because I just bought it a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have any napkins that looked fall-ish, but this print and the other brown/white samples I purchased at the same thrift store do. And these latest samples are of a very nice, soft, high-quality 100% cotton. I'm sure I'd have to pay a lot more than a dime for a ready-made cloth napkin of similar quality! Very easy sewing too.
The fabric sample books are fun to look at; there is usually a nice variety of prints (and sometimes different types of fabrics) in each. But one problem is the paper strip on the back of each sample, printed with pertinent information (pattern name, fabric care, etc). This paper is stuck on with some sort of adhesive, making it hard to remove from the fabric, so I just cut it away when I was going through one of these sample books awhile back.
This left me with several fabric strips after trimming them away, but I noticed that these strips were the perfect size (about 7 1/2" x 1 1/2") to turn into bookmarks. And that's what I did; below are some of them:
I punched a hole at the top of each bookmark(an ordinary paper punch worked fine), and then added a bit of ribbon or trim. I was pleased with my idea, but later on saw that the folks at the creative reuse store Learning From Scratch had done the same thing with some fabric sample books. So much for having an original idea! They had glued felt to the back of their bookmarks, but I didn't bother with mine.
Needless to say, this was a very easy way to make some pretty yet functional bookmarks. And this is good since I always seem to misplace them!
Hello! Having covered the "good" and the "bad" in my 1968 McCall's Christmas Make-It Ideas, it's now time to discuss the "ugly". And believe me, there's plenty of "ugly" crafts shown in this magazine!
So let's get started, shall we?
The text in the photo claims that "familiar candles are changed to fit into a world of enchantment". Perhaps these candles are "enchanting" to you, but to me, they're anything but!
I deemed many of the projects "ugly" due to the facial features on the crafts. Here's the first example:
As if the face on this duck hand puppet wasn't weird enough, the instructions show another angle:
Does that look like something you'd want your kids to play with?
But in my opinion, the face on this next item looks even worse:
Now, I'm fine with this depiction of St. Nicholas, except for:
Those oversized eyes could give one nightmares!
In my previous post, I showed off some candle holders with bases molded from plaster-filled balloons. The same technique was used for another set of projects:
The two larger figures seen on the right are readily identifiable as a snowman and Santa Claus, but if it weren't for the text, I wouldn't have known what the smaller figures on the left were supposed to be. The answers: one of Santa's elves and Mrs. Claus. I'll grant that the snowman is reasonably cute, but the others are not!
Moving on, next we have:
These figures have light-bulb bodies and trims of paper and felt. Again, some of the figures aren't too bad, like the snowman and the angel. But one of the other figures set off the "ugly" alarm bell for me - can you guess which one? It is:
"Put friendly bear on cardboard skis" the magazine extorts. Maybe the bear is supposed to be friendly, but what's with all the weird eyes in this publication?
But the faces are even weirder on these figures:
Can you tell what these are supposed to be? No? Why, they're "tube-craft wise men", of course! Actually, this is a pretty clever use for paper towel tubes, and I like the designs of the robes, gifts, etc. (these are made from heavy paper or thin cardboard that's been painted, then glued onto the tubes). But once again, the faces are ugly!
One more ugly face:
I like the outfit on this felt pixie doll ("woodland colors of brown, greens" the text says). But yep, you guessed it - a creepy face makes this doll more ugly than the "charming" label the magazine writers gave it!
For my last photo, a real face is shown, and it's not ugly by any means:
Instead, I object to what she has on her head - it looks as if she's wearing an upside-down wastepaper basket, but it's a "jumbo smocked hat" and has "an exotic look". Oh, dear, forgive me for thinking this hat is ugly - I was supposed to think it was exotic instead!
And so concludes my series on the "good, the bad and the ugly" in the 1968 McCall's Christmas Make-It Ideas. It was a lot of fun to write these posts - and who knows, I may actually get around to making some of the crafts in this magazine. Just not the "bad" or the "ugly" ones!
In today's installment, I'll discuss what I feel is the "bad" from my 1968 McCall's Christmas Make-It Ideas.
In some cases, the ideas are decent, it's just that the materials used had a certain "ick" factor to me. In other cases, I just happen to think the craft is, well, plain bad.
So, let's get started. I'll lead off with this:
The designs on these "snow-white bells" (they're labeled as such in the magazine) are nice enough, but those "snow-white bells" are foam coffee cups. No thanks; I'll stick to using these for drinking coffee!
And here we have "charming angel candle holders". They were made by using balloons for plaster molds. I'd agree with the magazine writers that this is a "unique craft technique", but couldn't they have done better with the faces?
I wouldn't call these faces charming! But maybe that's just me.
These chenille dogs "are pins with walnut faces". Yes, just what I should be wearing - a pin that has a weird-looking face painted on a walnut!
The next craft project is really bad:
Now, why should I think this is bad? For according to the magazine's write-up, "dazzling tree, trimmed with rich red and white, is elegant accent for a table. Foil-covered styrofoam base gleams with gold trims, cotton swabs, ball-fringe pompoms. Plastic finial sparkles with glitter".
Sorry, folks, you can dress up the description with fancy prose all you want, but it's still a tree shape made - from Q-tips. Ick!
After buying Christmas gifts, they need to be wrapped, of course. Here's one example of a gift-wrapping project:
Those designs on the gift boxes? They're made from grains of white rice - glued on one at a time, then painted over. Did anyone actually ever bother to do this? If so, why? I can only imagine how time-consuming this project must have been! And I'm sorry (actually, I'm not), but using rice to decorate a gift package rates another "ick" from me.
If gluing rice on a gift package isn't your thing, then maybe you could try this instead:
This design was made by gluing yarn to a shoebox lid - one strand at a time, in a rather peculiar wavy pattern. The folks at McCall's proclaimed that the finished result makes this a "boutique" package. I'd say it makes me tired just looking at it and thinking how long it would have taken to do this.
In fairness to the designers of these projects, I realize that in 1968 there was less variety in craft supplies than there is today. I also realize that the use of common household items and discards in craft projects is huge today. Whether it be called "green crafting", "upcycling", "creative reuse" or what have you, there are books, magazines and blogs devoted to this trend. In my own blog, for example, I have shown off decorative pieces made from a softball, a vinyl tablecloth, a restaurant menu and a shoe stretcher. And I'm always on the lookout for things I can repurpose into greeting cards.
But the use of foam coffee cups, Q-tips and rice to decorate one's house and gifts at Christmastime? Bad, bad, bad ideas!
Hello! Around a month ago I purchased a 1968 McCall's Christmas Make-It Ideas magazine for a dime at a garage sale. McCall's named this publication well, for there were dozens of craft ideas featured - enough, in fact, to warrant a trio of posts I'll do on "the good, the bad, and the ugly". That is, crafts ranging from "these would still look good today!" to "what where they thinking?!"
Of course, the designations of good, bad and ugly are subjective; what I find charming someone else might find hideous, and vice versa. But happily for me, today's post, on crafts I deemed "good", is the longest of the trio.
I'll begin with this:
Owls galore - the ones on the left are made of felt with sequins and beads. The lavender owl to the right has a cardboard body and bottle cap eyes; it's joined by other bottle cap ornaments. Interesting use of bottle caps!
Angels and three kings - all made from wooden furniture legs and other wooden bits. Cute!
"
Ad-Lib A Greeting Card" is the title of the accompanying text to this project. A basic shape is drawn on white paper - in both examples shown, circles - then designs are added as desired. Still a good technique for a pleasing greeting card!
Quite the project, this one - a felt wall hanging depicting the Twelve Days of Christmas.
A close-up of some of those figures:
This would take forever to do, of course - all that cutting out and gluing of felt shapes. I like it anyway!
Also in the category of "It'd take forever but I still like it":
According to the directions, this is constructed by making 270 "branches" - 90 pieces each from three colors of green felt, slashing each piece to make the "needles", and then wrapping and gluing the "needles" to pipe cleaner "branches". In turn, these are arranged around a styrofoam ring. Whew! Reminds me of something the folks at Martha Stewart Living magazine would have trotted out for a craft in one of their December issues - and who knows, maybe they did. If so, McCall's did it first!
Much quicker to do but still charming is this nativity scene:
Inside a 4"x5 3/4" wooden box is this quaint grouping of Holy Family, shepherd, lambs, the Star of Bethlehem and some birds. We collect Nativity sets, so this caught my eye. The figures are constructed of felt, paper and some trims.
Also using felt, trims and other supplies are these decorations:
These faux gingerbread ornaments look almost good enough to eat!
See what I mean? This little house is adorable! I love the pastel colors used. Those rooftop "shingles" look just like Necco wafers.
One last photo:
These cuties are 8" tall - made with knitted bodies, felt trimmings and rayon-covered pink styrofoam heads. When I saw these, I wished I was a knitter!
Oh well, there's still plenty of other crafts I can do from this book - and there were even more in the "good" category that I left out since I've already shown off several projects here.
But as I said in the beginning of this post, not all the crafts are ones I'd want to do - I'll be showing off the "bad" and the "ugly" soon!
Hello! First off, I must admit that I don't actually have a lot of glassware; this is primarily because I seem to be clumsy with breakables and so try to avoid them. But I have certainly seen enough glassware at thrift stores to know that it's plentiful and usually quite cheap. Need some more wine glasses? Go to a thrift store. You'd like a punch bowl set to serve Grandma's killer eggnog recipe at Christmas? Look around long enough in thrift stores and you'll find one. Mixing bowls? Yep, they're often present. Remnants of someone's kitschy shot glass collection? Pick up a few shot glasses and pretend you'd been in that same tourist trap town.
In spite of my clumsiness, I do have a few thrifted pieces to show off. A recent Country Living spread reminded me that I should discuss glassware in a blog post, for there was a familiar sight in a photo of a trendy kitchen - stacks of this on a shelf:
This is the Duralex 8.5 ounce Picardie tumbler; the Duralex USA website (Duralex is a French company) calls the Picardie "the original French tumbler" and that it's "functional and stylish".
I don't have a large stack of these, but I do have several, for which I paid 25c or 50c apiece. Quite a savings when the Duralex USA website sells a set of six for $24.00. There might be better deals on Amazon or eBay, but I doubt that sellers there would be offering up these tumblers at 25 or 50 cents!
Several years ago there was a nice event in our neighborhood. The hosts are lovely people and have a lovely house to match. Although it was an informal gathering, the setting called for a nice vessel for the homemade cheese wafers I was planning to bring. Found this at a thrift store for a very reasonable 50 cents:
Unfortunately, there's no manufacturer's information whatsoever on this serving bowl (about 2 1/2" high and 7 1/2" in diameter). Note the narrow rectangular pattern on the sides and the illusion of "bubbles" on the bottom (those "bubbles" are underneath the surface; the bottom of the bowl is smooth).
I don't know how old this is, but it has the look and feel of an older piece.
I've discussed kitchen items thus far, but if you're in need of vases, go to your friendly neighborhood thrift store and
you'll find enough glass vases to start your own florist business.
Such as:
This was my most recent purchase, an Ikea product for which I paid 50c. I liked its resemblance to a beaker and the bubbled exterior. (that's a State Fair zinnia in it)
As you can see, none of my glassware purchases set me back more than 50c per item - which is great given my tendency to break things!
