Throwback Thrifty Tables

I considered doing a brand-new tablescape today,

but . . . I am bone lazy.

Actually, I'm not really ready to do all the toting

and moving of dishes and glassware and

centerpiece stuff . . . my knee is still sore and cranky,

and still under those "rest it" doc's orders.  Bor-ing.

But the ghosts of Fall table settings past

are plentiful in the pictures archives.

2009:  Lunch for one in the Parlor.

Dollar Tree, TJ Maxx, a free lantern, a few gifts,

and of course -- more Dollar Tree. 

 Got the rooster plate in Los Angeles, at a TJ Maxx.  Just like home ....

The lantern was liberated from a country club by my daughter Alida,

when she waitressed at a wedding there.  The lanterns were abandoned and up for grabs.

Free is my favorite price. The fabulous tea pot is a gift, years ago, from my daughters.

2009:  Lunch, in the Conservatory.

Walmart, Dollar Tree, Ebay, and more Dollar Tree.

Seeing a pattern here?

 Dollar Tree well represented here.  I love a store where everything is a buck.

So, this table may have a bit of a pumpkin overload going on. Hey, the tables can't all be winners.

2009:  Dining Room casual dinner for two.

Looks like a pasta night, doesn't it? 

 Plates from Dollar Tree.  Bowls from a discount drugstore.
Plaid linen napkins, vintage, eBay, cheap.

It's hard to see with my clumsy pictures, but the blue in the plates does match the blues in the bowls.

Trust me.

 Hand blown turquoise wine glasses from my favorite charity thrift shop.

 2009: Dining Room again.  For two.

Soup lunch!  Yes, with beer, hence the Pilseners.

 Goodwill candle holder, Dollar tree plates, TJ Maxx bowls, Dollar Tree bird votives,

my Mom's pewter S & P, eBay vintage silverplate flatware, Dollar Tree placemats.

 Home Goods napkins.  They have the best prices on new napkins.

 Goodwill had two of these mercury glass candleholders.

Ask me why I bought only one?  I cannot answer you.  Stupid.

Frenchy-looking tin cachepot holding the ivy?

From a decorators' sample sale in NYC, many moons ago.

And that wraps up the Tablescape and Thrift parts of

our Thursday blog post, ladies and gentlemen.  :-) 

Because it is Throwback Thursday, here's a picture of our

Dion DiPoochy, also in 2009, wondering why I have draped him

in a pumpkin garland.  He was always so patient.

Confused sometimes, but always patient.

And with that, it's Goodbye time.

I think there are chairs in my future, on Craigslist,

and on tomorrow's blog post.  
And hopefully in our dining room.  Be well! -- Cass

LINK PARTIES!

Tablescape Thursday, at Between Naps On The Porch.  Click!

Treasure Hunt Thursday, at From My Front Porch to Yours.  Click!

Thrifts And Auctions and Cake. Woo-Hoo!

I haven't had much luck at our local Goodwill Store
lately.  But that's okay.  One of my favorite thrift
shops has reopened after its summer hiatus.  

And on a recent visit,

it was loaded with loot.

I am a pushover for blue and white china.

Especially when a nice big plate costs $3.

True, the farmer looks a bit of a doofus,

but I plan on hanging him 'way up high on this wall,

with some other blue and whites:

 The same fate awaits this smaller plate:

Haha -- just noticed the little screw in the upper right corner of the picture.
Something around here has a screw loose! 
Why are you pointing at me?

I like this plate even better than the farmer one.

Love the pierced edges.

It's from Portugal.  Set me back a whole 4 bucks.

On Saturday I need to enlist Howard and Annie to help me

bring some fresh pieces to my antiques booth;

some furniture sold this week and I need to fill in the gaps.

Luckily, that's not a problem.

I've got stuff waiting in the wings.

Or, in this case, the dining room.

Yes, I'm a little behind in refinishing and painting.

Oy.

This chair, from an auction

back at the end of August, is ready to go.

I think it's walnut, but I'm not sure.

It's clean and in beautiful shape, including the fabric,

but its seat is unusually low.

I suspect it might have been a rocking chair once upon a time.
Although a reader commented that it might
be a low-to-the-ground nursing chair, common in Victorian times.

With old furniture, much of the fun is figuring out 

why something is the way it is now, and what it might have been.

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 As promised . . .

Irene's Cheater's Cake

My mother-in-law, Irene, is a consummate baker,

renowned for her cakes and pastries.

She never, ever takes shortcuts or uses (gasp!) mixes.

Her sour cream coffee cakes are famous, but

recently when my husband Howard was in Florida

visiting his Mom . . . the unthinkable happened:

Bobi made a sour cream coffee cake.  From a mix.

I know, I know.  Shocking!

But here's what she did, and she calls it

Cheater's Cake.

Ingredients

One yellow or butter flavored cake mix (we like Duncan Hines)

One cup (8 oz.) of sour cream (not yogurt, not light sour cream, but the real stuff)

3/4 cup of oil (we used canola)

3 whole, large eggs

(And -- one cup brown sugar mixed with one spoon of cinnamon; your choice of spoon size!)

Bundt pan -- two bucks at the thrift.  In brand new condition.

Method:

1. Don't follow the directions on the cake mix box.

2. Instead, mix all of the ingredients (except sugar) in a mixer until it all looks like, well, cake batter.

3. Pour half into a greased bundt or angel food cake pan, and sprinkle it with some of the

brown sugar & cinnamon mix, then add the rest of the batter and top with the rest of the sugar mix.

4. Pop the pan into a preheated 350-degree oven.

5. Bake for 3 days.

No, that's not really true . . . but when Anne made this recipe on Wednesday of this past week, she baked the cake for the 40 minutes or so that was suggested on the cake box.  It was not enough time, so back into the oven it went.  Again.  And again.  I think the total time for baking was about 75 minutes.

This was probably for two reasons. 

1 -- the batter is heavier because of the sour cream and the oil.

2 -- Anne had added chopped apples in the bottom of the bundt pan,

and they add moisture to the mix.

Anyway -- let it cool enough to handle, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack.

Let cool some more, cut, and enjoy!

It's delicious with good coffee, and I'm sure would work with tea as well.

Or milk.

Hmmm . . . I just remembered there's still some left on the kitchen counter . . . . 

Bye!  Have a wonderful weekend.

We've got projects in the pipeline, here at That Old House.

Like, rearranging the Parlor furniture.  It's hopeless.

But we have to get moving; it's T.B.D.B.T time already!  -- Cass

Link Parties!

At My Romantic Home, it's Show And Tell Friday.  Click here!

Feathered Nest Friday makes its home at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

The Charm of Home features Home Sweet Home on Fridays.  Click here!

It's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.  Click here!

Miss Mustard Seed hosts the Furniture Friday Feature.  It's a must visit -- Click here!

At Rattlebridge Farm, it's Foodie Friday.  Go!  Click here.

I Should Be At Home Cleaning . . . .

. . . .but I'm not.


Instead, I'm tootling off to a very special sale today.



It only happens once a summer.
And tomorrow I'll let you know if I brought anything home with me.

In the meantime, remember those demitasse cups I bought at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago?

Yes, them.  Those them.

They are no longer demitasse cups.

They are now Christmas Tree ornaments for our dining room tree.

All it took was a glue gun and about 5-and-a-half minutes,

not counting the downtime for photographs.

"Show me your best side!"

A bead of hot glue around the bottom of the little cup,
a quick squoosh of the cup onto the saucer, and
voila!

Cup is stuck to saucer, and the whole shebang can be
hung on our dining room Christmas Tree.

And I'm only kidding about the little ornament inside the cup.
Probably.

All eleven of them, done.

I still need to embellish them -- a little white and gold ribbon,
maybe a little bling . . . I'll let you know!

My inspiration?  A few years ago, when I first discovered blogging, I stumbled on Mary's
Little Red House  blog.  I greedily read back, and back, over old posts, and found one about
her dining room at Christmas.  With a small scale tree.  With tea cups as the ornaments.

Stolen from Mary.  Sshh, don't rat me out.

Gasp!
I have a dining room!
I can get a tree!
I can hang tea cups on it!
I can be one of the cool kids!

Well, maybe not the cool kids thing, but as for the tea cup tree,
this year I'll finally get around to doing it.

Each Christmas we put a big fresh tree in our sunroom, where it is cool and the tree lasts well.
And lights up the whole neighborhood through all the glass.

Last year we got a tall narrow fake tree for our parlor, and I loved it as much
as I can love a fake tree.  It fit perfectly next to the fireplace, with minimal furniture displacement.

So after Christmas, when the fake tree merchants were shivering on the cold pitiless street corners

with noses red from the icy wind, suffering from chilblains and reaching out their

bony hands in their fingerless gloves, clutching the hem of my coat and whining,

"Please, please buy me last tree, kind lady, or me little 'uns shan't eat tonight,"

in a Cockney accent even though they grew up in the Bronx . . . .

Yeah, then, at a really deep discount, we bought another fake tall narrow tree, just like the Parlor's.
 It awaits its call to duty, slumbering in the attic, undisturbed in its box.

Mary hung naked tea cups on her tree, and some very nice, very beautiful ones, too,
but I decided not to risk hanging good cups, as things tend to happen here,
but to find thrift shop orphans and glue their saucers onto them and bling 'em up a bit.
Because we love us some bling at Christmas.

And it keeps me out of mischief.


Except today, when I'm heading off to see what kind of mischief
I can get into at that once-a-year sale.  -- Cass

Postscript:  If you click through to Mary's Christmas post, above, you will see that she got her inspiration
from Cindy at My Romantic Home.  And it just keeps getting passed on, doesn't it?


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Link Parties!

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch.  Visit Susan here!
Today's Thrifty Treasures, at Southern Hospitality.  Visit Rhoda here!