A Day in the Life of Pyrex

It was at Pyrexy day in the kitchen, well--everyday is really.  I usually prepare meals from scratch no less than twice a day.  I cooked growing up and continued that tradition when we got married.  Now I have to eat a particular way for health reasons, so preparing meals is a must.  Today I got the bug to chronicle my Pyrex use. (I have my Butterfly Gold collection on my peninsula for autumn).  The day isn't over, but I won't be cooking anymore so here it goes!

It started with lunch.  Hubby is teaching a morning class and late afternoon class this term, so he gets to come home for lunch.  I'm not always sure exactly when he'll arrive. I like to have the food ready before he gets here and get the kitchen back in order, but I don't want the food to dry out or reheat it again, so I put it in the oven to keep it warm. 

Hubby's lunch du jour was Hungarian style goulash with red cabbage!  He was a happy boy!  I kept it warm in this plain gold 471.

Me, I couldn't eat what I fed him and opted for egg flower soup as I felt a bit under the weather but...

not enough to keep me from whipping up a batch of low starch/grain free brownies!  I need something sweet in the house and there really isn't anything I can buy in the store that I should eat. 

And since hubby is going to be home past dinner time and the oven was hot, I threw in some lasagna from the freezer for him.  I nibbled on turkey breast and avocado--I used Vernonware for that!  I used a Pyrex cradle I found at the thrift recently, for the first time.  I love it!  I see on ebay they came in different sizes.  Hope I find some more of the other sizes!!  I'm loving my new retired (for good I hope) life.  It gives me a lot more time to really enjoy my Pyrex!!

Vintage String Art - Who Would of Thought!

Yeah, that's kinda how I felt even before I showed this to my husband at the thrift store.  Recently when I purchased a pair of 1960s Syroco wall plaques, he was totally surprised. He said "I saw those, but I didn't think it was something you would've wanted".   I think that is because typically we pick up 1950s items.  Little did he know I was on the lookout for just the right piece of string art and I found it! I've seen these on ebay, no way I would pay those prices and then shipping on top of it.  This cost me a whopping $3.70!  I didn't measure it and I'm too lazy to get up and do it, but I think it's around 16" x 24".

The laundry room is evolving into a 60s-70s style.  I have mismatched curtains on the window and door, so I need to keep on the lookout for some curtains or fabric that I can sew up into matching pieces.

Handmade Copper Mid Century Wall Art by R. Dehl Coppercraft, Inglewood CA

I picked up this wonderful piece at the thrift for $4.  It is handmade copper art with a walnut frame and measures roughly 10"  x   23".    The bamboo design  goes beautifully with the large Chinese hand painted fishbowl planter my sweetie gave me many years ago!

The relief work in this piece is so beautifully executed.

Before and After - Repainted Vintage Fish Wall Pocket

Here is the ceramic/pottery fish wall pocket vase that I picked up at the thrift recently.  The brown paint had spots and blemishes and it was too dark for my liking so I decided to repaint it.  I primed it with many coats of white paint trying to avoid brush stroke marks as much as possible.  It took a lot of layers to cover up that dark brown paint (I used a blow dryer between coats). 

Before painting

Here you can still see the shadowy affect of the dark paint.  I painted 5 to 6 coats of cream after the white to create a warm base color and lighten it up even more.

(after)

I mixed two pink hued paints into a pearlescent white paint and watered it down to create a 1950s pink.  The pearlescent paint has a sheen to it which is nicer than a totally flat paint.  I probably put on a good 10 thin coats which gave me the ability to control the color saturation and also keep the surface smooth. Lastly,  I touched up some of the "mosaic" boundaries with a mix of  two brown paints and added touch of copper metallic to add shine.  It was painstaking, but it was worth it!  This will go in my guest room (pictured) that is a muted pink.  I think hubby was disappointed I didn't paint it turquoise instead, but we have a number of green/blue fish things already.

(I'm going to the thrifts today!  Hope I find something!)

Embroidered Vintage Pillowcases - Ironing is no Fun!

I'm sitting down sipping the rest of my coffee that went cold.  Found myself ironing this morning.  Though I dread ironing, I can't help but iron the bed linens.  I hang my linens (I have an indoor line system for the rainy season), and yes, I iron them.  I just love slipping into a bed of freshly ironed bed sheets!  Since we are both quite fragrance sensitive, I wash with soap nuts, oxygen bleach and baking soda resulting in linens that aren't masked with perfume but smell fresh as the summer breeze!

I haven't been looking more recently for vintage pillowcases--I have a lot.  I do check now and again just out of curiosity and now that I don't want them I don't see them.  Funny how that happens to me a lot.  Anyway, here are some of the pillowcases I picked up.  I was getting these for $1.99-$3.99 a pair.  I cook them in oxygen bleach in an old stock pot and then run them through the washer and they come out beautifully.

I had to re-embroider much of the flowers and foliage on the lambs case, but it was worth it.  I use these pillowcases for the extra pillows on our bed.

Vintage Rubbermaid - Turquoise!

Most of the time when I buy some vintage thing at the thrift, I clean it up right away.  Heaven knows my to do list is always longer than I like--so I like to get those thrift finds cleaned up pronto.  It doesn't always happen of course, I only just got to cleaning up this find today.  I scooped up this old Rubbermaid piece before it made it to the shelf.  Nothing screams everyday mid century household than turquoise!  Gotta love the gold starburst design!  This works great in our second bathroom with our vintage acrylic aqua dophins!

Vintage Kitsch - Ceramic Fish Wall Pocket

We haven't been finding much in the way of our kinda kitsch lately.  Hubby and me have been moaning about it the past week.  It gets old looking through shelves packed with stuff and finding nothing.  Well, I did run across a fish wall pocket.  I'm not into the brown body--it also has spots on the matte finish.  But I love the gold and silver accents that look like mosaic and the blue rhinestone eye.  I'm going to repaint it, not sure what color yet.  I'll post it again once it's done!