Shopping, thrift store style!

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I was in the mood to hit some garage sales on Saturday but it was so hot on Friday (about 102 degrees), I think everyone that planned on having a garage sale changed their minds because I hardly saw any garage sale signs as I was driving around. I decided to hit the thrift stores instead and I found some really nice things! I found that planter above. I have quite a few of these in all different shapes and sizes. I get so excited each time I find one! It was $7.99 but everything in the store was 30% off so I got it for $5.59 with tax! I bought that hydrangea at the grocery store a couple weeks ago for $5.99. It was a perfect fit inside the new planter!

I found this white enamel pot at The Salvation Army for $7.50. I love that this can go from stove top, to oven, to table top! I polished the brass knob on the lid with some brass polish but then decided I liked it tarnished better so I didn't polish the side handles. I really love this! I'm going to leave it out on top of my stove for awhile so I can enjoy it!

I was so happy when I found the huge mixing bowl above. I wish it were a vintage one but it's not. It's marked "Made in China" on the bottom. Oh well...it was $6.99 minus 35% off! What a deal! I wanted to bake some bread so I could put the dough in the bowl to rise but since it was 100 degrees outside I decided not too!

I found this adorable blue bird platter at The Salvation Army for $7.50. It's really stained. I thought I would be able to get those stains out with a good soaking but I couldn't. I hung it in my dining room but I'm not sure the neat-freak inside me likes looking at those stains...

It was a good thrifting day...lots of nice things for hardly any money!

I'm joining in on Rhoda's (Southern Hospitality) Thrifty Monday today. Stop over there to see everyone's thrifty treasures!

Regarding my last post about Susan Branch. She sent me an email and said she loved reading all your comments and she would love to reply to them all but she's busy writing her next book. I can hardly wait for that to come out! I just adore her work. I have almost every one of her books and I have her calendar hanging in my cubicle at work! I can't believe I was emailing back and forth with her! So exciting!

I'm a friend of Susan Branch

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Did you know that I'm a friend of Susan Branch? Yes...we go way back! Well, not really because she doesn't know who I am but I sort of feel like her friend because of Facebook! You can become friend too if you are on Facebook. It's not like it's just a bunch of fans talking about how great she is, Susan actually contributes! She shares videos and it's sort of a peek into her life on Martha's Vineyard and you know how much I LOVE Martha's Vineyard!!!

If you are registered on Facebook just do a search for "Friends of Susan Branch" they're trying to reach 1,000 members by Labor Day. If you aren't a registered Facebook member it's really easy to register...just don't blame me if you get addicted!

Update: What a great day! Susan left a comment here and sent me an email with some of her personal photos to share with you! Can you believe that? It sure made my day!

I've included her comments below each photo:

Painting for my new book . . .

Light in dining room touching on beeswax and vintage candle holders. . .

Getting ready for dinner under the arbor on Martha's Vineyard, Joe is making swordfish.

My living room looks to me like your cup of tea!

Yes Susan that is my cup of tea!!!! It's gorgeous! All your photos are so beautiful! We're all looking forward to your new book! Thank you so much for sending these photos to share with my readers!

Happy Friday!

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Click photo to enlarge

Yes, another mosaic today...at least this one is all my own photos! It's 3:30 AM and here I am blogging...I can't sleep. My car broke down AGAIN! I guess that's what happens when your car has almost 150,000 miles on it! The voltage meter is dropping this time and the battery is just about drained. I'm hoping it's an inexpensive, quick fix like my overheating problem earlier this week!

Update: It was the Alternator! Luckily that was only $250 (I consider any car repair under $300 good)! The bad part is I had to ride my bike to the garage to pick up it up and it's 98 degrees outside! It only took me about 15 or 20 minutes to get there but I thought I was going to pass out I was so hot! All is good now though!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Cupcake Love

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click here for photo credit

There are so many beautiful cupcakes on Flickr! The mosaic above is just a small sample. They're too pretty to eat though!

And look at this darling cupcake pin cushion that Esther Sunday made for me! Isn't that adorable! Thank you Esther!

I'm in a much better mood today than I was yesterday. My car is fixed, my cable TV and Internet connections are fixed, my muscles are no longer sore and I got a free pizza yesterday just because I drive a Camaro! Did you hear about the free pizzas that Papa John's Pizza were giving away yesterday if you drove up in a Camaro? It worked out perfectly...I really wasn't in the mood to cook dinner last night!

Beautiful Hydrangeas

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I'm posting a photo mosaic again today because it's been a busy week here!

I helped my son Vince move all day Sunday. I left for his home in Davis at 6:00 am on Sunday and didn't get home until 10:00 pm that night. It's less than a 2 hour drive each way but it took me 3 hours to get home because of road work. My muscles are so sore from moving! He had 13 boxes full of books along with many other boxes and he moved into a second floor apartment! It was nice to spend the day with him though even if it involved manual labor in the heat! Actually that day, until the time I left, has been the best part of my week!

On the way home from Davis, while I was stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic my car kept overheating so I had to pull over a couple times and turn off the engine and let it cool. I took it to the mechanic this morning and I'm hoping it just needs a new thermostat and nothing major! I really want this car to make it until next spring when I planned on buying a new (newer, not brand new) car! I'm a little stressed right now! I'm on my lunch hour and still no word on what's wrong with it!

Last night I came home and my cable was out....no TV or Internet all night! That was horrible! I felt so disconnected. I'm a news junkie and I hate not knowing what's going on in the world! I'm hoping my car is fixed by 2:30 this afternoon so I can rush home and meet the cable guy! He's supposed to be there between 3:00-5:00. At least they told me there's no charge for that!
So...no car, no Internet (except at work) and no TV and a lot less money in my bank account, thanks to back-to-school shopping, an outrageously-expensive ASB card, school pictures and the high school photography and 3-D Design class fees I know are coming...

Lauren started school this week so it's back to the morning rush to get her to school on time! I'm giving one of her friends a ride to school this year and her dad drops her off around 6:00 AM on his way to work so I have to make sure I'm up by 6:00 AM to open the door for her. I've had no problem with that so far because for some reason I'm waking up at 4:30 AM and not being able to go back to sleep! Ughhh!

Did I just whine about everything? I hate reading whiny blogs! Sorry, but you know I never rarely do that here. I guess I just needed to vent today. Hopefully the "positive-thinking Cindy" will be back tomorrow!

UPDATE: It's all good, I'm in a much better mood now. My car was low on coolant, which didn't even occur to me because I just took it to Jiffy Lube last Friday for an oil change and they told me the added more coolant. Today my mechanic looked for leaks but didn't find anything so I think the guys at Jiffy Lube messed up. My mechanic charged me $47 for the diagnosis so I'm going to call Jiffy Lube...I think they should reimburse me!

I made it home in time to meet the cable guy and he fixed the cable so I now have TV and the Internet again...I'm so happy. The electric company had cut the cable when they were trimming the trees around the power lines yesterday!

Do you see a pattern here....other people's mistakes caused me all this stress! Oh well, all is well now! That's all that matters!

The Beautiful Eden Rose

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My all time favorite rose, hands down, is the "Eden" rose, also known as "Pierre de Ronsard". I'm really hoping mine takes off next year! I heard the 3rd year is when they really start to flourish. The photo in the middle of the mosaic is my "Eden" and the other photos are from other Flickr members. Aren't they gorgeous? I could just stare at that photo mosaic all day! If you click on the photo to enlarge it you get the full effect and you can almost smell them!

Do you have a favorite rose? Or a favorite color rose?

When I was in my 20s I hated roses and I dug a bunch of them out and replaced them with junipers...what in the world was I thinking? I'm older and wiser, and have much better taste now!

Making Peach Jam

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My favorite jam is homemade peach jam so Saturday when I saw some nice peaches on sale at the grocery store I decided to make some.

You need 6 cups of diced peaches. I think it took about 7 large peaches to make 6 cups.

First you want to peel and dice the peaches. I dip the whole peaches in boiling water for about 20 seconds and then into ice water...this makes them easier to peel.

Next you want to squeeze 6 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Add the diced peaches, the lemon juice and 3 cups of sugar to a heavy pot and add about a teaspoon of butter. The butter is optional but it does keep the jam from foaming and it also makes it nice and clear, which to me looks more appetizing than cloudy-looking jam. Cook the mixture at a slow boil for about 30 minutes.

While the peaches are cooking you want to sterilize the jars and lids. I run the jars through the dishwasher and try to time it so they are finished and still hot when the jam is finished cooking. I sterilize the lids by dropping them in boiling water that has been removed from the heat.

Next you want to fill the jars. I didn't get a photo of that because I was rushing to get them filled while everything was still hot! If you didn't add the butter then you'll want to skim off the foam before you fill the jars.

Rather than canning with a hot water canner I use a steam canner. It keeps your kitchen cooler and it's so much safer than a huge pot of boiling water. The steam canner works well for jams, fruit, tomatoes but you can't use it to can meat...but who cans meat anymore? Mine is called The Ideal Fruit Canner but I didn't see any new ones for sale on the internet so maybe they don't make this brand any longer.

The steam canner is so easy, you just put some water in the bottom, then the rack and load up the jars, put the lid on and turn up the heat and wait for the steam to come out the side vents. Then you turn the heat down a little and set the timer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes you remove the lid and place the jars on a kitchen towel. Right away you start hearing the lids pop down and you know it worked.

You just want to make sure when you press down on each lid that it firm and sealed.

Then you can decorate them! I used paper doilies from The Dollar Tree on top of mine. I just slipped a rubber band over the doily and then tied on some ribbon and some Mary Engelbreit gift tags I bought at Michaels a couple years ago.

Now I have a special homemade gift ready on hand for my friends. I think I'm going to make more next weekend for us to keep.

Peach Jam

6 Cups peeled and diced peaches

3 Cups of sugar

1 Teaspoon butter (optional)

6 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a large heavy pot. Reduce the heat to Medium/Medium Low and continue to slowly boil for 30 minutes. Fill hot, sterilized jars and following canning instructions that come with your canner.

Window Shopping in Silicon Valley

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Last evening Lauren and I went to Santana Row for a little window shopping fun. Since I didn't have anything for my blog today I decided to take my camera along to share a little bit of Silicon Valley with you. For those of you who used to live in this area and have since moved away (and I know there are quite a few of you out there), this is where the old Town and Country Village shopping center was located...across the street from Valley Fair Shopping Center. As you can see, it's a whole lot different than that old shopping center!

Santana Row was started when Silicon Valley was in it's hey-day before the big dot-com bust. By the time it was finished it was post 9/11 and companies were laying off and people were moving out of the area. Everyone was wondering how this upscale shopping center would make it but it has, and the restaurants are always packed every time I come here!

On the ground level are restaurants and shops and up above are condos and lofts.

Below is Anthropologie...

Vera Bradley...

A better peek through the window...

Burberry is here...

And Gucci...

And lots of other shops too...

There are even tables set up to play chess...
or you can play chess on the ground...

One of my favorite restaurants...

Lots of pretty plants and flowers...

This is why Lauren wanted to go...

I love seeing the areas around where bloggers live...whether it's a small town or New York city, I find it so interesting! I hope you enjoyed your little window-shopping tour at Santana Row in Silicon Valley!