Archive | August, 2010
Going to see the Trolley Man
29 Aug
Ever since Joshua, George and I went to The Grove in L.A. and had a ride on the trolley, George has been talking all about the Trolley Man. Before going to sleep…”Mama, Trolley Man Sleeping”….first thing in the morning “TROLLEY MAN WAKE UP!!!”…and many, many times throughout the day I hear from another room “Trolley man driving…ding ding ding”. Since George’s excitement about the Trolley Man has not diminished we decided to pay a visit to the Trolley this afternoon, Travis wanted to find out what the excitement was all about!
Just as we turned into the parking structure of The Grove the little man’s head dropped in fatigue and stayed that we even when Travis took him out of the car and even when we walked around the Grove with the music surrounding us and the water show going on. We couldn’t believe it, the last time George slept in our arms must have been before he turned one! Well, when we did shake him awake he was all serious business on the Trolley and as you can see by the picture, Travis was about ready to have someone carry him in their arms! Enjoyed a hotdog and fries at the farmer’s market area chit chatting with some regulars.
Travis and I ended a great weekend having some vino (really enjoying Zinfandel wine right now) in the backyard once George was in slumberland…goodnight Trolley Man!
Unexpected treasures…
23 Aug
or other people’s junk! Difference between an estate sale and a yard sale? Estate sales you get to be snoopy and peruse through someones house…so much fun to wander from room to room, check out the house’s character and style and pick and choose what items you want to purchase. Kind of strange at times to actually open someone’s kitchen cupboards and pull out their dishes as if you are a guest visiting. Some homes are old and in some sort of disarray but if you take the time you will find great vintage items among many other musty possessions. Some are beautiful mansions with valuable items that are worth beyond the ‘garage sale’ change in my pocket. Paintings with a sale price of thousands and designer furniture that looks fit for a museum. One of my ultimate treasures that I found at an estate sale was my Le Creuset White Enamel Cast Iron set…for $40 my arms were filled with beautiful (yes, i believe my pots are beautiful!), cast iron cookware set. Pots and pans that are worth hundreds of dollars for ONE pot…I left with 5 pots and 5 pans. Upon leaving a man stopped me and indicated that he was a chef and often went to estate sales looking for the odd Le Creuset pot or pan as they are such good quality and the more you cook with them the more they retain flavor…he couldn’t believe I landed the whole set. That Le Creuset set has brought much joy to the Schneider kitchen!
So…back to this weekends estate sale. I seem to have acquired a few collections of things (yikes, I think we need to move to a bigger house soon!) and a Christmas theme of items too. Upon seeing the set of green glass dessert dishes I had a vision on my head of how beautiful they will look on my white plates at Christmas. Did I need to buy all eight? No, but I had a vision of the day we live back home in Canada and have the whole family over for dinner. I mean how nice would all eight of these delicate bowls look at each place setting…okay, I’ve convinced myself…time to start a little pile. The nutcracker’s were just too perfect to go along with my Christmas theme of dishes. Two of the nutcracker’s are made in Germany and have the tag that indicates they are from the 50’s…so much better then the one I looked at at Target last year…and these were added to my pile for only $5 for both (one is an amputee and has a broken arm). The other nutcracker (the birdwatcher) was at the second sale I went to that day and I just HAD to add him to my new collection…the 3 musketeers! The tiny tea set was just so sweet and I know just the niece that will enjoy hosting tea parties for her dolls with this set…and tiny enough to send in the mail!Seeing these frames made me think that they would be a nice thing to top a birthday present with…tied to the top with a pic of the birthday girl.
Driving home I was quite happy about my new collections and treasures. George was so happy playing with his new plane while I washed and put away the Christmas finds. I had to make room for next weeks’ sale after all!
