Why I Oughta...

Just like the KneeKnockers from earlier this week , this little Angel isn't ceramic, so it falls outside my normal vintage Christmas purchase criteria.  But, with her little "Made in Japan" mark on her back and her price tag, I couldn't pass her up.  She'll find a place next to the rest of our Angels on the piano next year, I'm thinking.

All that chatter about there being a Velveeta shortage during the critical 'dip season' surrounding the Super Bowl? We found the motherload at the Oak Brook Costco yesterday.  Go get yourself a brick before it is gone.

My interest in Spaghetti Trim Christmas stuff is well documented.   Here's a post of a sleigh piece we got in November of 2012.   Here's a post of a little Santa lady that we bought in September of 2013 . And here's a photo of the first two Spaghetti Trim pieces we picked up back in 2011. If we were ever going to narrow the collecting of this Vintage Christmas stuff, it would probably be narrowed down to Spaghetti Trim.  The stuff is hard to find, but really easily to recognize.  Let's hope Nat doesn't force me to make those choices.

As we've done in the past, we shopped a bit for vintage Christmas finds when we were up in Michigan for the New Year.  There's usually some great deals on the Christmas stuff as the dealers don't really want to pack their goods up and wait a whole calendar year to try to sell it. We saw these two kneeknockers and while they're NOT what we typically buy (pottery), I couldn't pass them up.  Best part?  Just like a Cabbage Patch Kid, these guys have a mark on their tuckus. I'm going to take the next few days to show-off a few more of these vintage Christmas finds we scored.

We now have 2 'change jars' that sit on my desk at home every day.  One for the Babe.  One for the Bird.  This is made up of what I pull out of my pockets most every day.  Sometimes it is change.  Sometimes it is cash.  Some of it in the form of $2 bills from holidays like Easter.  $52.12 for the Babe.  $46.92 for the Bird.  Interesting how it worked out.  I tried to put even amounts of coins in each jar each day.  Guess I was off a bit.  The Bird is younger, so she has time on her side for the interest to catch up! Here's the history: 2012 Total:  $74.02 2011 Total:  $181.15 2010 Total:  $19.60 2009 Total: $53.51 Across those five years, the new average is $85.46.  This year, we were above the average.  Last year, we were below. 

Whenever we are up in Michigan, we always take at least one morning and head into South Haven for breakfast at Cafe Julia.  Nat gets a coffee and sometimes a proper breakfast, but I always stick to the main attraction here:  the granola cookies. For the first time since I've been there, they had this little sign up detailing the ingredients.  Or...at least... *some* of the ingredients.  That had me thinking:  could we re-create these cookies at home? Sure enough, at least one baker has tried.   Therese at A Piece of Cake Kitchen has a recipe she says is "better" than the real thing. I think Nat will have to put this to the test.  I'm happy to be the taster.

Take a look see.  Still lots of orange, but a new font and a little bit less argyle.  Had it running since the 1st of the year.  Here's how it looks on the desktop: Here's what it looks like on mobile: Here's what it looked like before the change: Here's a post from 2011 from another redesign .   The site has changed a bit over the past few years, but that appears to be the only post where I documented the changes.

Here's our 2013 Parrillo Family Christmas tree.  I think it was the best tree we've ever had.  Had a nice shape.  As always, it was a Fraser Fir. Yes, yes, yes.  I know.  It is 2014.  And Christmas is over.  But, I have a bunch of posts coming that wrap-up Christmas.  Have some patience while I deposit these thoughts/images here. Here's the post (on google+) of our 2012 Tree Here's the post of our 2011 Tree Here's the post of our 2010 Tree

This is a photo I took last week up in Coloma at the Great Lakes Antique Mall of the Christmas cabinet that I always check out. Here's the same cabinet last year .  From the quick glance, there isn't that much missing (or sold).  I see the Santa/Sleigh and Reindeers on the second shelf from the top on the right side gone.  That was the nicest piece in the whole case, imho, so I'm not that surprised that it sold. The spaghetti trim Santa that I was admiring last year is still there (far left, second shelf from the top).

We were in the Hobby Shop up in Watervliet over the New Year's holiday and The Babe spotted these vintage "New Old Stock" (as the guy called them) craft projects.  They were buy-one-get-one-free, so we picked up both of these. The Babe did the flower one all by herself.  I used a tweezer to clean up a lot of the little beads that were in the 'wrong' section, but this one was 99.5% her. These type of sun-catchers were all over Nat's Grandmother's kitchen.

We took the girls to Brookfield Zoo last Saturday.  The temperature was oddly warm which meant that we weren't the only ones who had the bright idea to go to Zoo Lights.  The traffic was a mess, but once we got inside (and parked in the South Lot!), we had a great time.  We even rode the carousel....which we never do (according to the Babe)!

Over the Christmas Break, the girls brought over some coloring books to Nat's folks house.  This isn't unusual.  We roll with coloring books.  The girls' "Uncle Bill" is a pretty artistic guy.  He was sitting down at the table and decided to join in on the fun.  10 minutes later, he was done with this beauty. The Babe, however, wasn't impressed.  She said..."That's not what color Pinkie Pie is supposed to be, Uncle Bill.  She's supposed to be pink and purple." To which Uncle Bill replied, "Well...I've never seen a pink and purple horse before."

In the sprit of the times, I figured I'd deposit this here for posterity's sake.

Had just 153 posts in 2013.  With a job change, a once-in-a-lifetime vacation and plenty going on around the house, it is no surprise that life got in the way of daily posting.  I had 58 posts on the family blog and 51 posts on the sockpuppet blog I write, so adding up the three numbers, we get 262, so that's not terrible, right?  Add in all the Google+ posts of the girls, and I'm sure I was over 365. 2014 is full of promise and here's to hoping to capture just a little sliver of what is happening around my world each and every day.