Vintage finds

 

Typewriter ribbon (no, not even the typewriter film that I used in college, but real nylon ribbon).

 

1998 Mapsco

 

1989 Oklahoma map

1989-1990 Missouri map

 



 

1976 travel atlas

 

Users manual for the first cell phone we owned.

 

You see the years on the maps?  There are no newer ones because 1989 was the year my father passed away.  Mom and I rarely traveled after that, so our need for maps dwindled. 

 

Love the cell phone user's manual.  Wow, cutting edge technology in 1997!

Clean up in the spice aisle....

Another tick mark can now be checked off my giant To Do List.  The spice cabinet has now been cleaned, sorted, and arranged.  A small thing, but a victory nonetheless. 

 

The other day I showed some of the things I found when cleaning out this cabinet.  Here's what else I found:

 

I really think this bottle of McCormick "Ground Fancy Cloves" belonged to my grandmother, but maybe not.  All I know was when it was purchased, ground cloves cost .59 and were good for potato soup and cranberry sauce!

 

Here's another vintage item.  Hidden Valley Ranch Blue Cheese salad dressing mix--.43.  Please note that it is artificially flavored.  

 

This is Ann Page brand unflavored gelatin.  Ann Page?  Some quick research revealed that this was exclusively an A&P brand.  I can't even remember when the last time the Dallas area had an A&P store.  I think mom shopped at A&P when daddy was in medical school (yes, the 1950s!), so that gives me a clue of how old this stuff is. 

 

Here's the end result:

 

Beautiful!!

What should I tackle next?  The pantry, or getting all the culled books out of the study?



You might be a hoarder if... (part 2)

Any of these things can be found in your kitchen cabinets:

 

A collection of six sets of salt and pepper shakers, plus five--count 'em--five stray pepper shakers, one stray salt shaker, and four assorted salt and pepper grinders.

 

The world's oldest baking chocolate.  I know that my mom has had that paper-wrapped stuff since I was little because I remember tasting it and thinking it sure didn't taste like a Hershey bar!

The world's oldest marshmallow--found loose on the top shelf of the spice/baking cabinet.  No telling how long it had been up there.  It actually looked worse in real life; it was dried out and dark!  Yuck!

 

The world's oldest onion soup mix.  Another yuck!  Mom had this stuck in a tupperware container on the top shelf of that cabinet.  Another item of indeterminate age--I'm betting on at least 20!

 

I'm pretty sure that some of the spices that I have yet to go through belonged to my grandmother, who died 46 years ago. 

 

Yep, good times!

One thing accomplished!

I finally accomplished something!  One thing!  But it's something!  I finished organizing all my and my mom's jewelry.  I now have a designated "jewelry closet."  And before any of you start plotting on finding my house and snatching up all of these fabulous jewels, I'll let you know that all of it is costume jewelry! 

The first picture is the only jewelry that isn't in the jewelry closet.  This is a drawer that my mom had painstakingly fitted with handmade little dividers for her earrings and pins.  Over the years, of course, the jewelry collection outgrew this drawer.  I decided to put mom's and gramdmother's vintage earrings in here.  My grandmother was quite the jewelry collector as well, apparently.

The second and third pictures are of the closet itself.  All necklaces are on hangers so that they won't tangle and are clearly visible.  The drawers and cases hold all the watches, earrings, pins, pendants, bracelets, and rings. 

Those eleven cases on the top are all earrings!  Well, one case holds daddy's cufflinks and tie bars.  The top case holds the pendants, pins, and miscellaneous jewelry that is so campy or out-of-date I would never consider wearing it.  The middle case has the watches, the rings, and other miscellaneous items, like shoe and scarf clips.  The bottom two cases hold bracelets!  I had so many, I had to divide them up:  vintage, chains, stretchy, cuffs, and link. 

Boy, it feels good to have at least one thing accomplished!  Only 9999 more to go!



I did the unthinkable tonight:  I took pictures of the things above and then threw them away!  They were on mom's vanity.  The first was a kitty that held perfume.  The perfume has long since dried up and, well, I just thought I could probably do without it.

The "flower pot" was a gift from me in 1971 or 1972.  If you can't tell, the centers of the flowers are lipsticks.  They are completely dried out and discolored, but mom hung on to it. 

I winced, but tried to remember that I need the memories, not the things themselves.  Sigh...no wonder people end up on Hoarders. 

Mom's ride

Before the good people from Dallas CAN Academy came and picked up mom's car, I needed to clean it out.  Have you ever noticed, that no matter how fastidious someone is, there are always personal effects in their car?  For most of us, our cars are our little "home away from home."  I know I spend a lot of time in my car, especially with Dallas traffic.

Mom spent less time than the average person in her car, and yet there were all kinds of things stowed in the trunk and the various pockets and glove compartment. 

I found the whisk broom (remember those?) that she kept to clean off my father's gravestone when she went to the cemetary to put out flowers.  There were also an assortment of maps--most years, if not decades, old.  I even found a travel guide put out for the Bicentennial (yes, we're talking 1976!).  She kept a change of clothes in the trunk too, just in case.  It was so like her to think about the "what-ifs."

The object that I found to be most revealing of her personality was the small notebook that she kept all of her "just in case" information.  Years ago, I gave her a small binder (like a personal organizer) and she filled it with the information she needed just in case something happened.  When she was younger, she carried it around in her purse.  As she got older, and she could no longer carry anything more than her billfold and cell phone, the notebook was relegated to her car.  She had a separate notebook with similar information in the house.  She was "old-school" and didn't have anything stored in a cell phone, like I do.  No, paper was good enough for her.

When the nice tow-truck driver from Dallas Can Academy came to pick up her car, all I could do was cry.  He probably thought I was some deranged lady, crying over a car, but he was nice enough to ask if I'd taken a picture of it.  I said that I had and he reminded me that it was going to a good cause.  I cried anyway.

I just received a piece of paper in the mail, saying that it had been sold at auction (that's how they handle all donations, and why they can take cars that are running or not).  They received $4300 for it!  My cousin's son was only $4000 off the mark!  I hope that someone loves the pimp mobile as much as mom did.

What we save

My mom and dad were born in 1928 and grew up in the Great Depression.  The idea of "saving" was ingrained--at least in my mom.  She saved zip-loc bags (washed them and reused them); the same went for frozen dinner trays, plastic water bottles, plastic grocery bags, wrapping paper, string, and any other thing that could be reused, or used for a different purpose.  Today, we live in a throw-away society, but in the earlier part of the 20th century, people kept everything because they might need it and not be able to get more. 

I suppose you could call Mom a "pack-rat"--or today's favorite term, "hoarder"--but at least everything was very organized and clean!  She never let her saving get out of hand, like the people you see on those television shows.  There was no trash and no filth, but I have found every available spot filled with stuff she saved. 

It's interesting to me what people, even my own mother, find important enough to save.  Everything my mom saved had some intrinsic value.  She was especially keen on clothing.  She saved most of my father's shirts, thinking that she would wear them.  She also saved many of his coats and jackets, again thinking that she would wear them.  She saved the old lenses from her glasses.  She saved magazines that she liked:  Decorating and Craft Ideas from 1974-1979, American West from 1968-1975, assorted Country magazines, and assorted Mary Engelbreit Home Companion magazines. 

Now, before you think I'm criticizing, let me tell you a secret--I'm right there with her!  Oh, I don't save plastic zip-loc bags or plastic bottles, but I'll save just about everything else (except newspapers--never been a newspaper saver).  I had a closet full of clothes from the 80s--until a friend staged an intervention!  Now I have a closet full of 90s and 00s clothes.  I collect stuff; if I have more than two of anything, I'll add to the collection. 

Another amazing fact about my beautiful mother who saved everything:  she saved money too!  She had enough gumption and determination to get my dad through college and professional school on one very small salary. 

Lastly, I love looking through the things that made her her!  It's like a little peek into a time capsule and what made up her world.  The best part is finding things I made for her--she kept them because they were important to her!  It makes me feel good to know that she loved me enough to keep all my tokens of love, no matter how small.

And so, in continuation of my vintage offerings, today's are as follows:

Every lady needed classy white gloves!

These were for putting over your curlers while you worked around the house.

Vintage recipes

Found these above mom's stove.  Except for the first picture, everything belonged to my grandmother, who passed away in 1968.

Holiday recipes from the Garland Daily News, November 1970

 

Spry's veal birds and crispy taters!  What's a "veal bird?"

A recipe on the back of a Canton Bank counter check

Sliced sweet pickles, on Motor Parts and Machine Co. letterhead.  What does "make brine to carry an egg" mean?

Three of the many fruit cake recipes that my grandmother had.  She must have loved fruit cake!

 



Olive-stuffed flank steak from August 1954

My mom always said that my grandmother was a wonderful cook.  She certainly had some interesting recipes!