Time out to thrift shop.

Enjoy life and do things slow. That's my new motto. I've just stopped pushing and wishing things were different and so far it all gets done and along the way I'm having some fun. Well let's put it this way I am slowing down because the body says to. I had to make a drop off at the donation center so we took the time to do a quick walk through. We found a few new items for the store.

First to be rescued were these two very lovely all hand embroidered, and well done if I do say so, cloths. After soaking what seemed like one hundred years of dust out of them we discovered the beauty of these pieces that must have taken forever to do. They are done in black and red and even the borders were hand hemmed and embroidered. 

Also found was a vintage Vera scarf and two Christmas print napkins. The Vera scarf has the lady bug on it.

We found a pair of Danish style wooden candle sticks and some purple Mikasa pieces. I loved the lavender on the shelf and when my daughter picked it up and it was Ben Seibel Mikasa she got excited. We looked for other pieces but these were all we found. It's simple and attractive. I also went out to an estate sale and found a few small items for myself, like brand new slippers and a pair of vintage webbed lawn chairs that need some serious cleaning, but for $1.50 each I can take my tired bones outside next summer and sit in something of comfort. The webbing on them is in good shape but they are the kind of chairs that you can take the old webbing off of and replace easily by just loosening a screw. They also have the kind of legs that don't dig into the ground and leave you off balance. (Oh I so just blamed that on the chairs). So hopefully with a little WD-40 and some cleaning I can bring them back to awesome condition. One more thing on my list of to do's. 

Dehydrating to keep from wasting.

First up: Apples

This is my 30 something year old dehydrator that just keeps on going. I hope I get a lot more use out of it. With apples being plentiful and reasonably priced I have been dehydrating them so that I don't waste them. As much as I love apple pie I just couldn't justify making a pie and not eat it. When I do I will make a 4 inch pie and know it will get eaten. Veteran's Day this year was spent with my Grandson's and I discovered that they like apples. They finished what I had left in the refrigerator and would have consumed all of the dehydrated one's too if I hadn't had other snacks for them. I'm so glad they love nutritious food. The thing about dehydrating is that you start out with a lot and end up with a small jar full. 

Today however it is time to do the potatoes. Some how I thought that I needed more potatoes than I could eat, but the price was right. I've cooked and cooked potatoes and filled the boys up with potatoes and now it is time to dehydrate some. After all of this I think I still have 15# left. I may end up doing more later in the week so that I don't lose them. Storage in a small apartment is tight, but I can vacuum seal dehydrated potatoes in jars and tuck them some where until I need to use them. 

I'll have to head over to Pinterest to seek a couple of simple recipes. I never in my life would have thought that I would still be using this dehydrator for anything other than the jerky I make for gifts, but when you don't have that big family around any more, and it costs less to buy the larger amounts I guess it's the thing to do. I'm building a reputation as the homesteader in the townhouse.