Cheeseboxes, strainers & sifters, and google reader

I've been told by my dear friend Linda over at Parker's Paradise that over 3 is a collection.  Well not really meaning to start a new collection, I bought the top 2 cheese boxes this summer.  They are newer but I couldn't pass 'em up at the great price they were going for, $2 and $1... especially the little one, isn't it so cute?  The bottom box I've had for a long time, it came from my great-aunt and uncle's home in Toulon, IL.  So my cheese boxes are not a collection yet until I buy one more, lol!  I bought the little child's apron for 25 cents at an antique store that was going out of business.  It was dirty white with stains.  A tea bath sure made it look a lot better.  This little display is sitting under my linen ladder in the dining room.

My strainers and sifters... another collection that was not intended to be but I just love old kitchen primitives and utensils.  When I am antiquing or thrifting, I am always drawn to kitchenware more than anything else (well besides my first love of jars, hehe).

Funny story on this particular sifter... We were at an antique mall in our little Amish community.  I had this sifter in our shopping cart.  A lady that works the mall (and also has booths there) comes by and tells us that we were looking in her booths and everything is at least half off or more.  She picked the sifter up out of the shopping cart and says "Like this.... it has a $6 price, I'll go $3 on it".  My friends and I look at each other and had a good laugh after she walked away.  I was willing to pay $6 since it was already in the cart, but hey if you wanna give it to me for $3, I'll take it.  Lol!

Also at this wonderful antique mall, I found this beautiful piece...

We were at the checkout waiting to be rung up so I walked around a bit more.  As I was walking back to the counter, I spotted something by this bowl that caught my eye so I stopped to look.  I put it back down and just leaned over to look inside this bowl.  My eyes could not even believe what the price was for this huge, heavy crock bowl... $5.00!!!  I was shocked!  I honestly have quit looking at the prices of these crock bowls because they are $28 and higher around here... never $5!  So I took it up to the front and asked her if maybe they forgot to put a number on the price because they are never 5 bucks.  She assured me that yes, it was the right price because it had a couple of cracks in it.  Yes, 2 small hairline cracks that are inside and can't even be seen from the outside. Woo Hoo!  It gladly became mine that day!  For now it holds my collecion of strainers and sifters.  Sorry for the blurriness (glad I'm not the only one with this picture-taking problem, haha)

The smallest sifter in the front that you can really only see the handle belonged to my grandma.  I thought the handmade linen on metal paddle strainer was a neat find for 2 bucks.  The strainer in the back I was going to make into a shoo-fly screen but I kept it intact.  I just adore the thriftiness that the owner of this piece showed by adding a little square of the mesh wire over a hole that had been made in the strainer.  That kind of thinking is just what my family does.  They throw nothing away and nothing new is bought until the piece can no longer be patched up.  Another good find for 2 bucks.

The nut grinder beside the bowl belonged to my step-FIL's mother.  When I took it from her home, there were still traces of nuts in the jar.  I just adore this little family heirloom.

It is finally fall-like weather here for us being down in the 70's and 80's... thanking God for this beautiful weather!

Friends, I'm so very excited!  I finally gave the Google Reader another chance and took some time to actually learn it.  I LOVE IT!  I knew my old way of reading and keeping up with blogs was not working out whatsoever and had to change!  Would you believe that I read and commented on every single post on every single blog that I followed?  Not really that I made myself, I'm just a talkative person when it comes to primitives and I always have lots to say, lol.  I would start at the end of my blogroll on my blog page and work my way up to the top.  Those of you that posted often stayed at the top so I never knew what you were up to because I was always so far down on my list.  So after basically taking the summer off I decided that just can't happen anymore because it put me months behind and became a chore to try and catch up.  That's just not right... blogging needs to be fun!  Now that I follow Google Reader, I can get a better picture of what's going on and it's so much easier to catch up!  Whew, who knew that it could be this easy?!  Hahaha!  Yeah, I know I'm a dork but glad you all love me any way.  =]

Have a blessed week dear friends~