Thank you for stopping by after extended blog break! I’m still here. I was beginning to feel like a lurker – stopping by your blogs when I could but sometimes not leaving comments. There’s so much going on in my life behind the scenes; something had to take the back burner and I know it was the best decision. I found it is a relief to actually take a break – something I would not have dared to do in the past. There’s that expectation to keep the momentum going and keep on blogging. But as you may know, if I don’t have anything to blog about (or pictures to share more often than not!), then I keep a low profile. 🙂 But I decided not to wait another day to drop in – I’ve missed saying hello to the world, so here I am. And here’s a bit of what I’ve been up to…
Any excuse to bake! Nothing like making red and green M&M cookies.
Getting ready for the holidays. The lights are up. The tree is up. There is so much more on our traditional to-do list though – cut-out sugar cookies, painting plaster village pieces, making a fruitcake, visiting the National Christmas Tree….. and don’t forget those cards. Does anyone else send handwritten greetings anymore? I like to – but I’m sadly behind schedule.
A highlight this month was our oldest son’s robotics competition – his team made it to the FLL State Championships in Harrisonburg, VA. It was so fun to see the many teams and their amazing robotic designs. It was a weekend of intense competition from presentations and team challenges to matches in speed and skill.
Would it surprise you if I told you that I managed to find a FANTASTIC antique mall in the area?? Of course I did my research and I found that the largest (90,000 sq. foot) antique mall on the East Coast happened to be 25 minutes away! The Factory Antique Mall is a destination that truly rivals my favorite antiques town in PA. This mall just kept going, and going, and going…. and it was full of good stuff – not vintage junk, if you know what I mean. It would be interesting to see how this mall functioned years ago as a coat factory.
I can’t help it. I’ve always been drawn to vintage pups. Especially those sweet Scotties. One of these days I’ll show you one of my Scottie collections!
*sigh* Two favorites together – an old spool cabinet and a pie safe – with a great paisley pattern. We’ve been looking at pie safes since the year we were married way back in our days in Monterey. We frequently recall the one that got away – you know, that piece that you should have bought and years later regret. There was one we recall vividly (and I even took notes about it back when I actually carried a notebook while antiquing) made of walnut and a charming cut-out in the top drawer, likely made by a mouse.
We were lucky to find some special pieces this time around, our favorite being a beautiful old nativity. In addition to the holy family, there are 15 figurines made from chalkware, I believe – including a large camel. It really was a good fortune to find this set the day it was put out by the vendor. My husband likes to decorate for the holidays by first putting out our nativity set that he brought back from Israel, and telling the children the story of the birth of Jesus.
“And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ~Luke 2:9-12~
Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of the week!
– Cindy
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