I got them on eBay in January of '07. My brother and SIL had gotten me a gift certificate and naturally it was burning a hole in my pocket! I came across the following auction and my heart skipped a beat:
Antique China Set Delicate Pink Floral Pattern
The auction description:
"My grandmother had these pieces that match her Haviland tea sets and platter (see other auction). These pieces have no manufacturer marks on the bottom, so I do not know who made them. They actually belonged toher grandmotherso are very old.
The pieces are very lovely, almost transparent. The design is a delicate pink floral with green vines and leaves. Along the rim there is a very light, raised additional design; white raised frieze. The pieces show very little wear, *one tea cup does have a very, very small chip*. However, these peices of china are in good shape and there are no other cracks or chips. The serving pieces have most of the gold gilt intact.
In the pictures, there are sponge liners between the plates, that is the darker beige you see between them.
Shipping will depend upon location but I will have this packed carefully by the local shipping service. I also suggest insurance."
Sounded great, right?? She did have a low feedback number, but hey... everyone has to start somewhere right?? And it was 100% positive.
I covered all my bases and emailed for a shipping estimate.
Q: Hi there! How much for shipping and insurance to zip -----? Also, how will the set be packaged? Thanks!
A: The shipping and insurance should be around $60 to your zip. I plan to take it to a pack and ship store and have them package it properly. I am assuming they will use bubble wrap and peanuts to be sure it will not break. I am not sure how much they will charge for this service, but I will add that cost on to the shipping fee. I esimated the insurance at $100, but can up that if you would like. Enjoy Bidding!
Hmmm. Sounded OK, RIGHT?!!!
The asking bid was $50. That is how much my gift certificate was for, woohoo! I could handle the shipping.
Oh, did I mention this was a set of china for TWELVE??
TWELVE!!!
I was the only bidder, how exciting! Before paying, I emailed the seller and told her I wanted a copy of the reciept for the packaging, etc.
I waited impatiently for my beautiful set to arrive. Finally I heard the drop at the door. When I picked up the first box, my heart sank.
You could hear clanking china.... and I just knew it was bad.
Now mind you, I expected to have a broken plate here, a teacup handle busted there.... or a crack or two. But nothing prepared me for what you are about to see.
Please~ grab a tissue and perhaps the hand of someone you love and watch the following slideshow. Be sure to enlarge it by clicking in the botton righthand corner.
Ahhh... remember those "sponge liners" the seller talked about in her description? She failed to mention that they were DRY ROTTED. Not that a perfectly spongey 1/8 inch liner would've protected anything fragile what-so-ever from the UPS man!
Was this woman insane?!?!
No bubble wrap... Oh, I take that back. The large platter and small platter were spooned together and wrapped in one sheet of it. You saw how that turned out.
The bottom of each stack of plates was on the bottom of the boxes. There was china dust in the bottom of those zipped *ahem* china protectors. Each stack knocked against each other again and again within the mere handfull of peanuts inside. Oh, the agony.
So I email her and tell her I have broken china. I was trying to be as nice as I could, I was so afraid I would not get reimbursed.
To my surprise she reimbursed my money before I even sent her pictures of the damage. (She's something, huh?!)
She appoligized and wanted to call me to say whe was sorry. Oy, I did NOT want to talk to this woman. Seriously, how stupid could someone be?
I told her that each and every peice should have been bubble wrapped separately. Then she told me that the platter was bubble wrapped.
She was so totally clueless, what could I possibly say?!
Finally all I could muster was "I think we've both learned a lesson here."
It's been over two years and I'm still sick about it. I'm sick that she would even SELL precious family china in the first place. (If she was telling the truth). I didn't save the original photos from the auction, or if I did I cannot find them. But they were all there... perfect and in tact.
As I went though each dish I just prayed for a service for four. I barely got it.
Frankly I'm surprised any of it made it at all... especially the more delicate pieces such as the gravy boat and dishes with lids.
I left her positive feedback; how could I not? I wrote, "Gracious seller remedied issues with damaged goods received. Thank you!"
In the end I guess I made out like a bandit. I'm sure Penny of Lavender Hill Studio would've been rather happy to get a box like that, LOL!
I have saved the peices and do plan to do a mosaic of some sort.... just waiting for the right project to come along.
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
Thanks for "listening".....
OH! By the way... inside the box was a reciept from Walmart for bubble wrap and peanuts, totaling about $5.00.
My sister and I had both been itching to cut our locks after the wedding. Here's a before shot taken at the bachelorette party~ Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, MO.
I cannot figure this picture out as I am actually a bit taller than her and we both had on flip flops with the same height... hmmm.... did you stand on your tippies at the last second Sis or is that old floor that warped, lol!
For those who may be wondering, we are 13 years apart.
Jonna knew she was going chin length. She liked the pic on the bottom right, only not so short around the face. (click to enlarge)
I was so excited to start cutting!!
Say buh-bye!
AYE-AYE-AYE-AYE-AYE!!!!
Jonna's hair is incredibly thick. I mean really, REALLY thick. I razored it quite a bit to soften, but if you razor or thin it out too much it can make thick hair even more poofy; and make the layers lay funny.
Cutting all the weight off unleashed some great natural wave. She'll be able to scrunch it and difuse it for a different look.
Here I dried it using a hot air brush by Conair. This is my old brush that she uses at home. The newer ones have soft bristles to help grab the hair. If you are able to use a round brush and separate dryer, that's great! But these are wonderful if you aren't that coordinated.
There's nothing like a big round brush for volume and lift. Use the largest one you can fit in your hair if you don't want any curl.
After I dried it I went over the bottom layers with a flat iron. (I use a Chi iron in the salon)
Ta-dah! No more tangles!! LOL!
Here are some more befores of mine. I admit, I'm rather missing it now~ but I'm still glad I cut it. I really only liked it when I curled it... and had to sleep in rollers then sit under the dryer for an hour the next day! So you can guess I didn't do it often.
Straight and natural~ Red fades so quickly, I wish it would stay like this!
See the diffrence in fading in a month? Geesh. This was taken on the 4th of July.
And here's the after. I lopped off about 8 inches too. I slept in rollers the night before this pic~
Dress is vintage, late 40's-early 40's. My pockets are stuffed with my cell phone and junk; can you imagine that back then? LOL!
You'll hafta click to enlarge if ya wanna see the back. Not that exciting. The same, just shorter! Uh oh!
Bathroom snapper!
This is in the Japanese garden at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, or Shaw's Garden.
Be sure to stop by Sheila's at Note Songs for more Bathroom Beauty Snappers!
Whew, being the Matron of Honor is a huge job! Helping the bride find her perfect gown was among the largest tasks, but once that was done things started to fall in place.
I had to get busy and make the invitations for her shower. This took forever because I couldn't decide what to do. I finally made up my mind; I wanted to shape the words on the invite in the form of a wedding cake. Ok, cool. Well, the programs I have would not let me do it the way I wanted. So I found an invitation online, (tsk, tsk!), and used that. I completely changed it tho. I had to first make it black and white, take some birthday candles off of the top, erase their fonts and wording, etc. But I am happy with the results. My sister loves glitter and bling, so I lined each cake with glitter and then sprayed them all with opalescent glitter spray. Made about fitty of 'em. I made sure to put Bridal Luncheon so guests would know there was FOOD and not just cake and punch.
I found orange and pink index cards to send to everyone so they could bring their favorite recipe for the bride. Sorry for the lousy pics, there were some better shots but I'd have to edit out the info again and I don't feel like it! :P
I thought it would be cute to have all orange and pink foods for the event.... except for the chicken salad sandwiches! Kevin made those for me~ SO good!
Thanks so much for all of your help sweetie! Couldn't have done it without ya~
Yes, those are nekkid butts on his apron. His parents bought it for him at Mt. Rushmore. Er, that's supposed to be the "back" of Mt. Rushmore... Kevin added halved red grapes and dried cherries for color.
I made 50 pink and orange swirled cheesecake cupcakes. They were fun, but I will never try to make that many again!
A favorite fruit salad recipe of mine: A can of peach pie filling and whatever fruit you want!
Cut the peaches up in smaller chunks and fold in fruit. So simple. I used fresh strawberries, raspberries, and a can of drained mandarin oranges here. But I love it with sliced bananas, pineapple, apples, kiwi, blueberries, etc.
Next to that I had port wine cheese with crackers.
Shown below is the lovely platter of chicken salad on croissants, and you can see the pink and orange salad dressings~
Used cherry flavored craisins and carrots for color in the lettuce salad~ radichio was also in the mix for a nice shade of pink.
Pink and orange punch anyone? Diet Cherry 7-UP and raspberry sherbert in one jar, Diet Sunkist and orange sherbert in the other~ Is it ok to get excited about plastic utensils?
The colors just looked so pretty wrapped around these! These centerpieces have really gotten some mileage. I made them for my wedding; adorned with wide lace and navy ribbon. Then switched out the ribbon to gold for my inlaw's 50th anniversary. Then took off the lace and added pink and black ribbons with rhinestone buckles for my sil's bridal shower. And now orange and pink beading!
I lucked out snagging these pink and orange wrapped candies. They are Hershey's BLISS~ Chocolates filled with raspberry flavor!
The deep fuschia geraniums were an awesome find. If you look closely, the centers are orange! I gave these out as prizes.
I found a cute shower game online. You need a peice of posterboard, markers, pens and paper. Place the posterboard on the floor. Ask each guest to come and trace around their hand, leaning over without bending their knees. (I alternated pink and orange markers between each player.)
While this was going on I had the other two bridesmaids jotting down everything that was being said during this time.
Once everyone had their turn, I announced to everyone that "you might hear the following coming from the newlyweds' honeymoon suite"... Unbeknownst to them, here's what our guests blurted out:
I'm not doing that!
It's easier if you spread your legs.
That wasn't so bad...Next!
Bend your butt that way!
Im not that coordinated!
What in the world did you think of this for?
Lets get this over with.
Don't rip your pants!
Aren't you glad you lost all that weight?
I have to take my shoes off to shrink~
It was hard when I went down.
Just bend your knees and go down!
My big butt in the air!
Is there a significance to the hand?
Nobody said she couldn't sit down.
Don't rip your pants, we didn't bring any extra!
It looks like a big elephant hand!
Leave it to Jonna to have asprin!
Going...still going...
There'll be no more of that!
It was hilarious! Lots of fun since no one suspected!
I think the bride enjoyed herself, and I hope the guests did too.
I especially liked how the veil turned out. Looked like sherbert!
Here is my lil' sis Jonna, and her *then* fiance' Richie.
Richie is in the Missouri Air National Guard, (as is my brother), and is an Avionics Electrical Technician.
Jonna is a registered nurse, working in the NICU in one of Missouri's leading hospitals caring for infants born premature or with other complications.
Note the pinstriping/graphics on their Vue. This was hand done by a family friend; M.K. John Studio. He does fabulous work. Makes me want a new car so I can have something done!
If you squint or click to enlarge the photo, you can barely see the reflection of their son, Kolby, in the chrome underneath "VUE"...hee....
Do you know what that means?! It means I have totally missed my one year Blogiversary! I actually made my first post in May of last year, but Cherries Jubilee was one of my favorites and I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly!
Our cherry tree was nothing like last year. The weather and birds really took their tole. We didn't pick any. But that's ok, frankly I'm still cherried out! We had some in the freezer and I made two pies to take to our friend's house for their annual 4th of July party.
I never like how the crust edge turns out when I use my fingers/thumb/or a spoon. I was looking at my various flatware and decided to use the handles to make impressions. Yes, Pillsbury makes lovely pie crusts...
This crust turned out "ok", but you couldn't see the floral motif from the handle I used.
But I really liked how this one turned out. The rose impression is very tiny, but cute!
...if you squint you can see it!
Our friend's party was on the 3rd this year, so we had a quiet day to ourselves on Independence Day. That night, Kevin and I each had a piece of pie and he popped some pink champaign that had been in the fridge forever. Happy Birthday America!
And Happy 1st Blogiversary to me! I suppose I'll have to come up with a give away, eh?
Ok folks... trying my hardest to catch up here. Just wanted to give you a follow up!
Melly did NOT have surgery. I took her in early that morning, and the doc called me after he did another x-ray and said that the special food had indeed shrunk the stones. He said we could go ahead with surgery if we wanted, but he thought that another month on the food would work.
The thing is, she still has blood in her urine and I know she must be in pain. But, we also don't have $1,000 to spend on cat surgery, tho we would do it if it is our only option. I've really been wringing my hands over this. I don't want her to suffer. But I also feel the doc wouldn't have called if he didn't think it would be ok. So, we decided to keep her on the food. He gave her another round of antibiotics for infection.
She seems better, a bit more active. I also bought a new litter box that she took right too. More on that later.
I was able to recover the lost pictures on my SD card! I was frantic that night, searching google about what could be done. I found Steller Phoenix Photo Recovery. I was able to recover all of the bachelorette party pics, along with about 100 photos that I had previously, (and purposely) deleted. I highly recommend the program if you are in need. It was worth the money! Plus, I plan to buy an external hard drive, and if loaded there I can recover anything on this pc if necessary.
The wedding was beautiful. I cannot wait to see the professional photos! I will share bits and pieces soon.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers! Oh, and in case you're wondering; no~ the table was not returned.
I'm a wife to a wonderful man and mother of a sweet little boy. We have a 100+ year old home and four kitties. I love vintage things, esp. clothing and antique furniture. I'm very thrifty and spend as little as possible for my *junque*. Trash finds are always best!
It was in Country Living magazine, and they said to go to http://www.totes-isotoner.com/. But alas, they were sold out!! WAH! 
Say buh-bye!
AYE-AYE-AYE-AYE-AYE!!!!
After I dried it I went over the bottom layers with a flat iron. (I use a Chi iron in the salon)
And here's the after. I lopped off about 8 inches too. I slept in rollers the night before this pic~
You'll hafta click to enlarge if ya wanna see the back. Not that exciting. The same, just shorter!
Uh oh!
And threw in some victory rolls for this shot.
I made sure to put Bridal Luncheon so guests would know there was FOOD and not just cake and punch.
I found orange and pink index cards to send to everyone so they could bring their favorite recipe for the bride. Sorry for the lousy pics, there were some better shots but I'd have to edit out the info again and I don't feel like it! :P
Yes, those are nekkid butts on his apron. His parents bought it for him at Mt. Rushmore. Er, that's supposed to be the "back" of Mt. Rushmore...
A favorite fruit salad recipe of mine:
Used cherry flavored craisins and carrots for color in the lettuce salad~ radichio was also in the mix for a nice shade of pink.
Pink and orange punch anyone? Diet Cherry 7-UP and raspberry sherbert in one jar, Diet Sunkist and orange sherbert in the other~
These centerpieces have really gotten some mileage. I made them for my wedding; adorned with wide lace and navy ribbon. Then switched out the ribbon to gold for my inlaw's 50th anniversary. Then took off the lace and added pink and black ribbons with rhinestone buckles for my sil's bridal shower. And now orange and pink beading!
I lucked out snagging these pink and orange wrapped candies. They are Hershey's BLISS~ Chocolates filled with raspberry flavor!
I especially liked how the veil turned out. Looked like sherbert!
It was fun putting it all together. Love ya Sis!
Our friend's party was on the 3rd this year, so we had a quiet day to ourselves on Independence Day. That night, Kevin and I each had a piece of pie and he popped some pink champaign that had been in the fridge forever. Happy Birthday America!
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