Thursday, July 24, 2008

Brick Oven Scandia Blue...

This saucer is a piece of a set of dishes that we use everyday. The set was given to me by one of my managers at K Mart when I got my first apartment. I was talking to her and she asked if I needed anything and I told her I needed everything but I was slowly working on it. She said that she had a lot of kithen things that were in storage from her first marriage and said I could have whatever I wanted. So of course being 19 and broke, I took her up on her offer. I got tons of tupperware, pots and pans (still in their original box and never used), glasses, utensils, and this set of dishes (which were also never used and still in the box). I offered to pay her, but she said no, that she was just happy to get it out of the basement and see them used. These dishes have been with me since, and we are really hard on them. Two plates have been broken, and I think 3 bowls (we have the cats to thank for that...they knocked them off the counter). So I was thinking about selling them in a yard sell since we have 2 other sets of dishes and I'm trying to cut down on clutter and we don't need 3 sets of dishes. I was going to sell them for $5 since I have used them for a long time and there are pieces missing but I decided (out of curiosity) to look them up on http://www.replacements.com/ and see if I had the missing pieces how much the set would be worth, or if the replacement pieces are cheap enough to order them and then sell the set at a higher value. I really didn't expect them to have them because I thought this was just a cheap set of dishes. Boy was I wrong! Not only do they have them, but they are worth more than the antique Notitake China that we have! One dinner plate is worth $15.99! Each cup and saucer is $9.99!

I am just in shock about this because they were given to me, we abuse the crap out of them, and they are worth more than the expensive dishes we got as a wedding gift, and the antique Noritake china I found at a yard sale for cheap(that ended up being worth a small fortune). And there's also the fact that I have never even heard of this brand, where the others are big names in china! So I think instead of selling them for super cheap in a yard sale I'm going to see how much that website will give me for them. And then I'm going to take that money and use it to get the dining room restoration going again.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Loving Black & Decker, and taking a break

We got a new weedeater! It's a Black & Decker cordless battery operated 18 volt weedeater and it's awesome! It's super light and doesn't vibrate, and has a built in edger. It won't tear through the thick stuff like a gas powered one will, but it works great on everything else and the battery lasts a pretty long time. It works just like we thought it would, which is great. I definitely recommend it to any one. We checked out several others but went with this one because of the weight and the reviews. I have weight restrictions and this one weighs 6.5 pounds compared to the 10 or more of the others. And the battery is interchangeable with all other Black & Decker 18 volt tools which is a plus.

But I have some sad news too...due to the unbearable heat here in southern Indiana we will not be doing any work on the house until we get a break from it. It's been around 100 degrees with 100% humidity and a "real feel" around 115! I don't see how all you southerners do it...it's so hot out that you can' breathe and everything sticks to you. most of the things we need to do involve stain and paint and I'm afraid if I try it the stain will just boil instead of drying like it's supposed too. And we are also having that problem that goes with owning an old house...no a/c! We have two little window units that are working overtime to keep the inside of our house around 80 degrees. And it gets even worse when I cook anything. And even worse when Cledus turns the digital a/c unit off. It was 85 in here today when I got home! We don't know how, but some how he's turning it off. OK...I'm done complaining now. Just wanted to share that there won't be much for updates for awhile.