Apron Strings
Good Morning! Hope everyone is having a great week and looking forward to the weekend. I will be heading off to a few tag sales and can’t wait to see what I’ll find! I just have to share a wonderful website with you all. You must visit
www.apronmemories.com. From author EllynAnne Geisel, this site is an apron lovers dream. You can read through Apron Stories, which are visitor submitted memories of aprons in their families, and you can submit your own. The aprons for sale here are stunning! I love “Erin”. EllynAnne sews all the aprons for sale in the shop herself. You must take a peek! 
EllynAnne is an “apron archaeologist” and author of “The Apron Book” and “Apronisms”, which I have put on my list for my next trip to the book store. “The Apron Book” even contains patterns for aprons which you can sew yourself, which I think is so charming.
I hope your visit to this site is as wonderful as mine has been. So much to see! I personally adore aprons, and wear one while in the kitchen every day. I also admit that I wear one while cleaning and gardening. I love mine so much, I come up with more than one reason to wear them. I remember my grandmother would always wear hers
while making dinner, and my memory is so vivid of the peach colored fabric embroidered with flowers. Enjoy your visit to EllynAnne’s site! Have a great day!
*Photos are copyright www.apronmemories.com
A Keen Idea
Good morning! I hope all of you are well rested and have had a busy morning.
I did have a successful trip to the grocery store yesterday, and saved myself quite a few dollars. Not just by using coupons, but by completely eliminating the purchase of commercial cleaning products. I stocked up on distilled white vinegar! My great grandmother used vinegar to clean her entire home, top to bottom. I can now say that I have joined the thousands of others loyally using vinegar to keep a clean home. If you have never tried it, you must! Vinegar is a natural disinfectant, killing mold and bacteria better than products such as Lysol. It’s natural acidity is what makes this so strong and so efficient. I keep part water, part vinegar in spray bottles throughout the house - one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen, and the laundry area, etc. I use it on windows, with newspaper not paper towels, and they absolutely gleam! I have also found that spraying vinegar around the windowsills and doorframes acts as a natural ant repellent. This is a miracle now that spring is here. My bathroom is soap scum free, and a daily swipe down with vinegar keeps everything clean. The only thing I had a problem at first with the odor - vinegar is smelly. This may not bother some of you, but if it does, I highly suggest adding a couple of drops of a scented oil, such as lavender. You can pick these up at your local craft supply store, and you can choose your favorite scent. You will be absolutely amazed at how much money you can save by using vinegar on a daily basis. I was also shocked to find how many more things vinegar can be used for at www.vinegartips.com .
I wish you all a wonderful day!
Our Daily Bread
Good Morning! A bright, sunny day here in Connecticut…birds are chirping, sun is shining and I plan to get my hands dirty today planting in my gardens. Not too shabby for a Monday! I’ll also be planning out my grocery list. This always takes a bit of time, with sorting through coupons and checking on things around the house that we are running low on. I have to tell you that my knees went wobbly at the checkout line my last shopping trip. I watched the screen, and my jaw dropped when the total displayed. So, when I arrived home, I of course gave some thought to this problem and started reevaluating every item that we cook and clean with. lol. The amount of money that we are spending today on these things is ludicrous. The prices of wheat are rising due to decreasing crops, supply and demand, etc. so bread, cereal and a bulk of our food staples have risen too. One loaf of bread now averages $3.00. Don’t even get me started on the price of a box of cereal. So, I started to browse through the different store circulars, comparing prices and thinking it would save us money if I get my week’s worth of groceries by gathering the sale items at different stores. This would be great, and many people do this, but it wouldn’t fit into our budget to use up half a tank of gas to travel to each store individually. Not with gas prices today. So, what’s a girl to do? Push up her sleaves and use good, old fashioned elbow grease. I have taken my bread machine out of the cabinet, dusted it off, and reviewed the instruction booklet. I have to admit that I have never used it. Terrible, I know. I will be baking my own bread! I’ve learned that it is more economical to buy the bread mixes for a bread machine, and it is healthier for everyone too! Plus, the idea of the house smelling like fresh baked bread is a lovely one. Bread machines are said to be worth the investment. They average around $100.00, but searching online or for local sales may result in a great deal. Bread mixes can be bought for the machines, at great prices that turn out to be cheaper than the cost of a week’s worth of bread, or there are a gazillion recipes that can be found on the trusty internet. Take a visit to www.breadinfo.com for tons of great information and recipes. Also try www.amazon.com. They also have a grocery section and carry bread mixes for machines. I’m sold! Another great idea is to visit your local bread/bakery outlet stores. There is a Freihoffer’s outlet in our area, and you can get amazing prices on bread and baked goods there. Try searching for one in your area online. If any of you bake your own bread, or have had a money-saving trip to an outlet shop, please comment and tell us about it!
I’m Pasty!
I welcome you all with big hugs and a warm smile to my little corner! I’d love to offer you a snickerdoodle, but the powers of the internet can only do so much. I look forward to writing to you everyday, and getting to know you all. With massive changes in our economy, rising food and gasoline prices, and the unending war in Iraq, there in turn is a massive change in our home lives. We are budgeting every aspect of our lifestyles, and sometimes feel helpless. I have a mission with this blog, and that is to tell you that you are not alone, and of course, to show you how to bring the past into the present - enriching and bettering our lives and our homes. I am a believer that simplicity is best. I’ll be sharing tips on everything from housework to recipes, showing you my latest tag sale finds and corners of my home, budget tips, give you help if you want to make the change to start working at home. We’ll chat about gardening, knitting, great vintage music, books - a little bit of everything! I want to hear from you too - your comments, your thoughts, topics that you’d like to see, etc. I’ll start by telling you a little about myself. “I’m Pasty!”. What does that mean? This simply means that I have embraced everything vintage and retro, combined them into my life and home, and am finding utter happiness as the result. I sometimes believe that I should have been born in black and white - a 1940’s/1950’s extravaganza of Fire King dishware, Betty Crocker cookbooks, and a pretty wardrobe accentuated with an apron. I proudly admit to you all that I am in love with milk glass, jade green, soft pink, Canasta, hobnail lamps, chenille bedspreads, Dion & the Belmonts, hoola hoops, percolators, hair curlers, making rice krispie treats and fruit cocktail cakes, - you get the idea. lol. I want you to proudly say you’re pasty too! That has to be my all time favorite line in the movie “Pleasantville” - if you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend it. (Big surprise, lol). What else should you know about me? I’m a stay at home mom to my 3 kids while my husband works. I worked for a number of years, but found this difficult to achieve with the kids and the house, etc. You have to do what works for you. I have to say that I am completely happy! I am able to work from home and still be here for my kids when they walk in the door from school. I don’t wear high heels and pearls, but do everything else that a housewife does….and all with pride! I go to tag sales and flea markets on a regular basis. I stock my Etsy shop with my finds, which is a lot of fun! I can be found at the farmer’s market every Sunday throughout October. Brimfield three times per year. I love old movies, naturally, and listen to The Stolen Sweets and Dion every day. I knit! OHHHHH do I love to knit! This is also proving to be very economical and a great way to destress, but I’ll save that topic for a different day. I don’t want to ramble on too much, so I will ask you to bookmark this blog and return tomorrow to see what’s in store for your vintage soul. Be sure to leave me comments to introduce yourselves - I can’t wait to hear all your thoughts! Tune in tomorrow!
