Easter Blessings

A Tisket A Tasket My Easter Blessing Basket

The blessing of the Easter basket known as, swiecenie pokarmow wielkanocnych is a tradition that my family has participated in since I was a child.

My basket is lined with a white lace cloth awaiting the items that will be placed inside on Saturday morning that will be blessed for our Easter meal.

The white cloth that lines the basket symbolizes the shroud of Christ, and inside the basket I will place the baranek or lamb butter and a sugar lamb that symbolizes the Paschal lamb, Jesus.

Hard boiled eggs symbolize new life or Christ rising from his tomb.

When my Aunt Stella was still alive she would color the eggs for the basket using onion skins, I carry on this tradition, but I also add an egg that is colored by one of my children.

Links of Polish sausage are symbols of the resurrected Christ, horseradish represents accepting the bitter with the sweet in life. Salt is to add zest to life and keep us from evil, and sweets are the promise of eternal life. 

At our Easter meal, each family member will eat this blessed food. Blessing of the Easter basket is a Polish tradition that I still hold dear to my heart. 

As a child,  I remember carrying the Easter blessing basket to church on Holy Saturday for the blessing of our food. I am so thankful that my church continues with the tradition of the blessing of the Easter basket. 

Do you have any Easter traditions? If you do, I would love to hear about them.

Cheerfully,

Paulette

Age Test

I saw this photo on my Facebook page this morning it was titled; Age Test.

Do you know what this is? 

Drive in Movie speakers

Thrift Share

Gorgeous frames made of wood with stunning details, images that allow your mind to wander to a place of beauty or perhaps to a place that you would like to explore, and words of a poem that stir your spirit. 

I found all of it, in the four pieces that will soon adorn my walls, at my local thrift store for under $15.00.

Linking up with:

 Sir Thrift A Lot

A Living Space,

Coastal Charm,

 Me and My Shadow, 

Hey What's For Dinner? 

Joyful Treasure  

Morning Sun

 I have been following Ruth from Dian's Timpanalley, every Sunday and have enjoyed her Sunlit Sunday post. She has been linking up to  My Little Home and Garden blog which sponsors the Sunlit Sunday link party.

This week I decided to link up with one of my photos. Take a moment and visit  My Little Home and Garden blog and view some of the fantastic photos that are linked up to Sunlit Sunday.

I attended 4:00 pm mass yesterday afternoon, but this morning Palm Sunday, I felt the need to read Luke: 22. As I sat at my kitchen table, the light from my east window started to fill my kitchen. Our Wisconsin weather has been rather bleak, and I was so happy to see the sun that I ran for my camera.

Sunshine is sweet; it is good to see the light of day. Ecclesiastes 11:7

Cheerfully,

Paulette

A 59¢ Delightful Wordless Story By David Wiesner

One of my passions and weaknesses while shopping at my favorite thrift stores is the children's book section. At my local GW, they have a large selection of used books, and I am constantly scouring the shelves for books that I can introduce to my grandchildren.

With five, grandchildren, ages ranging from 10 years old to two years old I am in need of different types of genres, and with a price tag of 59¢ for children's books I am able to fill my library shelves (really plastic bins) with books that interest all of them. 

SECTOR 7 written by David Wiesner, published in 1999 is my newest acquisition for my children's library.

This hard covered book was just 59¢ at my local GW.

There is an adage "A picture is worth a thousand words." In this Caldecott Honored book, SECTOR 7, beautiful illustration "write" this story.

The book is about the journey of a little boy that is taken to the place where clouds are made.

The little boy is an artist, able to create works of art from the frost on the school bus window. Today his class is taking a field trip to the Empire State Building.

His class takes the elevator to the top floor of the Empire State Building. 

It is extremely foggy on top of the building, and the little boy can't see anything. He loses his hat and finds that a friendly cloud has taken it.

The friendly cloud whisky the boy off to Sector 7, the dispatch center and factory of  clouds.

The little boy is shown drawings of clouds, and he shares his ideas for fish shaped clouds.

The adults discover the boy, and he is sent back to the Empire State Building on a cloud.

The little cloud follows the boy back to the Empire State Building and goes home with him.

Looking up towards the sky you can see the little boy's fish clouds floating around.

The illustrations in this book are stunning and allow any aged child the ability to make up their own version of a story. 

With no words, just illustration Wiesner has brought this book to life.

Next time your thrift shopping take a look around the children's section and perhaps you will find a delightful book for 59¢, just like I did.

Cheerfully,

Paulette 

Monsters, Inc. and A Love Story

For Easter, I bought all five of my grandchildren a stuffed animal, but not the usual stuffed bunny or chick. Nope this year they will all get a Monsters, Inc. plush toy named George Sanderson.

George is a scarer on Scarefloor F at Monsters, Inc.  He is a furry monster with a horn on top of his head.  George is also very good friends with Mike, Sulley, and Claws Ward.

It is rumored that George Sanderson will be in Disney's soon to be released movie, Monsters University, the sequel of Monsters, Inc.

One, two, three, four, five plush Disney, George Sanderson's, and the framed photo, well that is my George Sanderson.

I met George in November of 1972.  He wore pointed toed shoes, wore straight legged jeans, listened to Elvis, and had just returned home from his tour of duty in Vietnam.  I wore hippy beads and bell bottom pants, listened to Motown, and was totally against the Vietnam War.

We met through mutual friends, our first meeting was at a bowling alley, I dislike bowling, but the other three people enjoyed it, so we all bowled a couple of games. 

During the evening, we were at odds on almost every subject, except I loved Sonny and Cher and he agreed that they were alright.

I thought I would never see him again, but he was a persistent young man, and I found myself going out with him the following week.

He was from a small town in southern Illinois, a Lutheran, from a divorced home, had seven brothers and sisters, and was soft spoken. I, on the other hand, came from a Chicago suburb, was a Catholic, had a loving family unit, one  brother and one sister and was often loud and opinionated.

I got to know George much better and within a month I knew George was the man I would marry. You know they say opposites attract, and in our case it was the truth.

Four months later, on March 30, 1973, George and I went to the court house and got married. Later on May 5, 1973 our marriage was blessed in the Catholic church, which made my family happy.

This photo was taken soon after we were married. I was twenty two, and George was twenty five when we said our I do's. During the short civil service, we exchanged simple gold bands, with a promise of a diamond in the future. 

George worked for American Motors as an electrician, but during the 1970's and into the 1980's the industry wasn't selling many cars. With the lack of car sales, the factory workers often found themselves laid off with unemployment compensation as income.

We had our first child almost two years later, and two and a half years later came number two, and 18 months later came number three. We certainly weren't rich, but we were happy, most of the time.

Fast forward to our 25th wedding anniversary, March 30, 1998. George left for work, and I was getting ready to leave for the elementary school that I worked at, when I found the card.

I opened the card, and I found this note inside.

I was getting my diamond ring from the man that I loved for twenty five years. Tears filled my eyes, and joy filled my heart.

My friends were thrilled at the prospect of me finally getting a diamond ring, so we all went shopping. So many different cuts of diamonds and so many setting styles. I liked several but didn't love them. 

When I came home from looking at diamonds, George asked if I found something I wanted. During our marriage, I might have mentioned a few hundred times that I didn't have a diamond ring, and now with the diamond ring within my reach, I realized that I didn't need or want a diamond ring. The offer to buy me one was enough. 

George leased me a fully load Jeep Grand Cherokee instead of the diamond ring, and I was a happy girl.

Eight months after our twenty fifth wedding anniversary, my George Sanderson was killed while riding his motorcycle.

March 30, 2013 would have been our 40th wedding anniversary, and with Easter the next day I thought it would be fun to have five Disney plush George Sanderson's being hugged and loved by all of the grandchildren. As for my George Sanderson he will be with us in spirit, and he will always be in my heart.

This is my love story.

1975 Sears Catalog Had More Than 602 Pages

I must have had my head in the clouds in 1975 because I missed all of the hubbub about the 1975 Sears Fall/Winter catalog.

My treasure seeking friend recently showed me her Sears catalog that she had stored in her basement. 

"You know what this is, right?" she asked  me. "An old Sears catalog", I replied. With a shocked expression on her face, she said, "Not just a Sears catalog, but THE Sears catalog with the man on page 602!"

At that point, she realized that I had no idea what she was talking about. "What the heck were you doing that you didn't hear about this catalog." 

A quick rewind of my brain to 1975, I was newly married and trying to figure out married life on an extremely tight budget, and of course I was concerned about bringing the troops home from Vietnam. Or another possibility was that I just didn't think it was a big deal (no pun intended).

Here, snopes describes what all the commotion with page 602 is all about.

In the men's underwear section of the 1975 Fall/Winter catalog on page 602 was a picture of a male model whose personal and private part could be seen peeking out from beneath a pair of boxer shorts.

Sears official explanation was that the object was a blemish caused by some liquid on the art work during printing.

Click here if you would like to see the man on page 602, and decide for yourself, the real deal or a watermark.

A song was even written about this, titled The Man on Page 602.

Page 602 didn't interest me, but I enjoyed other pages in that 1975 catalog.

This is from the 1975 catalog but looks similar to today's fashion.

Remember the console televisions?

LeCreuset for $59.99

Boys bedspreads

Flower power

These sheets were on my bed in 1975

Now I understand why these catalogs were called wish books, I wish I could purchase these items at the 1975 prices!

Cheerfully,

Paulette

Polish Fable About Pussy Willows

On Sunday, almost every Christian denomination will celebrate Palm Sunday.  Palms are not available in every country, so other traditions were adopted. 

In Poland, Spring weather doesn't usually start until late April, so they developed their own tradition for Easter palms. Since Poland doesn't have palms native to Jerusalem, they carry pussy willow branches. 

On Ash Wednesday, they will cut the branches of pussy willows bring them into the house where it is warm, and place them in a vase with water until they bud.

In the Polish Catholic Church, the willow (Polish: wierzba) symbolizes the resurrection and the immortality of the soul.

Here is a Polish fable about the pussy willow.

Many springs ago, according to an old Polish legend, tiny kittens were chasing butterflies along the edge of the river and fell in.  The mother cat, helpless to save them, started crying.  The willows at the river's edge heard her sorrowful cries and swept their long, graceful branches into the water towards the kittens.  The kittens gripped the branches tightly and were safely brought to shore.

Each springtime since, goes the legend, willow branches sprout tiny fur like buds where the tiny kittens once clung.

Thrift Share

In the corner of the dresser sat the object of my affection, as I waited for the other estate sale shoppers to move away from the dresser, I noticed no one was giving any attention to the lamp. I was finally close enough to see the price tag. A fifteen dollar tag dangled from the neck of the lamp.  I liked the lamp but didn't like the price tag. I left the estate sale, but the memory of that lamp lingered in my mind.

A little after two pm I decided to go buy the lamp, praying and hoping that it was still there.  I held my breath as I walked into the bedroom hoping that the lamp was still sitting on the dresser, sigh, it was sitting in the same spot.  I tested the lamp to make sure everything worked. I liked the lamp but still wasn't  crazy about paying fifteen dollars for it. 

The first day of the sale was almost over, and I knew that at 11 am the next day everything would go 50% off, so I decided to ask if they would allow me the discount on my lamp today. They said YES!

So my lamp came home with me for $7.50, and I love it.

This Danish, mid century modern, double goose neck lamp with wood finials will now sit on my desk. Click the button on the base of the lamp the left cone shaped lamp turns on, press twice and the left lamp turns off and the right lamp turns on, and when you press three times both lamps are illuminated. 

I also picked up two Vera scarfs that were priced at only 50¢.

This Vera scarf has the lady bug logo next to her signature.

Leopard heads adorn each side of this Vera scarf while their tails meet in the center. This scarf just has the Vera signature with the copyright logo.

For 50¢, I couldn't pass up this pink and white polka dot towel with gold accents. Reminded me of the towels my mother used in our bathroom when I was young.

I liked the color combination, the designs, and style of this sweater so I bought it! It's not my size, but I still bought it! 

Linking up with:

 Sir Thrift A Lot

A Living Space,

Coastal Charm,

 Me and My Shadow, 

Hey What's For Dinner Mom?

Joyful Treasure Hunting