Enjoying the Last Days of Summer

Hi Friends,

I apologize for not posting for several days :) I am an elementary school teacher and the end of August is always hectic so I haven't had much time for blogging. Thank you to those of you who keep checking in!

Anyhoo...Here are some of the goodies that I've found lately while out at the sales. This past weekend was a better weekend than I've had recently in the way of finding good vintage "junk".

This is my favorite find of recent weeks. It is a child-size shopping cart. This isn't a toy but an actual commercial grade cart made by a manufacturer that makes adult-size carts for grocery stores. This was used in an actual grocery store in my area where the young shoppers could push their own cart through the store just like mom and dad. My kids love it and have enjoyed playing "store" with it. Guess how much I paid for it? Only $3! You know all you moms out there are jealous! (Thanks Stacy - wink! wink!)

I also found this great vintage milk-glass spice set.

It was priced $1. I kid you not! The jars still had spices in them. All the paper labels are perfect.

Hubby and the kids went yard saleing on their own a few weeks back and bought me some treasures. Here is what they found for me.

This tiny metal Fineline eraser box - with the erasers still inside. This is to add to my vintage school supply collection. Actual size about 2" across. They paid $1.

This little pottery bowl set. They paid 75 cents.

A "Big Ben" alarm clock. Price = 50 cents

And this cast-iron match holder. I left the price tag on for the picture.

Didn't they do well? They got some great treasures and for so little money.

If you want to see what other yard sale shoppers in blog land found this weekend I'm also sharing HERE at Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.

I've been doing some cooking lately since there are so many delicious vegetables available from the garden right now.

I thought I'd take a small departure from my collections to share with you two recipes that we made this past week.

Mexican Salsa

Ingredients:

Using a knife cut up into small pieces:

6-8 ripe red tomatoes

1 onion - I used a purple onion

2 jalapeno peppers - remove the seeds (I recommend wearing rubber gloves when doing this so that your hands don't get pepper oil on them which can burn your eyes and mouth for several days after handling the pepper.)

also add:

1 cup of finely chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

the juice of 1 lime

3 cloves of minced garlic - or more to your liking

salt & pepper to taste

Serve with tortilla chips. Yum! - Whatever you don't eat store in the refrigerator. Good for up to a week.

Homemade Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups diced potatoes

2 cups fresh green beans - cut into small pieces

4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes

2 cups of corn - cut off the cob

3 celery stalks - chopped into small pieces

1 onion - diced

minced fresh parsley - about 1/2 cup

minced garlic - about 3 cloves

salt & pepper to taste

In a large stock pot cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Cook onions, celery & garlic until soft. Add all remaining vegetables & parsley. Add chicken broth. Cook on a low simmer for around 1 hour or until vegetables are soft. Add salt & pepper to taste. Serve with your favorite bread!

I hope you get a chance to enjoy the last days of summer too by hitting a yard sale or two or by cooking up some delicious, healthy, homemade food using the season's bounty.

Thanks for stopping by! See you soon.

KayteeJane