Monday, August 30, 2021

Good Habit Check Charts


Need some extra help getting the kiddos or even some adults in your house back in the habit of having good habits?  
Print out some of these Good Habit Check Charts from 1959!


However, this chart is missing some key habits such as... take a bath, comb your hair, do homework, walk the dog, feed the cat, take out the garbage, light daddy a cigarette and bring mommy her pills.

Friday, August 27, 2021

Snow Crop Succotash

This is the last of my newly acquired vintage food packaging.  I bought this Snow Crop box from ebay with some of my christmas money, I think it cost about 26 bucks...but really it was free!
 


Here is a really crappy scan of the front.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Monday, August 23, 2021

OJ Cans

 


I found these cardboard OJ cans at an estate sale last year.  They were being used to store miscellaneous sewing bits.  The sellers let me have them for nothing!

.  

Friday, August 20, 2021

Durkee spice boxes


Over the past year I have still managed to find several neat vintage food packaging items to add to my collection, even with my hermit living lifestyle.
 
I found these cardboard spice boxes on ebay for 99¢!  Plus 2 bucks for shipping.  

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Bacon-Nut Bread


This is some good stuff!



From the 15th Pillsbury Bake-Off 1964.

It's a loaf sized bacon biscuit!
Slather some cream cheese on a warm slice and you'll sleep good that night!


 

Monday, August 16, 2021

It is your birthday.

 


It is your birthday (period).  That is a statement of fact.

Over the past year the fam discovered the television show The Office.  It's certainly not kid friendly, but that's just who happened to introduce it to us, the kid Pumpkinbutt.  We bought the series on dvd and it was the only way we could lure the boy out of his room on occasion other than for food.  So this year for his 17th birthday party theme The Office was the obvious choice. 


The spread....No Tobys Allowed!


Break me off a piece of that...Fancy Feast!?


Scott's (tater) Tots, Stanley's "It's Pretzel Day" pretzels, and Michael Scott Paper Company big vat o' cheezballs.


Andy Bernard got double play with 'Nard dogs (hot dogs) representing.



"Is that a Chicklet on my cake?
And that's not how to spell my name."

The birthday cake along with the party decor is all based after the very dull brown and grey (matches the carpet) party planned by Jim and Dwight for Kelly.  For PB, I reproduced the cake along with spelling his name wrong.  For these photos I removed some of the letters in the above photo to throw internet freaks off.



It wouldn't be a legit Office party if something wasn't incased in a Jello mold.  On the show it's a stapler but for PB we jelled up his birthday cash!
(I wrapped it in a ziplock bag for it's protection.)
 

As part of the party we presented Dundee awards, most going to PB since it was his day.  One of his awards was 'most likely to develop bed sores' because he spends so much time in his bed.  I was awarded 'most weird food concoctions in a bowl" since I have been making a bunch of meals from whatever is in the fridge and tossing it in a bowl over the past year. Mr. Husband won the award for "most consecutive days spent complaining".  
We are a family of Stanley-Creed-Angela-s.

I found lots of Office party ideas out in internetland for the swiping.  I went kinda lowkey though since PB could spare no more than 20 minutes from his bed sore time for this.  
Here are a few:





Friday, August 13, 2021

Evel Knievel Party


Mr. Husband's birthday party theme this year was centered around one of his favorite toys as a kid, an Evel Knievel stunt bike and doll...pardon, I mean "action figurine".



I made the backdrop and bunting from plastic tablecloths from dollar tree.  And the star balloons are from there as well.

For the cake, I piled on a bunch of objects that he jumped over in life....with the classic jumping the shark! 

And for Mr. Husband's gift he got a reproduction official re-release of his beloved toy!

I happen to have a table top fountain that is for wedding receptions and Mr. Husband has some plans!  
 

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Congo Squares


"Congo squares have all the crisp, crunchy goodness of Toll House Cookies with a taste you'll say is different and extra good.  They're a pleasure to make and a pleasure to serve... so rich and satisfying, so appetizing in appearance.  Delight your family's semi-sweet tooth with this appealing taste treat!"



I didn't read that pitch before making these bars.  If I had I would have caught on to the "crisp, crunchy" part and realized it really means "rock, bricky".


I had only seen the lovely illustration of the Congo line of treats.  Bar treats are never the texture of cement so I tried this recipe out in hopes of a chewy, moist treat.  I didn't set a timer (never do) and once out of the oven and sliced they were perfect!  The disappointment came in the next day when I retrieved one of these bars to discover I could use them now as hammers.  I figured it was my fault, I had overbaked them, and maybe that is still a bit of the case.  But now reading the ad, these are meant to be tooth chippers.  Mr. Husband has been treating them like biscotti and dipping them in his tea to eat.  I am not a fan of home-baked crunchy cookies so these are not worth the effort to me.  If you like eating cinder blocks here's the recipe:

Congo Squares
2 3/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup nuts
1 package chocolate morsels

Mix and sift flour, baking powder, salt in a bowl. In separate bowl combine melted shortening and brown sugar.  Stir until well mixed.  Allow to cool slightly.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add dry ingredients, then nut meats, then chocolate morsels.  Pour into greased pan and bake at 350 degrees 25-30 minutes.  Yields 48 bars.  When almost cool cut into bars 2 x 2.    

 

Monday, August 09, 2021

New Shoes

 


Not these.  These are my old shoes.  I bought them probably 20 years ago at Target.  I didn't start wearing them until about 4 years ago though.  I loved the style and the star pattern but couldn't figure out what to wear them with...duh, pretty much anything!  I stumbled across them in the back of my closet when I was doing my Kon-Mari-ing, basically brand new, and they are most definitely joy sparkers.  I have worn them just about everyday since.  They started to get a bit ratted out, fabric splitting, over a year ago.  I decided that was fine, it made them look kinda punk rock.  Now though, the plastic sole is cracking and more fabric is getting skanked out, their grunge look appeal is heading toward crackhead skid row-esque.
They certainly aren't making these anymore so I had to take matters into my own hands!


I bought a pair of inexpensive black slip-on shoes from walsmarts (10 bucks).
Dug out my fabric paint, a star paper punch, old scrap vinyl, and a paint brush.


Here's an image of the process.  It's fairly self explanatory:  Punch out stars from vinyl, press stencils firmly onto shoes, paint with fabric paint.


Ooooh!!! Stary!!!

I worked on these off and on for a couple of days.  They were extremely fun/relaxing/therapeutic to do.  I don't make very many crafts (other than food) anymore since my house is already at max capacity.  For the past several years I do crafting that is for temporary use such as birthday or holiday decor.  I craft presents around the holidays for others but they aren't stuff that is my style. I do a lot of utilitarian  crafting to repair stuff or make things we need like face masks.  There's not so much in those kinda things that the process is enjoyable or even the finished product.  I think my Boston Terrier Paint By Numbers were the last involved craft project I have done, and that was a bit of a pain in the beginning with making the outlines and paints.  The fun didn't come in until the painting part. But these shoes were quick satisfaction from start to finish and cheap!  I love cheap.

☆   ☆    ☆    ☆   ☆    ☆    ☆    ☆    ☆    ☆    ☆  
Here's a bonus bit for this post. Back in Jan 2019 I helped a friend of mine run a craft class that was personalizing these same kinda slip-on shoes using fabric.

She charged like 50 bucks for the class with all supplies included.  As all are very much aware, I am a cheap skate.  There is no way I would have paid this.  These shoes are 10 bucks, the fabric can be remnants, so total investment is maybe 12 bucks.  But my friend has got a damn good stash of hip fabric so that could have been worth it to most.
This is just one box of several she brought:


Lots of cool stuff...comics, video games, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Disney, Universal Monsters, Nightmare before Christmas, Halloween, NASA....all of that licensed stuff.  Also believe it or not there are people out there that need help crafting.  She had like 20 people sign up!  

Here are a just a few of the crafted shoes I was able to get a photo of (click to enlarge):

Some people brought their our shoes also, as seen with the high top Converse with Wonder Woman.
I liked the way the shoe on the far left was done.  The crafter choose to cover the entire shoe rather than do a collage which makes it look "real".  The 'How -To' for this is just mod podge fabric onto a pair of shoes...that's it.  I have a feeling that over time the stars on my new shoes are gonna start flaking off (I think my paint may be 15 years old!) so I might try this technique to cover up the start of any skank shoe look!









Friday, August 06, 2021

BBQ S&P


I love vintage cute stuff that comes in an even cuter box! 
I bought these mini glass s&p shakers off ebay, probably in 2001.  Mine do not have faces on the chefs but I have seen others online that do.  The mini grill stand has a secret compartment under the grill top.  Not sure what could go there....  Maybe the Chef's secret spices!
 

Here is a scan of the box cover because I love it and figured others would too!

Thursday, August 05, 2021

Medium Rare Meat Bull Markers

 


I can't think of what these are officially called.  They are for marking hamburgers/steaks on the grill for what preferences one may have: Rare, medium rare, medium, and well done.
That sounds like too much work to me.  I say you get what you get or have a bowl of salad. 
I bought these cuties as kitchen decor, not to nasty them up with raw meat anyway.


These picks were a very early ebay purchase I made probably in 2001...yikes.  I have had them for 20 years?!  I still love them!

Wednesday, August 04, 2021

BBQ Plate


 The plate I used for the Frito Party was all covered up with a hot dog...I mean, a glamour dog, and corn chips so the decoration couldn't be seen.  The plate is ceramic and restaurant-ware quality, being very hefty and hard to break.  When PB was younger it was his official meal plate because of this, also the separate food compartments were ideal during those years when kids don't want their food touching....and it's microwave safe! 

Tuesday, August 03, 2021

Frito Kid Backyard Party

 




August's Frito Kid Party Ideas for Kiddies (1954) suggestion is a Backyard Party!  Now, living in Florida we stay indoors from May til Dec because the weather is brutally hot. No backyard party is gonna be put on by the sane.  However, I love the aesthetic of vintage BBQ and used to collect various items around the theme so I was still smitten with this idea, we just moved the 'party' indoors.

The games for this party sound like fun and are very indoor friendly.  The refreshments call for "Fritos Glamour Dogs".  

What could it be?  Caviar?  Grey Poupon?


Refreshments all dished up.


Turns out glamour dogs are just hotdogs filled with primarily onions, cheese, and ketchup.  And are pretty darn tasty!


I used soy sauce as a sub for Worcestershire since that's what I had on hand.   I also topped the brownies with crushed Fritos because that makes sense.

In the next upcoming posts I am going to highlight some of my vintage BBQ items seen above because they are just too fun not to get some spotlight.



Monday, August 02, 2021

Golden Punch


While going through some old cookbooks of my grandmother's I came across this cut out recipe for Golden Punch glued to the inside cover (1980s?).  A couple of weeks ago I was discussing "punch" and everything in this one sounded tempting (along with I needed punch for August's Frito Kid Party) so I made this batch, getting to use it double posts!


I decided to use the ingredient list as serving suggestions for the amounts.  It's just punch, no need to get all technical with it.   I used:

  • No Water
  • 1 sleeve sugar free powdered Iced Tea with Lemon 0.23 oz
  • Orange Juice with pineapple juice 52 oz
  • No sugar
  • 1 tbs grenadine (all I had)
  • 2 liters sugar free chilled Ginger Ale
Pour everything together in a punch bowl, serve and enjoy!

My store didn't have Nestea (I think it's still being made).  I used to loved that stuff when I was a kid.  I would eat it like Lik-m-aid.

The punch was really good and the color would make it perfect for Autumn.  The weather is still boiling where I live during that time so an iced punch is ideal, but I bet it could be warmed slightly too!

The punch bowl and cups seen above belonged to my great grandmother.  The set was used for my mom's baby shower for me and I used it at my shower for PB.  If anyone was getting married, having a shower, a birthday party....my mom always put this punch bowl into service.  Looking through some old photos a few months back I came across my 13th birthday party and saw the trusty punch bowl on the table near the snacks.  The mugs are kinda dinky in size though, only holding like 1/3 cup.