Celebrating 11 years blogging

  It's my 11 year blogging anniversary!  Actually it was the 24th.

Not doing too badly for an old lady with a lousy old computer.  I've been hustling,  running my vintage store, and taking care of my grandkids. I'm still doing well with no recurrences of breast cancer, thank God!  I recently had a total hip replacement, and I'm feeling great, without the pain. 

  It's been a hard time for all Americans with the terrible pandemic and it's consequences. My vintage store is still so much fun, and new folks come in almost every day, but it's been a struggle. I am praying for all small business owners,  that things will pick up.  I'm praying for all Americans that we can save our country.  I'm hoping that things are going to get better in this new year. 

   I celebrated National Hot Tea Month again this January, and had a different tea and teacup each day!  I post every day in January on my Facebook page, Grandma Linda's Vintage Treasures, and I share stories, history, and sayings all about tea, teacups, tea party recipes, and more. 

 Happy National Hot Tea  Month!

Emilie is 8 now, and still loves having tea with me!  

I hope to start holding tea parties again in my vintage store!

In my store, I have some teacups, and I like arranging vignettes 

with pretty things, I have for sale.

 

This is a new set I picked up and will use it for a spring tea.

My everyday china,  red transferware

Johnson Bros. English Chippendale

Another favorite of mine, with a pink teapot in my store. 

A little Dreamsicle angel is having tea with me too!

Not a fancy mug, but I love the teapot and snowflake apron , in our store!

Oh, and the tea at  Angelo's Diner counts too!

 I love that sturdy old restaurant china.

My Teddy, enjoying his tea at his favorite travel stop- The Waffle House!

One of my favorite cups 

An old silver teapot I use at the store.

Violets tea cup- with our state flower, the common violet!

This is my mother-in-law's everyday china. 

Sadly, we lost her this last year. 

 But we know she's with her Lord and Savior! 

 

January 24th-  Happy 91st Birthday to my dear Mother!  

Thank God for another year that we still have her with us!

Elizabeth Mary Abel Layton, born January 24, 1931

She loves the family get-togethers, no matter how loud and chaotic it is! 

  God bless her, mother of 7, 21 grandchildren, 23great-grandkids,

 and 1 great-great-grandchild!  The more the merrier!  

My children's great-grandmother's blue transferware teacup.

It is well over a hundred years old. 

Emilie having tea with me again, using her own little teapot.

Some Stangl pieces that we have in the store, and were made in Trenton, New Jersey!

These are a few of my favorite tea things, many are at home, 

and some are at my vintage store. You can take a peek at the store on Facebook,

 facebook.com/Linda's-Vintage-Treasures

Now it's time to get my store ready for Valentine's Day!

I'm wishing you a wonderful New Year!  Keep on looking up!   

     

Love, Linda

Bagel Baking

    Well, being home a lot more, with everything closed down, I am cooking and baking a little bit more!
    I've been  baking these easy 2-ingredient-bagels, trying different varieties.   They are so easy and it's nice to make fresh bagels when I can't get out to the store.

My daughter Julie taught me to make these.
Super easy and so good!, Everything Bagels
 

These are "Everything Bagels"
They sell the Everything Seasoning 
in the spice section at all the grocery stores.

 

At  home I tried them with Mrs.Dash. 

They were great, but very soft, so I'll knead them more next time to try to 
get a little chewier texture. 

Then a week later, I only had Blueberry Yogurt. So I made them , with some
 frozen blueberries mixed in at the last minute.

     They were messy, as the berries softened and got squishy, juicy, so they weren't 

shaped as neatly.  I think the extra liquid, from the fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt made

 them tougher, but I liked them chewy! 

 Now, if I only knew how to make cream cheese, since I am out of that!  

      Perfect!   Ugly, but delicious, chewy and fruity!  It's fun to experiment,

    and use what you have!  

        Next I want to make cinnamon raisin bread in my bread machine! 

     Do you have a good recipe?

                              

                                           Love, Linda

I Live In Faith Not Fear

I am feeling like sharing a message of hope today.
The news is always so scary, we don't know whether to believe the Coronavirus threat is going away, case numbers declining or not.  Are they counting correctly, or jacking up numbers of fatalities that were not really caused by COVID-19?   It will be a while before we will know the exact truth. There is so much going on in the world, within our country there is dissent, much concern, and we can't ignore that, but we must remain calm and hopeful.   It will take a while before everyone feels "normal" again, before we recover from the trauma of isolation,  devastating financial problems, and  stressful fear.  I am troubled by the seriousness of this deadly virus.  I am concerned about health-care workers- my daughter is a nurse.  I know we must protect the elderly. My own mother is among the vulnerable.   But I feel we will get through it. We are showing a steady decline of positive cases, and we can sensibly begin to return to our jobs and activities if we follow the common sense guidelines that the Task Force and our local officials recommend.

 I have not panicked or hoarded, and it's because I have a peace that comes from simply trusting in the Lord. He is still in control.  I know that God will take care of me.  I am not afraid of dying, and know that He will care for me, protect me and give me strength that people without  faith cannot understand.  They may think I'm silly, or ignorant, or in denial.   But I choose to live in faith, not fear.
I've been saddened by rejection of a couple people I tried to pray with.  How can you live without faith?
 I've felt bad when I couldn't help them with their anxiety, because they didn't want anything to do with hearing a Bible verse,  or just letting me pray with them.  My boyfriend expressed concern that I may be becoming a "religious fanatic".
 Still, why would I not want to share with you, the answer to calming your fear, making you feel safe, when I know in my heart that God is real, he cares for you and me.   My mother and I still sing, over the phone, every night, Does Jesus Care? , because the song has special meaning to her and me.

 Please don't suffer, when you can just trust in Him, believing there is hope.
 Please don't feel alone, because He is always with you.

 I am at times worried about my business recovering. So is everyone else.  But I do believe that Americans are strong and resilient, and will get out there again soon,  and be the consumers they are, and we will thrive once again.  I have to believe, and keep building my business, working to grow my business. I have been using this lock-down time wisely to do things I usually don't have time for.  Polishing, painting, organizing, refinishing, repairing  all my vintage treasures. I started a new online store , so maybe I can stay viable while the physical store has to be closed, and my Etsy is failing .

I was surprised to find my small tree
blossoming, when I made a recent
 " curbside pick-up"  delivery.  A sign of hope?

This is the storefront, St.Patrick's Day,
right before we had to close down.

 More importantly- I am helping home-school my grandkids, and planting seeds of God's word in their hearts.  I'm planting containers with vegetable seeds too, doing practical things, during the quarantine.

 Grow through

 what 

   you go through

Every little bit helps, so being frugal, growing things, taking
 extra special care of ourselves and our family,
staying in touch with our friends, and being extra kind
is what we can all do.

I'm hopeful and pray you are feeling hopeful too!
 Please leave me a comment , so I know someone
is reading my blog, and so I can pray for you!
Be safe, stay well and have faith- there is hope!

Love, Linda