Can't be more tea here! No teacups!

I had a good time at my sister's house for Easter last week. While I was there I took a couple of pictures of her old china. Her's is a delicate pink flower pattern, and it is marked Elite Works, Limoges France on the back. After all these years I did not know she didn't have any teacups or saucers. None! But I'll be she didn't know I don't have soup bowls, either.

This is part of the china from a former ancestor that was handed down through our grandmother. She was our grandfather's second wife, and somehow she ended up with 2 sets of china. Remember the story that it was ordered on the way home from Monaco on a gambling trip? We don't know any better so we keep telling the story!

Going old school with iced tea

It's time for iced tea again, and I have, for once, gone backwards technology-wise.

I put the old electric iced tea maker in the garage and pulled out my old teakettle. The reason I did is that I am officially in love with my new tangerine colored Fiesta pitcher. She's a beauty! And a classic, too.

How many of us remember a pitcher like this in our Mom's or Grandmother's house, all loaded up with either lemonade or reconstituted frozen orange juice? My grandmother's pitcher was a light turquoise, and not as big as mine. It was almost always used for OJ.

Yes, I'm tripping down memory lane again, but I'm not ready to give up my Keurig in favor of a Drip-O-Lator just yet.

My formula for tea is 4 family sized bags of decaffeinated tea, 2 teabags of Lemon Zinger, and 64 oz of boiling water. After adding the boiling water to the pitcher, I wait until the pitcher is cool enough to handle. Then I transfer the tea to a plastic pitcher and add 4 Truvia packets. I refrigerate this pitcher, and when I want a glass of tea I put ice in the glass and water up to, or just past, the halfway mark, then add the tea.  Yes, this is very lightly sweetened, and I like it like that!

The best part is the cleanup. It is much easier than with the old Mrs. Tea. Yay, old school!

New dishes!

I did it! After years of threatening to, I bought a full set of Fiesta dinnerware, in 8 different colors.

I couldn't be happier. They are so pretty, even dirty in the dishwasher. Each time I pull out a plate, I'm all pleased with it, thinking, wow, this one is my favorite. Then I do it again for the next color.

Love it! I've used the cheap plates from the Big Lots so long that I had forgotten what nice plates looked and felt like.