I Could Become a Hoarder...If it Wasn't for the Price of the Stuff!

Just look at that gorgeous, soothing, milky-green color above. I could just surround myself with it. I don't know if they make a bathtub out of Jade-ite, but if they did, I would bathe in it daily (and that's coming from someone who doesn't do baths...only showers...I think baths are a waste of water and the thought of bathing/soaking in your own dirty water is repugnant to me).

My first pieces of Jade-ite were two mugs that I purchased from an antique dealer about four years ago. I usually have my morning coffee in one of these mugs.

Then came my butter dish (the letters that spelled out Butter have since worn away) and my spoon rest with the strawberry motif.

Let me show you my current Jade-ite hoard. I placed all I have (thus far) on my dining room table and took a photo (I have more than I thought).

On my birthday, The Colonel surprised me with some new pieces. He bought me two new mugs and a very beautiful lady dish.

I keep some of my pretty jewelry pins in the lady dish. She is so lovely and unique. Thank yous to The Colonel!

Yam and Spud gave me money and gift cards for my birthday...guess what I spent it on?

Jade-ite chili bowls and a set of nesting mixing bowls...what else?

Since I am talking about bowls...The Colonel and I go north to a town that is full of antique dealers (where I got my first mugs) and every time we go I check out the Jade-ite items. Here are some more mixing bowls I bought.

I also found a pretty cake stand but it did not have a top to it. So, I bought a glass cake stand at a discounted price. I kept the top and gave the bottom back to the dealer so she could sell it again (that was part of the discounted price negotiation). During another visit to the antique-filled town I came away with the hens. The large hen holds my phone charging cords as she sits on my kitchen counter and the tiny hen (a salt cellar) sits on my toaster oven.

I had some more birthday money to spend and looked online for more Jade-ite items for sale. I saw some pretty cereal bowls and dinner plates on Ebay. I just had to have them. The Colonel helped me bid for them and keep an eye on the other bids. With his help, I swooped in at the last second with the highest bid and won them.

The dinner plates had never been used. They still had the manufacturer sticker on them (a bit of a history lesson later).

The Anchor Hocking Fire King Jade-ite is highly collectible and pricey but you can find some pretty green glassware (non Jade-ite) at Wal-Mart and Target. I have four little, square plates, a salt/pepper shaker and a tiny cupcake stand.

When I saw the tiny cupcake stand I had no idea what I would do with it, I just knew I wanted needed it (it is so cute). I found the perfect use for it. I had and equally tiny doily and tiny copy of Edvard Eriksen's The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark. I put the cupcake stand, doily and mermaid statue together and sat them next to a log cabin (one of my mom's, she collected them) on my kitchen counter (not too far from the hen).

Three years ago, The Colonel and I took a trip to The Cumberland Gap and while there we stopped by one of the curio shops that dot the area. This shop had all kinds of rocks and pieces of slag glass strewn about outside. I saw a pretty piece of milky green glass with a thin ribbon of pink running through it. I asked the shop owner where did the glass come from and she told me it was from the Anchor Hocking Company. I bought it and set it in my rock garden.

The color of the blob of glass (minus the pink) looks like my Jade-ite items. That would be because the Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation produced the Fire King Jade-ite ware. Remember the original sticker on my dinner plates?

Here comes the history lesson I warned told you about...

In 1905, The Hocking Glass Company was founded by Isaac Jacob (Ike) Collins in Lancaster, Ohio. It was named for the Hocking River nearby. The Company merged with the Anchor Corporation & Closure Corporation in 1937.

The Anchor Hocking Corporation produced Fire King "Jade-ite" to withstand high temperatures in ovens and stoves (do no microwave it...there were no microwaves in the days it was created). Fire King items came in many colors like pink, light blue, turquoise, ivory, white and of course green.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Jade-ite, a stain and heat resistant, milky-green glassware was sold in hardware and Five and Dime stores. They were sometimes found in bags of flour or box of oatmeal, as an inducement to the consumer to buy more of a set.

Jade-ite Fire King ware was mostly produced between the years 1945-1975. It is still produced by Anchor Hocking but with design variations in reproductions so not to be mistaken for originals to maintain the integrity of genuine status of original Jade-ite articles. The new items are marked as Fire King 2000.

We can all blame Martha Stewart and her daughter Alexis for starting the Jade-ite collecting craze. Unlike Martha Stewart, I do not have endless amounts of money and a army of people scouring the world for perfect Jade-ite ware.

Guess I will have to be content with my hit or miss purchases at antique stores and online (or more surprises from The Colonel).

Note: The next day after publishing this post, The Colonel and I went to the town full of antiques and had a delicious pre-anniversary lunch and I found these Jade-ite steak plates. I bought the set of four.

Reliving the 80s

Once a year, Yam gets to take a guest to a party. This party is for county workers (and their plus one). It is the county's way of saying thank you. Last year The Colonel was Yam's guest and I was her guest this year.

The county parties are thematic. Last year's theme was Hawaiian/Tropical and this year's theme, The 80s.

Yam and I went shopping a couple of weeks prior to the party. We hit all of the local Goodwill stores, looking for anything that might simulate a 1980s outfit. Yam asked me what kind of things we wore back then. I told her I remember we wore everything big: big eyeglasses, big hair, big shoulder pads and big earrings. It has been nearly 30 years since the 80s ended and frankly, even though I lived through them, I had to Google 1980s fashions to jog my memory. I was a teenager (19) when the 1980s commenced and a young adult (28) in their final year.

Google searches showed lots of neon colors and leggings. There were also slouch socks and white Keds. It was all coming back to me.

Yam found a cute neon top to wear with her leggings and I found a cotton sweater with bright colors. I also found some jewelry to accent my costume. My slouch socks ended up being Dr. Scholl's socks from Wal-Mart (good thing I could use them later with my current clothes...my feet are nearly 30 years older now).

I showed up early at Yam's house so that we could do our make-up and hair. I had gotten a large can of Aqua Net hairspray so that we could "cement" our hairdos in place once we had them the way we wanted them. I wore my hair short in the 80s and have never been one to mess with my hair much, so it was a bit of a challenge to take my hairstyle back in time. I tried to help Yam with hers too but my skills are nearly non-existent. Even when Yam was a little girl, my skills pretty much extended to ponytails, braids and barrettes. Thank God Yam was not a girly-girl (I never was either).

We looked 80-ish enough by the time we headed out the door.

We arrived at the event center where the party was held. Yam pulled out the tickets as we walked up to the check-in table. These characters welcomed us.

After check-in, we walked into the huge room where the party was taking place.

The room was filled with large, round tables, two food lines, a coffee/dessert table, a dance floor and a photo area. On each table were items from the 80s: Rubik's cubes, Pop Rocks candy, funky eye shades, glow-in-the-dark bracelets to mention a few items.

Yam and I stood in line to get our pictures taken. We did not know the camera was already taking our picture, so in the first photo you can tell we were not ready with a smile or a pose.

There were many women dressed as Madonna, a man dressed as Crockett of Miami Vice, men with mullets and even a man dressed like Prince (or is it The Artist Formally Known As Prince?).

After we ate our dinner of fried chicken, roasted veggies and ma'n'cheese bombs (little balls of fried mac'n'cheese...yummo), Yam and I hit the dance floor a couple of times and even joined the Conga Line that was led by Beetlejuice. Later we had ice cream and a cookie. I also had some delicious coffee.

We shared our table with two other county workers and a spouse. One worker happened to be the woman who runs the county's historical programs that The Colonel and I volunteer for (she brought her spouse) and the other worker was the county historian. We had a fun time together.

The party lasted until 10 p.m. but Yam and I, as well as our table mates, called it a night before that (heck, 10 p.m. is when I get into bed for the night...remember I am no longer the young adult I was in the 1980s).

Yam and I had a great evening as we ate, laughed, talked and danced. It is spending time together like this that makes me very happy and grateful to have Yam living so close to us. 

Throwback Thursday

I have been looking through some of my pictures, in hopes of finding some more for my new "Throwback Thursday" posts. As I was rifling through some stacks, I saw the colorful snapshots below.

I painted these coconuts when we lived in Key West (1998-2001). There were plenty of coconuts on the ground around the island. The Colonel, the kids and I gathered some and I thought they would make great Halloween decorations.

Once they were painted, I placed them in the garden, in my front yard. I liked them so well, I left them there until we moved. By that time, they were sun bleached and peeling. It broke my heart to have to consign them to a garbage bag.

I closely examined the coconuts in each picture. Of course I remember painting them, but I had forgotten how they came out. I was and am very pleased with the end products. I do not want to sound like I am tooting my own horn, but normally artists (especially me) are never completely satisfied with their work. I really like these decorated coconuts (probably why I left them in the garden loooooong after Halloween).

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

The Alien: I had eight coconuts to paint and The Colonel asked me to make one an alien. Its eyes were not so empty (and scary) looking once I added little dots of white to them.

The Devil: This coconut was an homage to a Halloween mask of my youth. Everyone around my age (50-something), wore the plastic masks to go Trick-or-Treating. Remember the smell of the plastic?

Image from the Internet

The Mummy and The Skull: Because you have to have a mummy and a skull for Halloween (I think it is the law).

Frankenstein's Monster: Well, if you have The Mummy you definitely must have Frankenstein's Monster too. I like the way I painted his eyes...makes him look slow-witted or maybe just sleepy.

Quasimodo: Disney's movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, came out in 1996. Yam, always the Disney fan, asked me to paint one coconut like Quasimodo. I think I did a pretty decent job.

Image from the Internet

The Pirate: Living on Key West, I had to paint a pirate coconut. There is a Pirate's Well on the island after all.

The Parrot: If you have a pirate he must have his parrot. I like the way I painted his thousand-yard stare. He must have gotten that from witnessing all of the piratical activities while perched on his pirate's shoulder.

I will be perusing more pictures from the past...stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday