Chocolate Book Collection & The Gilded Bee

Chocolate Cookbook Collection

If you recall that I am a cookbook collector and that I have recently resolved to focus only on books about chocolate, then you will understand my shock and awe and utter joy over the Christmas present I just received from my brother.

He brought over a big box today and all of these were inside:

Amazingly, I had only one of them already in my collection and it was a paperback in poor condition.  The new one is a hardcover.  A nice hardcover.

My brother is far more skilled and patient in preservation than I, so he swaddled each one of these in a clear cover for me.

Thank you, thank you, thank you sooooo much, Billy!

I love you for doing this.

You rock!

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The Gilded Bee

Remember that pretty ribbon I found last week?

It comes in other dreamy colors.  Swoon.

I like that it’s called Chess Pie Ribbon.  So charming.

The minute I found it and browsed the rest of The Gilded Bee’s etsy shop, I caved to frilly, girly weakness and ordered this and this too.

Happy.  Smiley.  Ribbony.  Lovely.

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And then there’s this:

Have a great weekend!

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The Boy & Some Beautiful Ribbon

Socks

It’s a little early…

but the boy is ready for St. Patrick’s Day.  🙂

Please ignore my dirty house in background.  😳

Or, if you prefer, you may study it more closely…

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Nine-Year-Old Art

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Sniffle Boy And His Doughnut

He will probably be fine to go back to school tomorrow, but today was a doughnut day.

It was also a Mama-doesn’t-care-about-the-green-felt-pen-marks-on-your-neck day.

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Out and Ugly, but totally Alpha

Our spice cupboard has been on the clutter control hit list for a few years.   I finally tackled it this weekend.

It’s not the solution I dreamed of, but it’s a huge relief in this house of never ending inconveniences.

This will just have to do until I get enough nerve and know-how to open the wall.

I learned that I don’t need to buy crushed red pepper or cinnamon again for a very loooooong time.  😐

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Thrift Store Find – Beautiful Threaded Ribbon

And speaking of things I dream of…

I am smitten with ribbon.

I use it frequently, but I also have plenty that I just like to look at.

Today’s thrift store purchase falls into that category.  I plan only to gaze at it dreamily, unless a really spectacular ribbon-needy occasion presents itself.

I’ve never seen anything like it before and I look at ribbon almost everyday.  Everyday and everywhere.

Maybe one of you will tell me this ribbon is very common…

or maybe you will tell me that it’s just 99 cents at Target or something.

But I don’t think so.

Even if you tell me that, I don’t care.

It’s officially the loveliest ribbon in my collection.

Isn’t it dreamy?

Happy Wednesday!

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Rose Bowl Flea Market Purchases

I buy ribbon and rickrack everywhere I go.  This pile of generous bundles cost only $10 total.  I love the blue with the red and white.  They’re kind of fitting for the season, don’t you think?  😀

I also buy Little Golden Books.  I got these three and the colorful little book below for a total of $3.00.

The Little Small Red Hen book was wrapped in a plastic bag when I saw it, so I knew it was probably badly damaged inside.  I was right.  There are pages missing and others torn, but I love the colorful cover and there are a few additional color plates inside that charm me anyway.  And really, the title is so sweet.

I’m not sure I know what to say about these next items.  I collect buttons and dominoes, but the buttons aren’t the greatest specimens and those two dominoes are all I got – not a set.  Don’t know what I was thinking.  Guess I don’t care since it only took $2.00 from me.

Arthur Burdett Frost’s Br’er Rabbit has been in my dreams for months.  I saw these twin reproduction art plaques of him at the market in January and have been wanting them ever since.  Now, they’re mine!  I’m glad they were near the exit.  Once I had these heavy boys to carry, I turned into a complaining nightmare.  “Oh, my aching back!”

I bought this bag to put them in and it made a big difference!

This bag is HUGE and made of super lightweight fabric.  I wish I had bought more than one.  😐

I also bought our initials.  Each ten-inch letter is cut from thin metal, then painted.  I’m not sure where I’m going to put them yet, but I am sure I will buy another letter or two every time I go to the market.  The guy who makes them just tosses them all on the ground and people walk on them and kick them aside to find the colors and letters they want.  All that rough handling gives the letters a good scruffy salvage look to them.  He makes smaller and larger versions and there are also numbers and some funky three-dimensional flowers too.

I can’t wait to add more to my collection.  I feel an art installation brewing, maybe for the wall to the right of my stained glass window??  You know, this wall:

Can’t you just picture it with a sea of letters swirling about like the curly waves in the window?  I can!

Last, but not least, here is the teeny bird I bought at Goldbug.  He’s very sweet, but extremely difficult to photograph.  My friend got one just like him, but with less of the green patina.  I love him.

I feel like I’ve forgotten something.  I will check my treasures and let you know!

Oh, I also bought four magazines on this trip.  Four.  Because this was MY weekend and I like magazines.  Woohoooo!

Happy Monday!

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P.S. I forgot to mention that I also went to Mignon Chocolates.  I have to confess, I am a diehard See’s Candies loyalist, but I would happily eat another of Mignon’s Amaretto truffles if I had to.  😀

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P.P.S.  The little boy seems pleased with my one and only purchase from Lula Mae this time:

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