imitation and flattery

"Imitation is the sincerest of flattery." 
  --  Charles Caleb Colton 

I spotted a picture on Pinterest that really caught my attention.

It was from this great little blog.

She turned a soft drink crate into a spice rack.

A Formal Feeling Comes

I've never had a great spice rack.  

I've never found one I really liked.

I do like this idea though and since I have a crate or two,

I decided to imitate it.

In fact, I have the exact same Dr. P red crate.

I first thought about using this one because I like how old it is.

However, with age comes some wear and tear 

and although you can't tell,

there are parts of the wooden dividers that are missing 

so they don't make great "shelves."

Not a problem, I'll use my red one.

I picked up jars at Hobby Lobby.

You see the price?  It was 50% off that week so we didn't have to pay much.

I filled up the jars.

Then put some handmade labels on them.

You know, I like the little jars just sitting there.  

Here we go...my new little spice cabinet.

My husband wants the labels facing out

but I like it with out the labels showing.

We'll memorize quickly enough which spice is where.

Thanks to the blog, A Formal Feeling Comes, for my new spice rack.

Saturday Nite Special

I saw this! there?

As many of you know, I work for a public school district.

Fort Worth Independent School District to be exact.

I was at an elementary school this morning 

for one of my interns and I was stopped in my tracks.

I can't believe I saw this...there!

sorry for poor quality; quickly capture by iphone

Granted, this is an older elementary school

but still, just a regular neighborhood elementary school.

This cool little vintage industrial table

was just sitting in the hallway next to some

ladders, dollies, and other random things.

Round wooden top, turquoisey color,

metal, wheels, super cool.

I've occasionally seen a rolling cart like this

but not with a table top.  Next time I see

a similar cart, I'm snatching it up.

This could be such a cool kitchen/breakfast table

don't ya think?

Beating the heat

We are in our first heat wave of the summer down here in Texas. For days, we have had temperatures around 100 and just hot sun (no clouds, no rain, little breeze).  Texans have three favorite ways to cool off...go to the lake or pool, drink iced tea or make lemonade. (okay, we have other ways too...crank up the AC, turn up the ceiling fans to hurricane force winds, run through the sprinklers, go shopping at indoor places, crunch on a cup of ice, eat snowcones, I could go on and on...).   My son loves lemonade so I made some in my favorite vintage pitcher. 

I remember as a little girl seeing this pitcher in my grandmother's fridge.  She always kept it full of ice water. 

I love the top and haven't seen one of these anywhere else (or I would have bought it!) It has a little galvanized metal top.  The thin little lid is loose so it allows liquid to come out but not the lemons or whatever else you might put in that is chunky.

Lemonade with strawberries.  Yum!

When we recently cleaned out my mother-in-law's home we found a stash of these old jelly jars.  They make the perfect juice glasses or glasses for small drinks.

The only problem...I don't want anyone to touch it.  I'm afraid of it being dropped and broken.  Not very practical, huh?  I guess I'll be pouring all of the lemonade around here. 

I may be linking this little treasure up to a couple of my favorite link parties listed above in the party list or below on the right.