New Blue and White Dishes

 

My set of 6 ceramic appetizer dishes I ordered from eBay arrived a few days ago. I love the blue and white patterns. The Cerkik six-inch plates are safe to use in the dishwasher and microwave. 

My kitchen cupboards are full. I need to decide what to do with the Corelle dishes. Probably in the next few weeks, I will remove them. We are already using the Pfaltzgraff white dishes that is part of the Corelle ware replacement. 

Later this spring we may replace our recliner chairs and a side/lamp table, too. We are spiffing up things in our old age. 

Pfaltzgraff Jules Dishware

 

Corelle dishware is resistant to cracking, breaking, and chipping; but even Corelle is not miracle dishware.

We have had a set of Corelle dishes for almost 19 years. The edges are eroding away. The dishes and bowls are serviceable. We still eat out of them regularly. However, they are looking a little shabby.

I bought on Wayfair a new set of dishware. They arrived yesterday. They are Pfaltzgraff Jules pattern. They look nice. I am not sure how well ceramic dishes will hold up over time. They are definitely heavier than Corelle. The bowls are much larger than I realized. This pattern has a beaded design around the rim of the plates and around the outside of the bowl.

There are 4 dinner plates, 4 dessert/salad plates, and 4 bowls.

The Corelle ware set had 4 blue mugs with 4 "saucers" except the saucers had no circular indentation like it would for a normal cup. I am looking at some "appetizer" plates on eBay to replace these small plates. I think I am going to buy a set of 6 blue and white plates in different but complementary patterns. 

I really liked the Secret Garden design. Corelle no longer makes it or anything like it, but they do still sell dish sets.

I am not the same person I was 20 years ago. As long as I am replacing dishes, I might as well try something different.

What kind of dishware do you use? Have you had it a long time?

Mardi Gras

 

Our retirement community has a themed Sunday brunch once a month. On the 15th, it was Mardi Gras. The tables had strands of green, gold, and purple beads along with feathered face masks. Some of the buffet choices were jambalaya, fried catfish, okra, and beignets. The dessert table had King cake.

The only time I saw a Mardi Gras parade was in Gulf Shores, Alabama when my husband and I spent two weeks away from snowy Indiana. Nearby Mobile has many parades with decorated floats. Our smaller town had mostly decorated flatbed trailers pulled by pickup trucks. The people on the float threw out bead necklaces and candy. 

We were glad we had our winter coats because a front came through and drove the temperatures down. When we returned to our car, we stopped in at a small cafe and had beignets and hot drinks. I had eaten beignets in New Orleans before. They are delicious but messy with the powdered sugar getting on your fingers and clothes. 

Have you eaten a beignet?

New Bird Feeder

 Our wooden bird feeder that we have had over a decade became molded. This affected the sunflower seeds. The birds stopped coming. 

My husband bought a new feeder. It is plastic. We hope it will resist mold growth.

For several days, no birds arrived, but this morning we had some house finches. They have discovered there are seeds coming out of the bottom of this new bright object in their world. Hope they draw a crowd.

Trying Peacock TV

 

This morning we subscribed to Peacock TV. We have been watching some of the Olympics on it. Because of the time difference between Milan, Italy and the Eastern Standard Time in the United States, a lot of the events are broadcast live early in the morning here. 

I am not too sure we will keep the subscription very long. We do not watch much television. I am still clumsily navigating my smart TV. I thought I would see some ice skating this afternoon, but it turned out that the short programs are being shown on NBC (probably delayed showing). So I watched some of that, but not on Peacock.

I see NBA games are broadcast on Peacock, but my husband does not follow professional basketball. 

Maybe we will look at some movies on Peacock. Since we rarely go to theaters, there may be some older movies we have not seen but might interest us. It is nicer to stay inside where it is warm during these winter days; watching a movie might be a good way to spend the time. 

We had two inches of snow early this morning. Our retirement community maintenance department did plow our street by 10 a.m. I have sent my husband off to do the grocery pickup at Kroger. 

We got into some light snow on the way home from a medical appointment/shopping trip at Fort Wayne yesterday. I snoozed during the drive while my husband dealt with the lower visibility. The roads were in pretty good shape as it was lightweight blowing snow.

Have you tried Peacock TV? What do you like to watch on it?

New Mailbox Lock and Keys

 Praise the Lord! The post office locksmith came today and replaced our malfunctioning mailbox lock. We do not have to go to Warsaw to pick up our mail any longer. Delivery will be resumed. 

Today at our Robin Hood monthly lunch the table decorations were themed around Valentine's Day. At my table I was surprised to see a lady who had lived in a Robin Hood condo previously but had moved a few years ago with her husband to an independent living apartment. Her husband died not too long after they moved.

 She was with a gentleman who lives in one of the condos. Aha! I thought to myself there is a romance going on there. She announced that the two of them are getting married April 11th. Love abounds.

Not Frozen After All

 Tomorrow it will be one week since we were unable to open our mailbox. We tried several sources of heat. We bought a can of de-ice stuff and tried several times. It became obvious that the lock was not frozen but broken somehow. Since we cannot see the mailbox tower from our house, we have had poor luck catching and talking to the delivery lady. Today we finally had success. We were able to take our mail out while she had the panel door open to fill the boxes. She is going to hold our mail at the post office until a repair/replacement can be done. According to her, there is a huge backlog, and it will probably be at least a week until the lock is repaired and we can access our mailbox. My husband filled out a repair request yesterday morning. We are headed in the right direction.

This afternoon as I went to the checkout at Walgreen's, I spied some Dubai-style chocolate in a display. I have been wanting to try this. It is very expensive candy though. $2.99 for one patty/piece. 

On January 5th I ordered a spoon rest on Amazon. I noticed this while browsing for a Christmas spoon rest. I did not see anything I liked, but this red spoon rest popped up. OK. I can use it at Christmas but also year-round. It took this long for it to be shipped. 

It is large enough for a cooking spoon.

It is so easy to go through each day oblivious to the things around you. A few weeks ago as I washed my hairbrush, lots of little round plastic "knobs" fell off. With a careful perusal of the brush, I realized it had maybe only a third of the knobs left. Today I bought a new brush. I tried it out; whoa, the static is really bad right now. I dampened the brush and my hair did lie down. New Year, new hairbrush. 

What new things have entered your life in 2026?

Won't Budge

 When my husband went to get the mail on Friday, the lock was frozen. He could not open it. Our mailbox is a "slot" in a communal tower about half a block from our house. He tried our candle lighter, heating a rod with his propane torch and inserting it, using a small pen torch directly on the lock. The key would not budge. He tried again yesterday. Sadly, our two local newspapers (Warsaw and Fort Wayne) come via the mail as the publishers no longer use home delivery. It is now Sunday, and we still have not been able to retrieve our delivered mail. I was also hoping to receive some birthday cards. I doubt we will get the mailbox open tomorrow on my birthday either. Maybe on Tuesday.

On Thursday, my sister-in-law gave us a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle to work on. We put the last few pieces in this morning. It was an interesting challenge.

A few years ago, one of our puzzles came with a sturdy cardboard lid holder with notches. My husband adapted the idea into wood. It has been very handy since it does not tip over like the box lid standing on its bottom does.

We have had lots of cardinals at the birdfeeder the past few weeks. Yesterday 5 males sat in the backyard pine tree looking like scarlet Christmas ornaments. My husband kindly brushed away the accumulated snow that blocked the opening of the feeder this morning. There has been a flurry of activity since then.

I am starting to feel a bit bored. I finished my Bible study questions yesterday morning. I decided to sort through our "stamp drawer" yesterday afternoon after my husband's comment about what a mess it is. I do not usually keep much printed material in there other than address labels, but sometimes I will stuff items inside "temporarily". I found sympathy cards from when my sister-in-law died 4 years ago! Obviously, it has been a while since I sorted and cleaned things out. I tried the various pens in the drawer, tossing many that had dried up. It does look better now. Alas, hidden clutter is still clutter.

Now that my See's fudge is almost gone, I bought some Private Selection (Kroger store brand) dark chocolate sea salt truffles. They are very good, but kind of pricey as is most chocolate these days. They were on sale, and I would buy them again if they are on sale. They come individually wrapped so should stay fresh though being in the house of a chocoholic these are not likely to last long. They are 75 calories per piece. 

Although we will probably end up with 5 inches of snow and have bitter cold, we are warm and snug in our house and able to keep busy with projects and hobbies. I am praying for those with ice. That is a nasty situation. Hope everybody affected by this massive storm system stays safe and warm.

Patterns in the Snow

 

Yesterday's wind sculpted waves into the light snow it blew around. 

This was the scene from my bedroom window.

Another force of nature on the snow are the birds that come to our feeder. Some are ground feeders like the juncos. Others have to get the spilled seed on the ground because they are jostled off of the feeder by bigger more aggressive birds. They leave lots of tracks.

It is a sunny day with blue sky, but only 12 degrees so far this afternoon. That may warm up overnight as a new snow storm arrives tomorrow morning. We are enjoying the win by the Indiana University Hoosiers to become the national football champions. That adds "sunshine" to our day as well.

Maskless Cardinal

 

My husband took this picture of a maskless cardinal today. Last year we had one at the feeder, also. We do not know if this is the same one. Probably. He has a genetic trait missing eumelanin. The internet says wild cardinals live on average 3-5 years so maybe we will see him next winter, too. 

We have had lots of cardinals at the feeder the last few days. As many as 6 at one time. I have been watching for the odd-ball guy, but this is the first time we have noticed him this winter. 

It was 11 degrees when I got up this morning. Now it is 5 degrees at 11:30 a.m. and expected to fall to 3 by this evening. We have a brisk wind blowing light snow off the roofs and ground into the air. January in northern Indiana. 

Christmas Keeps Giving

 

The amaryllis on the board is now open. The flowers are not as large as the reindeer amaryllis, but they form a cluster of 8 blooms.

The blooms on the reindeer amaryllis are drying up. I have cut off two blooms so far. However, the second stalk is now trying to open up so it won't be long until new blooms appear.

Another Christmas gift that keeps giving delight is the devotional book by Ruth Chou Simons titled The Way of the Wildflower. Each entry is illustrated similar to what appears on the covers. I just finished another devotional book yesterday. I read the introduction to Simons' book this morning. I am looking forward to the 30 meditations.

Another Christmas thing that sticks around is that extra one pound I gained from the cookies and candy. Starting to watch for ways to cut down calories to get back to "normal". It all tasted so good; fortunately, most of the sweets have been eaten and are not around to tempt me anymore. 

Hope you are enjoying your Christmas gifts even into this new year.

Bloomin' New Year

 

Happy 2026 to You and Yours