Harvest Moon

In the wake of a beautiful harvest moon that hung low in the sky, I've found myself fully emerged in the season.  My beautiful city of Cleveland has taken its time adapting to 'normal' temperatures, but a heavy 15+ hour rain has brought a cool breeze.  Today we started bringing out a few seasonal decorations, and I also prepared one of my favorite autumnal snacks, candy corn and peanuts.

The combination of salty and sweet is perfect!  It tastes just like a Payday candy bar and look how great it looks in my Friendship casserole!  Hope you are all having a lovely Saturday and enjoying the beautiful season around you.

The Power of Pyrex

It's been just over a year since I started collecting Pyrex.  Over the year I've accumulated around 80 pieces of vintage Pyrex in a range of patterns and colors.   I've had a lot of fun hunting thrift stores, antique malls, flea markets, garage sales and estate sales on Saturdays, Sundays and sometimes lunch breaks.

Since I've started collecting I've attempted to participate in the online Pyrex collecting community. Sort of.  Instagram was the first pyrex community I started participating in, then I looked for Pyrex blogs to follow and keep up with.  Recently, I've joined a few Pyrex collecting communities on Facebook.   The reason I've attempted to participate in these communities is to gain knowledge, awareness and inspiration of all things vintage Pyrex.  What I've found in joining these communities is that they each provide what I'm looking for but also come with a side of drama.  Though many of the other users are there for the same reason I am, it's inevitable there will be a very few very opinionated, "know-it-all" participants who are trying to out-smart, and out-do what everyone else is doing and saying.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm all about constructive feedback.  But I'm not interested in someone trying to "school" another user for any reason.  When this behavior takes place I do my best to ignore it, as I do not find it to be a healthy contribution to my life.

Luckily, there is still plenty of good.

It's safe to say that I'm most active in the Instagram pyrex community, as that is the forum in which I discovered the beauty of vintage Pyrex.  It was also this community that I was lucky enough to find and connect with another local Pyrex collector.  Trisha of My Wicked Vintage is truly amazing!  She has a fascinating spectrum of interests and a great eye.   One of her collections is vintage Pyrex and she has been actively collecting it for years ( I'm pretty sure she said 20 years ).    I know I've talked about her before on here, but that's because she is totally my Pyrex idol.  She has been very kind to me at her garage sales as she selectively whittles down her collection to a museum worthy showcase.  Last week she held another garage sale and hooked me up with pieces that I didn't know I needed, but couldn't go without now.

These online communities are full of knowledge, inspiration and valuable contributors, and as long as I proceed as a positive contributor, I hope to continue to gain excellent contacts and friends.

The Weekend Haul

This weekend was unintentionally one of the most lucrative weekends I've had in my year of collecting Pyrex.

We spent the weekend in Cincinnati and Dayton and I was not disappointed.  I attended a bridal shower with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and while we were in Dayton, my husband and father-in-law spent the afternoon scouring re-sale shops all over Cincinnati.   My husband has been incredibly supportive of my Pyrex problem and he has a great eye for pieces for my collection.  He scored me the 8 cup coffee carafe new-in-box.

He also came across this Snowflake oval casserole and clear  Pyrex for Westinghouse loaf pan with the knob lid. 

When we got back into town this afternoon, I had a yard sale on my mind.  My Instagram friend, Trisha of My Wicked Vintage, was having another yard sale within a mile of my house and she had at least one item set aside for me.  When I got there I was delighted to find all kinds of goodies.  It was her yard sale that I got the rest of the treasures you see in that first picture.  I love the promotional cinderella bowl and casseroles so much more now that I've seen them in person.  I'm delighted to have them and they look great in my china cabinet (picture to come soon).  

I'm really excited for the lime green cake pan as well, and I'm going to start putting a lot more time and energy into growing this set in my collection.  Next up, some pie pans.  I've been practicing making homemade pie and crust, so I'm due for some beautiful vintage pans. 

Ok, there's a lot more I want to talk about with these finds, but Breaking Bad is about to start, so it will just have to wait until next time. 

Happy Hunting, my fellow Pyrex fiends. 

Big Salad

In the evenings to wind down, my husband and I will watch an episode or two of one of our favorite shows.  Currently, we are re-watching Seinfeld and enjoying it very much. In one of the more recent episodes we watched, Elaine was obsessed with a big salad from their usual spot.  All this talk of a big salad inspired us to make some big salads for dinner.  We each filled our own 402 with our favorite salad fixings.

We each started with baby spinach, diced tomato, green onions, bacon and shaved parmesan cheese.  I added mushrooms to mine because they are delicious.  

Our Big Salads

The dressing is a homemade honey mustard recipe:

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon yellow mustard or 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, vinegar, oil, mustard lemon juice.

The dressing was an awesome addition to our fresh big salads and we can't wait to make them again. 

Early American

Considering tomorrow is Independence Day, sharing my most recent Pyrex acquisition seems appropriate.  The Early American pattern is obviously not as colorful as some of my more coveted collections, so I never really gave it much consideration.    A few weekends ago, my husband started receiving some anxious texts from his parents who were on holiday a few hours from home in an antiquing town called Berlin, OH.  They had spotted this set at a great price and were wondering if we needed it in our collection.   

I wasn't able to respond in a timely manner, so they brought the goods home with them.   The set was in immaculate condition and they kept mentioning how cute the cat was.   Having not given this pattern much thought before, I had never noticed the cat.   My husband is a cat lover so he was stoked to add this beautiful mixing bowl set to our collection. 

 

Now that this set has been in my home for a few days, they have already gotten their share of use.  I'm always excited for my collection to grow and very pleased that so many of my loved ones are contributing to the fun!

Yard Sale Season

What an amazing weekend!  Not that we did anything extraordinary.  With some great company and new friends, this weekend was awesome. 

This weekend I had the opportunity to meet a fellow Pyrex collector and vintage lover, Trish of My Wicked Vintage.  I've been following her on Instagram for a long time, fascinated by her awesome eye for vintage Pyrex, all things medical vintage and all around positive outlook on life.   It didn't take long to realize she is practically my neighbor, so when I saw that she was having a yard sale, parting with tons of her Pyrex treasures, I was there in a heartbeat.  And even went back for a second dose.   It was so great to meet her and put a face with her awesome Instagram feed.   Trish hooked me up with some awesome pieces for my Friendship and Butterprint collection, which I'll share when the sets are more complete, and she also started my Verde collection for the fabulous price of $10.  I've had my eye on the Verde set for a while now, which is a beautiful set of varying avocado greens. 

Verde Cinderella mixing bowls

After visiting Trish on the second day of her yard sale, she recommend a street wide yard sale a few blocks down, so I couldn't help but haul my husband and our buddy Tim for a little more Pyrex hunting.   And we were not disappointed, well, I wasn't.   Within ten minutes I scored the Verde refrigerator set in mint condition for the fabulous yard sale rate of $22.  

Verde Refrigerator Dishes

These are only a few other pieces in the Verde set,  so to have so easily acquired my most coveted pieces in one weekend, within two miles of my home, well, I'm feeling pretty lucky. 

When we weren't shopping the yard sales, we did a lot of hanging out with some out of town friends, and our kick ass neighbors.  Fires in the firepit both nights and copious amounts of craft beer.  I'm loving these friend filled summer weekends!  Now if you will excuse me, my husband is popping some popcorn and putting that 404 qt. cinderella to use. 

When Shipping Pyrex Goes Wrong

One of the most convenient ways to add to my Pyrex collection is shopping online.   In the online Pyrex market the only thing I have to be selective about is how much I want to spend on items.   I've purchased from a variety of places including ebay, shopgoodwill.com and even Instagram.  All of which have been very lucrative and vital in the growth of my Pyrex collection.    Out of the dozens of items I've purchased this way, only once have I suffered any damaged items.   But once is heart breaking enough.  The item I lost was a Horizon Blue #403 2 1/2qt mixing bowl.  Luckily, the 401 and the 402 made it in one piece still.

Often when Pyrex is broken in transit, it's the fault of the shipper, however in this case, I do not believe that to be true.   I'm fairly certain that my USPS postal worker treated it like a kickball.  She doesn't tend to show us as tenants a lot of respect with any of our mail and the item was very well bubble wrapped.  Here's what I found when I opened up my package: 

Luckily, this was the first time I opted for insurance on since I've started buying online.  The cost of the item and the shipping was covered, but I haven't had the heart to bring myself to place another online order since.   In the meantime,  I'll be spending my time weeding my collection of items I'm not truly in love with.