Cure for the Common Cold

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I'm sick. I had a very busy weekend and I got some great stuff at the antique market in St Jacobs on the weekend (I was looking for housing next term in Waterloo) but I am feeling waaaayyy to crummy to upload any of the pictures or do any scanning. Instead here is a recipe for my favourite cold remedy:

Honey and Lemon (Yes I know, super creative name...)

Ingredients: A couple spoon fulls of liquid honey and the same amount of lemon juice, freshly boiled water

1)Mix the honey and lemon together in a mug
2)Pour boiling water over top
3)Stir until honey is dissolved
4)Enjoy!

Super simple but it always makes me feel better. Best enjoyed snuggled under some blankets with a Miss Marple murder mystery.

Honey and Lemon+ Miss Marple+ a couple episodes of Posh Nosh=my idea of the perfect remedy for the common cold.

Old Typewriters

I have been dying to get an old typewriter for quite some time. So imagine my excitement when my Grandmother said I could have her old typewriter. Now, imagine my surprise when her "old" typewriter happens to be from the 1990s. Not really what I was expecting. It is the ugliest typewriter I have ever seen.

It looks a little better when it is set up...

I was rather disappointed until I started playing with it. I haven't had so much fun in years! (Which is terribly, terribly sad....) The clickety-clack sound is so much fun to listen to. I still want to get an older machine but this one will do for now.

Until I save up enough money I will just have to drool over these machine on Etsy.

1930s RARE Antique Remington Bantam Typewriter with Original Case

Sparkling 1955 Red Royal Quiet DeLuxe Portable Manual Typewriter

REMINGTON ANTIQUE TYPEWRITTER

Vintage typewriter - Smith Corona - Corsair - case - manual - aqua-light blue-blue green - slim - compact

And the winner is... none of the above

So in the end I went with none of the blog headers Aubrey and I made. I just couldn't decide which best fitted my blog so I went with an entirely new one. I still might change it but at the moment I like it. Forget-me-nots are my favourite flower so encompassing them into the header was nice.

I was going to post the song Sweet Forget Me Not (the Great Big Sea version), but I can't find a video with the version I want so instead here is something completely unrelated.

Antique shopping and an unexpected surprise

Last weekend (and I use the term loosely since I work Wednesday to Sunday) I went antique shopping in Orono. Living so close to the GTA (greater Toronto area) I find there is quite a lack of good antique stores. Most of the antique stores are actually in Toronto but I always find them a little overpriced. Orono is a cute little town that, despite its size, has several great antique stores downtown.

I bought this lovely Jonathan Logan dress (1950's perhaps?), which looked terrible on the hanger but fits me perfectly.

I also bought a collection of Victorian paper bits. Basically it was a selection of labels and bits of cards. Some of them I have already put in a frame and I am still deciding what to do with the remaining bits.

The last item I bought was this great Bing Crosby record. Why don't people listen to vinyl anymore? It sounds so great (scratches and all).

Here is where the unexpected surprise comes in:

As I was putting away my record, I happened to glance at some of the records my parents had downstairs. Now I knew they had a lot of 70's and 80's records so I never really bothered to have a closer inspection. But while I was putting Bing away I found a bunch of records I had never seen before. There was several Glen Miller records, a Benny Goodman record, a 1940's big band record, not to mention a whole set of 1930's swing music! I was in shock! I also found several more jazz records from the 1930's and 1940's I have never heard of before. My parents thought it was a little sad how excited I was....

Behind these records I also found this postcard. It was never been used but looks quite old. No one in my family has any idea where it came from.

Sometimes the best surprises come when you least expect them. What treasures have you ladies discovered lately?

A Lady of Chance

Movie review of: A Lady of Chance (1928)

Summary from the TCM website:

"In her last silent film, Norma Shearer stars as a con woman who marries a wealthy Southern cement tycoon (Johnny Mack Brown) after her former partners (Lowell Sherman, Gwen Lee) skip town with her money. Shearer's plan to milk Brown for all he's worth backfires when it turns out he's poor--and she may have actually fallen in love with him."

I found it to be a cute movie although the plot was very simple. There were very few secondary characters in this movie but not many were needed. I quite liked Norma Shearer's character Dolly. She was very feisty, intelligent and rather witty. And her outfits were gorgeous!

I very much liked this movie, although I found the ending left me wanting more. If you like silent movies then I would recommend seeing it. Overall I think I would give it 4/5.

Books Galore! (Plus vote for my new blog layout)

Before work on Saturday, I headed over to the Kirby Church book sale, which I had heard about from a girl at work. They are trying to raise money to move the church to the pioneer museum site (since the church is literally about 10 feet from the highway). It is no longer being used as a church but is instead hosts a used book sale twice a week (Saturdays 10am-3pm and Tuesdays 9:30am-11:30am) in order to raise money for the project.

To say they have a lot of books is an understatement! The room is crammed with books of all shapes and sizes. Hardcovers are a dollar and paperbacks are 50 cents! It is hard to beat those prices :)

So here is what I bought (it came to less than $20!!!) You may notice that I love Agatha Christie novels. And yes, some books I just bought for their covers.....

My friend Aubrey has a love of books that rivals even mine, and I have decided to take this moment to shamelessly promote her blog novelaholic.

I have been considering changing the look of my blog and Aubrey has been kind enough to help me create some new headers for my blog. Between the two of us we have created 5 different designs. Which do you like best? Leave me a comment letting me know which is your favourite. (And those of you who I know read my blog but aren't followers, you should be able to leave a comment even if you don't have a blogger account).

Date Bait

Ad from New Liberty Magazine, July 1953

If only it was that easy...