Saturday 24 April 2010

A few of my favourite things . . .



In the spirit of the much loved Sound of Music song, My Favourite Things, I thought it would be fun today to show you a few of my favourite things.

Lovely little treasures that I have been collecting and that I love. They are none of them worth that much, but many of them have sentiments attached and they mean the world to me.




First there is my Salt and Pepper Collection. These are only a few of the ones I have collected through the years, but these are my absolute favourites of them all! The Garden Bunnies, I received in a Salt and Pepper Swap. I fell in love with the Flower Basket Bunnies one day when I saw them on E-Bay. Likewise the polka dot chickens. I saw these in a local charity shop one morning and knew that they had to be mine. Those pretty colourful chickens were a gift from a much loved friend and are a beautiful reminder of a special trip to Idaho last year. Likewise the Blue Tits are a reminder of another much loved friend, who gave them to me as a special reminder just recently. I can never look at these precious things without thinking of the special women that I call friends. The goose set is another set I found on E-Bay. Likewise the Apples. I am so terrible. I was participating in a Salt and Pepper Swap and instead of finding salt and pepper shakers to send to others . . . I kept finding ones that I wanted myself. I know! What am I like!!



I've only recently discovered a passion for little cream jugs. Oh, I've always loved cream and sugar sets, and I have a few of those, but this passion for little Cream jugs started with the Fab Flowers one that one of my dear friends gave me a few weeks back and then yesterday I found the little polka dot one and the berry one in a local charity shop and just had to have them! I just fell in love with them. Sadly the bluebird one . . . one half of them got broken a few months back when Todd knocked it off the shelf with the Vacuum Cleaner wand and then I noticed the little beak was chipped on the remaining piece after we arrived here. I still have it in my craft room to hold pins and things though . . . would dearly love to find a replacement, but I fear it is irreplaceable. The retro fifties set I bought at a yard sale a long time ago. I just fell in love with the retro feel of it!



My Passions don't just stop there though . . . I also have a passion for Fairies and I have collected quite a few now. They sit all along the window sill up in our bedroom at the present and a few are scattered in other various places in our home. Then there are the Teddy Bears. Oh I do love me some bear . . . stuffed and fluffy ones only though . . . the real things can stay far away from me please! I also enjoy a love affair with unsual lanterns. They can have wicks or hold candles, I love them just the same. I love my letter holders. They are a fun way of putting your important post aside until you can deal with it, and of course I have a HUGE collection of cookie cutters! I just added a couple of more this week, with a tea pot, a beehive and bee, a running gingerbread man and a cute little snail taking up residence with me this past week. (You got one free if you bought 4! What can I say?) I also love Catherine Kidston Lemon and Geranium soaps, which sadly have become very difficult to find these days, but I do love them so . . . why do things have to change and disappear? And as for my M and chicken wall plaque. I have been in love with the Letter M since I was a teen and fell in love with Mary Tyler Moore's apartment. She had a wooden M and when I saw this wooden M in a shop up in Cumbria a number of years back, I just had to have one of my own! The chickens, well . . . I love chickens too and have quite a collection of them which I'll show you another time!



I do have other fetishes like egg cups (aren't the ones above just darling) and, of course, cookery books. They are not diamonds and pearls, but they are just as precious to me, these little treasures of mine. Most have a special memory and a message attached . . . those types of things are things that just can't be replaced can they? Oh yes, I am a dreamer and I am very sentimental . . . and I wouldn't change a thing.



I hope you've enjoyed this little show and tell of mine today as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. At the end of the day things are only things though and not a one of them is worth as much as a good friend or loved one. Those are the real treasures in life!

Since I am showing you my favourite things I also thought it would be fun to show you what I have for breakfast most mornings! I like to think it's a very healthy breakfast, and it too is one of my favourites. After all Oats are very good for your heart and I am getting a double dose of them here, not to mention some fruit and dairy! It makes me feel very virtuous eating this and let me tell you . . . it keeps me full up and fueled right into the afternoon!!



*Breakfast Oats*
Serves one, but is easily multiplied
Printable Recipe

The breakfast of champions! Takes a sachet of instant oats from the ordinary into something special!

1 sachet of instant oats (I like the golden syrup variety)
1 sachet of milk
a small handful of dried cherries
a small handful of granola containing nuts and fruit
a couple of TBS of plain yoghurt



Take the oats and empty it into a bowl. Add the milk and cherries, and then heat in the microwave for two minutes. Remove from the microwave and stir. Stir in the granola and plain yoghurt. Take a spoon and eat and think to yourself . . . I'm eating healthy!



And allow me to share one final, once in a blue moon, favourite indulgence. Yes . . . it's Rocky Road, showing today, over on The English Kitchen.



12 comments:

  1. Marie, I loved this post! My Mum used to have a lovely collection of cruet sets (salt & pepper pots). I myself love to collect jugs, anything cupcake, unusual jam-pots, candle-holders and, well I could go on!
    I also love anything miniature, hence my love of doll's houses! Peter hasn't done any work on the one he's making me for some time but then there's so much to do in the house and garden, still, one day....
    Love to you and Todd ~~~ Pat xx

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  2. Lovely post, Marie, very heartwarming. Those are little treasures indeed. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. We all love to have things around us that have meaning and it all helps to make a house a home. I've collected many things over the years too. They wouldn't be someone else's choice but to me they have meaning. Your breakfast sounds wonderful and good for you too. Have a great Saturday

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  4. Marie,

    Thanks for sharing some of your favourite things, I love the wee chickens,the pretty jugs and unusual lamps. They are my favourite of all your favourite things :)

    All things nice...

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  5. Loved looking at all the pictures! What fun you have collecting these gems! Being a rabbitt collector, I especially loved the bunnies. I have never seen rabbitt salt/pepper shakers but I will be keeping my eyes open from now on. Thanks for another lovely post.

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  6. I love to make Rocky Road, always so good! I hate oatmeal cereal but yours sounds good to me. Since going through all this of late, I have had to eat good food to build my blood back up and it is so much better than starving all day. I love your fav's...all too cute and very cool how you showed them too. Come say hi :D

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  7. So many sweets and treats here today, Marie! This was fun! Hope you & Todd are having a lovely weekend. After a very busy week, and not feeling too great some day, and Charlie to the vet... we're enjoying a quiet day today. Movie & popcorn tonight. :o) Hoping very much to catch you for a chat tomorrow--hope so! LOVE YOU HEAPS!! OXOX ((BIG HUGS))

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  8. I love sugar and creamers, too! I don't have much luck finding them, but still....I try...

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  9. What a post! How did you do the picture compilations and would I understand it?

    Hasn't it been a lovely day? We've been tearing round the garden centre for plants that Keith will plant tomorrow (all of them, he says). Let's just hope there's no more frost!

    love, Angie, xx

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  10. I have just recently introduced my kids the the Sound of Music and they absolutely love it! I love your display of your favorites. Very fun. The oatmeal looks delicious too.

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  11. aubrey would love to see your collection of fairies!! :) i don't have any collections really, other than a stamp collection from when i was younger. i'm boring i guess!

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  12. I love looking at your photos of your collections Marie. I like to collect lanterns but the metal ones not glass. I so love all of your collections. They are so unusual!
    Good luck with the vegetable plot. Mind out for the frosty evenings. Maybe some fleece to cover them up would be a good idea for now? I cover my little plug plants etc with fleece every night..just to be safe.
    Hugs to you both.
    Love
    Jeanie xxx

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