An Eighteenth Century Tea Party with Buttery Creme Wafers

Lynzie and I have been busy all week preparing for her Revolutionary War era tea party!  Last night was the big event and it went so well!

 

Lynzie has been planning this party for the past 6 or 7 months.  Her little sister Selah was super excited to be invited to her first tea party!

One of the fun parts of our preparation was making all the treats!

Here's my Aunt Donna's "family famous" recipe for Creme Wafers.

Creme Wafers

1 c. real butter

1/3 c. heavy whipping cream

2 c. flour

**Mix with a spoon and chill slightly.  Roll dough out, 1/3 at a time, and cut into 1/8 in. thick circles.  The lid from salt shaker or small spice jar works good as a cookie cutter.  You want these 1-1/2 in. around or so.  Dredge both sides in sugar and lay on a cookie sheet.  Prick with a fork to make a design on top if desired and bake 7-9 minutes at 375.  You want to take them out when they're set but not browned.  Cool completely and then fill with frosting to make sandwiches.  I like to use a quartered version of this recipe.  Aunt Donna uses a cream cheese frosting recipe.

Lynzie received several nice gifts from her friends including a porcelain doll, vintage and new books, a tea cup and saucer set, knick-knacks, and crafting supplies.  Here she is opening a Barbie doll from Selah.

 The girls enjoyed lots of period-authentic treats, as well as Raspberry Tea and punch.

 Back in "those days", they would hide a bean in the cake and whomever got the piece with the bean in it was named King or Queen of the party.  We hid a pink jelly bean in this white cake and Gabriella (below, closest to the camera) was named Queen for the day!

 

After treats, the girls played many, many (MANY) rounds of Hide the Thimble.

Then the little brothers and sisters did some "entertaining"...

 

It's all fun and games until Daddy sits on the machine gun...

 

 

The tea treats menu consisted of Queen Cakes, Almond Tarts, Creme Wafers, Spiced Nuts, Raspberry Tea, and Raspberry Punch. (Click on links for similar recipes.  We used the American Girl Felicity Cookbook)

A Thoughtful Gift for Blue Monday

I received the most thoughtful gift the other day from my good friend Rachel. She was reading one of my past blog posts where I talked about the set of Pyrex bowls that my mom gave me. When she came across a vintage blue Pyrex refrigerator dish (with the lid!!), she decided that I just had to have it. So...she boxed it up and sent it to me all the way from Oklahoma! What a sweetie!


I first met Rachel online in 2004 on an email group. Though we've never met face to face, we've become close friends and have shared the births of several babies (each!) as well as job changes, moves, and more. She is one of my dearest friends---one that I know will be a lifelong source encouragement and inspiration!

In fact, it was Rachel who designed my super-cute blog! She blogs at Bubbly Nature Creations and has just kicked off a new blog party called, "Project Party Weekend". Everyone is invited to showcase their recent projects and recipes. She is always a source for great ideas so please take a minute to check out her adorable blog.


Thanks so much, Rachel, for your kindness to me! I look forward to many more years of friendship. And...who knows? Maybe someday we'll actually meet each other!

Visit Smiling Sally for more Blue Monday!

There is SOMETHING new under the sun!!

I am taking an History of Christianity class this term and am thoroughly enjoying it! It helps that I'm an enthusiastic debater and the professor requires us to respond to one another's writings! Ha! Tonight, one guy posted a question that went pretty much like this:

The ministry of Jesus was about inclusiveness, peace, and love. His main group consisted of men but many of his followers were women and he did not discriminate against anyone.
Women of less reputable status, such as Mary Magdalene, are mentioned as well as his mother. After his death, the new church became an "exclusively male dominated one and women were denigrated to a subservient role. So my question becomes why did the followers of Jesus, who must have seen their leaders treatment of women decide to place them in this role? Why has it remained to be this way in many denominations of Christianity?"


Here was my response:

I think the question that needs to be asked is: are we interpreting the entire historical past based on the "rights" women think they have been entitled to in just the last 80 years or so? Just because a group of feminists that are only as old as Grandma say that women should have absolutely equal status with men in all things doesn't make it true, nor does it make it what God intends for us.

It is my assumption that women were placed under the leadership of men within the church because that is also the way it was in society. Jesus treated women the way He did because He was setting an example of how people should be treated---not because He was trying to abolish the headship of the men in family, church and other situations. If Jesus had wanted women to take places of leadership over men, He likely would have modeled this by taking on some women in His core group of disciples or placed a woman in charge of his mother just before he died (rather than John---see John 19:26-27). It is only lately that women have got the impression that they are somehow being cheated by the church. Since the beginning of time, I am of the understanding that most Godly women were content to serve as faithful helpers and wise counselors to their fathers and husbands. Proverbs 31 spells out the characteristics of the "virtuous woman" and this used to be the standard for a woman to strive to achieve. It is not against Jesus' message of "inclusiveness, love and peace" for women to serve under the authority of their husbands or fathers.

There are several examples in the New Testament of women being recognized by the newborn Church. Lydia, a founding mother of the Christian church in Europe, lived in Philippi and opened her home as a "home church". When Paul and his group showed up, they were offered a place to stay---a risky and brave act on her part. (Act 16) Acts 18 speaks of Priscilla, the wife of Aquila, who ministered alongside her husband and opened her home with an attitude of Godly hospitality. The Old Testament is full of women who changed history with their faithfulness to God and their husbands: Hannah, Rachel, Rahab... The only Godly woman in the Bible that I can think of who took a leadership role over a man was Deborah and she said so herself that it would be accounted to him as shame. (Judges 4:9)

God's desire for men and women to walk out specific roles is all throughout the Bible. Even at the very beginning of the Bible, God makes their roles evident by putting curses on the specific things that they were "in charge of". Today's society sees these roles as a man domineering over his "subservient" wife. In fact, this is rarely the case. Men are given the responsibility of taking care of their wives and women are given the protection of their husbands. If this is not the way society is functioning then it's because society has chosen to walk off of God's path. If these roles have survived to this day in any denominations of Christianity, it's because people realize that it's a peaceful way to live and it's the way the Bible says God designed it. When lived the way God intended---with a wife respecting her husband and a husband loving his wife (see Ephesians 5)---this can be a very peaceful and fulfilling life for the whole family.

Also, this doesn't really apply to your question but it applies to my answer: I would encourage anyone who's interested to really read about Mary Magdalene before assuming she was a woman of "less reputable status". There is no basis at all in Scripture for her being a former prostitute as many have implied throughout history. The only mention of her former sinful nature is in Luke 8:2, "Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons." Many link her up with the prostitute in John 8 whom Jesus "rescues" from stoning. It makes for good romance that Jesus would rescue her and then invite her along for the journey. In fact, He sends that woman off to "go and sin no more". Just because Mary Magdalene was healed of demon possession doesn't mean she was a prostitute. I can think of seven demons in my own life right now---gluttony, fear, coveting, worry, unforgiveness, laziness, judgmental attitude---and I'm as straight-laced as they come! I am mentioning this because it shows something we are all guilty of.

The point that I was trying to make to this guy is that if we bring to this class all our preconceived ideas and thoughts of what so-and-so said, it could block us from learning what history really does tell us about Christianity. We wouldn't form assumptions about science or math---we would search for the most accurate answers. Studying God's word should be a challenge to ourselves to find out what it really has to say---even if we don't like what we find out!

All Scripture taken from:

New King James Version . Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001.

Whenever I see a photo of Princess Diana, it reminds me of my mom. Those who know her will probably be surprised to hear that. After all, my mom is a dark-haired, brown-eyed Potawatomi American Indian. Princess Di was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed British Royal.


It's not the photo itself that reminds me of mom---instead, it's the memory it conjures up. I can remember several times throughout my childhood that my mom would talk about watching Princess Di's wedding to Prince Charles on tv. She would say it was so beautiful and she really had looked up to her and thought she was a neat lady.


I've never been all that into her, really, but the thoughts of my mom make thoughts of the Princess more meaningful, I guess.


Today I was in Target and spotted the commemorative edition of USA Today that features Prince William's and Catherine Middleton's wedding plans. I almost didn't give it a second thought but then something inside told me to skim through it.

As I looked over photos of the couple and their relatives (including several of Princess Diana), I was reminded again how much my mom liked her and probably would have loved to have some sort of commemorative publication featuring their wedding. So...I stuck it in my cart and went on to the next aisle.

Then I went back and grabbed another for mom.

Stool Makeover: The Next Generation!

Join us at Coloradolady's blog for Vintage Thingie Thursday!!

I'd like to introduce you to a dear family heirloom: this is The Stool.



In the early 1950s, in Burns, Oregon, my grandpa George Bradley made this stool for his new bride, Betty Kiggins Bradley. The top was plain wood colored and the legs were painted a bright red and then a rust red color. When my mom left home (Gresham, Oregon---I think) in the early 1970s, Grandma Betty gave her this stool as she had no furniture!


Mom kept this with her when she married my dad. She painted it chocolate brown and did a little repair work:


It has served all kinds of purposes since! I can remember it as a plant stand in the living room and a night table in pretty much every family member's bedroom! When my husband and I were married in Baker City, Oregon in 1998, guess what I inherited!!


The stool! Don't get me wrong, this really is one of the most special things I own. How awesome to have such a portable little heirloom! Throughout the years that I've owned it, I've had plans on fixing it up, repainting it, just adding my own flavor to it.


The past couple of years, I've really been wanting to "get crafty" so I've bought up lots and lots of supplies. But...haven't taken the time to use any of them! Lately, I've had the time to do the crafty stuff so I've been trying to come up with projects to do that don't require me to go buy anything else! So...last night, I decided to grab The Stool out of the shed and see what I could do to get it looking presentable.

I brought it in and set it on the kitchen floor, telling Selah that I was planning to fix it up cute. She put her baby blanket on it and said she thought that was pretty cute.


It was...but not quite what I had in mind! I wanted to try and take the paint off but, since I was only using the things I had around the house, I had to improvise. I used my Pampered Chef spatula to begin scraping off the top.



That lasted about 5 minutes and I was sick of it so I decided just to paint over the 3 other layers of paint and hope that it would crackle neat!



It did!! By the way, I tried and tried to pry that nail out of there but it wouldn't budge. I kinda like leaving it there though as my mom put it there and it's kind of been a little joke over the years! I needed to find some way to cover it though!

After a couple coats of paint, I decided to stop for the night and consider options for the next step.

This morning, I remembered that I had several yards of some pretty fabric that my friend JoAnn gave me at church last month. I decided to make a cute cushion for the top. Using my 8-year-old Michael's school ruler, I measured out a circle that I hoped would fit!


I've never made a cushion before so I wasn't really sure what to do---when suddenly, I remembered a Christmas craft project that we did in the 5th grade! Mrs. Neyman taught us how to make mini-pillows and string them together for wreath ornaments.


I stitched all the way around the circle...Avalon helped, of course!

Then I filled it loosely with pillow filling.


Once I set the cushion on the stool, I realized that The Nail was still very obvious. So, I hot glued eyelet trim all around the top and then glued the pillow on.


Not bad for a 21st century makeover! So, Mom, you want it back now??

Linking up today with:

Blessed With Friends!

Friday, our family was blessed to have Lydia over for our first "Washington play date"! We met Lydia's family through our local homeschool co-op and are really enjoying getting to know her parents and other siblings.

Lynzie and Lydia are just a little over a year apart and are already showing signs of a close friendship! They like to write letters back and forth during the week, hang out at gymnastics on Thursdays, and even try to get in a quick chat while passing in the halls during Friday School!

The girls had a great time dressing up in the Revolutionary War era dresses that I made Lynzie. (We're going to have to make Lydia a special one just for her though as she was swimming in this one! So cute though!)



After capturing their sweet faces on film, I sent them off back to 1776. While I was puttering around the house cleaning, I could hear them playing in the room. First, Lynzie taught Lydia the Minuet. Then Lydia taught Lynzie to waltz. Then Lydia says, "I can breakdance!" Ha!! (Just a quick time-travel...then right back to the 18th century!)

The girls soon were out playing the piano in the living room. Lynzie played Christmas music...


While Lydia played a couple beautiful songs that her dad taught her "when she was little"...



They both played a couple hymns as well and then they were back to the bedroom to dance at the ball. After a few minutes, I heard them out in the hall---they had gotten Lynzie's brothers and sisters to come play too:

(A knock on the door...) "Oh please may we come in?! We're fleeing from the Black Plague and we are..." (Lydia whispers to Lynzie: "who are we again??") "...We are George Washington's daughters!" (Door opens...) "Oh thank you! Bless you!"

What a blessed day!

See more Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Free As A Bird--Part Two!!: Blue Monday

Thanks for stopping by for Blue Monday! Please visit Smiling Sally for more great blue-themed posts!


Some of you may remember a post I did in August about the Blue Jay that kept eluding me! I was trying to take pictures of him for my Blue Monday post and he would NOT be still! You can find that post here.


Well, imagine my surprise one day as my son Cainan and I came up to the front steps after a shopping trip. It was a rainy, cold day and we found, all huddled up on the porch and only INCHES away from our cat's food dish...


The Bird!!! Can you believe that! It sat there for a really long time. So long, in fact, that I was worried it was hurt and couldn't fly off. I contemplated taking it's picture. What if the cat gets it? I would feel so bad knowing that the poor bird was in pain all that time and all I was concerned with was getting a great Blue Monday shot!

My husband said to go ahead and take the picture because if he ended up being fine then I'd really regret it. Turns out, he was just resting awhile! So...here he is! I suppose he's just trying to make up for leading me on for so long this summer!

Hope everyone has a great Blue Monday!

A Vintage Gift: Vintage Thingie Thursday

It's time for Vintage Thingie Thursday again...Yippee!!! Please visit Coloradolady for more Vintage Wonderfulness!

I've written a couple times about gifts I've received from BookCrossing friends (see label list on sidebar for "BookCrossing"). Today I want to show off what a special BookCrosser named Southernfryed sent to me a few weeks ago!
Southernfryed sent me this beautiful handkerchief that belonged to her grandmother. She enclosed a note telling that when her grandmother passed away, she found this handkerchief in a box all ready for her grandmother to gift out to someone. Her grandmother put the pretty lace edging on it in green and white.

You may remember that my very first Vintage Thingie Thursday post was about my Great-Grandmother's dishes. Southernfryed's gift was the perfect addition to my display of her dishes in my hutch! I'm assuming that they are both from approximately the same generation (my Grammy Annabelle was born in 1915), as Southernfryed is about the same age as my mom.

What a special gift this is! I was excited just to get something vintage and neat but then to read her card and realize the special significance of the gift---wow, I'm just honored!

Have a wonderful Vintage Thingie Thursday!

My First Limoges!! Vintage Thingie Thursday

Dear Thursday,

I love you. Thank you for existing. It is because of you that I can experience Vintage Thingie Thursday---my most favority of all favorite things to do in BlogLand.

Your Friend,
Sarah

So...guess what!!??!! I found a Limoges today. I really have no idea what that means, as you will soon see, but I'm excited anyway!!!
So I totally feel like I've arrived with all of my Shabby Chic blogging friends now that I've got this gorgeous plate! I've been reading about and viewing all these beautiful pictures of porcelain "stuff" from Limoges, France on everyone's blogs, and have really not known what that even means or why it's significant.

Today my daughter and I were out hunting and gathering (for antiques, that is) and we came across this gorgeous plate with a tag that said "Limoges". That's significant, I said to myself! So I bought it. It was $7.95.

When I got home, I looked it up online and learned that Limoges is a city in west central France that is known for it's porcelain, as well as for other really great stuff like oak barrels. When a piece is marked Limoges, that means it was made there but could have been made by any one of numerous manufacturers in the area.

Turns out my piece was made by Tressemanes & Vogt sometime between 1907-1919. This happens to be my favorite time period at the moment, The Edwardian Era. Woot! Lucky Me!
My piece is hand-painted and signed by the artist. I've seen ones like it online tonight selling for anywhere between $40-$175. Mine is, of course, in the higher appraisal bracket so shall we start the bidding at, say, priceless?

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday everyone! Hugs and Kisses to anyone who can help me pronounce Limoges. Right now, it sounds kinda like "La Mot Cheese".

What's Your Answer Wednesday

I was out doing errands later than expected tonight and haven't got my post up yet. Here is the linky for you all and I'll post later on! :)

A New Experience! Blue Monday

It's BLUE MONDAY time! Please visit Smiling Sally for more blue blogging!

In January, our family moved from a rural Eastern Oregon town of about 16,000 to a much larger community an hour north of Seattle and an hour south of Vancouver, BC. Since then, we've had many new opportunities and experiences.

Yesterday, we attended a medieval war tournament hosted by a member group of our regional reenactment group. Here is the dress I made for it:

I am now also known as Lady Gairwyn of the Freehold of Arandor! This next picture shows some blues on a warrior's uniform (please disregard the modern vehicles in the background! Ha!):

A little more blue during Ogre Wars:


Here is my husband and his friend doing a demonstration of medieval Italian-style sword fighting. My husband is on the right. I also made his surcoat:



Meet Sir Corbinian of the Freehold of Arandor!

Lots of fun! Happy bLuE mOnDaY!

Vintage Sealing Wax: Vintage Thingie Thursday

I've missed participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday the past couple of weeks so I'm excited to be back today! Visit Coloradolady for more Vintage goodies!

A couple days ago, Lynzie (10) and I were discussing her upcoming birthday party. (It's actually not until the end of January...!!!) Each year, she's pretty creative about picking a theme to bless her friends. One year she did a fairy garden tea party with grape Kool-Aid in the teapot. Another year, she had a costume party and everyone came dressed up. (She was Batman).

This year, she's decided on a full-blown Revolutionary War era tea party. I won't go into too much detail as it will make for some really great blogging later on, but one of the things she mentioned was that she wanted to seal her invitations with a wax seal. She started describing the process to me and I began to grin as I remembered something.

I went to one of my art cabinets and grabbed this sealing wax set that I'd picked up at a yard sale when I wasn't much older than she is now. I was so excited to sit down with her and show her how it worked and let her play around with it too.

Long story short, my sealing wax set is rather VINTAGE (for a nice way to say it... :) Some of the sticks wouldn't even melt and the ones that did caught on fire and dropped flaming drops of wax onto the paper. Before we could get the seal stamped, the wax would turn brittle and crumble. More often than not, it would harden as we put the stamp down and then I'd have to heat it up to dig the wax out of the pretty rose and fleur de lis designs!

I did a little searching online to see if I could figure out approximately how old this set is and where it came from. The box indicates it was "imported exclusively by Marcel Schurman Co., Inc., San Francisco" and that it was made in England.

Turns out, Marcel Schurman is the original founder (and father of the current owner) of Papyrus stationery stores. From what I can see, it looks like the set is from the early 1950s.

We've resolved to buying us a newer set of wax before time to send those invites out!

What's Your Answer Wednesday

Due to a yucky flu outbreak in our house, I will not be putting up a post today! (Haven't had the time!!) However, I look forward to reading everyone else's so go ahead and add your link below!

Have a wonderful week!

~Sarah