Shop Harder

We live and breathe this motto:

Honest, the only reason we both have Etsy stores is so we can get rid of the things we buy that we don’t need, or grow to love less. Etsy has been pretty lame recently, so it is putting a real crimp in our style. We had to laugh at the stupid Superbowl Etsy ad. Apparently, Etsy is the go to place for cheese boards, at least that is what most folks now think. They now have gift mode, but unless the person you are buying for is just a very generic “her”, “him”, or “kid”, it’s fairly hard to find anything, much less have anything vintage show up. So hey, if you are looking for a vintage gift for a collector loved one, take a peek at our shops! Links on the side bar. Ok, sorry for the ad. Feel free to ignore it, but I have to try once in a while, and heck, we would be thrilled with just a few clicks!

Bet most anyone would be happy with anything OTHER than this plate:

After putting up with him, I mean joyously living together, for years and years, I think you would deserve a whole lot more than this. Say a cake, or a good coupon for a cup of coffee. What are you supposed to do with this anyway? Fling it at his head when he invites his mom to stay for a month one more time? Throw it on the floor in a fit of pique when he watches one too many football games? Notice all my options contain the destruction of said plate. Best use for it ever.

Back to some shell games:

This piece was HUGE. I hope my hands convey enough of the scale of it. We did love the way they put the white shells together to make a flower. If this were, say a plant pot hanger, we might be all over it, as it was pretty clever. As a necklace, the scale seems painful to say the least. That much weight on those pokey shells could give you a real injury. Seems the person who deposited this at the thrift store did a lot of tropical vacationing, as there were quite a few shell leis. Lucky dog.

These were mind boggling:

If you really, really, like oysters and need a craft for all those shells, have we got the one for you! They were actually rather small oyster shells, but still, it took a whole lot of them to cover those trees. Even the Summer Intern felt the need to point these out the next week when he accompanied us. He knows us so well. I have to ask what is with the string bows on top? You went to all that work to glue a bucketload of shells to a form and the best you can come up with to top it off is a string bow? It certainly doesn’t make them any better. I suppose it doesn’t make them any worse, as I am not sure that is possible, so we will let them go at that.

The holidays are ganging up on us this year, so quick, let’s get in the St. Patrick’s stuff before Easter sneaks up. I just know all the kiddies are going to be doing Easter egg hunts in the snow, when it falls in March!

This little leprechaun was a bit too odd for us:

Methinks there was a whole lot of green beer involved to make him that happy! Either that or there is some real mischief on his mind. Hopefully, he is not toddling along your way to promote chaos in your life; you never know with a leprechaun.

How about a nice Irish Hamster:

He was rather cute, but not rather useful. Hamsters are just rats with better P.R., I have heard it said. They are a bit more fun than rats, at least in my mind, but having had rodents, they really don’t do a whole lot, so maybe a stuffed one is the way to go. We are not even sure why there is so much St. Paddy’s merch. It’s not a holiday that begs a whole lot of décor. I do have some garden flags, and a table runner, but I am content with that. Don’t need a stuffed hamster or a big sign:

I mean this takes up a bunch of room when not in use. So unless you are a giant fan of Notre Dame, and can leave it up all year long, it’s not a good use of space for much of anyone. I am sure this is one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time.

Just for fun I thought I would share a recipe. I have a friend who is very, very Irish and a very good chef. When I had this one time at an event, I asked for the recipe and this is what he gave me:

Dublin Codal (Coddle)

• Ham, large chunks
• Sausage, large chunks
• Leeks (Not what you do after some brews.) (I left that in, as it made me laugh!)
• Onion, large dice
• Red spuds sliced thin
• Beer

Brown the sausage in a cast iron pot, add the onions & leeks, then the ham, deglaze pan with beer, add some water. Put sliced spuds in the bottom of a roaster, put all the meat and onions over the spuds. Put in oven and bake about an hour till spuds are tender. Served best with Guiness.

Honest, most any combination of this comes out super good. He says it is way more Irish that corned beef and cabbage. He has given me leave to be honorary Irish for the holiday, as I am mostly Scottish, but he says all those Celtic folks count.

Hope you have a very green day, and get ready to shovel the snow on Easter!