Patriotic Dinner Table

 

Patriotic Dinner Table

Had a fun time this past weekend catching up with old friends with dinner at our home.  Since we are so close to the 4th I went with a patriotic theme.

Placemats are several years old.  I used blue glass chargers that I found in Ross a long time ago...along with the patriotic polka dot flatware.  Used my everyday white dinner plates, red napkins, and square red salad plates from Target. The blue water glasses are from Dollar Tree.

I used this little bowl for parmesan cheese for our shrimp scampi. You can find the recipe for the scampi here - 

Shrimp Scampi

I found these little star dishes at Wegmans last year after the holiday on a great sale...and grabbed them in red and blue. Used this one for my butter dish.

Used a blue napkin to hold the warm bread and places a red polka dot trivet below to protect the table.

Used a patriotic dish from Ross as a base for the container for salad dressing.

This is the dish that came with the trivet under the bread.  I have some Temptations cookware and I love it.  I found this dish with it's cute holder, the trivet, and a plastic lid for storage at our local thrift shop last week.  It was marked at $5.00 and I grabbed it - a bargain.  When I got to the checkout I was told it was 50% off everything if you were over 55 !!!   Score!!! I love it with this table, but I can see using it all year round.

Dessert was a fresh strawberry pie, but I always like to have something extra.  I love the way I can get seasonal M&Ms and put them in an oversized martini glass...it looks so cute.  One of the red stars for some peanut balls, and a little blue dish for mints.

Here is the look of my server....the candle filler and beads from Dollar Tree.

Used the little star plates for appetizers...nuts, popcorn, and the flag dish from Christmas Tree Shops is waiting for my cheesy crab bites.   I will post the recipe for that soon....

Once I had the table all set my wonderful husband reminded me that we had Tervis Tumblers with a flag motif, so I switched out the blue goblets for these.

The center piece was a simple silver charger, a pitcher filled with silk hydrangeas from JoAnn Fabrics, some wicker stars ( forget where I got them, have them for years) and another bead strand from

 Dollar Tree.

It was a great evening - and we had lots of fun and way too much food.   I really enjoyed doing this table!  I loved "playing house" as a little girl and so enjoy playing house in real life now!  Soon it will be time to pack away the red/white/blue items and move to sunflowers. 

Do you do a themed table for the 4th of July or other patriotic holiday?   Would love to hear about yours - you make my day when you leave a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by Our New Vista - wishing you a wonderful and safe 4th of July ! 

 

Monday Musings

Happy Monday - Hope everyone had a great weekend! Right now it is a gloomy Monday morning and I am hoping for a good rainstorm here in Lancaster.  We have been so dry and the grass and trees are longing for a drink.  Come on, rain - let it pour!

The photo above is a placemat from Dollar Tree.  I have been looking for a way to make our refrigerator easy to clan when spills and sticky stuff happens and I think I found an inexpensive and easy way to do it.

I bought 5 of these placemats and had to trim one of them - 

It was easy to trim with kitchen shears and the design made it easy to cut a straight line.

After removing everything and cleaning the shelves I just placed these vinyl place mats down...I overlapped the ones on the top shelf.

I like the way it looks when you open the refrigerator...and I did have a spill from the iced tea pitcher being over filled...and it was easy to wipe up.   When it is time to clean the refrigerator again I can just take these mats out and wash them in the sink.  I think it will be better than reaching into the the refrigerator.

Also did a little shopping last week...had some Kohl's cash that was due to expire and wandered around until I found this necklace -

This necklace was $36 regular price, reduced to $12, then 50% off of that...

then I found these corduroy pants...

I thought the color would be good for fall.  The original price was $40, reduced to $6...then 50% off - so I walked out with both items and my total was $0.00!!!

Could not beat that!

On to the Talbots Outlet at Tanger Outlets near me...I find the salespeople in the Talbots Outlet to be so friendly and helpful.  And, I had a $20. coupon from Talbots, so this top followed me home.  I have several bottoms that this will work with.   I really DO NOT NEED anymore clothes....but at these good prices my mom would say "it would be a sin to leave it there."  

Picked up this white bedset from Kohl's a few weeks ago and waited until June to switch out from our darker bed decor...

My husband was the one who saw this and said "let's get that for our bedroom" - 

I found the big white/off white pillow in the center at Costco...and then when picking up some things at Walmart my honey spied these red pillows and they were a bargain at $4.99 each. 

I like the "pop of color" against the white...and it pulls out the burgundy tone of the chair and the matting on the painting above the bed.  That painting was made by a dear friend as a wedding gift...

Last stop on the shopping trip was Boscov's - do you have a Boscov's near you?  They began in Reading, PA many years ago.  I did not need these purses...but they are a great size and were marked $50. but sold for $19.99.  I wore the green one out to a concert on Saturday night and got lots of compliments on the "pop of color!"

Also did some baking over the weekend...I love to make these blueberry muffins and will often make a double batch of 48 and store them in my freezer to have on hand.

I noticed on the print out of the recipe that I had first tried them 20 years ago !!!  And I realize I never shared the recipe on this blog.  Next time I make them I will take some photos and note the changes I made to the original recipe to make them a bit more healthy!

Well, it looks like the rain has begun - hope it keeps up and goes all day.  Good day to have a cuppa tea and read a good book.

Have you found any good bargains lately?  Or any good tips to make cleaning your refrigerator easy?  Please let me know and post a comment below.  I love hearing from you !

Thanks so much for stopping by Our New Vista!

May into June!

 

May into June!

Wow - it is June and summer is here.  It's been a busy time here at Our New Vista.  

We enjoyed a great Memorial Day Weekend visiting cemeteries to place flowers on graves of relatives and enjoying great food.

June 1st was our "annual cleaning"...part of our contract living here at Willow Valley in Lancaster is an annual cleaning of our apartment. It is a deep cleaning and we move almost everything but the furniture out of the way so the team of 6 people can do a deep clean of our home.

They even did our screen porch - so now we are all set for summer!

Last year I found a tip to use toilet paper rolls in between my outdoor curtains to make them look evenly spaced.  I think the paper rolls would work great for inside drapes, but they did not hold up to the wind and rain that sometimes hits our porch.  I thought that pool noodles might do the trick and keep the drapes looking even.  I had one pool noodle left over from cutting it up to use in helping my boots stand up in the closet.  I bought another at Dollar Tree and used the paper roll as a measure and cut a slit down the middle.

Once I cleaned the pollen (ugh) off of the tension rod I just inserted the cut noodle in between each fold of the drape...

It looked great and really gave a nice bump out to the drapes...

I love the way the drapes look now...and I did this in early May.  The drapes have stayed evenly spaced despite some storms and wind!

Once that was completed I set out all my patriotic decorations.  

Switched the pillows to red/white/blue...

Front door gets a patriotic wreath...

Found this little gnome at Dollar Tree...so cute!

The red lantern was a gift from a dear friend...I use it now and for the Christmas season and Valentines...just change the bow.

Remember Boyd's Bears?  I had a bunch of them...stuffed and the resin kind, too.  There was even a big Boyd's Bear shop in Gettysburg that we visited once.  When we downsized and moved almost 6 years ago I was surprised at how little interest anyone had in wanting these bears.  It got to the point where I would give one away to a child if they happened by our yard sale...The only one to make the cut and come with us was this little Flag Bear.  I sit him on my favorite blue chair.

The little bead strands are also from Dollar Tree...the rattan stars are from Pottery Barn a long time ago.

And then I tried to make a flag out of wine corks...like Katy at 

The House On Silverado

Well...you can see mine did not turn out nearly as nice as hers.  I did not have enough red wine stained corks to make it work, and I did not use a frame...

I counted out the corks and glued them together...10 across and 7 down...

Since I was not using a frame I  thought gluing them together would be ok.

I got some craft paint at Walmart and went to work.

I glued the entire "flag" to a piece of cardboard and then used hot glue to wrap it in a wide white ribbon...

While it does not look as nice as Katy's, I still like it...and I hope to gather enough red wine corks so I can try again next year.

Hope your June is getting off to a great start...let me know if you decorate for the season.  I love hearing from you - please leave a comment below.  Thanks for stopping by Our New Vista! Have a wonderful summer!

“There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs.”
— Henry Ward Beecher