My Mom

So today is Mother's Day, and I'm a couple thousand miles away from mine. I just called her, though. I love technology!

My mom is one of the kindest people I know. She has a very tender heart. She is one of the few people I know who has seen a lot of the heartache in the world yet has not lost her innocence.

I love spending a day with my mom tooling around town. Neither one of us get bored with each other.


She also has a lot of "mom-isms" that my sister & I regularly find coming out of our own mouths. She has a song for everything. Vino says that I do, too. Must have picked that up from her. :) She will talk to anyone in line at the grocery store. It used to embarrass me, but I've grown out of that.

I have such good childhood memories, and most of them are because of her. I couldn't have picked a better mom for myself.


I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Thriftin' Spanish Style

Ok. I can breathe.

I've been gone from this blog for ALMOST a month! We've had one thing after another, including two out-of-country trips, and I can finally get caught up - clean my house, organize, catch up on blogging.

So to celebrate my return to the blog, I'm participating in another Thrift Store Thursday over at Holly's Homebody blog! I'm glad I'm not the only one who takes pride in a great bargain. "You like this dress? Thanks! I got it for only $3 at a consignment store!" I have no shame. And I'm ok with it.



I've been wanting to show what I got the last time I went to Segundo Manos, my favorite store in our town. Of course, I didn't take my camera with me. One of these days I'll learn. But until then...


I found some painted ceramic pieces that I really like. They are simple, and one of the bowls has some chippy bits on the rim, but I still think they are charming.


I don't know if they are old or not. I can buy stuff similar to this in cities known for their ceramics - Toledo, Sevilla, Talavera - but these were much cheaper. :) It doesn't really matter to me if they are old or not. I just liked them.


I also picked up a small pitcher that was on the same shelf.


It will make a great water pitcher, and will look fabulous with my Fiestaware. This one is for sure from Toledo.


And here they all are on our kitchen table.

They go nicely with the little crackled pot that holds the miniature rose plant Vino bought for me, and with our Christmas tree. That's it in the white pot behind the walnuts. It didn't hold garland well, but we were in the States for Christmas, so I didn't go all out. The one gift I put "under" it was bigger than the tree.

So that's it! 2 Euros for two bowls and 2 Euros for the pitcher. Have you found any thrifty treasures lately? If so, you really should participate in Holly's party. All the cool kids are.