Monday, January 18, 2021

My Grandparent's Blue Cabinet

Hello my friends, thanks for stopping by for a visit.  I appreciated all of your nice comments about the rescued family furniture we have in our home.  I want to introduce a third piece we also brought home from Oklahoma. To be more precise, we fit the kitchen queen cabinet and the 5 legged oak table inside our Peugeot station wagon and this was wrapped in plastic and tied on the top of our car.  :-)  We looked like the people from Oklahoma during the dustbowl who left "home" and headed out west in the 1930s.  This primitive blue cabinet was in the chicken house.  Grandpa used it to store things, it had several old oil cans in it.  Thus there are lots of oil stains on the poor old dear.  It was painted a LONG time ago with milk blue paint.

It's been in our garage for a long time and I've wanted to bring it into the house because I love it because it was my grandparent's.  I had been looking for an additional old cabinet to sit next to my kitchen queen as one can't have too much storage, can one?  And then a lightbulb went on over my head πŸ’‘ and I thought of the blue cabinet.. and my dear long-suffering husband hauled it out of the garage with a hand-truck and used an air compressor to clean the dust and dirt off the top and inside.  And.. TA-DAH.. here she is.


Now.  I know some of you will appreciate the primitive condition of this and some will go.. EWWWW.. and suggest I use it for firewood.  I posted this on my Facebook group, Jadeite Junkies and was amazed at how many suggestions I got - 427 reactions and 207 comments!!  The consensus was to just clean it with water and leave it as is, possibly use a feed and wax on the inside.  Here it is with the doors off.  We are going to try to find old wavy glass and have it installed in the doors.  Many people thought we should add chicken wire in the doors, but it's obvious that it was originally glass, so glass it will be.


I have begun using warm water with a little bit of dish soap and scrubbing the shelves.  No small amount of dust and dirt is coming off.  :-)  I ordered Howard's Wax & Feed to condition the inside.  


This darling has a strong will to live.. it's solid as a rock.  


I have two more rows of my Meadow blanket to show you.


This is 8 of the 15 colors, so I'm halfway done and will soon have completed the first whole set of colors.. yay!


I just snapped this photo, the sun is out and illuminating our dining room.  I want to put my valentine tablecloth on the table but my dear husband is adamant that it's too early.  What do you think?  :-) πŸ’—


Dayle made Chinese Noodle Casserole for our dinner, funny story is our family calls it "dog food".  When I first saw it I go... ewww.. it looks like dog food and the name stuck.  

"Chinese Noodle Casserole"

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 Cup diced celery
1 Onion, diced
1 Cup sliced mushrooms
1 Green pepper, diced (optional)
1/4 Cup soy sauce
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup rice (uncooked)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
dash pepper
1 can Chinese noodles (crunchy kind)

Brown meat and onions together - add other veggies and saute for a bit, then add all other ingredients.  Bake in covered casserole for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Uncover and bake for another  30 minutes.  Cover top of casserole with noodles for the last 15 minutes.

NOTE:  We *always* double this recipe as it's so good re-heated. 


I have a zoom board meeting for the Friends of Multnomah Falls, so I better sign off and get ready for it.   

In 48 hours we will have a new President and our first female and person of color for Vice President of the USA.  We watched an hourlong history of Kamala Harris last evening and I was very impressed and feel she is an excellent choice to help lead our country and unify it.  If you have heard negative things about Kamala, I beg you to give her a chance and not listen to negative and conspiracy theories.  

Today is Martin Luther King's birthday - it's time to bury racism and prejudice against people of color once and for all.  Will you join me?  

((hugs)), Teresa :-)  

23 comments:

  1. Yes, yes, yes to ending racism and prejudice. I am looking forward to seeing Kamala Harris in her new role, she seems very calm and capable. I love the cabinet, and it's wonderful to have something like that from your family. I would be imagining it when it was bought and new and your grandmother was putting things in it and enjoying it. I imagine it could tell some stories about your family history. Lovely. And your jadeite is really pretty in there against the dark wood. Your dining room looks gorgeous in the sunshine. And no, it's never too early for some hearts about the place. CJ xx

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  2. Yes, Teresa, I happily will join you in celebrating an historical presidential and vice-presidential win. This is a fragile time for our democracy, but I hope for the best. /Fay

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  3. I love old furniture. We inherited an old oak dresser bought in 1914 by my husband's grandfather when he got married. It wasn't new then so we don't know how old it is. Our daughter has it now along with the oak bookcase, dining room table and chairs all refurbished sympathetically by my husband.

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  4. Absolutely love your blue cabinet! What a wonderful find. I'm afraid I have to agree with hubby... it's too soon for Valentine's decorations. I like to let each month have its time. I put V-day decorations up the beginning of February and leave them up until the beginning of March when the St. Patrick's Day green takes over. I cannot wait for Joe and Kamala to get started... I have high hopes for them and I hope they are given a chance to make things right.

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  5. I too am looking forward to a kinder, brighter future for all.
    Thank you for your kind heart Teresa.

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  6. Oh yes, we must bury racism!
    I adore the cabinet, Teresa. I like that you are bringing it back to life to enjoy in your home.
    Hey, Valentine's Day is less than a month away, so I say it's not too early to bring out your tablecloth. Enjoy your week.

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  7. Oh a Fabulous cabinet Teresa and love the "rustic look" Your blanket is going well. May we all live in a kinder world πŸ˜€πŸ˜€

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  8. I adore your beautiful cabinet! I agree that glass would look much nicer than chicken wire. I have seen some amazing furniture makeovers and restorations with chicken wire, but only when you want to 'shabby it down' whereas this lovely cabinet will look much more nicely dressed in glass! I can't wait to see it finished!
    I don't usually decorate for anything except Christmas. But whenever I see your decorations out on the table, it inspires me to start decorating for different occasions and seasons. Maybe in February I should incorporate some Valentines decor?
    Looking forward to the inauguration. I think it starts at 4am our time here in Australia? xox Louise

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  9. The old cabinet is so nice to see. I like what you have done to it. I have an old chest of drawers by my office and it was my mom or her parents, I think. It was bought in Portland many years ago. Back is against my desk, to left side. Good place to put my photo printer. We are all human, no matter what color our skin tone!! Be kind to all people!! Your tablecloth with the stars on it are nice. Valetine's day is my favorite day as it's my birthday!! ^*^ I haven't had a tablecloth on my table for awhile. There was quite a lot of sun this a.m. when I got up. We went on a walk around 2 p.m. today and it was sunny and I wore my sunglasses and it was a bit chilly but I was warm when I got home as the sun was shining into our living room. Heat up to 70 in house as it's chilly indoors after sun went down. Take care my friend!! X======X @:'}.

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  10. It's not too early for Valentine's Day, my decorations have been up for two weeks, ever since I took down Christmas. Admittedly a lot of my reasoning is that my decorations are in the storage unit and I have to drive there to get them.
    I love your cabinet and can't believe you drove all the way home with it on the roof of your car! You're lucky you made it home with all that furniture. I would have loved a photo of that! :-) I think the wavy glass will be an excellent choice for the doors. Is that where it is going to be permanently? Next to your other cabinet/hutch? Pretty soon you're going to have to add on to the farmhouse. Ha!
    The noodle casserole looks delicious. Casseroles are such wonderful comfort food and I really like those crunchy chinese noodles.
    I agree, there is NO place for racism. God loves each one of us and made each one of us special. We should love the same and the world would be a better place.
    Kisses for Mocha and Dennis says hi to Dayle.
    Blessings and hugs,
    Betsy

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  11. What a wonderful cabinet Teresa - so glad you rescued it and have not decided to put it to good use. The wavy glass sounds perfect for the doors. I have some furniture that my grandfather made and it makes me so happy to have it and be using it. The casserole DOES look like dog food...but it also sounds delicious!

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  12. That cabinet must have some good stories to tell! My mother loved to rescue old furniture too. She had the knack for it. I gave it all away when I had to sell their house and the neighbors snapped it up. I wish I'd had the room for it but we were already coming out at the seams here.

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  13. I love your blue cupboard and it will really look fabulous with all the collection of Jadeite. Glass with old bubbles will set it off nicely too. Peace to all people is my motto no matter who or what color their skin. I'm praying for a peace transition and a kinder, more compassionate next four years!

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  14. It's so satisfying when you have a lightbulb moment and the end result is this good. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. As for Kamala Harris, I have to say that I hadn't even noticed her skin colour until someone on tv mentioned it. I'm not sure what that says about me. Hopefully it's just the result of living in a very diverse neighbourhood where all races get along well together.

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  15. A bit too early for Valentine's Day (but soon!). Your star tablecloth is perfect for celebrating the inauguration tomorrow! We want Biden/Harris to shine!
    I read Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" yesterday. I recommend it to everyone. Ending racism is necessary and long overdue.
    Peace!

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  16. I love your cabinet and yes, I'll join you! xx

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  17. I am certainly with you putting an end to racism. Love the cabinet, it made me smile imaging it on top of your car. What a great job you are doing on it. Its never too early for Valentines, we should surround ourselves with love as much as we can. Take care dear friend.

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  18. What a lovely cabinet that is! And the extra beauty of it is that is also comes from your family! What an effort you put in it to give it a second, or third live! And it works out great! Tomorrow will be America's big day! Back in the Netherlands we follow every step at the Capitol, and I will be at the telly! In the Netherlands we have a colapsed gouvernement since a few days, two months to elections. There are some big tax issues, which made the lives of family's very miserable. We could not believe it in Holland when we first heard of it. But it is thrue and now we are so ashamed! Hope the US will have a peacefull, calm day tomorrow!! Lots of love, Janneke.

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  19. You bet! But first, that cabinet is amazing. It is so beautiful. Great rescue. Love your green bowls in there! Did you like Orange Osage county? I know it was intense but I liked it. Anyhow.
    I am so ready for Inauguration!!! I think your star tablecloth is very inaugural.
    That dinner does look like doggy food! I'd try it though!~!!!!!!! Glad you hear you have a place at Multnomah during the pandemic!!!!!

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  20. Happy for you Teresa. Great day for America and the world. Love and hugs from UK.

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  21. Congratulations!! You have a lovely new president!! Love!

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  22. Yaaay to a new President, what a relief. I love the cabinet SO MUCH. CN x

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  23. dear teresa
    your meal looks delicious. i love a casserole and i love cream of mushroom!!
    peace and love in pdx,
    melissa s

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