Last week, we planned a dinner party and had some of my husband's work friends over. It was a good excuse to get the house all spiffed up, and also to buy some new silverware since we didn't have quite enough forks. Who knows where they go? Forks are one of the things that seem to slip away into the atmosphere, like lids to sippy cups, and single socks. Every once in a while, coffee cups up and vanish too.
One day, we'll have so many that I am trying to force the cabinet door shut without an avalanche of mugs. Then, a couple of weeks later, I realize that the the shelves are half empty.
I guess its some sort of Hickory Dickory Dock variation where the forks run away with the cups.
So, I hit the stores in search of some new, and affordable silverware. I didn't want to spend much, but wanted something that felt good to hold and eat off of. In the past, I've picked up handfuls of Walmart forks, that are sold individually. Or bought partial sets at estate sales.
But dang it, I'm almost 54 and I wanted a whole, brand new, grown up set of silverware!
On the other hand, I'm cheap and didn't want to pay grown up silverware prices.
I checked out Target, World Market, Pier One, and TJ Maxx without much luck. Next, I tried Tuesday Morning, and found just what a needed, a full setting for 12 people, only 50 bucks, and they were a little old fashioned looking, plus felt good to bite down on.
Part of my search required biting down on the silverware while I was shopping. My husband thought that was awful, that I'd spent the morning out at stores biting forks, but I found some that felt good, looked good and were not too expensive.
The party was nice, the company was good, and we had matching silverware to eat off off. That is the only time that has ever happened in my home. I've always been a mismatched silver setter. This was nice!
And my house is clean. Now, if only I can keep it that way till Birdsong, but I have a feeling that I'll have to give it another going over. We tend to mess things up quickly around here.
I love the candle on your table, and do love the story about finding the silverware and great you found it.
Wished I could come over to sit at your kitchentable or better … in your studio.
But while reading your stories and seeing your beautiful photo’s feels as if I am close by.
Thanks Karla for your lovely blog and give an extra hug to sweet Twinkle, also from the lads (our dogs) here.
Take Care.
Everything looks gorgeous! I am totally hearin’ ya on things tending to get messed up fast after you have painstakingly cleaned!
OK, I am smiling at the thought of you biting down on random forks in stores as part of your fork selection process. Hee hee!
Now I am wondering what food you served your guests . . . . Maybe that reveal will be forthcoming?
Pssst, by the way, I see that we are the same years young. : D
Karla your table looks just beautiful!
I can relate to the missing forks, and may have an answer. A few years ago we found “real” forks in with the paper plates in the trash that had been thrown away accidentally by little people. I can see how they might do such a thing but had not even thought of it as a possibility before. Now, after a big gathering where we use paper and real silverware, we inspect the trash a little bit closer, ha. Your table looks absolutely gorgeous!! Again, would scones be okay to bring on Friday?
53-54 is pretty good, isnt it, Linda?
Lets see, we ate BBQ salmon, Kansas style on the grill. With baked potato casserole made with fat free Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and olive oil instead of butter, broiled fresh green beans with garlic and sea salt, spring salad and homemade carrot cake. While the frill was warming up for the salmon, we threw on some appetizers, fresh asparagus wrapped in spinach, a dab of light cream cheese, and some prosciutto. .
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Thanks, I really am glad that I got that candle holder. I found it at a flea mkt, its really part of a light fixture.
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Beautiful table!!
Karla, everything looks lovely. And, good for you. You did deserve a grown-up set of flatware. I’m with you about wanting some that feels good to hold.
Gorgeous! I get to see the new kitchen in person in less than a week!
My forks “walk away” too. I haven’t found them in the trash, although I suspect thats where they go.
I have a thing for silverware! I can’t resist buying pretty sets when I find them. I have kept all my kids in silverware since I give them the old sets. But they aren’t all that old, I switch them out at least once and year and sometimes twice a year! I know……I told you I have thing!
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I so wish that I would have been in one of the stores when you were testing out the silverware! Your table setting looks beautiful, I just love that sheer tablecloth.. gorgeous! t.xoxo
Your room and table are beautiful! – I thought it was a magazine photo!! Um, how did you check the “bite” on the silverware in the middle of Tuesday morning??
I’m always short on spoons, but I suspect it’s me, because I grab them to dig in the flowerpots and garden.
Thanks, Linda! We love the new kitchen.
I just open tne boxes of silverware and pull one out. No one cares.
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I wish I could use that table cloth every day,Theresa, but its old and fragile and one meal with my family and it would be ruined immediately! I should hang it up and use it as a curtain so I can enjoy it all the time.
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Hee hee, biting on spoons in stores…we button gals aren’t surprised. We go around knocking buttons against our teeth in antique stores! Your table was lovely!
Beautiful table setting! We tend to lose forks here too. I have a sneaking suspicion that they get scrapped out with the scraps into the compost heap. I found one there! Glad you enjoyed entertaining.
Do you know the I have never ever bought an entire set of silverware to my liking either? We received some as a gift when we got married over 30 years ago and then I kept inheriting dishes and silverware. I have often thought it frivolous to want something new that I picked because I have so many sets now you have me rethinking that idea.
Wow, what a beautiful table set up so lovely in such a wonderful setting! Glad you found affordable tableware. ~Marti
As I survey the contents of my silverware drawer I am reminded of a story where a dish ran away with a spoon. I contemplated this scenario and decided that it truly is a fairytale. My dishes don’t disappear.
So I pondered what actually does disappear in my kitchen.
It came to me. The forks ran away with the plastic container lids. The spoons ran away with the spatulas. It’s either that or I need to do dishes and that simply cannot be the case.
They all go wherever all those missing socks took off to!
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