Friday's Fancy

Happy Friday!!!

I have been busy in the garden and will share with you next week what I have been up to. 

For now here is a teaser. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Luanne

Volunteering at the CT Food Bank

Hi Y'All! I hope you had a festive holiday weekend. Ours was low key and filled with gardening. I will posted about what we did at a later time. 

Today I wanted to share with you my experience with volunteering at the CT Food Bank. The company I currently work for gives back to the local community through various ways. Last Wednesday a group of us went to the CT Food Bank to learn about what they do, food insecurity, and help package food. 

The mission of Connecticut Food Bank is to provide nutritious food to people in need. They strive to do this by supplying food products and resources to their member agencies, and to promote public awareness about the problem of hunger. They provide food and resources to nearly 700 community-based food programs, such as soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters and low-income adult and child day programs in six of the state’s eight counties: Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New London and Windham.

We were greeted by Cheryl who spoke to us about hunger 101. In Connecticut, one in seven households can’t always afford the food they need. Hunger 101 gives people a taste of what food insecurity—or hunger—really is. Participants walk in someone else’s shoes and see firsthand what it’s like to struggle with poverty and food insecurity in Connecticut. Hunger 101 captures the daily stress of hunger as we learn how to feed a family for a day with no or limited resources. 

We were divided into groups and given cards each had on it a meal and cost of that meal. We had to feed a mom and 2 kids, 3 meals each with only $7.00 to spend. Oh how sad this exercise was, the options were minimal and of not good nutritional value. Here is what are meal plan consisted of: 

     Breakfast: a bowl of cereal with milk for the kids and no breakfast for mom

     Lunch: the kids received a free school lunch and mom has a frozen turkey meal

     Dinner: all 3 had a bowl of mac and cheese

Sad isn't it?

 Next we toured the warehouse and were put in the hands of Craig and Rick, they instructed us on what we would be packing tonight. Just delivered today was a pallet of fresh fruit and vegetables. They need to be turned around rather quickly to reach the hands of the people in need. We donned our latex gloves and got to work. We packaged mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, onion, potatoes, lettuce, leeks, and asparagus.

 

We were all impressed with the quality of the food that was donated by local companies.

 

It really felt good to be giving back. 

 

It was hard work, but is was rewarding and we had an awesome time.

 

Connecticut Food Bank is the largest centralized source of emergency food in Connecticut and distributes an average of 40 tons of food every business day through three warehouses in East Haven, Fairfield and Waterbury, and affiliated distribution centers in New London and Stamford. Connecticut Food Bank is a member of Feeding America, a network of more than 200 food banks across the U.S. Conducted every four years, Hunger in America, also known as the Hunger Study, is the largest study of charitable food assistance in America. Results of the study provides client household demographics and the challenges that people who are served by Connecticut Food Bank’s network of food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters face. Among the key findings are that 45 percent of households served used three or more coping strategies in the last 12 months for getting enough food to feed themselves and their family: 

• 73% of client households report purchasing the cheapest foods available, even if they knew it wasn’t the healthiest option
• 54% of client households report receiving help from family and friends o 41 percent of client households watered down food or drinks
• 35% of client households pawned or sold personal property 

Also in the past year:

• 73% report of choosing between paying for food and utilities
• 69% report making choices between paying for food and transportation
• 68% report making choices between paying for food and medicine
• 63% report making choices between paying for food and for housing
• 35% report choosing between paying for food and paying for education expenses 

The numbers are staggering. This really was an eye opener for all of us. This just goes to show you how important it is to donate to your local food bank. Any donation goes a long way to helping a food insecure family.
 

        Have a blessed day!

Brimfield Antiques Show... a Jaw Dropping Event

Hi All! Sorry I have been MIA lately. The new job and freelancing have been keeping me busy, but I love every minute of it. The only downside - not enough time to dedicate to crafting or blogging. Tho I am hoping as I get into the flow of things I will be able to carve out a little time for creating.

Well last weekend the Hubby and I went to the Brimfield Antique Show in Brimfield, MA. This was our first time. OMG!!! I have never seen anything like this... amazing!!

But first a little history...

Since 1959, Brimfield, Massachusetts has been the Antique and Collectibles Capital of the United States. Today, there are 21 independent shows and thousands of dealers. As the premiere hot spot for antiquing and collecting in America, Brimfield attracts people from around the world. Rare and unusual items can be found as buyers search through history’s great marketplace. There is excitement among shoppers getting caught up in the spirit of antiquing and the thrill of the hunt. All booths offer a diversified range of antiques and collectibles. Dealers are knowledgeable about their specialties and eager to share their expertise. Brimfield is a veritable adventure in history. Expect to see things rarely seen anywhere else in the world. The Brimfield Antique Flea Markets happens three times a year: May, July and September. Each event has it’s own individual feel.

We both had last Friday off so we took off about 8 in the morning for the show, MapQuest estimated that it would be about 1.5 hour drive. We were making great time until we were about 5 miles away. We sat in traffic for almost an hour.  Not deterred we finally made our way to the mile long antique show. Vendors as far as the eye could see!!!

We pulled into the New England Motel & Antiques Market and we were lucky as we scored the last spot. The parking attendant was so friendly and helpful, he gave us the rundown of the show and other tidbits. This event also has a bunch of food trucks along the road. There was such a great variety, from hot dogs and burgers to paninis and mac & cheese. Of course we had to do a little bit of tasting. We settled on a chicken wrap and later an ice cream cone.  
Now onto the shopping...



As we starting walking through the NE Motel market, WOW, what a feast for the eyes and a bit overwhelming. There was such cool stuff. If I only had a bigger home I could have done a lot of damage. 

Below are some photos I took of different vendors, most speak for themselves...

I snagged these beauties, they are made out of kitchen utensils... amazing right?

The next few pictures come from a vendor's tent, McLaren's Interiors.
They had the most amazing stuff I could have bought a ton of stuff here, but refrained since there is not much room left in the condo to store anything. Here are a few of the items they offered..

I could have bought everyone of these!!!

And now for the item that really made my head swoon! One of my many dreams is to have a farmhouse with a big kitchen and this will sit right in the middle...

Come now doesn't that just take your breath away... I must have stood there for about 15 minutes just imaging storing potatoes and onions in a few of those metal draws. The family gathered around the island laughing and feasting. This will be going into my dream house idea book.

Well if you are around the NE area and have not experience Brimfield it should be put on your bucket list.

Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend!

Friday's Fancy

Sorry I am a day late with my Friday's Fancy Post.

The Hubby and I went to the Brimfield Antiques Show yesterday. 

I will tell you all about it in a later post. 

Today is just a teaser.

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Mother's Day

Thank you Mom for always believing in me

For being my guiding hand when I was unsure of the way

For words whispered in my ear telling me to hang tough things will be all right

For the unwavering faith you have in me, that whatever I set my mind to I can accomplish

You once told me that I have grown into a person you admire

 a person you look up to and strive to be.

Well, Mom this person I have become is all because of you,

you see, I wouldn't be who I am today if a part of you wasn't in me.

I love you,

 

 

My Hubby's Obsession

Hi All! Sorry it has been awhile. Not much is happening here... tho, my new job is keeping me busy, but I am loving it. I have not had much time to craft and it is too early to start gardening. So hopefully in the next coming weeks I will have more to chat about.

One piece of exciting news (for the Hubby, at least) we purchased a new vacuum. Mind you the one we have is only 2 years old, a Shark Rotator, it works well, does a good job, and we have had no problems with it. But one Sunday morning my Hubby saw a presentation on QVC for the New and Improved "Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away Deluxe Vacuum", he was like a little kid.

Side Note: my Hubby just loves to vacuum, he gets great satisfaction when he hears the tinkling sound of the dirt being sucked up. Now who am I too argue if he loves to do the vacuuming!!!

Well he just had to show me the demonstration on QVC, where he pointed out to me all the new features. After about catching this demonstration for the 3rd time, I turned to him and stated, "Now, you know that by the end of the day you are going to buy one, Right?". He looked at me, tipped his head, and said, "Yeah, I guess so".

And 2 days later I walked in the door, after work, to find my Hubby knee deep in vacuuming the staircase. He was so engrossed he didn't even hear me say hello.

He was beside himself at all the dust and dirt it picked up just from the stairs.

Amazing... right? He did the stairs 2 weeks ago.

I have to stay it is a nifty machine, I actually got to test it out, before he took over again. It is light, I love that is converts from an upright to a canister for getting under the furniture, and has a pet power brush (shown in picture below).

I am one lucky girl, not only does my Hubby love to vacuum but he is always ready to help me with any chore around the house. We are truly a great team!

Spring Cleaning here we come...

             Have a splendiferous week!

Note: I was not compensated for this post. I just had to share my Hubby's love for vacuuming.

Friday's Fancy

Have a great weekend!

Luanne