A Bittersweet Celebration

Tonight was the night! I finished painting the china cabinet (with help from my wonderful husband) and Marc made shelves today to put inside. When he got home this evening I attached lace to the front edges of the shelves and installed them! Now remember my photography skills aren't that great- it really does look better than it does in this photo.....


Ta DA!!! And here is a straight on view of it........

I am SO excited it is finally done! What was supposed to take 2 weeks ended up taking 7 weeks... wow!

I ran into the office and carted out the big cardboard boxes that have been holding my dishes and teapots (my "lovelies") for way too long now. I was so excited and so emotional. I finally have a home for all of my precious things! My heart was racing, I was breathing hard, my palms were sweaty......... I opened the box and carefully started unwrapping each piece and stacking them in piles. Kyle and Bella by my side "Ooh-ing and "Ah-ing" with every piece I unwrapped. And then it happened. The first casualty of the night. As soon as I picked the next piece up I knew what it was. As I started to unwrap it though something didn't feel right. The more I unwrapped the louder the sound of broken china rung in my ear. I stood there looking at my broken gravy boat. I covered my face and broke down. This china is very special to me. It belonged to someone I loved very dearly- her name was Evelyn. She was not a blood relative but I had grown up knowing Evelyn and in her later years took care of her as she was failing. It was like losing an Aunt or a Grandmother to me when she passed away. She left me these dishes and countless other things that I hold very dear to my heart. The dishes were given to her from her mother-in-law when she got married and her mother-in-law had gotten them from her mother-in-law when she was married. So I really have no idea how old these things are. Evelyn always had beautiful things.......and they were always out in her home. She used to tell me "You should never pack your lovelies away- leave them out where you can see them and enjoy them every day. Your lovelies don't belong in a box." I couldn't help but think that if I had found a home for these dishes sooner that this gravy boat would not have been broken...

Sigh....... It hurts to even look at it. When I started crying, Kyle (not even 4 yet) says "It's okay mommy, we can fix it. I'll go get the tape and the band-aids." When one of his toys gets broken or a book gets ripped we always put band-aids on them to make them and Kyle feel better. I wish a band-aid would work for mommy's hurt. Bless his heart.

I pulled myself together and kept going through the box, holding my breath almost the entire time. Again, I unwrapped another broken piece. This time a bread plate. Sigh....

Fortunately for my sanity- and my husband's (poor thing hates to see me upset) these were the only casualties of the evening. I am going to get some super glue and do my best with these pieces. If they can not be "fixed" I will put them in a little box and stash them away.

Everything made it in the cabinet safely and after a bit of arranging and rearranging it was done! Here is a little peak inside.........

My red and white china set. I LOVE this set. Number one it came from a very special person, number two- it's red, and number three, it is old and has so many stories.
Here is a close up shot.......

And here is a picture of a serving bowl. Look at that beautiful pattern................

And this is so neat. You can see in this picture the color variation in these dishes. I am not sure what causes them to do this but some are still brightly colored while other pieces are showing their age and have a very yellowed/tan look to them............

Here is one of my teapot sets. My parents got me this set for my sweet sixteenth birthday.

All of my teapots have a story and came from a special trip or were given to me for a special occasion.

Here is a view of the right side of the cabinet...........

And the left side.............

And finally the bottom shelf..............

More teapots, my McCoy smiley mug (that my son has now claimed as his), and a full (huge) set of red dishes. I just got them for Christmas as a gift from my husband's Grandmother. She is such a darling and she knows I love red! Bless her.
So, other than a couple of casualties and a lot of tears, tonight was a great evening. It was a special night because I finally have a place to put all of my lovelies and display them so that I can see them every day- whenever I want. I am thrilled because that big- honkin' china cabinet can FINALLY be scratched off my to-do list and I can move on to other projects.

Can you believe I am actually thinking about painting my bedroom dressers now??? You would think I would learn............. but I am addicted to the paintbrush.

Have a great day!

~Heather :)