Winter spring cleaning

One of my jobs right now is The Condo. We haven't decided what we are going to do with it yet; keep it, rent it, turn it into a party house. My brother has yet to be back to it since my mother's death and all the manuals tell us not to decide for a year so there it sits. Slowly I have been doing some clearing, but for the most part it is still like she left it. Recently a family member inquired about using it to escape the Indiana weather, and since the place really needs a good run (running as in the dishwasher, the laundry, the garbage disposal, etc.) my brother and I jumped at that. Knowing that it will be occupied soon has forced me to take a more active role in my clearing.

My mother bought herself some china a few years ago because she never had it after she got married. Why china is such a big deal for people is beyond me. As a kid and a teen just having to wash the crystal by hand after a holiday meal was enough to put me off of that kind of stuff, but as soon as people plan a wedding china and crystal top the list of gifts. My mother bought this china set and then promptly got rid of her every day dishes and began using the china. She wanted to cram in a lifetime of not having it I guess. It was okay china, but it wasn't allowed to be put into the dishwasher or the microwave and so I found it to be a big pain. Plus, she freaked out if you even knocked it against something so I was constantly afraid of breaking something, or god forbid, my children breaking a dish or bowl.

For months I asked around trying to off load the china to someone that really wanted it. I had no takers, and after serving fifteen people at my house for the holidays with only an eight place setting of my china, I decided I would keep it, add it to my collection, and pass it on to one of the grandchildren if one of them ever decided he or she wanted it. My china is silver and my mother's china is gold and those two things go together like peanut butter and jelly, and so I decided the two would fit together in my china cabinet. Also, my mother had serving pieces and I did not. That was probably a bigger selling point for me than any of the other reasons really.

Then came the realization that if I took the china there would not be dishes in The Condo for our occupants. I decided that I would buy myself some new dishes and take my old dishes up there as buying new dishes for The Condo seemed silly. I mean, if we sell the place I would be right back to where I started with getting rid of good dishes! I also was tired of my old dishes, hand me downs from my former boss when she got a new set. My dishes are heavy, chip easily, and heat up in the microwave, and I was down to only five plates and bowls. It was a good time to invest in some new ones.

I decided that I wanted to go back to my roots and buy Corelle dishes. I grew up with those dishes and my first dish set was Corelle. I liked that they weren't as heavy as my current set, were microwaveable and dishwasher safe, and stacked nicely. I also still had some leftovers from that first set that we still used. Madison and I set off one weekend to various stores in search of a new set. I thought it would be fun to get square dishes so I focused on those, but Madison wasn't a believer. She also kept straying from the Corelle toward the heavy, dark dishes display. All of the stores had sets that included four piece place settings of a dinner plate, a lunch plate, a bowl, and a coffee cup. I don't need coffee cups. I have so many coffee cups now that adding four, let alone eight, would require another cabinet. I ended up coming home empty handed.

My friend, SueG, when hearing of my dilemma, suggested we travel an hour south to the outlet mall where she knew there was a Corning Ware store that would have more choices and sold each piece separately. We made plans to do that last week, but had to abort those plans when my youngest got sick and missed two days of school. Instead my husband and I made the trip Saturday evening. I couldn't believe he was willing to do this with me, but he was quite pleasant and did the driving. And my friend SueG was spot on. The Corning Ware store was FULL of Corelle choices.

SueG was at work and insisted we send her pictures so that she could assist in our decision. As soon as I found the ugliest choices possible I texted them to her.

And got the response I was hoping for: "Those are HIDEOUS. ABSOLUTELY NOT! Never mind. We will go back next week and I will help you pick a better pattern."

I liked the top dishes the best. I figured I would mix and match them, but my kitchen is really a blue, although there is some shade of red involved. Tom kept reminding me that I should pick something that I wouldn't get tired of quickly. "Remember you have to look at these for quite some time." About forty five minutes into my browsing, that sentence finally penetrated and I knew he was right. How long would I want to look at flowers? Or Jason Pollack paint splashes? I ended up with one of his choices.

Because we could buy each piece separately (at 40% off if buying 12 pieces or more) we were able to mix it up. We purchased green and red rimmed salad bowls, blue rimmed deep bowls, and blue and green ice cream bowls. The pattern also went okay with the pieces I had at home. We added a white, square serving bowl to satisfy my square need and we left the store with an eight piece place setting and extras for under $100.

Now all I need is a chef to help fill up these pieces!