My Favorite Things #13

This cabinet was in my parent's house and they have probably had it at least 30 years. I don't know how old it was before that. My dad trash-picked it from the trash when he worked as a foreman at a sheet metal plant. It has marks where guys perched cigarettes on the edges and let them burn down. My parents kept it full to the brim of all the Jewel Tea dishes they had. They had tons and tons. For example, there were about four types of Jewel Tea teapots produced over the years and my parents had ALL of them - even one shaped like an Aladdin's lamp that was considered pretty rare. They had about three types of coffee pots and MANY full place settings. Then there were little extras like two or three gravy boats, custard cups, you name it. I like the fact that there was so much of the Jewel Tea and I like knowing the provenance of where it came from in the family. I DO NOT like the colors of orange and gold however, so I did not want to inherit it. I felt like if I had it I would not use it, and I really don't like to have things just BECAUSE and not use them. I asked only for the dishware that I felt like I would use and treasure. I am glad, too because Mom and Dad sold most of the Jewel Tea dishes and made a chunk of money, which they can always use. Heather had a great idea of putting a teacup and saucer or some other small piece in a shadow box and giving one to each grandchild. I think it was a grand idea and I wish we would have had the money to do it. I have one teacup and saucer from Grandma Holt and I am glad to have that. I am also glad to have some of the dishware that is displayed in the cabinet in this picture, but that will probably come up later in the month!

In other news, I awakened with screaming leg cramps for the second morning in a row. One even in the thigh in the place that is impossible to stretch. I lay in bed and read for about two hours with the heating pad on it and that helped. This is even AFTER I have started Potassium supplements to try to get my electrolytes back in balance. I am all messed up because of the diuretics, but my leg is not as swollen as it used to be. I read somewhere that I should also be taking magnesium. You can get that without a prescription so I will probably try to pick some up soon. My multi-vitamin has 20 mg, but I am not sure how much I need. I bought some Gatorade at the store tonight and drank a quart of that. They have the new sugar free kind so it's artificial sweeteners which I am trying to avoid, but I do not want to wake up screaming in the night.

If I felt like typing some more I could relate a funny leg-cramp story about writhing around on Amber's dining room floor - cold tile - in the middle of the night, and trying to be loud enough to wake up Emily to help me, but not so loud as to wake the entire household. An epic tale of an ill, obese woman on an air mattress with a cold tile floor beneath, but that will have to wait. I think I must go watch another episode of "The Office" now. I am up to Season Two.