Pansy and Peony

Can you say, "WALMART?"

Can you say, "CORELLE?" Much easier to grab a family-sized stack from the cabinet.

You can get Oneida flatware for 8 for around $25. It may be no-frills--and it might bend a little if a child applies pressure--but, hey. You'll lose it all in 5 more years, anyway.

Warning about Corelle plates: they're tough and wonderful. Hard to break--but when they do break, they splinter all over the kitchen.

All right, my heart is not Midnight Black.

I looked up the pattern my mom had (that still resides at my dad's house in PA). It's Pfaltzgraff's Gourmet Brown.

I guess it fairly screams "1970," but I love it dearly. I prefer watercolor to oil, too!

At that price, I think I'm glad we just have a hodgepodge of dishes that I don't particularly like -- some beigey-yellow Pfaltzgraff stuff my husband had before we were married, the sort of black-and-white checkered stuff MIL gave us for our wedding (he likes taxis,) stuff with roosters (another symbol from his family.) Maybe Crate & Barrel prices aren't as unusual as I thought! We still have a gift cert we never used from there. We didn't register for our wedding, so we mostly got checks.

We've been able to replace some ofour stoneware on eBay. Give it a try!

I was at Wal-Mart the other day and I saw some Oneida no frills and I said "I am going to go online and see if I can replace the ones I have..." Should have picked it up.

When I am feeling particularly ambitious and materialistic, I dream of someday purchasing an entire set of Royal Albert Old Country Roses china from Royal Doulton. Or maybe Lady Carlyle . . . or maybe any of that stuff. It's divine dinnerware. http://shop.doulton-direct.com/acatalog/Royal_Albert.html

And then I get real and remember that even when the Tribe is long grown, I will most likely have grandchildren tromping in and out, and the hubby prefers a plainer sort of china, and I'll probably never have the kind of money that wouldn't absolutely go postal if someone broke a $52 dinner plate.

I'm thinking about just using those blue spatterware kind of metal plates and cups . . . the kind you use when you go camping. Maybe THOSE would hold up under the strain of the Tribe's table manners . . . .

Sparki is right - go to eBay!! I can't believe some of the great deals on EVERYTHING I have gotten there.

I did find the dishes on ebay, now let's see if I can win an auction because they are going fast!

I gave up on matching anything about 20 years ago. When we moved into our house in Arleta (part of lost angles) the box labelled "silverware' was among those things stolen in a break-in. (My KIrby vac, also). Well, it wasn't silver, it was just some nice flatware, but I decided then and there that I was too attached to things. So I got 8 plce settings of middling oneida flatware on sale at Target and have supplemented since then with the grocery store specials.
Dishes - I buy salad plates and cereal bowls 4 at a time when a pattern is being discontinued at Target. (Or after christmas in the cutesy patterns like snowmen) Way back when, my brother worked at a supermarket and gave me most of 12 place settings of some china pattern that they were specialling week by week - as well as many of the serving pieces. But since it has metal trim and can't be microwaved, it lives in the china cabinet most of the time. My sister sold Princess house for a while, and she gave me 8 place settings of the pattern I liked - and they are in a storage box. Good thing, too. Because the china and the crystal was packed in boxes, they survived the earthquake. What little wedding stoneware (Franciscan Madeira, if you are curious) I still have survived only because it was in boxes and not it use the day of the quake.
Wine glasses etc - buy in bulk at Linen and Things. Drinking glasses - we used to buy welches strawberry and grape spread for PB&J - in the cute little juice glasses. We still have probably 40.
Anyone who expects matching anything at my house should probably arrive with a pack of paper plates! We eat off cheerfully mismatched dishes, and you know something? Most people never say thing one.

Oh - we don't eat off of dinner plates at all, We use salad plates for everything. It helps with portion control, and seconds are always an option. Using salad plates helped us to fit more kids around the same size table (that and having a bench along one side).

Give me an I
Give me a K
Give me an E
Give me an A

What's that spell?
One reason not to thoroughly look down on the Swedes, even though they let Hitler abuse their neutrality in his invasion of Norway, and they inflicted the Volvo on us!

Great prices on flatware and that sort of thing. Not to mention great meatballs.

Oh yeah, I am neutral on the Saab issue. Melanie used to have one and it was a headache, but it was very fun to drive.

Erik - have mercy. Or better yet, mail me the new IKEA catalogue. If I want to go to IKEA, I have to go either to Montreal or to New Jersey. IKEA is one of the many things I terribly miss from the left coast.

ditto IKEA, especially for wineglasses -- they actually fit in the dishwasher! yay!

I like closeouts at department stores and places like that. I made out like a bandit when Penneys stopped carrying my pattern.

oh, and the Betty Crocker catalog is good for flatware -- they keep their patterns around for years and years.

Closeout sales are great. I shop for books that way, too. I bet that a third of my library is remaindered stuff. Sometimes I see a title and think, "There are probably only twenty people interested in that title. What were they thinking?"

I would bet that IKEA has a website and ships. I am not sure, but would not be surprised.

They do have a website: http://www.ikea-usa.com/

And they do ship. I don't know if they'll ship their odds and ends like glassware, textiles, etc, but it would be worth a phone call.

Amazon.com might also have good deals on plates, etc. And Target has also started carrying mix-n-match Pfaltzgraff.

I hope you don't mind me commenting about your stoneware dilemma.

Pfaltzgraff does a limited run of their discontinued dishes every year. You can still get your pattern through them. It's on their website in the "By Request" category. They also have other closeout deals in the "Emo's Treasure Trove" section.

http://www.pfaltzgraff.com/profiles/catalog/byrequest.asp?UID=2004021913161089&PatternID='120'

Replacements.com is really overpriced.
I hope this helps!

Hi, I stumbled across the site today and it's terrific. It's great to see smart women having smart conversations.
I see Pansy is looking for Midnight Sun by Pfaltzgraff, and I have stacks of it ear-marked for a garage sale. So Pansy, if you're still in the market, send me an e-mail. (lmjramirez@hotmail.com)
Be well,
Lisa R.

Have MORE than a set of Madiera - many plates, cups, serving pieces, etc. Looking to sell and will give you a great deal! Can send a list, if you are interested.
Hope your day is great - we in the mid-west asre SICK, SICK, SICK of the rain!!!

Have MORE than a set of Madiera - many plates, cups, serving pieces, etc. Looking to sell and will give you a great deal! Can send a list, if you are interested.
Hope your day is great - we in the mid-west asre SICK, SICK, SICK of the rain!!!