Archive for 2011/08/13

Great Buys on a Porcelain Figurine

2011/08/13 Swatzell Blog

If you love collecting figurines, but don’t have a lot of money to spend on them, then you’ll love this collection of discount porcelain figurines. I always do my figurine shopping on ebay, where they have well over 200,000 figurines for sale. Before I shopped on ebay I would haunt gift shops that sell new porcelain figurines and antique stores that sell antique porcelain figurines. I’ve even started to look at second-hand stores like Goodwill and church thrift stores. Always hoping to find a great buy. Quite frankly that took hours. Combine it with the time I spent at estate sales and my hobby was taking lots of time and gas money.

One day my husband was busy buying vintage auto parts (we each have our passions!) on ebay and he casually mentioned that there were lots of figurines to look at as well. So I popped over there and was delighted at what I saw.

Quite a few ebay sellers carry the same porcelain figurine, so it was like having different stores all on the same street, right next door to each other! I easily learned how to navigate through the auction system and Buy It Now items. It’s fun to put a figurine on a watch list and see how it sells. That way I know what the going price on ebay for an item is – and I can figure out how to get the best price.

Now several years later I sit on my couch with my laptop or browse ebay on my smart phone. It’s amazing the figurines that I found – new, vintage, antique and rare.

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Southern Food: Potato Soup

2011/08/07 Sharron Buchholtz Diet

This southern food recipe is for a delicious potato soup. If you like potato soup from a can, you’ll love this – it’s much better. Hubby really enjoys this for dinner in the winter. We like to sprinkle parmesan cheese on our bowls of soup, but you might prefer a little cheddar.

Southern Potato Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 5 large baking potatoes
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 2 ribs celery, chopped
  • 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 teaspoons garlic salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • Parmesan cheese

 

Directions: Peel and dice potatoes and cook in salted water until just fork tender. Drain and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter and cook onion, celery, and bell pepper over medium heat until soft. Stir in one cup milk and reduce heat to medium-low. Reserve one cup cooked potatoes and add remaining potatoes to pan.

Combine the one cup of reserved potatoes with remaining cup of milk. Blend until smooth, like thin creamed potatoes. Add to pan. Stir in garlic salt, black pepper, parsley, and paprika. Add water, if needed. Simmer until soup is hot.

Ladle into soup bowls or mugs and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

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