Thursday, March 12, 2009

I Love Indestructible Dishes

I have a split personality. My brain and pocketbook encourage me in my frugalness however my inner shopaholic screams for me to spend limitlessly. I balance a life of couponing and ‘reduce and reuse’ with strong desires for clothes for my kids and household items of any kind.

We’ve been in our house for almost 16 years now and a lot has changed and even more has stayed the same. Our kitchen had one paint job seven years ago—that’s it. We still eat off the same Corelle dishes we were given when we married--hope you can see below the pizza. Yep... peach and green hearts y’all. Can you say 90s? So my heart’s desire is to redecorate the kitchen and my bedroom (which has not even received a paint job during that time). My budget’s desire is to save to pay cash for a summer beach vacation and a golf cart (l’ll share why we *need* this some other day—we’re not golfers).

So today I spent too much time gazing adoringly at new Corelle patterns. Corelle is almost indestructible, in 17 years I think we’ve lost one bowl and one saucer. Do you know how often my children have ‘tossed’ their plates in the sink? It’s nothing short of a miracle really. Over at Corelle they have a feature called “What’s your Plate-O-Scope”? You choose a plate ‘sign’ and it gives you a description. I picked the red paisley..oh be still my heart! I have a secret passion for red (okay considering the boys’ bathroom walls maybe it’s not a secret). The paisley reminds me of the damask print I’m coveting for my bedroom.

Anyway, my Plate-O-Scope says I am practical (mostly) but a romantic at heart (um, maybe, sometimes). You’re as comfortable in jeans as a crepe skirt (wrong-o, jeans all the way). But the dead-on phrase: You believe Scarlett did end up with Rhett. Oh I so do! I totally heart that movie, it brings back memories of all night movie fests with my best friend in high school. This is odd considering I have a strong aversion to movies that don’t end well. I like them to tie up any loose ends AND give me a happily ever after last scene.

Back to the dishes, I have 3 sets of my country hearts, so a comparative amount of the paisley would be a grand total of $210. Oh be still my heart again but this time not in joy. My Corelle is in excellent shape. It has not faded, it has not chipped, it’s still so wonderfully useable, I bet the stuff could have another 20 years of life in it! Actually I know it would because my mom is still using her 1970’s “Gold Butterfly” set. Even though I believe Corelle is and would be worth every single penny I would spend on it, I’m not buying today.

Today my frugal, beach-loving backside has won! Don’t worry kids, mama isn’t spending your vacation money, not today anyway.

This post is linked to Things I Love Thursday.

2 comments:

Brooke said...

lol! my mom has the same pink heart dishes!!

and my word verification is really.

and yes - she really does!

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed this entry very much! Mostly because my sister has your exact same Corelle pattern dishes that she received as a wedding gift in the 90's! They are still going strong. Also, my Mom is also STILL using her gold butterfly patterned Corelle that she bought back in the 70's! Sure wish I had received Corelle for my wedding. I got a different "more expensive and better" brand, and they are almost all gone now:(

Gotta love Corelle!!