Revere Bowls

In the background of my picture of forsythia stems the other day, was a bowl that I've been using in decor for this past year. This is a Revere bowl. Several manufacturers have had these on the market over the years; many brides received one or many as wedding gifts, in the 1960s and 1970s.  Revere bowls come in graduated sizes, and are silver plate, for the most part. Their design is a simple, fluted bowl on a shallow pedestal base.

Brand new, an 8-inch diameter version can cost $100 or more. In vintage stores, I see them for sale, priced between $10 and $25, in this size. I also watch for them in thrift stores, and they do turn up. I have three bowls, now, all of different sizes. My last purchase, an 8-inch diameter Revere bowl from Value Village last summer, was $4.99.

I love the simplicity of design in these bowls. Without a lot of ornamental detail, the beauty is in the the silver.  At Thanksgiving, I used it as a serving bowl; lined with a cloth napkin, it held warm dinner rolls.  It sparkled at holiday time, filled with silver sleigh bells and red glass balls. I'm thinking in summer this bowl will be lovely holding some of my larger seashells, and a large aqua glass ball that always makes me think of glass fishnet floats.

Incidentally, it is silver plate and does tarnish. I know, who has time to polish silver, right? Almost 20 years ago, my mother-in-law gave me the handiest thing for polishing silver. It's called a jeweler's rouge polishing cloth. I've seen them on Amazon and at WalMart. If you have silver but don't use it due to the upkeep, these cloths are amazing. I am still using that original cloth, almost 20 years later. They cost between $6 and $10, but outlast multiple jars of commercial polish. Mine was a hand-me-down 20 years ago, and it is still going strong. I love the look of silver and so I am willing to take a few minutes per month to polish a small piece or two.

I'm a lover of polished silver, sparkling crystal, flickering candlelight, and bouquets of flowers. Fortunately, I can find all of the above at thrift stores, vintage shops, on clearance, or in my garden. Life's luxuries on a whisper thin budget.

Returning Food at the Grocery Store

Have you ever returned a food product to the grocery store? I think this sounds strange to a lot of people, perhaps because we undervalue our food supply.  I have been in that mental place, where I have wondered if it would be worth the effort to return a food item.

A week ago, boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale at Fred Meyer, for $1.47/lb. I bought 3 large packages, almost 18 pounds of chicken. By the time I was done shopping, my head was pretty tired. Most of the time, I will check my receipt thoroughly, as I'm walking out of the store. You know how it is, there's someone behind you wanting you to move out of the store faster, or give them your cart, or you just feel like you need to get your weary body home. It's not like the grocery store provides a nice little seating area, so that you can take a few-minute break, and look over your receipt.

The day after I bought the chicken, I was dividing up the packages into smaller bundles for the freezer. That's when I noticed the price tags didn't read $1.47/lb, but $1.99/lb. Ugh! This was a substantial difference in price, totaling almost $7 of overcharge.  I needed to go out that afternoon, and would be driving near the store. So, I tore the labels off of the packages, cleaned them up a bit, and wrapped in a paper towel. I grabbed my add and my receipt, and off I went to Fred Meyer. Fortunately, the store was practically empty and I had no wait at the customer service desk. The lady helping me was as nice as can be, and not only refunded the correct amount, but rounded it up to a full $7.

What I have heard from others is that if the food item that you want to return is of a perishable nature, you may not need the food itself, but part of the packaging along with your receipt. Timeliness goes a long way when presenting your case to the customer service desk. That is to say, if you bring evidence of your problem food product, like packaging and receipt, within a couple of days of purchase, you'll likely be offered a refund or replacement product.

Anyway, with my meat purchase, I only needed the label, not all of the packaging. If produce was purchased in a bag (like a bag of oranges), you may want to bring the rest of that bag back to the store. As it was still early in that sale cycle, the grocery store had the opportunity to make sure all the rest of the labels were correct, and my actions may have saved someone else the expense of mistakenly overpaying for chicken.