Yellow rose of Texas

So, this weekend (Nov. 4)  I went to the Settlement house garage sale at the event center. Yes, today is Christmas. I know that. I am writing this post on the 7th and scheduling it, because of the sensitive nature of my purchase. 

 OMG! YESSS!!!! CHINA!

 Why is this so sensitive you might be wondering? You buy china all the time you might be thinking. Well, these are special because my soon to be sister-in-law saw these at the garage sale, went gaga over them, and then walked off. Naturally I had to buy them.

OK, let me explain.

My family is not very into the whole "Christmas presents are a surprise" thing. In fact, we basically just tell each other what we want. I have even gone so far as to go into my Dad's amazon account and order my gift for myself (with permission, and now I have a kindle.) Why did my parents instill this in me? NO IDEA! I really have no issue with the status-quot in my family. We always get what we want, and we always know the other person will like what we bought them.

Last year I tried getting my dad a totally thoughtful gift, that he didn't ask for. I identified a need (he didn't know how to get back to the TV when my brother left his Xbox on.)  Researched products and found a solution in the form of the Logitic Harmony remote. I even read reviews to pick the model that he would like best. It took THREE weeks for him to bother figuring out how to set it up, and then it still took him TWO months to admit he liked it and it improved his life. Why? He didn't ask for it.

M's family thinks the whole point of Christmas is the excitement of picking out a gift and not knowing if the person will like it. Or even want it. I guess they keep track of receipts.  Not only is that so NOT how I operate but even after all this time, I still don't know some of them very well. I'm basically just guessing here. I know his sister pretty well, but when she said OOOOH look, I had to pounce. I created a huge diversion, then told her that the contents of my brown bag was the decanter M had been eying, and not to tell him (you would have bought that too.) I think she even went back for it, a little after we first saw it she said she thought she might go buy it.  It was gone.

I wanted to get some info for you about this set, but I really could find nothing! Here is the back stamp......

As you can see this set is really funny, with different sized cups, saucers, and even a handle-less cup. This is all the info I could find online:

Windsor was produced by the Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd Crown Windsor Pottery, Longton.  Staffordshire Potteries with different printed marks from 1946 to early 1960's. They also produced Clarence bone china.

Have a swell Solstice! 

UPDATE

Afew days before christmas we found this:

A buffet? Who cares?

This is the thing Max's sister wanted more then anything! we found it for $50.00. Need more hints?

OH, a Hi Fi!

Yes, we found a beautiful functioning stereo Hi Fi at an estate sale the weekend before christmas for $50.00 and it even had the original warranty in it. So we loaded it up with christmas records and gave the best gift ever. Now we need to find one of our own.