Spring's Bounty

No, not Mother Nature... the sale on Spring Inspiration seasonal floral bushes at Jo-Ann's!

Er, um, I bought them all.  You just never know when you might need something for your tablescape.

Like now, when all my plans for March-April tablescapes have gone awry.   Last week I was so frustrated by no-show online orders that I didn't even post.  More on that later.  But the flowers arrived promptly and their bright colors make me smile.

I needed somewhere to store them, so I piled them into this dented old tin container my hoarder hubby brought home a while back.

Neither of us remember exactly when he came home with it, but I'm sure it went something like,
"Why did you bring that old thing home?"
"Because they were going to throw it out."
Well, what am I supposed to do with it?"
 "I thought you could put plants in it, on the patio."
"It will rust."
"Oh, well, I'm sure you'll think of something."
"Sigh."

The man's a visionary, I tell you.

So anyway,  I planned out three tablescapes for last week, this week and Easter, and ordered lots of stuff online, well in advance.   Store A sent my merchandise promptly, minus all but two of the accent plates I needed for a Spring tablescape.  What am I supposed to do with only two plates?  They're made exclusively for that store and no one else has them.  The packing slip said "6 plates, pending."   I waited patiently for those pending plates but they never arrived.  Finally I emailed them.  Customer service wrote back, "We're sorry, that item is not in stock. Please accept this gift certificate for your inconvenience."

Feeling perturbed that they didn't know the plates weren't in stock when they sold them to me, and didn't answer my question as to if they would ever be in stock again, I fired back a snarky email to the effect of "Why would I want a gift certificate to a store that doesn't deliver the merchandise?"  The Customer Service bot replied, "We're sorry. Please accept this gift certificate for your inconvenience."  Hmm, okay, so if I keep replying to the bot maybe I can collect enough gift certificates to purchase a major appliance.  This could be the start of a beautiful relationship.  I forgive them.

Store B is a reseller of discontinued tableware.  I purchased hard-to-find embossed/figural dinner and salad plates that coordinate with a popular set of china.   A week later I get an email saying there was a discrepancy with the salad plates but they are sending the dinner plates. Tsk, I need them both!  I checked their website and they still had 24 salad plates listed.
 
 I don't know what's going on, so I decided to Google the pattern and see if I could find them elsewhere.  Google found them on eBay. Guess who was selling them? Yep, Store B.   So I bought them.  Again.  For more money than the store price.  I included  a note saying these were the same plates they just told me they didn't have, and since I had to buy them quickly at the higher price on eBay before someone else snatched them up,  I was sure they would fix their error by refunding the difference, including shipping since they charge one price per order and I already paid shipping costs on the dinner plates.   Harrumph!

While I was out, their eBay guy...Elvis... left a message on my voice mail. I called him back and got his voice mail.  Over and over.  You're all thinking it, right?  So I might as well say it... Elvis had left the building.

Finally he calls back.  I'm nice to him because I want the plates and I want the refund.  Apparently the "discrepancy" was that the salad plates didn't have the English backstamp that the main dinnerware has.

"So what?" I tell him. I know these pieces are made in Portugal to coordinate with the English pieces. I wouldn't expect them to have the English backstamp. "Well, some people like them to match," he says.  I tell him they only have to match each other.. I don't own the English dinnerware, I'm just buying the Portugal pieces.  He listened patiently while I explained the blog and Tablescape Thursday and the need for expediency.  Problem solved, refund issued and the plates arrived today.  I forgive them.
 

Store C - I've never ordered from them before. They did not make a good first impression.  I ordered a ton of stuff from them...everything for an Easter tablescape, plus items such as chargers and hurricanes for these other tablescapes I was putting together.  All of it listed on their website as if it's in stock and ready to ship.

Then more than a week later they sent an email stating "the following items are back-ordered and we'll send them after we receive them from the manufacturer"... all of it. Every single item.  Obviously they don't keep merchandise in stock. They advertise it as in stock, but they don't order it until someone purchases it.  I replied to the email, asking how long they expected it to take. They didn't bother to respond.  I'm still waiting.

When it became painfully obvious that nothing was going to arrive in time for an Easter tablescape, I went to Mikasa.com and ordered the Italian Countryside accent plates in these pictures.  The order arrived in four days, and that was regular standard shipping.  That's been consistent every time I've ordered from them. They get it out super fast.   One thing that stands out in this situation is all the other stores took a week or more to even begin to read the order.  Mikasa was packing it up while I was still in the checkout line.

These plates can be purchased individually,  if you want all of one design, or as a set of all six designs.

I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so I got the set.

I had no plan in my mind when I ordered them, but when they arrived I looked at the flowers on the plates, then at the similar flowers in the tin, and thought, "Hmm, that works!" 

 
Thank you, Mikasa.com for saving the day!

Be sure to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

Saint Patrick's Day

I'm guessing there will be lots of gorgeous green tablescapes this week.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's Irish linens, crystal and vintage china.  

I did a casual table in the breakfast room.

Mesa shamrock salad plates from Homegoods on top of Mikasa Italian Countryside dinner plates and Gibson dark green chargers.

Plastic shamrocks from the craft store are attached to DollarTree wine glasses with a spot of hot glue to make an easy-peasy holiday glass.  They pop right off when you need the glass for a different tablescape.

The embossed shamrock napkins are also from Homegoods.  The tassel napkin rings are from Marshalls, years ago.

Handmade in Mexico from recycled glass, these spiral coil glasses were a giveaway from El Paso Chile Company long ago.  Two glasses came boxed with a bottle of Snakebite Bloody Mary Mix.  Today they can hold beer or Irish coffee.

Corned beef with cabbage and potatoes are on the menu.  Maybe a little Bailey's Irish Creme over ice cream for dessert.

I'll be visiting Susan at Between Naps on the Porch  for Tablescape Thursday.

Spring Fever

With the warm sunny weather we had over the past two weeks, the trees are budding, the bulbs are coming up, and there are even a few roses blooming on the climbers.  We've been spending all our free time on Spring cleanup and planting outdoors and even though we put six tied bundles and four cans of green debris out for the trash, there's still a lot to do.  And that's besides what the gardener does.  Of course, as soon as we got the annuals planted the weather changed and we had a couple nights of mild frost. It looks like they are fine, but our neighbor's Cape Chestnut tree is dropping all its new leaves onto our yard, right after we got everything cleaned up.  Yard work, like housework,  is  never done.

With Spring in the air, I decided to set the table with dishes Hubby brought home on one of his trips to Marshall's.  No, I don't send him there daily, but it's right next to the mail box store so he's gotten into the habit of popping in when he collects his mail.   Fine by me! *grin*

This pattern is Feathered Friends by 222 Fifth.  I think it's a sweet, pretty Springtime pattern.

It took me a while to figure out what to use with these dishes.  I never did find a suitable square charger.  I meant to order a pink tablecloth like the ivory one I frequently use on the breakfast table, but I accidentally ordered this satin-finish one from the same company.  Ugh, too shiny.  So I used the butterfly doily to tone it down a bit.

I found this vintage wishing well planter on eBay from the same seller that had the little baskets I used on Valentine's Day.  It could hold a votive candle. 

I shopped the house for the centerpiece.  This was a gift crafted by a local florist with  a real orchid plant in it. It's not blooming right now so I replaced it with a fake one.

I was hoping to find similar little birds in nests to use on the place settings instead of bowls, but it's either too early or too late, because the craft store had nothing.

But they did have wired butterflies to hover above the napkins. One must be flexible.

The centerpiece has similar butterflies, so it worked out okay.

I hope Spring arrives soon in your neck of the woods, too.

Obligatory candlelight shot.

Wishing you butterflies and bluebirds -
A Cottage in the Clouds


I'll be joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch  for Tablescape Thursday