Changes and The CSN Stores

It's been busy around here since my last post found me contemplating going away party menus and kitchen tables.  The party has come and gone.  We enjoyed a menu full of summer's best ~ grilled meats, corn on the cob, watermelon, tomato & cucumber salad, pasta salad and potato salad. 

We also spent time on the lake.

 Some of us were content just hanging out in the water while Jeremy entertained us with wakeboarding and flips off of the boat. 

He always has been the more adventurous one in the family.  That's probably why he chose to go all the way to Australia for his study abroad program.

 

~ Brothers ~

Mike (l), Jeremy (r)

Later in the week we took him to the airport and wished him well on this exciting adventure.  I'm proud to say that despite stuffing a handful of tissues into my purse, I didn't need to use them.  I got by with a lump in my throat and a bit of mistiness.  Thankfully no embarassing watersheds :).

Also last week I was asked if I would be interested in doing a review of a product from the CSN Stores.  They made it possible for me to do 2 giveaways in the past and I have noticed CSN giveaways on several other blogs.  If you aren't familiar with them, they have over 200 online stores and offer a wide variety of products.  I think I could spend all day looking around at what they offer.  As a matter of fact I almost did that after receiving this generous offer :).

So, when they offered to send me a gift certificate in exchange for a product review, I knew just what I wanted to use the gift certificate for.    For the past few years I have been using a set of dishes that was perfectly fine, but they didn't match my kitchen.  I suppose I was hanging onto them for sentimental value.  They belonged to my mom and she absolutely loved them.  But, I've decided that I have many other things to remember my mom by and since she always liked her dishes to coordinate with her kitchen, I know she would understand.

So, on Tuesday I placed an order for 2 sets of these dishes:

I was pleased to find out that there was no shipping charge for this item and also no sales tax.  Yippee!

The dishes were at my front door on Friday.  As you can see by the above photos, they were packed very well and consequently there were no broken or chipped dishes.

Unpacking these new dishes led to a thorough cleaning of the kitchen cupboards.  There are now several boxes packed and ready to be taken to Habitat for Humanity.  I love how they use the proceeds from their thrift shops to help build homes for people who might not otherwise be able to afford them.  I think my mom would be happy to know that her dishes are being used for this purpose.

And I'm pleased to have dishes that match my kitchen. 

My mom's dishes were covered in flowers and had a lot of purple and pink in them.  Even though I love flowers, they sometimes seemed a little too feminine for every day.  This time I wanted something "gardeny" but not flowery.  I think these will work just fine.

And you know I can always flower them up a bit by adding fresh flowers to my napkin rings ;-).

Shopping at the CSN Stores was a great experience for me.  Placing the order was simple, the product was well packaged and arrived in a matter of days.  I would highly recommend checking them out.