I am a Pack Rat. I Collect......

..........lots of things. Lots.

I inherited the gene from my mother. She is having a Garage Sale this weekend, and I have been commandeered to help. I may end up buying more than I help to sell. My Mom is the Queen of Collecting, and has amassed quite a few treasures over the years, many of which have managed to make their way into my house. Ahem. They found their way over here all on their own. I swear.

My Mom has collected mercury glass, vintage cake stands (and this was WAY before Martha started knocking them off), Ironstone pottery, Celluloid boxes, Victorian shell boxes, Hotel silver, fine silver, Polish and German pottery, books, contemporary art, antiques, twig furniture.....the list goes on.

As I said, I did inherit that gene, much to my husband's dismay at times. He refers to us as "Kangaroo and Kangaroo", a reference to a children's book about two Kangaroos that collect so much they can't fit into their houses anymore. They have a sale and get rid of everything, then start all over. ( I was just trying to find a copy on Amazon to show you all, and all I came up with was a book no longer available, but worth $300!....see, it does pay to hold onto stuff! Now where did I put that thing? My husband is gonna croak when I tell him.)

Anyway.... as I was saying...I do love to collect. I have been collecting hotel and restaurant ware and thought I'd show you a couple of pieces (above...a jelly bowl and syrup pitcher). What I like about hotel ware is that it is not so precious it can't be used. We use ours with abandon...almost every time we have pancakes.

So....I'm curious. What do you collect and do you use your collected pieces? Or just love looking at them? I have a bit of both sorts. Please spill!

Now, where did I put that book?