Beautiful and useful.....and not so much

Beautiful! I swore was thinking I wouldn't buy any more pretty china but while trawling through Vinnie's the other day, I spotted this gorgeous plate. You can't see it, but there are indentations where the floral motifs are - similar to a devilled egg plate. I just love it. When I got home, I looked at the back and it has the initials B.H. and 90 so I'm assuming B.H. made the plate in 1990. I thought it was a lot older than that but it doesn't matter.  I hope B.H. knows that it has gone to a loving home and will be admired and appreciated for a long time to come.

Totally useful.  This is the best funnel in the whole world. It is a milk container cut down and I use it for so many things. It has a very wide neck and the handle is just so good for holding the funnel steady. I also use it to bottle my jams and pickles. It's marvellous!

Not so useful. When I went to pickle school, I bought all manner of things that looked like a good idea. This funnel is one of them and it's totally useless.

It comes apart and is supposed to be three funnels in one. Ha! The biggest bit is too big for most bottles. That grey bit in the middle has a slanted hole and is supposed to be the bee's knees for putting peppercorns into grinders (who knew?). I tried it once. Peppercorns still shot all over the floor and there was a lot of mucking around.  Not too sure what that little red bit is for. Maybe pouring oil into something? Who knows? I am willing to concede that it could be operator error, but in my view, this expensive little item is a total waste of time, money and space.

Back to beautiful. My poor old Iceburg rose. Always being belted with wind and rain; always being munched on by all manner of critters and yet, still gives me sweet smelling flowers.

Useful. We had solar panels fitted some time back. Wish I'd tidied up the back patio before I took that shot. I just got a power bill and there was about a month's worth of solar in it. The bill was $364. The previous bill was $411, the one before that $410 and the one before that (before I started making a concerted effort to reduce power costs) was $552. I am thinking that the solar will be worth around $50 a month, based on the previous bills.  We are paying them off interest free and if I got the cost of the panels back, I'd be one happy camper. Either way, I figure we have to be better off.

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