Finally New Dishes!

So if a person is a dish freak, a collector of dishes..........WHY on earth would it take so long to decide on a new set of dishes? I have spent the last 3 years at least hunting down just the right pattern! I grew tired of looking at the old one.. Garden Harvest, by Mikasa. One day as I watched the trials and tribulations of All My Children soap... I spied a set of dishes being used by Phoebe, (the ole gal) that I couldnt live without! Not that I wanted to imulate an ole gal mind u, but I loved the fruit design, so it had to be mine. It took me a few years to collect service for 10 because of course 8 isnt enough and 12 are too many right? And then there are those pesky serving dishes you have to have a bake sale to afford to buy! grunt. But I did it, and by the time I had them all neatly placed in cupboards, on little divider shelves and nested nicely, I was finished. No more challenge eh? Off to find a new quest I say! Now 3 trips to visit Blima in Montreal and a few trips that she made here, still, no dishes for me. UNTIL..........I turned 50. YEP YEP YEP... that magic number sparked alot of things changing round here I tell ya... and one of them were those darn dishes. We had more fun than legally allowed and I'm sure I'll get round to blogging about it, but for now suffice to say that after shopping for 2 weeks straight, on the last leg of our outlet hunting, 2 hours drive away from home... there they were... staring right at me in a window, screaming pick me! PIck me! We ran inside and perused the store, but the window dressing was all that I had eyes for. The store clerk was approaching, and I didnt want to ask how much.. she must have known this as she greeted us with a lovely english accent. (How befitting for a store named Royal Doulton eh?) She opened her sales pitch by telling us what a great bargain this set is, and more importantly, how durable they are! AS SHE TOSSED A DINNER PLATE TO THE FLOOR! Much to our horror I might add. Guess what? It didnt break, and thats all I needed to know. Wrap it up, I'll take them.I have grandchildren, and a very large child for a husband.( ok, and a merciless tile floor) I gave an order of 10 of each, and had fun pointing at serving pieces too. ( notice I didnt remember the bake sale I would need to own these lovely dishes) I told the clerk we would be back in awhile to pick them all up.By this time Blima had found some unbreakables of her own across the isle. She was smitten , I know, by not only the price, but the heartiness of the china. She too made an order, but only of coffee and desserts. Her design is much more geometric than mine, but very yummy as well! Upon our return to collect our goodies I was given a bill, and damn near passed out. However, I didnt let them see me sweat and paid the tab:) We drove home with a Starbucks in one hand, and a plate or a mug in the other. Utterly delighted with ourselves. Walt greeted us at the door and cheerfully came to help unload, but the more he unloaded, the less cheerful he was becoming. I reassured him that it didnt break the bank, (insert cool lie) so he also unpacked.I could tell he loved the set too, but he kept telling us both that he wouldnt use them, they were too nice, to go and buy some corelle for him. Which I later obligued, and he doesnt use, altho he does scream for paper plates so there arent alot of dishes to wash. I hope this set hangs around for a good long time, but you never know with me and dishes.

By the way... Blima DID in fact send for the COMPLETE set for her once arriving home and pining away for the others! LOL