The First Shiner!

I finally was granted my crazy wish of having a black eye. I told my husband that I also wanted a blue fingernail because that signifies that you are tough and that you work hard with your hands. A black eye is a symbol that you are tough stuff... or that you have just been headbutted by a TWO-YEAR old!!! My sweet little guy did not do it on purpose but certainly had mommy crying buckets after whipping back with his hard head to my eye. So much for tough stuff. Now I crave to never have symbols of working hard and being tough  but just to get through life peacefully and bruise-free. That would be nice, eh?

Building the Eiffel Tower(almost)

We've had a great houseguest this week and have been working on some amazing projects. I just was wondering aloud, "How does he know how to build that?" My father-in-law is visting and he makes Norm Abram seem like a real person to me. Watching Norm on TV and then seeing people like my dad and father-in-law build things is two very different experiences. Of course Norm can build a super sweet curio cabinet with dovetailed everything(he has a professional crew hidden in that attic and Ty Pennington standing behind the curtain) BUT my dad and now father-in-law just go out in MY yard and build picnic tables, sheds, doors, lean-to's, you name it and they can make it. I cherish the skills they are passing on to me by allowing me in on this process. Maybe Norm really can build all those things on his own. Thanks builders! You are awesome!

Unearthed!

    So yesterday was the oldest munchkins birthday and we met dad at Chik-Fil-A to go over serious Flanders business. The most important item discussed was the executives meeting scheduled for next year-in Hawaii! This started us into laughing hysterics. Dad and I always seem to find outlandish ideas and statements the most funny things in the universe. I can remember us rolling on the floor when I was younger because of someone saying something about a tornado, barn and airplane(inside joke I guess).

    However, when we finally started getting serious we worked on sending a few orders and looking at the new line of products available from The Flanders Mercantile: Unearthed! Treasures dad has discovered underground. I have many memories of dad roaming around a park, field or old house with large headphones on, swinging around a Garrett metal detector. We always have fun looking through his finds. On this occasion two sets of little hands were "helping" us look through the treasures on their breaks from the play area. We were most excited about the Chevy Vega emblem he found while unearthing treasure in some interesting place. Also the ancient Avon metal lipstick tube in the color Betsy Ross Red. Fun to look through and fun to talk about who might have dropped or buried the items.

The Flanders are at it again!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Vega

The Museum of Ceramics Makes My Day

So today was a great day to dance around and sing that I received an email from the Museum of Ceramics. I didn't even know such a thing could exist until I tried to identify this crazy old crock I found in a trash pile. I consider myself a tad bit knowledgeable on internet sleuthing but nothing I did worked on this item! 

So I emailed the experts thinking that it was a shot in the dark that anybody would ever get back with me. The director of the museum emailed me back the next day! We know from the markings on the bottom that the crock was made by Knowles, Taylor and Knowles in the early 1900's but even the lady from the museum said in her email that she hadn't seen anything like it before! So fun. I still don't know what it is- she asked for more pictures and is forwarding it on to people on her email list who should know. Something about this whole process has made me giddy. Who would have known that the Museum of Ceramics could make your day? And even without answering my question but just knowing that they care about the ancient art of pottery- it's amazing!

Here's their link: http://www.themuseumofceramics.org/