Monthly Archives: August 2013

Pet Peeve #01 – Cap’n Crunch or Captain Crunch

Posted in Pet Peeves by

Mr Mom 220 221
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6si8Xp8P-M)

It turns on a dime. The moment you realize the person you’re talking to is completely full of shit. Everything’s going well and you’re maybe even having your faith in humanity/your gender/the opposite sex/whatever restored through the course of the conversation. Maybe. Then they screw it all up with just one mispronounced word, one inaccurate “fact” or an off-hand comment that takes the wind out of you. I’m not above it, just so we’re clear. More often than not, I’m a complete moron too.

That’s how I feel when people refer to Cap’n Crunch as “Captain Crunch”. I wanna’ smack ’em.

So I Googled “Cap’n Crunch or Captain Crunch?”. As Judge Judy would say, I came up with “Uh-nothing!” I checked out the story behind the Cap’n on Wikipedia here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap’n_Crunch) and was surprised to read that the sugary breakfast food was originally referred to as “The Crunchy Captain’s Cereal” but simultaneously introduced Cap’n Crunch as the mascot. What this means is that anyone who wants to reference the “Captain” had better have a) worked for Quaker in the early ’60s, b) have been around and enjoying the originally labeled Crunchy Captain’s Cereal and c) still passionately holding their ground on the original name.

This leaves a very few allowable exceptions, so please get it right, Cap’n.
Capn Crunch

Heidi Waited Patiently…

Posted in Coral Gables, Estate Sales, Uncategorized, Vaping by

Heidi Med-VapeNot so long ago, I came to own this cute little Block Pottery vase/figurine. “Heidi” was a remnant of an estate sale I worked in Coral Gables; her former caretakers were a judge and his wife. I would guess that Heidi hung out in their kitchen for decades, based on the condition her paint is in. She was covered in grease.

Heidi is part of a series of these kind of vases offered by Block. I’ve also seen “Daisy” and some other various forms.

Heidi sat on a shelf in my living room for several weeks. Many times I wondered what her purpose in my home could possibly be; Heidi had seen better days and could no longer rest on her looks alone. She needed a function.

Enter my nicotine addiction. I gave up smoking in November and recently I was feeling “the urge” so my husband hooked me up with a friend of his who sells electronic cigarettes. Med-Vape, located in The Native Village in Hollywood, FL, offers all kinds of vaping gear, including the implements and liquids to fill them. The upside to vaping is that you can do it anywhere. The downside is that you can’t just set the vaping pen up to rest. It’s kind of tall, so it tips easy. You can’t lay it down either, because it could roll onto the floor.

It didn’t occur to me immediately. But Heidi eventually earned a place on my nightstand. She’s pretty enough to warrant the placement on my side of the bed, but not so pretty that she outshines my other junk. And she holds my vaping pen with such style.

Lions and Snails and Pulitzer, Oh My!

Posted in Coral Gables, Garage Sales, Treasures, Uncategorized by

I’m a wannabe fashion whore. I might have been a full-on fashion whore, had I been born into a different body. But I wasn’t, so I settle for wanting to learn more. I hit a garage sale a few weeks ago and was drawn to a couple of pair of brightly-colored vintage pants on a rack full of random clothes. I checked the labels and read “The Lilly Sportswear Division Lilly Pulitzer Inc.”.

Lilly Pulitzer Inc.

Lilly Pulitzer Inc.


One pair is pink and has lions and the other is green with snails. The woman who sold them to me, who was about my age, said that she wore them in college and they were vintage, belonging to her mother, THEN. I’m not sure HOW old that makes them but I’d guess they’re from the ’60s or ’70s. Because the sale was almost over, I got them for a pretty great price. I tried to find information on the prints on this site (http://home.comcast.net/~sweet36/site/?/home/), but I can’t find a match for either pair.
I think they’re fabulous.
Green pair with snails, Pink pair with lions

Green pair with snails, pink pair with lions

Trawling for Treasures in Coral Gables

Posted in Antiques, Coral Gables, Estate Sales, Florida, Garage Sales, Heirlooms, Treasures by

One recent Saturday in Coral Gables found me at a garage sale close to the University of Miami campus. The sale was being run by two sisters in their 80s, and one of their daughters. The women were Southern and had all of the charm you would expect. From what I gathered, their husbands had passed, as they were selling men’s clothes along with their colorful clothing, various furniture and other fabulous items. I bought a few things and returned the next day to check it out again. On the second day, I grabbed up some fabulous designer clothes (one of the sisters was quite the entertainer in her day) and various items. As I was leaving, one of the sisters directed me to a couple of wood balusters. “My husband and I bought these over 50 years ago when they were tearing down an old mansion in Charlotte,” she explained. “We planned to make them into lamps and he even sanded them down to get them ready…” she trailed off.
The home she was talking about was the Edward Dilworth Latta mansion which was demolished in 1965. These heart pine balusters are bulky, heavy and pretty fabulous in their simplicity. She was worried that no one would take them and strongly suggested I fulfill their plan to make them into lamps. I couldn’t guarantee I would, naturally, but I’m a sucker for provenance and after agreeing on a price I brought them home. I reached out to an architectural salvage company in Charlotte later that week but they were not interested. So the question becomes, “What do I do with them now?”

Edward Dilworth Latta Mansion Balusters

Edward Dilworth Latta Mansion Balusters

Edward Dilworth Latta Mansion

Edward Dilworth Latta Mansion

Climbing the Cates-Benson (Bengtsson) Family Tree

Posted in Clay County, Genealogy, Heirlooms, Liberty, Missouri by

I have done a lot of work on my family tree since my grandfather died a couple of years ago. Naturally, I wish I’d asked him a thousand more questions but didn’t. So I sorted out family photos and set out to figure out their subjects. It’s been so much fun and I’ve met some terrific cousins in my search.
I’m a visual person, so my work started by trying to lay out the photos in an order that made sense to my family line – so I created a visual family tree. This way, I could figure out who came from who.

My Cates Benson Trout Endicott Halsey Camron Family Tree

My Cates Benson Trout Endicott Halsey Camron Family Tree

Goldberg Surfside Estate Art

Posted in Antiques, Estate Sales, Florida, Garage Sales, Heirlooms, Treasures by

In March, I went to an estate sale in Surfside, where I bought a (baby) painting and two (dog) charcoals signed by Goldberg. I think the artist was a family member. The estate was left to charity, so there was no family to collect these works. Along with the pieces, I also got a family photo album that gave them at least a little provenance (one or more articles in the album mentioned the Goldberg name).
I think they’re cute and figure they must have been important to someone to have been kept for so long. One of these days I’ll figure out where to display them.

Poor baby

Poor baby

Puppies 01

Puppies 01

Puppies 02

Puppies 02

Weekends Find Me Finding Weekend Finds

Posted in Antiques, Auctions, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Heirlooms, Treasures, Uncategorized by

I like to share info about them because, well, I like to brag. I also get frustrated when there’s no information on the web about my treasures. I mean, really? NO ONE else has ever come across a Gold Medal Room Divider before? It can’t have been the ONLY one EVER made! So I share. And hope.

Gold Medal Folding Furniture Co., Racine, Wis.

Gold Medal Folding Furniture Co., Racine, Wis.

A Day in the Coral Gables Life

Posted in Coral Gables, Florida, Travel by

Thanks to a gentleman at the laundromat this morning, I was able to communicate laundering instructions (2 dry cleaned, 2 wash and fold) to the Spanish-only speaking clerk behind the counter.
I queued up a song up on YouTube after returning home and the sponsoring commercial was for Head & Shoulders in Spanish.
I REALLY, REALLY need to spend more time learning the language, because my three years in high school and two years in college were not enough. This is NOT like Kansas. And it’s so awesome.

Coral Gables Flora

Coral Gables Flora