I put this pic on Facebook to see if I can find anyone who might appreciate them.  They belonged to Melissa.  I got a lead, but haven’t had a chance to follow up on it yet… Anyone out there want them?

This is another ceramic piece I made years ago (29 to be exact) in Gladys Brandenburger’s basement shop.  It was my favorite pencil holder and graced my desk all through high school and college.  It got packed away at some point and hasn’t seen the light of day for at least 10 years. I took it to school and one of the eighth grade boys asked about it.  I told him what it was and that I was giving it away.  He took it to use as a cheap gift for his Mom (or Dad… he couldn’t decide!).  He asked…

Does anyone ever actually USE a letter opener anymore?  Did people EVER use them? I’m not sure what prompted me to buy this particular letter opener years ago in Saudi Arabia, but it wasn’t out of practicality.  I thought about giving it away, but who would want it?  Besides, I would be afraid that if I took it to school it could  cause some misunderstanding since it looks like a weapon!  Better to just toss it.

Wow.  I turn around and I’m a couple of days behind on writing about my “stuff”.  We have just one full week of school left and then it will be summer and I’m not quite sure yet if that means things will get easier or tougher.  We still don’t have confirmation of a date to take the kids to Haiti this summer.  Date! – We don’t even have confirmation that the missionaries down there even want us this summer!  It’s been a bit discouraging lately.  I try to relax and allow it to be God’s worry and not my own. …

I learned my lesson with giving away my 1970s era Cincinnati Reds Scorecard and THEN looking up its value on-line.  So I did some checking on this little beauty and found out it was worth … maybe 12 dollars.  Oh well. I found someone trying to sell two of them for $25 … or best offer.  So it doesn’t seem to be in high demand.  But I did find out that it was a popular sports-themed comic strip by Walt Ditzen and it ran from the 1940s until his death in 1976.  So the thing is at least 25 years…

Another good object to take to my classroom – I’ll just hand it over to the first person who picks it up and “slinks” with it. And with that, I am caught up on my blogging for the week.  We have two crazy weeks (and two days) of school and then it’s sweet, sweet summertime.  Maybe I can be a bit more creative then on my Gives and Sells.  Maybe the house will sell and the whole process will speed up.  Time will tell. (I so want to tell you a story about Dats (age 10) and a tearful “confession” he made…

This is another one of those ceramic pieces I made as a kid.  This one has the year 1982 scratched on the bottom of it.  I would have been 13 or 14 years old.  This can be another object to take to school and hand out to some student (likely a junior higher – they love free stuff!) who asks for it. Or maybe I’ll try something different.  Maybe I’ll leave it somewhere – like the teacher’s lounge – and see how long it stays put.  Or perhaps I could sneak it into somebody else’s house and place it amongst other knick-knacks.…

This was one of those gifts the groom gives to the guys who are directly involved in the wedding as groomsmen or ushers or whatnot.  I won’t say who gave it to me because he might be reading this!  (I appreciated it, but now it’s time to regift.)  It’s a nice little clock with a space for a picture beside it.  I’m going to start making a pile of Gives that would be appropriate for graduation gifts, because I might be needing some this year.  And this would be perfect for that purpose, so it can be the first into…

Not much to say about this.  It is what it is. I think I’ll take it to school and give it to the first person who asks about it.