The Grumpy Appraiser

Well, it was fun to be a part of the Antiques Roadshow. The lines were incredibly long to get in, but it moved quickly and of course, everyone was very polite and kind and chatty, in true Midwestern and IPTV fan fashion.

You stand in line for about two hours, then you are sent to one of six tables where they give you a ticket for each of the items you brought. Then you go into another huge room and stand in more lines until it is your chance to walk inside the big walled "Antiques Roadshow" filming area. There are cameras and people everywhere. It's pretty chaotic, but fun and exciting too.

They wouldn't let me count my three quilts as a collection, so they made me choose two of them. Fortunately for me, there was not a line for Textiles. So once I made it that far, I went straight through to an appraiser. And sorry for me, I got a bitchy blond 60+ woman who was not very nice at all.

She acted like I was wasting her time by even forcing her to gaze upon my meager, worthless rags. She valued one at $120, one at $40 - $50 and the other at $25. Seriously, she was a bitch about it. "The condition of these is terrible, beyond repair." IF they didn't have so many horrible problems, they would still be worth very little. On and on she chastised me. Finally I was like, "Well, I just wanted to know how old you thought they were and what I could do to preserve them for the future because they've lasted this long in our family and I'd like to keep them around." She basically told me not to waste my time. Well forget you lady, I am going to waste my time and I am going to keep them as good as I can because they mean something to our family. So nah nah nah!

Heidi had better luck with the glass seltzer bottle of mom's. Just that one bottle was valued at $300. Mom has six of them. And the original wooden box they came in. So that was cool. And we stood in line together for a china wedding cake plate my mom inherited from her grandma, who got it from her grandma. It has a real gold glaze on the edges, but was only worth $20. Again, it's nice to know but come on, these are things that have survived generations of children and moves and wear-and-tear and really, who can put a value on that? :)

Heidi and I had a good time though. We left my house 3 hours early so we could go eat lunch and shop in the East Village. We went to a new (and the only) Lebanese restaurant in town, Open Sesame. It was good. The appetizer platter we shared had delicious hummus and babaganouj. But it was kind of disappointing to me. I guess I was expecting something more exotic. It was good, a bit pricey, but a fun place for lunch.

Heidi and the kids are staying at the farm all week. We've already revised our plans, due to this hot, hot, humid weather... No Adventureland after work on Wednesday. We're going to wait until September, some weekend when Heidi is back. That's a fun time to go anyway.

Well, Bo is a bit grumpy. Shawn gave them baths while I made supper tonight and I think it's time to take him up for reading and then bed.

Another wrinkle in our plans

Well, today on my way home from work I got a phone call from the Des Moines Downtown School, telling me that they had a spot open for Mazy now. Well, I put Mazy on that waiting list when he was 6 months old. In April of this year, we received a letter saying that there were others on the list ahead of him and he had not been accepted.

The Downtown School is a DM public school. It has a very hands-on approach, multi-age classes and was created specifically for family's who have a parent working in downtown so they can easily attend classroom activities and events. It's also a year-round school, which is so weird, but kind of cool too.

So why the wrinkle? Well, I had just made up my mind that I needed to move us to the burbs and out of DM proper because our neighborhood school just wasn't cutting it for me. But now that Mazy is in this cool, progressive Downtown School -- I don't want to leave anymore!

Shawn and I were talking and decided we'd give it a year. We want to see if the Downtown School works for us and if Mazy likes it. Until then, we still are considering moving within DM to a slightly bigger house. Not sure where. I haven't looked at anything in DM because I didn't think we were staying. But we're hear for awhile longer at least.

Other than that, not much else happened today. We went out to eat with Shawn's parents tonight in Ankeny -- barbecue. Bo ate like he had a hollow leg. I'm not kidding. And he was in SUCH a GOOD mood! Seriously charming and sweet. Kissing his grandmother goodbye without being prompted. Eating every morsel his grandfather fed him and with much gusto and enthusiasm. Coloring his little dinosaur coloring book and shouting out all the colors. Dipping his grandma's lettuce salad into BBQ sauce and proclaiming it "yummy, mama!"

Tomorrow I have to go to the Downtown School and fill out the paperwork. I'll report back on what the school is like, as I've only driven by it. Friday is the start of the Hwy 141 Garage Sales -- we've gone the last two years and had a great time. Saturday is the Antiques Roadshow taping in Des Moines! Mom and I have tickets. I need to decide what to take... Each person can take two things.