Category: Kitsch En Sink

Maintaining A Charge Is Key

Hurray, CableOrganizer.com sent me a BlueLounge® Kii™ Portable iPhone/iPad Charger to review! Kiis get their name from their neatest feature — the ability to carry the charger on your keyring! This super-slim portability means that I can always have my charger with me, whether  I’m on a barn pick, American Pickers‘ style, yacking on the phone while on the road, or just draining my device’s battery playing games at home.

kii portable charger for apple devices

Kiis are dual-sided. At one end is an Apple connector to connect to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod; the other is a USB to plug directly in to your laptop or solar charger for charging.

The Kii connector comes in in 30-pin and Lightning versions; 30-pin is for older devices, Lightning is for iPhone 5, iPod Touch (5th gen), iPod Nano (7th gen), iPad (4th gen), and iPad Mini. This review is of the 30-pin version; but other than a few design aesthetics (which you can see in this photo from Bluelounge), and the adaptation for newer Apple devices, the products are the same.

bluelonge kii chargers

My main worry about this portable charger was how well it would stay attached to the “cap” when on the keychain, after all, that’s the cool feature of this portable charger. But it snaps securely in place and remains on the charger until you remove it — aces!

30-pin kii charger

It looks like the Lightning chargers are even more secure, so you should have no worries there.

The uber-portable BlueLounge® Kii™ chargers come in black and white. If you need several of these chargers in your house, say one for each of your kids, you can personalize the plastic “fob” — or you can always add different keyrings, etc. for easy identification.

Kitschy Christmas Ornaments

Part of our December update, some of the vintage and retro Christmas tree ornaments we have for sale. These are mainly at our Exit 55 Antiques location, but more will be added to our Etsy store soon.

vintage ornaments from fair oaks antiques

kitschy wooden mouse ornaments

retro clown ornaments kitschy collectibles

Are You Ready For Some Football, Little Man?

An All American little boy football player bulletin board — bright colors printed on that 70’s natural burlap. Available for sale in our Etsy shop.

all american retro football boy 1970s

Disney: It’s A Living, Gretel

Going through stacks of records, I redisc-overed this gem from 1964: Walt Disney Presents The Story of Hansel and Gretel, with music from the opera by Humperdinck.

vintage disney hansel gretel lp

At first I thought it was this Engelbert Humperdinck, but it turns out it was by this one; thanks NPR. As disappointing as that was, there was another delightful discovery…

Along with Laura Olsher (narrator), Michael Donahue (Hansel) and Martha Wentwoth (Witch), the voice of Gretel was Ann Jilliann!

story of hansel and gretel disney record

That’s a variant spelling of Ann Jillian — the extra “n” was also how she was billed for her portrayal of Little Bo Peep in Disney’s Babes In Toyland. Ann, of course, is to be adored for many things — among them It’s A Living.

The 16 year-old me adored that show; the adult me wants to watch it again. I can’t be the only one… Why isn’t that show available on DVD or Netflix or something?

Its_A_Living

Puddington In Underpants

This has been on my bucket list for long long time — at least as long as we’ve been waiting for Mr. Oliver T. Puddington, our Basset Hound puppy. Well, I’ve been dreaming of putting Puddington in a little lederhosen. (Dressing French dog in German pants seems quite American to me.) I thrill at the idea of little tiny short pants and the long suspenders required to cover a Basset Hound’s long torso. But since hubby won’t invest in little leather pants for our pup, we have to make do with what we have: boys underpants. Hey, at least hubby and our son (who wants me to be clear demands I state that these are not his underpants!) were willing to humor me and go this far. Anyway, last night, the magic happened!

Oliver was incredibly patient and willing as we put the small underpants on his back end, tucking his long tail through the little flap. Doesn’t Mr. Puddington look Marvel-ous in his comical comic-themed underpants?!

marvel-ous hound dog

underpants on oliver the basset

When Oliver went to follow our son, Hunter, for a treat, Oliver’s fist step in those underpants must have felt odd, for he made a little funny hop with his hind-end before he trotted off in pursuit.

dog underpants hop

trotting in underpants

When Oliver returned with his treat, he generously shared is bounty (as he usually does) with his kitten, Old Man Chicken Bone. (Oliver’s nemesis, Toodles “Squirrel Face” Davidson III, our Cairn Terrier seen in some of the photos, had to try to find a scrap if she could.)

oliver sharing his treat with old man chicken bone the cat

basset hound in underpants

puddington in underpants

Puddington had been so patient, I felt bad that he shared his treat. So we gave him another one that he could have all to himself once we removed his underpants.

attentive olver in boys underpants

For the record:

Yes, I giggled myself silly the whole time.

Yes, I will do this again.

And, yes, I am more enamored than ever with investing in little lederhosen with long suspenders for Mr. Oliver T. Puddington.

(And this pair of underpants has helped with size selection; the lederhosen or next pair of underpants ought to be a wee-bit longer for a better Basset fit.)

oliver licking his nose

oliver sitting pretty in underpants

treat time for oliver

Lenticular Jesus

A little video of the vintage religious kitsch piece we have for sale in our booth at Exit 55 Antiques (Fergus Falls, MN). We thought you would enjoy the lenticular action of the 3-D holographic Jesus better this way. (And, yes, that cord you see means this piece has its own lighting — the bulb is beneath that extra layer of ornate golden filigree fame at the top of the picture. Jesus literally lights the way.)

jesusphotoexit55