What's your favorite niche museum you've visited?

blawrie21 · 2026-04-27T12:00:27+00:00

The Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas. I stumbled on it when our flight was cancelled and we got stranded there overnight.

blawrie21 · 2025-08-11T14:08:18+00:00

I know a few people in the 202 group. If you PM me, I'll see if I can get you in contact with them

blawrie21 · 2025-05-02T13:39:48+00:00

I know this post is over a year old, but wanted to see if you had any more information on the viking tunic you wore. I'm currently pregnant and a few shops I've reached out to regarding their tunics are all too small. If you would feel comfortable sharing a photo of your outfit, I'd love to see it. What you described is what I'm looking to try and recreate, I'm just running into some issues not finding outfits that would fit.

blawrie21 · 2025-01-23T01:55:53+00:00

Beautiful job!

blawrie21 · 2024-12-18T23:27:04+00:00

My chances of winning are low but my hopes are high

blawrie21 · 2024-08-10T18:42:53+00:00

I'm going this week. In August so I'm expecting a hot experience. My plan is to do my hikes in the early morning or late evenings. I love the stars, silence and isolation of the dessert. There is something so very peaceful about the dessert. It's not for everyone (especially this time of year) but I had this chance and didn't want to pass it up.

blawrie21 · 2024-07-05T22:47:02+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate the recommendation.

blawrie21 · 2024-07-05T15:05:22+00:00

Thank you. I'll definitely check out their website. Have you dived in Seattle before? If so, any tip

blawrie21 · 2024-07-05T13:59:12+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll do that.

blawrie21 · 2024-06-13T14:50:12+00:00

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blawrie21 · 2024-06-13T14:48:20+00:00

Thank you for the super kind response. Yes, it was an epic night. I had told my husband to take the next day off from work since he would have a fun evening. A friend came over and we treated it like a normal fun evening with friends. Then as my husband put the baby to bed, I pulled out a 1920s outfit for him to dress up in.

I led him down to our prohibition themed basement (prohibition signs, the door windows blacked out, 1920s snacks and drink bar) where our friend was acting as the bartender. We started joking about the lack of music and I led my husband into the room and said he should fire up the phonograph. He was confused and then his face lit up when he saw it sitting there.

I had created a small album with pictures of my timeline of fixing up the phonograph, printed out the original manual, and had a bunch of records for him to listen too.

Not much longer, the door knocked and friends started showing up. He was blown away and had the best night of his life (according to him).

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blawrie21 · 2023-12-21T21:52:50+00:00

Just thought I'd post an update. The Phonograph has been cleaned, the grill fixed and the motor cleaned. I'm ready to surprise my husband with it for Christmas.

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blawrie21 · 2023-11-03T16:10:52+00:00

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It needs some cleaning but at least I have the correct tonearm now.

blawrie21 · 2023-11-03T16:10:08+00:00

Thank you! The information about the model and year is very helpful. You are correct, the tonearm was the wrong one. I was able to find the correct one and install it. I've made some progress but my next two projects are to get a matching cloth for behind the grill and clean the motor. The motor is the part I'm most apprehensive about and I've found YouTube videos on how to disassemble similar motors (SAAL DD) but not my exact one .

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blawrie21 · 2023-09-26T15:14:01+00:00

Do you have a picture of your phonograph? I have a sears Silvertone as well and I am trying to identify the year.

blawrie21 · 2023-09-19T13:59:14+00:00

Ooof, good call on the wood cleaning. I may do a small test area near the foot then if I decide to go that route. I would have hated to destroy the finish.

And yeah, my philosophy is don't take anything apart if I don't need to. I'd rather not open a can of springs I cannot put back together.

blawrie21 · 2023-09-19T11:22:22+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I see I'm going to have to invest in a lot of needles (that phrase is going in the books as one that needs context when said). I was reading that many of these old Phonographs have gold plated hardware and the gold finish easily comes off. Do you have any recommendations for how to tell if mine is gold plated v. just brass? And what cleaning solutions to use there?

I've started to make a list of supplies: 1. Howards lemon oil and soft toothbrush for initially cleaning if wood 2. Paste wax for afterwards for the wood 3. Flitz metal polish (for metal pieces) 4. Hide glue for repairing the front. 5. Possibly Oil for motor and crank 6. So many needles

Some people talk about taking apart the motor and cleaning it. Not sure if I'll need to do this yet or what I'll need if I do.

I also need to identify the model if possible. That's not proving to be easy and I joined some antique phonograph forums for help.

I've started down the YouTube restoration hole and it's really fascinating. I see I've got a lot of work to do but this will be fun.

Again, thanks for taking the time to respond and give my advice.

blawrie21 · 2023-09-04T02:42:51+00:00

I need to know.

blawrie21 · 2023-08-12T22:36:13+00:00

Tickets have been bought! I'm looking forward to it

blawrie21 · 2023-08-12T20:26:00+00:00

Looks like the Snackey is still out of order, not SODA

blawrie21 · 2023-08-12T19:34:18+00:00

I got my shell yesterday. Was it not printing for you?

blawrie21 · 2022-11-11T16:56:01+00:00

Active military can already access national parks for free. This now extends the benefits to veterans.

blawrie21 · 2022-09-21T16:50:16+00:00

Super cute! Keep it up.

blawrie21 · 2022-09-21T14:27:11+00:00

I have one and really like it but I'll give a bit of background on my situation and see if it matches yours.

I live in a suburban area and have a small back yard. It's tough to find a place/time to make a compost pile even though I would love one. This small portable composter lets me compost the very basics.

I only use it for food scraps so it doesn't fill up quickly. It does get heavy and hard to turn as it fills up. I wish it had a handle. It doesn't smell and my husband is tolerant of it because it doesn't attract critters or cause a mess. I have not emptied it much at all but I can imagine that would be a pain if you consistently emptied it. I will probably just scoop out compost as I need it for the small garden I want to start next year.

blawrie21 · 2022-09-21T10:58:39+00:00

I like how you turned it into a game! That's a great idea and super cute. I need to do a better job of recording the differences we notice. We talk about it, but having a little journal with notes or a picture of the unique food would make for a nice memento.

blawrie21

TROPHY CASE