Saturday, April 28, 2007

Get a load of this...


Here's something my mother-in-law ordered for me a few months ago, and it just came yesterday. Why did it take so long to arrive? No, it's not the fault of the Italian postal system (this time). The company that makes this contraption said there was such a huge demand for this thing-a-ma-jig, that it was on back order until now.
Now for the big question...what the heck is it?

That's where you come in. Inspired by the recent
Disco Mermaids contest for an advance reader's copy of Jay Asher's upcoming debut young adult novel, (which I won...yay!) I'll give a prize to anyone who can guess what the thing in this photo is used for. All you have to do is post your answer(s) (you can guess more than once) here by Friday, May 5. If there's more than one correct answer, I'll draw those names from a hat to pick the winner.
So what's the prize? The winner gets a souvenir from Trieste--something you can only find here in this city. And no, I haven't picked it out yet. But I will. And I'll try not to choose something too cheesy. I promise.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's gotta be an indoor clothes dryer (hang them up, zip the plastic and turn on a little fan in that orange part, right?).

Okay, that's my first guess, anyway.

Disco Mermaids said...

Perhaps you hang your raincoat in there to keep it safe from the rain?

:-) Robin

TinaFerraro said...

Debi said it first...my guess is indoor clothes dryer???

Fun post, Natalie!

Anonymous said...

Our guess is a homemade pasta dryer!

Dana said...

Shucks, I hopped on to give my answer and saw Debi's. My guess would also be an indoor clothes dryer. Knowing how rare it is for anyone to have a dryer in Italy due to the limited amount of electricity allowed per residence, it seems likely. Of course, it could be a cheap soundproof booth for the Italian version of The Miss America pageant ... a place where the contestant stands so as not to hear the question. Now, those hooks could be a problem ...

Oh, Natalie, thanks for including the video clip. I'm glad that you and Davide enjoyed it.

The gang met this evening and everyone sends their love!

Anonymous said...

I, too was going to guess a clothes dryer, so now I must go with the alternate answer. A little people merry-go-round with the optional accessory pack for those rainy days?

Natalie said...

Oooh, you guys are good! And Dana and Cyn, it's fine to guess the same thing as someone else.

I'm changing the rules a little bit, because this contraption actually has more than one function.

Remember those commercials in the 1970's/80's (usually for kitchen gadgets) where they demonstrate what a product does, and then they say something like: But wait...that's not all! It doesn't just slice and dice tomatoes, it'll also sharpen your sewing scissors!!

Well, same idea here. It IS a clothes dryer, and it works the way debi in holland says, but it also does something else. And although I loved Robin, Cyn, Jeff and Sue's ideas :-) no one has guessed the second function yet.

So keep guessing, and you can enter as many times as you like. And thanks for your fun answers!

:-) Natalie

Anonymous said...

With dual functions our next guess would be a clothes dryer, and a space heater all in one. I guess pasta is dried some other way!
And yes Natalie we had a safe way home from Mexico, thank you!

TinaFerraro said...

Um, presses the clothes, too? Like a dry cleaner?

Anonymous said...

I'd like to guess home dry cleaner.

I saw a couple posts for a clothes dryer (but mine's different than that).

Anonymous said...

Maybe in addition to being a clothes dryer, you can also inflate balloons with it??

CJ Omololu said...

If you duck under it, will it give you a facial? Oooh I know. It's a hot air popcorn maker.

Disco Mermaids said...

Does the dial go to eleven?

(Sorry. Just watched Spinal Tap. I'm going to bed now.)

:-) Robin

Natalie said...

Great guesses...I wish this thing-a-ma-bob did everything you all have listed!

And Robin, I checked the dial, and this one goes to 180 (degrees Celcius). ;-)

Anonymous said...

Okay, maybe it acts like a hairdryer, too -- the kind you sit under at a salon with the little bag thingie on your head (never actually done this myself . . .).

Or maybe it is a steamer (add a little water to that heat!)?

Debi

Anonymous said...

Okay, I've been looking at this thing for days. If you take the pole off, could it also be used as a lamp? It looks like there is some sort of light toward the bottom.

Danette

Anonymous said...

it is used as a clothes dryer, and also to purify the air, but it is also a heater.

Anonymous said...

and for our very last guess...a steam ironing clothes dryer!

Natalie said...

I'm tempted to declare the winner now, but I realized that in my original post I put "Friday, May 5" as the deadline...oops. Today is *Saturday* May 5, so I'll wait until I wake up tomorrow morning to announce the winner--sorry about the confusion!

But today I'm going out to buy the prize, so I'll post a photo of that later today.

Thanks for all your great guesses, everyone!

:-)