Sunday, May 06, 2007

And the winner is...

Jeff and Sue! They successfully listed all the functions of the thing-a-ma-bob in the Get a load of this contest!

Most of you were on the right track with clothes dryer, and some of you were so close with the rest of the answers...Tina and Julie almost had it with the dry cleaning idea, except you have to put the clothes in while they're wet, not dry. And I thought Debi in Holland would be the winner when she said you could add water and it becomes a steamer...except you don't actually add the water. But when Jeff and Sue came back and cinched it with their "steam ironing clothes dryer," I knew we had a winner.

This handy-dandy contraption is a:
1. clothes dryer
2. space heater
3. humidifier (as the water from the wet clothes evapoates)
4. ...and although it doesn't actually iron the clothes, it claims to reduce wrinkles (in the clothes, not my skin...although I loved the facial idea, Cyn!)

Thanks for all your creative guesses--Dana's soundproof booth for the Miss Italy pagaent, Cyn's hot air popcorn popper and little people merry-go-round (my kids would LOVE that), Debi's hairdryer idea, Danette's lamp (we could actually use a lamp in that corner...), Robin's raincoat storage, and Jeff and Sue's pasta dryer and balloon inflator.

So what's the prize? I'd intended to go out and buy it yesterday so I could include a photo today, but it rained most of the day, which means parking in the city with three kids in tow isn't exactly easy, so I've postponed the prize purchase until later this week (remember: shops are closed today and tomorrow).

BUT, I did find a link to the kind of prize this will be. Jeff and Sue have won a ceramic pitcher, much like the ones pictured here:

http://www.istrianet.org/istria/crafts-trades/household/boccaletta1.htm

...except Jeff and Sue's pitcher won't be that big...it'll probably be about as tall as my hand. They come in different sizes, and are actually really cheap since they're so common. And just so Jeff and Sue don't think I'm a cheapskate--even though their pitcher will probably cost less than $5, the shipping will be about a gazillion dollars, so that should earn me some points on the generosity scale. ;-)

These pitchers are really common here for wine, and every restaurant has their own design with the name of the restaurant on the pitcher. There's a store that sells them here with sayings written in the local Triestine dialect, and that's the kind I'll be sending Jeff and Sue. We own one of these (which is actually packed away in storage in the states) that says:

Chi beve sto vin, canta come un canarìn

which tranlates as: Whoever drinks this wine, will sing like a canary.

I'll let you know what Jeff and Sue's pitcher says once I actually purchase it--no doubt it'll have a message just as poignant as the canary one. And Jeff and Sue, you can email me at nlorenzi (at) earthlink (dot) net with your mailing address, and I'll put the pitcher at the mercy of the Italian postal system.

Thanks for all your great guesses, everyone!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Natalie, What a cool contraption. I want one.

Congratulations to the winners!

Anonymous said...

First of all thank you for choosing us as the winner of your contest! Since this is my birthday, May 6th, I will cherish it as a birthday present, however I'm sure Sue will have the say so as to where to display the prize.
Secondly, to show you and the other bloggers who enjoy your writing, this is a very small world and blogging makes it so. Your friend Jay of the Discomermaids, we have known for a very very long time.
In fact he will probably come for my birthday dinner tonight! I'm sure he wants your husband to get a sample of the butterfinger bar.
Regarding the Italian post office I have much faith in them. I delivered mail for the U.S. postal service for many years and for the past three years I have been processing passports for the post office.
Which reminds me that I have promised Sue that we will be traveling to Italy sometime in the next three years.
Do you remember our congratulations to you from Cabo about a week ago for winning the Discomermaid contest?

Thanks again,
Jeff and Sue

Natalie said...

Thanks, Debi! The thing-a-ma-bob is called Stendi-asciuga, and they've actually got their own website here: www.stendiasciuga.it, so maybe you can be the proud new owner of one soon! ;-)

And Jeff and Sue, what a small blogging world it is, indeed! Happy Birthday, Jeff...or should I say Tanti Auguri di Buon Compleanno! And thanks for your faith in the Italian postal system...they've actually gotten better overall since they made some big changes a few years ago. Although my friend Dana (who also threw in a guess in the contest) sent us Christmas presents from the U.S., and they never arrived. Hmmm. I'm sure that won't happen with my Disco Mermaids package--at least now I can say I "know" someone in the right postal places!

Thanks again for visiting my blog. :-)

Anonymous said...

Oooh! Then I'd have to put my faith in the Italian and Dutch postal systems to get it here . . .

(We're still waiting for a couple of boxes sent from the US more than a month ago -- don't know whether to blame the American or Dutch postal systems, but it's not the first time. We didn't get 5 Christmas boxes until April one year!)

Disco Mermaids said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Disco Mermaids said...

Happy Birthday, Dad! And congrats on identifying the thing-a-ma-bob.

- Jay

P.S. Natalie, I mailed your prize last Monday, so my fingers are crossed that it arrives safe and sound.

TinaFerraro said...

Fascinating, Natalie! And congrats to Jeff and Sue!

Natalie said...

Oooh Debi...I guess the Dutch/Italian postal thing would be a double whammy, wouldn't it? Your clothes would probably dry faster if you left them out in the rain...

Jay, thanks for mailing off the package, and I'll let you know when it arrives! (Good thing Butterfinger bars have a long shelf-life...)

Thanks for stopping by, Tina!