Thanks so much to everyone for suggesting I do something special with the WWI mail pouch I found at a yard sale last weekend.   I called the National WWI Museum to see if they would be interested and they’re going to get back to me.  My mom then sent me a link with information about an Albert Lufkin Crombie from Beverly, Mass. The dates worked with the dates on the bag and the first location he recorded was Boston, so it made sense.  We found him!  He was married to Elizabeth Crombie (who shares my birthday.)  He passed in 1976, so I’m working on finding his family.  Thanks so much to Amy and Julie for helping me in this.  If anyone has any information, please share.  I would love to give this bag to his family. I’ve been so distracted by this, I wasn’t able to work on my post

AKA…when the husband/wife/significant other/roomie says, “No.” I get a lot of labor intensive, kinda crazy ideas that I would like to do to our house.  I informed my husband a few years ago that if I’m ever sitting quietly, looking around a room, he didn’t need to wonder what I was thinking about.  99% of the time, I’m thinking about what I could do to that space.  My brain just does that.  So, when I start a sentence with, “I was thinking…”, he groans.  Now, let me backtrack and say that he goes along with the majority of my plans and only asks for about two square feet of space next to his bed where he can pile books and not have any froof in his way.  He goes out to yard sales with me, he fixes furniture with bubbled veneer, he lets me paint a room…well…a lot of times and it

I get a lot of e-mail from people wanting to know which paint they should use for their project…Milk Paint or Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint.  So, for the benefit of everyone, here’s my opinion… First, let’s look at examples of Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint (ASCP)… …and some examples of Milk Paint (MP)… So, let’s now put them side-by-side… What does the paint look like? MP: Comes in a brown paper bag in a powdered form and has to be mixed with water. ASCP: Comes in quarts, premixed. Do you have to use primer? MP: No, but you do have to add a bonding agent if you want the paint to grip to non-porous surfaces. I do not use the bonding agent, since I like an antique look. ASCP: No.  ASCP has great gripping power and primer isn’t necessary. Do you have to sand before painting? No for both paints. Do you