dating vintage and an update on our boy

Hey guys! I'm sure you already read about Mallory and I opening our little etsy called shopglovebox!

 

Well, first off, if you have an online shop of some sort too, let me know! I'd love to browse and promote! Even if you don't have a shop, and are just a vintage lover, I wanted to share an awesome site with you that I just came across. Perhaps you already know of and use it yourself, but its called TESS: Trademark Electronic Search System.  It is seriously AWESOME for helping you date those vintage gems that found you, and just can't exactly decide what decade they are from. I found that I am pretty bad at guesstimating, it turns out. For instance:

I thought this might be from the 80's or 90's? Nope! This company existed sometime in the early to mid-seventies, owned by a lady named Allie-B in San Franciso!  How amazing is it to have access to this information? It makes me treasure items so much when I get to see where it came from and when! I'm sure any future owner of these items will be as stoked to know a little history as well. So sweet!  I also have a knitted black skirt from the 60's (as it turns out) that will be up on our etsy soon too! Keep your eyes peeled.

If you are curious, and want to date some clothes yourself, you just need to go to:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/ and click on the Basic Word Mark Search (New User). Type in the label or maker of your vintage item. I played with some settings too, like some designers I assumed some were no longer in business, so I set it to "DEAD" and also changed the search to only include the exact phrase. You can also peruse by images, which is helpful for searching a common name, but unique label design.

Good luck on the vintage dating, and let me know if you discovered any treasures you didn't know you had!



Lastly, for all my cat lovin' friends- an update on JULIUS!

Yesterday morning, our local vet called, frantic upon getting a fax of Jules' visit to the the emergency vet over the weekend. She wanted to check on him, and see if he was doing any better- eating or drinking any better. I told her we haven't been able to get him to drink for days, and that all we have been  able to do is trickle water down his throat with a baby syringe and use our fingers to feed him little bits of wet cat food.She didn't like that he wasn't drinking, and had Eric and I come in and learn how to give him subcutaneous fluids and pick up some antibiotics. She seemed as shocked as we were that the ER vet felt he didnt need antibiotics, even though you could SMELL the infection whenever you are near him.

Well, he wouldnt let us do the fluids more than a minute. I poked him with a needle three times, but he trashed so much that it was both impossible and dangerous. So we gave him his antibiotics morning and night, did the finger feed and water syringe game again before going to bed.

I am happy to report that he is like a new cat this morning! I really think those antibiotics did it. He has a sparkle to his eyes, and most importantly, he isn't drooling goop! He ate ON HIS OWN this morning! Oh, I'm crying with happiness! Scratching on his post, harassing his little brother... So happy that this vet helped us out. $40 of antibiotics and fluids vs. $340 for a diagnosis that he "has a cut on his tongue." He still wont drink, but we are working on that. My boy is on his way!  And that is definitely pulling me out of the funk I have been in, too.

xoxo