Mugshot Monday - Vintage "The Irish Rover" coffee mug by Carrigaline Pottery of Ireland with Morning Glory Signature Blend by Peace Coffee

It's St. Patrick's Day on Thursday and I'll be celebrating by singing a verse from my new-to-me vintage Irish Rover coffee mug.

I saw this mug at a thrift store and was intrigued enough to google the song.

Much to my delight, I found a fantastic live version of the song by The Pogues & The Dubliners from 1987!

I took a panoramic of the entire mug so you can see the full verse from the mug if you want to sing along!

In the year of our Lord, 1806 We set sail from the coal quay of Cork. We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks For the grand city hall in New York

We'd an elegant craft It was rigged fore and aft And oh, how the trade winds drove her She had twenty-seven masts And she stood several blasts And they called her The Irish Rover

Cheers! ☘️ ☕️

Also! Happy Pi Day to those who celebrate! MMMmmm, PIE 😀 π 🥧

Mugshot Monday - “1995 Minnesota Public Radio Pledge Drive” coffee mug with Morning Glory Signature Blend by Peace Coffee

I miss listening to MPR and The Current.

I’m one of those people who only listens to the radio while driving my car and for the last 12 months during this pandemic, I haven’t been driving much.

This mug is from 1995 and the illustration is like a “Where’s Waldo” of public radio ins and outs.

The scene is during an old-school pledge drive with an enthusiastic row of volunteers answering phones. There’s a live performance on a stage, multiple interviews happening (one looks heated!), a pianist and opera singer are recording, people are busy locating audio tape from a library, and a dish satellite is beaming the broadcast up to an orbiting satellite which is sending the signal down to a radio tower then transmitting to a boombox.

There’s a lot going on with this mug, but there’s usually a lot going on at these public radio stations.

I’m not sure why I don’t listen to the radio in my house, but maybe I’ll consider some new habits so I can tune in again.

Happy Monday! ☕️💥😀

Here are some detail shots from the mug:

Here’s a “mugorama” panoramic shot that shows the full art on the mug:

Mugshot Monday - “Kaitenzushi (Conveyor Belt) Sushi Chef” tea cup by Yokohama Gifts with TeaSource Green Tea

What’s your favorite item at the sushi bar? I looooooove Ahi (tuna) sashimi.

I found this lovely tea cup at United Noodles grocery store in South Minneapolis on a recent trip and it makes me smile! Although I’ve never been to a Conveyor Belt Sushi bar before, it reminded me of when I was 18 and tried sushi for the first time.

I was in an exchange program through Youth For Understanding staying with a host family in Kobe, Japan. My family set out to shape my sushi experience by having me try as many different kinds of sushi as possible.

It’s all delicious over in Japan (except ONE which I’ll mention later), but I was a little worried about eating sashimi.

Sashimi is straight-up raw fish sliced into thin pieces. That’s it. 😳

Of course, some kinds of sushi have raw fish, too. But it also has rice which somehow made it seem more accessible to me.

The sashimi was just sitting on a plate in all its glory with NOTHING ELSE but soy sauce and some wasabi. I was a little freaked out to try it.

I took a deep breath and took a bite. And that was when I discovered that raw tuna is AMAZING. I could not eat enough of it.

The only sushi I will never eat again is Sea Urchin Egg Sushi. It tasted like the salty sand from a beach off the coast of North Carolina. OMG it was so bad. I’ll stick with the raw fish! 😂

I just found out Minneapolis now has it’s very own Conveyor Belt Sushi Bar! Sushi Train opened up on Nicollet Mall this summer -- anyone been there? Let’s go check it out!

It’d be nice to try some sashimi again -- it’s been a long time! Cheers!

Here’s a “mug-o-rama” panorama shot of the full artwork on the cup (SO AWESOME):

Mugshot Monday - “It’s been udder chaos” mug by Sandra Boynton with Morning Glory Blend by Peace Coffee

It’s really has been chaotic these days! 

For me, it’s at home and at work. It’s the normal “getting things done” yet always adding more to the TO-DO LIST.

At home: Kids are back in school so the new routine is still taking shape. Just got on the calendar to get a new roof (Ahhh!) And I’m coaching my 10YO’s soccer team -- so FUN, but it’s my first time so I’m learning on the job.

At work: Nothing out of the ordinary, just the seasonal Q4 push to finish the year strong.

“Organized Chaos” might be a better phrase. Or, “Getting Shit Done” maybe.

A person smarter than me once said:

“What needs to get done will get done.”

At first it sounds like a load of crap. But when I think about it, that’s always what happens. It feels like udder chaos, but it’s skillfully prioritizing with limited time available. And it’s exhausting sometimes, but it will get done.

Maybe I’ll make myself a mug with that saying. I like it.

I love Sandra Boynton. I’ve probably read “The Going To Bed Book” to my 3 boys a thousand times when they were young. She’s an amazing illustrator and and even better writer.

Boynton might be the only one who could pull off a pun in her “udder chaos” cow illustration. It truly speaks to me. 😂

Good luck with your own chaos this week. What you need to get done will get done.

Here’s a panoramic of the mug’s entire illustration. I looked JUST LIKE that cow typing when I wrote this post:

Mugshot Monday - Fully functional “Henry VIII & Disappearing Wives“ heat sensitive mug by The Unemployed Philosophers Guild with piping hot Breakaway Blend by Peace Coffee

Check this out!

Two weeks ago, I posted my ineffectual “Henry VIII & Disappearing Wives” heat sensitive mug that I giddily bought at Goodwill.

I knew it was a heat changer mug and I naively thought it was all black because -- duh -- the mug was in its cold state. Score! But in reality, that heat sensitive imagery had melted off in someone’s dishwasher long ago.

Well, the fine folks at the Philosophers Guild saw my post on Instagram and decided to help write Chapter 2 of this story. They sent me a working mug!

That’s so cool.

Then I found myself trying to explain what this mug was all about to my kids. I’m no historian, but I told them Henry VIII was a power-hungry misogynist asshole who as a “devout Catholic” had divorced, annulled, or killed many of his wives primarily for not giving birth to a baby boy.

Only I said “jerk” instead of “asshole”.

And biologically speaking, no boy babies was all his own fault anyways.

This mug attempts to at least acknowledge the identities of a few of his “disappearing” wives by displaying their names and fates when you’re drinking coffee.

Cheers to that, Philosophers Guild! And thank you kindly for the rad mug.

Here’s the a panoramic of the empty mug:

Here’s a panoramic of the mug with hot hot coffee:

Mugshot Monday - “Sunkist Oranges” by The Corner Store Porcelain Mug Collection with Birchwood Blend by Peace Coffee

I’m ready for Spring in Minneapolis and I’m trying to will it to happen with this sun-kissed mug!

And that’s EXACTLY how I look when I peel my oranges. 😂

I saw this mug in a set of 17 Corner Store collection mugs for sale on craigslist and inquired about it. A delightful seller named Diane got back to me and apologized --- she had already donated them to her friend to sell at her church’s thrift sale bazaar at Advent Lutheran Church in Anoka.

I love a good thrift sale so I found out when it was happening and planned to go and maybe buy the Sunkist mug. Unfortunately, I got busy with family stuff and missed it.

But Diane emailed me back and said only one mug had sold so I could buy the set if I was interested.

I thought, what the heck I’ll buy them all. And as it turned out, the mug that sold was NOT the Sunkist mug, so I was super happy!

It’s a really awesome old-timey illustration. Here’s a panoramic of the mug (I call it a ”mugorama”) so you can see the handle-to-handle artwork: 

You may see some of the other mugs in future Mugshot Mondays I post.

Oh, I just found out it’s supposed to be 60º in Minneapolis this Friday so ‘willing it to happen’ is working! Cheers! Thanks for the mugs, Diane!