Wandmakers

Storytime!

My husband and I met initially in 2005, but then I left to serve a mission for my church and didn’t get back until June of 2007. When I did return, he was dating someone else at the time but he had learned how to ballroom dance *swoon* and I started crushing on him pretty quickly.

On the night of July 10th, 2007, a friend of mine called to say she had two extra tickets to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I definitely wanted to go, so I took my brother and we went.

At the same time, Husband was in the same building, different theater. While waiting for the movie to start, his girlfriend called and broke up with him. He describes this experience as really weird, because he’s usually very torn up by break-ups, but that night he felt calm. Afterward, we ran into each other outside. We talked about the movie, and I asked where his girlfriend was. He said they’d broken up, and I replied by saying he should call me sometime.

I walked away from that exchange feeling elated. He called me the next day and we met at a dance and went to Sonic afterward and sat and talked until about 2am. The following day we talked on the phone for a couple of hours, day three we went to lunch, and by that weekend we had decided to date each other exclusively.

The rest is history, but I tell this story so you understand the special place Harry Potter holds in our hearts. If it weren’t for that midnight showing, who knows whether we would’ve gotten together. We are pretty dedicated, to the point that we put together a Harry Potter party every year, we have a Harry Potter mantle in our kitchen, and we make wands.

This—the wandmaking—is probably my husband’s biggest hobby, but one that I absolutely love and fully support. He makes the wands, and I do some of the sanding, polishing, and finishing work when I can. We sell them at the movie releases, and via tumblr and etsy. It’s something we love to do, like my writing, and we love seeing people fall in love with the wands.

How did this start? Well, STORYTIME!

Pinterest

In December of 2007, Husband and I were married. Fast forward about a year and a half later, and the next Harry Potter film is coming out. We obviously wanted to attend the midnight showing. My husband already had a character wand (Sirius Black’s) but I really wanted one too. So we saved our pennies and went to his parent’s house to order one (they had internet, we didn’t).

While we were looking and deciding which one to get, Husband’s dad came in to see what we were up to. And he scoffed at those character wands. He’s a carpenter, and he said he could easily make those wands and they’d be better.

When they arrived (we’d ordered Snape’s and Lupin’s) we gave all three to him to see if he could do it. A couple of days later, he came back with three beautiful replicas. Well, we decided to try our own hands at it, and went to his shop to use his tools and make our own wands.

By the time the movie came out, we had made a few, and so we took them with us. To our surprises, nearly all of them sold! And, well, the rest is history.

We took a big batch of wands to each of the Deathly Hallows releases, and just this month took some to the Fantastic Beasts showing as well. The moment when someone picks up the wand that is meant to be theirs? There’s this connection you can’t describe. Some people find their wand on the first try, others have to pick up five or six and wave them around before they really know. But when they know, they know. And that’s why we love making them so much.

Thanks for having me, RRHA, it’s been a blast!

We enjoyed having you, Darci! Thanks for sharing your stories and letting us get to know you!

Darci Cole writes fantasy novels for YA/MG readers, and is currently seeking representation for her work. She is a Gryffindor, a fangirl of many fandoms, and a wandmaker for Colevanders. She loves Dr Pepper, pepperoni-pineapple pizza, and stars.

Follow her on: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram

M: Marriage

Happy Friday, everyone! Amanda (A.G.) Porter is back with her third and final post of the week and today she's talking about marriage. Give her a warm welcome and thank her for joining us this week as a guest!

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I was sitting with a group of kids, playing Apples to Apples. If you’ve never played it, it’s really a fun game. The concept is pretty easy. Everyone gets Red Apple Cards with an array of words on them and each person gets a turn being the judge of the Green Apples Cards, which have a Word on it. You use the Red Apple Cards in your hand to best describe that word.

This particular round the word was “Tough.” I looked at the cards in my hand and the only thing I had that was remotely close was “Gang Members.” I played it, figuring it would at least get a good laugh. Well, as the Red Apple Cards were read aloud, garnering giggles as they normally do, the last card was flipped over. The word on it was “Marriage.”

It hit me that this was coming from kids, the oldest one being 17 and the youngest being 14. They thought marriage was tough. I thought to myself, “What do they know about marriage?”

I almost opened my mouth to say something. The words were on the tip of my tongue. Then, for some reason, I stopped. I didn’t know these kids really. They were kids I had been with for the past three days, subbing for the Band Director of the school my stepson went to. Some of them I knew in passing, but others, I had just been able to recall their names.

I didn’t know what they saw at home. Maybe they came from blended families or perhaps single parent homes. Maybe they had both of their parents and they saw fights on a daily basis. Or, maybe their parents loved each other, but they saw through that veil that we, as parents, put up. The one we use to hide how hard it is to make marriage work.

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Thanks for that great take, Amanda! She brings up a great point. So many of us go to great lengths to show children and families only the best of our marriages, whether in an effort to spare them worry or keep them from jumping to conclusions, or simply because so many of us grew up learning that we don't wash our dirty laundry in public. But marriage is a team effort and even the happiest teams have occasional challenges. 

So it's your turn, dear readers - how open are you with your children in discussing your marriage? 

How to have a happy marriage - the RETRO Way!

And for Free-for-all Friday, SK takes us back, way, way back to the good old days...


As a wife, I've naturally looked up to those who've had long successful happy marriages. Don't get me wrong. My sweetheart is a wonderful man . . . when, umm,  he's not acting up having a rough day, but just the same, it never hurts to seek expert advice . . . 

So I thought, where better to look than to those given in the past? Like, wayyyy in the past. And I'm honestly not sure what that did for me . . . except laugh my butt off. Because, personally? Well, my thoughts on these are simply: NO!  o_O And if you wanna laugh with me, read on!

Here are some RETRO advice on How to Have a Happy Marriage:

(From 1950's “The Good Wife’s Guide”)

***DON'T TALK***

1- Be a good listener. Let him tell you his troubles; yours will seem trivial in comparison. Don’t bother your husband with petty troubles and complaints when he comes home from work.

2- Remember your most important job is to build up and maintain his ego (which gets bruised plenty in business). Morale is a woman’s business.

3- Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

4- Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him. Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first—remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

5- Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.

6- Don't be a bad cook! Bad cooking has been responsible for driving the husband to the saloon, and to other places. And when she does cook, she should cook, and not be, as somebody said, a mere can opener.

7- Don't be sentimental! 

AND IF THINGS COULDN'T GET "FUNNIER" . . .

What if your man strays after marriage?

8- In case of an occasional lapse on the part of the husband—there a bit of advice may prove acceptable. And my advice would be: forgive and forget. Or still better—make believe that you know nothing. An occasional lapse from the straight path does not mean that he has ceased to love you. He may love you as much; he may love you a good deal more.

This one speaks to my soul so much better than the advice up there:

So there you have it!

Don't forget that a good wife always knows her place . . . 

*snort*

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To my dear hosts:

Thanks so much for having me over at The Really Real Housewives of America!

I had fun! Let's do it again sometime ;)

xoxox,

S. Katherine Anthony

S. K. Anthony is a writer, a reader and a make-stuff-up-er who lives in New York with her husband and toddler twins. She is a wine connoisseur, which just really means she knows she loves it, and a caffeine addict. When she isn’t busy with her family, she finds herself being transported into the world of imagination. Well, either that or running away from spiders . . . she is convinced they are out to get her!



We really enjoyed having SK guest post for us! We laughed, we cried, we learned! Now go have a good weekend, you guys!