Man-Proof, Kid-Proof, AND Easy to Clean

I wanted to share my latest 'discovery' about Longaberger pottery.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a scientist by training and that is how I approach life....lots of questions and a lot of skepticism, testing, and analysis.  Well you can be sure that I have put the Longaberger pottery through the wringer by now.  My latest experiment was to test how easily my 9"x13" baking dish came clean in the dishwasher WITHOUT washing it ahead of time.  I made lasagna in it, scraped off the stuck on noodles, put it at the front of the lower rack and....it came out spotless.  I made chicken enchilada casserole, burnt the cheese on the edges, scraped off the bits of tortilla still stuck on the bottom, put it in the dishwasher, and .....voila! it came out spotless again.   My husband made lasagna, burnt the sauce all over the edges, put it in the dishwasher just like that, and ....it came out spotless!  Boy! I tell ya, this would have saved me so many "discussions" with my husband about how he needs to scrape the dishes off better before he puts them in the dishwasher and then me having to wash them by hand again after they had already been through the dishwasher.   Not to mention that the dishes no longer get chipped around the edges even though loading the dishwasher seems to be a contact sport for "some people I know". :-)

Crash! The Shiny Red Mug Revisited

When I received the Longaberger Travel Mugs, they were immediately taken over by my two children (of course); one for my daughter and one for my son.  They apparently liked them too!  One day my son was making a cup of hot tea in his red mug.  I was sitting in the adjacent room working at the computer.  Suddenly I heard this loud crash.  I knew perfectly well what had happened and couldn't believe that he had broken my new mug already.  Turning around I expected to see pieces of red pottery all over the kitchen floor.  What I saw took me a minute to digest.  Shards of pottery were in fact scattered over the floor, but they were not red.  I finally realized that the mug had landed on the cat's ceramic food dish and shattered it.  I went over to pick up the mug, expecting that the underside was broken, but the mug was completely intact.  There was a slight scratch (only discernible to a perfectionist like me!) where the sharp edge of one of the broken shards had nicked the glaze.

I couldn't believe what had just happened.  For years I have been frustrated because the dishes I have owned are constantly chipped or broken by my husband or the kids.  I hate feeling like I have to guard the dishes and remind people to be careful when they load the dishwasher.  In particular, we have some dishes that we got when we were married.  I really like them, except that the top of the bowls flare out in a thin lip at the top.  Well guess what kept happening to the edges of those bowls!  It really bothers me to set the table with what are supposed to be our good dishes only to have chips all over them.

The less expensive dinnerware that I had purchased in the meantime was even worse.  Every encounter with another dish in the dishwasher chipped off the glaze and exposed the porous clay beneath.  These dishes I had purchased for the design on them, which was now being chipped away.  Ditto for the gorgeous hand-painted Italian butter dish I had carefully brought back from a trip to Italy--that was so depressing.  That piece of pottery was NOT so inexpensive.

What was it that made the Longaberger pottery so strong and durable compared to my other dishes?  I had to find out what exactly "vitrified pottery" was.

Guess What Honey! .... My Longaberger Kit Arrives

I decided to become an Independent Longaberger Home Consultant without discussing the idea with anyone--including my husband. This was partly because I was so excited to get started and mostly because I know how he is about spending money and adapting to anything new. Nevertheless, I wanted to tell him about my decision before my Business Kit showed up on the doorstep.

A couple of days before the shipment was due to arrive, I casually mentioned my plans to him while we were fixing dinner. As expected, he was taken aback. "Why did you do that? How much did it cost?!" I explained to him that it was a product that I really liked and that I would be saving money on it by being a home consultant. In addition I would earn a 25% commission on any sales that I made.

Unconvinced, he remained unsettled. He couldn't see me selling anything. Of course, he never has seen me sell anything. I told him that I wanted to do this so that I could meet other women and do something besides sit behind a computer all day. My plans were to earn back all the money I had spent on the business kit.

When the kit finally arrived I was so excited. I unpacked everything and it looked like Christmas in the living room. When my husband arrived home from work, I immediately showed him the Medium Market basket. Much to my surprise he carefully looked it over; inside and out, and upside-down. I could tell he was impressed. "This is really well-made," he commented. He has always enjoyed working with wood and really appreciated the quality workmanship evident in the Longaberger baskets.

The next evening I used the new products to serve dinner. I could tell that my husband appreciated their appearance and usefulness. He no longer had any doubts about my purchase. Now to show him that I was actually serious about being a home consultant as well.