Updates: 1) Our ceiling is still torn to hell. No new drywall. No progress. 2) Found a dead black widow outside on Friday morning, and then found a dying one outside on Saturday morning. The count is up to nine now.
Now on to the good stuff. I had one of the most fabulous Saturday yesterday. There was no rush, no working, nothing but relaxation and fun. As I’ve mentioned before, I collect everything. In the three years that Keith and I have been dating, he’s been quite understanding of my quirky behavior and my constant need to hoard everything from antique bottles to marbles and even rocks. Yes, rocks. Still, it’s a rare occasion when I can actually drag him to a good junk shop with me to endure the hours-long forage into blissful junkdom. However, in honor of our three-year dating anniversary, we spent most of Saturday doing just that. We found this awesome antique/junk store, and I scoured every inch of it. I entered with the intention of finding Japanese ceramic dogs and antique keys. These are both items that were left to me by my junk-loving grandmother, so I thought it would be easy to expand these collections. Just in case you’re wondering, Japanese dogs are crudely-painted little ceramic or porcelain dogs that typically fit in the palm of your hand. They were mass-produced, exported to the U.S. and sold in cheap little five and dimes. Those marked on the bottom with “Japan” or “made in Japan” were likely produced in Japan pre-WWII. It’s my understanding that those marked “Made in Occupied Japan” were produced right after the war, when the U.S. placed a really strict exporting policy on Japan. I’m no antique expert, but I’ve done my research. Anyhow, when we finally found the Japanese dogs, they weren’t as pretty as the ones I have at home. Many of them had half-painted faces or were just plain ugly. So I left them alone. Several months ago, I declared to Keith that I was going to start collecting pie birds. Pie birds are ceramic birds that are used to release steam from a pie during the baking process. They are typically black with yellow beaks, but I’ve seen some interesting ones online and in books. They look so sleek and pretty, and I’m sure a collection of them would be cool. So when Keith pointed one out in the antique store, I was thrilled. I may have overpaid a tad, but it’s the first one in my collection, and I just had to have it.
After we left the antique store, we went to Target, another of my favorite places, and we bought an ice cream maker. The tank part is freezing at the moment, but should be ready shortly. I’ll post on that later…
