Current Mood : Happy but slightly unsettled.
Sorry to do
another vanishing act. Got some heavy news thrown like a grenade at me last
night that took some time to process, and there was simply no way around it. I
haven’t really finished, but at least I can move on without it eating up every
other thought that rolls into my semi-empty mind. It helps that I have Beloved
Hubby and Dearest Son, who both listened and got indignant on my behalf, and I
have some friends who will also listen to me prattle and whine. On the plus
side, I finally had that little chat with Dearest about my ongoing issues that I’ve
been meaning to, so it’s all good. I don’t feel like I’ll fly apart in public
anymore – yes, that was a concern for several hours today – and I know what I
have to do, so it’s pretty much under the bridge. I’m just tired of getting
forced over this same stupid bridge that someone else burned ten years ago,
over and over, and almost always just as I’m feeling secure and happy in my
life as it is.
(ahem)
Anyway. Once my mental balance was restored – I like to think of it as a washing
machine’s ‘spin’ cycle, that’s sometimes
off and has to have the load shifted around some ‘til it’s back – I felt
unbearably restless. Beloved told me to raid his wallet, take whatever I found,
and vanish for as long as I needed to be gone. He was home for the day, I could
do whatever I wished, by myself, if I chose.
I was out the
door fifteen minutes later. It’s Friday, which means one thing around here –
Flea Market at the county Fairgrounds ! Sure, it’d be super-hot, but it was
only 90 degrees at noon, not that bad. Big fans kept the air moving, and there
were no empty booth spaces. Even the ‘dirt’ part was full of tables fulla
prowlable junk. So I did what came naturally, I prowled the heck out of it all
!
I saw
unfortunate broken vintage dolls, unfortunate haired modern Barbies, footless
Bratz, a nearly-scarily bizarre three-foot-high Dora the Explorer doll, who
slurred her signature phrases drunkenly, ancient coffee makers, candy that isn’t
manufactured anymore, necklaces so heavily beaded that I don’t know how the
wearers can stand up, and more porcelain figures than can be contained in an
entire retirement village. I spent $7.
What that got
me was a Lucite ‘display lifter’, basically a ‘C’ shaped elevated shelf, for
Beloved to use on his desk, an adorable vintage Wilson mini sewing box,
complete with tray, a wicker Barbie end table, and what remains of a
70s-vintage Barbie Dream Boat. That’s what that weird white box-thing is. It
was filthy-dirty, and a little broken, but for $5., I was willing to go for it.
Even if I just take a photo or two with Lagoona and Gil, it’d be worth it.
Besides, ya’ll know I love a challenge restoration !
The little
sewing box is so cute ! It was marked $5., but I pointed out a crack in the back,
and got it for $2. The Lucite shelf and wicker table were tossed in for free.
Yaaay ! I made another circuit and was ready to go, desperate for a bit of wind
from Starlight’s open windows. Wasn’t quite ready to go home, so I stopped at a
local thrift, got rid of a box of post-move culled goodies, and bought a bag of
books for a dollar. Got Beloved a gorgeous hardback copy of Roget’s II New
Thesaurus, and the rest is tacky fictional stuff for me to read. Sticky and
thirsty, with plenty to lug in, I was ready to go home.
Researched
the Dream Boat while lunch (frozen pizzas) cooked. Ok, here’s the truth of the
matter. Years and years ago, I passed up a Dream Boat in excellent condition at
GoodWill. It was pretty cheap, I had the money, and the style fits right in
with my FriendShip airplane and Country Living home, which I love and still own
to this day. But I was being virtuous at the time, and not buying new doll
stuff. And yes, I have regretted it ever since, how did you guess ? My ‘new’
one is in much rougher shape, and is missing far more, but hey, I got one ! And
who knows what I’ll find next week, next month ? I happily settled in to clean
it, once the last pepperoni was off our plates. And I’d checked once more to
see when Robecca was gonna get here, darn it ! She’s been at our PO since 10am
yesterday (whiiiiiine)….
I was lucky
that the Dream Boat is either hard plastic or vinyl over cardboard, so most of
the grime was dust, and most of that came off with plain water and elbow
grease. Went through three rags, and some parts are permanently stained, but that’s
all outside. Fine with me ! One day, I’ll find that white ‘steering deck’ part
that goes on top (image here.
Bottom of the page.), get another Magic Eraser for the stubborn stains, and then
I’ll be happy. Actually, I’m pretty happy with it now !
I’d barely
finished cleaning it – and I still had the sewing box to go – when I checked
Tracking again. Robecca was here ! I barely remembered to snag the trash on the
way out, and darn near skipped to the mailbox. Yessss ! My Robecca, and she’s
*gorgeous* ! I opened the box enough to get the diary out, as, believe this or
not, Beloved wanted to read it. Not gonna open the rest ‘til tomorrow. After
all, I got a lot of new goodies today. Might as well space out the fun !
Congrats on your 'new' goodies! I wish we had decent Flea Markets around here. :-( I grew up with an awesome one only about 30 minutes away and miss going every couple of weekends.
ReplyDeleteSorry about you having to deal with more crapola (as my momma would say), I'm sending good vibes your way!
Congrats on your Robecca arriving! I found her and Venus on Wednesday...I adore them both!