Friday, August 10, 2012

Oh, what filthy things have I fetched home *now* ??!


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 !

1 comment:

  1. 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.

    Sorry 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!

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