The dowry of generations past...(junk)...

It is such a boring time of the year right now. It seems all of the games, events, and activities that I had planned for the winter have been enacted again and again and I am very bored of them. I didn't go fishing at all this winter and now the houses are off of the lake. It is still too cold lately to do much outside, but almost too warm to stay inside all day. It is the beginning of the transition time. The sun has so much energy now that every day the snow is melting even if it is only around twenty degrees. I think spring is getting ready to, well, spring. Now, we get to wait until it does.

I don't know about you, but I hate waiting.

My current girlfriend convinced me to go to an antique store last weekend on Saturday. I had always rolled my eyes at antiques and antique shopping with a zero level of interest. I don't know if I am old enough to go antique shopping, am I? I always had envisioned the man the shops for antiques as the henpecked husband that is more or less forced to go shopping with his overbearing wife all the time because he knows it is easier in the short term just to go than it is to stay home and deal with her wrath later. You know the type. He is hunched over, skinny, he has thick glasses, and speaks quietly in her presence. He constantly says things like "Yes, dear." He's a weenie. He's the type of guy that spends his weekends in the antique store, not me, right?

So, there I was looking at antiques (sighs). It almost pains me to admit I enjoyed it (How old am I?). I was pleasantly surprised at how many interesting things I saw from the generations gone by. I have always been a fan of old cars and one of the reasons always has been the innovative little ideas that the car companies used. I saw this in the antique world, too. It was pretty cool. It certainly kept my attention for quite a while. We shopped for only a few minutes on Saturday until the store closed.

We went to browse antiques on Sunday, too. We scored a nice nightstand for me, a dress for her, a magazine rack, and some other little things. It was fun and fairly inexpensive. So, too bad for her because I enjoyed shopping for antiques. I would like to do it again this weekend. Poor Katey may have to deal with this as my new "thing." Sorry, dear. (That is HUGELY different from "Yes, dear.")

What else is there to do when it is too nice to stay inside but too cold to go out? Might as well take a little money, go to an antique store, buy some junk, and drag it back home. Nothing like tossing newer items from around the house that you have bought with in the last couple years and replace them with used up junk for 50 years ago.

It is a beautiful thing. I love material regression.



P.S. I bought this aluminum cooler on ebay today. Well, I STOLE it for $13.25. It is a "Cronstrum's Pik Nik Cooler." I never knew these were manufactured in Minneapolis. [Brief pause so I can bask in your envy]. I passed on a couple other coolers at antique shops this weekend for $40-70. Yay me!

P.S.S. I am now more or less obsessed with the idea of finding a hat from the 40's or 50's. Not a new hat styled that way, but the genuine antique article. I hope if I find one and I wear it that I don't end up looking like Jason Mraz or something. That would be what I like to call "pretty gay."