I'M AN ANTIQUE!!!!

HAPPY JULY!!!   Thank Mother Nature for a cooler day!!  It was a lovely 57 degrees, almost chilly, as I sipped my morning brew, or rather my morning instant.  I was thinking about all the things on my plate.  My glasses broke again (same place) and I'm not really hot on messing with super glue any more.  My truck having been parked for a long time really needed to be driven.  

For those that suggest driving the Jeep, it gets worse gas mileage than the truck, so there are no savings to be had by taking one over the other.  Besides, you never know what you might find at an antique store that requires the truck bed space for transportation.  On this day however, nothing of gigantic proportions was discovered.

However, I think I've been tagged officially as an antique.  See this nice leather purse?  Don't laugh, but I'm absolutely positive this is one I made in 1962.  My Mom made a few things similar to this, and one day when someone said they would love a leather purse, I volunteered her services.

She was none too happy about that and said I could just make it myself, only in some other words I won't type here.   I caught a ride to the only store around with leather supplies, bought everything I needed and went to work.  I even remember the error in white stitching I made on the back.  Sure enough, there it was.    If only I could remember who I made it for.  

Of course what they paid didn't come close to covering the expenses, but that didn't deter me one bit.  I went on to make dozens of purses, more belts than I could count and wallets for the guys.  It wasn't exactly lucrative, but I made spending money ... just before my Dad threw me in the truck to play cattle truck driver, which took away all my free time.  I still have all the tools, but the supplies are hard to find nowadays.

And look here!!  Everyone should go check their cupboards, because if you can read the price tag, these babies are worth a fortune!!  Just out of sight was a set without the pouring spout for $250.00.  YOWZA!!!  I should not have broken that last set of bowls I had!

That's when I came upon this.  It's not really all that old in my book.  Probably made in the 50's, which makes it about 70.  Any more, it's not about the age.  I'm buying extra lamps for the blackouts that are soon coming to California.  

Actually I used to be a collector of lamps, as Patty Chance will testify.  We went on more road trips than I can count back in the day, finding items just like this.  When the power goes out, you can have light in every room.  I do find that the smell of oil lamps burning isn't the most pleasant, but at least I won't break my foot tripping over something in the dark.

The one on the left was basically a freebie.  The nice lady kept asking me if I wanted THAT one, but I really wasn't interested.  The two I purchased were really cheap, which surprised me, but I didn't need any more.  She finally said she would just throw it in for $5.  Okay then .....

Here's a few of my pieces, three of which will soon live in Arizona.  Which reminds me, I need to get some kerosene.

I was hankering for In N Out on the way home, but found the line to be WAY too long.  I decided to stop at Habit Burger instead.  I'm thinking this will be the last stop I ever make there.  The food is delicious, but the bad service is more than I can take.  

I waited in line so long I finally turned the truck engine off.  I sat there for ten minutes before finally being able to move forward.  I doubled checked this time to be sure I got a burger and fries.  See the BBQ Bac Chzburg on the tag?  I drove all the way home to find the only thing I got that I ordered was the fries.

At least they didn't give me chicken nuggets this time, but it was a plain old hamburger.  No bacon, no BBQ and no cheese.  They aren't all that far away, so I drove back.  They were not the least bit happy about my return, even though I tried to be nice about it.  She didn't believe me and dissected the burger for two minutes before finally ordering another.  As I left, I asked for my receipt back, which she had thrown in the trash.  She slammed it on the table.  Okay then!!!!

The end result was tasty as usual, but probably cost me $5.00 in gas and the fries were cold by the time I got back home.  This $14.91 lunch will be the last.  Can you believe it??  $15.00 for lunch!!  Oh, and I ordered a small drink, but got charged for a medium.

So that wasn't the best ending to a fun day trekking through stinky antique stores, but staring at my new oil lamps made me feel better.  Next up ... ordering clothing online and never receiving it!  

I hope everyone has a happy fourth of July weekend!!!  I'm not looking forward to all the M80's going off at night, but those ribs I'm going to smoke will be delicious!!!