Doin' a Drive By...

I literally lol'd when I wrote this post title.

Did you ever do a drive by?

Not in the gang banger-ie 

sort of way,

but in the "I totally have a crush on this boy 

and maybe I can get a glimpse of him or anything that pertains to him" 

sort of way.

My friends and I used to do these kinds of drive by's 

in high school.

I remember one instance when

 "he" was actually outside 

(with his mother mind you)

when we drove by. 

We simultaneously dropped to the floor of the car, 

laughing hysterically, 

hoping and praying

 "he" hadn't seen us.

Oh the shame...

I'm pretty sure this sort of thing is called 

STALKING
 now a days...

good times :)

So on with the real post...

Today I had a ton of errands to run

 before my kids got out of school.

I filled up the car, then headed out to conquer my list.

On the way to my first stop,

I saw the thrift store looming in the distance. 

I haven't been to said thrift store in weeks.

I got super burned out after intense months 

of hunting and digging,

preparing for my holiday shows.

 I was just going to keep on driving,

but that didn't happen...

You see, antique stores and thrift stores,

they have a certain gravitational pull on me.

I literally can't do a drive by.

But like I've said before,

I sort of have a love hate relationship with them.

When I find something awesome,

they're awesome.

When I spend hours sifting through crap-o-la and find nothing,

they too are crap-o-la!

Guess I'm fickle that way.

Today was one of those days.

Crappity-crap thru and thru!

I found one plastic giraffe and one plastic horse to craft with,

PERIOD.

Man it was slim pick-ins. 

To add insult to injury,

there was one cash register open 

with about 50 people waiting in line.

(ok, so perhaps not 50, 

the suggestion of 50 was for dramatic effect)

After 15 fidgety minutes in line,

I remembered that I hadn't looked in the collectables section.

(and I use the term "collectables" loosely) 

I'm uncertain who or what the deciding factor is in

deeming these things keepsakes.

Whomever or whatever it is... 

He or she needs a thorough chalk talk from

those chaps over at the antiques roadshow!

Geesh!

This trip really couldn't get any worse,

 so I got out of line and headed back to the

"shiny, special, rare, not grossly overpriced, under lock and key and behind glass" collectables section.

And there is where I had to eat my sarcastic words!

These 2 matryoshka Russian nesting dolls were staring up at me from underneath that sordid glass...

why hello little gems, 

I have come to rescue you from this glass prison,

filled with all kinds of riff-raff not suitable to be amongst you...

 To add to my elation,

all the little dolls in decreasing size were inside!

Oh how I love that each of these little ladies has a personality of her own

oh how I love these little fellows (but oh how  I wish they weren't a set of  quints)

and I am beyond thrilled when something still has 

the original marking/tag on it...

...actually

Made in Russia

and I will happily pay $5.00.

So my lesson learned today...

If at first you don't succeed 

try try again.

OR

If after lots and lots of grimy digging,

dig a little more...

p.s.
I found this sweet little vintage children's book too, I forgot