Things We Didn't Buy

Going on vacation in a faraway state and traveling there by train and back by plane make a lot of economic sense. Husband and I love, love, love to browse through antique stores but when you are limited to the number of pounds you are able to schlep around in an airport or lug onto a sleeper car, you think twice about some purchases that otherwise would make perfect sense.

Take the top photo in today's post, for example. People, it is a JEWELED FEZ. I know! Christmas is coming and I have possibly as many as four but at the very least one son (Hi, Boy#2!) who would think himself the stylin'est of stylin' dudes wearing a jeweled fez. What? Your son wouldn't be caught dead in a jeweled fez? I bet your son(s) also did not win a state scholars bowl championship wearing a chicken nuggets box on his(their) head(s) for good luck.

We did not buy the jeweled fez.

Or look at this!

It's an antique Queen Bee slot machine! And can you believe that it was 75% off? I know! But it did not have any keys, and might have been difficult to cram into my carry-on, so we walked away from it. 

One item we almost did not walk away from was this:

Oh, my. This was rough. Just look at that face. 

Husband has in his hands an industrial siren. It is a siren that can be mounted at the top of a water tower to warn dozens of square miles of impending tornadoes or zombie apocalypse. And they were SELLING IT for only TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS! He was beside himself with excitement. 

I, personally, did not think we had much use for such an item so I texted the Boys. 

And a few minutes later:

Husband even convinced the store owner it would be a good idea to let him plug in the siren to make sure it worked. I did take a short video of this good idea, but did not capture the looks on the faces of the various antique store patrons whom I'm fairly certain had to re-start their pacemakers when the siren blast happened. 

We also did not buy this set of cereal bowls. 

That is because we already have this set of bowls at home, and we still use them. When did I get old enough that items I bought new are now antiques?

Finally, we did not buy either of these:

I again went to our brilliant offspring for advice on this potential purchase. 

"I'm thinking of buying one of these--which should I get?" I messaged the Boys. Boy #1 was the first (and only) to respond.

"The underwear one." 

I believe that Boy may have a future in politics.