Today my children were taken away from me for the day by my parents, whom I love so very, very much, and I went to Value Village alone to get trinkets. I got some Playmobil dudes with horses, some yo-yos, some Spiderman lunchboxes, a metric buttload of assorted stickers, tiny board books about tractors, all manner of whoop dee doo! for the under-five set. I also found a full set of plastic dishes and cutlery for camping. Four plates, four bowls, four mugs, four each of forks and spoons and knives. $1.99 and AND AND!! inside one of the mugs, a small bear figurine pouring himself a glass of wine. <\/p>\n
That was all I needed from Value Village today – really, isn’t that enough? – but as I walked to the checkout I passed the framed pictures section and overheard the following conversation between a middle-aged man and his middle-aged female companion.<\/p>\n
Man: But the thing is, you can’t just buy the frame. You have to take the whole thing.
\nWoman: …
\nMan: See, the frames, I like. But I don’t want the picture inside. I shouldn’t have to pay for those.
\nWoman: Yeah, I see what you mean. But you could just take the pictures out, right?
\nMan, disgruntledly: I GUESS so.
\nWoman: Like, if you buy a photo frame at the store, there’s a picture inside, right?
\nMan: Yeah…<\/p>\n
…I was about to go peer into that man’s face and say, “What are you LIKE?” but I got distracted by a glittery picture in a gold frame (the frame’s gold was peeling off, sort of sunburn-y) of a unicorn in the moonlight.<\/p>\n
So I picked up the unicorn in the moonlight, semi-etched in glittery silver on black, framed by peeling gold, and I said, out loud, “Oh, it’s PERFECT!” and the people glanced at me and then scurried away.<\/p>\n
Like everything else I was buying, it cost only $1.99, so I brought it home. You’re safe with me, little unicorn. I BELIEVE.<\/p>\n
(it’s really hard to photograph a glittery unicorn in a glass frame and really capture the magic. You’ll just have to come over and see it sometime.)<\/p>\n
Don’t tell the children but I am involved in stealth preparations for our upcoming camping\/driving trip. I have decided to prepare one paper bag full of trinkets for each morning we are on the road. Trinkets include: bandaids. Fish crackers. … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/loveliestofall.jpg\" "\\"By")
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