Something Good Came Out Of It

New toy
Originally uploaded by lostonpurpose.

We went to the worst ghetto flea market yesterday. It was stinky, in a bad part of town, and not at all like Flea Market Finds with the Kovells on HGTV. I've been to flea markets before, and they're not all like this.

There were the Amway-type booths, where people had obviously sent away for cheap purses and hair doo-dads to resell at ridiculous prices. There were the weird, I-could-swear-it-was-dry-ice fragrance burner thingies that made the whole place smell so horrible that I had a weird headache and felt terrible until hours later. And there were the desperate people who kept after you to buy things (what size shoe do you wear? there are children's videos right there, did you see the toys?) the entire time you were trying to look at their stuff, all of which was overpriced because they were convinced it was old and rare and not just old and busted. Then there were the booths selling stacks of CD-Rs with what I'm sure was bootlegged music and DVD-Rs of movies that are still in theaters. I really wanted to turn them in—it's the people doing that shit that translates into you and me watching fifteen minutes of FBI warnings on the DVDs we legally own, and also why we are trying to be sold on buying a license to play a song instead of the media that it came on to do whatever we like with. I still might turn them in, if I can do it anonymous-like.

We did, however, find this toy at one booth. I was too worn down to haggle and we might have paid three dollars more for it than we could have if I'd bargained, but I think it was a good buy. It's sturdy and not at all busted up. All the enamel on the wires is intact and the paint on the wooden blocks is still flake-free. The lady who sold it to us didn't harp on us the whole time, but she was friendly and cooed a bit over the B.

I gave this thing a mighty good cleaning and presented it to the offspring this afternoon, and I must say that she seems to like it. It helps her sit up, and she likes to chew on it (good thing I cleaned it so well) and push the blocks around a little. I suspect it will be even more popular when she has more fine motor control.

But man, I still wish we'd never set foot in that flea market. Ugh. Made me want to take another shower it was so nasty.