Nostalgia, books, thriftiness, and coffee
My antique store loving friend, Teresa, asked me to come with her scavenging this morning, so we went out to American-British Antiques, two huge buildings that must be at least as large as three basketball courts between them, and filled with furniture, vintage clothing and hats, dishes, toys, appliances large and small, knick-knacks, odds-n-ends, what-nots, and books!

We meant to spend a little time there, then go to the "nicer" antique stores downtown, but when we got back to the car it was past 2:30, so we got some lunch at Wendy's and went home.

A few of their books have antique store prices, such as the first edition Gene Stratton-Porter book for $45, which may be a good price, but is still way out of my range, but they have thrift store prices on most of the books - the paperbacks were only 25 cents, and most of the hardbacks were $1-$2.

The loot:

Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
The Brothers Karamazov, Feodor Dostoyevsky
Who Shall Ascend, Elisabeth Elliot, a biography of R. Kenneth Strachan, missionary to Costa Rica
Beat to Quarters, C. S. Forester, #1 in the Horatio Hornblower series (now I can take that one off my Amazon wish list!).
Lieutenant Hornblower, C. S. Forester
Sink the Bismark, C. S. Forester
Green Dolphin Street, Elizabeth Goudge, which I would never have thought to buy (judging the book by its cover - it looks like a cheap romance!) except for the wonderful reviews Summer Strider has given it.
Gentian Hill, Elizabeth Goudge, which I bought because of the above.
Collected Stories, O. Henry
The Clue of the Broken Locket, Carolyn Keene, this is the 1934 1st edition, but it's the 2nd printing. This is the edition that my mom's three Nancy Drew books were, and I got it especially for the sentimental value. I thought about giving it to Mosey for her birthday, but that's not until October, and I'm really not very patient so I went ahead and gave it to her today. If you're familiar with Nancy Drew, you might remember that this book was re-written in 1965, so the newer editions are not the same story as this one.
A Man Called Peter, Catherine Marshall
Father Bear Comes Home, Else Holmelund Minarik
My Book House, Oliver Beaupre Miller, volumes 8, 9, 11, 12. I am so glad I was with Teresa, because I would have overlooked these!
Quo Vadis, Henryk Sienkiewicz

I have never read any of the books above, except for the Nancy Drew, Father Bear, and A Man Called Peter. Alas! for wasted youth!

I also found something I've been wanting for awhile - an electric coffee percolator. The heating element on my electronic famous brand name model quit working several months ago right after the 1 year warranty on it ran out, so I contacted them asking if I could order a new element and replace it myself - that is, ask Mike to replace it - but they don't sell parts.
:-(

So for the last five or six months, I've been boiling water in my teapot, then pouring it over the coffee grounds into the coffeepot. This takes nearly half an hour if I don't get distracted and forget that I'm making coffee! This is most unsatisfactory, so after a month or two, I decided to buy a simple percolator that will hopefully last longer than the newer fancier models, and I was very pleased to find a Cornflower Blue one. My mother had the Cornflower Blue bakeware and I had plastic doll dishes and bakeware, and I had the coffeepot. It's kind of nice having a real one now - and it was a lot cheaper than buying a new one!

Something just occured to me - if I ever get serious about not buying made-in-China stuff, I can probably get everything I need in the thrift stores.