A post in which I head for home, eventually*

I took Cole to Starbucks for coffee first thing today, after we woke up a bit. That is kind of our thing. While we were out, we ran by Panera and picked up some breakfast. I love those baked omelet things they make, and Cole tried one and apparently really liked it. I didn't tell him that they have 800 calories in them. He worries a lot about his weight (at 14, for heaven's sake!). I guess that's natural having lived around Lisa. She's always on a diet, and always talking about how fat and ugly she is, despite being 5'6", about a size 6, and gorgeous. Plus he's seen my dad, and heard Mom and I talk about our weight so much. He's a sensitive boy, and really takes things to heart. He doesn't even have a hint of a weight problem, but I can tell it's on his mind. He eats just like Lisa. No mayo, sauces, etc. He's the only kid I have ever seen order broiled fish and steamed vegetables in a seafood place. I guess it's good that he's starting to eat healthy young, but when he's worried about something, you only see the tip of the iceberg. It kind of bothers me.

We took Mom a muffin back to the house, and waited around while she got ready. We headed to the flea market a bit after 9. I was champing at the bit, just a bit. 9 is pretty much the prime glassing hour, and I was ready to get there. The #1 flea market has proved a rich hunting ground in the past, and I had the fever today. I had woken up thinking I'd like to find a nice piece of crystal Colonial glass today, for some reason. Usually the feeling isn't that specific. It's usually counter to my glass luck too. Most of the time when I'm sure I'm going to find something I don't. That appeared to be the case today. I did see some things, (a ruby red sugar bowl, a pretty cool milk glass compote where the stem was a fish, a piece of shell pink, and of course a good bit of paneled grape, which I am begging myself not to start collecting) but nothing I really wanted to buy. Lisa called and we were going to make plans for lunch, but they wanted us to drive back out to Chapin to go and then go out on the boat with them today. I didn't have time to do all that, and Mom wasn't really into driving back out to Chapin today.

We left the #1 and decided to go on to the Barnyard in Columbia, which is right down the street. There was a painting guy there, and I found a couple of things that I liked, but didn't fall in love. Mom looked too but didn't buy anything. She is really in need of some pictures for her living room. I went through her paint swatches last night and helped her pick out a color. She's told me she's ready to paint in there, but she's like me. She's been telling me that for at least a year now. She isn't home enough to do stuff around the house now. She stays on the road, either to Granny and Poppy's, or off with Rod.

At Barnyard I finally scored. I walked into a little clutter glass booth and sure enough, there was a Columbia saucer I dug out of a pile of miscellaneous saucers first. It was marked $5 though, and book value on it was only $1. The woman would only come down to $4. I decided not to get it, but when I went to put it back, there was a crystal Colonial dinner plate. It was marked only $6 and I knew it was worth more than that, even though crystal pieces aren't priced in my field guide. She told me if I wanted both I could have them for $9, so I bit. I'm not sure that the Columbia plate is the same size as my others. I have the smaller ones, and I think this is a 6", but I'll find out when I get home. I was tickled with the Colonial plate, and was very surprised that I ended up getting exactly what I had pictured this morning. When I looked it up in the book, the value on it is listed at $20; although as usual, crystal prices are kind of a theoretical thing.

Colonial "Knife and Fork" 10" dinner plate in crystal by Hocking Glass Company, circa 1934-1936

"Columbia" 6" cake plate/saucer in crystal by Federal Glass Company, circa 1938-1942

After the flea market we were all fairly hungry, so we went to find some lunch. Mom wanted to go to a shopping center in an old mill she had seen, but when we got there it seemed like a tourist trap. There was a pizza buffet though, and we went ahead and had lunch. With some lunch, we were ready to go again for a bit, and decided to go through the great antique store near her house. I almost always score there, and they had a bunch of stuff on sale, but I didn't find anything today. I went through the great Depression Glass booth at the front of the store and just drooled. I wish I knew where that guy goes to get his stuff. He most likely makes buying trips up North. He always has beautiful things but his prices are too high. I had decided to get a blue Diamond Point vase, even though I have been resisting buying them. But it was on a sale table and turned out to not be for sale, so I forewent. I had already scored today, and it was out of my era anyway.

When we got back to Mom's the ^%$#@!!! tire on the car was flat. Again. I've been pumping it up for the last two months, and trying to find someone to fix it, but no one wants to patch or plug it, they just want to sell me another tire. I've been fooling with it for a while now, and I'm sick of worrying about it. But I had to get home. I went in Mom's and thought about leaving, but I was really tired. I took a bit of a nap so I wouldn't have to worry about going to sleep behind the wheel.

I woke up when Rod got there, and talked to him for a bit before deciding to get it in gear. By this time it was almost 5, and later than I wanted to leave. I ran through the shower, aired up the problem tire, and headed out with the best intentions of trying to make it home before dark. But I decided to call Chip before I left town. He lives in Columbia too, and I don't get to see him as often as I would like. It turned out he was home, so I went by there and visited him for a while. His cat is dying and he's been having a rough time. We ended up going out to dinner and I didn't end up leaving until about 9. The tire looked like it had gone down a bit, but the leak has been slow, and I had to stop for gas anyway, so I figured I would pump it up again then and I'd probably be fine.

About the time I got to the intersection of 26 and 385 and was thinking about stopping for gas I started hearing a noise, but couldn't decide if it was just road noise or not. I had already stopped once to check the tire and it was fine. By the time I got off the highway though, I knew the tire was totally flat. I made it to a lighted gas station, and when I pulled around to the air pump and looked, it was clear the tire had blown. So I got out my manual and figured out where the spare was stored (I had made few half-hearted attempts to inspect it since I got the car, but thought it was under the deck inside instead of actually suspended under the car where it actually is). Thankfully it was easier to get off than the spare on my old truck. I changed the tire, made sure the pressure was right in the spare, and got back on the road. I called Mom and told her what was going on - she was all worried, so I told her that my phone was working fine, and that if there was a problem I’d call her. Otherwise, just to assume that everything was fine.

I got home a bit after 10, got in the house, and went on to bed. I was bushed. It was a very long day.