Other people's junk.

There was a time in my life when frequenting yard sales, antique stores and flea markets was a top priority.  

Adorable frog-themed ashtray? Mine.

Mah-jong set with only 6 tiles missing?  Must have it.

Retro Fiestaware dishes with just a few small chips? Ate my burrito off of it that night.

But in the last few years, I have had more and more kids and less and less time to indulge in one of my favorite pasttimes.

Taking a toddler into an antique store is just a bad call.

As a matter of fact, it had been YEARS since I had frequented a flea market of any kind.

But the other day, RJ and I were out and about without the kiddos, and we had an hour or so to kill, so we stopped in at the local Peddler's Mall.

At one time when I was a single girl with some cats, I furnished and decorated my entire house with Peddler's Mall finds.

I thought myself to be cool, hip, retro, and vaguely kitschy, you know, in a really inspired sort of way.

I expected to walk in, walk right up to the coolest thing in the place, claim it for my own, then brag to my friends about the really great "find" I had made...

But I'm so not sure if I've changed that much in the last few years, or if the selection was just REALLY bad that day.

Because all I saw was piles and stacks and shelves of other people's junk.

It all smelled slightly musty and dusty and old.

None of it appealed to me in the slightest.

It all just looked like more junk that would take up more space in my house and life.

 I used to have to try to talk myself out of what I considered to be the more extravagant finds.  A lamp in the image of Elvis that plays Love Me Tender? $20? So pricey, but where are you ever going to have the chance to buy THAT again?

But not this time.

There was not ONE thing in the whole darn place that appealed to me in the least.

I feel like the same person I was five years ago, but clearly I am not.

I commented on this to RJ, who has never been a huge fan of flea markets and such, and asked him if he thought the selection was particularly bad.  His response?  "Well, it looks pretty much the same to me."

Hmmm...