Thou Shalt Not Covet

I finally made it into Pistachios tonight. I stopped in on the way to the train to go home. I don't usually take the train home but I had to put $$ on my transit card and you can't do that on the bus. I noticed this morning as I walked to the office, that the bowl I was gazing at longingly thru the right storefront window for months was now placed on the back wall of the shop on a shelf.

I walked in and walked straight over to it, with a maniacal look on my face I'm sure. :D I looked at the teeny price on the card next to it. Teeny as in the print, not the actual price itself. $175 for a glass bowl? The saleslady saw my reaction to seeing and holding my precious bowl, but evidently not my reaction to the price. She asked if it would be going home with me. I don't know if I said, "You must be high!" to her in reply or not. I'm gonna guess it was only in my head that I said it. But, I actually wondered for awhile as I was walking from the shop to the train if I really said it out loud...

She really tried to work me. "You know, if you don't take it someone else will and it will be gone." All I could think was, 'It was in the window for 3 damn months! Who's gonna come and take it now?' And if someone else got it, bully for them. If I had $175 in disposable income, I wouldn't be driving illegally with an unregistered vehicle. I'd have cable. I'd buy a new coat for the hellacious winter I know is coming. I'd buy a gang of long underwear to save me from the piercing winds off Lake Michigan. I would not buy a bowl I can't put in the dishwasher. Ms. Tenacious Saleslady said the bowl was "made to be functional" and to be "art you can utilize." I guess, if your idea of functional was to put fake floral arrangements or marbles in it or something. I can't cook oatmeal in it. I wouldn't eat my Cocoa Pebbles in it.

And then, there were the other expensive lovelies in the shop. Jewelry, gorgeous scarves, and beautiful, beautiful glass art pieces. Nothing less than $50 in there. Vases, more bowls, shaped things (I forgot to ask what the things were in the front window). I have very little highbrow tastes but glass art is a weakness of mine. I don't own any but they sure are purty. I like strange, fascinating things in gorgeous or odd colors. But, it has to DO something. "What does it DO?" is a question I always ask at art fairs. Some people get pissed at me for asking such a thing. Others seem to make up an answer. Some people will actually tell the truth and say it doesn't do anything but look pretty. Which is really my favorite answer because I wish I could do the same thing. Not have to do anything, just sit there and look pretty. And get paid a lot of money for my trouble.