What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

One Thrifty Find & a Great Memory

Saturday I needed to take a few things out to the Flea market, so I stopped at the Super Cheap Thrift since it is on the way.  Never, never drive past the Super Cheap Thrift!  Never!  (Do you know a few locals have found my blog and written to say that they can't find the SCT listed in the phone book?  Ha. That's just what I call it to keep it my little secret!)
 As I was walking up the aisles, a spark of glitter caught my eye.  I stopped to look at this old glittered covered candle and I had a flood of memories.  I hadn't seen a candle like this in longer than I care to admit - thirty years or more - but I remembered them immediately.
There was a pizza restaurant called "Pizza Planet" (long before Toy Story) next to the grocery store where my Dad worked.  On payday Friday, we would meet there after work and school and my parents would have a pitcher of beer and we would eat pizza.  I would play the jukebox and we would just sit and visit.  

On each table was a candle like this one.  It was always lit and make a sparkly glow.  Being the fire bug I was, I would stick my finger in the melted wax, pull it out , blow on it and them peel off the little wax bowl that was stuck on my fingertip.  And then I would do it again.  And again.  And again. and again until my mother would say, "Shara Lee!  Stop that!"  (Then I would do it again.)

On my 8th birthday, my parents told me I could go anywhere I wanted to go for dinner, thinking I would say McDonald's or Pizza Planet.  I surprised them when I said, "Heine's Steakhouse!" mainly because we had never been there before and we didn't eat meat.    But, I loved the old neon sign out front and the building was PINK, so I really wanted to go in there.  We went and I ordered shrimp.    The salad came in a chilled salad bowl.  The shrimp came on a heavy heated ironstone plate.  And on each table sat a glittered candle.
I really don't remember, but I can almost bet that I dipped my finger in the melted wax.  And, since it was my birthday, maybe I didn't get a "Shara Lee!" even though I did it one too many times.  

This glittery candle is a keeper.  

Have you purchased anything for a memory alone?

10 comments:

  1. It's funny the things that can trigger a memory from the past!

    I remember Mom having a candle like that, it was gold, I don't remember ever seeing it burn, it was just one of those things that sat on a table - just for looking at!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember these, too! And there were ones without glitter but this sort of tight-fitting plastic fishnet stuff. Stylin'!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What fun memories! I do find things once in awhile that brings back a flood of memories and I just have to have it! Glad you found your candle! Hugs, Linda

    ReplyDelete
  4. When I first discovered Ebay, one of the first things I bought was a doll I had when I was young. It was a Madame Alexander Cinderella doll and she came with two outfits. One was the housekeeper dress with apron and broom and the other was the blue gown. I never got the gown, but I have the doll in the first outfit and she's in my curio cabinet. I gave all my toys and dolls to my younger sisters and never realized how much I missed them until I saw Cinderella on Ebay. I just had to have her back!

    ReplyDelete
  5. My grandmother, whom I was very close to, read the Foxfire books when they first came out. This was a series all about the older ways of doing things that came out in the 70's to try and preserve more "traditional" ways of life.

    She would get a new one every time they came out and when we would come to Kentucky to visit from Texas for the summer, I would read it. She'd let us take the book with us, so I could finish it and my Mom could then read it. We'd bring it back the next year and borrow the next one.

    For a while, I bought them whenever I saw them. Now, I have most of my grandmother's. I got them from my mom's things after she died a couple of years ago. I'm not sure why she didn't get them all when my grandmother died, but I'm happy to have a few of them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, unfortunately alot of things come home with me because of childhood memories!
    Just had to come by and check out your 4th decorations, because you ALWAYS have the best. Love your collection!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I bought a vintage glow worm because I loves mine growing up. I couldn't sleep without it. And I overpaid.

    ReplyDelete
  8. How fun! Our local Pizza Hut had them on the tables too (not glittered, just red). We used to see how long we could hold out hand over the flame. Great find!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ha! Great stories! We had Shakey's Pizza with loong picnic benches, Little Rascals films and red candles. Thanks for taking me way back...
    rosie

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh most definitely! I think childhood memory finds are the very best finds of all. I'm trying to think back to remember these candles but nothing clicking - getting old and forgetful I guess. Great find :)

    ReplyDelete

I love my comments. I'd love to respond to everyone, but if you don't have an email address tied to your ID, please sign your name so I will know who you are! It makes it nice to know who is saying what. Now, leave a comment! Please? ;o)

I Can See You!



Look at my Visitors!

Fellow Junk Followers