A sweet flea market find!

A few weeks ago I was meandering through a flea market when this little beauty caught my eye.



It's a vintage train case in nearly perfect condition.



And it's blue. The universe has been mighty good to me lately.

Any-hoo......I'm eye-balling this thing, checking it out front to back, top to bottom, inside and out. Looks like it was hardly used.

I'm SURE that the lady selling it knows how trendy and popular these little buggers have been lately. They're all over Etsy and they are NOT CHEAP. I've been wanting one for quite some time but I wasn't willing to drop the dough.

I took a deep breath and pretended I wasn't all THAT interested, hoping the lady would be desperate and knock 5 or 10 bucks off the price for me.

I said as calmly as I could "How much for the train case?"

I think my voice cracked.

She could see my sweat.

She KNEW I wanted it.

SHE WAS GONNA JACK THE PRICE WAY UP ON ME!!!

I could just FEEL it already. This was gonna be an all out battle of negotiating skills.

I braced myself for the answer.

She looked up at me and said......




50 cents.







Silence.








I said "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........................."

It was all I could muster.

I looked at it again thinking SOMETHING had to be wrong with it. I tried to find a hole, a ripped seam, a blemish.

Just a little rust on the latch which I think gives it more character.

I tried not to make eye contact for fear that she would see what a HUGE win I had just managed and change her mind.

I dug 50 cents out of my wallet faster than you can say "SCORE!!!!" and practically threw it at her.

Oh yes, it was a good day at the flea market.