Patriotism and Bowl Shopping ?????

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
~Erma Bombeck~

Erma Bombeck was as American as one can be!  For those of you that spent any time with me you have probably figured out I am pretty pleased to be an American.  Even though I'm not celebrating our Independence Day the way Erma did my day was enjoyed.  I spent a few hours going back into bits and pieces of the past century AND stimulated the local economy with a trip to an Antique Mall...

My main objective was acquiring a bowl or two.  Recently one of my favorite bowls got broken.  It was one I purchased for .99 cents when I first set up housekeeping over 40 years ago.  I did not realize how much I used that bowl and how attached I had become to it until it was gone.  One thing I've learned about myself in the past decade is that I have an attraction to bowls, baskets and boxes!  I don't know where these attractions come from but when I see them I impulse buy them, those and chocolate candy bars! 

These two bowls fit the bill of what I was looking for.  They are not too BIG or too small.  They can be used for some light hand mixing and serving.  When I saw the RED one I immediately knew it was coming home with me cuz I love this vintage.  The yellow one was a little iffy, not exactly my style but it is vintage, a good size and it was really CHEAP.

Of course, I had to walk through the whole place to see if there were any BETTER bowls, or maybe the same bowls CHEAPER.  That's when I found these two covered dishes.  I love these!  I've been looking for some in good shape for awhile.  My mom had these in her kitchen.  It's kinda hard to tell in the picture (sorry about that, I'm really NOT a photographer) they are rectangle in shape with the blue one holding a pint and the yellow holds 2 quarts.  There are also red ones that hold a cup, those are still on my MUST HAVE list, but so far have proved to impossible to find in GOOD shape.  They are PYREX... oven safe... they can go from oven to table... and if there are leftovers you can put the lid on and stick it in the frig.  AND they are the same vintage as the red bowl above...  so my table looks like I'm all organized and planned it to look that way.  HA!

In my wanderings this Chicken called out to me.  YES, it is a bowl, with a lid!  When my youngest daughter was a baby I had one of these in green that I kept her pacifiers in.  It eventually disappeared.  A couple of years ago my oldest daughter gave me a gold one as a gift.  Pretty cool gift, huh. 

That gift kinda spurred a small collection to start... I think that's why this white one called out to me... It knew I had a small collection and it wanted to be part of that!

My Independent Day was enjoyed AND my bowl mission was successful!  The CAT also enjoyed the day cuz anytime I come home with paper, or a box, she thinks the shopping trip was all about her.