Two summers ago, I was in one of my antique haunts, a co-op with many vendors( Love these kind of shops, each booth holding treasures that the vendor finds dear...and saleable !) and I found something I have been looking for. Which is usually the case I might add. Mostly I find things I didn't know I was looking for. But it is always fun to spy something and say OMG ! I have been looking for one of those. It was a homemade, vintage fireplace insert. Someone had taken some small birch logs and burned them so they would look authentic. Cut a hole in the center and placed a piece of plastic that looks like hot coals. Behind all that is a small motor turning a dowel wrapped in tinsel. A yellow light bulb completes the invention. Loved it, it was perfect. I live in an old Vistorian house, with two non-working fireplaces. And although I usually fill them with flowers in the spring & birch logs in the winter, I really thought having a cool, old insert would be awesome. Well, it was a big co-op store and I figured I would circle back around after I had seen everything and bring it up to the cashier. Well, you got it. Totally spaced it. Left without it. When I went back the next weekend, it was gone...bummer.
Fast forward to this fall. A bunch of my friends decided to do a antique shop/gift shop tour "up country". Several shops in neighboring towns were having open houses on the same day, so we mapped an itinerary and off we went. There was one place that I absolutely loved. They had a big barn full of great old sleds , baskets and stepbacks, etc. Their gift shop was filled with great Christmas things..candles and santas & jingle bells ! The whole property was gorgeous, right beside an apple orchard. I bought a few things and off we went to the next shop. The following weekend, I was feeling like I wanted to go back to that shop and have another look around. So I called my friend M, and she said sure ! So off we went. We get there and start looking around, more slowly this time and lo & behold in walks C & J !! They came back to look over a few things they had thought about all week. We all went up to the barn.
As soon as I walk in I notice that the old mantle they have has a glow . It is a fireplace insert sitting on some andirons. I am admiring it, looking for a price tag. Then I step back & look again. You guessed it,there it is, the one I left behind !
I was beyond excited. And panicked, there was another person looking at it too. There was no way I was going to lose it this time. I walked down the hill to the gift shop and asked if the insert was for sale. "Everything is for sale" was the answer, and the owner of the shop said $25, and offered to go get it for me. (The other shop wanted $30, by the way)
So, home I went with this awesome treasure and now most nights you can find me, sitting beside a roaring fire with a glass of wine and Christmas carols playing. Life is sooooo the little things. If I could just get the marshmallows to toast alittle faster.........
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