Fishing from the Bridge

I. Toy Bridge

I put more little things on the BOOK's Toy Bridge yesterday. (All the other little things sold.)
The gold box holds almost all unused "non-roll hexagon crayons". Weirdly, I could not find these color craft crayons online.

My favorites, below:
The wooden barn and cow look German, don't they?
Okay--yep, found them online: they are from a farm set made by Juri in West Germany in the 1960s. I remember now that I had one of their mini-farms in a matchbox when I was little!
Working in thrift, you often meet your childhood.

The blue farmer isn't from the set, but she met up with the cow in my box of Little Things to Put Out, and they became inseparable.
Forty-nine cents! Will they sell? (I'm pretty sure.)

The orange angler is probably also from the 1960s, per this history of Hong Kong's plastic toys. (You learn a lot about world history and economics, digging into the history of thrift.)

"Plastic manufacture in Hong Kong began around 1948, after the Communist takeover of China caused refugees to flood into British-held Hong Kong.
By 1959 there were over 300 plastic factories in Hong Kong, with many more to follow.  Many of these specialized in toy production.

"In the 1970s rising oil prices led to an increase in the cost of plastics (products of the petrochemical industry). The growth of other low-cost economies in Asia also made Hong Kong's fancy goods and toys less competitive.
Electronics  overtook plastics as Hong Kong's export commodity in the mid-1970s."

II. Colors and Money

Ass't Man drove me home with a big pile of stuff yesterday, Lots of mid-century, 1970s colors, including...
seven robin's-egg-blue dinner plates by Mikasa;
a rose-gold aluminum cake-carrier with a locking cover (like window locks!)-- I pulled it from metal recycling--it's dented (but locks just fine);
two '70s avocado-green curtains, for my bedroom windows;
and a rolling typewriter stand with a dark faux-wood top, to hold my window air conditioner.

Also, not mid-century, a modern "holiday green" plastic Christmas tree stand.

I got all this on my store credit for October, which I've now used up.

I'm going to experiment with living on my salary this month: I bring home about $200 more than my rent + utilities.
I got four $50 bills from the bank, one for each week.

I already went grocery shopping when I came back from cat sitting Oct. 1, so $50/week seems ample this month––in theory. In reality, something spendy usually comes up.
Like, I think there will be lots of trick-or-treaters in this neighborhood--buying Halloween candy will be spendy.
Even going to a movie theater can put me over. Forget popcorn, that breaks the bank.
And forget December! A Christmas tree alone will eat up half my grocery money.

Plus, I can't expect to cover things like dentistry on my salary--that will come from my savings. (Thank you, dear, dead relatives!)

Even though I could use the financial boost, I told Robinson's owners when they returned that I was retiring from cat sitting. I just hated being treated like a servant. NOT worth it.

Truth be told, though I liked the cats, I've never loved cat sitting. I won't miss it.
I don't have cat clients left.
Cats George & Tammy, who I sat for four months in the spring, have moved to New Hampshire.
My final cat, Cleome, I would still sit, happily, but her owner is eighty-five and not taking the long trips she used to go on. And Cleome must be fifteen... So I maybe won't be needed many, or any, more times there.

Oh, well. It'll be a little tight-to-impossible, but it's a thousand times worth it, to live alone in Apartment 320.
And really, I have ALL THE DELIGHTFUL THINGS to play with at work, and art to make and furniture to arrange at home.
And books! Dolls! Blogging and my bookstore diary! Free friends!
I am rich.

III. Overheard

Overheard at work yesterday:

"She has two husbands. That's bigotry!"