The Little House of My Childhood {Innocence: 50% off at a yard sale}{27}
The other day, during a random outing with with my mom and the kids, we
milked a cow
saw some chickens
played mini golf
jumped on the jumping pillow
saw the world’s largest garden gnome
and on the way home. . .
Stopped at a yard sale. I didn’t really want to stop. It looked like kind of a semi permanent set-up. It was in the front yard of the house next to a self storage place. . . I thought maybe the contents of the yard sale would be like, Storage Wars rejects. Or something.
I spied the wire basket before my car even stopped moving and I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask. My mother advised, “Don’t go right over to it. The price will go up.” I only had six dollars in cash. My mom forked over what cash she had (about $15?) and we parked and got out. From a distance I couldn’t tell if the basket was actually vintage or not, but I could see that it had a bright yellow price tag on it. No need to be cagey. I walked right up grabbed that basket with it’s $5 sticker and swung it by the handle. Mine! It is vintage – and it’s in nearly perfect condition.
You can see the maker’s name in the bottom. From what I’ve read, the Oakes Mfg. Co. in Tipton, Indiana made made products primarily to do with chickens and eggs. . . You probably already knew it was an egg basket? I didn’t. This basket would hold a LOT of eggs.
Let me digress for just a second to tell you a tiny story that will let you get to know me a little better. Real quick. Promise.
When Mr. Social Media and I were looking at houses to buy (in 1998), we went around with the realtor and saw 8 or 10 different houses before we came to this one. I don’t remember my first sight of the house when we pulled up, but I very distinctly remember walking through the front door and into the living room. I ran in and pointed to the Northeast corner of the empty room and shouted, “THE CHRISTMAS TREE GOES RIGHT HERE!!”
Mine is not a poker face.
Back to the yard sale. We walked around for a few more minutes – I was happy to leave with my vintage-wire-goodness find and be on my way home – so I wasn’t really looking too hard. My daughter was picking through costume jewelry and then I saw it.
I walked over, picked up the box and hugged it to my chest. Seriously. Wrapped both of my arms around it, turned my head to one side and rested my cheek on the top.
“They’re yellow”, I breathed.
I’m hoping someone will jump in and tell me they know what I’m talking about. These yellow Little House on the Prairie books are the ones that were published throughout the 1970′s. When I was a little girl and I was reading them for the first time (maybe the first 6 or 7 times), the yellow books were the ones I had. The yellow books are the ones I brought to show and tell at school. The yellow books are the ones I read late at night, lying on the floor outside the bathroom door (for the light). I did not have the whole set. But I had a few of them.
After I patted the box for a few minutes, I checked the price tag. I decided that $20 was more than I would spend and I set them back down on the table and walked away, mumbling about how my current set is staring to fall apart and how I really couldn’t buy the whole set new for less money. . .
A few minutes later the owner of the books came up to me and said, “I saw how much you love those. Do you want them for ten?”
yes. i want them for ten.
I know that I have mentioned the Little House books here before. Maybe more than once. I’m hoping that you are not one of those people who are deeply irritated by Little House. It’s okay if you are. I can understand that. Sort of. For me? These books are quite simply, a cornerstone of my life. I went on to college and got a degree literature and there has never been a book that affected me as profoundly – had a bigger impact - than these. I try not to read them too often – and I am always surprised by something when I do. The last time I read through them, start to finish, was with both of my kids. I found myself deeply moved by the scenes in which Laura moves away from her parents house – in particular the gesture, made by her mother, of the familiar red checkered table cloth as a wedding gift. A piece of home to take with her to begin her life as a married woman. And this, a scene that I had never even noticed as a child.
Sigh. . .
If you are not a fan, I lost you several paragraphs ago. And if you are a fan, you’re likely looking for your keys to head out to the book store. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have them already and you can just get one down from the shelf. Even just a few chapters. Innocence is cheap today. I found it for half price at a yard sale.
breida
Aug 20, 2012 @ 07:28:25
I still have my set in blue. But for some reason, as a teenager, I discarded the box as I had covered it with scratch n sniff stickers. My daughter is under the impression they are hers. But that can’t be. Because they are mine.
Btw, that egg basket is utterly too-too!
Aug 20, 2012 @ 11:22:54
I have the blue set as well. Believe it or not, I found that set on the street – set out for the garbage after a yardsale – while i was in college. Un – opened – never read. That set is the one that is falling apart now. There is just something about those yellow books that makes me all soft inside. Sigh. . .
Aug 20, 2012 @ 07:46:56
I have that same set, in yellow! And yes the ones I read as a girl were all yellow. I also have all the Laura Ingalls Wilder biographies, her other books, the Little House cookbook, etc. Two of my daughters are named because of these books. The third one would have been except her dad wanted her named after her grandmothers….
Aug 20, 2012 @ 11:20:27
well, how DARE he??!! ha! I’m curious to know which names you chose from the books. . . (i’ll bet you didn’t pick Nellie!)
Thanks so much for reading and letting me know you were here!
Nice to meet you!
breida
Aug 22, 2012 @ 22:29:20
My oldest daughter is named Elizabeth Rose, a transposition of Laura’s daughter’s name. My middle daughter is named Laura Grace. I wanted to name my youngest daughter Caroline. Her name is Anna Ruth after her grandmothers. I read the Little House books many times as a girl and teen always imagining myself as Laura. Later, after I had been a mother for about 10 years, I read them again and was really struck by Caroline and all she must have gone through as a mother.
Aug 20, 2012 @ 09:20:49
Breida,
We were just meant to be friends. My childhood experiences with these books was the same…strangely meaningful. I did not have the entire set, but had the majority–with yellow covers that separated with repeated opening and spines that cracked and were carefully taped back together. The books got left at my parent’s house when I left for college and my mother, unknowingly, donated them while I was gone. I was devastated.
Hopefully, someday, I will find them again.
On another note, our blog posts are eerily similar. Last night I posted a collage of images and a list of what we’d been up to and lo, and behold, this morning I opened your blog to find the same
Aug 20, 2012 @ 11:24:39
crushing blow.
well, hopefully some other little girl got to have them. . .
you can get a set on ebay – i was looking at the prices yesterday – around $20!
breida
Aug 20, 2012 @ 11:58:29
The mere thought of it makes my heart POUND. YAY FOR YOU!!! (and your egg basket is pretty fab, too). I wish that we had garage sales here. Estate sales, run by large companies, yes…garage sales, notsomuch. sigh….
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:38:11
wow, really, Kimberly? do you mean just in your neighborhood? or like, the Midwest?? this was a good stop!
Aug 20, 2012 @ 17:23:56
Just in the area where I live. If I drive “out” for about 1/2 hr, there are wonderful ones…just not where I live.
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:11:09
As I am reading the blog post and scrolling down, I just seen the top of the books and started smiling! Tears to my eyes…Yes, I had them as well. What a wonderful memory to see this morning! Great score! I hope you have many years of happiness with them!!
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:43:07
Oh, goodie! I’m so pleased at the response this is getting – i thought everyone would think i was nuts! You can get them on Ebay!! They are good for what ails you. . .
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:28:41
It killed me when I had to throw my yellow boxed set out because of water damage.
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:43:54
OH! Shirra. That would kill me too.
how sad.
this makes me want to buy a set for you. . .
are your girls into them?
Aug 21, 2012 @ 09:51:40
It shames me to say that I haven’t read them to the girls. Fi had no interest, but I’m planning on reading them to Maeve this year, along with Anne of Green Gables. If you do see a set, though…
Aug 21, 2012 @ 23:21:06
oh, Lordy. Anne of Green Gables. There is another one that gets me. LOVE! I was SO young when I read Little House though – I was less than 5 when I started – that they are just beyond nostalgic for me – really formative. There seems to actually be a part of my brain that revolves around those stories and that time period. . .
I’ll keep my eye open though, (as usual).
breida
Aug 21, 2012 @ 23:23:07
by the way – the CBC (like the BBC, but Canadian) television version of Anne of Green Gables is EXCELLENT if you’ve never watched it you will love it. But read the book (to M) first!
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:31:10
Yes, I have the yellow versions of the books as well. I read them every few years or so. I read a lot as a kid but had very few books of my own – so these were/are very special to me especially since I just loved the storiesa and read them over and over agaein. I still have those books on a shelf – I’m going to have to take them down and read them with my daughter!
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:45:41
I looked forward to reading them with my kids before i even HAD kids. They obliged me by being totally enthralled from beginning to end. I’m not sure what I would have done if they weren’t interested. . . i would have been crushed! How old is your girl?
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:56:57
MaryHelen… I bet your daughter has the same name as Laura’s daughter… Right? (’cause how many MaryHelens are reading Breida’s blog?
Breida… When I was a kid I read them all, too. One by one from the library… And many years later, there they were on TV! So perfectly cast.
Aug 20, 2012 @ 13:11:48
well, we can leave discussion of the TV show for another day – there were some good points – and I did love the show – but it had very little to do with the story (as it went in the books). By the way, did you know that literary (and historical) scholars agree that the ENTIRE thing is fiction. . . how depressing – i choose not to think about that.
Aug 20, 2012 @ 18:45:52
Yes that’s me – the MaryHelen that named her daughter the same as Laura Ingalls Wilder did and I never put 2 and 2 together before and realized that! Ha, ha. Her name just hit me – she was almost a Jacqueline.
Breida – it is depressing – I so related to those stories. Just like when my father let it out of the bag that the Von Trapps weren’t such a happy family and divorced! Ouch! My mother was mad he let it slipped and I was in my early 30s!!!
Aug 20, 2012 @ 12:58:31
Oh I get it I get it! My set was yellow too and I totally wore several of them out. Completely worn out. The whole set is gone now – we do have a newer set my girls read. They are checkered. And I know they cannot be near as fun to read as the yellow ones were! I remember my dad reading those aloud to me and my brother and sister. Ah the memories! So happy for you!
I would have snagged that basket with no second thoughts too! I’m just a tiny bit jealous but a whole lot happy for you!!
Aug 20, 2012 @ 13:14:13
Oh, Jill. I know this is totally CRAZY but I don’t think I could even read the checkered ones! But here’s the thing – your girls will remember THOSE ones as special. . . funny. I’ve seen those checkered ones in the book store – they leave me cold. I’m glad you had the yellow books, too!
breida
Aug 20, 2012 @ 18:27:55
Aug 20, 2012 @ 21:48:12
aw! Thanks, Karen. You are really one of the kindest and most generous people i know. Glad you are my friend!
breida
Aug 21, 2012 @ 07:27:31
Am I the only one who didn’t read these? I must find them, I’m sure I will. My books were The Box Car Children. I’m thinking now I will find them and save them for grandchildren. I’m only 59 so I don’t have any yet. With 3 girls(20,23,30) YOU WOULD THINK I WOULD HAVE SOME!! Did I yell that?
Oh, don’t you love it when you see something at a garage sale that makes you giddy?!! I always feel like someone is behind me running to get it before I do. That basket would be one for me. Great find!!