Sunday, November 6, 2011

11-5-11 Kitschy Kitchen building

I can see it now: by the time I am in my 60s I will have rebuilt the kitchen from my childhood, complete with yellow countertops, avocado appliances, garish floral wallpaper, green carpet and curtains. It'll have it all, even that plastic flower on the washer with the green side saying "Clean" and the orange side saying "Dirty."  Ok, everything except those awful fluorescent lights.


In the meantime, I collect the little touches. Mom and Dad still had the cookie jar from my childhood which they let me take back. Mysteriously, it was full of snickerdoodles yesterday, but somehow we only got back with half a dozen. 


To keep it company, I've got my pair of Moo-Cow Creamers. This is why I asked about the cookie jar instead of just going out and hunting for a replacement. Years ago, during the early days of eBay, I went hunting for a Moo-Cow creamer that I remember from childhood. We were on a trip somewhere. I think I must've been 3 or 4, because I remember sitting in a booster seat in the diner. We were there for breakfast and on every table there were these little plastic cows with giant lips that you could pour your milk from into your cereal bowl, or pour creamer into your coffee.  Having a milk allergy, I neither ate cereal, and being a little kid, I neither drank coffee, but I was entranced by this cow. These had their heyday in the late 60s, but they were still for sale at this particular diner when I came along. So for years my prized Moo-Cow sat, mostly unused, but cherished in the cabinet.

It was only a couple of years after I'd bought my eBay replacement that Mom and Dad, moving to Colorado, kept unearthing things that included my own, original Moo-Cow, which explains why I have a pair of these kitschy things now. Lesson learned: always ask.


One of the things on my radar that I have remembered to ask about are these canisters:


Lincoln "Beautyware" made entirely of metal, which means most of these have rusted over the years, or lost their handles, as ours eventually did before they were thrown away. I remember holding the tea canister up to my face and breathing in the lovely scent of the tea that had once been stored inside.

They also made a set in avocado green which I've seen on eBay, although apparently they didn't bother with a version in harvest gold or orange. What a shame.


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