Show and Tell Friday - The Accidental Teapot

I know better than to surf the web late at night. When I'm overtired and the house is dark and quiet I seem susceptible to impulsive decisions. Such was the case when I went browsing through e-bay looking at rose covered teapots last week. I was having romantic notions of teatimes with my children, when we would pontificate on matters such as noble character, divine appointments, and unbridled faith while listening to classical music and gazing at masterpieces of the great artists. My children....the teenager who doesn't like tea, the wildly handsome yet wildly wild boys who drink from shatterproof plastic tumblers, and the infant who has only recently added sippy cups to the repertoire. Those are the ones.

It was my dream of teatime that led me to the Old Country Roses pattern from Royal Albert. I landed on a lovely teapot, and without giving it a moment's thought, I placed a bid. There was only one bid on the teapot at the time, and the auction had more than three days left, so I didn't bat an eye (or waste a moment's worth of common sense) on upping the teapot ante.

Placed the bid, read more blogs, finally went to bed, and forgot all about it. My memory was refreshed more than three days later when I received a cheerful little e-mail from ebay congratulating me on my successful auction win and prompting me to funnel some funds into my paypal account. GULP.

Lately I've become so practical about spending money. I really try to evaluate every single purchase, except those "potential" purchases that happen late at night and are associated with romantic notions and don't even feel like they will ever develop into real live, honest to goodness purchases involving an actual exchange of money. On those, I'm a tad less practical.

So, I spent $37 on an absolutely stunning, completely unnecessary teapot. I bellied up to settle my score, feeling intensely guilty and a little selfish too. I may not be the only one who had to tighten the reigns on the tea and crumpet budget in today's economy. I mean, when I'm driven to dip into my fine bone china allotment just to put food in the mouths of these hungry children it's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Paul and his three siblings.

I could hardly believe what I had done, so I set out to investigate so I could measure my remorse appropriately. Would you believe Macy's has my teapot online for $250? And the matching creamer that came with my teapot for another $100?? I can't imagine that anyone would actually pay that since there are plenty available on the internet for far less, but even by recent ebay standards it seems I got a rather decent deal. I felt a little better. Still I wondered about a supposed $250 item for $37. Had I really bid on a dollhouse version of the real teapot? Or a factory second? Or a Walmart teapot that had decals rubbed all over it to make it look like a Royal Albert teapot?? I was very curious.

Finally, the highly anticipated box arrived. I'm so relieved. It's life sized. And it appears to be the real deal. And it's frivolous and froo-froo and so unnecessary, but I love it. I really, really love it. And when I washed it up and set it in my living room I had this little dream that someday my strapping young boys will come wandering up to me and ask about the meaning of life and the universe, and I will have the perfect porcelain vessel on hand from which to pour them a beverage, and we will sit, and we will unravel the great mysteries.

And that dream was all mine for the bargain price of $37.

Thanks for sharing in my show and tell. Check out Kelli's blog for other nifty treasures.