Holy multi-purpose dining utensils Batman!
Last night Tim and I went to dinner with my mom. After dinner we stopped by Home Depot because Mom wanted some new flowers to plant in her backyard. While she was shopping in the garden section Tim and I went to check out tile options (he’s redoing the master bath in his house). We were a bit disappointed with the tile selection and didn’t want to leave Mom alone in the garden section too long, so amazingly we were able to leave Home Depot without Tim spending a single dime.
After we dropped my mom and her new plants off we decided to go out for ice cream. I haven’t had Baskin Robbins in ages, so this was a nice treat. We had a lovely time sitting on the outside bench, licking our ice cream cones, and watching a very small boy with a huge head run around. He looked like a small life-sized bobble head.
Then we headed to the grocery store because I needed four specific items, milk, apples, kitchen funnels, and face soap. This was meant to be a quick in and out mission, but alas… My grocery store was remodeled and expanded a couple of months ago. I’ve been in several times since then, but I usually go directly to the isles I need and don’t spend much time browsing. This trip was different. We got “lost” in one of the remodeled sections and Tim found the amazing dollar isle. Everything on it was only $1, and it wasn’t all crap either. I found a car charger for my cell phone for $1; Cingular wanted somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 for a car charger when I got the phone. Granted this one doesn’t have the official Cingular logo and the plastic casing doesn’t look quite as sturdy, but how much abuse is a car cell phone charger really going to get? Tim found seven tool related items. I find it a little ironic that he didn’t spend any money in Home Depot but got seven $1 items at the grocery store, and he’s pretty picky about his tools, so he was ecstatic about the deal. They were all little things, some clamps and stuff like that, no power tools, but still it was a bargain.
Then I happened upon a dream item. I was so excited that I think I bought about half a dozen of these. There has been a huge void in my life since KFC did away with the Spork several years ago and started using regular boring plastic flatware just like everyone else. Now I finally have a Spork again, and it’s a bottle opener too! 24 hours later and I’m still giddy about it. :-)
Found this little tidbit of spork history:
“the spork was invented not in the ’60s, but in the 40’s. when the us army occupied japan after the war, gen mcarthur (who wanted truman to enthrone him as emperor of japan) decreed that the use of chopsticks was uncivilized, and the conquered foe should use forks and spoons like the rest of the ‘civilized’ world. but fearing that the japanese might rise up and retake their country with their forks, he and the us army invented the ’spork,’ which was then introduced into the public schools. the army, which had taken over all government enterprises and the schools, enforced the use of the ’spork,’ and made the use of chopsticks in the schools a punishable offense. this is a bit of spork history that’s absolutely true, but not very funny.”
Upon further investigation, it seems the spork has been around much longer, sometimes called a “runcible spoon”(mentioned by Edward Lear in his 1871 poem “The Owl and the Pussycat”). The name Spork was trademarked registered by the Van Brode Milling Co., Inc., of Clinton, Massuchests in 1969.
You are not alone in your love of the spork: there is quite a cult following of spork enthusiasts out there….
Comment by ts — June 19, 2006 @ 10:47 am