The gumball machine

I have mentioned before that I love candy. That love didn't start recently. I have always loved candy.
I can't remember how old I was when I started the candy store in my house, but I was old enough to ride my bike to the store to replenish my supplies every once in a while. I don't even remember why I started up the store, but I did, and it was somewhat successful.
Do you remember Cry Babies? They were those super sour gum ball things that would burn a hole in your tongue if you ate too many. Those were really popular among the kids in my neighborhood and I had a good stock of them in the store. For 5 cents, you could impress all your friends with how long you could stand to keep it in your mouth.
I went to Macey's and stocked up on treats that I sold for a few cents more in my store. The best sellers were Air Heads to the kids my little sister and brother's age, Tangy Taffy and little Charleston Chews to the kids my age, and the Cry Babies and jaw breakers to the kids just older than me.
I loved seeing the money pile up and the independence of going to the store to replenish my supplies. It was a fun little store to have.
Why am I writing about this now? One of the things in the candy shop was a gum ball machine. I don't know where it originally came from, but it was old then and even older now. It takes pennies and even though it wasn't a big money maker in the store, I always loved it.
My mom has had it out for the grandkids to use, but at Christmas there was an incident that involved chewed up gum and my mom's leather couches...needless to say, the gumball machine needed a new home.
It came to me.


Isn't it cool?

It needed a tune up because all the parts weren't lining up, but I got it figured out and it is up and running at our house. The kids get a kick out of it and it buys me all sorts of cheap chores.
One of these days, I'll help the kids open a candy store in our house and help give our neighbor the dentist some business. I can't be the only one paying him!