I hope no one thinks that I'm just linkin' to stuff on eBay because it makes mad money [it doesn't, although if someone would've bought that AMG E55 wagon...]. No, I like to link stuff that a) is cool and useful and interesting, b) that's not so obviously available somewhere else, and c) that I'm not bidding on myself.

Now that I won it, let me point out the awesomeness that I expect come my kid's way, thanks to this vintage Creative Playthings magnifying glass stool. It's the kind of thing I'd never thought about before, but that I suddenly had to get the kid as soon as I saw it.

We'll be "watching" ants on the sidewalk in a just a few days, but the real educational fun will come during our summer vacation: a cross-country tour of overbuilt hillside subdivisions adjacent to drought-stricken national parks.

Antique magnifying stool..creative playthings N.J. [ebay]