Going into a dollar store can be quite an adventure. You just never know exactly what's waiting for you inside. Sometimes I emerge victorious with something I need. Sometimes I leave dazed and confused with something destined to feature prominently in the next neighborhood garage sale.

I almost always leave with a smile.

Here are some observations I made on a recent shopping spree to a dollar store in Queensbury:

The household gadget aisles are often the most fruitful in a dollar store. From standard hand-held potato peelers to the more sophisticated Rotato--"the fastest way to peel anything"--you can find so many items that could make a home in your drawers and cupboards.

Many of them you might even use on a regular basis.

One of the first things I considered in this aisle the other day was a white plastic honey server. I don't like honey, but there are people in my family who like to dribble a little in their tea upon occasion. I looked at it, considered it, then decided that for the amount of times the honey jar gets opened, a standard spoon would work just fine.

I continued to move my eyes up and down along the floor-to-ceiling wall display. Nestle Quick refrigerator magnet? Nope. Melon ball scoop? No thanks. Coupon sorter? Definitely not. I dislike coupon clipping almost as much as I dislike balancing the checkbook

I also passed up the "Bubble Keeper," a special soda bottle cap designed to keep the carbonation in 2-liter bottles. I did, however, pick up a two-pack of something called Save-a-Soap which for the rock-bottom price of a quarter was worth taking a chance on to help avoid soggy bar soap in the shower.

The dollar store is a curious place where you'll find famous brands alongside names that you won't find in prime time ads or see on "The Price is Right." Plastic tubular Happy Hangers come in a variety of colors to liven up your closet. Traditional lever-and-spring mouse traps with the appropriately violent name of Revenge would appeal to anyone who's had to hunt down a rodent.

I noticed that plain-wrapper, no-name brand crayons could be found on one rack and some Crayolas the next aisle over. In fact, the Crayolas for sale that day show how marketing mistakes can be made even by successful companies. Consider their Retro Colors crayons. These included hippy-dippy color names, like Flower Power Pink, Platform Shoe Brown and Give Peach a Chance. Pink, brown and peach, by any other name, would still be a crayon.

Sometimes brands are out there to confuse the consumer. Like Webster's New Dictionary which, if you peer closely inside, you'll find is "not published by the original publishers of Webster's Dictionary or by their successors."

Noah Webster would be shocked. Or at least flabbergasted. Or, possibly, just perplexed.

Throughout the store I found products that made me wonder how they found their way to a store shelf in northern New York. Beautiful, glossy official program books to the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Fantasy Faire ceramic mugs from the Excalibur hotel and casino in Las Vegas. And a blue vinyl Sports Illustrated rain poncho--free with a subscription a few years ago, now available to anyone for a buck.

I don't usually peruse the food aisles at the dollar store, but here's something that caught my eye on the way out: clear plastic bags with plain white labels marked "Broken Hard Pretzels from Snyders of Hanover." These were placed next to more colorful and traditional packages of their pretzels.

I always wondered what they did with rejects.

Some things I was on the lookout for that day I couldn't find -- like a toothbrush holder and a plastic beer pitcher. Ironically, I was in desperate need of toothpicks last week and had a tough time finding them in the grocery store, but since I stumbled on them at the dollar store I bought more.

Other items I bought that day include a refillable butane fireplace lighter, self-sticking holiday gift tags, a bungee cord and a couple of lined notepads. But I passed up the bags of rags, rain bonnets and the Miracle Memory set of six audio cassettes, complete with 24-page workbook, to help teens and adults learn better.

I don't know why I enjoy browsing through dollar stores like I do. I'm not known in our family for being a shop-til-you-drop bargain hunter. I guess I just like being surprised.

Maybe it's because there's no place else around that's so entertaining for $5 per hour.

Kay Hafner, a writer from Queensbury, says that no product placement fees were charged in the writing of this column. However, she admits that she wouldn't mind having a few Revenge mouse traps on hand -- just in case.