Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Ups and Downs.

Sigh was outside. I saw him, but he seemed to be enjoying himself and was not hungry, but Possum, Tiger, and Minnie were happy to see me. The three kittens all ate from my fingers and for the first time, Possum allowed himself to be petted. He returned to get a brief pet multiple times and rubbed against my hand. 

I felt like that was a big deal. 

Tim called customer service this morning. I did not have to be involved. 

I told you I wrapped some Christmas gifts. I was pleased. Here is a tiny bit of heartbreak. Many years back, in the after Christmas sales, I bought three large rolls of curling ribbon, in three colors. I have been using that ribbon for years, and every year, it gives me the tiniest satisfaction that I'm still using it. I always wonder how many Christmas futures those rolls will give me. 

Long story short, I opened the Christmas trunk that holds all my ribbon and my gift bags and my Christmas wrap and my ornaments...and I cannot find those spools of ribbon anywhere

It's a Christmas tradition, dammit. 

Late edit: After a good long search, 24 hours later, I found them. They were in a bag in the gift closet. So, tradition is restored. It's a stupid thing, but I bought those ribbons when we still lived in the big house in the woods, and that is 15 years ago. (And yes...they are big spools.)



33 comments:

  1. Aw, man! Maybe you used it up?
    I rarely wrap anything these days. Gift bags are my best friends, and I reuse them as much as possible. Aren't I lazy?
    Goid on Tim for dealing with customer service this time! Definitely his turn.

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    1. I thought so too. You know, I buy things when I see them, and bring them home to put in the gift closet. And when I am having a down day, I go upstairs and I wrap a present or two. I take my time, I make out the gift cards carefully, and I use ribbon and I curl it perfectly.

      Tim however, he's a gift bag person. He's also the sort of person who is not above taping the store bag shut and sticking it under the tree. All I can figure is that he doesn't have bad days.

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  2. Well, you have got some time up your sleeve. They will probably turn up.

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    1. And, you are right, oh wise one. They turned up.

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  3. I am embarrassed to admit how much of my life is searching for things I am sure exist here somewhere.

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    1. Made me laugh. Tim and I call each other regularly, for the sole purpose of trying to figure out where the other left their phone.

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  4. Did you pull them out for non-Christmas wrapping of other holiday or birthday gifts? Under the bed? Did the kittens get the curly ribbon? Good Luck. Linda in Kansas

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    1. Ha! I looked under the bed. I knew where I had wrapped gifts, and so I was digging around the second floor. I have a gift closet. It's actually a pantry for what was the upstairs kitchen when our house was a duplex, and the shelves are a nice place to store the gifts that I pick up when I see things on sale that I know would suit someone. They were in a brown paper bag, with scissors and tape and tissue paper. All is well.

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    2. The gift closet shelves contain many wonders. I tend to walk in there and grab what I went in there for. I don't sift through the wonders on a regular basis, so I guess that I lost track.

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  5. I hate it when I decide to change my usual storage place for something, for whatever reason seemed sensible at the time, then can never find the darned thing again afterwards.

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    1. There are a couple things that spring to mind that I put in a safe place...and they're still there! I've forgotten where I put them!

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    2. I’m faaaaaaamous in my household for putting things away in a safe place and then having to turn the house upside down to find them; glad I’m not the only one! 😂

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  6. My late father gave me 3 spools of florists' ribbon when my daughter was a baby. I have used them for crafts and for wrapping up presents for birthdays and Christmas ever since. Twelve days ago they had the best use ever - decorating our car to act as the bridal car for our daughter (now 30 years old). My father would have been so proud and yes, I have lots of ribbon left, so I know exactly how you felt when you couldn't locate yours!

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    1. That's great. You totally get it. I mean, I've been wrapping Christmas with this ribbon for 15 years now. It's a secret happiness to pull it out yet again.

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  7. It's aggravating when things disappear in the house. I'm glad they turned up. Good progress with the kittens - very rewarding.

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    1. That was an exciting moment. To actually have him walk up to me and rub against my fingers. And to do it several times! Unfortunately, this weekend, we're going away, and my sister or her husband will be ducking over to feed them. I hope that's not a big set back, but maybe absence will make their hearts grow fonder. Who knows.

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  8. Every Christmas I fume about how paper and ribbon used to come on big rolls that would last for years. These days, it seems like the bulk of the stuff you buy has so little on it, that you go through several rolls of stuff just to get presents wrapped. I find myself reading the fine print before buying to ascertain how many linear feet a roll might contain.

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    1. I am the same way. I never buy the multipacks of wrapping paper, because they always are packaged in a way that makes you unable to see how much paper is on the tubes. I buy the single large rolls, and I buy my paper right after Christmas and put it away in the steamer trunk. I always try to buy with a theme. This year is red with white snow flakes, which means that I am going heavy on the red and white curling ribbon. Oh? And that wrapping paper? I bought it the year before last at an after Christmas sale. I used another wrapping paper up, and never touched this roll. It's got enough paper on it that I see myself able to do all Christmas with this.

      Sounds stupid, but these little things bring me much satisfaction...take that corporate America!

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  9. Traditions are important! In my childhood home, I think we used the same curling ribbon from the time I was a conscious being to when I moved out and went to college! There was a red spool and a gold spool. My brother probably still has them!

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    1. The wonderful thing about blogs? I have these strange little secret things about myself, and some of them seem to carry great importance to my life. And it makes me feel stupid, sometimes. Why do these things matter? And then I post some stupid little secret and around me people say, "Oh, that's not weird. Me too, me too!"

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  10. I'm just impressed that you HAVE Christmas presents already to be wrapped. You are much more organized than I am. I'm just starting to think about what to buy but am far from ready to start shopping yet!

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    1. Oh Ellen. For the last years of my work life, I worked for a company that had a 'peak season' at Christmas, which meant "all hands on deck" and mandatory overtime. It started at Thanksgiving and lasted through until Christmas. It was always at least 10 hour days, always at least a partial day on Saturday. One or two memorable seasons, it was 6 10 hour days and 1 8 hour day...for weeks. It really was inhumane, actually. I got into the habit of buying things as I saw them, or when they were on sale and putting them away. In this case, we are going away this weekend to my son's. I have his family's gifts wrapped and ready to go, and we will sneak them into their house and stash them. Once the Christmas tree is up, I will speak with Iris privately on the phone and tell her where to find these things, and let her have the joy of putting gifts under their tree. It saves on postage. It might be unnecessary, but Christmas season is a busy time for everyone, and we never know when we will be visiting next.

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  11. I am excited about the progress of the kittens warming up to you and coming in for pets! No blood drawn and that is good progress on their part!

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    1. Marcia, today was a very exciting day! I went down with Tim's lunch and snacks, etc. (He is hunting.) So I took the kitten's food down to them and sat a while. All of them came running, as usual, but I noticed that as time passes, they are paying less and less attention to me, and more attention to their food dish. They are taking treats from my fingers. I open the canned cat food and give them a taste using the spoon, which they crowd in close for, sniffing at my hand as one or the other of them eats from the spoon. Today, they were eating from their dish and purring together and paying no attention to me at all. I took a chance and reached out and petted Sigh. (He had rubbed his head against my hand yesterday several times.) He paid no attention to me, so I petted him again. I gave him a dozen good pets and he was not troubled by that. I got a little bolder and reached to the other side and gave Possum a stroke. Much to my surprise, he stepped back, studied me intently, and then when I held my hand out, he came to me, slid under my hand arching his back. He did this over and over, purring the whole time. At one point, he lay on his side and reached up to bat at my hand. That felt like a major breakthrough. Just major. I got to pet Tiger 3 or 4 times as well, but he did growl at me. Minnie will take food from my hand, but she does not allow me to pet her, although she watched Sigh and Possum closely. Today made me very happy.

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    2. That made me very happy, too! Minnie is being cautious, but your patience will pay off with the little girl! She's the main one to get spayed, so easy does it! ♥️

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  12. Interesting how some things are lost when they are put in a different place. It happens to me all the time.

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    1. Jees Louise, Red. That will be the blessing of a smaller house, that's for sure. There will be a mindful winnowing down of stuff, and a lot less places to lose things. Hopefully.

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  13. So happy you found your ribbon. Back 20 years or so ago I loved wrapping presents. Had a glue gun, glued Christmas picks to the packages, fruit, pine cones, you name it. We had a full basement then. There used to be two towers of Christmas. Then we downsized, all gone. It's unfortunate I did not take more pictures. The kittens are really coming along.

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    1. Ha!!!!! A kindred spirit!!!! Everything I have fits into a steamer trunk. I don't do pics and the like, but I enjoy wrapping and be-ribboning. And then, of course, there is the gift closet.

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  14. Oh gee.... Christmas! I'm exhausted thinking about it. So much to do... and we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet. But I need to think about this early because I have to get mailings out overseas to our son and to our daughter in Illinois. Thank you for reminding me. I'm been so preoccupied with a million other things.

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I'm glad you're here!

The Old Fellas

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