It started with the dishes. Two years ago I asked for new dishes for my birthday. I know, I know, boring...but I really wanted them.
I didn't get them.
So I saved all my birthday money and then some, and went out to buy the dishes.
The thing is the dishes were sold, as my mom says "by the each", meaning, since I wanted service for 8, I had to place 32 individual plates, bowls, salad plates, and mugs in my cart. Also, the dishes came in many colors and I wanted 2 blue, 2 red, 2 green and 2 yellow...of plate, bowl, salad plate, and mug. Don't worry a friend was with me. And she examined every piece before setting them in my cart with me. Then she patiently stood at the check out and helped wrap each and every plate, bowl, salad plate and mug in paper as we sacked them. Then she came into my kitchen and helped me unwrap every individual dish. By this time, the dishes were really not looking so attractive and the visions I had of setting a multicolored table in my red and yellow kitchen were not quite so appealing either. But once they were all unwrapped, washed and stacked in my cabinet, I was thrilled. When I set the table the first few nights, I was thrilled.
Until I noticed the chips in the finish on some of the dishes.
First I thought it was a fluke, so I actually went out and replaced a blue dinner plate and a green bowl because they were chipped. Then I kept noticing more chips. Also they got VERY HOT when I microwaved them. So I looked at the bottom of one. "Dishwasher safe." Wait, what? Not microwave safe? Oh for the love of Pete. How can dishes not be microwave safe in 2005? And why in the world were they chipping? Why were these dishes that took two hours to purchase at the mall one day turning into a nightmare? What about my beautiful magazine-photo table settings?
So it was a sad day when I stacked the dishes and carried them to the basement kitchen to be stored and brought out very rarely. It was an even sadder day when I resigned myself to a boring table setting and bought dishes at Wal-Mart, in PLAIN WHITE for about one-fourth of the cost of my ideal colorful ones.
Then it was the bath accessories. I have never been one to buy a ceramic waste can, soap pump, tissue holder, etc for my bathrooms. Mainly because I haven't had border or curtains that came with all the matching stuff. And also, they can be quite expensive and I just haven't chosen to spend my money that way.
Until I found the set that "are the perfect match to the paint on our bedroom and bathroom walls, honey." Since our master bedroom and bath are painted a very, uh, well unique color (kind of tomato reddish) I was thrilled when I found a ceramic bath set in a floral print that really complimented our walls. So I bought 2 cups, two soap pumps, and one little soap dish (which I use for tiny perfume bottles)at first to go on our sinks.
Within one week, I had knocked my cup off into the sink and broke it into about 4 pieces. Well, sugarfoot. I replaced it. The next week, I picked up the soap pump to clean it and it came clean off the base (which by the way is a beautiful wood). Well, sugarfoot again. Then Paul picked up his cup one evening and it came clean off the base. So we spent some time one Saturday gluing our bath accessories back onto their bases, using my hand weights to brace them (see honey, not all exercise equipment is a waste of money around here.) And now to top it off, the beautiful wood bases of the bath accessories are chipping. CHIPPING! Now perhaps they shouldn't get damp, but you would think a decent bath accessory would be able to tolerate a little dampness considering it is being placed IN A BATHROOM!! So my plans to go back later and buy the tissue box have been cancelled. Same for the waste basket.
And now it is the jacket.
I noticed it while I was walking at the mall one morning before Christmas. I showed it to Paul and he said "Don't you have one kind of like that?" Which shocked me because I didn't think he knew what was hanging in our closet. I must be more careful. About 5 weeks later, I noticed that the jacket was still there and that there was one left in my size. Knowing I could wear it with many different things, I decided to go ahead and buy it. After all, I'm working now.
The jacket snags. Very easily. When I move my arm it snags against the zipper. When I carry my pen wrong at work, it snags. When my necklace catches on it, it snags. When I wore it to church, I spent the 15 minutes between Sunday School and Church services tediously pulling threads back through all over my right arm. Here's the thing. It's a pretty jacket. Really pretty. But it is very unpleasant to wear.
So a few things are looking better to me now:
paper plates
bottles of "Equate" liquid hand soap and
the other jacket "kind of like that."
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