The Things We Find

Over the weekend, while doing some uploading to the guild web site and burning CD's, I took a moment to clean off the top of my computer desk and clean the space around it. It was one of those acts that you know you should do at some point, but it's so low on the priority list as to be nowhere near the immediate 'gotta do'. Cleaning became an act of spontaneity. I should dust off the back of the desk, but I'll settle for cleaned off and organized right now.

There are two bins on the floor next to the desk. One is for office supplies. One is for, well look at that. Here are my stamps and ink pads. I was looking for them to stamp the front of Christmas cards but, in December, couldn't remember where I'd put them. On the floor next to the desk is not the most memorable place, but I don't have another place that's an intuitive place to put the bin, so right now, it will stay where it is.

In the course of cleaning, I stumbled across a few things. Confetti. Four packages of confetti. I went through a confetti phase where it was the thing to add to cards. I have (clockwise from upper left) stars; ghosts, pumpkins and black cats; balloons; and small cats.

I'm not sure what to do with this stuff. I wouldn't dream of sticking it in cards now. I know how I would feel if I opened a card and confetti fell out. I'm not even sure why I bought these in the first place. I probably had a reason. For now, I stuck the packages in a drawer. Maybe one of my readers wants them.

The next item I know why I bought it. In 2006, I went to Colonial Williamsburg. My clan had their annual meeting there. I had never been to this location and a clan meeting was a good way to see Williamsburg. It was a fun time, very interesting. I came back with some decent souvenirs, one of which is to the left.

Carole used to collect key chains. They are easy to store and inexpensive to obtain. She also played the flute and, while this is a fife player, it's reminiscent of the flute. It was a couple bucks in one of the stores. I was going to give it to her in her Christmas stocking.

But, when I came back from the trip, she had decided she didn't want to store all these key chains she'd collected. While they were nice and a wonderful way of remembering where she'd been, she had too many of them and collecting these didn't interest her anymore. The keychain was set aside and set aside some more and fell into the box of office supplies. I don't need it. It will probably wind up in the give away bag unless someone out there wants it.

I found these scissors I had forgotten I had. They have a scalloped edge and I know I bought them to make cards one year. I moved them from the office bin to the crafting drawer in the wardrobe behind me. I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of them, but in the drawer, which I do use often, at least I'll see them more than in the bottom of a bin. I could, very easily, part with these. About the time I ship them off, I'll find a use for them but that's the way it goes.

Lastly, I found these items that I won't part with. These were my grandfather's. The upper left item enlarges the print in a small area. We used these in college to look at photos and text when I was on the newspaper. Back in the days of Linotype, this magnifying monocle was a necessity to check for broken letters. I used to use it when I edited a magazine and needed to proof the product before it went to print. Grandpa Al was in publicity for Allis Chalmers so he would have used it to look at photos and type for ads.

The large circular glass is also a magnifying glass. I'm not sure exactly what grandpa used it for but I can speculate. He was an avid coin and stamp collector. I do remember him using the monocle viewer to look at coins and stamps. I'm thinking he used the large magnifier for the same purpose.

It's not that I won't get rid of them because of their attachment to my grandfather. There is that. But these are useful. I don't like to do cross-stitch on anything smaller than 18 count fabric. Generally, when you go smaller, you're doing stitching over 2 squares, not just one. It's way too hard for me to see the thread count. So I stay with what I can see easily. The smaller thread counts lend themselves to more intricately detailed cross-stitched pictures. I have some I'd like to try. Having a magnifying glass handy could make the stitching process easier for me. If I combine that with the new glasses I intend to get at the end of the month, I'll look through my patterns for something reasonably easy and give it a go. I moved these to the craft drawer too where, in theory, I'll remember where they are. In practice, there will be a post come April about where did I put those.

So, I'm inspired now to move onward through the office and clean out more piles. I wish I knew how to put things up on eBay. I have things that probably others would want or could use. I've realized that stuff does not equate to happiness and my happiness would be better if I had less stuff. If you're a friend and you want any of the top three items, you know how to contact me.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb