Remember that gift basket I won at the beginning of May? Update: We've had some fun family date nights to a couple of our favorite restaurants, I've unloaded all my funky hats on happy friends, and given a couple things away as gifts to general applause. Plus I've cashed in my certificate for a free pound of coffee (I go through a lot of coffee when the weather gets warm because of THIS iced coffee recipe) and that was rather fantastic.
Mmm! Coffee!
Anyway, I also got a rather large gift certificate to one of the cutsie stories in town. I never go into this store because A) It's downtown, and downtown is crazy, and 2) It's a touristy gift shop. Oh, and it's expensive. I forgot to mention that part.
During my lunch hour last Wednesday, I decided to go into said gift shop and see what I could find. I went, and I looked, and I found... nothing. I mean, there were some gorgeous bowls, but I don't need any bowls, and there were some cool covered casserole dishes (the largest was $75, might have been two-quarts), but I already have some fairly funky casseroles that I picked up at the church rummage sale a couple of years ago. They make me laugh when I use them, and just for the entertainment value alone I want to keep them. I mean, look at them!
 |
| Awesome, right? $5 for both. Such a steal. |
Well, and then there's the fact that I've been very successful in purging my unwanted kitchen items (and even some that I did want, just never used), and I'm really not in the mood to bring more stuff in. So kitchenware was out.
I found a rather lovely scarf for $30, except it was in browns and my colors are black, beige and blue (with two grey and two teal items thrown in for good measure), and it wouldn't match more than about half of my (hard won) capsule wardrobe. Also it was made of this webby mesh material and I was just positive it would snag the first time I dared to wear it. I'm clumsy that way.
I left the store with nothing. I texted Eric that the whole experience would have been way more fun pre-minimalism. Ah, well.
But! The next day Eric took me to lunch at the local Elks Club (um, which I totally dissed because our Elks Club is kind of whack, but he had a $20 coupon to the restaurant. I had a cheeseburger that ended up being really delicious. Artisan bun and everything. Color me shocked.) The best part was that we were the youngest people in there by 50 years, I kid you not, except for the bartender. She looked maybe 21. Kids have started to really look young to me since I hit my 40s, by the way. And their youthful enthusiasm kind of makes me sad because reality hasn't knocked them down yet, but you just know it will eventually.
Um... what was I talking about?
Oh, right. After lunch, we still had some time before we had to go back to work, so we went into the shop together to look around. I showed him the scarf and the casseroles, and we looked at a few bracelets. Most were beaded, and not to brag or anything, but I already have a lot of cheap plastic beaded bracelets. I wanted something different.
And then I found this:
 |
| Not a beaded bracelet. |
And you guys, I'm so happy. The "blessed" message really struck a cord with me because I AM blessed. Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I start feeling sorry for myself. Sometimes I rage against the machine. But! I have a husband who is my best friend, two smart and beautiful girls, a job I love, and a cat who keeps coming back (they don't have to, you know). That's not even all of it, but I've crossed over into emotional territory here and I'm not altogether comfortable with that. :)
I still have $12 on my gift certificate, and I'm not really sure what to do about that. I'm torn between my minimalist belief that I need nothing more and my frugal hatred of wasting something. War! It's inside of me!
So... the end, I guess. I'll keep you posted if I remember.
No comments:
Post a Comment