Bottle O' Buttons

Have you read my May 1st release, A Deadly Grind, yet? Well, in it, among the junk Jaymie buys at an estate auction, is a box of sewing odds and sods with a bottle of buttons in it. (She has a reason... read the book to find out why she buys the box of sewing stuff!! LOL) Being the borderline hoarder that I am, I do have a big bottle of buttons, and this is it.

Some of the buttons are old, ones I've been hauling around for 25 years. Some are those pesky 'one of' buttons that come attached to a new sweater or blouse. What the heck are you supposed to do with those things? I never lose buttons, so long after the sweater or top has gone bye bye to the Goodwill or Sally Ann, I'm left with the randomness of odd buttons. I've got a virtual tidal wave of weird little buttons in tiny plastic bags with random bits of thread.

But my bottle o' buttons has come in useful at times. I make hand wipe cloths for my kitchen using half a tea towel and crochet cotton, and I always need a big button for it so it can hang on my cupboard drawer handle, right beneath the sink. My big bottle o' buttons has never failed me yet.

So... do any of you have a mason jar of buttons, or am I alone here?

The Good, the Bad and the Fugly

Okay, hands up, anyone who is keeping something really ugly in their closet.

Okay, that didn't come out right.

The topic for today, boys and girls, is, why do we often keep things that have no real purpose, and that we don't even really like? I'm talking about the knick knack so ugly babies cry when they see it.

I know... I know the answer!!

1 - My favorite auntie made that for me in pottery class and... I can't get rid of it!
2 - I've had it since I was a wee little baby and... I can't get rid of it!
3 - I bought that in Rome (Venice, London, Istanbul, Kalamazoo, Timbuktu) while on my (honeymoon, vacation, year abroad, lost weekend) and... I can't get rid of it!
4 - I bought that with so-and-so, and now they're gone to (heaven, rehab, the opera, the dark side of the moon) and... I can't get rid of it!

Well, that's me in a nutshell. I think I got in this fix because when I was young and moving house a lot, (four times in one year, once!) I got rid of some things that still, to this day haunt me. Among those things are: Most of my grandmother's set of everyday dishes... I'm talking about a complete placesetting for twelve, Johnson Brothers, I think, Jonquil pattern. They weren't practical, and they were really heavy and took up a lot of space, and I did give them to family but... well, marriages break up, and those dishes are gone forever. Sigh. I have the veg dishes and gravy boat, at least. And on the gone but not forgotten list? My pajama puppy!! I had, when I was a kid, a pink and white stuffed pooch that I loved. Somewhere along the way I got rid of him and... I miss pajama puppy!

And lots of other stuff. If I still had everything I regret getting rid of, though, I'd probably have to move and surrender the house to the junk. But still... now I'm afraid to get rid of some things, family things, especially, with sentimental value.

Now, this little item in the photo is something my mom made... the rotten picture doesn't do it justice (!), but it is a pomander made from a tea ball and glammed up with lots of beads. I know, right? Whoa, kinda.... weird!! Why have I kept it? I suppose I know no one else in the world will look upon the poor ugly little thing with any affection, and so, like the runt of the litter, the plain child, I will clutch it to my bosom and keep it. Forever. When I'm gone, someone else will have to deal with it. I may put a note in it, like a message in a bottle: To Whom It May Concern; "I may be ugly, but I was made with love and enthusiasm. Think of that before pitching me!"

So, kids, is there anything at all that you regret getting rid of? And part two of this question is, are you now holding onto some things that are just plain fugly (freakin' ugly), but you can't let go?

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