day to day ridiculousness

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Tuesday Shoesday and Buying Multiples

Tuesday Shoesday is a thing, right?

Okay, do you remember when I waxed lyrical about these orthotic flip flops awhile back? (We can all thank Jen for the recommendation. Jen has the best recommendations.) (I am eventually going to buy a sous vide because of her, I know it.) (Oh my gosh, I should not have looked up the sous vide because it is hugely on sale.)

HEY. Let’s get it together, Suzanne. It is Tuesday SHOESday, not Tuesday SousVide-day because that would be ridiculous. We are talking about SHOES. Magical orthotic flip flops that I bought in August.

The thing is, I LOVE THE FLIP FLOPS. I wear them all the time. They have supplanted my sneakers as my inside-the-house shoes. And maybe this is obvious, but it is hugely preferable to slide on a pair of flip flops than to have to put on socks and then untie and tie sneakers, which is what I have been doing for YEARS since I developed plantar fasciitis. (And, despite acupuncture and foot stretching and horrifically painful shots – yes, multiple shots – at the podiatrist’s office, I feel like Wearing Shoes In The House is the thing that finally kicked my plantar fasciitis to the curb.) 

I have just realized this is kind of a meandering, ridiculous excuse for a blog post, so feel free to pop back in next time if you’re bored. I am going to continue typing, such is the dearth of viable blog post topics occurring to me lately, but that doesn’t mean you need to continue reading.

This is going to sound like a non-sequitur: like many bloggers, I participate in the Amazon affiliate program, which basically means I get a few pennies if someone clicks on an Amazon link on my blog and then goes on to buy something. Anyway, Amazon has noted my intense affection for the magical flip flops and keeps recommending that I link to them on my blog. This repeated prodding has had two – well, now three – results: 1. I get annoyed that my computer is paying such minute attention to everything I do and say which makes me feel recalcitrant and want to stubbornly NOT do what Amazon is wheedling me to do, and 2. I keep seeing these flip flops and how reasonably priced they are ($33!!!!!), and now 3. I am buying A THIRD PAIR.

You may or may not remember me mentioning that I like these flip flops so much that I bought a second pair – an outdoor pair, which has become my go-to flippy floppy. The thing is, I somehow bought the wrong size in the second pair. Gourd help me, I thought I accidentally bought a size 9, because that’s in the realm of possibility; I normally wear a size 8.5, but I size up in sneakers because that’s apparently what you have to do. Turns out I did not buy a size 9 or even a size 9.5; no, I bought a size 11. What? Why? How? And why did I ever think they fit even remotely well?!? (They are such comfy flip flops I did not even notice they were nearly three sizes too big.) 

Anyway, when a guest came over this weekend, a guest who also has Foot Issues, I had her try them on and they fit and she loves them. So now SHE has a pair and I need a new pair to wear outdoors. (Yes, our weather is – currently – still mild enough that I am wearing flip flops. I realize this cannot last.) And now I am buying a third pair. I don’t think this is how the affiliate thing is supposed to work; I’m not supposed to be influenced into buying things for myself. But, whatever. I love the shoes, I want the shoes, I own multiples of the shoes.

It’s not weird to like something so much that you buy multiples of that thing. It’s not. You do it, right? 

I have multiples of so many things. There’s this one white T-shirt from Madewell. Do I have four? I think I have four. I have two pairs of these dressier but also orthotic sandals (black and “Cuban sand”) and have worn them for more than a year and still love them. I have four or five pairs of black high-rise Salutation leggings from Athleta, and just bought a pair in navy; I wear leggings pretty much every day. I have at least three pairs of these skinny jeans, none of which fit, but which could, at some unknown point in the future. I must have a supply of these gel pens on hand at all times, not that I even handwrite things all that often, and they have a disturbing tendency to disappear. (Perhaps they are hanging out with the spoons?)

Hmm. This is beginning to sound a little pathological and I have only just scratched the surface. But I swear it’s LOGICAL and SMART.  Especially if you can buy several of something on a good sale. See? I am SAVING MONEY.

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Spoons (this is a post about silverware)

Where are all the spoons?

We have a spoon thief in our midst. Or a spoon exodus. Spoon seepage. 

I don’t know where they are going, or why. We don’t eat food anywhere in the house that’s not the kitchen, so I can’t imagine they are scattered throughout the house like some sad scavenger hunt. My husband brings a spoon with him to work every day, but he’s meticulous (I almost typed maniacal which is probably also accurate) about swapping out the old spoon for a new one each morning, so I am certain he isn’t hoarding spoons at the office. 

And yet, the spoons are evaporating as if into thin air! Six small spoons remain. SIX. By contrast, I have 16 large spoons, which makes me think we are down TEN WHOLE SPOONS. How? Why? Where? This seems to be a recent development – my husband estimates he started noticing the spoon sloughage in August. What happened in our lives in August that would result in mass spoon flight?

This is not ALL of our silverware, but it is a good idea of how alarming the spoon situation has become. Also, if you look closely, you will see that one of the small spoons is really a spork. There is no reasonable explanation for this.

Six spoons is barely enough for the three of us. But when we have guests, it’s most definitely not enough. Four family members joined us last week for dinner, and I stupidly served crème brûlée for dessert. A dessert that requires spoons. To ensure we had enough spoons for dessert, I was strict about making sure we didn’t use ANY small spoons for anything else, even though we had all sorts of little dishes that required spoons: sour cream, salsa, guacamole, onions. I have a couple of tiny silicone-tipped spoons leftover from Carla’s babyhood that I used as condiment spoons. We also have a couple of random spoons that we added to our collection in various ways; I think one came with a lunchbox set? Another I may have had since college? And Carla somehow acquired a spork somewhere, so that was set into service as well. Still, despite my vigilance, I ended up eating my crème brûlée with a fork. 

(I realize some readers may be wondering: why not just use the spoons for dinner, then handwash them before dessert? But that is not how I roll.)

Here’s another consideration: my husband and I kind of hate our flatware. I mean, we chose it, back when we got engaged. We both liked the style, we both liked the solidity and weight of each piece. But once we had all the sets of silverware in our possession, we quickly grew to despise them. 

They are made by Nambe, and the metal quickly developed brownish spots. The website, if I recall correctly, said this was normal and we could get rid of them by doing… something. But the spots kept appearing and eventually I just gave up. They aren’t DIRT spots. As with many things you ignore, they have become invisible to me with time.

Worse is that the rounded sides of the handles make it impossible to balance/lean a fork/knife/spoon against a plate or bowl. They just… slide right off whatever edge you’ve balanced them on and into your food. Super annoying.

Worst of all is that each piece – whose heft we originally loved – is so heavy, things constantly unbalance and flip off the edge of plates or bowls and onto the floor, flecking everything in the vicinity with food. SO ANNOYING. 

We have talked (grumbled) for YEARS about replacing our silverware. We’ve perused silverware sets in all sorts of retail establishments. But we always come back to: this silverware is perfectly serviceable and perfectly nice, we can’t just get rid of it and buy all new stuff. So we’ve soldiered on.

But now that the spoons have dwindled so severely… I’m wondering: is the spoon migration a good excuse for us to finally find new flatware? And if so, what would we choose? And if not, can I just buy more small spoons???? I suppose I should look into that, first. Hold, please. Nope, it seems that Nambe is no longer producing our nearing-twenty-year-old flatware. What would you do? 

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Twenty Ideas for Lists of Twenty in Honor of Engie’s Twentieth

It has been SO FUN to read the guest posts Engie has been sharing as part of her blog’s twentieth anniversary celebration. As you already know, Engie is a treasure. (And if you don’t already know, please go read her blog.) I have been reading her blog for nearly fifteen years. I was delighted when she asked me to write a post… and then I kind of psyched myself out about what to write. I had an initial thought, and then I wrote 1,290 words on that idea, and then… stopped because it was dumb. 

With the deadline bearing down on me (she only gave me five months to write a post) (Engie, I hope you know this is me poking extreme fun at myself), I came up with some potential post ideas:

  1. Twenty things I did twenty years ago that I don’t do any more
  2. Twenty things I’ve learned about myself and life in the past twenty years
  3. Twenty of the best foods I’ve ever eaten
  4. Twenty of my favorite books
  5. Twenty of my favorite book series
  6. Twenty books about which Engie and I disagree COMPLETELY (I am only assuming that we have this many books we disagree about)
  7. Twenty of my favorite Engie posts (how could I possibly choose only twenty????)
  8. Twenty favorite musical moments
  9. Twenty of my favorite gifts
  10. Twenty things I cannot live without (I mean, I probably could but I wouldn’t want to)
  11. Twenty words I wish I could work into conversation more regularly (“adumbration” is currently up there near the top)
  12. Twenty ideas for novels I haven’t yet written
  13. Twenty stories about pets I had in my childhood
  14. Twenty things to try when you can’t sleep
  15. Twenty of my favorite poems
  16. Twenty weird things that make me anxious (writing a guest post for a blogger I admire, apparently????)
  17. Twenty of the best rules for writing (and life???)
  18. Twenty things about my life today that would surprise twenty-years-ago me
  19. Twenty of my top pet peeves
  20. Twenty reasons blogging makes me a better person

(Why was I so completely fixated on a LISTICLE? Why couldn’t I come up with BETTER IDEAS? Doesn’t the word “twenty” look absolutely bonkers now? Twenty. Twenty.) 

I DID write a post, and I hope it’s not too dumb. If you haven’t already popped over to Engie’s blog to check it out, I’d be honored if you did so.