It's The Little Things

OK, so I am probably like a lot of others out there that don't get around to wrapping Christmas presents until the last possible minute.  I always start out thinking I will wrap them as I buy them, but that never seems to happen.

So it was Christmas Eve and I had just started to assemble everything I needed.  Scissors, tape, name tags, ribbon, gift bags (oh, where would we be without gift bags?!) and, of course, wrapping paper.

I like wrapping presents more than just sticking them in a gift bag, but that is why they were invented, right?  To make it easier to wrap those things that are hard to disguise, hard to wrap, or for those of us that wait until the last moment! 

I had bought a multi-pack of wrapping paper a few weeks earlier and since I wait (got that now right?) that paper was already open so I didn't have to remove the wrapping that would have told me about the wondrous surprise awaiting me!  This was no ordinary wrapping paper.  Yes, it was pretty and sturdy and plenty long, but...BUT, there was something about this paper I had never seen before.  It had a graph-like design on the back.  Yup, perfectly straight lines to assist those of us that tend to whack a length off and try to make up for less that perfect cutting with tape and creative folding.

I was so impressed with my find that I left the sewing room (wrapping room for the season) and went to tell my elder daughter how pleased I was with this paper.  Apparently, we have had paper like this before.  She told me so.  She didn't discount the design, but it wasn't new.  Oh well, new or not, I was pleased.  Am pleased.  From now on when I buy wrapping paper I will not just grab whatever looks pretty, but I will look for whatever clue I missed this time out and be sure to get the paper with the helpful cutting graph on the reverse.

Sometimes, just sometimes, it is the little things!

The Hopeful Romantic

Homecoming!

My eldest got home last night from a week long trip.  We were all happy to see her, but oh my goodness, our dog gave her the welcome we were all feeling!

Wiggling, wagging, running circles around her, all with that joyous "You're home!" attitude! 
Everyone should get that sort of welcome when they return home.  I am not so good and wagging and wiggling, but I will be sure that the joy shows on my face!  How about you?

The Hopeful Romantic

An Off Day

I have a new favorite website - Pinterest.com!

So fun and such a potential for spending far too much time cruising through the photo, ideas, recipes, etc.  For this site it is a must to watch the clock so I don't get carried away and forget to do anything else!

There was a saying I saw there yesterday that could apply to my today.  "You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day."  Yup, that was me today...all day. 

It was my day off (from my paid job) and I had a list a mile long.  OK, not really a mile long, but long enough I really needed to make a serious dent in it.  Baking, decorating for Christmas, shopping, wrapping presents...you get the idea.

Problem was I was also trying hard to recover from whatever has crawled into my bod and kept me under the weather for the better part of a week.  Why do we say 'better part of the week'?  It most certainly was NOT the better part of my week.  Oh well, another thought for another time.

So the moment of knowing that nothing more productive was going to get done came early, very early.  Right after I crawled out of bed.  I felt cruddy and one look in the bathroom mirror confirmed I looked cruddy too.  Yuck!

So the list was set aside and replaced by a cozy comforter, a hot cup of tea and the TV remote.

Good thing it is almost tomorrow!

The Hopeful Romantic

A Sad New Discovery

I was just in the kitchen getting ready for Sunday dinner.  I love Sunday dinner!  It is a time when all four of us try our darnedest to sit down together for a meal.  The meal is not so important as the time together.  Still I do try to cook something we all enjoy and usually something out of the ordinary.

The menu tonight includes Lemon Roast.  It is my husbands favorite and the rest of us would never pass on this yummy dish.  (This post is not about the recipe, but I will post it at another time.)

As the onions getting translucent in the pan, I unwrapped the roast and there was my sad new discovery.  Under the label, on the side unseen until you peel off the plastic, was a small metal thingamabob.  It only took a second to recognize the its function.  It is designed to set off the alarms as you exit the store if the package has not gone through a scanner. 

Now, I know that people steal and that they do it for all sorts of reasons.  I will not condone those actions, but that this grocery store felt it necessary to insert this tiny device into the packaging made me sad.

Just one more time I feel the sadness at what our world has come to. 

The (usually) Hopeful Romantic