A Day of Moments

Today was a day full of Moments. Technically, I guess every day is full of moments, and depending on how you define a moment, that number could be quite large, or small....whatever. I am not referring to just any old "moment" - no siree. I am talking about a Moment worth mentioning.

Most of the Moments I have lately are of the Senior variety, but today was blessedly free of those. Some moments are DUUH, and I have a lot of those. And some are the result of a pleasant surprise...those are my favorites!

Let us begin.

First, I remembered my coffee mug! So what, you say? Well, I am getting old and forgetful, but I do remember to bring home my coffee mug once in a while to give it a through cleaning. I remembered to bring it home one day early last week, but I kept forgetting to bring back a replacement, so for a WHOLE WEEK I went to get coffee and found I had no recepticle in which to put it. Rats! Funny story - Sunday morning, O'Dark Thirty, as I stood at my desk in desperate need of caffeine, my co-worker (who also, surprisingly, like me, volunteered to be there at that hour) came walking up to me with a stack of styrofoam cups. BIG cups. I was saved!!! So you see, the fact that I actually remembered to bring back my coffee mug today was really a BIG DEAL. K?

Second, on the drive in to the office today, I recalled the pack of cards I'd made on Sunday shortly after I'd gotten home from the O'Dark Thirty work thing and while the caffeine and sugar were still in full throttle and I was still verticle. I was so proud of myself. The impetus behind the pack o'cards, in addition to using my Papertrey stuff, was that I needed to create a hand-stamped item to send to someone. You see, last month I won a Demo contest on SCS, and the previous month's winner sent me something, and as last month's winner I need to send something to this month's winner. Then it hit me. Duuuh, if this was a Demo contest, shouldn't I be sending something made with SU items? Rats, again! So now I have two packs of cards I can sell this Summer, and I needed to do something all SU. Here it is:

Recipe (All products by SU): Stamps - Fancy Flexible Phrases; Paper - Soft Sky, Groovy Guava, Whisper White, Afternoon Tea DS paper; Ink - Basic Brown; Other - Scallop punch, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" punches, White gel pen, Soft Sky double-stitched ribbon.

Yeah, I know, the stamp set is retired, but it is still all SU, and I feel so much better about the whole thing.

Third, this sad news: "Ola Brunkert, a former drummer for ABBA and one of only two musicians to play on all the Swedish pop superstars' albums, died in a freak accident at his home on the Spanish island of Mallorca." For those of you who are as old as me, and lived through the 60's and 70's and remember enough about them to talk about it, this is a Sad moment. ;-(

Fourth, when I checked my snail mail this evening, I saw that I ... GOT FAN MAIL!!! Fan Mail!!! Woo-hoo! Two of my beloved readers SENT ME MAIL! What a rush! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!! A Happy moment!!!

Fifth, also in my snail mail was this month's sampler package from Really Reasonable Ribbon. More ribbon - yes! This was another Happy moment.

Sixth, I just got an email that my local stamp store is closing their retail location. Why? Their rent, in an already high-rent area called Montgomery County, MD, is being raised beyond an attainable level. Kinda reminds me about the day my OB/GYN told me that he was not taking any more OB patients...basically getting out of the "delivering babies" biz and going to something less enjoyable, but more affordable like the "infertility" biz. If you could have seen the look on this guy's face when he delivered my child, you could tell it was what he lived to do. (#$&#&$ Malpractice Insurance costs meant he'd have to deliver 150 more babies every year to pay his premiums, which meant he'd never see his wife and his own kids. I think it is very sad that these things take all the joy out of life. A Doctor no longer able to afford to deliver babies. A Stamp Store no longer able to sell enough additional product to stay in a brick-and-mortar location so they have to close. So sad. Okay, maybe you cannot compare a Doctor and a Stamp Store, but they are both still sad, sad, sad.

And last, but not least, a Domestic moment. These are few and far between here, and I avoid them at all costs. I only participate in Domestic Moments when I have no other choice, and tonight was one of those times. I actually filled up the dishwasher last week and ran it. Being single, and rarely eating dinner, and five days a week not being here the rest of the day, I do not generate a lot of dirty dishes, so it takes me 10 days to 2 weeks to fill the dishwasher. Once I do run it, though, I prop open the door to let things dry. As long as there are clean dishes in the dishwasher, I work out of it if I need something, and then put the dirty dishes in the sink. When the sink is full, and I cannot move in the kitchen (tonight, I stood looking at the counters, in desperate need of a few square inches to put something), I know it is time. So I emptied the dishwasher, washed the dishes in the sink, and ... I have counter tops once again! We'll do this again 2 weeks from now, and not a moment sooner!

Okay, one more. On the way home tonight I went to the PO to mail something (I sold some of my TAC stamps - YAY!) and after I survived the parking lot and made my way inside, I discovered that almost every person in the county was in line for the counter. So, being resourceful, and having already obtained the shipping amount necessary to post this particular package, I got in line for the do-it-yourself scale thingy so I could print the postage label. Turns out the REST of the people in the county were in that line. At this point the Analyst in me kicked in. Hmmm ... let's look at our options. I could just leave, and mail the package tomorrow...nope; I'd promised her I'd mail it today since she'd paid me on time. I looked at the growing line(s)...nope, not gonna do that. But wait, there are postage machines here, too! And I have cash on me! This was the Resourceful moment. So I wormed my way through the gathering mob, purchased stamps, slapped the correct amount on the package, pocketed the rest, slipped the package into the drawer, and bailed outta there! The line was still growing. Those poor, poor people.

So there you have it - a day of Moments. Some Happy, some Sad, some Resourceful, one rare Domestic one, and a DOH for good measure. I'd call that a well-rounded day!