Yep, It's Christmas

Last night I filled up my new little rice cooker, plugged it in, and it didn't light up. I tried a different outlet. I fiddled with the warm/cook switch. I let it sit plugged in to see if it would cook the rice anyway. It did nothing. I bought it just last month, too. After only a month and a couple of uses it simply quit working, and at this point it's almost hilarious.

I am cursed or something, and I have no idea why. It's just the holidays, and the bad luck that comes for me every time they arrive.

Why do I think I'm cursed? I was busy that day going to the post office to follow up on a package I sent to Katherine with her Christmas and birthday presents, which the postal employees later neglected to scan before it left, and may be lost or stolen now, as we have no way to locate it. That was about two hundred dollars down the drain, along with some things that were handmade and that I can't replace.

This missing package aggravated me because at home I was also installing my new computer, which I bought because my old computer started failing (this would be the same computer that went on sale for $150.00 less three days after I bought it.) I'd also just gotten scammed out of $140.00 from an online software retailer that pulled a bait and switch on me (but since I paid with Paypal I was able to get my money back.)

A few days before my new computer arrived we had to go out and buy a new microwave, as the inside of the old one suddenly developed a hole that made it unsafe to use. Just before that we also had to buy a new dishwasher, as the timer on the old one quit working and it was too expensive to replace. Before that, I got the bad news about my clogged arteries getting worse. And now my new rice cooker died, which we're taking back this morning to hopefully get a refund (and we did because I save all my receipts!)

Why is it funny to me? I always have bad luck during the holidays -- you remember 2022's debacle -- but this year it's really gone over the top. I can't help but laugh as I go along for the grim ride. At least when I say December 26th is my favorite day of the year, my friends and family understand why. :)

Comments

Maria Zannini said…

It does seem the end of the year likes to finish you off. I can't even imagine why that happens to you.

I don't have a season for electronics, but I do try not to buy them around the holidays. I have the worst luck with electronics. I dread the year I have to replace a computer.

December 6, 2023 at 11:12 AM

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

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