Doohickey
Years from now (hopefully), when my wee weary soul finally begins to make its journey over those grey seas, they will rummage through my closets and find all those buttons in my sewing kit. And they'll wonder why they smell like almonds.
To get to the bottom of this mystery, one must travel back a few weeks (from now) - back to India where it all began. (Alternately, they can look on the outside of the box that the buttons are in and figure out that the box held almonds at some point of time). Anyways, let's take the cinematic route. To India - where it all began. We (C,his parents, my parents, and I) flew from Hyderabad to Delhi and back as part of our sightseeing tour. We had paid for snacks along with our tickets (that meal business is a whole another blog) so we got our choice of an assortment of nuts, cookies,etc. So far so good. But here is the key. These snacks all arrived in cute little tins/boxes instead of the microscopic plastic packages that we're used to in our travels here. I was taken by these colorful containers and promptly instructed my mom to hold on to all our boxes until further notice. The poor woman carried these random containers in her hand bag for the next few days - makes one wonder what else she has tucked away in that bag, doesn't it? Anyways, we got back to Hyderabad for the last couple of busy days before we flew back here. And at the airport just before we went through security, much to C's consternation, my mom produced the above mentioned boxes. Under his (incredulous and) watchful eye, I picked three boxes to bring home with me. When asked how I planned to use these containers, I casually said "Oh, I have some ideas". Since then, he's been biding his time to throw them in the recycle bin and I have been religiously guarding them. The trick is to keep moving where I store them so he can never complain about them taking up too much space in that particular spot.
Anyways, now that I am officially a bum, I decided to spend some time in proving a point :
Step 1 : Pull out my sewing kit and spend a significant chunk of my day opening these super tiny plastic bags and pulling out spare buttons from them. If you've ever bought any piece of clothing that contains a button (whether purposeful or ornamental), you know what I'm talking about. They all come with a spare button/buttons packaged along with them. I also found out that this is an excellent form of torture. Note to self for if/when we have kids. I also came across something that amused me quite a bit. I found a package where the makers/sellers had thoughtfully included a tiny piece of thread along with the spare button. Like so :
I started thinking of a situation when this would make sense. For example : I'm hiking in the high mountains and all of a sudden, pop a button on my shirt, say. I immediately start to panic - the shame of being short of a button is too much to bear. I wonder how to save the situation when I remember that I cleverly saved away the spare button and the thread and am carrying them with me, just for such a situation. But wait - that's not enough! I triumphantly produce the necessary needle from the pocket that I've been carrying it in, just in case, ignoring the trickle of blood making its way down from the pocket that's been housing this needle all along. I have to admit this thoroughly amused me for a short while. Now you know why I'm fully capable of entertaining myself.
Anyways, getting back to step 1. So I pooled all these buttons into one box and voila! I had a handy button box. One down. Two to go.
Step 2 : This was easy. I was already headed down this track. I cleaned up the cookie tin, figured it was the right size and dumped all my rolls of thread into it. My current sewing kit was a mess with all the threads, needles, scissors and various other oddments all mixed in. Separate, organize and streamline is my new mantra so this was the natural next step. Two done now.
Step 3 : And finally, the piece de resistance. I surpassed myself with this one. C & I are about to set out on a one month trip to New Zealand and Fiji ( yes, we are ridiculously lucky that way) and I'd been reading about what to pack for such long trips. One thing listed on multiple sites is a small sewing kit for emergencies. So I packed a couple of rolls of thread, a couple of needles and a few buttons into .... a handy box that we could carry easily on our trip! Here it is
Phew! So I get to keep these happy containers in my life and that too with pride. Mission accomplished.
As you probably figured out, I am also playing with my macro lens again so here's a few pics of my succulents. Yes, they can be way better but I couldn't seem to keep my hands steady enough for the real crisp pictures. Probably the excitement of saving the boxes ;-)
Tomorrow, we set off on our travels. It should be quite interesting - it will be the longest trip we've ever undertaken, single or together and it will be the farthest we have traveled. Here's to safe, happy and fun travels!
And so, triumphantly & hopefully, to bed.
To get to the bottom of this mystery, one must travel back a few weeks (from now) - back to India where it all began. (Alternately, they can look on the outside of the box that the buttons are in and figure out that the box held almonds at some point of time). Anyways, let's take the cinematic route. To India - where it all began. We (C,his parents, my parents, and I) flew from Hyderabad to Delhi and back as part of our sightseeing tour. We had paid for snacks along with our tickets (that meal business is a whole another blog) so we got our choice of an assortment of nuts, cookies,etc. So far so good. But here is the key. These snacks all arrived in cute little tins/boxes instead of the microscopic plastic packages that we're used to in our travels here. I was taken by these colorful containers and promptly instructed my mom to hold on to all our boxes until further notice. The poor woman carried these random containers in her hand bag for the next few days - makes one wonder what else she has tucked away in that bag, doesn't it? Anyways, we got back to Hyderabad for the last couple of busy days before we flew back here. And at the airport just before we went through security, much to C's consternation, my mom produced the above mentioned boxes. Under his (incredulous and) watchful eye, I picked three boxes to bring home with me. When asked how I planned to use these containers, I casually said "Oh, I have some ideas". Since then, he's been biding his time to throw them in the recycle bin and I have been religiously guarding them. The trick is to keep moving where I store them so he can never complain about them taking up too much space in that particular spot.
Anyways, now that I am officially a bum, I decided to spend some time in proving a point :
Step 1 : Pull out my sewing kit and spend a significant chunk of my day opening these super tiny plastic bags and pulling out spare buttons from them. If you've ever bought any piece of clothing that contains a button (whether purposeful or ornamental), you know what I'm talking about. They all come with a spare button/buttons packaged along with them. I also found out that this is an excellent form of torture. Note to self for if/when we have kids. I also came across something that amused me quite a bit. I found a package where the makers/sellers had thoughtfully included a tiny piece of thread along with the spare button. Like so :
I started thinking of a situation when this would make sense. For example : I'm hiking in the high mountains and all of a sudden, pop a button on my shirt, say. I immediately start to panic - the shame of being short of a button is too much to bear. I wonder how to save the situation when I remember that I cleverly saved away the spare button and the thread and am carrying them with me, just for such a situation. But wait - that's not enough! I triumphantly produce the necessary needle from the pocket that I've been carrying it in, just in case, ignoring the trickle of blood making its way down from the pocket that's been housing this needle all along. I have to admit this thoroughly amused me for a short while. Now you know why I'm fully capable of entertaining myself.
Anyways, getting back to step 1. So I pooled all these buttons into one box and voila! I had a handy button box. One down. Two to go.
Step 2 : This was easy. I was already headed down this track. I cleaned up the cookie tin, figured it was the right size and dumped all my rolls of thread into it. My current sewing kit was a mess with all the threads, needles, scissors and various other oddments all mixed in. Separate, organize and streamline is my new mantra so this was the natural next step. Two done now.
Step 3 : And finally, the piece de resistance. I surpassed myself with this one. C & I are about to set out on a one month trip to New Zealand and Fiji ( yes, we are ridiculously lucky that way) and I'd been reading about what to pack for such long trips. One thing listed on multiple sites is a small sewing kit for emergencies. So I packed a couple of rolls of thread, a couple of needles and a few buttons into .... a handy box that we could carry easily on our trip! Here it is
Phew! So I get to keep these happy containers in my life and that too with pride. Mission accomplished.
As you probably figured out, I am also playing with my macro lens again so here's a few pics of my succulents. Yes, they can be way better but I couldn't seem to keep my hands steady enough for the real crisp pictures. Probably the excitement of saving the boxes ;-)
Tomorrow, we set off on our travels. It should be quite interesting - it will be the longest trip we've ever undertaken, single or together and it will be the farthest we have traveled. Here's to safe, happy and fun travels!
And so, triumphantly & hopefully, to bed.
Comments
About the third box, you should add a tiny scissors if you ahve one. Very handy too on a trip.
And band aids but that can be another box :-)
Finally... lucky you!! that trip sounds fantastic. Hope you blog about it!