Archaeology Can Be Fun

I tell you, it's amazing the things you can find if you actually clean your closets. So far today I have unearthed a brown and white checked deerstalker hat (Sherlock Holmes style) originally belonging to Jeremy, a bag of anonymous clothes (going out, out, out), and wonder of wonders, the cardigan to a sweater set that Sarah gave me years ago that I thought I'd never see again. And I love that sweater set - it's black silk with beige edging and it came from Ann Taylor and it's elegant as hell.

And I'm about to be an officially retired person! As of the third Wednesday of February, I will be getting a check for $1229 a month for my Social Security, which I think is just peachy. Particularly when you consider that for a while, at least, I can collect my unemployment on top of that. Yahoo!

Meanwhile, I think that people who shorten things to get them into title lines on a computer screen should watch what they're doing. I went into my junk mail today to clean it out and found a message entitled "Got old unwanted Jew". Well, I guess Joshua qualifies (hell, he's over 60 now), but unfortunately it turned out to be a place that bought old bracelets and the like. You know, JEWelry. Damn.

And I do wish our wonderful President-Elect (less than four days away!) would stop with the Lincoln bits. Not that I don't think it's an admirable thing to shoot for - it's just that there were all kinds of Kennedy/Lincoln parallels drawn, and that makes me twitch. I'm already nervous about Obama's security because there are still rather large groups of people out there who are not in the least thrilled by his election. Maybe we could knock off the Lincoln references? Interestingly enough, nobody ever mentions JFK. Odd. Or maybe just careful. Sort of like not saying, "I don't need the umbrella, the weather man says it's not going to rain until late tonight."

Oh, I also found a bag of Christmas wrapping stuff on the closet shelf. I blow hot and cold on this subject. Some years I think I should save all the leftovers so I'll have a head start on next year, and some years I get sensible and know perfectly well I'll never A. remember I have them, or B. remember where I put them if I do remember I have them. And every year I say, damn it, next year I'm going to buy really fancy, elegant wrapping paper and real satin ribbons and make like a wrapping person at Bergdorf Goodman...but of course, I never have enough money after buying the actual presents, so I end up at Duane Reade buying crap like everybody else. And I used to be a whiz at wrapping presents, honest. Fancy bows and paper and little trimmings that hinted at the gift inside and all that professional stuff. Different color scheme every year...well, maybe in my (still hypothetical) new apartment.

I am planning to make a pilgrimage next week to The Container Store, because I am a container freak. It has always been a dream of mine to have everything neatly put in wonderful baskets and boxes and have drawer dividers and all that stuff. This occasionally happens. I actually bought a box for my jewelry (you know, all my old Jew) and I actually put my jewelry in it. And once a month or so I look in the box and think, "Gee, that pin would have looked really great on the blouse I wore two weeks ago." There are two reasons for this. One is that the jewelry box is on top of my dresser, above my eye level, and therefore I never think about it early in the morning (because except for my earrings and my rings, which never leave my body, almost the only time I wear jewelry is if I have a corporate job which requires decent clothing). The second reason is that I'm deeply lazy and tend to take off the pieces I wear most often (my nice pearls or my gold and pearl chain) and dump them on the bedside table. And of course, I wear them most often because they're right there on the bedside table where I can see them.

But I lust after containers. What I really love are beautiful wicker baskets, but I really can't go near those because of cats...cats LOVE wicker baskets. But I can go to The Container Store and plan my storage for my non-existent new apartment, for which I'm not looking because there's miles to go before this house ever gets on the market...and one of the things I will look for is a nice container for the leftover Christmas wrapping paper that I'm sure to save next year because of course by then I will be well organized for Christmas and able to afford the good stuff. Hey, did you see that pig flying overhead just then?

But I'll tell you, one thing that isn't pie in the sky is that the instant I get that Social Security check deposited in my account, Mother is off to buy herself a laptop, a mouse and a printer. I have had it with my big lump of a desktop. I have to buy it a new monitor, but that can be used, for heaven's sake. All I want it for is to have a computer of my own for the next few weeks and to be able to get all my files off my old computer and on my new one. And then, the bliss...I can get rid of that clunky damn desk that's taking up way too much space in my bedroom. Yay!

Love, Wendy