Maybe it isn't something you ever wanted, or maybe it just doesn't work right, or maybe it doesn't go with everything you already own?
And maybe it isn't even from someone you like?
Why do we keep these things? I feel almost like they have an expiration date - we have to suffer along with them for a certain period of time before we can rid ourselves of them.
Right? Or am I the only one who does this?
I got this stupid pot from someone.
It is supposed to be a "salsa pot" - it came with seeds to plant in each little pocket and in the center - cilantro, peppers, tomatoes.
I wrote a whole rant about it here. The stupid pot didn't come with enough soil (or any drainage holes) and anyway, the thing is so tiny that unless the tomatoes, peppers and cilantro seeds are from the Munchkinland Nursery, those plants ain't all fitting in that pot.
(And while I was searching for a photo of it - forgetting I had posted one to flickr - I found that the person I don't really like had bought it on clearance at Target for $3.74 - which shows how much she values ME, too! It is the thought that counts, right? Or something.)
So anyway the stupid pot sat outside on the window shelf with the geraniums for almost a year because it was in its waiting period to be sent to the thrift store or to the rubbish bin.
On Friday, I wanted to burn some incense due to an unfortunate dog diet accident and I stuck a stick of incense in the soil and put it right outside the front door with the door open, due to my stupid overly sensitive nose.
The incense burned out and the mailman came. Goldie ran outside to menace the mailman at the gate, as she is wont to do. On the way, she knocked the stupid pot off the porch and shattered it into about 50 pieces.
Goldie killed the Dreaded Object when I didn't have the courage to do so. She is a good, good girl!
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We got "the dreaded object" for our wedding, 43 years ago. It's a hand made ceramic punch bowl, the head and neck of a woman, whose hat (which has fruit on it) comes off to reveal the punch bowl inside. The bowl is too small to ever be used as a punchbowl. The thing is ugly as sin.
I don't know why we still have it. The people who gave it to us are dead and we weren't close friends to begin with. But it fills an odd shaped hole in my etagere, so I keep it.
Karma! Love it. :)
I would like to say that I break stuff like that on purpose, but I never have. And I don't want to leave it out where it *could* get broken because I don't want to look at them. I try to get rid of them when I move, but somehow they make it through the cuts.
I dunno, man. I just dunno.
I would be happy to give up gift giving and receiving altogether. It's such a waste of time/money/energy and no matter how hard I try, I can't get it right.
I'll take a good conversation and a cold cocktail any day over even the nicest piece of stuff.
Bev - I think you've got yourself a TREASURE in that punch bowl. That's the kind of thing I'd keep forever!!
I just got rid of the Dreaded Housecoat last night. It has a permanent smell to it, has snags all over, and never fit well, but we've let it bug us for almost eight years. I felt triumphant dumping that thing in the trash.
If only there was a creature big enough to destroy the boat that's been sitting on our driveway for 20 years.
that sounds like about 50% of my belongings, including things i may have stupidly purchased for myself. i have the packrat gene along with the guilt gene, so getting rid of things is difficult. breakage is a good 'accidental' way to go.
i have to agree with mandajuice, bev, that punch bowl sounds fabulous!
my mom. i love her. she's wonderful. but she routinely gets me things that i would NEVER in a million years have on my own, and not in a good way. a couple of years ago, she got me a turquoise christmas sweatshirt with a decorated tree and kittens on it... and rhinestones, little mirrors, fuzzy "garland"... omg. it was almost the most hideous thing i'd ever seen and she thought it was WONDERFUL. *headdesk*
So, I see you've met my brother! While he occasionally get it right, he most often gives my mom and I sweatshirts/fleece jackets with some sort of horrid applique on it, most often a Disney character. Now, Mom and I have NEVER liked Disney in any capacity, and we are certainly not appliqued clothing types, so we're always joking, "Has he MET us?" But he means well, so I always feel guilty about throwing the stuff away. Last weekend I gave the latest fleece to my 11 yr-old step daughter, who loves it. So, good.
Maybe it was on sale for 3.74 because it was a year after she gave it to you?
I wish you could have entered the sweatshirt in the my Christmas sweatshirt contest, Ericka.
And Anon, the 3.74 was from the same time frame when she gave it to me. There is a whole website that tracks Target bargains week by week. The things you learn on the internet.
I used to keep Dreaded Objects forever but after my last move, when I realized how much unwanted crap I'd accumulated, I decided NO MORE. These days when I get a D.O. I put it in the giant pile of donations near the front door. I don't feel guilty at all, except for the few times a gift giver has visited and the D.O. is sitting in plain view on the top of the donations pile. Oops!
PS to Bev Sykes: The dreaded punch bowl sounds AWESOMELY bad! I kind of want it.
I have a bunch of that stuff, as does anyone who has had a wedding/wedding shower, but I've gotten better at getting rid of it quicker. If it is a decent present but just not something I want, it either goes in the "regift" box in the closet or to charity.
Love this post,and i had those kind of things too.;D Hope to see more from you.;D
http://www.soloden.com
The "dreaded object" works well for those office holiday "white elephant" gift exchanges.
I no longer wait for the expiration period. But I have been Goodwilling Dreaded Objects. I like Goldie's Smash Therapy better.
Very good dog! I hope you gave her 2 treats!!
Hugs!!
Good girl!
HAHAHAHAHA! A perfect story in every way.
I am hoping to someday drop a box of mismatched teacups from my husband's grandmother. I know that's nasty, but they're really nothing special. She just collected teacups, they don't mean a thing to hubby and it's just another box in the basement.
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