Losers Weepers

I live alone.

My place is very small.

So how is it that I’m losing things? I have searched and searched and some items have seemed to vanish. For example:

I have a heat bag filled with grain that can be put in the microwave and heated, to offer a few minutes of blessed relief from headaches, muscle and joint pain. Mine is long and narrow, perfect to place around my neck, or drape over my knee. It’s always close, but for a couple of weeks now, lost.

I remember going out the door last month, checking the mail, and saw it was the phone bill. I took it inside, set it down...somewhere, and went on my way. I have never seen it since, and believe me I’ve looked. I paid on line and all is well, the new one arrived the other day.

I planned to make binders for the grandkids, for their Lego instruction sheets. I bought the binders, filled them with plastic sleeves and then looked for all the Lego stuff I had cut out to make a collage for the front covers. (I seem to make everything more complicated). Can’t find those papers anywhere.

Today, I couldn’t find my charger, the one I use for my Kindle. All my chargers and electronic stuff, and my camera, are stored in a basket on the bookcase. Obviously, I didn’t put it back where it belonged. If I don’t find it, it would be just my luck to have it quit when I’m just about to find out ‘who-done-it’ in the book I’m reading.

I hate “misplacing” things which is why I try to be organized. I have twenty some odd photo boxes stacked on the shelf in my storage closet with all (OK, to be honest, only some) of my craft supplies. Things like glass paint, fabric paint, colored pencils, ribbon x3, collage stuff, stamps...you get the idea.

I also have one of those plastic towers with nine drawers. I had never seen a tall one like this, bought mine at Staples many years ago. Each drawer is labeled, and I am usually very good at putting stuff away. From the top: Tape, glue, glue guns, staplers, scissors, other cutting tools, rulers and measuring tapes, tools and one for assorted junk (everybody needs a junk drawer).

I have a couple of other ones, not as tall, with fewer and deeper drawers that keep all my art supplies. As I do mixed media collage, the supplies run from stencils to things that make texture like cheese cloth, bubble wrap, sea sponges and tissue paper.

I’ve been cleaning out, using up supplies, feeling good about making something creative out of the stuff, honest again, the stuff I’ve been hoarding. And as much as it pains me, I’m not amassing more, being more cautious in what I keep for that one moment, that ‘just in case I need it’ scenario.

Now that the holidays are winding down, I’ll get back into a routine, and purge some more. I badly need to clean, and always seem to approach it like spring cleaning. Too often I get waylaid by some new project using something uncovered that inspires me to create.

What can I say, that’s always been my way. Though my place has never reached the spotless stage, I have created some works of art I’m proud of.