There Must Be a Lesson in This

A few days ago, I mentioned losing some quilting fabric I had purchased in Paris, France. I "lost" it in the house after tidying up. Fortunately, it did turn up again... several years later!

I have written other blog posts on how easily I lose things: I take great pains to find just the "right" place for them... and then forget where that "right" place is!

Recently it happened again! Last summer I decided that the time had come to organize my digital photos. A lot of them were on my old computer. Should that computer suddenly break down, I would lose years of pictures. So I painstakingly transferred them all to a memory stick. In fact, I transferred them to two memory sticks (in order to have a backup copy...)

Then the other day, a former student contacted me. After chatting a while, I offered to share some digital photos I had... But when I looked for them, I couldn't find them!

I then realized that so many memories on such a small (easy-to-lose) device was really pushing my luck! I need online backups of all my photos - perhaps on Shutterfly - or Picasa - or BOTH!

(And I should never keep the back up memory stick with the other!!)

Maybe I need to follow my daughter's advice and burn all my photos onto a CD. Perhaps onto 2 CDs - then keep a one and give the other to a friend.

Or maybe I should give lots of copies away. Years ago one of my friends lost most of her possessions in a house fire. She later commented that the only photos she now had were ones she had originally given away to family and friends, which they were now returning to her.

Well, the good news is that I did eventually find my memory sticks. (Yes, the original and the backup were in the same place!) How did I find them? My usual method - by going back and looking again... in the most logical place I would put them...

In fact, I've posted a blog about that strategy too!

My (Personal) Secret for Finding Things

I am constantly losing things (or, rather, misplacing them...) In any event, I am often running around looking for things I can't find. A favorite used to be my keys... I was always trying to hunt them down.

Over the years, I have developed a strategy or two to help me find my misplaced items.

After a few minutes of fruitless panic, rushing around, I eventually stop and ask myself, If I were to put them away now, where would I put them?

And surprisingly I usually go straight to where they are.

But as for my keys - looking for them became frustrating and time-consuming - as I'd drop them unconsciously somewhere in the house. And I'd begin looking for them just as I was rushing out the door. So I found an almost fool-proof strategy to avoid losing my keys: I now tie them to my purse with a lanyard or string! And fortunately, I rarely misplace my large purse.

The Joy of Forgetfulness...

Every year from August on, I begin to pick up Christmas gifts for my family. I wrap them, tag them, and hide them away in my closet. When Christmas time approaches, I count how many gifts I have for each person in my family, and try to even out the numbers - I don't want anyone to feel left out!

On Christmas morning, I am as surprised as the ones opening the gifts - as I have totally forgotten what I bought them!

Me saying - in all sincerity - What did I get you? has become an old family joke!

But I'm forgetful at other times too. My worst "forgetful" experience involves a skateboard I hid one winter, so that the kids wouldn't practice on the hard basement floor (though I'm not sure it is any harder than pavement). Maybe I felt they'd be crashing into walls and doorways. In any event, I hid the brand-new birthday-gift skateboard, my daughter's pride and joy. I remember thinking, the kids will find it here. I'd better find a better place... So I moved it to a "better place" and it has never been found since! I eventually paid my daughter for the skateboard that I had "lost." Years later, renovators had to remove walls after our basement flooded.

Let me know if you find a skateboard, I told the builders, but they never did.

The closest I may have gotten was once when a group of kids was playing hide and seek in the basement. After a while, I came downstairs and said, By the way, if any of you find a skateboard, let me know. I lost one.

I saw one, one little girl said.

Where? I asked.

Er, I don't remember, was her reply.

The reason I'm mentioning all this is that I have discovered that my blog site allows me to prepare blogs days ahead of time - and set the date I want them to pop up. Ideas come to me in bunches, so I work on several at a time. Sometimes I have 3 and 4 ready at a time - so I set the dates they are to appear, and move on.

And of course, when I do that, I forget what I wrote about... so those prepared-in-advance blogs are always a surprise to me too!