Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Throwing in the Towel

I had a habit that I seldom use any more. If I needed to remember to do something, I would displace an object, often tossing it on the floor. Later, it would help to remind me of whatever it was that I should do. It worked for many a year.

Of course we now have Alexa and Siri and texts to remind of of things, but I reverted to the old method on Sunday evening.

I did it for Sue's benefit this time, just in case she would wake up and see me gone and then worry.

I have a dish towel that hangs of my den door. It's a team logo towel, so we don't use it for dishes. When I would head out with the camera in the early morning in years past, I would drop it by my den door. It would tell Sue that I was out on a shoot.

This recent night, I was not on a shoot, but the timing was so unusual that I also left a message.

← Shoppers is a ubiquitous Canadian pharmacy. I knew it would be open until midnight, and I desperately needed floss.

This sort of flossing predicament hadn't happened for a long time because I have been using better floss. It had been so long since I haven't had a flossing incident that I had forgotten about the issue and purchased a cheaper brand.

What is the issue? You ask.


It is that cheap floss is prone to shredding in some of my crowded and perhaps somewhat jagged teeth. It gets stuck in there, and it feels terrible.

I couldn't get it out, so in some desperation, I decided to go the Shoppers to purchase good floss.

It took a lot more flossing with the good stuff before I finally extricated the bad floss from my teeth.

Sue slept through it all, but it was worth taking a minute to drop the towel and write the note, just in case.


23 comments:

Barbara Rogers said...

What a wild and crazy life you lead, AC!

Boud said...

Domestic comms! Interesting method. around here I'd probably pick up the thing, forgetting why I put it there!

DJan said...

I've had that happen to me, too, with a piece of floss I just cannot dislodge. I like your way of letting Sue know where you are.

Ed said...

We have an app on our phones that allow us to track the movement of each other in times like that. The modern version of your towel on the floor.

Sandra said...

This wouldn't work with Mark. He'd never notice the towel and probably not the note, either!

Anvilcloud said...

We have the app too. The towel is just an alert. I didn't wake to wake her, but if she happened to get up, she'd see it. She didn't. 😊

PipeTobacco said...

I have had that floss issue too. My teeth are damn tight to each other. I do not know if you have tried this, but for me it is extremely helpful. I no longer use regular (even good brands) of regular floss….. instead I use dental TAPE which is floss, but it is a similarly narrow but also broader band of floss. I have much less shredding with dental tape than regular dental floss. I also prefer waxed floss or tape over I waxed as it allows me to more easily nudge the tape/floss through the very narrow gaps without having to apply as much force.

PipeTobacco

PipeTobacco said...

“I waxed” was meant to be “unwaxed” in the above. My apologies.

PipeTobacco

RedPat said...

Cheap floss isn't worth it.

Jeanie said...

Cheap floss is definitely not a bargain. As Rick often says, "there is nothing more expensive than cheap." (Or free.) Pay now or pay later! Love the towel method.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

The towel on the floor was a novel way to let Sue know you would be out, but I wondered why not just write a short note? I know what you mean about floss getting stuck in btween teeth, very incomfortable.

Cloudia said...

I hate when that happens too! Also have used your memory tool. Great minds!

Red said...

good to leave something meaningful when you go away unexpectedly.

Margaret said...

Good floss is very important when you need it. My love of popcorn has some unfortunate side effects! Glad you could get it resolved.

Anvilcloud said...

I needed something visual for Sue. Once she saw the towel, she might find the note.

DrumMajor said...

Caution: you're now getting old enough to not remember what you threw the scarf down for. The note helps. Hope Sue remembers your old trick. As another matter of age, don't trip on that scarf in the floor. I had a friend who worried about needing to leave her house in case of fire. She kept all of her important papers in a plastic laundry basket near the garage door. At a glance, it looked like loose trash. You think kinda like her. Try some Plackers: floss on little u-shaped holders that help dislodge stuff. Linda in Kansas

Debby said...

I actually have to say that I have never before met someone who had a dental floss emergency before.

Val Ewing said...

If I tossed a towel on the floor, hubby would toddle around it ... I leave him a note under his coffee cup so he can't miss it if he gets up while I am on a morning walk.
The note has to be printed large!
:)
For tasks, I use the old method. A list on paper that has to be checked off. Boring.
Good floss is worth it.

Rosalea said...

Love that! Sometimes I remember something that needs doing next day, when I am all comfy in bed...so I take something out of the bedside table and drop it on the mat by the bed, knowing that I'll see it, or step on it in the morning...thus remembering...

NGS said...

My rule of thumb is "the floor is not a place for storage," so if something is on the floor, I need to act on it. Just today I threw the dog's leash on the floor because I needed to replace the roll of waste bags. I think that's a smart way to remember to act on something!

Jenn Jilks said...

I tend to do this, as well. Not on the floor, but in a prominent place. Ain't old age grand?!

DB Stewart said...

I like this strategy too. As for cheap floss, ditto. Sigh.

Jenny the Pirate said...

Good system. You need a WaterPik! Just saying. Delightful either before or after flossing (I too am an inveterate flosser but I use Plackers exclusively because I can't stand winding floss around me pirate digits). As to reminders, I like to set our oven to come on at a certain time and bake something for me while we are gone to church. Only, often I prepare the food to be cooked and put it in the fridge to stay cool because I'm thinking a few hours ahead. Then I set the oven: come on at 6 pm, reach 350, cook the food, cut off at 8pm by which time we're home and ready to eat. Only, recently I did all of that but neglected to take the food out of the fridge and put it in the oven. At some point on the way to our destination I remembered that I'd left the food in the fridge and I fretted all evening that my oven was on with nothing in it. UGH! So yesterday afternoon I made up a few big thick burgers and set them in the fridge and programmed the oven to cook them while we were gone to midweek service at church. Then I put a note on the door that I would see just as I walked out: BURGERS it said. It worked! I saw the white square on the door when I entered the kitchen and popped the burgers into the oven. Et voilà! They were good. xoxo