Joyful Giving – paisley dreams

You know how sometimes you buy something, and it’s so beautiful but not quite right for you.

A month or so ago, I bought a beautiful paisley themed bed cover. The detail in it is so beautiful – it looks like silk although I can’t be sure. The paisley blue is framed by a magnificant gold border. I fell in love with it.

I *did* however wonder if my husband Neil (currently away for over two months) would like it. I mentioned I had lashed out and bought it at Vinnies Dickson, and he commented that I was going to make the bedroom all pretty and feminine while he was away.

You see, two years ago Neil was on a trip with a mate and while he was gone, I bought a new bedspread so that he could come home surprised by our new bedroom. He didn’t like it. To be more precise, he felt like it smelled like a shearing shed. He also came back with a cold and spent several days sick, in bed, with a bedspread he didn’t really like.

Anyway, I put on this bedspread and loved it. But then I realised it just wasn’t practical in our household. I couldn’t see Neil liking it, and more to the point, I could see that with two young kids at home it was likely to get wrecked.

Thus I gave it to my friend, Michele, who loved all things Indian and blogs at Food and Travel Secrets.

Kameez

I also gifted Michele a pretty peach, gold and silver kameez.

You might wonder why I had a kameez. That’s because around four years ago I had a house mate from Pakistan. I used to really admire her beautiful clothes and took to wearing a kameez around the house as well. It made sense as it was cool, comfortable, pretty – and I kind of fitted in.

But these days I don’t wear it – because I no longer fit into it! I tried to give it away on my Buy Nothing Project and it was a bit of a disaster. Long story, but the lady who put her hand up had a history of not always collecting. With this, she missed times. On the third time, I cracked it. And I’m not especially proud of myself. Buy Nothing is about slow giving and you need to be able to meet people where there are. She indicated she had some stuff on in her life, which probably eclipsed me wanting to make my goal of 1,000.

Lesson here: as a giftor, it’s important to be patient. And if you are receiving, make sure to communicate and ideally pick up on time.

Joyful Giving

King bed paisley and gold doona

Peach gold and silver kameez