When we came to India in August 2011, we arrived with 18 checked bags, 6 carry-ons, one pocketbook and one briefcase. We waited for 6 weeks and then a shipment of stuff that was sent by air made it to India. But it wasn't until our things that were sent by sea arrived that we were truly "Over the Moon" excited! Although our sea shipment arrived just in time for Halloween, it felt like Christmas! Never had you seen a group of individuals so excited about opening boxes containing items such as: Smucker's Strawberry Preserves, Nestle Quik Powder, Cheez-its, Lucky Charms, Goldfish crackers, Hanover's Pretzels....I could go on for hours but I will spare you! :0) Although we hit up our local Bj's Wholesale Club multiple times before embarking on our journey to India, some of those items only lasted a couple days. Others a bit longer and believe it or not, some of the "staple" items we brought with us are STILL being used!
One of the things I ran out of a couple days ago was my jumbo, extensive, mammoth, immense, strapping, COLOSSAL collection of Q-tips!!! In all honesty, I never really thought much about them. Well. Until a couple of days ago, anyhow. We've been dipping into our stash for over a year and I never really thought two-toots about the nice, soft, cottony swabs that I was sticking in my ears. Shoot! I even had a rainbow assortment at one point. Pink. Green. Purple. Blue. When we finished one box we just opened another! I'm not even going to bother to do the math (because that never was really my forte) but if someone is so inclined to figure out roughly how many Q-tips our family of six has gone through in the last year and three months - Well, knock yourself out. I got as far as thinking. Two tips per person per day. So that's twelve Q-tips daily. Math wizards - You take over from here. All I know is that it is A LOT of Q-tips!!
So, ANYHOOOO! As I was saying, this week much to my shock and awe - WE RAN OUT OF Q-TIPS! I literally was in denial. I guess I was expecting the Q-tips to just keep replenishing themselves forever. You know, kinda like how the Israelites had unlimited manna from Heaven!? Yeah, well, my hygenic manna just ran out! :0/ I was shuffling through bins of various other items that we still have stockpiled and wouldn't you know it - I finally had to give up and realized, we really were OUT
of Q-tips. Gone. Done. Liquidated. Spent. I can tell that some of you are sitting there thinking, "So? What's the big HAIRY deal!?" Very good question! It's a big HAIRY deal because I KNEW it was going to be an ordeal finding them and typically when I notice we are running low in one of our store houses - I plan ahead so that when we ACTUALLY run out of something - I have a back-up in place.
(As a sidenote, we ran out of our favorite bars of soap MONTHS ago and I'm still trying to find a "bar" that we like. Arghhh. I've tried everything from English Lavendar bars of soap to bars of soap that claim to be refreshing, deoderizing and cleansing and I have found them to be lacking in every regard. We miss you Irish Spring!)
So, when I ran out of the Q-tips I knew I was in trouble. Yep. I was. I know it might not seem like that big of a deal but I've been looking for two days now for Q-tips! I had an exchange in one store (kinda the Indian equivalent of a CVS) with a store worker that went something like this: "Yes, Ma'am, Can I help you?" "Yes" I said, "I need Q-tips." Just like a confused puppy she cocked her head to one side and then said, "Q-tips, Ma'am?!" To which I replied, "Yes. You know. A stick. With cotton on the ends of it?" Hmmmm....I'm still getting the puzzled puppy look. So I took it to the next level & you'd have thought I was playing charades for a million dollars with the way I began to "act" out Q-tips for this woman! Hahaha! I touched my index finger to my thumb. Same motion with the other hand. I'm standing there with my index fingers and thumbs together sliding them horizontally in and out trying to show "stick". "Stick. You know, stick?" "Stick, Ma'am?!" "YES! STICK! With cotton on the ends. Q-tips?!" "Cotton, Ma'am" "Yes!! YES!! Cotton on the end of a stick." (Oh Geesh! Who am I kidding!? I was doing a horrible job explaining a Q-tip!) Ah hah! I know! We need more gestures. So I proceeded to stick my finger in my ear and twist it around and around like I was cleaning my ear. "Q-tip!?" Hmmm....She's still not following me. "Ooh! Cotton Swab?! You know COTTON SWAB?!" Maybe I just needed a "same as - only sounds different" type signal?! I thought saying the word, "cotton swab" was going to be the magic key that unlocked the door. Maybe the word "Q-tip" was what had her so confused. Nope. She looked at me with a dumb-founded look that suggested: "Ma'am might be mentally ill" and then she did it. She politely gave me the Indian head bobble. Smiled and said, "Uh. No, Ma'am". I know it. I know she thought I was crazy. She didn't say it but I saw it in her eyes & when she bobbled at me I knew I had failed. Argghhhhh!
I turned for the door and let myself out of the shop. Drat. No Q-tips. So, literally when Matt said, "What's on the 'List' for today" - I simply said, "Q-tips." Yep, that's pretty much all I was hoping to accomplish today. TWO additional shops later, filled with more charades & pantomimes, puzzlement & perplexity, I FINALLY found Q-tips! "HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!" Not terribly surprising though, I found them on my own. Clearly, I have ZERO skills in the art of charades. Everyone I asked gave me the same "look" and the same answer, "No, Ma'am. Sorry!" Well, By George! India DOES have Q-tips! According to the package they are called "Cotton Bulbs". That could have been my difficulty all along, aye?!?! I was just calling them the by the wrong name! I'm learnin'. I'm learnin'! It's all good! And I just sent Matt a text message with the good news of my accomplishment for the day and his reply!? "SSSWWWWEEEEETTT!" Yep. He's pretty excited too! It's the little things afterall, isn't it?!
One of the things I ran out of a couple days ago was my jumbo, extensive, mammoth, immense, strapping, COLOSSAL collection of Q-tips!!! In all honesty, I never really thought much about them. Well. Until a couple of days ago, anyhow. We've been dipping into our stash for over a year and I never really thought two-toots about the nice, soft, cottony swabs that I was sticking in my ears. Shoot! I even had a rainbow assortment at one point. Pink. Green. Purple. Blue. When we finished one box we just opened another! I'm not even going to bother to do the math (because that never was really my forte) but if someone is so inclined to figure out roughly how many Q-tips our family of six has gone through in the last year and three months - Well, knock yourself out. I got as far as thinking. Two tips per person per day. So that's twelve Q-tips daily. Math wizards - You take over from here. All I know is that it is A LOT of Q-tips!!
So, ANYHOOOO! As I was saying, this week much to my shock and awe - WE RAN OUT OF Q-TIPS! I literally was in denial. I guess I was expecting the Q-tips to just keep replenishing themselves forever. You know, kinda like how the Israelites had unlimited manna from Heaven!? Yeah, well, my hygenic manna just ran out! :0/ I was shuffling through bins of various other items that we still have stockpiled and wouldn't you know it - I finally had to give up and realized, we really were OUT
of Q-tips. Gone. Done. Liquidated. Spent. I can tell that some of you are sitting there thinking, "So? What's the big HAIRY deal!?" Very good question! It's a big HAIRY deal because I KNEW it was going to be an ordeal finding them and typically when I notice we are running low in one of our store houses - I plan ahead so that when we ACTUALLY run out of something - I have a back-up in place.
(As a sidenote, we ran out of our favorite bars of soap MONTHS ago and I'm still trying to find a "bar" that we like. Arghhh. I've tried everything from English Lavendar bars of soap to bars of soap that claim to be refreshing, deoderizing and cleansing and I have found them to be lacking in every regard. We miss you Irish Spring!)
So, when I ran out of the Q-tips I knew I was in trouble. Yep. I was. I know it might not seem like that big of a deal but I've been looking for two days now for Q-tips! I had an exchange in one store (kinda the Indian equivalent of a CVS) with a store worker that went something like this: "Yes, Ma'am, Can I help you?" "Yes" I said, "I need Q-tips." Just like a confused puppy she cocked her head to one side and then said, "Q-tips, Ma'am?!" To which I replied, "Yes. You know. A stick. With cotton on the ends of it?" Hmmmm....I'm still getting the puzzled puppy look. So I took it to the next level & you'd have thought I was playing charades for a million dollars with the way I began to "act" out Q-tips for this woman! Hahaha! I touched my index finger to my thumb. Same motion with the other hand. I'm standing there with my index fingers and thumbs together sliding them horizontally in and out trying to show "stick". "Stick. You know, stick?" "Stick, Ma'am?!" "YES! STICK! With cotton on the ends. Q-tips?!" "Cotton, Ma'am" "Yes!! YES!! Cotton on the end of a stick." (Oh Geesh! Who am I kidding!? I was doing a horrible job explaining a Q-tip!) Ah hah! I know! We need more gestures. So I proceeded to stick my finger in my ear and twist it around and around like I was cleaning my ear. "Q-tip!?" Hmmm....She's still not following me. "Ooh! Cotton Swab?! You know COTTON SWAB?!" Maybe I just needed a "same as - only sounds different" type signal?! I thought saying the word, "cotton swab" was going to be the magic key that unlocked the door. Maybe the word "Q-tip" was what had her so confused. Nope. She looked at me with a dumb-founded look that suggested: "Ma'am might be mentally ill" and then she did it. She politely gave me the Indian head bobble. Smiled and said, "Uh. No, Ma'am". I know it. I know she thought I was crazy. She didn't say it but I saw it in her eyes & when she bobbled at me I knew I had failed. Argghhhhh!
I turned for the door and let myself out of the shop. Drat. No Q-tips. So, literally when Matt said, "What's on the 'List' for today" - I simply said, "Q-tips." Yep, that's pretty much all I was hoping to accomplish today. TWO additional shops later, filled with more charades & pantomimes, puzzlement & perplexity, I FINALLY found Q-tips! "HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!" Not terribly surprising though, I found them on my own. Clearly, I have ZERO skills in the art of charades. Everyone I asked gave me the same "look" and the same answer, "No, Ma'am. Sorry!" Well, By George! India DOES have Q-tips! According to the package they are called "Cotton Bulbs". That could have been my difficulty all along, aye?!?! I was just calling them the by the wrong name! I'm learnin'. I'm learnin'! It's all good! And I just sent Matt a text message with the good news of my accomplishment for the day and his reply!? "SSSWWWWEEEEETTT!" Yep. He's pretty excited too! It's the little things afterall, isn't it?!
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