If you were following along on Instagram, you already know this story – so I’ll be brief. This earring is part of a pair of silver earrings that I have owned for many years. They’re long and dangly. The silver looks good with my hair. They’re my favorites.

The night before last, I was in the kitchen near the counter when I realized that one of them was falling out of my ear. I heard the sound of the earring scooting across the wood floor. I assumed it had ended up in the living room. So Don and I looked everywhere for it. Under tables, under furniture, under the baseboard heating, under rugs. We pulled out the piano, the stove and the refrigerator.

Nothing. It was as if the earring had flown away.

It was getting late, so we agreed to try again in the morning.

But yesterday morning, Don was busy working on the snowblower with a mechanically-inclined friend of his, so yours truly started looking on her own. Now, the night before, while down on my knees (let’s not talk about how that sort of thing hurts nowadays) I noticed lots of dust bunnies and cobwebs between china cabinets and the wall and general stuff I don’t see in the course of a day. So, I thought to myself, I’ll take a section of each room at a time, and along the way, I’ll clean, scrub, dust, eliminate cobwebs, and vacuum. And I did. Every stinking inch of the kitchen. Every stinking inch of the living room. Furniture moved, refrigerator once more moved away from the wall. Ditto for the stove. My knees and back were screaming. The thought occurred to me that even if I didn’t find the earring, at least the house would be really clean before I left for Hartford.

Nothing.

Later in the day, I posted on IG and got lots of suggestions from everyone. Did I try this? Did I try that? And honestly, I’d tried everything. I kept going back to that sound in my head of the earring sliding across the floor. It was so clear to me, such a strong sense memory.

One suggestion was from Cathy. Had any drawers been open at the time? I was sure the answer was no. Time passed. It was now early evening. I finally got up from my chair and thought: What the heck? I went to the kitchen and opened the drawer, which happened to be the silverware and random junk drawer, a drawer that I had opened and closed countless times during the day. I searched the junk. Nothing. At the last minute, I looked through the silverware. And there – under the forks – was the earring!

I shouted to Don. It had been there all the time and, clearly, the sound I heard was not that of the earring scooting across the floor but, instead, it was the earring scooting across the tile counter. Success! I’m thrilled to have the earring back and am grateful for all the suggestions.

But danged if my back doesn’t hurt today and I can’t help thinking, “Claudia, why the heck didn’t you look in the drawer in the first place??”

Did I get to Act 5? No. Too busy searching and cleaning. And then I went outside and moved everything from the porch that needed to be stored into the shed.

Yours truly is sore today.

While in the shed, I grabbed 3 out of 4 of my bottlebrush wreaths.

I hung one on the chimney. The remaining two are going with me to Hartford. They’ll look lovely hanging in the apartment windows.

I got these 6 or 7 years ago at Big Lots. Another blogger had posted about them and I, a lover of anything bottlebrush, went to the nearest Big Lots and scoured through boxes until I came up with the last four wreaths in the store. I love them. I haven’t had them up for the last couple of years, so it’s nice to see them again.

Yes, that’s snow you see out there. Don’s out there right now, using the snowblower. He has to get out of here because he has an audition in the city today. I will be finishing my initial work on the play and making lists of things to buy and things to pack. That’s the order for the day.

That painting was the very first oil my dad painted. I remember that vase. He also made the frame.

Happy Monday.