Beauty

[just bee]

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@River Song wrote:

I have a dilemma on what to do with my Lenox china set that I received as a wedding gift 30 years ago.   It's ivory with gold trim so it has to be hand washed and can't be used in the microwave...very impractical for daily use.  Set of 12.  Oy.

I've used it over the years when we entertained friends around the holidays but it's been sitting unused for years now in the china cabinet.  Then, one of my aunts died and my cousins and I split up her china sets and I got a lovely bone china coffee set.  Have never used it but I'm reluctant to dispose of it because it's just so darn pretty.  But I really have absolutely no use for it.

I've read that china doesn't sell for very much at home auctions where the contents of the entire house is up for sale.  Pennies on the dollar as nobody wants it nowadays.  Sigh.  I bet a consignment shop wouldn't even want it.

I have no kids to pawn it off on, lol, and I don't think the kids of my in-laws or my cousins want it either.

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@River Song 

I have a story or two about dishes but I've got to head to the house now.

Later!

[River Song]

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@Brisky wrote:
I don't think there is any reason for this. I consider it like this. I think things happen to us at random. We think we have a hold on things and then we realize most things are not in our control in the first place. Yes, we have control to a point. Then there is a tipping point. We just do the best we can for ourselves. Do I make sense?

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@Brisky ,

I completely agree with this.  Take my DH's leukemia, for example.  You either get it or you don't.  Completely random.  Nothing he could've done during his life would've changed his chances of getting it or not getting it.  So the doctor's say.  Just a gene mutation gone awry.

You know that saying about living today like it's your last day?  Well, that's what I've been doing for the past two years.  Taking each day as it comes.  I've given up planning anything as I seem to have no control over my destiny. 

I've got a ton of DH's paperwork (medical stuff) piling up on the dining room table that needs to be sorted and filed away.  Then I think, do I really want to spend my potential last day on Earth sorting paperwork and filing it away in file folders, LOL?  No.  So there it sits.

[River Song]

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@just bee wrote:

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@Brisky wrote:
I don't think there is any reason for this. I consider it like this. I think things happen to us at random. We think we have a hold on things and then we realize most things are not in our control in the first place. Yes, we have control to a point. Then there is a tipping point. We just do the best we can for ourselves. Do I make sense?

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@Brisky 

It's like that scene in Signs when Mel Gibson's talking to Joaquin Phoenix.

People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?

... There is no one looking out for us. We are all alone. 

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@just bee ,

My DH's favorite saying is 'it's just as easy to be lucky as it is to be unlucky'.

That was his mantra while going through his bone marrow transplant last year.  He was going to be lucky and it was going to work.  Then the transplant failed.  He was unlucky.  He was devastated because he was counting on being lucky.

[Brisky]

I see it basically the same way. We all have lucky times and bad times. We go down the wrong road sometimes. Sometimes the stars align and we take the right road. Is it reason or random? I think it could be a little of both.

[Brisky]

Is something helping us from above? I do think so.☺

[Hoovermom]

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@River Song wrote:

I have a dilemma on what to do with my Lenox china set that I received as a wedding gift 30 years ago.   It's ivory with gold trim so it has to be hand washed and can't be used in the microwave...very impractical for daily use.  Set of 12.  Oy.

I've used it over the years when we entertained friends around the holidays but it's been sitting unused for years now in the china cabinet.  Then, one of my aunts died and my cousins and I split up her china sets and I got a lovely bone china coffee set.  Have never used it but I'm reluctant to dispose of it because it's just so darn pretty.  But I really have absolutely no use for it.

I've read that china doesn't sell for very much at home auctions where the contents of the entire house is up for sale.  Pennies on the dollar as nobody wants it nowadays.  Sigh.  I bet a consignment shop wouldn't even want it.

I have no kids to pawn it off on, lol, and I don't think the kids of my in-laws or my cousins want it either.

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@River Song :  If I were you, I would use my china and put it in the dishwasher.  I know, you are not suppose to, but so what if it fades a little on the gold trim.  It would make my heart happy to see that set everyday.  Enjoy it.  I am sure who comes after all of us will decide what to do with it all.  Leave it up to them but enjoy your beautiful stuff today.  JMHO

[River Song]

@Hoovermom ,

Ah, if only I had a dishwasher. 

The thing is, we have a set of everyday dishes, Mikasa Italian Countryside, that we both love, is durable and microwave safe.  I actually like the Mikasa set better than the china, go figure.

That's what got me thinking that I should dispose of the china.  I'm halfway to the point of just donating it to charity but this stuff was so expensive, even 30 years ago.

[just bee]

@River Song 

My mother loved dishes.  In high school, a friend and I drove to the Emporium in Sunnyvale, CA to buy my mother a set of dishes that had caught her eye.  They were beautiful -- and pricey for a high schooler.

She was thrilled.  But they never came out of the box and were never used.

I thought about them when I drove my Christmas set over to the storage unit.

BH and I have made Sunday a special cooking day.  I wonder if you could use your china one day a week to feel special.  Or use it on every holiday: Birthdays, National Pizza Day, Flag Day...

[Brisky]

Good point, I inherited China and silver from my grandmother. I only pull it out on special occasions. Love the tea cups and I should use them. Live a little instead of just looking at them.

[just bee]

I did a little work at the house yesterday morning and rounded up a few more important papers.  Drove back to the hotel and BH wanted to test drive some cars he found online.  I made an executive decision to not return to the house and continue working through piles; instead, we looked at cars.

We drove a few and I would have bought one if it hadn't been blue.  Blue was my favorite color when I was younger and my first car was blue.  Now I'm finding that most of the blue items I collected when I was young will be left in the house.

That adrenaline is fading.  I feel like I'm swimming through oatmeal.