My Ex MiL would NEVER say what she wanted about anyting. When she would come visit, I'd come up with a list of activities and she would say they all sounded fine. If I didn't have a list, she would feel slighted and ignored. Then, once we did them (like go to a certain restaurant I had mentioned) she'd have a terrible time and say things like "I don't like Chinese food." No matter what I did, I failed.
But it sounds like you did succeed in giving her what she really wanted: fuel for the martyr complex she was working on.
Towels were my favorite present of several recent years! I love my gift towels! Which I did ask for, actually.
The relative who drew my name for Christmas last year bought me a set of puffy chocolate-brown towels and some aged bronze-looking bathroom accessories (toothbrush holder, soapdish, liquid soap squirter). I'm sure I would have been horrified by their appearance in previous years, but three weeks prior I'd moved into an apartment with stone tile bathroom floors and shower walls that they just happened to suit perfectly.
See, I am so very picky about things like towels, that I can't possibly ask for towels on my list (mr. flea's family are detailed list-ers; mine tend more towards the suggestion-type list). I would have to specify that I want THIS brand of towels, in THIS color, and I DON'T want washcloths but DO want hand towels. Possibly nobody should buy me presents. Happily there is the Amazon wish list; I am much less picky about books.
flea is totally talking out her butt. This is the lady once who sent me a skirt, and said, "replace this as exactly as you can," and I did (twice!), and it was a Best Present Evar.
...It is possible I am the only person on the planet who could have done that for her (and enjoyed it).
I tend to be uncomfortable around gift-giving because of the subtext of financial and emotional value being intertwined -- a concept I loathe and abominate. Thus, finding two skirts for my sister at a used clothing store was something that worked for my concept of giving (it required attention and care, not primarily money) as well as working for the recipient's concept of receiving (it was something she needed and wanted, and would have difficulty getting herself).
I ask for Kneipp bath oil from everyone who asks me what I want every single holiday (at $19 per bottle it is too pricey for me to get for myself at this stage) and I have never gotten it. Clearly I am asking wrong.
Miniature cattle - family pets that provide milk
For between £200 and £2,000, people can buy a cow that stands no taller than a large German shepherd dog, gives 16 pints of milk a day that can be drunk unpasteurised, keeps the grass “mown” and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer.
Oooh, presents! I like presents! And apparently I'm one of the easiest people ever to shop for. Is it gothy/b&w striped/black & pink/festooned with skulls, bats, or both? Then I will probably like it.
I would love any of those things, too.
previously belonged to Anita Baker
What an AMAZING gift!
Random moment of my day-- I'm in SF for the day, and went to lunch with the SF library staff, who were talking about HRpeople who had come and gone since they had been working at the firm. I was kind of zoning out until they got to "...and of course David Smay".
It was so weird when we bought our own towels for the first time. We were all, like, what makes a good towel? What color does "silver sage" mean? How many do we need?
Up until then, we had random colored non-matchy towels our whole married lives. But it was okay, because really, would we have tried to match the orange, mustard yellow, or avocado green of the stripes in our pink house bathroom?
I ask for Kneipp bath oil from everyone who asks me what I want every single holiday (at $19 per bottle it is too pricey for me to get for myself at this stage) and I have never gotten it. Clearly I am asking wrong.
Which scents? I'm deeply in love with the hops, and a couple of years ago I got a 3-pack of oils just to get at the hops but I'm pretty sure one of the others has never been opened. It smells heavenly; it's just not always easy to get childfree tubtime in our apartment. If I get home and it turns out to be (a) indeed unopened and (b) a scent you like, want it?
the orange, mustard yellow, or avocado green of the stripes in our pink house bathroom
Was your house stuck in a 70s time warp?
