Before I moved, I was browsing the sale section in Williams Sonoma and saw a delightful single serving silverware set with simulated twig handles (say that 5 times fast), nice heft, and all very well balanced; the set for one place setting was $24.00, a bit more than I wanted to spend. I mentioned to my mother-in-law that I thought it would be fun to have a different place setting for each person, maybe even themed… rustic cowboy, English tea, Mexican fiesta, etc. with matching themed silverware, of course.
So that is what I had in mind when I went to the Goodwill the other day. Oh, how naive I can be. First of all, this is a photo of the silverware bins, slightly sorted forks, spoons, and knives.
The trouble began because I did want a matched set, spoon, fork, knife, all the same pattern. So I started rifling through the bins, which can be somewhat dangerous as fork tines are pointing every which way and knife blades are randomly thrown in. I found a big spoon and started gently stirring the utensils to search for a match, a pattern, any similarity? It is almost an impossible task. Sure I found quite a few forks that I liked, but to find a spoon and knife also? I was making such a racket I think some people came to see what all the excitement was about; others probably walked away trying to avoid making eye contact. I had about 6 possible sets with at least two of the three needed items and started getting a little too intense. When a gentleman came over to look at spoons and put a spoon back in the fork bin, I found myself gritting my teeth and pursing my lips, thinking – “Don’t you know this is the fork bin? Have you no respect for order?”
I imagined a whole scenario where I started grappling with another customer over the fork I’d been searching for, security would be called, I’d be referred to as the ‘crazy silverware lady,’ there would be a write up in the newspaper, ‘crazy silverware lady’ starter kits on Pinterest, children would be warned and stalk my house. Ok, my imagination got away with me a little.
Then another guy came up and discovered a spork (spoon/fork combination), well, I happened to know that there were quite a few of those in the bins, along with the camping sporks that you can group with the raised rivets and holes. So we started working together, I would give him any sporks I found, and he would search for the patterns I had partial matches for in my hand. I held up my end of the bargain, five times no less! But no, nothing useful for me from that ‘teamwork.’ In the end, I had to practice my deep breathing and let go of 4 incomplete silverware sets. I finished with 2 new sets for my collection, walking away from the dig with dirty metal fingers.
After washing up, I paid for my hard-earned discoveries and walked outside to go to my car when I spied this beauty (I’ve wanted a rocking chair for a long time) and promptly walked back in to buy it, for $8! And I didn’t even have to dig through the rocking chair bin at all!
