Who Cares What It's Called

A Happy Lundi Gras to all


My second post with a "Who Cares" title. Perhaps this will be a series. A while back, Funny About Money was passing on various frugal household tips, some of which had to do with dish towels and napkins. In the safety of the comment section, I confessed. As a child, I hated napkins and used the nice big terry dish towels. My mother "allowed" me to do this and even told others about my peculiar predilection.

Fast forward to adulthood. As the boss of certain aspects of my household, I have declared dish towels the required napkin for the whole family. Why use skimpy cloth napkins that require ironing and look bad after a few washes when you can luxuriate with a large towel that always looks nice? Who cares that it's called a dish towel? I mentioned that I had come out of the (linen) closet on this domestic issue.

However, I know that some would be repulsed by this, so we do keep a small stash of paper napkins for guests. It's hard to go against convention. And my convictions waver at times.

We have had some terrible cold spells this winter. So I thought about getting wool long underwear. Those babies are expensive! Then I remembered that I had a pair of Eileen Fisher wool knit pants. I bought these at a very upscale consignment shop in Wellesley MA, as we waited for my mother to emerge from her high school reunion. The pant were 80% off ($6.00) and I bought them to test run the famous Eileen Fisher waist band for the middle-aged.

Who cares if I'm wearing Eileen Fisher pants as long underwear or even pajamas? They go just fine with the thrifted cashmere sweaters I already wear around the house when it's cold.

But, of course, often people DO care. I was invited to a baby shower for an adopting single mother a few years ago. I did not have baby shower wrapping paper, but, since the mom is Jewish, I used some Chanukah paper that I did have. The baby was still in Guatemala at that point and I'm sure she didn't care. But the mom did care. Every other gift was wrapped in pink paper and most of the invitees were also in pink (I didn't know this was a custom). When I handed over the gift, the mom started laughing and showed the paper to various people. I was embarrassed at further consolidating my reputation for awkward eccentricity.

Do you have any "Who cares what it's called?" habits? Have you ever offended anyone?