OH how I am frustrated by the days that I get going, only to be sidetracked and derailed by things that were not on my “list”.
But that has nothing to do with Beanies. I just felt I needed to say it. (Oooo look.. a pretty bird…)
I have had a number of Beanies over the years. Not the fuzzy-wuzzy cute Beanie Babies and not the silly spinning hats, but instead, a tubular, microwaveable, aromatherapy heating pad. The first one I ever got was filled with feed corn, but before I knew that, I thought it was full of beans. Thus, the name Beanie stuck. Now my children know exactly what I mean when I call out, “Where is my Beanie!?”
Over the years, I often had to call the Beanie home to its rightful owner. I’d find it carefully tucked into someone’s bed, or curled up close to their chest on a chilly winter night. I don’t mind sharing, but since it never seemed to be available to me, I ended up buying a new one.
Then the hue and cry was, “Where are my BEANIES?!”
It took awhile for #3 to admit that one night he’d overheated the original and caught it on fire. He’d quickly doused the flames and disposed of the poor beanie carcass in the bottom of the trash can. Ok, that would explain why the second beanie was always missing.
Of course, I purchased beanie number three. This one I got from LL Bean and shaped like a long smashed-and-flattened roadkill of a rabbit. Occasionally, the idea of wrapping a warmed and flattened rabbit around my shoulders seemed a bit gross, but that beanie smelled really good, so I overlooked it.
Eventually, children moved out and I found that I was missing a beanie again. I didn’t think the bunny beanie had migrated that far, but still, it was coveted by #4.
On Thanksgiving, #3 said, “Man, I love these things. I sure to wish I had one.”
TING! TING! TING! (thats the sound of my mind registering the thought of an original Christmas gift)
I decided I’d find my boy a beanie and looked online. YIKES… those things are outrageous, so I found some instructions, bought the fabric, found some essential oils that smelled pretty good and bought 20 lbs of rice.
While I was originally only going to make one beanie, I ended up cutting, sewing, scenting and stuffing 8 beanies. One for each of my children and their significant other. For each beanie, I made an instruction list, which said things like:
1. Your ‘beanie’ may be heated in the microwave or chilled in the freezer. Just be sure not to feed it after midnight.
2. Please do not heat your ‘beanie’ for longer than one (1) minute in the microwave without supervision. If you need another 30 seconds of heat, your ‘beanie’ will need your attention. If you ignore it, your ‘beanie’ may become annoyed and ignite in flames in an attempt to garner your attention.
(they like that extra bit of love)
3. If you’d like moist heat, spritz your ‘beanie’ with a little bit of water, but do not submerse or saturate your ‘beanie’. It is filled with rice and essential oils and you may NOT eat it. (even if you are down on your luck)
4. I’ve used a blend called “Balance” because I know that anyone in (or associated with) this family could use some of that in their lives!!
5. I made this, JUST FOR YOU! I put my love and good wishes into each of my ‘beanies’ and have instructed them to infuse each of you with love and good feelings. They fear the wrath of my needle and scissors, so I’m pretty sure they’ll do my bidding.
Less than a week later, and I’ve heard from 50% of the new beanie owners, letting me know how much they love their new warm friends. This makes me happy.
What makes me even happier is that somehow, my flattened rabbit mysteriously migrated back onto my bed shortly after Christmas morning.
Snippets and Tidbits 