Thanks to an unexpected houseguest in the shape of OH's 6'4" heavily built and heavily inebriated nephew turning up on our doorstep with 2 enormous cases and a backpack I needed to retrieve the cube bed from upstairs. He told us that his wife had thrown him out and that he needed somewhere to stay for a couple of nights. OH said yes that's fine, you can sleep in the spare room. I pulled him aside and said there is no way I'm having him trying to negotiate those stairs in that state and having him crashing around up there is not a good idea, hence the cube bed. He couldn't sleep on either of our sofas as one's a console recliner and the other's a two seater and they're both leather so not ideal! This is a story for another day however and he's now found a mate that can put him up for a while a bit closer to home. The cube bed sits in the corner upstairs and it's covered with soft toys and has been ignored for years. When I went to put it back....I'm looking at all these chuffing toys and thinking WTF? I'm 60 years old and I really don't need all this clutter especially when its kid's toys. In my 40's I stupidly bought a few things associated with the John Lewis Xmas adverts because they were flying out and getting sold on Ebay for huge profits, this was my plan but somehow I never got around to it. I was unable to get my hands on Monty the penguin so OH kindly bought me a giant penguin from a different retailer and it's been stood in the corner gathering dust since day 1. I bought myself a unicorn that folds up into a pillow some years back to take on camping trips, but that's lost all its "pouff" and should've been binned yonks ago, other than that I haven't bought myself any soft toys, but sadly other people have for some reason. I went through this collection and I put the massive penguin, the knackered unicorn and a couple of very dusty knitted dragons that my friend made me into a large bin bag and binned them. (She knitted them for a craft fair and I admired her work, and then next thing I knew that was my Christmas present!!!) I kept "Ed" a nice small teddy bear for sentimental reasons a present from OH in the early days, the rest of the stuff was in really good condition some still bearing tags were put in yet another charity shop donation bag - Then there was "Frosty" a small polar bear that I rescued from the bin at work when it was unclaimed lost property, yes he's a little bit grubby so I went to throw him in the bin bag, but that face, those eyes, I just couldn't do it lol! He's in the wash basket now and when he's all cleaned up he'll go into the donation bag - or will he? I may just keep him to keep Ed company...bliddy hell listen to me!!!!
This is it though, I'm an adult I appreciate that some of the well made ones are super cute, but they're for kids! I totally get holding on to one or two for sentimental reasons, or even buying one for decorative purposes, but filling a shelf or an entire room with them just fills me with horror! We've all been into people's houses where they've got a huge collection of stuffed toys, often garishly coloured and badly made with their hideous googly eyes staring you down. There's usually one clutching a tacky satin heart on the end of a lolly stick, one that's so large that it needs it's own wicker chair and another that looks like it's been made by a committee! Anyway, and then there were two and that's how it's gonna stay!!!!
This is it though, I'm an adult I appreciate that some of the well made ones are super cute, but they're for kids! I totally get holding on to one or two for sentimental reasons, or even buying one for decorative purposes, but filling a shelf or an entire room with them just fills me with horror! We've all been into people's houses where they've got a huge collection of stuffed toys, often garishly coloured and badly made with their hideous googly eyes staring you down. There's usually one clutching a tacky satin heart on the end of a lolly stick, one that's so large that it needs it's own wicker chair and another that looks like it's been made by a committee! Anyway, and then there were two and that's how it's gonna stay!!!!
