Another sign of aging or lack of attention

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When I was a kid we ate canned corn. With the whole kernels. Never the creamed variety. (No judgement please! Everyone ate canned vegetables then.)

My mom routinely picked up the wrong can and we had creamed corn. No one ate it. She would try to sneak it in casseroles but we always knew. We were like cats picking out the vegetables in the kibble. Sneak it off the side of the plate where she couldn’t see it until we were out of range.

We teased her about it. Often. Annoyingly often. She would get so annoyed with herself. She’d look at the product, then glance away (look squirrel!) and pick up the wrong can.

That was humorous until this gene surfaced in me. Wop! I bought facial tissues with lotion instead of plain. In the humongous bundle from the warehouse store. Yikes! I took them back.

My antenna was tuned in now so I was careful. (No I didn’t stop buying the wrong stuff. I just stopped buying the wrong stuff by accident. I still have shoes that hurt. That’s another post entirely.)

I’ve written before that we buy paper towels by the pallet (that’s just a slight exaggeration, it’s more like a tractor-trailer load). Always at the warehouse store. In bundles claiming to be the equivalent of 87 gazillion normal rolls. (What is a normal roll anyway?) Only the pick-a-size rolls too. In white! We use it for food prep and don’t want pictures of puppies or kitties on our vegetables or chops.

Once we picked up a pack of the full size sheets (it was like an apocalypse! We were waiting for lightning to strike!). We saved those for the beloved husband to use in his workshop. He uses full size there. And the cat litter room for the occasional “clean up in aisle 3” situation. We had enough for a long time.

Last week we hit the bottom. I blame it on the beloved husband (secretly though because he’s normally perfect). We opened the first roll of the ginormous mega roll pallet and this is what we saw.

This took me right back to the “olden days” when teapots and daisies were popular. I was surprised they still make patterns. Who decorates their home with paper towels? (Will it clash with the granite top or curtains?) These are my favorite colors but I wouldn’t want to see it in my mashed potatoes. Or tattooed on my steak between the grill marks.

Since we split open the package, we will use them in the laundry room, workshop, cat litter room and any other place that needs a little decoration to brighten it up. Always a silver lining!

We are both on high alert now but I doubt that will stop us from picking up the wrong product again! Let’s hope it’s chocolate.

77 thoughts on “Another sign of aging or lack of attention”

  1. The creamed corn gene (sometimes known as the paper towel gene) kicks in as we grow older for a sound evolutionary reason: to make us experiment and explore new things. But Kate, I’m not sure I should follow you any more. I mean, milk chocolate? Yechhhh.

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  2. You made me laugh! I immediately flashed back to my grandmother’s house when I saw those paper towels. They looked like the ones she used. (she passed in 2001). My biggest problem is buying things I don’t need, but thought I did! Like today purchasing more tomato paste a pasta dish and finding when I got home that I had about six cans! This kind of error seems to happen too often. If it helps, seeing those paper towels gave me a real sense of nostalgia that was warm and fuzzy! 🙂

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    • “Do I have it” or “do I need it” is always a guessing game when I forget to make a list and check items. This morning I had to go out to buy molasses because I didn’t write it on my list for yesterday’s shopping. I always guess wrong. This did remind me of my mother’s paper towels too. And her old wallpaper!

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    • They are not so bad unless you use them to clean things. Then you get a smudge. Some packages are not well marked. You definitely have to look for it but I saw my brand now identifies both either non-lotion or with lotion.

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  8. Hi, Kate:

    This is much more than I ever knew about paper towels. I didn’t realize that they still made them in print design. When I checked, I found this info from one PT manufacturer: “Disney Frozen paper towels, Despicable Me 3 paper towels, and most recently Star Wars paper towels and don’t forget, Quilted Napkins are also available in our Everyday and Seasonal designs!”

    Actually, they lost me at “Disney Frozen”!

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  9. Yup, I have to have white paper towels too, and the half-sheets. Must be Bounty as well. I’m a purist – the other paper towels don’t absorb as well and you can read the newspaper through some of them. I use canned vegetables … my favorite is canned niblets corn and I used to buy one or two cans of creamed corn per year just for variety … that is until nearly two years ago when I opened the can, put my spoon in for a big spoonful of creamed corn before spooning it into the saucepan. After downing some, guess what I found in the can?

    So, what does your guardian angel look like?

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      • I know frozen vegetable are better for you nutritionally, but I have had three instances in the last five years where we had a power outage and I lost all my fridge/freezer food, so I try not to stock up on a lot of refrigerated food anymore. I did do a big shopping for fridge/freezer food today, only because I don’t want to get caught in the Thanksgiving crowd and it was horribly busy. I told my boss I’d be back the regular time, maybe 15 minutes late and I was over an hour late getting back. I had no work to do and often work late without being paid, so I went this morning to beat the weekend crowd. I was told that no humans touched the corn, so that was why no one saw it. Little consolation to me after I had a big spoonful of it. I’m not a big creamed corn fan either, but thought it’d be something different. In a saucepan I may not have seen it either, even though it was large. Ugh.

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          • I’m not a peas person and my mom would get mad at me when I was young for pushing them around on my plate. I only get the frozen broccoli as I worry so much about the listeria issues. They had an article on the news this morning that recommended everyone in Michigan get a Hep A vaccination now as the outbreak is so bad – since I don’t go out to eat nor buy fresh veggies anymore, I’ll hold off a little longer but 900 cases in Michigan this year alone. So scary.

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  10. I hate it when brands don’t make their variations very distinct on the packaging because I’m forever doing this. I used to do it all the time my favorite frozen food meal – thai spring rolls. They also made southwest spring rolls and garlic chicken. All the packing looked exactly the same except for the name. All next to each other. I wasn’t the only one, the grocery stockers often put the wrong box in the wrong place which made my inattention worse. The worst was if I grabbed the garlic chicken – it was inedible.
    Happily they new and improved the spring rolls and now I don’t like it. Problem solved. 🙂

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  13. John and I both made mistakes with Greek yogurt, so we read the label aloud now as one of us puts it in the cart. That doesn’t keep us from picking up other things that are wrong. John prefers BIG paper towels, and I like the half-size option. It’s time for me to sneak off and get the ones I like. I love the way your posts spark lots of discussion.

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  16. You always hit on the issues in my own home! Like buying the wrong things. That can happen easier now than ever since there are so many ridiculous “other” choices in whatever aisle you are standing in front of. I just bought “large” dog treats because they looked like the tiny ones on the box. They were called “macro” and I missed seeing the “large” label so I got a BIG box. Bill comes home with printed paper towells – my pet peeve too. I don’t need any more patterns to add to kitchen clutter. I want a BARE kitchen. As for canned veggies, I still serve such atrocities and Bill absolutely loves (Yuk) canned peas.

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    • Canned peas were never my favorite although canned corn is ok. I use doggy piddle pads to put in back of the litter box just in case. I don’t need the mega kind but I somehow bought a pack that’s almost as big as a mattress. Not sure if it’s for a dog or a horse! 🙂

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  18. Kate, you are not alone in picking up the wrong product by mistake! My theory is that they move a different product in with the one I wanted and I was fooled. No printed paper towels for me either or tissues with lotion and have tissue holders for most that I use. Then I am even picky about what design I buy. OK, I will try to focus more when I shop!

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  19. Where did they uncover those designs…was that an abandoned lot recently discovered and now being passed off as vintage trendy? Patterns don’t work – never the right colors/designs/holiday – and as you said – who decorates with paper towels?….well, OK placemats for kids on occasions…

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  23. Boy, my head’s been in the sand. Since we only eyeball and buy generic/cheap stuff, I didn’t even know they still made paper towels with patterns. Hunh, how ’bout that? Heehee, maybe I should look for a Christmas pattern for the upcoming holidays!

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  24. Loo rolls and kitchen rolls, my forte Kate as you know! We’ve tried cheaper kitchen rolls, and you just have to show it the tap let alone get it wet for it to disintegrate in your hand. I stick to Plenty…… plain white, fat rolls that are super absorbent and at present 6 for just under a fiver compared to £3.50 for 2, three if they’re on a three for the price of two offer.
    Hubby is usually the one to pick up the wrong thing, but I try not to let on. He picked up the wrong yoghurt (for himself) and didn’t notice until he’d opened it and commented on how thick and creamy it was. Oops. I got caught with the low fat mayo, going by the colour of the lid, purple for the lighter than light, only to discover I was in a different shop, and the one I wanted had a green lid, so I took it back to change it without a problem.
    Sneaky, manufacturers always trying to catch you out (and sometimes winning).
    Nice kitchen roll by the way. Happy and loving thoughts as you wipe sotospeak.

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  28. our last paper towels said happy Birthday (junk store find) I pondered who will use them as birthday cards, birthday wrapping paper or even as a birthday gift (Mark would I bet!). I’m a wrong stuff buyer too it’s the 87th time I bought dark chocolate I totally hate… well happy days for the suzy quattro memorial pants, they will survive till I buy the right chokolate bombs…

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  29. In our grocery store they even do themed paper towels – lemon for summer, etc. We just buy the cheap stuff without designs. I don’t need themed paper towels either.

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    • I didn’t know they existed. Many years ago there was a big “stink.” Some woman complained to the newspaper that she put her homemade periogies on paper towels. The ink was on her food. I kinda thought they stopped designs then. Hopefully it’s food safe colors.

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