I wear my wedding rings pretty much all the time:  while painting, working out, even sleeping.  But there’s something about getting them wet that drives me crazy.  I think it’s because I can’t dry off my ring finger well enough with them on that I end up with an itchy rash right where they sit on my finger.  For that reason, I usually remove them when I’m washing dishes, hand washing, bathing my boys, putting on lotion/sunscreen or washing my face.  For the longest time, I had trouble remembering where I last took them off at…thus leading to paranoia that I had officially lost them.  Luckily, they always turned up after a few days.  Still, I vowed (wedding pun totally intended) not to let it happen again.  Enter “Operation Put a Ring In It”. 

I quickly realized that there were 5 zones where I repeatedly “lost” my rings:  windowsill above the kitchen sink, powder room, boys’ bathroom, my bathroom vanity and bedside on my nightstand.  To make finding them a little easier, I placed a ring holder in each area.  See for yourself…

Kitchen Windowsill

(yup, that’s Handy Hubby’s wedding band too!)

Powder Room

Boys’ Bathroom

My Vanity

Bedside Nightstand

Now when I look down at my left hand and find it naked, my heart doesn’t skip a beat and my chest doesn’t tighten.  I just search each of these dropzones and I’m sure to find my wedding rings every time.  (Handy Hubby has taken to using the ring dropzones too after “losing” his wedding band for nearly 2 months!)  Finding ring holders was cheap.  4 of the 5 ring holders hail from Goodwill.  (Handy Hubby gifted me the porcelain egg crate on the nightstand that I mentioned here.)  And just to be on the safe side, my wedding bands are fully insured…even if I lose ’em. 

What about you?  How do you keep track of your ring’s whereabouts?  Any lost-and-found wedding ring stories out there?  Do you never take yours off?  Or maybe you just don’t feel comfortable with a ring on your finger, period.  Or maybe (like me) you’re a total geek and loved the episode of GLEE where the football team does a rendition of Beyonce’s “Put a Ring On It.”  C’mon, I can’t be the only one.

I had mentioned this little area in our guest room/playroom needed some oomph…before our weekend guests arrived. 

I decided to repurpose a family heirloom quilt as artwork.  See the moth damage?

I cut out a small section of the quilt that I thought would work with the guest room’s color scheme and framed it up in (you guessed it) an IKEA RIBBA frame.

For a casual feel, I leaned the framed quilt against the wall.  I added a sculptural IKEA table lamp (which was actually pretty fun to put together), fresh flowers atop stacked magazines and my baby shoe to finish out the tablescape. 

Two clean bath towels are hung and waiting for our guests too.

The washcloths are in the dresser drawer.  (I just have to remember to tell the guests that!)

This is a peppy little dresser now – full of childhood memories for me stemming from the second-hand dresser itself, heirloom quilt and baby shoe.  The bottom of the wooden shoe is even engraved…although I wasn’t born until 5 days later.  (Yep, now you can calculate how old I am.)

Have a great weekend!  I’m going to enjoy our company!  What are your plans for the weekend?  Does it involve house guests?  Do you do anything special to prepare for guests?  Chime in.