Monday, March 30, 2009

The Mystery of the Missing Beads

I came home from work tonight, intending to immediately get busy making a bracelet for a colleague at work. She had been looking at my "Spring Blooms" Inspiration on the Beadfx website last week and noticed a bracelet designed by Dwyn Tomlinson that she really liked, so she asked if I would make it for her. She printed out the components list for me and I bought all the beads last Thursday night when I was at the store. Sadly, it wasn't until Friday morning that I realized the list of components was printed on both sides of the piece of paper she had given me and I had overlooked buying the items on the reverse side of the page - d'oh! (Listen up kids, saving the environment can be dangerous!)

That meant the making of the bracelet was delayed until my next visit to Beadfx, which really wasn't too long to wait, since I was back there on Saturday afternoon for the lampwork gathering. I spent most of yesterday finishing up my Inspiration piece for next week's newsletter so I was all gung ho to get going on the bracelet tonight until...I got the first inch of the bracelet strung, only to realize that one little package with 3 crucial beads is missing. The 8 mm Swarovski crystal faceted donuts, to be exact. The colour? Mocca.

I know I bought them, they are on the receipt from Thursday night. It is possible that they might be sitting on Anna's desk because I took the beads in to show her on Friday so she could pick out a clasp, since the one on the list is out of stock, and she wasn't in the office today to notice if maybe they are somehow tucked under her keyboard or hiding under a piece of paper on her desk. I shall investigate that possibility first thing tomorrow.

If not, that means they are somewhere here in my apartment, just somehow separated from the rest of the beads I bought last Thursday. Did I drop them? I don't think so, I've looked under the table at least three times now. Did a cat pick up the bag and sneak off with it? Entirely possible. Did I accidentally mix them in with some other beads? Maybe, but I kind of doubt that. Or maybe they got left behind on the counter at the store? Also possible. Could they simply be jumbled with a bunch of other beads that are currently located in a rather helter skelter fashion on my work space? This is the most likely scenario but the first few attempts to locate same within this hodgepodge have not been successful.
Where, oh where can they be?

I'm off to search again. It's really bugging me that they are missing, that I can't finish the bracelet. I don't feel right starting something else until I find them. If they are really gone, I will buy more when I go back to the store this week so it's not the end of the world but still, it's a mystery. (Nancy Drew, where are you?) But in the meantime, I feel compelled to keep looking. And maybe tidy up the bead stash at the same time, so nothing else inadvertently disappears!!

Stay tuned...and yes, I shall be offering a reward!

2 comments:

The Dixon Chick said...

Like shoe elves and the Keebler elves, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny - there is a mystical character called the Bead Burglar Boo-monster! Stealth, fearless, this one is. Swooping in when you least expect it and stealing your beads. They do have a sense of humour though. Just when you buy beads to replace the ones you are convinced YOU lost, they put the old ones back in a spot where you can't help but see them.

I have a trap set in my place. Good luck!

Sharon said...

What I do when I lose something is every time I think about it I say "Nothing's Lost to God" or you can ask St. Anthony for help. "Tony Tony look around, something's lost and can't be found." It usually shows up somewhere I've already looked.

Good luck!

Sharon