Life in My World – The Law of Diminishing Returns

Calvin always warns me about the law of diminishing returns. He first taught me about it when I made that jello-pretzel salad one too many times. He explained that more and more usually becomes less and less satisfying.

But I like a good thing. If I find something that’s good, then I just use it and use it and use it and find more just like it and find other ways to use it. And that explains why I have five Christopher & Banks dresses cut from the same pattern but different fabric hanging in my closet. The pattern fits and they were $20 each. A very good thing and my satisfaction is still very high.

I have a pair of burgundy/black Dansko shoes in my closet. I can tell right now that brown ones will join them down the road, and perhaps a blue pair and a solid black pair even further down the road.

Several years ago my friend and fellow scrapbooker Leslie told me about the collages that the Costco photo center prints. This week, while preparing for our upcoming scrapbook retreat, I ordered photos on-line. I ordered not one, not two, not ten, but nearly twenty collages.

Collages can fit thirty memories onto one page (albeit some of them will be itty, bitty memories), but oh how tidy and to-the-point this will make our family scrapbook album. When I excitedly told Deb (my friend and scrapbook business partner), Cali, and Ande on the phone about what I’d ordered, each laughed and said, “Of course you would!” I didn’t know I was so predictable. But while Deb just laughed, Cali and Ande cautioned me about ordering more – something about too much of a good thing.

Last week I found these little filled candy jar replicas at Wal-Mart for $3. I bought one and came home and googled vintage Halloween and Christmas postcard images. 

The vintage prints, the candy jars, rick-rack, and ribbon – the combination just made me want to make more and more. Monday I’ll go buy extras. These will make great little birthday/visiting teaching/place-setting/congratulation gifts throughout the next few months.

But sometimes Calvin is right, right, right. I spent today printing out journals and blog entries (and ordering collages). I got many, many months behind on printing out and filing my journal. I tend to put it off as it goes through lots of ink and paper, and I get very, very, very tired of me by the time I’m finished. While I’m very glad I keep a journal, today . . . well, today I wish I just weren’t such a wordy journal keeper. Today less would have certainly been more.