Ugly-Beautiful Gifts

     The Joy Dare for today is: 3 ugly-beautiful gifts (see beauty in ugly).  Joy Dare Here  My ugly-beautiful gifts are an old stool and a worn pair of Crocs. One + a pair = 3.
     The stool moved with us from Nana's house on the hill because she left it behind when she emigrated south with Grandpa.
It was originally painted cream to match the trim at Ihana.  The stool and the paint soon parted ways.  Next it was insulted with an ugly faux-wood wash to match the equally ugly wash on the front door. That soon wore off leaving the stool with the vintage patina it now has: bare wood worn smooth and dark with a little scratched up faux-wood wash accented by a few cream flakes here and there.  A bit wobbly  in need of some glue, it is, none the less, an important piece of furniture.
     I work towards the ideal "A place for everything and everything in it's place." but the stool has no place.  It travels. It has multiple uses.  Step stool for upper kitchen cabinets and high closet shelves. It holds the flour tin on bread baking days. Table for a snack by the entertainment center. A safe place to set a laptop beside that favorite chair. High chair for little visitors.  Extra seat at the game table for bigger visitors.
   The Writer  asked  for it when he got his apartment but it belongs to the Reader.  I am not sure how that came to be but he claims it.  He likes to sit on it with one leg under and the other knee up. 

     My other ugly-beautiful is a second hand pair of Crocs. I resolved not to get Crocs because they are so ugly but. . . they would be so handy to run out to the garden or the wood shed, or to go dashing through the mud so I picked them up, resolving not to wear them off the property.   I kept that resolve for a very long time. Then last fall I spent a full day on my feet in pair of shoes with no arch support and a lack of heel cushion.  Aw. . .pain that persisted for weeks which I mostly ignored.  Then it became too painful to ignore. So I researched online, tried heel cushions, extra arch supports, and my various shoes. The ugly, worn brown Crocs proved to be the healing shoes. So on my feet they went and off the property we go.  The pain is almost gone. Yes, ugly-beautiful.
I love you bunches and red Crocs?  - Pat