What Would You Do?

Faithful blog readers know about the drama of getting rid of old couch. Well, I have a new sofa-related dilemma and I'm curious as to how you would handle it.

Old couch lasted 11 years in pretty good shape (we had it for 17, so there you go). New couch sprang a problem within a couple of months. The stitching on one of the cushions is completely coming undone. I'm not a terrific seamstress to begin with, and it's a little tricky. I could never get the piping to look right. So, after procrastinating for a bit, and watching the problem worsen, I finally managed to call customer service and talk to them.

Turns out, they'll happily send me a new cushion in 3 months, which is longer to wait than I've had the couch. Or, they'll deliver a new couch next Wednesday. Yep, you read that right, a whole brand-spanking-new couch.

There seems to be some sort of "for a lack of a nail" parable here. It seems very wasteful to me to get a whole new couch for something that I thought could be fixed in the first place (by someone who just sews better than I do). On the other hand, I'm having a houseful of company for the holidays and I need them to be able to sit. And maybe the whole couch is a lemon.

What would you do?

First Virtual

I have not done that many virtuals, but I think that they have real potential for mystery and puzzle boxes. Instead of using an encryption technique that has to lead to the name of a park or the entire clue, you can create a puzzle where someone just needs to discover the password. And the password can be any combination of letters and numbers. The traditional box clue then just appears as part of the congratulatory message.

I created my first virtual to go along with my Season's Greetings traditional box. This stamp image took me longer than I think any image ever has to carve, many hours over several days. The virtual is not that difficult, at least I don't think so. I hope people find it fun. The image for the virtual box is different, but on the same theme.

It also strikes me that by creating virtuals I can do better tutorials on puzzling techniques. That way, those readers who are not near enough to find my traditional boxes would still have a reward for their efforts. Would that be something you would like me to create? I'd be interested in hearing readers' thoughts.

The theme of my first virtual is peace. And not coincidentally, that's my wish for you and for this world this holiday season.

~dewberry