Ten-Finger Exercises

Out of stock? Out of favor"

Behind some creaky warehouse door, or in some bin at a dollar store, there hide some things I'm looking for.

Yesterday it was vanilla bean Carb Benefits ice cream. I knew it was no longer being made because I wrote Dreyers to ask about it. But now today I was hunting for two products that I also really like, and my stash is about to disappear: Plug-Ins, the little air freshener thingies that are made of gel and go into a plastic thingy that plugs into your power outlet, and Handi-Wipes,

I should have suspected that Plug-Ins in their original form wouldn't last. First they were updated by making them into holders for scented oil. That was messy and more trouble than the first kind. Now they're pushing electronic air fresheners that give off little puffs of fragrance at pre-set intervals. Why have something easy when you can gimmick it up and pay more?

Now, as for Handi-Wipes, I haven't bought any for a long time. I've been using sponges in the kitchen for wiping the barbecue sauce off the dinner plates before putting them into the dishwasher to have the said sauce permanently fixed. But sponges are nasty, or, at least they get nasty very quickly, even if I toss them into the dishwasher on a regular basis. So I used up an old package of the cloth-like paper towels, and went to buy more. Hunted in every possible section of the grocery store, and finally found one single package left, hidden away beside the napkins.

This must be a sure sign of old age. I remember my mother complaining that they didn't make things the way they used to. The new version of that same song seems to be: they don't make things like that any more at all.