I've misplaced my wedding band.

[Circe]

I swear, for the first 34 years of my life, I didn't lose any jewelry. The closest I came is having a necklace stolen during a move. But Over the course of the last year, I've lost a ruby ring, a bracelet that I received that evening and lost straight off my wrist by midnight (never to be seen again), one of my Brian Gavin studs that my husband gave me when our son was born ... and now it's my wedding band.

I had taken it into the bathroom to steam: I walked into the living room and my friend asked me to read an e-mail for her; I put my hair up, read the e-mail, grabbed a few things from the kitchen that also belonged in the bedroom, picked up my toddler, walked into my bedroom and over to my desk, all prepared to put the ring back in its little house while I did some chores ... and BOOM! no ring.

I have spent the last 24 hours tearing my house apart. I've taken books off the shelves. I've cleaned out all the drawers in my desk. I've picked up my friend's computer and shaken it. I've checked all the outgoing trash. And ... nada. Anybody have any suggestions or anectdotes about Weird Places They Found Things? Or, failing that, dust? Or, failing that ... a metal detector?

 

[missy]

Circe, when you took the ring to the bathroom to steam it where do you remember setting it down?

 

[Circe]

I remember having it on my forefinger when I was walking out of the bathroom and down the hallway. After that ... nothing specific.

 

[missy]

I'm so sorry you are going through this again but don't panic. It's got to be somewhere in your home. It probably fell off your finger or you absentmindedly (I do this all the time) took it off and put it somewhere without remembering. The key is remain calm. Your toddler couldn't have swallowed it right? You realized it was missing before you set him down? Do you have any pets?

Btw, I am sending you lots of PS dust for finding it soon!

 

[Harpertoo]

Is it possible your tot grabbed it off your forefinger!? and it's in his/her room? or crib/bed?
And have you vacuumed? Vacuuming always turns up my daughter's earrings.....I catch them sparkling on the rugs.


(I just dropped a little aquamarine pendant in the guts of my grand piano while trying to photograph it better with a new lens....Ugh. I'm counting it as lost because it's doubtful I'll remember when the piano tuner comes in 3 mo..)

 

[missy]

Could it have found it's way under some carpet/area rug? Could it be in a pocket of the clothes you were wearing when it disappeared?

 

[missy]

Did you check all the kitchen cabinets and drawers? And the fridge. Once (OK more than once) I misplaced stuff in the fridge that doesn't go in the fridge. Talk about being absent minded.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Circe, get another ring and go retrace your steps EXACTLY. That might jog your memory if you did set it down somewhere, and at the very lease it will take you to the same places you were the first time around.

ETA: Actually having another ring with you in this process seems important to me, not just retracing your movements.

 

[Circe]

My son was never that interested in putting things in his mouth ... generally if he gets ahold of one of my rings for even a second, he's too busy putting it on and admiring how it looks on his hand to think of anything else (including hiding it, as far as I can tell). And I do have two cats ... but they've never displayed any interest in jewelry (unlike my previous feline, who was a little cat burglar). I think I must have automatically put it somewhere, I am just completely stumped as to WHERE.

Places I have thought of as being safe/so obvious I would totally find whatever it was later: the slot on my bench for the bench pin, a tray on top of the fridge, a box (among my many many many boxes). With all of those, I freaked out and hunted for a couple of hours, they showed up, I made a mental note to not do that again, and generally haven't repeated the errors. This one is just stumping the heck out of me. Like, to the point where when a friend who was helping me hunt asked me if I knew the previous history of the apt., I actually did spend a minute thinking.

 

[Harpertoo]

I often put my ring on a high shelf to just get it out of the way for a moment....any bookshelves in the hall?
you've probably checked every horizontal surface, but maybe an out of the way, tall piece of furniture?

 

[Circe]

Circe, get another ring and go retrace your steps EXACTLY. That might jog your memory if you did set it down somewhere, and at the very lease it will take you to the same places you were the first time around.

ETA: Actually having another ring with you in this process seems important to me, not just retracing your movements.

Hm, I had not tried it with an actual other ring. As soon as I get the kiddo to bed, that will be my next step. Thanks for suggesting that!

ETA: Drat. Just tried the walk-through, and no rings turned up (though I did find one of my needle-nosed files on my son's bookcases - way out of his reach! - and have nooooooooo clue how it ended up there).

 

[Circe]

And thanks to ALL of you for the suggestions. No carpets in the house, and no shelves in the hall, though lots and lots in both the living room and the bedroom (not to mention all the available surfaces in the kitchen). I've been checking all of those that I can. And I think I patted myself down enough to create a new signature dance move ... but sadly, nope, not in the pockets of those jeans or that shirt. ARGH.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Try vacuuming with a knee high over the nozzle of the hose so anything you pick up will go against the nylon and not get sucked in. Especially pay attention to the area where the floor meets the wall and in any other nooks and crannies.

 

[Farleysmom]

This may sound silly but is it possible it got caught in your hair when you put your hair up?

 

[february2003bride]

Try vacuuming with a knee high over the nozzle of the hose so anything you pick up will go against the nylon and not get sucked in. Especially pay attention to the area where the floor meets the wall and in any other nooks and crannies.

What a GREAT idea!!! I will have to remember this trick if I ever lose jewelry.

 

[ringbling17]

Sorry to hear about this.
Have you checked your clothes. What were you wearing? If you were in the bathroom, maybe your robe pockets?

I have lost two bracelets over the years and still haven't found them and can't for the life of me figure out where they could have gone to. One was an amethyst bracelet and the other was a princess cut tennis bracelet.
The only thing I could think of was someone might of taken it from my house. Back then I didn't really hide my stuff. And people used to come in and out of my room when I had a party.

Lately I've been keeping my closet locked and then locking my bedroom as well.

Sending dust your way and hope you find it soon.
Something tells me you'll find it tomorrow.

 

[NOYFB]

Ok....you put it in the BATHroom to steam. Where exactly did you put it and do you remember actually putting it there? I say this with all respect, because I sometimes have every intention of doing something when I walk into a room and then completely forget to do what it is I walked in that room to do, so....

Your next steps did not involve the bathroom, but rather the living room, and then you said you went to the BEDroom and your ring was missing. I think it's in the bathroom somewhere. Maybe behind the toilet, on the floor? Without knowing where you put it I can't be sure.

 

[Gypsy]

You don't have any pets right?

For a while one of my cats had a stash of my dangle earrings going.
But if you have a pet... sometimes they steal.

That said, I always find things under rugs or on the floor under chairs, couch... what have you. I'd search under things. Even if it makes no sense.

ETA: Just saw you have two cats. DEFINITELY search under things then. Even if your cats aren't thieves they will bat at stuff until it gets stuck under something. I can't tell you the number of times I've found something under the couch when I KNOW I was no where near there when I lost it.

 

[monarch64]

You put your hair up. Have you checked your hair?

 

[thecat]

I'm sorry to hear that. Have you search the pockets of the clothes you were wearing when the ring went missing? Washing machine? Kid's box of toys? First aid box? The blankets? Hope you find it soon.

 

[amc80]

Have you checked the trash? My kiddo puts anything he finds on the floor (or can reach off the counters) into the trash can. Which is super helpful...except when it's not garbage.

 

[daintyG]

I recently misplaced my ring and found it on the window sill (inside the house). I always put it on the counter or my ring holder, so I didn't expect to find it there. I walked by it a few times without realizing it. I hope you find it.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I used a metal detector in my back yard to look for my ring. Just a heads up...even though my ring is gold and I set the detector to gold, it kept going off almost nonstop. Either my yard is filled with hidden treasure or there are pipes that were setting it off. Maybe there are better quality ones...I rented mine from an equipment rental place. (It did beep extra loud over my ring, but that was after ten minutes of it sending me on a wild goose chase!)

Hope you find your ring.

 

[Circe]

Ok....you put it in the BATHroom to steam. Where exactly did you put it and do you remember actually putting it there? I say this with all respect, because I sometimes have every intention of doing something when I walk into a room and then completely forget to do what it is I walked in that room to do, so....

Your next steps did not involve the bathroom, but rather the living room, and then you said you went to the BEDroom and your ring was missing. I think it's in the bathroom somewhere. Maybe behind the toilet, on the floor? Without knowing where you put it I can't be sure.

Ooops ... I may have given the wrong impression of my timeline. I steamed it successfully and walked out of the bathroom wearing it on my forefinger, planning to put it away while I did some chores. Then my friend distracted me along the way, putting me in the living room where I put my hair up, the kitchen, where I grabbed a thing I'd been planning to put away in the bedroom, and where I snagged my kid, whom I deposited to play on my bed while I put the other thing away, grabbed my ring box, opened it, let my kiddo play with my rings for a bit (which turned out to be first adorable, because he loved them, and then a mistake, because he was heartbroken when I took them away), looked on my desk where I expected to find my rings, and ... nada.

Immediately afterwards, I checked my pockets (hell, I checked my bra, as I've been known to stash things there), I checked my hair, I checked all the places I would normally put it, and no dice.

I am thinking, though, that I must have gotten the rings as far as my desk/bedroom, just because ... even my subconscious mind would know better than to get a ring box out in front of a toddler and then go somewhere else to get the rings to out in it, right?

So today I'm going to rip my desk apart AGAIN. I have been known to absentmindedly put things in boxes ...?

Thank you, all of you, for all of the great suggestions! And Butterfly ... your lips to God's ear, sister.

P.S. - I wrote almost this exact post last night, hit send, and PS ATE IT. Which felt cruel.

P.P.S. - I understand the completely natural suspicions about the cats and toddler - if someone else were posting something like this, I'd be the first one to say, hie thee to the litterbox! But I've owned these guys for years, and they have literally zero interest in jewelry. None. Zilch. And while my kid loves jewelry ... whenever he can get his paws on it, he runs around trying it on proudly: it would be a real shift for him to squirrel it away (and he would have had to have done it while I was watching him almost the whole time, which would have been hard. So let's hope my desk coughs it up ....

 

[iluvshinythings]

Be sure and pull the drawers out of the desk and look under and behind them.

I recently picked up my ring to put it on and somehow flung it across the bathroom. I looked everywhere. When I got home that night I searched cabinets, drawers and floors with a flashlight and couldn't find it. DH came home and asked if I had removed the drawers and checked the vanity. He was right. It was back there sparkling away but I never would have thought my ring could get back there like that.

Here's lots of dust that you find it!!!

 

[KristinTech]

Based on what I understand of your timeline now, I would think that the hair/read email segment is where the ring was lost off your forefinger... Your friend was on the couch? Does she have any ideas to help you retrace your steps, since she was there? I assume you already pulled the cushions off the couch...

 

[arkieb1]

Check shelves in not the normal places to put things and ledges that seem to be like shelves.

 

[Circe]

Okay, you guys are going to love this.

I still haven't found my wedding ring.

But the universe appears to have decided to make things up to me, or something.

You know how I mentioned the frustration of tearing the house apart and not finding anything?

Well, last night, the cat independently knocked the missing glasses loose from under the couch or breakfront or somewhere we had looked but not seen. And then I found one of the missing earrings (sadly, not the BGD one, just one I made) under the armoire.

And then this morning my in-laws called from Sweden to tell me that the ruby ring that had gone missing last summer? Had turned up, caught in some of the wicker lawn furniture. WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK. I looked on every shelf, in every drawer, and through every pocket in the house ... "caught in wicker" never even crossed my mind.

It feels sort of like the universe is being like, "My bad, have some of it back!" Which, dear universe, is lovely and much-appreciated, but ... could I pretty please have my wedding ring back, too? And maybe even the BGD stud? Pretty please with sugar on top?

 

[Sky56]

That is truly amazing. Currently sending good vibes for those other lost things to show up. What is very hopeful is that the ring is in your house somewhere. I've dropped small objects on the wood or tile floor before, and they seemed to totally disappear. You'd think I could find them, but no...

Something from many years ago - I finally figured out why so many of my socks disappeared. It drove me crazy. It didn't make any sense. Later on while doing a repair, we saw them wrapped around the spindle of the washing machine, hidden from view.

 

[Gypsy]

Hello Universe,
Please help Circe find her missing wedding band and BGD stud?
Thank you,
Gypsy



Glad somethings were found though!