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Where’s Bob?


Image of a handmade miniature couch that is actually a tissue box cover. It's black with white polka dots, black and white miniature pillows, and a white lace doily over the back. One tissue is popped up and ready for retrieval. The background has been replaced by wood grain with an artistic white frame.
Handmade Tissue Couch — Pic by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Years ago, my aunt in Arizona bought me some adorable handmade tissue box covers. They are the kind of sewing art that makes you want one of every design, so you can have a different one in each room in the house. They are some of the most unique pieces of sewing art I’ve ever seen, and my aunt offered to get me as many as I wanted, but I settled for only two of them. Growing up, it was crocheted covers that adorned everything in the house—from the spare roll on the back of the toilet to the winter doorknob covers to eliminate some of the static. While crafting isn’t my own personal strength, I truly appreciate the artistic abilities of others.

Plus, a beautiful cover gives some dignity to an object that goes through a lot of workplace drama in our house. If you’ve ever reached for a tissue only for the chain to break, you know the drama; the frustration of having to dig blindly into the cardboard to fish the next one out. In our family, we blame “Bob”—the imaginary little guy we picture living inside the box. Bob runs things like a one-man machine with a crank that pops the next tissue up each time you grab one. It can be a thankless job, but we try to tell Bob thank you when we think about it. Whenever the chain breaks, we just say Bob is taking his fifteen-minute scheduled break. Even if it’s not on our schedule, we understand. 😁

So, today, I asked hubby for a tissue, and he reached in to get one, but…

It wasn’t just a broken chain; the box was empty. My husband reached in to dig one out and said, without any fanfare or forced humor, “I guess Bob moved to another box.” It caught me by such surprise that I lost it and just laughed (out loud for real) for a long time. 🤣 Now I’m wondering if Bob moved into the Christmas box to take a nap—or a vacation since it’ll be a while before that one comes out again. We may have to offer him a raise to come back to the polka dot box. Teehee.

I did find an active Etsy seller who’s got 180+ designs of these couches, and the store says they’ll make them to-order as well. I’ve never ordered anything from Etsy, or even set up an account there, but it said it was last active on May 26th, so I hope that’s a good sign that it’s a good store. It’s called Royal Makings, and this link goes straight to the couches.

I hope this brought you a smile. Never forget the value of a joyful heart.

Proverbs 15:13a BSB
[13] A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance.

https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.15.13.BSB

Proverbs 17:22a BSB
[22] A joyful heart is good medicine.

https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.17.22.BSB

And with that, I’ll close with a picture that may possibly be Bob’s new job site…

Image of a handmade miniature couch that is actually a tissue box cover. This one is a cream design with green, red, and gold Christmas designs in the material. It has miniature pillows in red and in matching material to the couch. There is one tissue popped up for retrieval.
Christmas Tissue Box Cover — Pic by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

June 2, 2026 Posted by | Humor, Nonfiction, Photo Editing & Manipulation, Photo Studio Pro app, Photography, Slice of Life | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

   

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