Another repost from LadyKillers — they do come up with the best topics!

One-off: done, made, or happening only once and not repeated.

Possibly the story of my life. Once I’ve “done” something, I don’t want to do it again. There are so many other things to do that first time.

This can be good, when it comes to a marriage, for example. But for other projects, results vary.

I blame my Gemini beginnings—by some readings, we’re “restless and distracted.” Not the kind of person who can do the same thing twice.

In my knitting days, this was borne out by the fact that if I wanted to make a pair of mittens, I had to do it with both mittens on the needles at the same time. Otherwise, there was a good chance the second would never get made. The same with socks. My best products were one-offs: ponchos (yes, it was the sixties); hats; scarves. Especially scarves, since I could quit whenever I wanted to.

My husband, an engineer whose favorite thing to do is something he’s already done over and over, says I’m not a finisher, thus compounding my one-off personality trait. (It’s also said that Geminis can’t do the same thing once.)

By contrast, the Cable Guy, as I call my husband (he who will not be named on social media), is an obsessive finisher. Case in point: We both do crossword/crostic puzzles. Once I know what the theme of the puzzle is and I know I could finish it, I’m done (see definition of One-off, above). The Cable Guy on the other hand, is not finished until he puts that final letter in place, even though he crinkles it up and tosses it away immediately after.

The same goes for jigsaw puzzles, even though—hello? the picture is on the cover!

The Cable Guy never tires of asking me, “Aren’t you going to finish that?”

“I’m done,” I say, but not every time.