The Pot Holder.

When The Pilot moved in, we had to combine two households. That's two kitchens. Two bedrooms. Two desks. Two living rooms. All full of crap! And then we got married and got lots more! Even before the wedding we were busting at the seams in my two-bedroom condo. We registered for a lot of gifts that we knew we would need in the future as well as some upgrades (hello fancy sheets and towels!).

The "will need in the future gifts" are in my parents' basement. We have made countless trips to Goodwill with the items we upgraded. We have also taken a second (third and fourth) look at all of the other stuff with a very editing eye. Do we really need that thing? When was the last time we used that thing? That means several trash bags of clothes and shoes came out of my closet. I went from 4 make-up bags to 3 (baby steps).

And then there are the duplicates. Two sets of dishes, extra TVs and DVD players, etc. We opted to keep the newest of all the items unless there was some sort of emotional connection to an item (um, no I will not be getting rid of my crepe maker that I haven't used since I was in the high school French Club.). This is where the potholder came to be an annoyance in my life. I had a couple full-sized, covers half your arm, oven mitts that I like to use (I have a slight fear of the oven and getting burned), along with a new silicone oven grippy wedding gift thing and a trivet. No actual pot holders. I never really needed one. I don't cook much and anything right out of the oven usually gets placed on top of the oven, on one of the burners. The Pilot had a green and white checked pot holder. He wanted to keep it. I didn't think we needed it. I picked my battles though and so the pot holder moved into the drawer with my oven mitts.

When The Pilot is home, he makes oatmeal for breakfast. He uses his pot holder under the bowl when he carries his oatmeal to the office to check his email/blogs/news or to the couch to watch the news or to the kitchen table to eat there occasionally. Once he's done, the empty bowl gets taken to the sink but the pot holder, more often than not, is left where ever he was eating. This is SO not a big deal but for some reason, it gets under my skin when I find that thing somewhere other than the drawer that it belongs in. I have found it on the desk, on the coffee table, on the couch, varies places in the kitchen and on the table. I have seen it in the bathroom (what??) and in the bedroom (breakfast in bed my dear husband?).

Sometimes I just pick it up and put it away. No biggie. Sometimes I just let it go and leave it, he usually comes back for it the next morning (if he's home). No biggie. And then there are days that I lose my mind for some reason (usually for reasons other than the damn pot holder or The Pilot) and I want to throw it at him and make him put it away. There was even one time when I spotted it out of place at the same time that he did. We looked at each other and without saying a word, he smiled and put the pot holder away.

I sort of feel bad when he "catches" me putting it away because I know he feels bad. He doesn't mean to leave it laying around the house. And he just doesn't notice it when it's out of place the way I notice it the millisecond I walk into a room. I feel bad that it's this weird tick that I have. I like an organized home yet there are parts of our house that are usually in some state of disarray (the desk, my craft table, the basement in general). I'm not sure why my brain hones in on that damn pot holder when there is a pile of crap on my craft table.

So the moral of this story, in my opinion? I am turning into my mother.

My mother's "pot holder?" Drinking glasses. When I was growing up, if you left a drinking glass somewhere other than the cabinet or the dishwasher for more than 45 seconds, she would find it, dump the contents and put it in the dishwasher. You'd come back from the bathroom or from answering the phone and your water would be gone. Now I don't doubt that my brother, dad and I often left glasses all over the house for days on end. After cleaning up more than her fair share of spoiled milk, she cracked down on the abandoned glasses. For the record, I still tend to leave water glasses around the house. The Pilot has even called me out on it. I think his problem is more than I will have more than one glass out (one on the desk, one on the coffee table, one in the kitchen) and not necessarily that I left one out. Maybe one day he'll lose his mind though and go nuts like I do about the pot holder.