I KNEW there were lunch bags left.
The empty plastic bag they came in was right in front of me. And I had a vague memory of removing enough for at least that day.
A vague memory from less than five minutes before.
Side note: Please don’t hate me for being un-green, but we use paper lunch sacks. It’s a survival technique for this Slob Mama. And I tell
myself it’s better for the environment to throw away bio-degradable lunch sacks than to pollute the air with the schtank of moldy sandwiches and rotten apple cores left in a reusable lunch bag over the weekend. (Or longer . . . )
I know. We’ve tried. I also know from distinct memories of the Strawberry Shortcake lunch box of my own childhood. (And hey. I don’t use paper plates.)
Anyway, now that I’ve rationalized/justified our use of paper lunch sacks, I’ll get back to my Clutter Detective Story.
Friday morning, as I was straightening my not-that
-bad house, I put the medicine box back in the cabinet.
There, underneath . . . were five bags. I could only find one on Thursday, so those five bags were the exact number I needed AND DIDN’T HAVE for Thursday’s and Friday’s lunches.
Harumph.
So, just like any good detective (show) I flashed back to Thursday morning and figured out how this had happened.
(Scene shifts to black and white.)
A child needed his daily medicine. We were out. Just the day before I’d called to re-order, but it was too late . . . .
I was in the middle of making lunches, but as a good and caring (though forgetful and procrastinative) mother, I stopped what I was doing.
I yanked the medicine box (once a pirate box, but whatever) from the cabinet above and dug through it, hoping to find a bag (from a never-fully-unpacked overnight stay) with a stray pill.
I found one! Which totally makes me a Hero Mom, right?
But since I’m also a Slob Mom, I didn’t put the container back. Instead, I searched the kitchen for those blankety-blank magically disappearing bags.
And sent my kids to school with totally-embarrassing crinkled-up plastic shopping bags. Which really isn’t something Hero Moms do.
So I felt great/not-great when I found the disappearing lunch sacks Friday morning and solved this mystery.
Great because of the validation that I’m not technically crazy.
Not great because of the validation that I still randomly put things down and don’t put them away.
Now. If I were only as good at solving these mysteries BEFORE I’ve already found the item.
We have that same problem in this house.
My messy side always inadvertently puts something where it doesn’t belong; knowing full well, I’ll need that soon, like in a minute! Only to become distracted move onto something else…and then stop mid-stride wondering what I’ve done with the little hootis…I JUST HAD IT!
Of course by this time…I’m on a tear! …and the whole household better be HOPPING…everybody on their feet and look for it.
I guess it’s true what my Momma (an -I’m OKAY, -you’re OKAY- “people came to see me, not my house”- MESSIE, used to say…
“It’s always in the last place you look for it.”
love reading your blog. NONY!
I can completely relate. Many times, when we are missing critical items, my husband has to put on his “Sara Cap”. Like a detective, he unlocks clues and usually find the item we are looking for. One time, we were leaving for Mexico, and couldn’t find our passports (major tragedy). He calmly pieced together a likely scenario, and we found them buried in a bin in my office. I can never leave this man.
Love it!
That’s my husband. He’s a foot taller than me so I just always look at about my eye-level! And I have multiples of some things like measuring spoons…K
all the time do i randomly put stuff down and can’t remember where i’ve put it. so frustrating sometimes! i always (eventually) find the lost item but it can be quite a search.
Personally I believe paper bags are MORE environmentally friendly then using a reusable plastic container. I mean you can plant a tree to replace the tree that was used for your paper bags right and that tree can grow within your lifetime. You CANNOT replace the plastic under a mountain for an eternity to replace the oil it was made from. Just my 2 cents.
My husband has a reasonably good photographic memory, so can often remember where something is if he’s seen it, but still, we have too many conversations which go:
Me: Have you seen X?
He: I don’t think so, have you looked in A?
Me: No, I’d never put it there. I always put it in B or C.
He: Is it in B or C?
Me: No, or I wouldn’t have needed to ask.
He: What does it look like?
Me: It’s blue with yellow flowers
He: Well, look, in A then.
Me: I’d never put it there. Looks all over the house from D to Z, and find it in A.
*And it was red with black stripes*. How does THAT happen?
I was once in a motel, sitting in a chair, with my feet propped up on the bed, reading. I decided to get up, so put my book , open and face down, on the bed. Then looked around for my phone. I had JUST HAD IT! Couldn’t find it anywhere…
Went to the front desk and laid out my dilemma. Called Hubby (from motel phone), who offered to come back and help search. Sweet, helpful, TRUSTING man at the desk lent me his phone to take back to my room and call mine. Found my phone – under the book I had been reading!