Thursday, April 17, 2008

A Point for the Keeper

Perhaps I will start a little contest with my husband. He, the keeper of things, will be awarded a point for each and every item we keep about the house that eventually serves some purpose. I, the non-keeper of things, will be awarded a point for each and every item we keep around the house and never once use for any purpose. Of-course, you can never be sure when you will need something, so I won’t be able to fairly claim my points until we are both dead and gone, which takes some of the fun out of it. And, there are a lot of areas where the awarding of points gets a little gray. Should Mike, for example, get points for things we keep that serve no functional or aesthetic purpose but do perhaps give us peace of mind or happiness just knowing they are there? Should I gain points for things I do manage to throw out? Should I be docked points for things I throw out that we did end up needing or wanting? I can see it will be tricky at best and I’m not sure what winning will actually mean for either of us, but the contest is on . . . and Mike is up one. The source of his recent victory? A roll of butcher paper. Here is how it went down:

Me: Do you know where I can buy butcher paper? I need it for Young Women’s tomorrow and the only place I’ve seen it is that store way down by the mall. I don’t want to go clear down there (moan) .

Mike: Yah, there’s a roll in the garage.

Me: Really? We have butcher paper in the garage?

Mike: Yah, don’t you remember you wanted to get rid of it.

Me: I don’t remember. I can’t imagine I’d want to get rid of that. What kind of a mother would get rid of a roll of butcher paper? Where in the garage is it?

Mike: I don’t know, it should be in there though . . . unless you threw it out.

Well, the butcher paper was there, right next to all the twin-bed headboards. It was exactly what I needed for the Young Women’s activity and my kids are now happily coloring on more of it downstairs (well, sort of happily . . . Goldie is mad at anyone who talks while she “tries to color”).

This point I give you happily honey, along with the other point for the bull horns which we did eventually end up hanging in Abe’s room.

7 comments:

jami v. said...

you guys crack me up! :) you'll have to keep us posted on how the "game" plays out ...

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you ever wanted to throw out butcher paper! How dare you! You never know when you are going to need to wrap a present because you ran out of wrapping paper, wrap some breakable item while moving, trace your child's entire body, or make an enormous sign for someone's birthday (this was my favorite when I was little)! We always had butcher paper around in our basement when I was growing up. Good luck on scoring some points I'm rooting for you since I am all for throwing things out. Clutter be D***ed! Liz

Lover of Sweets said...

How I love your little family! I love butcher paper and one used to be able to get the newsprint rolls for free at The Standard Examiner, but now, no we must pay.....lame lame lame.
Glad your husband knows what's up.

Nancy said...

I'm totally with you Liz, nothing holds any sentimental value for me because I hate clutter so bad . . . unfortunately I really like my husband and he really likes his stuff. Aargg.

Perla said...

Why don't I have any butcher paper? I am trying to de-clutter but suddenly I feel terrible that we have no butcher paper for my kids to color on. Oh well, they won't be needing it for awhile. Addie and Grace both cut their hair yesterday so I thought we should just take away their beloved scissors for awhile but Jas decided to take away ALL art supplies for an entire week.

Salty Incisor said...

Nancy I just tagged u before I knew you were just tagged... Sorry! Go see

Mugsy said...

NIce...that was one awesome post...Funny how you type the sort of things that play out in my mind at times...I love you and miss your cute butt!

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