"It's where?"

The weekend was spectacular with temperatures hovering in the low 70’s, not a cloud in the sky, and just enough of a breeze to remind you that we hadn’t headed into summer yet. With no particular place to be, we decided to hang around the house spending as much time outside as possible. Do you see the problem with this yet, or are you thinking what could possibly go wrong with everything so perfect? If you are a follower of old Murphy he has a law for this: “If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.”

I don’t think I’m a pessimist because I pride myself on having a positive outlook, preferring to “shake off” setbacks instead of dwelling on them, but when you are dealing with kids, anything is entirely feasible all the time. I am also a realist and just as I told a blogger friend tonight, with everything good there is always the chance that something bad may happen.

For the most part, this weekend was fantastic, so what happened to slightly tarnish this you ask? Well, think about it-we were hunkering down at home so that would mean a little more than usual “together time,” and when you spend more time with your family there is bound to be something, no matter how small, that gets on your nerves.

There was one phrase that seemed to resonate around our house from the moment the kids got off the bus until bed time tonight, and that phrase is (drum roll please): it’s where? It really doesn’t matter what it is-band aids, flip-flops, a basketball, the dog’s collar-it couldn’t be found anywhere. It seems that when the sun stays out everyone’s mind goes blank except for me-I became like the all powerful Oz himself, reconnecting my family with all their lost goods. The funny thing is (now it’s funny, but at the time it wasn’t), these things really weren’t lost, and sometimes they were staring them right in the face.


Case number 1:  My husband Friday night looking in the refrigerator for some peppers for his salad
 

“Where are the peppers?”

“They’re in there.”

“I am looking and they aren’t here. Why can't I ever find anything in here?”

And then he starts reorganizing (not!) the refrigerator shelves in search of the elusive jar of peppers. I start to give directions from my seat but soon realize it would be easier to get up and find them myself. And that I did, in about 30 seconds flat, a new record for finding elusive pepper jars I think...

Case number 2: My beautiful daughter.

(Me) “Put the orange peels in the bag on the sink, ok? I’ll put them in the compost later.”

“What bag?”

“The one on the counter.”

“I don’t see any bag.”

“There is a bag-I just put it there a minute ago. On the sink...”

“I still don’t see it” and she is looking right at it!

“The old hamburger bun bag on the sink. See it?”

“Oh, you mean that bag” uh, yea, that bag...

Case number 3: My little boy.

“Where is my other soccer shoe? Mom I can’t find my other shoe!”

“Look where you took it off.”

“Where did I take it off?”

Now how in the blazes was I supposed to know? I walked into the kitchen and there, lying in front of the refrigerator, was the lone shoe, and I am still puzzling over how it got there!

And this kind of thing could be contagious, because-
Case number 4: The great and powerful Oz (remember, he was human after all)

I decided to hang some laundry outside and couldn’t find the bag of clothespins. I started tearing around the house muttering things about people not putting things back, about the mess in the family room, and how it would be nice if someone(meaning my husband) would finally change the light bulb in the closet so I could look in there. I did eventually find the bag, right where I put it last-it was inside the large laundry basket just waiting for the next time I would need it... Here's hoping you always know where it is-goodnight everybody!