Mind Games

Every now and then an interesting opportunity will present itself to me that I just can't refuse. You see, I like to play these little mind games, though, since no one else knows I'm doing them, I'm not exactly sure who is the target.

I guess I'm basically just amusing myself.
Let me explain.

Right now, there is this peanut butter jar. The jar was emptied about 5 days ago, but has yet to be fully cleaned out.

You see, my kids usually do the dishes. At first, the jar was set to "soak." Then, it was rinsed out and placed with the recyclables, but it still had a ton of peanut butter remains in it, so I placed it back on the counter to be washed - again.

Now, three days later, there is the jar again, sitting with an empty soy milk carton as if it were begging to be recycled. But it still isn't clean.

Never mind the fact that we've been using our empty peanut butter jars for glasses lately. This one's destiny is not to be recycled. It just wants to be washed.

I get a little humorous thrill by waiting and watching these weird little things.

Like a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a huge, collapsed spiderweb in the upstairs bathroom. I decided to wait and see if any of the other 5 people in the house would not only notice it, but whether someone would wipe it down. More than a month later, my oldest daughter casually remarked that she got rid of "that nasty spiderweb" when she cleaned the bathroom.

Nearly every morning, a random sock appears somewhere in the house. It might be in the upstairs hallway or under the dining room table. One of the cats has a lot of fun at night, apparently. The socks will often stay in their random placement, unclaimed by their owners, for days. I usually end up grabbing these up quickly before company comes over.

You know, I just thought of something. Maybe I'm not the only one playing this insidious little game. Maybe there are others in this house, waiting and watching as I do.

I may not be the only one with my eye on that peanut butter jar...