When you are working every day and driving and are busy or BUSY or the BUSIEST of busy, it doesn’t pay to beat yourself into a guilt frenzy over the state of cabinets, closets or drawers. You tell yourself that someday you’ll get to it. Someday was this Tuesday.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I’ve always been fascinated by archeological tells: “A term that originates from the Near East, a tell is a synonym for the archaeological term mound site. Mound sites are mounds that formed through successive occupation of the same spot over a very extended period of time. Tells can provide a unique key to answering questions of occupation and evolution.” Individuals often create personal tells. Garage, basement, closet, drawers (especially junk) and kitchen cabinets come to mind.
Not wanting to risk burn out, I tackled only one set of revolving kitchen cabinets containing an assortment of baking goods, mixing bowls, measuring things and coffee stuff. The mixes with “use by” dates were a piece of cake. (Sorry.) But an unopened box of Corn Starch dated 2005? Curiosity sent me to a Corn Starch shelf life page highlighting Argo, “A recipe for Togetherness” Corn Starch. (Can’t you just imagine that ad campaign meeting?) The answer is “over one year.” Yeah, so. . . how much over? Puhleeze. I decided that I didn’t care even though it’s probably inert like Twinkies and that this was the kind of distraction that kept me at the superficial level of the kitchen tell.
I did it. In addition to the easy clearance items, I threw away-threw AWAY-a perfectly good pyrex quart measuring cup that I have continued to use in spite of the fact that it no longer has a single legible mark on it. I have had other measuring cups forever and I have no idea why I continued to use it. I did get an inkling to my “occupation and evolution” when laughingly talking to Mom about it later. Her response was, “But I’m sure it was still perfectly good and you knew where the lines were.”
Oops. As they say, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” The counter to that is, “But sometimes it rolls downhill.” Ayuh. I’m counting on some momentum.
My mother kept, and used, for over 30 years a plastic butter dish that at some point in its early life had been burned by the dishwasher coil. Ugly as sin, but it still worked. When finally, after being disgusted by the situation for over 10 years, my Hubby got her a new butter dish for Christmas one year, he broke the old one in half before putting it in the trash, knowing that my mother would hold onto it, given half the chance. She was not pleased, but the rest of us haven’t missed the butter dish!
I suspected that this might be a common thread, but it’s nice to know one has company. It defies logic, for sure.