I’m not a fan of Where’s Waldo?
I don’t like those “Find 15 things that are different in these two pictures” type of games. I have hope when I find 6, but lose focus around 8.
When someone asks me to go into another room and get the ____, even if they say exactly where it’s supposed to be, I totally revert to feeling like a child and panic a little.
I’ve often talked about my selective vision. I tend to not see things that other people see. Things like towels on the floor or clutter on the counter.
So, when I was looking for a specific pitcher this weekend, one that I actually had a spot for, I was beyond frustrated that it was nowhere to be found. I looked at least three times in the cabinet where it goes, and it wasn’t there. I looked the second and third time because I don’t trust myself.
I had perhaps been a bit vocal about my frustration. I had perhaps lamented that “this always happens to me” and “what is wrong with me?”
Perhaps.
So, later, when I looked on the counter to see the exact pitcher sitting there, I was perhaps a bit vocal once again. With the way my brain works, it made total sense that it would have literally been sitting in front of me the entire time.
Then, my ever-so-hilarious husband started to laugh. He had found it and put it there, complete with balsamic vinegar camoflauge, to convince me that it had been under my nose and I hadn’t seen it.
Hardy har-har-har.
So, where did he find it?
In the cabinet where it goes, in which I had looked three times.
Hilarious! (That turkey.) I'm guessing it was in a slightly different spot in the cabinet…
Too funny! I do that all the time, go looking for something and then pass right by it…
Oh. My. Heck. It's like reading my own brain online! 🙂 I often tell people that if you put an elephant on the kitchen table, and put a straw atop the elephant, I won't be able to find the elephant because it won't look exactly the same as what I'm expecting. Thanks for sharing MY struggles on YOUR blog. 🙂
hahaha. that sounds like me and somethign my husband woudl do.
LOL…that’s too funny! Unfortunately I will tear my desk apart looking for something…only to find it sitting there in plain sight. And I won’t have moved that item at all…just everything around it. Sometimes I swear I have fairies with a strange sense of humor hiding things on me…and suddenly making them reappear. And I realize it’s just me. 🙂
Several years ago (pre-smartphones) I had ridden somewhere with my mom in her car. I had brought along my electronic organizer/PDA thingy and didn’t want it to weigh down my purse while we did whatever, so I slipped it into the side “pocket” on the passenger door. Being me, and possessing my particular brain, I didn’t remember to grab it later that day when I went home. A few days later when I went back to look for it, it wasn’t there. I decided that wasn’t where I had left it after all, but as time passed I was sure that that WAS where it had been, and I repeatedly returned and sifted through that side door. Eventually, I broke down and ordered a replacement. Six months later, I was riding in that spot – by no means the first time during all the elapsed time frame – and looked down and there it was. I was CONVINCED that my dad had done what your husband did, that he’d found it the first day and hidden it to mess with me. He has always maintained his innocence, but I know for a FACT that it was not there when I looked. We all finally agreed that the little blue men from that 80s revival of “The Twilight Zone” must have been responsible.
In our house we have a saying for this sort of thing: “It’s behind the butter.” For years my hubby or kids would look for something in the fridge and be unable to find it. I’d take one quick look and spot the item immediately (maybe I have an advantage because I do the shopping and cooking so tend to know the fridge contents?). Anyhow, whatever they were looking for inevitably would turn up behind the big tub of butter/margarine. Thus, when anything in our house is lost in plain sight like your pitcher we say “it was behind the butter.”
Yay for pampered chef!
I did the same thing with my sunglasses. Went and got a new pair and wore them for a long time before I found the “lost” pair in a not often used zipper pocket in my purse. I also had search my purse several times.
I have lost a lot of things, and my husband always says “look in your purse!” even though he just watched me look in my purse. I will look every where else for the item and he will tell me again “look in your purse!” Then I will look in my purse again and don’t see it. He gets exasperated and says “dump the stuff out of your purse and go through it”. By this time I’m desperate and dump the purse out. Voila, there it is!
I suffer from the same slob blindness that you do. I can walk right past something that is sitting in plain sight, and not see it. I am embarrassed to admit that currently I cannot find our vacuum cleaner. I’ve been looking for it for two weeks! It doesn’t get used very often, since I am one of those people who only cleans when I’m inspired, and sadly that doesn’t happen very often. My husband will use it from time to time, but judging by the amount of dog hair on the family room rug, I would say that he hasn’t used it in a while either. I know that it’s someplace in our house, but for the life of me I cannot find it. I’ve looked in every room and closet we have, and I just don’t see it. I have asked my husband to please look for it tomorrow, on his day off from work. I’m hoping that a fresh set of eyes will cause the lost vacuum cleaner to magically appear. I’m sure it’s someplace where I’ve already looked. Also, while I’m confessing, I will tell you that when I told my sweet husband that I’m looking for the vacuum, he cocked his head to one side and asked me what I wanted it for. This is his way of saying that I must have been taken by the pod people and replaced with an exact duplicate, because the wife he knows and loves would never be obsessed with finding the vacuum cleaner. Ha!
literally made me giggle out loud!
so glad I am not the only person who can lose a whole flippin vacuum cleaner, in my own house-not like it goes anywhere!!!!!! & crazy bc we use ours once or twice a wk, just have too much stuff…. some day, in my post-cluttered home, it shall be right in it’s spot (where ever the heck that is)
Your husband is very funny. 🙂
This is such an interesting explanation of what it really means for some people to just not see something. I “don’t see” piles of things that need a permanent home in my house—but it is more of an “I am ignoring you (piles) until I find the perfect place for you,” not really what you are describing. I can see them if I want to. Sometimes I experience that “Where are my keys/glasses/phone” thing, when that thing is right on my face, or in my hand, but I think that happens to most people at some time.
Your description of how you don’t see the thing even when you are desperately trying to find it is really eye-opening to me. And that there are so many commenters who experience the exact same thing!
I am reading your blog from the beginning, so I am waaayyyy behind. But I just love it. I was smiling while unloading my dishwasher this morning, so glad it would only take four minutes!
My older children love to reminisce about the time I was trying to get everyone into the car and frantically searching for the baby, almost hysterical because I couldn’t find her and nobody was helping me to look for her.
She was on my hip.
Hahahahaha, your husband.
I’ve been trying to find one of my two 9×13″ pyrex dishes for months. It’s not like that thing can fit just anywhere! I’m completely stymied.