Tuesday - Keys
Mar. 28th, 2006 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermoreToday on my drive into work, I was thinking about my car keys, and how if I had been able to find them yesterday morning there would have been a drive into work yesterday as well as one today. For the record, I didn't lose the keys myself, I had help. I almost never lose keys, I only misplace them for a short time. When I'm the one who last had my keys, it will take me ten minutes at the most to locate them. To lose my keys to the point that I have to call into work and say they won't be seeing me until I've had time to search the house from top to bottom, it takes the combined effort of a 17-month-old toddler, the toddler's father and a poltergeist for Jeff to place the blame on.
I've noticed the poltergeist a time or two myself lately, but I'm not sure that he should take the blame of this one. I really think it's Jeff's fault, but I'll let him believe whatever he needs to in order to make him feel better.
The story starts with my son's fascination with my keys. He has always enjoyed playing with them, but his interest has grown more intense since he discovered that if he presses the red button on my keychain, lights will flash and an alarm will sound. He loves that. I'm not sure that my neighbors are as amused as my son is, so we try to confiscate the keys when he finds them to preserve harmony and goodwill with the rest of the people in my subdivision.
On Sunday night, my son set off the car alarm and was listening to the wonderful sounds that it makes when Jeff, being closest to him, scooped him up and took the keys away. I almost mentioned that he ought to put the keys in my purse and zip it up, but didn't. I wasn't concerned. Jeff usually puts my keys in one of two places, either on the kitchen counter next to where the cell phone charger is plugged in or on a counter in the living room where he drops his own keys and wallet when he isn't using them. I didn't worry. I figured I could find them without a problem.
On Monday morning I had myself and the baby dressed and everything ready to take out to the car when I began to hunt for my keys. Not in my purse. Not in Jeff's catch-all. Not in the kitchen. Not anywhere I could see. After 30 minutes of frantic searching, I decided to wake up Jeff.
Understand that Jeff and I work vastly different schedules. I am an 8-5 office drone, Monday through Friday. He works at an airport, which is a 24 hour facility. Currently, he works 2nd shift, which is from 2 P.M. to 11 P.M., and his days off are Sunday and Monday. Even on his days off he sleeps on a different schedule than me. He comes to bed about the time that I wake up. Certain wags have suggested that the reason Jeff and I have such a good relationship after so many years is because we never see each other. While we technically have been together almost 17 years, we have only been in each other's company for maybe a year and a half's worth of time. They may be on to something. The most perplexing thing for us is how we ended up making a baby when our schedules allow so little personal time. The nearest we can figure out, it happened as I wall rolling out of bed one morning as he was rolling in, or maybe we bumped into each other in the hallway when we both happened to be naked.
I would have woke him sooner if I had not suspected that, after only about 2 hours worth of sleep, he wouldn't be much help. He's not a morning person even after a full nights (or days) sleep. After only 2 hours of sleep, he is usually neither useful or pleasant. He woke up when I asked him where he put my keys the night before, staggered into the living room and began looking in all of the places I had already searched. He retraced his steps, cursed, scratched his head, cursed some more, searched some places over again, searched the garage, searched on top of shelves, searched the pantry, and cursed some more. I started cleaning up clutter, since it seemed as good of an opportunity to do that as any. If I gave up looking but stayed focused on organizing, I figured the keys might find me somehow.
"I remember thinking when I put them down that I needed to move them, that this wasn't a place where I normally would put them," he said.
That didn't sound good. "I better call my office," I said.
At 10:30, when Jeff did a sweep of the couch cushions for the 4th time, he pulled the keys up out of their upholstered depths. The couch; I would have never thought to search the couch. When he took the keys from our son, I was sitting on the couch and he was standing behind it. Apparently, he laid them on the back of the couch and they fell forward into its cushiony abyss.
"We have a poltergeist," he announced.
"OK, but you can't pin this on him, though," I said, "You're the one who put the keys on the couch."
"You don't understand, I'd already checked the couch cushions three times," he said, "They weren't there."
"If you say so," I said, "You can go back to bed now."
I'm still skeptical. The poltergeist is only an occasional visitor and usually he only knocks things over in the garage and messes with lights when I'm around. Jeff claims that he loses objects, usually tools, all the time, only to have them reappear in an obvious place where they weren't a moment before. I think the poltergeist stays at our neighbor's house for the most part. I don't feel him the way I felt the ghost at our old apartment, who was a constant presence. This ghost is sporadic. Our apartment ghost liked us and I liked her back; her energy generally felt friendly and affectionate (though she could be temperamental if she felt slighted). She had a very distinct female presence. Jeff can't feel a gender on the spook who visits us now, but it feels adolescent and male to me. He isn't affectionate like our old ghost, just impish. I may have complained that our house lacked a ghost before, but I wanted one like our previous ghost. I wish she had moved with us when we left. I guess ghosts are not that much different than your living neighbors; you never really get to know them until after you've moved into a place, and by then you're kind of stuck even if your ghost or your neighbor turns out to be a jerk.
Since I had already called in, I went ahead and took the day off. I took my son to daycare and had a fairly productive afternoon. My desk is neatly organized, the laundry is done and the packages I need to send to my mother-in-law and goddaughter are packed up and ready to go. I guess I should thank the poltergeist for all of this, but I don't want to give him any more ideas. Then again, if I ever see Jeff pick up my keys again, I'll make sure he hands them to me. Between him, the baby and the ghost, there's no telling where they could end up next time.
I've noticed the poltergeist a time or two myself lately, but I'm not sure that he should take the blame of this one. I really think it's Jeff's fault, but I'll let him believe whatever he needs to in order to make him feel better.
The story starts with my son's fascination with my keys. He has always enjoyed playing with them, but his interest has grown more intense since he discovered that if he presses the red button on my keychain, lights will flash and an alarm will sound. He loves that. I'm not sure that my neighbors are as amused as my son is, so we try to confiscate the keys when he finds them to preserve harmony and goodwill with the rest of the people in my subdivision.
On Sunday night, my son set off the car alarm and was listening to the wonderful sounds that it makes when Jeff, being closest to him, scooped him up and took the keys away. I almost mentioned that he ought to put the keys in my purse and zip it up, but didn't. I wasn't concerned. Jeff usually puts my keys in one of two places, either on the kitchen counter next to where the cell phone charger is plugged in or on a counter in the living room where he drops his own keys and wallet when he isn't using them. I didn't worry. I figured I could find them without a problem.
On Monday morning I had myself and the baby dressed and everything ready to take out to the car when I began to hunt for my keys. Not in my purse. Not in Jeff's catch-all. Not in the kitchen. Not anywhere I could see. After 30 minutes of frantic searching, I decided to wake up Jeff.
Understand that Jeff and I work vastly different schedules. I am an 8-5 office drone, Monday through Friday. He works at an airport, which is a 24 hour facility. Currently, he works 2nd shift, which is from 2 P.M. to 11 P.M., and his days off are Sunday and Monday. Even on his days off he sleeps on a different schedule than me. He comes to bed about the time that I wake up. Certain wags have suggested that the reason Jeff and I have such a good relationship after so many years is because we never see each other. While we technically have been together almost 17 years, we have only been in each other's company for maybe a year and a half's worth of time. They may be on to something. The most perplexing thing for us is how we ended up making a baby when our schedules allow so little personal time. The nearest we can figure out, it happened as I wall rolling out of bed one morning as he was rolling in, or maybe we bumped into each other in the hallway when we both happened to be naked.
I would have woke him sooner if I had not suspected that, after only about 2 hours worth of sleep, he wouldn't be much help. He's not a morning person even after a full nights (or days) sleep. After only 2 hours of sleep, he is usually neither useful or pleasant. He woke up when I asked him where he put my keys the night before, staggered into the living room and began looking in all of the places I had already searched. He retraced his steps, cursed, scratched his head, cursed some more, searched some places over again, searched the garage, searched on top of shelves, searched the pantry, and cursed some more. I started cleaning up clutter, since it seemed as good of an opportunity to do that as any. If I gave up looking but stayed focused on organizing, I figured the keys might find me somehow.
"I remember thinking when I put them down that I needed to move them, that this wasn't a place where I normally would put them," he said.
That didn't sound good. "I better call my office," I said.
At 10:30, when Jeff did a sweep of the couch cushions for the 4th time, he pulled the keys up out of their upholstered depths. The couch; I would have never thought to search the couch. When he took the keys from our son, I was sitting on the couch and he was standing behind it. Apparently, he laid them on the back of the couch and they fell forward into its cushiony abyss.
"We have a poltergeist," he announced.
"OK, but you can't pin this on him, though," I said, "You're the one who put the keys on the couch."
"You don't understand, I'd already checked the couch cushions three times," he said, "They weren't there."
"If you say so," I said, "You can go back to bed now."
I'm still skeptical. The poltergeist is only an occasional visitor and usually he only knocks things over in the garage and messes with lights when I'm around. Jeff claims that he loses objects, usually tools, all the time, only to have them reappear in an obvious place where they weren't a moment before. I think the poltergeist stays at our neighbor's house for the most part. I don't feel him the way I felt the ghost at our old apartment, who was a constant presence. This ghost is sporadic. Our apartment ghost liked us and I liked her back; her energy generally felt friendly and affectionate (though she could be temperamental if she felt slighted). She had a very distinct female presence. Jeff can't feel a gender on the spook who visits us now, but it feels adolescent and male to me. He isn't affectionate like our old ghost, just impish. I may have complained that our house lacked a ghost before, but I wanted one like our previous ghost. I wish she had moved with us when we left. I guess ghosts are not that much different than your living neighbors; you never really get to know them until after you've moved into a place, and by then you're kind of stuck even if your ghost or your neighbor turns out to be a jerk.
Since I had already called in, I went ahead and took the day off. I took my son to daycare and had a fairly productive afternoon. My desk is neatly organized, the laundry is done and the packages I need to send to my mother-in-law and goddaughter are packed up and ready to go. I guess I should thank the poltergeist for all of this, but I don't want to give him any more ideas. Then again, if I ever see Jeff pick up my keys again, I'll make sure he hands them to me. Between him, the baby and the ghost, there's no telling where they could end up next time.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 09:21 pm (UTC)*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
* Is being a little haunted like being a little pregnant? I suppose a place is either haunted, or it's not.
no telling where they could end
Date: 2006-03-28 09:07 pm (UTC)Re: no telling where they could end
Date: 2006-03-28 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 03:47 pm (UTC)