One good turn deserves another.

I need caffeine today. And a good snack.

Yesterday, Sam came home from work (let's be honest...he golfed most of the day away) and maybe the whole golf thing made him feel like he wasn't very productive for the day, and as a result he came home with his black box of power tools and a mission in mind.

"Our house sucks. Everything is falling apart."

Now, I have pointed several small things out to him over the course of the last year, "Honey, if you get around to it, this moulding needs to be nailed again." Small things. And I am quite sure he hasn't heard me most of the time, what with the TV droning on...

But, when he gets it in his head to fix things...that is my cue to take the wee ones and disappear. Things fly. Wood-chips, screwdrivers, curse words...it is best to just clear the area. Sometimes I stupidly get excited at the prospect that some of the little things are actually going to get done. But most of the time, like yesterday, it just makes more work for me.

I wish he would stick to my plan.

He didn't. He cleaned out my pantry. Now some men might actually be helpful in this reguard. Sam? Sam doesn't cook. Not even a little. Maybe oatmeal. That is it. Once, I sent him to the store to buy some Karo syrup. "It's in the baking aisle. It is called corn syrup. It is a clear liquid."

He came home with corn OIL. Wesson. Try making Carmels out of that!

So I do all the cooking. And my pantry is arranged how I like it. It may not make sense to anyone else, but I know where things are. I have cake mixes, brown sugar, evaporated milk and powdered sugar in one area. That is the baking stuff. I have canned soup, spaghetti-o's, and Rice-a-Roni in one area. That is my "quick dinner" area. It makes sense to me. And on the top shelf are all the things I rarely use, cause I can't reach the top shelf without a ladder.

So, he cleans the pantry. He moves all of the top shelf items down. "Do we need this? We never use this."

"Yeah, we do. That is the holiday platter that I use to cart cookies around for the Christmas parties."

"What about this?"

It goes on and on, until eventually I justify everything that is stored ON THE TOP SHELF THAT NOBODY USES! I just had to walk away.

So this morning, I go down to see what the damage is. All the top shelf items are now on the bottom shelf. [????!] And all the canned good are on one shelf. All the box items are on another shelf, lined up smallest to largest. So you have Rice-a-roni, next to a muffin mix, next to a cake mix, next to a box of cereal. I can't find anything.

What's more, is that now the whole kitchen is a pit. There are tools lying all over the floor, and bent nails, and sawdust. And the dread black power tool box is right in the middle of the floor. So I get to clean up and haul all thic crap out to the garage before I can even pour the kids a bowl of cereal.

So off to the garage I go. And I notice what a mess it is. And an idea forms. He is so nice to help me organize my work space! I should do something for him!

I think I am going to go clean the tools in the garage.

I think I will organize them from ugliest to prettiest. And I think I will take them all off the dreadful institutional looking pegs and place them into gingham-lined decorative baskets. And it really is silly to have so many sets of sockets, after all we never use them. I have my work cut out for me.

I bet he will be surprised!