Oh, oh!
Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said.
My wife had bought two decorative baskets that spoke louder than words.
Their message? “You have to hang us up.”
Notice the “you” part?
This always happens.
She buys something, and I’m left to hang it, assemble it, or stash it in the storage room to be forgotten. The last option’s my favorite.
The problem is, she’s always buying things like this. Our storage room is a graveyard of unhung, unassembled, stashed-away stuff.
It drives me up the wall, and I tell her so.
“Why don’t you hang your own baskets?” I ask.
“Because that’s your job.”
It is.
So many tasks like this fall to me, and I’m not sure why. Probably because I’ve always done them. No matter what anyone says, marriage isn’t about an equal split of responsibilities.
Nothing is, for that matter.
Some people are good at certain things; others aren’t. Some find joy in tasks others dread. And some—well, some just offload what they don’t want to do onto those who’ll grudgingly get it done.
Like hanging decorative baskets.
“It’s not that I’m unwilling,” I tell her, “but I’d rather do it on my own time.”
She nods, conceding the point.
“Besides,” I add, “we already have a pile of baskets just like those in the storage room.”
She nods again.
“So why do you keep buying them?”
“I’ll keep buying them,” she says, “until you hang them up.”
Almost Iowa 
Sorta sounds like our house! There’s stuff I do, and there’s stuff my husband does. And if the list of stuff my husband does is longer than mine, hey….that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
Put all the hooks up in places you think they should hang, and I’m guessing there will be an interesting conversation to follow.
Pure and simple logic.
There just might be a garage sale in your future. . .
So is this your hill to die on? To never hang up a decorative basket because _______ ! Not judging, just wondering. 😜
She’s not wrong, you know. Take the hint, maybe, and slow the decorative madness? And then enjoy an evening on the porch, watching the sun set, air cool enough to quell mosquitos but carry the baskets’ perfume. The team…
Here’s an odd little thought. Maybe someone in your household has confused basketry with basket-try. That could explain a continuing effort to get those things hung.
Yikees, I never quite looked at it that way. 🙂
Wow. I think she’s got you there.
I’m gonna finish Dan’s comment- Sell everything in the storage closet! -Very fun clever post.
I wish that were possible.
“Say, why don’t we toss out – maybe like 10 of the old busted up picture frames we have in storage.”
“No, you never know when you might need one.”
“I was talking about the broken ones.”
“Yeah, the ones you promised to fix?”
Geez, now I have another set of tasks to ignore.
Think how much money you’d save if you hung them immediately…
😉
There are some things more important than money – like watching TV, doomscrolling on the computer and wandering off down a country road.
Your mission is clear.
My mission has always been clear – and one day I might actually get around to working on it – but that day is well off into the future.