The 'Fixing Maegan Project' To Do List: Item 512.

Do any of you have this obnoxious, annoying habit?

No offense meant, of course - the habit would only be obnoxious and annoying to yourself. Not to me. You, my dear readers (hi Mom and Dad!), are nothing but lovely, enjoyable, and sweet-smelling.

I don't know if this is a habit or simply something that bites me in the butt every now and again - in fact, I suppose if it was a habit, I'd be able to recognize it and break it. Which is what I intend to do, only I don't think it will bite me in the butt for a while. And when it does, OH, will it ever be Obnoxious and Annoying.

What I'm talking about is this: whenever I have something of great importance, and I absolutely don't want to lose it or forget about it, I put it in a very special, safe place.

And then I completely forget where that place was.

This happened to me over Christmas when I received an unexpected gift in the mail from a loved one. It was a sweet Christmas card and a nice check for me and Brian. I was so tickled and delighted - since Christmas is always a time of lots of spending - and I immediately sat down and wrote a nice thank-you note.

But THEN! Ah, then I was distracted, because I had company coming over soon and I needed to tidy up the house. I put the Christmas card and check in our large, full, all-purpose junk drawer, but then I paused. It could get lost in that drawer, I thought wisely. I'm going to put it in a very safe and special place.

So I did.

Later, I pulled the card out of the drawer and opened it, hoping to deposit the check at the bank on my way to the store. But gasp! it was gone! (Of course, it was never there in the first place.)

So here was the ensuing drama:

Wait a second! Didn't I put that in a special place? But - what place would be more special than inside the card it came in? Maybe the check fell out of the card. I should organize and arrange this entire drawer, even though I have a ton of stuff to do right now.

----La-di-da, organizes drawer, separates bills and important documents and puts them back in, burns accumulated trash in the fire, stacks magazines in the bookshelf. No check. REORGANIZES drawer. Still no check, and now it is too late to go to the store.----

Darn it! I've organized this drawer twice! Where's the check? Hopefully I'll find it later.

----Goes on Christmas vacation trip to Michigan, has a blast, all the while wondering where that check went.----

Okay, I'm home now. I AM GOING TO FIND THAT CHECK.

----Looks through all the bills and important documents again. Pages through each magazine. Opens original Christmas card 47 times. Thinks, "Why would I put that check in this drawer?! Of course it was going to get lost!" As a last-ditched attempt, checks every 'safe place' in the house. Concludes that the check was burned up with all the junk mail.----

Two weeks later, going about my business, I found the check. It was clipped to our calendar, inside the cupboard that keeps all of our coffee and mugs (opened several times a day). I'd clipped the check to the December page, but since the calendar was opened to November, I didn't see it.

Maegan, why would you have the calendar opened to November - in January?

Maybe that's something else I should change?

Has this ever happened to you?

P.S. I'll finish my engagement story. Don't worry.