"Don't Let a Suitcase Full of Cheese Become Your Big Fork and Spoon"

Have you seen the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Ray and Deborah have a standoff about who is going to unpack a suitcase?  It sits on the landing to the stairs for a few weeks while they both wait for the other to unpack it.  It becomes a hilarious standoff where Deborah finally sticks a wheel of cheese in the suitcase hoping to force Raymond to take it upstairs and unpack it.  She tells Marie about this and Marie then tells her a story about the big fork and spoon on her kitchen wall she and Frank fought about years ago and how their presence remind her of the argument every time she passes them.  She says, "Don't let a suitcase full of cheese become your big fork and spoon."  Liberated by her own proclamation, Marie then proceeds to remove the fork and spoon from the wall only to discover a dust outline and she has to return them to their spot.  When she mentions it to Frank, he remarks, "When did we get those?".

My point of this- the things that bother us as women, most men don't notice or care about.

So- what is my big fork and spoon?  It isn't a seething-under-the-surface-anger kind of thing, but really more comical.

A few years after we bought our house in New Jersey, DJ renovated the kitchen- new tile, new sink, added more cabinets and a kitchen island.  It was beautiful when he was done.  The only thing- he removed the piece of trim under the kitchen window in order to replace the tile backsplash and, exhausted after finishing the tile and grout, didn't replace it.  It was going to be such a quick thing- just cutting the trim to the length needed and nailing it in place- that he just left it to another day.

Another month, another year- and the thing was never replaced. Because I am short, when I stood at the sink, it was right in my line of vision.  Most people could not see it, but it was always in my sight driving me crazy with it's ugliness and sense of unfinished business.

(from my point of view while standing at the sink)

(It is like a long-running joke, appearing in all the family photos.  Here is Naked Window posing with Noah during his wacky clothes day at school:)

Here is Naked Window posing for my photo that was to be added to the realtor site looking for renters:

Here is Naked Window photo-bombing my picture of my fall decor:

Naked Window is a sneaky little booger, even showing up in photos taken from the living room:

Here is Naked Window smiling for being included in Zoe's birthday photo last summer:

When we found out we received an overseas assignment, would have to move and therefore rent out our house, I thought the day had come that he would FINALLY put the trim in place.  We spent two months touching up nail holes in the wall, touching up paint, repainting a few rooms, purging the house of a lot of things we did not need, doing a few silly minor things so it would pass the inspection for rental property and minor repairs.

And still no trim.

The movers picked up our furniture on Tuesday and Wednesday before we were supposed to turn the house over to our renter on Saturday.  With the help of a friend, I spent Thursday and Friday cleaning the house from top to bottom while DJ honored all his military appointments and drove our car to be dropped off at the port for shipping overseas.  

Still no trim.

Friday night, at about 11:00 pm, I finally finished the cleaning of the house, with mopping and sweeping the kitchen and living room and then rinsing out the kitchen sink I had been using for all the cleaning.

DJ inspected the grounds outside, made sure we had left nothing behind, took the last of the trash out for trash day the following day, and at 11:15pm, walked in the house with a piece of trim.

It was the last thing we did before walking away from our house.

Naked Window is finally clothed.  

At least our tenant can enjoy it's completeness.

But then again, she probably won't even notice.