A Silverware Drawer Issue

on January 12, 2012
in All Posts

Rise and shine!

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An Udi’s bun with egg and cheddar.  Simple… and totally inspired by those Jimmy Dean commercials with the talking Sun guy who helps all the other weather systems wake up for the day.  Ha!

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Feelin’ sunny now.

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Something random to share….

 

My best friend in Charlotte is Nicole, who blogs at Yuppie Yogini (which is how we met).  I love being friends with Nicole because she is kind, funny, sweet, and likes to talk for hours and hours.  Nicole is also a therapist, and sometimes, I can tell she’s ‘therapizing me’ in our conversations.  Just yesterday, I was complaining about something and she said, “Why do you think that bothers you so much?”  What a therapy question (that I totally fell for!). 

 

Anyway, one day Nicole was at my house and noticed the state of my silverware drawer.

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“What the hell is with your silverware?” she asked. “Nothing is in the right spot.”  I replied that putting away the dishes was my most hated chore, and I never understood why people took the time to sort out the silverware, so I just dump the clean forks, spoons, and knifes back in the drawer without bothering to organize it.  I added that I’ve noticed that others judge me when they open my silverware drawer (it is pretty nuts in there) but I still can’t bring myself to care.  Now, if you look around the rest of my house (and my life in general), I am pretty neat, organized, and structured, so the silverware drawer stands in chaotic contrast to how I do everything else.  Nicole started to laugh hysterically.  And then she observed that my response to the ‘silverware drawer issue’ was quite interesting to her because it was physical proof that I can pick and choose what to worry about instead of freaking out over small things that just don’t matter in my life.  I guess I never thought of it that way!

 

Now, whenever a silly problem rears its head, and I feel myself getting needlessly worked up, I visual my silverware drawer and remind myself that I can choose what to obsess over.  I don’t need to spend my energy worrying about everything.  Some things are just silverware drawer problems.  Not real problems.  It’s not a big deal; everything will be okay.

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And other times, you’re just forked.  Smile

{ 72 comments }

 

  • kathleen @ the daily crumb January 12, 2012, 9:24 am

    i love this! i’m a little compulsive about my silverware drawer (random… because other organization in my house, or lack there of, doesn’t bother me), but love your point that it’s no big deal! sometimes we just have to move on…

    yummy breakfast sammie 🙂

  • SaraRM January 12, 2012, 9:25 am

    This is greatness! Who knew something so deep could come out of a silverware drawer… I like it!

  • Krystina (Organically Me) January 12, 2012, 9:26 am

    Haha, I love the ending to this post.

  • Angela @ Eat Spin Run Repeat January 12, 2012, 9:27 am

    Haha! Your silverware drawer would drive me crazy, but like you say, there are more important things in life to worry about!! Our drawer that contains flippers, ladles, bbq utensils etc is equally as mixed up!

  • Heather January 12, 2012, 9:27 am

    the number of times i’ve made an egg and cheese sandwich after watching a commercial with that sun man is ridiculously high. The power of advertising, right?

  • Gina @ Running to the Kitchen January 12, 2012, 9:31 am

    Haha, this was a great post! For the record, I think putting away dishes is definitely the worst chore too. I do anything and everything to avoid that one.

  • Penny January 12, 2012, 9:31 am

    This is awesome.
    “Other times, you’re just forked.” Ha!
    Educational and insightful post. 🙂

  • Ashley @ This Is The Place January 12, 2012, 9:32 am

    Cool about your ability to pick and choose…

    …but man, your silverware drawer is stressing ME out!

  • ash January 12, 2012, 9:32 am

    My drawer is the same if not worse bc we keep measuring spoons in there too. I hate putting away dishes too so I just toss them in there!

  • Claire @ Live and Love to Eat January 12, 2012, 9:37 am

    Beautiful photos of your breakfast!

  • Joy @ The Joy Vey January 12, 2012, 9:38 am

    I love this – what a great visualizing tool!

  • Kath January 12, 2012, 9:39 am

    Pretty pictures!

  • Emily January 12, 2012, 9:39 am

    Good morning! I normally don’t comment, but the silverware drawer thing is something I used to freak out about a lot, until I mentioned it to my friend. She taught me that when I’m loading the dishwasher, stick all of the dirty silverware in its own separate compartment of the silverware holder thingie (technical term, I know). Forks only go with forks, spoons only with spoons, you get the point. When it comes time to unload the dishwasher, all you have to do is grab each handful of silverware type from the holder and dump it in the proper compartment. I feel a bit silly saying this was a game changer for unloading my dishwasher, but it was. 🙂

    • Caitlin January 12, 2012, 9:41 am

      This is a good tip! But then you still have to organize your silverware at some point 🙂 Hahah. You don’t know how much I hate dishes!!

      • Emily January 12, 2012, 9:43 am

        Very true – and most definitely, like you said, not something we should stress over. Give it a shot though, I basically giggle to myself every time I unload the thing now thinking that I’m somehow outsmarting the system or something. It’s the little things in life, right? 🙂 Happy Thursday!

  • Katie @ Katie Without Restrictions January 12, 2012, 9:50 am

    This, I enjoyed! And trust a therapist to find meaning in your silverware drawer 😉

  • HTPDad January 12, 2012, 9:58 am

    awesome.

  • Anna January 12, 2012, 9:58 am

    by the way..love your silverware though! 🙂

  • Khushboo January 12, 2012, 10:01 am

    haha loved this post…call me crazy but unloading the dishwasher is actually my least dreaded chore!

  • Paj January 12, 2012, 10:03 am

    Thank you for this post. I can relate to both the silverware drawer and the message behind it!

  • Lindsey January 12, 2012, 10:03 am

    I love that analogy! I am OCD when it comes to alot of things and need to take on this perspective more often 🙂

  • Christine @ BookishlyB January 12, 2012, 10:06 am

    You got those at Target! We used to have the same set.

  • Casey @ Pocket Full of Sunshine January 12, 2012, 10:11 am

    This post is hilarious. And definitely true!

  • Rebecca @ Naturally Healthy and Gorgeous January 12, 2012, 10:16 am

    I agree, putting the silverware away is the worst!

  • Corrie Anne January 12, 2012, 10:18 am

    What a great mental picture. Totally clicks with me!

  • Brittnie (A Joy Renewed) January 12, 2012, 10:28 am

    Love this analogy, sooo true!

  • Hannah January 12, 2012, 10:31 am

    I love this!! If ANYone else devoted a whole post to a silverware drawer, I’d be like… “Really?” But you made a great point in here & didn’t take the silverware metaphor too far. A lot of other bloggers should take note.

  • Colleen January 12, 2012, 10:33 am

    Great reflective on what is important. My silverware drawer needs to be organized, but I could careless about my ‘junk’ drawer.

  • Carolina John January 12, 2012, 10:36 am

    That’s a great way to look at things. Love the silverware drawer paradigm!

  • Sarah @ w30 January 12, 2012, 10:45 am

    Heh! I love this! Very, very true – although I have to say that I 100% agree about not organizing the silverware and your drawer actually looks much neater than mine!

  • Cat @Breakfast to Bed January 12, 2012, 10:49 am

    That silverware drawer would give me agita.

  • KT January 12, 2012, 10:51 am

    I love this. I am not attempting to “bring down” any other popular bloggies I read, but I see a lot of examples of people that just seem to obsess over organization. I am so thankful I don’t have this OCD type personality because I think I could stress myself to death with it. Life is so much more fun if you aren’t constantly concerned about things that are trivial in the “grand scheme”… it truly is that simple! If you can get there, that is. I know some people clinically can’t shake OCD.

  • Alex January 12, 2012, 10:57 am

    Ha, I love this post! I never saw anyone not sorting their silverware… but you are 100% right! Why stress about it if you don’t like doing it?

  • Anna Crouch January 12, 2012, 11:01 am

    First off, that sandwich looks awesome! If I hadn’t just ate breakfast, I might have sprinted to the kitchen to make one!

    Also, I’m loving the silverware drawer analogy! Over the last year or so I’ve been working through some “issues,” one of them being anxiety, and I’ve realized the same thing. (And actually wrote a post one it). We have the CHOICE to be stressed out, feel anxious or get frustrated. Our outside circumstances don’t have control over us, but we have control over them. This doesn’t mean that when your grandpa dies you have to choose to suck it up and move on. lol Sometimes grieving, pain and those sorts of feelings are a-okay to feel. But when it comes to bad stress and worries in your life, you have the power to pick and choose which ones are worth worrying about.

  • Brittany P.S. January 12, 2012, 11:04 am

    1) I love this
    2) I am ridiculously impressed with your silverware drawer, I honestly wish I could do that. I might try to just put them in all together… but I think I would last.. maybe an hour before obsessively going back and rearranging. Ohgod. I should.. work on that.

  • Amber @ Busy, Bold, Blessed January 12, 2012, 11:19 am

    Love your sunshine breakfast, so bright!!! I’m sorry, but your silverwear drawer would drive me craaaazy! But at the same time, my bedroom is a hot mess. Strange to think about haha.

    Tomorrow is Friday 😀

  • Jess January 12, 2012, 11:22 am

    I love your silverware! Where did you get it??

    My house is like your silverware drawer right now. 😉

  • Chelsea January 12, 2012, 11:34 am

    hahah my mom and I do the same! We don’t even have like an organizer thing in our silverware drawer. We literally just dump everything and bam done! If you think about it sorting silverware is what takes probably the longest too when cleaning out the dishwasher!

  • Kristine January 12, 2012, 11:46 am

    ok so you have no idea how much I can totally relate to this post today!!!

  • Elizabeth January 12, 2012, 11:56 am

    I can relate to this post too! I too have a “silverware drawer” in the shape of my bed. I could care less as to whether my bed is made or not while I am a complete neat freak about most everything else in my life. 🙂 Thanks for the reminder. Now if only I could figure out what problems aren’t worth it & what ones are.

  • Allison January 12, 2012, 11:57 am

    Haha, a little disorganization never killed anyone! I def need to remind myself that- sometimes I get a little compulsive making sure that everything is in the right spot… My justification: it makes it easier to find things! But then again, if you know that it’s all in that drawer somewhere, that’s all that matters 😛

  • Annette @ EnjoyYourHealthyLife January 12, 2012, 12:23 pm

    Hahaha –totally laughing!

  • Michelle @ A Healthy Mrs January 12, 2012, 12:38 pm

    Haha, I’ve never seen someone own a silverware drawer organizer, and use it, but not sort it — whatever works! To each their own 🙂

  • Kelley January 12, 2012, 12:49 pm

    haha everyone needs a friend like that. That’s a really cute story. I like the analogy!

  • Katie @ Peace Love and Oats January 12, 2012, 12:57 pm

    Haha I wish I had a therapist friend! That could be get helpful!

  • emily January 12, 2012, 1:01 pm

    It’s funny, because my apartment is a wreck but just the sight of that silverware drawer sort of gives me anxiety!

  • Food Babe January 12, 2012, 1:10 pm

    This is seriously awesome. My husband complains to me about the silverware drawer almost every single day – Sometimes he’ll dump everything on the counter – because he knows this will drive me crazy because I have a “out of sight, out of mind” mentality! Maybe I should some how try to use this mind trick against him – Tell him he has the “choice” not to freak out about it because he doesn’t freak out when he leaves his underwear on the floor! Ha!

  • Vanessa @ Swift as Shadows January 12, 2012, 1:10 pm

    Depending on what kind of mood I’m in, I’ll just dump all the silverware in the drawer too. Sometimes we need a little chaos. 😉

  • Molly @RDexposed January 12, 2012, 1:17 pm

    Hahah I totally do this, too. Super anal about somethings and lax with other similar things.

  • Lindsay @ Salt, Sun & Sanity January 12, 2012, 1:19 pm

    I love the concept of a “silverware drawer issue”… it’s too bad we can’t take a step back and look at the things we get worked up about in our lives using this filter!

  • deva at deva by definition January 12, 2012, 1:40 pm

    I like my silverware drawer to be relatively organized so I can grab what I want the first time- especially in an early morning stupor when I want a spoon for cereal.

    My dresser drawers, however? Um… no organization at all.

  • KaraHadley January 12, 2012, 1:41 pm

    This is so funny to me, because I’m a little OCD about the silverware drawer. I even went as far as to systematically put the utensils in the dishwasher because my dishwasher utensil holder has a row of four slots, just like my silverware drawer. So now I sort it all before putting it in the dishwasher so I can just grab a handful.
    Yeah….I’m glad you can choose not to worry about the less important things in life.

  • Angela @ Happy Fit Mama January 12, 2012, 1:51 pm

    My silverware drawer is super organized. It drives me crazy when I go my parents house. Their drawer is a mess. I don’t know how many different sets of flatware they have but the organizer is overflowing. I keep telling my mom that she only needs one set since there’s only 2 of them living in the house now! I think she keeps everything to drive me crazy.

  • Angela @ Happy Fit Mama January 12, 2012, 1:52 pm

    My silverware drawer is super organized. It drives me crazy when I go my parents house. Their drawer is a mess. I don’t know how many different sets of flatware they have but the organizer is overflowing. I keep telling my mom that she only needs one set since there’s only 2 of them living in the house now! I think she keeps everything to drive me crazy.

  • Amber K January 12, 2012, 1:54 pm

    I would go totally crazy by your silverware drawer, and yet I’m totally in awe that you can live with it like that! Now I’m going to see if I have my own “silverware drawer” because I’m not sure I do.

  • Elizabeth @ reads recipes runs January 12, 2012, 2:13 pm

    That’s so funny, I have a therapist friend too, and sometimes when we hang out with one of our other good friends, we catch her “observing” and we will be like “This is a strictly no-shrinking zone!” hahaha.

  • Lexi @ Cura Personalis Foodie January 12, 2012, 2:29 pm

    Hahah putting away the dishes = major fork in the road 🙂

  • Amanda @ AmandaRunsNY January 12, 2012, 3:01 pm

    First of all, the pictures in the post are exceptionally amazing. They are practically glowing on my computer.

    Second of all, great point.

  • Erin @ The Grass Skirt January 12, 2012, 3:17 pm

    This might sound kind of anal, but when I load the dishwasher, I make sure to put all of the spoons together, forks together, etc. Ours has little compartments, so it makes it easy. When I need to unload, it is really simple because I just grab all of the forks at once and out them in the right place in the silverware organizer. You might want to give it a try. 🙂

  • Linz @ ItzLinz January 12, 2012, 5:04 pm

    HILARIOUS!! i despise emptying the dishwasher! that’s my husband’s job so i cant complain how he puts away our silverware! (not always the neatest!)

  • Kelly January 12, 2012, 5:04 pm

    I had no idea Nicole was a therapist!! Very cool!

  • Jolene (www.everydayfoodie.ca) January 12, 2012, 6:52 pm

    Haha, I have never thought about it, but I suppose I always assumed that EVERYONE put their silverware in the “correct” spots – I guess that is not true! Funny!

  • Jamie @ Don't Forget the Cinnamon January 12, 2012, 10:12 pm

    Hahaha I also saw that commercial this morning…and then made myself an egg sandwich for lunch!

  • Celine January 13, 2012, 6:19 am

    I love this post…
    I need to find my very own silverware drawer
    Thank you Caitlin

  • Charise January 13, 2012, 8:11 am

    Oh man, that disorganized silverware drawer WOULD drive me cuh-razy! But, I am pretty sure I have my own silverware drawer issue (like maybe the fact that it takes me a good week to put away my laundry and I just.dont.care. about having a basket of clean clothes in the middle of my room. Or toothpaste in the sink – doesn’t bother me!)

  • Simone January 13, 2012, 8:20 am

    I know this is totally irrelevant but I’ve always wondered why cheddar cheese in the US is orange in colour?? Has the Hus ever asked this question being from the UK?

    Sim (from Aus)

    • CaitlinHTP January 13, 2012, 10:49 am

      I love that you spell it colour 🙂

      I don’t know! We have ‘white’ cheddar here, too.

  • Jennifer January 13, 2012, 10:36 am

    That is an awesome way to look at it, I’m going to try to remember that! However, as I get older (I’m significantly older than you) I realize I am much better at not sweating the smaller stuff. More rolls off my back than it used to. I like it.

    I am anal retentive about my kitchen in all aspects. Oh, who am I kidding, I’m just anal about my house in general. Desk at work, not so much LOL

  • Melissa January 13, 2012, 11:21 am

    This post is so amazing! And, as a psychology nerd, I definitely need to check out Nicole’s blog! I love that your behaviors demonstrate that you know where to channel your worries. I’m actually disorganized in every single way… But I always know where everything is! Hopefully that doesn’t make me completely nuts 😛

  • Dominique January 13, 2012, 8:39 pm

    This post is great. I’m pretty obsessive about being tidy and organized but one thing I can’t be bothered with is making the bed.

    When Sean and I moved in I had to warn him about the fact that if he ever wanted the bed made, it would have to be him who made it. Since we’ve been living together, I think I’ve made the bed a handful of times. I’m more apt to do it now though because I’m allergic to our cats and they like sleeping in the bed so I only let them sleep on the top comforter.

  • Sarah January 13, 2012, 10:09 pm

    the cheese is so perfectly melted on your sandwich.. im hungry now

  • Rance April 3, 2012, 6:13 pm

    Oh man…that would drive me crazy too. More so because I run out of forks quicker than spoons or knives. When they’re organized I know as I grab the last fork that it is time to wash dishes.

    With that chaotic style I might spend time looking through each bin before realizing that the forks are gone.

    I guess either way you’re spending time in the silverware drawer.

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