A Few of My Favorite Things

I was scrolling mindlessly through Facebook the other day, wondering where all the funny things have gone.  I love a cute doxie pic (they consume half the posts in my feed) and I’m a sucker for a good inspirational post, but it just felt like I haven’t seen anything amusing in a while.  Then, this came along.

Although it is amusing, I also found it rather thought provoking.  I actually don’t really have a favorite burner on my stove, although I do tend to favor the two burners on the left hand side.  But this may be because, honestly, I think we have a short and the right side burners have proven to be unreliable at times. 

I find it interesting that Don Frijole believes people don’t talk about their favorite burner.  I don’t know, maybe they don’t.  But you know what else people have a preference for?  Bathroom stalls.  And they DO talk about it.  The guys where I used to work talked about putting name plates on their favorite stall.  Women talk about leaving an empty stall between occupants and wonder ‘what is wrong?” with women who enter a stall right next to you when others are available.  For those with inquiring minds, according to the internet, the stall closest to the door in a public restroom is the cleanest as it is the one that is used the least.

My family is well aware of a few of my odd favorites.  My son is more apt to give me grief than MOH.  MOH silently puts up with it.  Maybe because I try to hold my tongue – for the most part – about the left handed baggage he brings to the party.  In any case, I can’t be the only one with some quirky favorites.  Here are a few of them.

Coffee mugs – We have a lot of coffee mugs and I’ve had different favorites over the years.  My current go-to are the M & M mugs that we kept at the camper until we sold it.  I love the set, but they’re not all the same.  I always choose blue or red when available.  If they’re not, I’ll choose yellow, but never green.  MOH dutifully takes the green, no questions asked.

Egg cartons – I’ve hated the squeak of Styrofoam ever since I was a little kid and Dad used to squeeze that Styrofoam cooler into the back of the car and it would squeak all the way up north. I don’t have a Styrofoam cooler in my house, but the majority of egg cartons are still Styrofoam. I couldn’t care less about whether my eggs are organic or come from cage-free chickens. Give me the eggs in the cardboard carton. If the store is out, no worries. I have a cardboard carton at home and the eggs will be getting a comfy new place to rest as soon as we get there.

Forks – I have a fork preference.  We have three types of forks in the silverware drawer.  I prefer the one with the longer tines and a little more heft.  We only have four of my favorite.  I’m not sure how to get more.  I don’t know of a place that will let you test drive forks.  I’m not so hung up on them that I’ll wash one if there isn’t one clean at dinner time, but if you set the table and you give one to yourself and not to me, we will be trading forks before the meal starts.

I did make an exception when my mother-in-law set the table for Christmas morning brunch.  When I sat down, I immediately noticed one of the less desirable forks was to the left of my plate.  My eyes darted around the table and I saw that both MOH and my MIL had favorite forks.  Ugh!  But it was Christmas and we had company so I sucked it up and made do.  Later I bragged to my son, “Just so you know, Grandma and Dad had good forks and I didn’t make anybody trade with me.”

He was not impressed.  “Really?  I can’t believe you’re telling me this.”

“I’m just sayin’.  I don’t ALWAYS have to have a good fork.  I don’t know why it bugs you so much anyway.  Remember when you had that stupid Tasmanian Devil shirt and I could hardly get you to wear anything else?”

“I was ten.”

Whatever.

Everybody has favorites.  Whether it’s a favorite TV watching chair, favorite pair of socks, or favorite burner on the stove.  Some of them might seem weird, some not so much.  Who’s to say?  So let your freak flag fly!  Be kind to those who have quirky ways.  Remember, everybody’s different.