Friday, May 18, 2018

We Need Clearer Boundaries

Neither Farmer H nor Mrs. Hillbilly Mom was born with a silver spoon. We were lucky to be born with a mouth. If hard-pressed, I would have to say that I was better off than Farmer H. Even though he grew up in a rented house, and I grew up in a trailer...at least I had an indoor toilet. Not that I'm braggin'.

I start off with this fact to possibly explain some of Farmer H's behavior. We've worked hard to get to this point in our lives. Farmer H seems amazed every day at what he has. Maybe that's why he keeps buying more and more junk.

Anyhoo...I noticed early on that Farmer H had a habit of referring to things as HIS. He'd go show somebody around the BARn, saying, "I'll show you my barn." Not OUR barn. It was HIS barn. Same with everything he talked about. HIS land, HIS house, everything was his. This got to be a little annoying, but I knew on paper everything was 50-50, and Farmer H most often didn't even realize how he claimed everything for himself.

But now let's get to the important stuff. Last Saturday, we had Casey's pizza for supper. Farmer H went by the store to order the special this month, which is two medium one-topping pizzas for something like $7 apiece. That's not really cheap compared to some places, but Casey's has really good pizza. Good dough, lots of cheese, not skimpy with the toppings. I asked for sausage, and Farmer H got pepperoni. I hate pepperoni.

We usually don't get two pizzas. We get a large, and Farmer H likes the meats, and has the pepperoni left off half. When we just get the one, I generally have it one night, and then I tell Farmer H that he can have my leftover part the next few days, for a quick lunch.

With having two smaller pizzas this time, we each ate a portion, and I put the leftover pieces in one box. I told Farmer H. "I'm putting all this pizza together in one box." At no time did I tell him that he could have my leftovers. In fact, I had a piece the next day for lunch. And then I had one for brunch the day we left at noon for the casino. When I last had that pizza box open, there was one piece of sausage, and one piece of pepperoni remaining.

On Tuesday, I planned on having that slice of sausage pizza for my supper. Farmer H was leaving at 3:00 to go to an auction, where he would buy supper for himself. Since he wouldn't be home, that would be quick for me to heat up just for myself.

Imagine my surprise when I came out of the shower around noon, and saw Farmer H sitting on the long couch, eating pizza. It looked like more than one slice.

"Did you eat my pizza?"

"Yeah."

No apology. No question of whether I'd wanted it. Just HIS rightful pizza, I suppose, because it was in a box in FRIG II.

"Oh. I was going to have that for supper. But I guess I can make something else."

"Okay."

I swear. It's like I'm sharing a refrigerator in a college rental house, or an office break room. Nothing is safe.

I should have known, though, considering Farmer H's mindset. What's his is his, what's ours is his, and what's mine is his.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to write things & draw pictures on leftover containers from restaurants. This was so I would be able to eat my own food the next day. When the kids were still at home I would write various things on the box so they would leave it alone. Some examples: “Keep out”, “Don’t touch” or “This is Mom’s”. These did no good. I graduated to “Poison” (with the appropriate skull & crossbones), “Danger—Live Snakes” & even “Caution—Radioactive Materials”!! None of these worked either. Now that all the kids are married & gone, I just put an “X” on the box to remind my husband not to eat it. About nine eight seven times out of ten, he’ll leave it for me.

River said...

I tend to be a "mine" person too, usually because everything in the house was paid for by me, even though they were family items, like fridge/freezer, washing machine and so on. Hubby gambled away the mortgage money so we had to sell "my" house.
How big are the pizzas there that they can be stretched over several days?
I can understand Farmer H eating all both leftover pieces, since in the past you have said he can do that.

Hillbilly Mom said...

fishducky,
That is very creative. The best I could hope for would be labeling it "Liver and Onions." That wouldn't work for liver-loving Farmer H, though it would have for the boys.

Kudos to you for training Bud so well that you can get a 70% return on your leftovers! One of my old teaching friends swore by "back, bottom shelf, wrapped in foil" method. Saved a chocolate Easter bunny for three months! Though how she resisted eating it that long is beyooooond me!

***
River,
I can understand your claim on YOUR stuff.

Casey's pizza is very filling. It has dense dough and thick cheese. We each had a medium pizza, 6 pieces. Ate 3 for supper that night (and were stuffed), then a piece here and there for a lunch. A thin-crust crispy pizza, like from Domino's, wouldn't last that long with us.