The Letter J

J

Jack-in-a-cupboard  

Jack-in-a-cupboard is rather like the Jack-in-the-box. With the Jack-in-the-box you wait with baited breath as you turn the small crank and wait for that rather spooky looking clown to pop out and scare the bejesus out of you. The Jack-in-a-cupboard is when you shut the door of a cupboard really quickly and with stuff leaning against the door, to prevent yourself getting the blame for the stuff falling out and scattering all over the counter or floor. The next person who opens the cupboard will experience the holy crap moment as things tumble haphazardly all over.

I will confess I am a true maker of the Jack-in-a cupboard, especially when it comes to the cupboard that holds my Tupperware (yes I still own many pieces of that collection) and plastic food storage containers. WHEN I find the motivation to clean those cupboards, they look so neat and tidy. Sometimes if I’m in the mood I will arrange them by colour, just because I have nothing better to do. They are all stacked neatly by size with the matching lids stacked nicely beside them. It looks so nice that sometimes I’ll purposely leave the cupboard door open so that if anyone (namely my other half) enters the kitchen they/he will see it too and think to themselves my what I nice organized cupboard!

Well my nice organized cupboard lasts for maybe (and that’s a big maybe) a week. There is a good reason for that too…..well it works for me anyway. Usually when I am in need of a food storage container, the one I need is somewhere near the middle of the stack. It’s never near the top or bottom so therefore I have to muddle about unstacking the pile just to find the right one. Then I have to do it all over again to find the proper lid. Then, when the container has been emptied (usually into the trash because we all know what happens when left-over’s stay left over in the fridge for extended periods of time) and the container has been pretty much sterilized it’s time to put it back in the cupboard. Well, I’m really busy, what with working, cleaning the house doing the laundry and all the other countless other jobs that I do…it’s hard to keep one little cupboard looking neat and tidy. It’s easier just to grab and go, or as the case may be stuff in and close. It doesn’t really register that things are teetering precariously on the verge of collapse until some unsuspecting person opens the cupboard door and cries out while desperately trying to shield themselves from the rain of plastic. After the initial cussing of the unsuspecting person if one listens closely enough they would surely hear a whispered “ooops” coming from somewhere in the distance.