And there you have it!

There's been a constant battle in our house that's been raging long before the girls came along.  As with any husband and wife it's about shoes.  I have no problem with the quantity of shoes Gina has assembled; my problem is where they are stored.  She's got 4/5th's of our combined closet space to cram her collection into, but somehow they always manage to end up in the middle of the hallway, or center of a room somewhere.  It's like she comes home and just walks right out of her shoes and keeps going.  I'm very strategic with my placement of things.  I have a routine, a pattern. ... I'm predictable.  I come home, my shoes go in the closet or my flip-flops go in the corner between the wall and the dresser.  My keys, watch, wallet all go immediately in a drawer and my phone goes on the ledge next to the bed.  It takes me 15.5 seconds.  Easy.  Done.  On top of Gina's shoe abandonment she never puts anything in the same spot twice.  How many times have we spent extra minutes scouring the house, late to some appointment, because we couldn't have predicted the car keys were going to be in the silverware drawer!  Anyway, that's off topic.  Back to the shoe thing.  She's constantly defending herself that she doesn't leave them in the middle of the room, that they're safely to the side and I just over exaggerate. ... which is a fair defense because that sounds like me.  But last night, after she'd gone to teach, I was playing with Arianna in the girls room when Genevieve came tromping in wearing some of Gina's sandals.  We laughed about how silly she was, but then I asked her to take the sandals back and put them "where momma keeps them."  This is the best part.  She picks them right up, walks into the dining area and sets them down specifically right in the center of the room. ... middle of the traffic area. ... just where Gina leaves them all the bloody time.  And there you have it.  I'm not exaggerating.  The shoe displacement theory is officially a bust.  Even the girls know that momma keeps her shoes in the middle of the floor.  I win!  Which feels weird.  Not very natural.  I don't like it. ... I forfeit.