The Carmex Experiment

My boys have an abundance of energy. Sometimes I’m in awe as to the amount of energy that can exist within such a tiny frame. If we could harness that energy, we would no longer need to worry about the future of power generation in our country. But, before we could harness that energy, we would have to troubleshoot the problem of disappearing energy when required to move to a prone to upside down vertical position. Let me explain. If my boys drop something on the floor, they suddenly lack the simple amount of energy it takes to bend over and pick that item up off of the floor. This applies to trash, clothes, food, toys, and all manner of things that are under the influence of gravity.

Case in point: This morning, I noticed this on the floor between the ottoman and couch.

Looks like dog poop, no? But, I knew Shasta couldn’t have squeezed her fluffy butt into that space.

On closer inspection it turned out to be grapes. I had actually praised the boys for eating all of their grapes the night before. Silly me. So I asked them why they didn’t pick the grapes up off of the floor when they spilled. Jack said he didn’t know they spilled. Luke said he knew, but he wanted to see how long it took me to pick them up. Looks like he was running his own experiment on me. Serves me right for my husband experiment.

My messy floor and carpets may appear to outsiders to be a case of shoddy housekeeping, but it is really (o.k. – mostly) a product of my male-dominated household (MDH). And it doesn’t stop with my boys. My husband does it too. He will drop something on the floor, and if he doesn’t need it right away, it will stay there. On the floor. Until I pick it up. Out of this was born the Carmex Experiment.

Last Friday, I got out of the shower to find John’s Carmex on the floor outside of my closet. I thought he must have dropped it there, didn’t need to use it so had no reason to pick it up off of the floor, and observed that it had fallen in front of my closet. If it was in front of my closet, I would have to pick it up when I wanted to access my closet. My mind sometimes works overtime. A more likely scenario is that he didn’t even notice that it fell and was on the floor, given the two thousand other things lying on my bedroom floor.

It is very much against my nature to not bend over and pick up the Carmex and set it on his dresser. But I was curious. How long would it sit there? Would he ask me in a couple of days if I had seen his Carmex? Or, would he remember that it was on the floor and pick it up the next time he needed to use it? You can think I’m a nerd (John does), but I thought this would make a great experiment to post on my blog. So, I monitored the progress of the Carmex for a week. Here are the results:

Friday – The first day I noticed the Carmex on the floor. Notice its proximity to my closet door. I didn’t pick it up, but it got pushed aside as I opened my closet door.

Saturday – The Carmex moved closer to the wall. Did he kick it out of the way as he walked by, still not bothering to pick it up? Maybe Shasta did it in the night.

Sunday – No movement from the Carmex, but it was joined by many socks.

Monday – I was out of town all day, but returned home that night to no movement of the Carmex. The socks had been picked up off of the floor. That makes sense – it was a workday and John needed socks.

Tuesday – No movement from the Carmex.

Wednesday and Thursday – I was out of town until Thursday night. When I returned home, the Carmex was still in the same spot. I let John in on the experiment, and he said that was the silliest thing he ever heard. He was expecting something a little grander. I told him I thought it was funny on many levels. I thought that other women would too. Later while I was in the bathroom, he rolled the Carmex across the floor past the doorway. Funny. Guess where the Carmex is? Still sitting where it came to rest. If it is still there next Friday, I’m throwing it in the trash.