Something that ticks me off

Okay, I 've already established that, although I love my mother-in-law, she makes me nuts. She enters my kitchen while I'm cleaning and explains that she can't figure out where anything goes (intimating that she doesn't like my organization skills) or she would be glad to help. She tells me repeatedly not to put anything plastic or wood (handles of knives) into the dishwasher--my philosophy is that if it can't go into the dishwasher, it BETTER go into the trash!! She turns the blades of the knives in my knife block upward to "preserve the sharp edge better." Nevermind that it's a safety hazard. Nevermind that it looks STUPID. Nevermind that I like it the other way!!!

But THIS visit she committed a rather awful mistake. I must preface this with a story. About a year ago I was making lentil soup. I was letting it simmer, but forgot to turn the heat down. After about an hour, I checked on it. The soup was sticking to the bottom of the pot and starting to burn. I hurriedly turned it into a clean pot and ran the other one full of water. When I turned back to the soup, a carrot had floated to the top. A smiling face had been scorched into it's surface. Laughing to myself, I rescued it from the soup and showed my kids. They LOVED it. We saved the carrot, and even when it had dried out, the smiley face was still visible. It has sat on the back of my stove ever since that day.

My mother-in-law threw it out on Saturday.

The kids are devastated. Tabitha went through two large trashbags, trying to find it--no luck. They told David about the loss--even HE feels it. Even Darrin is a little unhappy at the loss. I'm trying to decide if I'm sad that the carrot is gone, or just mad that my MIL feels she can take over my kitchen and do whatever she wants in it.

We miss our carrot. It's time for the mother-in-law to go home.