“Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms.” – Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, my favorite book
I try to live by the quote above, but I confess to you, Dear Reader, in the last week there have been two occasions in which feelings grabbed the reins and we were chasm-bound. In both cases, Gary stood up for Reason. This is not the natural order in our house.
Reason vs Feelings 1: The Heat
The great room is drafty. It has all the windows, and in winter it is cold. I like to turn up the heat in the whole house because the great room is half the house and the cold makes me feel like a little wounded child. Gary said, “PUT ON SOCKS WHY WOULD WE HEAT UP THE WHOLE HOUSE WHEN YOU COULD PUT ON SOCKS AND THE BATHROOM GETS TOO HOT IF THE HOUSE IS WARM!” I put on socks. Reason 1, Feelings 0.
Reason vs Feelings 2: The Tupperware
The pantry shelf devoted to the flour palette looked unkempt and disorganized.
I went on the Great Tupperware eBay Buying Binge to get storage containers. Gary said, “YOU KNOW THAT EVERY TIME YOU ORGANIZE THINGS YOU END UP TAKING MORE SPACE BECAUSE THE ORGANIZATION THINGS TAKE UP SPACE THEMSELVES SO YOU END UP WITH LESS SPACE!”
This is true. And Gary calls the way I organize the pantry Tupperware Tetris. But, look:
And the labels of the lesser-used back flours are visible from beneath.
So tidy.
Reason 0, Feelings 1.
4 responses to “Reason vs Feelings”
See, I’m a fan of having flours in (not-scented) containers, because 1. no flour dust *everywhere* and 2. if you ever have bugs invade, they cannot get in/out, so you only have to deal with One Thing (or the unsealed things) rather than throwing out the entire non-canned pantry. I call that one for Reason.
Also, if you can get at everything more easily, it does not matter if it technically takes up more space.
(I agree with the socks, though, if they fix the problem. If they don’t fix the problem, the hit to your immune system is probably not worth the extra few bucks on the heating bill, however.)
(and it is always funny when the people who traditionally take opposing sides on something – whether that’s Reason/Feelings or Risk/Risk-averse or Nostalgia/Nope – swap sides for a bit!)
KC – Mom would not only put flour in containers she put the containers in the garage refrigerator, to further inconvenience the bugs.
Storing flour *in containers* *in the garage fridge* is a serious level of commitment to bug inconvenience!
KC – I think it had more to do with how rarely Mom baked and how little available storage space she had.