No Fool, well; maybe not all the time

I'm pretty busy, if you know me; you know it is true.  I am constantly moving in 15 different directions each week and that can lead me to loosing track of the small important things in my life.  Recently, that was my purse, keys and ipad.  I arrived home the other day and my husband was gardening.  When one of us is working on something, we tend to pitch in and help if we can so I did.  I put down my satchel/purse in the yard and dug in.  When we got done, I went in the house and left my purse abandoned in our front yard.  Well it must have gotten lonely, because it found a new friend.  I should know better, I do know better.  Fortunately, my wallet wasn't in it but other things were.  Sigh* oh well.  We live in a blue collar neighborhood which is fine but there are a lot of people wandering through who are in flexible living arrangements.  I think they helped the purse wander off, judging by what happened next; I know one of them did.

I went into my studio, berating myself for being so stupid and noticed my ipad was missing.  Where the hell did it go?  I tore the studio apart, wracked my brain and spent 2 restless nights until the last time I used it came to mind.  I took it to an art group I am a part of.  Uh oh, opened my phone, pulled up the "find my" ap and sure enough; it was 4 blocks away from my house.  Thus a phone call to the police.  This isn't North Idaho where you pound on a stranger's door and demand the return of an item, you don't know what you will face.  After about 3 hours a pair of nice uniformed men met me at the address in question.  The nice lady was quick to return it.  Her apartment faces the alley and a transient who was chemically enhanced tossed it at her when he was confronted.  No sign of the purse it was in and while it's loss is frustrating, nothing truly valuable was lost once I got back the ipad.

This is where new habits need to be formed.  Carry the purse from the car to the inside of the house.  Put my keys in the same place every single day (that goes for my husband too).  I remember my grandmother always having a place for everything.  She could put her hand on anything at any time.  I have gotten lax in a place that really doesn't give many second chances.  I can't be mad at the transients, I moved into their territory and I need to adjust my way of doing things accordingly.  North Idaho might be a different lifestyle but it taught me that you can't change the way deer cross the road, coyotes eating your pets or moose eating your fruit trees.  Same thing here, I am responsible for what happens to my things if I am not diligent in keeping track of them.

The moral?  create habits and stick to them.  A place for everything and everything in it's place, it isn't a bad way to live.  At least the house might become tidier.