Update: The hand soap is back on the counter, next to the sink. All we had to do was discuss it. Yes, you may say, “duh”.

As mentioned before, my husband likes tidiness. He becomes ornery if things are not in their places. He dislikes clutter and is not a fan of things that have one use (like a juice maker — it is big and bulky and can only be used to make juice).

He’d prefer the counters to be free of everything, but understands that we need a few things left out — coffee maker, toaster, kitchen-aid mixer (although he’d much prefer that be in a cupboard). He is especially picky about what is left out next to the sink. He’d like the dish detergent under the sink and does not tolerate SOS pads on the counter, even in a container made for the purpose.

He sees absolutely no reason for hand soap on the kitchen counter because, he reasons, a person can wash one’s hand with dish detergent.

I, on the other hand, don’t mind things on the counter. In fact, I like things on the counter — handy and ready for use. Being short, I have to climb on a stool to reach the blender which is kept in a cupboard above the refrigerator. In order to use the food processor, I need to battle the dustpan, broom and mop which hang on the inside of the cupboard door that houses the Cuisinart, often losing when the dustpan falls on my shoulder.  Other appliances are kept in the laundry room or in the pantry where I need to precariously perch on the edge of the doorway in order to reach the higher shelves.

But this post is not about the appliances. It is about a small bottle of lemon-scented hand soap that I bought at Target a month or so ago. The kids and I love the smell — pure lemon — and I feel good about washing my hands with it instead of dish washing detergent for no other reason than just because. I figured that my husband would object to having the hand soap on the counter, but I also thought he’d get used to it like he got used to the small dish detergent bottle that we keep on the counter.

A few days after I bought the hand soap it disappeared from the kitchen counter. I found it on the shelf in the basement. I brought it back up the kitchen. It stayed there a few days, but not long after I brought it up, it disappeared again. This happened a few more times, then it stayed on the counter for quite a while.

This morning as I washed clothes, I saw that the hand soap was back in the basement. I decided not to bother moving it. Apparently my husband didn’t get the same sense of well-being seeing that old fashioned label on the sink as I did. Apparently something about that bottle annoyed him so much that it had to be removed to the basement.

Ah well; I tried.