House in TN

Okay, here's the disclaimer: I'm so glad people rent our house in Tennessee. We have to rent it out to make it financially viable to own. The US bills would cripple us if good, nice people we know didn't rent it. If it is rented about 7 weeks a year, the US bills (except taxes and property owner's fees) are all paid for. We love renters.

But, jeez people!

Whenever I get there, I always look around to see what is different since the last time I was there. Since I was there in June, there was about 4 different groups of people, here are some obvious things I noticed:
- The wine opener, the only wine opener in the house is gone. It is simply not anywhere, because I spent a lot of time looking for it, and guess what? I didn't buy a new one.
- The indestructible plastic blue mug has walked off. Did I mention that it was my favorite mug? Also 2 of the blue mugs are gone, but I'm sure there were broken, as I noticed that one had a cracked handle.
- Someone bought a pair of Bass shoes. They left the shoe box. Thanks.

No big deal really, but here are some more things that make me shake my head....
- 2 huge empty water jugs. I guess that someone thought that these may be useful. They weren't.
- A huge empty jug of vinegar without a lid. Perhaps it could be useful if it had a lid, but it didn't and it's not.
- 2 empty cans of bug spray. Did someone think that another person may have magical powers to restore the contents of the can? I know I don't.
- In the closet where an enormous plastic bag houses hundreds of empty plastic bags, (which I recycle at the WalMart, it's a tradition for me...) I found jammed in there several broken plastic hangers, and multiple tags for g-string underwear and some bras. Thanks. I like sorting through that kind of thing.
- Batteries that don't work. If they don't work for you, they probably don't work for me. There is a battery tester in the same drawer, feel free to dispose of them yourself.

I could go on, but let's discuss the fridge for a moment... Please house guests, (yes this is in the 'book') please, please look in the fridge before you go grocery shopping. We have ketchup, we have mustard. If you look in the fridge and are unsure if the mayonnaise is still good, then pitch it and buy another, don't leave the questionable mayonnaise and buy another. As long as there is some edible mayonnaise in the fridge I won't be upset with you for throwing out the bad stuff. This also applies to: Barbecue sauce (5 containers), mustard, (2 regular, 2 Dijon), ketchup (2, both Heinz), salad dressing (2 Italian, and multiple other kinds), 3 containers of margarine, 2 strawberry jams, 3 mayonnaise, 4 soya sauce bottles, I could go on... Needless to say, I throw a lot of things out when I'm there...

Howabout the spice cupboard? I think that if a spice is so crusty is doesn't move in the bottle, that it is probably pass due. So if you deduce as such and purchase another jar of garlic salt, feel free to throw out the other one. You can do it. I give you that power. The same applies for any and all other spices.

If a tube of toothpaste (which we typically don't brag about supplying, but if one is left there and you have forgotten yours, then feel free to use it) is empty for you, it will probably be empty for someone else. If there are 2, (yes 2!) empty tubes of toothpaste, an empty box of bandaids, empty shampoo and conditioner bottles, you can throw those away too. Also, although I can appreciate the need for feminine hygiene products, I want everyone to know that you shouldn't feel the need to leave boxes and boxes and bags and bags of the products under the bathroom counter. A few should do. There are enough pads and tampons for year. Seriously... it's getting offensive and odd.

Basically, in one week I threw out 6 garbage bags of junk. There is no recycling at all in this area, so I feel tremendous guilt about it, but then again, it's their town and their county that are the irresponsible morons that don't implement the system... I did find and was able to recycle a huge box of cardboard.

Still, through all my frustration and amusement, it is totally worth it, and feel free to book it for a week anytime...