New Tricks, No Treat

My family members have learned a few new tricks to save themselves a bit of energy.  They have over-bought into the energy saving revolution, I think.  The problem is, their energy saving tricks have meant more energy usage for me. 

For instance, the plastic drinking cups in the cupboard kept disappearing.  They weren't in the dishwasher...not in the sink waiting to be put into the dishwasher...not in the cupboard waiting to be used.  Hmmm...Then suddenly, they appeared on the kitchen counter.  Some of them empty, some of them with various amounts of liquid in them.  I was surprised and slightly creeped out.  One moment I had my back to the counter putting dishes in the dishwasher the next moment I turn around and there is a whole batch of cups that WEREN'T there when I started to fill the dishwasher.  They didn't make a sound!

It was a few days later I learned that my daughter had been taking glasses of water to her room at night and not bringing the cups back up the next morning.  She would hoard them until there was about a half dozen then bring them all up at once.  She would leave them on the counter and silently slip away...leaving them for me to empty and put in the dishwasher.  She had great timing.

Then there is my son who brings his lunch box in from work, opens it and deposits the contents on the counter, leaves the lunch box on one of the stools then slips off down the hall saying he'll be right back.  An hour later it is all still there so I put it away and put the lunch box where it belongs...out of my way.  When I see him later and tell him I finally put it all away he gives me that puzzled look and says, "oh, I thought I put it away." Perhaps the act of taking it out of the lunch box equals 'put it away' in his mind.  I'm thinking not.

Now I can move on to my husband.  He is the master.  He will cook up something he wants for lunch or breakfast and leave a bit in the pans on the stove then tell me, "I left some for you."  It usually is something he knows I won't eat but by leaving some for me, he then feels that he has done the equivalent of 'tag, you're it' and it is now MY mess to clean up....and I do.  *sigh*  He does the same thing with his cooler when he gets home from a trip. He puts it on the counter and announces, "I brought you back some goodies!"  I know it is just snack bars, cookie packets, and any sodas he didn't drink.  I empty it out, put it away, and set the cooler by the back door waiting to go back into the garage.  It gets there eventually...when I manage to catch him going out the door to smoke a cigarette...cuz he never seems to notice that he is tripping over it in order to open the door.

I guess it is just natural that I should use more energy anyway...after all, I am the oldest, most outdated model in the house.