O Tupperware, O Tupperware...

There's this meme setup that goes "if I ever won the lottery, I wouldn't tell anyone...but there would be signs," and the accompanying picture is...whatever the sign would be. 

I feel like this is my kitchen right now, only it's "if my marriage was approaching two decades, I wouldn't tell anyone [or would tell everyone]...but there would be signs." And this would be the accompanying image:

It's a spatula/flipper (as opposed to a spatula/scraper; we tend to clarify at our house because I grew up calling both these things "spatulas" and didn't everybody? Apparently not) that we've had for nearly two decades now. The handle was melted at one point. And a couple inches of it broke off a few years ago. But we kept it around because we liked it. 

We've accumulated several others over the years, but this spatula was different.

This was a good spatula. It was the spatula, if you know what I mean. 

There are other spatulas and then there is the spatula.

It's rather met its demise now, I think. 

I'm sure a new favourite will surface, but for now we're keenly feelings its loss.

*****

We were gifted some take'n'toss Tupperware for our wedding.

Because we were married so close to Christmas, they were red and green containers. The red ones were 9x11 and the green ones were handy-sized bowls—just right for holding a bag of microwave popcorn or a batch of homemade yogurt or, you know, catching vomit. 

We use the red ones for holding baked goods, typically. A batch of cookies fits so nicely in one of those containers! Leftover pizza goes great in those containers as well. Lots of leftovers fit nicely, actually.

Clearly I missed some notes on the 'n'toss features of the take'n'toss concept because we have been heavily using these containers for two solid decades (or thereabouts). 

Recently (like on November 1) we took one of these red containers—filled with cookies—to the ward Halloween party and forgot it at the venue. It was a real crisis, but we solved it by making Rachel text her friend Jessica who is dating the boy of the people who hosted the party and...we got it back...phew!

"This is the container your parents wanted back?" Jessica asked incredulously as she handed it back to Rachel. "I thought it would be special or something."

That container is special, Jess-i-ca.

Andrew accidentally cracked its match while he was...scooping something frozen...out of the container? Or something? I can't  remember. I just know that he shattered the bottom of the container and it was a very sad day. 

He had already melted one of the lids on a stove burner...but it's still functional, so we still have it (in case anything happens to the other lid, obviously). 

Losing one of these wonderful 9x11 containers was hard enough, Jess-i-ca! 

We couldn't lose both of them. 

We still technically have two 9x11 containers in our Tupperware arsenal because someone at some point left one at our house (and we didn't have a Rachel-Jessica relationship to exploit to get it back...or they just didn't care about getting it back...or something). It is likewise super handy and we use it all the time for cookies......but Andrew is suspicious of it (because it originated outside of our home) so it also gets called on for odd jobs like catching rainwater in the attic during hurricanes.

*****

I'm not sure what it was that clued Andrew in to the fact that these containers actually weren't special and were, in fact, 100% replaceable. 

Could it be that after Jessica said, "This is the container your parents wanted back? I thought it would be special or something," she also said, "These are like two bucks at Target."

Yes, that could have been it. 

So for our anniversary (or perhaps not for our anniversary—let's remember the difference between correlation and causation, people!—but right around our anniversary) Andrew procured not one but two sets of 9x11 Tupperware containers. 

Brilliant. We are always wishing we had more of those. 

*****

Well, on December 18 I was loading the dishwasher. And there were clean dishes stacked on the counter above the dishwasher...along with these still-in-the-packaging containers. And then I finished emptying the sink and turned on the garburator/in-sink-erator/disposal, which chomped so angrily on bits of whatever that it shook the dishes stacked on the counter loose. All the pans and things that had been resting against the wall/backsplash to dry (air drying is more sanitary than towel-drying) slid down onto the counter, sending the things that were sitting nearer the edge of the counter sailing off.

Rachel and I were both in the kitchen and lunged to save things and, honestly, we caught a lot of things. 

But those brand new containers? They fell on the floor and landed right on the little pull-tabs, rendering the lids fairly well broken.

Sad day. I texted Andrew to show him what I'd done. It felt a little bit like that time I broke our measuring cup...and then got a new set of measuring cups in the mail...completely smashed to bits.

It turned out alright in the end. Andrew admitted that he'd cheaped out and bought the off-brand Tupperware, which just doesn't have as much...life...to it in the first place. So I told him to splurge and he did ($2.50 per container rather than $2.00—we are living large) and now we are for real the proud new owners of Even More Tupperware Than Before!