Bowl Me Over..

This.

is my favourite bowl.





It's chipped in three places, matches nothing, and I stole it from a roadside motel on a roadtrip*
I eat curries in it mainly, because I never, ever eat cereal.

Sometimes I awaken to the sight of someone, usually my husband, eating breakfast out of it.
This, despite the oh, 10-or-so normal, matching bowls I have bought them to eat cereal out of, and which I wash, quite regularly, so that they may partake in the morning grain, and the fact I put my bowl at the bottom of the stack.

It sets me on edge, but know it's not normal to feel so strongly about a mismatched piece of stoneware, probably retailing for $1.99 at Woolies.

Although if the culprit is my husband, we will have the conversation of the gritted teeth later on.

Everybody knows Mummy's Motto is "don't touch my stuff".


My kids drive me crazy daily with their "my cup, his cup, mine is the YELLOW one, screech screech wahh, he took my BLUE plate, not THAT blue, the OTHER blue one" shizz .. but the thing is, I deserve it, and I understand it.

My parents were functioning hippy types, which as I see it, was a cover-up for being poor and not really wanting to be.  So they wore kaftans, and we didn't have carpets.  Polished floorboards were NOT cool, and neither was our cowskin rug ( which I secretly loved, mind you ).. and they spoke this rubbish about FAMILY GERMS.  Which bugs me to this day, and i'm pretty sure is why I have an aversion to bathtubs**

So cups were communal, apparently.  Barf-o-rama.  If I arc'ed up, I got the 'family germs' lecture, which basically said it was ok for everyone to swig out of the milk bottle, because it's "natural"... 
I'm shuddering as I type.. 

So somewhere in there, mum got a set of coloured plastic tumbers, and I got some stickers from a pkt of ZooperDoopers and slapped them on the white cup.  My cup.  The one with the naff sticker on it.


Because
Seriously.
'Family Germs' are a crock. 

I don't even share drinks with my own kids, or polish off anything they've touched .. even if it does look really yummy. 


Cooties.  Gross.







* Roadtrip, c. 1998, Dec 31st - did the NSW South Coast without making any bookings anywhere.  Ended up in a no-tell motel where they saved on space by plumbing the toilet into the shower cubicle.  Smart.  Went out for takeaway, got back to realise no cutlery.  Called reception who did not want to loan us a couple of forks in case we stole them.  Gave us a hard time about it.  Finally got some forks, which we washed and returned, but I stole a bowl instead.  Never would have stolen it if they weren't so paranoid about us stealing the forks.  Yeah, I know.

** We shared bathwater.  One bath for 4 people.  I used to stand in the bath wrapped in my towel when it was my turn and kick the water around a bit so it sounded like I was washing.  Then take a shower in the morning.  Like nature intended.