The Experiment is Over

Started on:

March 19, 2009

Hypothesis:

It will take Rob a long time to notice that the picture needs fixing.

Materials and Methods:

1 picture barely showing in the frame.

I left the picture alone and just noticed, from day to day, if Rob fixed it or said anything about it.

Results:

Rob noticed the picture much sooner than I thought he would. I was ready to wait months and months. Instead, he noticed and fixed the picture not 12 days later, on March 28, 2009, when I took this picture as proof:

(Rob says he fixed it the day before, but I figure that since the picture had been messed up for a few days before the official start date, I can say that it officially was fixed on the day I took this picture.)

Rob was thrilled to find out that he had been the object of an experiment--you know, since he's a scientist himself.

Future Directions:

No more experiments on Rob. He is a thoughtful, wonderful person and I take him for granted. We will continue to apply our scientific minds to running experiments with/for the kids. For instance, the Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit and Orange Comparison Experiment that we ran the other day at dinner. That was a lively one.

Day 1

I'm running an experiment. Today will be Day 1. Really, it's day 3 or 4, but since I wasn't documenting it before, it'll be Day 1.

Sometimes I get frustrated with Rob and myself and life. I'm a stay-at-home mom, and that's awesome. But it means that almost single-handedly I do the chores. Especially since Rob is involved with the Bishopric, so he's gone even more hours. And I hate chores.

Last year I had a revelation. I realized that I was doing chores so that when Rob came home he could spend the time with me and the kids instead of spending time with my dishes. And suddenly, my world became a lot brighter. And for the first time, I started leading my home. I came up with a better way to do the laundry. I started doing things more cheerfully and with more purpose. I started saying the phrase "my house."

But, still, every now and again, it really bugs me that if I don't clean my room, Rob won't either. He'll do the dishes eventually. But he won't ever really clean the living room (or any other room), do the laundry, mop the floor, or clean the toilet without me asking. Part of this is because I have higher cleanliness standards than he does, so by the time he'd be bugged by a room being dirty, I'd be losing my mind! And I get that, I do. But, still.

Occasionally I'll think to myself, "Fine. I'm not going to do the laundry and let's just see how long it takes you to notice." ... The end result of such experiments has been that not only does he not really care that the laundry isn't getting done, he hardly even notices, and eventually I do it anyway and by then I've got a huge backlog of laundry to do. SO not worth it.

I've thought that I could do everyone's laundry but his and see how he likes that. But that's spiteful and mean, and I'm not like that. I might TALK as if I'm like that, but I'm not really.

So, yesterday this one dawned on me: an experiment that's non-spiteful and completely non-consequential. There's a picture in our bedroom. It's a set of pictures in fact. Rob's senior pictures. And one picture keeps falling down. So my experiment:

1. See how long it takes Rob to notice.

2. Note what his reaction is. Does he mention it to me? Does he fix it himself?

I'm ready to let this experiment run as LONG AS IT TAKES. It might be a full year. Seriously. It wouldn't shock me.

(You might be thinking that this experiment is a little harsh for a man that doesn't notice when I do laundry. But if you can come up with a better experiment, pray tell me about it! I'm open to ideas.)