The Perils of too Many Options

or "Why you should put things back where they belong when you are finished with them."

I have a Bob the Builder DVD.  Actually I currently have 7 Bob the Builder DVD's. I am certain I own 3 of them, two we have had for over a year and the other still has it's case (I take them out of their cases & put them in a binder, but I'm not always prompt at tossing the case). I am certain that I have borrowed one from one library & two others from the local movie rental place. I know this because their cases are clearly labeled with their owner's names & the the due dates.  The seventh one though, I'm at a loss to explain. I might have bought it recently at the second hand store & tossed the case. I bought several kid vids there for $3 a DVD & I do remember tossing a couple cases. (I resell them on half.com if the kids are not into them)  I might have borrowed it from the local video store, or even Blockbuster. Or I might have checked it out of two different county libraries.  I don't have the case, so I have no way of knowing. I can't call & ask any of them because the libraries & the local video place won't tell you what you have checked out unless you are standing in front them, photo ID in one hand and member/library card in the other.  I suppose I could be tricky about it. I could call them & say I'd like to extend my loan on this DVD & if they say "We don't have that listed for you" then I could eliminate them.

I don't know what happened to the case. It is nowhere to be found. The standard DVD changing procedure in this house is to remove the DVD in the player, set it on top of the player, put the new movie in and then watch the new movie. Repeat with every other movie until you have a stack of DVDs sitting on the player, or until the rentals are due back. Never put the movie back in it's case or binder sleeve. Never.  Put the cases on top of the TV, or beside the TV, or stack them up on the DVD player, next to the stack of DVDs, or carry them into another room for no apparent reason. I think I am going to have to declare a moratorium on movie rentals until it has been properly demonstrated, over a period of time, that the people in this house (myself included) can be responsible human beings who take care of their things.

It's not like we don't already have a binder full of DVDs we already own & never watch.  Mostly because they are scratched from being stacked up on top of the DVD player.....