i'm pretty sure it IS a law (state of course, not federal)

Since I no longer do a Mon-Fri 9-5 (or Mon-Fri 7-6 as was the case) I keep what is closer to my body's natural hours. That is, I sleep later and stay up later.
Night time is the right time in the Nikiverse.
Dinner, therefore, is often 8, 9 or 10pm. If I wait too much later than that I start to get a little odd as the blood sugar gets wobbly.
It is probably a good thing that I live alone because when this happens I tend to have arguments with myself or inanimate objects.
Case in point: on Sunday I was cooking tater tots around 11pm.
Tots are delicious as is, but i'd decided that I wanted them with a little cheese and a lot of Old Bay.  As the timer hit 2 minutes to go I went to the spice cabinet to get the Old Bay.
I didn't see it.

Now this isn't my house, but I am here often enough to know the kitchen pretty well and I know this is where spices are kept.
But it is a tall, narrow shelf, so maybe the can is behind something.
I move things around, lift things up, and stand on my tippitty-toes looking for the distinctive square, yellow metal container.
Nope.
Okay, I say out loud, maybe they have a bottle instead of a can; I mean I just bought a bottle instead of a can so maybe I just didn't see it cause I was looking for the can.
The shelves get tossed again, the timer rings to signal that the tots are ready and the Old Bay is nowhere to be found.
This is crazy, says I to absolutely no one without even a hint of irony.

The lower corner spinny shelves are where cooking things and staples are kept so I open it up and spy some dry rubs, including the house's favorite chili Lime from Stubb's.
This is where the Old Bay must be.
Spinning the top shelf all the way around yields no Old Bay.

Maybe they don't have any since they use so many other types of seasonings, I mused dejectedly, but then angrily replied to myself, No way, Niki; there isn't a house in Maryland that doesn't have Old Bay in it. It's like a LAW, for goodness sakes.
Come on, now; the tots are burning.

Which is when I notice the industrial sized spice containers on the very bottom, including, you guessed it:
Old Bay.
I knew it.
A house without Old Bay just isn't a home.

In case you were wondering,
the tater tots were fabulous.



ps- JP and KP you are out of tater tots