I’m. Not. Kidding.
I’m going to share with you a secret phrase that will change your life, your marriage, your relationship with your kids, maybe even your relationship with your boss or co-workers!
You will be so thankful to know this secret that you might come to my house and shower me with home-made cookies and flowers…(actually, I REALLY love chocolate cake…so if you’re going to bring something, bring that.)
Here’s the deal, my brave friends…we women have an uncanny talent for keeping an internal catalog of all things… At any given time I’ll bet you could give me a good idea of where your daughter’s library book is, or where your hunky husband’s favorite baseball cap is, or where your teenager’s ipod is, or where your boss’s oh-so-important spreadsheet is…
Admit it.
And if you’re like me, it makes you NUTS because everyone KNOWS that you have this uncanny talent, and so you are like the family ‘Google’…everyone comes to you FIRST to find whatever it is they’re missing. Am I right??!
Knowing that we love our hunky husbands and our children and so on, we WANT to be helpful, but let’s admit that it can be slightly irritating to be asked countless times a day where this is, or where that is, and have you seen my?….

Here comes the secret….when said sweetly and with a nice smile, these four words will change your life…

This sounds NOTHING like ‘find it yourself’ or ‘do I look like I have time to find your stuff?’ or ‘if you would just keep your room clean you wouldn’t lose things!’. Instead, it sounds to their ears like, ‘I am oh-so-happy to help you find your lost whatever…just tell me where you’ve looked and I’ll put my day on hold while I find it for you.’

When I started answering my hunky husband with these simple little words, magic happened. He would immediately turn around with a puzzled look on his face as if he were thinking…”Hmmmmmm…where HAVE I looked? Where did I put that?….) and I would never hear about it again. Somehow, magically, mysteriously, he was able to find whatever little lost thing he was looking for WITHOUT MY HELP.
AND because I said it sweetly and lovingly and with a smile, he had no idea what I was really up to.
I’ve been using these magnificent little words for years now, and I’ve found that they work equal magic on all ages of people. As time goes on, they even start to look for things BEFORE they ask me! (Can you imagine?)
And guess what?
If they really have given it a diligent try and looked everywhere they possibly can, I am more than happy to help out. After all, I am a woman with that incredible feminine talent…
Chances are, I’ll know right where it is.
Change your life….try it.
Love you sooooooo much,
Kathy
This was hysterical! Love the graphics. I’ll have to let you know if the phrase works on toddlers.
Love it!
I love you.
Kathy, this is great! I was grinning from ear to ear as I read this. Hugs, Terri
Oh, kathy – I LOVE you!!!!
I may get a tattoo of these 4 words on my wrist so I don’t forget them when I want to scream “Have you even tried looking yet?” or “it’s probably exactly where I put it.”
I’m trying it tonight – I am imagining my peaceful house right now. Ahhh….
genius … pure genius …
I love the reference to us being like a google account. Too funny!
Thanks for the great post. I am going to put this to work!
Love this Kathy!!! I’m definitely gonna use those 4 magic words!!!
Brilliant. Simply Brilliant.
This is just too fun! I am gonna start tonight!
I bow to the master!
Love this! I will adopt this immediately! I also use the phrase “that’s unfortunate” when someone shares something with me that I can do nothing about. It’s way better than “I’m sorry” because most of the time I have nothing to be sorry about. “It’s unfortunate that you feel that way.” “It’s unfortunate that you failed to meet that deadline.” And so on. Thanks for the tip!
Love, Love, Love this.
Oh dear! I am afraid I’M the one that is usually looking for something! After all, Kathy, I emailed YOU when I couldn’t find my camera charger! (but seriously, I did look everywhere before I asked) I’m thinking I’m going to have to print this out (with a picture of sweet you, of course) and ask MYSELF this from now on! Where have I looked… hmmmm….
No hunky husband or mob of kids….but I enjoyed this post. Great visuals!
I am so trying this, thanks Kathy!!! now just to remember in the heat of the moment – I guess it takes practice
Oh, my!! I love this!!
Will be used next opportunity!!!
he he he!!!! magic words!!!! no one will ever know…..
xoxoxoxox
brilliant!
I LOVE this!! Can’t wait to try it – thanks for sharing! =)
Oh boy can I relate! Thank you for sharing a new way to respond. Sometimes I feel like I am always so mean because they ask like I did something with with it!
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Miss you and your beautiful voice!
Kate
Practical help……LOVE THIS! Thank you Kathy!! Your cartoon like pictures are so endearing and gigglified!! You girls make life fun. Best day to you. XO
What a sweet turn around…..I’m going to try it, because my usual smart-ass reply “Last time I, wore your, drove your, read your, used your, XXXXXXXXX” results in eyes rolling, feet stomping, me giggling (I might miss that) and is probably not the kindest, most loving response I should issue. Of course, you, the kindest most loving woman on earth, would have the answer to turn it all around!! Love you and miss you!! Shelley
Oh Kathy…. Thank you! This IS pure genious~ I am using it from now on.. and I am passing along this link to all the women I know!
Thank you for sharing Kathy. I will for sure try it because with kids and a hubby I do get asked this ALL the time.
And I love your post and all the cute pictures and blurbs.
Thank you for sharing beautiful brave mama
LOVE IT! No need for use on the hubs, but definitely the tiny ones. Sounds like Love & Logic…letting THEM (whoever they may be) be responsible for themselves. I think we as women like to take responsibility for others’ issues because it makes us feel IMPORTANT TO BE SO NEEDED, when in fact we have important things of our own heart to spend time on, yes?
BRILLANT….. just brilliant!
I so heart you…..
Love this, Kathy – brilliant!
I’m using those 4 little words next time! Thank you Kathy . You always make me smile!
Love ya,
Lee Ann
Oh Kathy. You are so right. I have a mental catalog of everything in this house and I am far from organized. And with 4 boys with ADHD someone is ALWAYS asking me where something is. Usually I just tell them where to go look for it. But I will definitely use these four words. I try to teach responsibility every opportunity I can. I will be ever so curious to find out how this works for us. If it works for our house it will work for anyone I can assure you of that!!!
LOVE THIS and LOVE YOU Kathy!!!! Totally going to try this!!!!
Perfect! I can’t wait to give it a try!
This is delightful!!! Love, love the graphics of you….funny!!! You girls DO make life fun, and I, for one, sure need booster shots on that!
Thank you for another delightful lesson in sweetness and smiling responses to various queries!
Hi Kathy, yes I must agree brilliant, why didn’t I think of these 4 simple magic words.
I am going to try them and will let you know the response I get. My nephew is quite different to my grown children when they were small so it will be interesting to see his reaction.
Thanks for your wonderful blog keep the FUN coming
God bless
Love you SO much! … and yes, genius. <3 SJ