[2023-03-14] The label avenger returns

Tonight I bring you the third installment in the Label Avenger's Chronicles (see The label avenger and The label avenger strikes again for the backstory).

I've learned that the Label Avenger is a patient character. He posts labels in inconspicuous spots, waiting for them to be discovered, at times weeks later. Sometimes I think that even he forgets where he's placed them.

A few weeks ago, for example, I opened our binder of family recipes to find a post-it note with the word "SURPRISE" on one of our favourite recipes. The other day, I found a "HI! JEN!" at the bottom of one of my pots. And last night, when my daughter was looking for the small post-it notes, my husband pointed her to a sticky on the wall that read "POST-IT NOTES" and another that read "ICITTE LÀ" ("here").

But most of the Label Avenger's notes are mixed in with all the other ones he's created and that I've collected on the inside door of one of our kitchen cupboards. It's only when we look closely that we realize that the Label Avenger has struck again. Here are his latest crop of notes:
  • PRIVATE SIGN—DO NOT READ
  • VIANDE A CHIEN (a joke at my expense because I always think that the character Séraphin from the old Quebec soap opera Les belles histoires des pays d'en haut is saying "viande hachée")
  • SAY HELLO TO THE POST-IT MONSTER (you don't fool me, Label Avenger)
  • FOR HIRE, followed by another post-it saying HIRED
  • HOME IS WHERE THE SIGNS ARE (possibly my all-time favourite)
The Labeler's Apprentice (aka our daughter) proves that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, contributing this one:
  • I'LL TAKE INAPPROPRIATE LABELS FOR $500, ALEX (we do love our Jeopardy in this house)
I'm not sure which generation of Label Avenger added the winking face.

One other labeling tradition we have is to mark older eggs to distinguish them from new ones brought home from the store. This helps to ensure that we use the old stock first. The eggheads are the handiwork of the Labeler's Apprentice.