(warning: if a story about throwing up is not your thing, don't read this post. If, on the other hand, you're like me and nearly four years of motherhood has pretty much desensitized you to all things disgusting, go ahead and read)

Hypothetical situation: Your whole family is sick. One after another, you are taking turns with a nasty stomach flu. Even the dog threw up last night. Today, it is your husband's turn.

There is a garbage can next to the bed that he has been periodically vomiting into since midnight. You know it really needs to be cleaned out, but you are afraid to remove it from his bedside, should the need for it arise while it is being cleaned. Since he has risen from his sickbed and you can hear him now puking in the bathroom, you figure he doesn't need the one in the bedroom.

So you take the horrible sick-filled garbage can to the kitchen, and as you are forcing back your own gag reflex to accomplish the disgusting task, you see it:

There in the garbage can--a colorful Muppet island afloat in a sea of swill--is the case to a Bear in the Big Blue House video.

It must have been sitting on the headboard of the bed and somehow fallen into the garbage can during the night.

This movie case is not yours. Your daughters checked the video out from the library last week and just this morning you got an e-mail from said library reminding you that the movie (and accompanying case) are due to be returned soon.

Your husband staggers out of the bathroom and sees you with the garbage can.

"Did you notice....?" he says.

"Yes. I noticed."

"Yeah, I saw it there when I was puking this morning," he says. And shuffles back to the bedroom.

So. What do you do now?