My [33m] wife [33f] keeps tying my boots after I've told her to keep her hands off of them. I tried to teach her a lesson and really hurt her feelings.

I have expensive workboots that I use on the job, and my wife has cheap boots she uses to feed her horses and walk the horseround. I keep my boots in the garage with hers.<br><br>Somehow, every day, my boots are tied. I don't tie them when I'm done because I need to wear them again the next day, and I'm just trying to get out of the door. I find them tied most nights when I move them out to the car.<br><br>I've asked my wife if she's the one tying them, and she says yes. I've told her repeatedly to not touch my boots. She says OK, but then she keeps doing it.<br><br>I think she's doing it so that they don't get rained on if I have to park outside, and she's convinced that untied boots are somehow easier to get into, even though they're way more difficult to actually secure.<br><br>This goes back and forth for months.<br><br>One day after work, I get home from a hard day and find her in the kitchen. My boots are in the garage, and I can see that they are untied. I actually get a little happy knowing she's stopped touching them.<br><br>I start walking to the fridge to grab a glass of milk, and she stops me and says "You're wearing boots inside!?" And I'm like "Yeah, I'm just grabbing a glass of milk. I'm not taking them off."<br><br>She insists I take them off, and I'm telling her I'm not going to walk around barefoot in the kitchen.<br><br>So I just stomp around the kitchen for a bit, making as much noise as I can, scuffing the tile and kicking chairs out of the way. I even intentionally walk over to her sandal that she left on the floor and stomp on it.<br><br>The whole time, she's getting more and more upset. Like, it's actually working. I've been asking her to not touch my boots, and she's just been ignoring me. But now she's actually upset.<br><br>She goes into her room and slams the door, and I go change out of my boots.<br><br>When we're both in bed and the lights are off, she says "Is this what you want?"<br><br>I ask "What do you mean?"<br><br>"What you did earlier, is that what you want?"<br><br>I'm like "No. I told you a million times not to touch my boots."<br><br>She's like "Yeah, I get it. You don't want me touching anything that belongs to you. I'll stop."<br><br>And I'm like "No, you don't."<br><br>I tell her "I don't want you touching my boots, and I don't want you touching your boots. But I also don't want you to touch my car, or my phone, or anything else that I told you to keep your hands off of."<br><br>She rolls over and turns her back to me and says "So you want me to just leave you alone, right? This is what you want."<br><br>And I'm like "No, but..."<br><br>She interrupts me and says "You want me to leave you alone, stop talking to me, stop trying to help me, stop touching me. You don't want me doing anything for you."<br><br>I'm telling her that's not what I mean, but she just rolls over, turns off the light, and tells me to stop talking to her.<br><br>She hasn't spoken to me in two days. She's just doing her own thing, going about her normal schedule. Writes me notes about the TV remote or the garbage, but otherwise won't talk to me.<br><br>How did I mess up this so bad?<br><br>Edit:<br><br>Holy shit. I just went outside to smoke a cigarette and the garage door opened. She tossed my boots into the yard, and said "If you catch me, I'm tying them. And if you miss me, I'm tying them." Then she slammed the garage door shut.<br><br>I smoked about three cigarettes before coming back in the house.<br><br>I think this might be over.