I can't find it!

My wife and I have noticed that if ever we are looking for something important, frequently, we are unable to find it. However, in those situations, inevitably we will find something else that we had previously looked for, in exactly the same place that we had looked, and been unable to find.

However, if you deliberately look for something else, in order to trick the universe into letting you find the thing that you really want to find, the universe laughs at your attempt, and you still don't find it.

Anyone else get that?