However, were I in your shoes, I'd not have a problem with folks using the pot provided they cleaned it afterward, and stored their food in tupperware or something, since you like to have them to cook with. In my experience, it's often a lot more comfortable for people to share things in house situations like that, since the alternative can turn into a passive aggressive ownership/pissing contest quickly.
The reason why this is a problem is because I am a vegetarian. An extremely strict vegetarian, other than the fish pills, as I've gotten sick from trace amounts of meat before; I think the fish oil may be pure enough or something that it doesn't bother my stomach, unlike basically all of my other recent meaty experiences. They have more than enough of their own cookware, and mine is reserved to the side to cook my food so that I'll have something to cook in that has never touched meat.
This is very important to me. I don't mind when people ask "hey, can I cook some eggs in your pan" and wash it directly afterwards. That's fine. Hijacking my cookware to make breakfast, day after day,
without washing it, just pisses me off.
I also have my own sponge, for precisely this reason. I do not want meat anywhere near anything I am eating out of, and I do not want people to go cookware-jacking when I don't have a second option. They do have second options. I've seen them used.
In exchange, I try not to use their dishes, either (there was one I used because I was offered pie on it). It's only fair not to make things any more difficult for them.
I think a large part of the problem may have been that I actually forgot it was mine and left it in the drying rack too long =/ I wouldn't have minded her using it in those circumstances, but it was kind of this... wave of irritation over a bunch of her other behavior. She also might not know why I'm segregating my dishware--I'm not too sure, but I know everyone else knows except possibly her.
Footkerchief, I wouldn't be angry about the other things if she weren't leaving the rest of the kitchen a filthy mess. She also leaves disgusting food in her part of the fridge and spends all her time on speakerphone, so that I've been able to hear her conversations through multiple doors and walls. She listens to music really loudly when she's in the shower... but that's more my problem with the house than any particular complaint, because this particular section is right next to the kitchen, bathroom, stairs, and washroom.
Basically, this is the only person I'm sharing the downstairs with right now, though there's four of us using the kitchen (and I only find her gunk everywhere). I was warned about her "sometimes being a bit messy" when I moved in, but to me it's getting very exhausting to feel like I don't just have to clean up after myself, I have to dodge her mess (and possibly clean parts of it).
It's true. I like things to be a lot tidier than most people probably do, especially in public spaces, and there are some things I was taught to consider reprehensibly rude as I was growing up. You close the breadbox and cabinets, every time, no matter what. You run the goddamned garbage disposal--or at least put a little water in and wash it down a little!--so people aren't greeted by the sight of your breakfast sludging up the sink. You don't leave dirty food containers all over public preparation areas. You speak quietly on the phone so other people don't have to hear it.
In any case, I've been guilty of a couple of things--leaving a wok to cool on the stove after curing it, and then forgetting about it for a couple hours, for example--so I'm just going to focus on cleaning up my own act, and if she's still annoying me once I have a leg to stand on I'll talk to her about it.