diff --git a/daemon/timerthread.c b/daemon/timerthread.c
index 609a8b5b0..312f47c60 100644
--- a/daemon/timerthread.c
+++ b/daemon/timerthread.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ static void timerthread_thread_init(struct timerthread_thread *tt, struct timert
 	cond_init(&tt->cond);
 	tt->parent = parent;
 	ZERO(tt->next_wake);
+	tt->obj = NULL;
 }
 
 void timerthread_init(struct timerthread *tt, unsigned int num, void (*func)(void *)) {
@@ -35,6 +36,8 @@ static int __tt_put_all(void *k, void *d, void *p) {
 static void timerthread_thread_destroy(struct timerthread_thread *tt) {
 	g_tree_foreach(tt->tree, __tt_put_all, tt);
 	g_tree_destroy(tt->tree);
+	if (tt->obj)
+		obj_put(tt->obj);
 	mutex_destroy(&tt->lock);
 }
 
@@ -56,24 +59,33 @@ static void timerthread_run(void *p) {
 	while (!rtpe_shutdown) {
 		gettimeofday(&rtpe_now, NULL);
 
-		/* lock our list and get the first element */
-		struct timerthread_obj *tt_obj = g_tree_find_first(tt->tree, NULL, NULL);
-		/* scheduled to run? if not, we just go to sleep, otherwise we remove it from the tree,
-		 * steal the reference and run it */
 		long long sleeptime = 10000000;
-		if (!tt_obj)
-			goto sleep;
+		// find the first element if we haven't determined it yet
+		struct timerthread_obj *tt_obj = tt->obj;
+		if (!tt_obj) {
+			tt_obj = g_tree_find_first(tt->tree, NULL, NULL);
+			if (!tt_obj)
+				goto sleep_now;
+
+			// immediately steal reference
+			// XXX ideally we would have a tree_steal_first() function
+			g_tree_remove(tt->tree, tt_obj);
+		}
+
+		// scheduled to run? if not, then we remember this object/reference and go to sleep
 		sleeptime = timeval_diff(&tt_obj->next_check, &rtpe_now);
-		if (sleeptime > 0)
+
+		if (sleeptime > 0) {
+			tt->obj = tt_obj;
 			goto sleep;
+		}
 
-		// steal reference
-		g_tree_remove(tt->tree, tt_obj);
 		// pretend we're running exactly at the scheduled time
 		rtpe_now = tt_obj->next_check;
 		ZERO(tt_obj->next_check);
 		tt_obj->last_run = rtpe_now;
 		ZERO(tt->next_wake);
+		tt->obj = NULL;
 		mutex_unlock(&tt->lock);
 
 		// run and release
@@ -85,9 +97,10 @@ static void timerthread_run(void *p) {
 		mutex_lock(&tt->lock);
 		continue;
 
-sleep:;
+sleep:
 		/* figure out how long we should sleep */
-		sleeptime = MIN(10000000, sleeptime); /* 100 ms at the most */
+		sleeptime = MIN(10000000, sleeptime);
+sleep_now:;
 		struct timeval tv = rtpe_now;
 		timeval_add_usec(&tv, sleeptime);
 		tt->next_wake = tv;
@@ -113,13 +126,23 @@ void timerthread_obj_schedule_abs_nl(struct timerthread_obj *tt_obj, const struc
 
 	if (tt_obj->next_check.tv_sec && timeval_cmp(&tt_obj->next_check, tv) <= 0)
 		return; /* already scheduled sooner */
-	if (!g_tree_remove(tt->tree, tt_obj))
-		obj_hold(tt_obj); /* if it wasn't removed, we make a new reference */
+	if (!g_tree_remove(tt->tree, tt_obj)) {
+		if (tt->obj == tt_obj)
+			tt->obj = NULL;
+		else
+			obj_hold(tt_obj); /* if it wasn't removed, we make a new reference */
+	}
 	tt_obj->next_check = *tv;
 	g_tree_insert(tt->tree, tt_obj, tt_obj);
 	// need to wake the thread?
-	if (tt->next_wake.tv_sec && timeval_cmp(tv, &tt->next_wake) < 0)
+	if (tt->next_wake.tv_sec && timeval_cmp(tv, &tt->next_wake) < 0) {
+		// make sure we can get picked first: move pre-picked object back into tree
+		if (tt->obj && tt->obj != tt_obj) {
+			g_tree_insert(tt->tree, tt->obj, tt->obj);
+			tt->obj = NULL;
+		}
 		cond_signal(&tt->cond);
+	}
 }
 
 void timerthread_obj_deschedule(struct timerthread_obj *tt_obj) {
@@ -134,6 +157,12 @@ void timerthread_obj_deschedule(struct timerthread_obj *tt_obj) {
 	if (!tt_obj->next_check.tv_sec)
 		goto nope; /* already descheduled */
 	gboolean ret = g_tree_remove(tt->tree, tt_obj);
+	if (!ret) {
+		if (tt->obj == tt_obj) {
+			tt->obj = NULL;
+			ret = TRUE;
+		}
+	}
 	ZERO(tt_obj->next_check);
 	if (ret)
 		obj_put(tt_obj);
diff --git a/include/timerthread.h b/include/timerthread.h
index 58b65a34b..7c0e3de3d 100644
--- a/include/timerthread.h
+++ b/include/timerthread.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ struct timerthread_thread {
 	mutex_t lock;
 	cond_t cond;
 	struct timeval next_wake;
+	struct timerthread_obj *obj;
 };
 
 struct timerthread {