It’s not very often I have a whole morning set aside to write a new blog (rather overdue). For this I had two possibilities: one on originality in art and the other about hanging plastic eggs on a tree stump—-hadn’t decided yet on which one.
The morning even began with extra time. I didn’t have to drive Rose the 25 minutes into school as she was home sick. And I firmly believe in the unwritten parents’ rule that sick children can lie on the couch and watch TV all day, as long as they keep the volume down. I also wasn’t walking the dogs as I felt Rose needed the company and besides, how much more winter weather could one take? And so I began, after two cups of tea and a lovely breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter and some fresh strawberries on the side, in high spirits:
9:05 Realize that another cup of tea could help thinking power. Add several chocolate kisses that Rose found in Helen’s Valentine’s bag from two months ago. Hide empty bag so Helen won’t notice.
9:12 Sit down at computer and remember that I need to print off an email about paying for a book review (Spiders from Heaven sales not really stellar, but hope springs eternal).
9:13 Search K-State Webmail for needed email about Kirkus Reviews. K-State not responding. Go to Gmail while waiting and see two new notices from Facebook–someone commented on my comment and someone else liked my comment.
9:26 Go back to Webmail—still loading. Get out and get back on. Loads this time but no email about review. Under my breath curse Webmail’s new format for hiding things in stupid manner.
9:33 Wonder if this particular email could be in Gmail. Find it. Decide to move it to “Writing” folder but delete by mistake. Curse again (in soft voice at least) and look up in trash. Not there, so search and find back in “writing”. Don’t understand but print out anyway.
9:47 Start to look for manila folder to put printed email in and figure it’s a good time to heat up tea. Realize I need my glasses to search for folder but don’t know where they are. Start to look with no luck. Feel another cursing episode coming on (this time not in quiet voice) so try and delay it by deep breathing and telling myself to “let it go”. Miraculously find glasses not so cleverly hidden behind computer. Find folder and put paper into it.
10:11 Sit back down and think about a good title for either blog topic then wonder if the two ideas could be combined with something catchy for the first line like “There is no originality in hanging eggs from tree stumps”. Know needs more work.
10:22 Feel blood sugar is a little low so take a necessary break. Remember that I promised Rose I would try out the Pampered Chef Microwave Chip Maker (bought at her youth group fundraiser) and figure I could at least read the directions now.
10:23 Decide I should try out the gadget, as it sounds like a cinch to do. Get out potatoes and slice and blot and salt and put them on black rubber trays and into microwave—away we go. Three minutes to start with and then 30 second internals until “desired crispness is reached”. Twelve minutes later with no crispness. Reread directions and realize my slices are three times the suggested width. Guess that’s why the “highly recommended” Simple Slicer (for best results use setting 1)would have been helpful.
11:04 Start to dig in almost overflowing kitchen trash for name of woman who sold me device so I can call and see if she offers tech help. Know I don’t really want to put my hand in trash and have bright idea to search for her email and find phone number. Or, even better, google “What to do if the The Pampered Chef Microwave Chip Maker chips aren’t crisp”.
11:10 Find an amazing number of sites to go to, including several youtube demonstrations, but are of little help, as one won’t load and the other shows perfect potato chips in three and a half minutes (man of course used the Simple Slicer, set on 1). Another site suggests many options, including using only russet potatoes, leaving the skin on, and lots of trial and error.
11:36 Get grocery list and add russet potatoes. Remember that Helen said we’re almost out of ketchup but was sure we had a bottle in the pantry. Go and look, see none, and add that to list. Suddenly realize there is nothing planned for dinner…..maybe a pasta dish. More pantry searching.
11:42 Head back to computer with great determination to write something about art and eggs. Hear the sound of a toilet flushing and see Rose beside me, talking excitedly about how the new toilet paper is “decorated” and she thinks it’s “beautimous”. Wonder if I have forgotten that I bought decorated toilet paper and if this is another example of my recent memory losses. See Rose running back with one white square to show me–has no colored designs but is indeed quite lovely with an angular raised design.
11:44 Am reminded of how nice it is to get excited about little things. And how often Rose used to say things like, “Spaghetti for dinner? This is the best day of my life!” Then remember something about this in my book and look it up:
December 17, 2008
Jerrie—it was great to get your update and hear you are doing well with your health, your business, and your two sweet boys! To think that we all still haven’t met Ian’s little brother. And thanks for your concern about the weather here. Here’s a recent related story. While trying to get the girls to school one morning in the middle of a blizzard, the car broke down. So there we sat, by the side of the road, waiting for a tow truck, as it got colder and colder (no, the motor wouldn’t even turn over at that point). Rose was staying warm with a blanket covering her and she started to have fun drawing pictures on the windows, which were quickly frosting up on the inside. She looked at me and said, quite sincerely, “This is the best day of my life!” Ah…it reminded me of a favorite scene from Northern Exposure (Did you use to watch that?) The rich guy and the café owner were remembering a time when they had to spend a night stranded along a trail in the mountains. It was freezing cold and they ended up huddling inside the carcass of a dead moose. After more details of this harrowing experience, one turns to the other and says, “Yes, it just doesn’t get any better than that!” The adventure continues….Ann
12:00 Think I’ll let this new blog percolate on the back burner some more. There might even be something besides originality in art or plastic eggs on tree stumps that I want to write about. In the meantime, I’ll join the dogs and Rose on the couch (although one dog is going to have to get off to let me on). We need to decide what we can have for lunch since we’re not having potato chips done to the desired crispness. And maybe we can practice her lines in the class play (now an understudy for the LEADING ROLE). We might even talk about the loveliness of decorated toilet paper. You just don’t know what’s going to be the best day of your life.
Don’t you just love typing a question into Google and finding out you’re not the only person who had that question? It always makes me feel so validated or something like that.