In adulthood, do you have days when you feel like you experience the grown-up version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?
I certainly do! In particular, this weekend before Thanksgiving, I experienced events with one urgent request preceding another.
First, I pushed the brew button on the way out the door with our dog, expecting the warm fragrance of ground coffee beans when I returned. Instead, I heard beeping with only a few drips in the pot and water still in the tank. I kept pressing. It kept beeping. The coffee maker stopped working!
Promptly, I left the house to buy a new one; after finding a good deal, the new coffee maker and a few Christmas gifts were in my cart. Since I was out, I might as well go to the grocery store. Yes, I needed Thanksgiving meal ingredients. The lines were long, and I was glad to check it off a to-do list I had not written yet.
After I returned home, I put the groceries away and unpacked the machine to brew a cup of coffee, meaning I had to read the directions and figure out how to use it. Then, I assembled the parts, and ran clean water through the machine to clean the dust particles, which might have settled. I then realized this looming stainless tower would not fit on the narrow table where the old one sat.
Since Thanksgiving is a few short days away, I need to solve the problem of brewing a cup of coffee, which also means cleaning, organizing, and moving items around to make room for the coffee maker and clear space for cooking in my small kitchen.
Therefore, I moved the narrow table with six vertical drawers and folded leaves into the kitchen. After I unfolded the table leaves, righting them on support legs, I realized the coffee maker had troubles for a while. It leaked quietly and mysteriously over time, leaving drips and drops dried in long, thin rows down the legs, hinges, and horizontal bars hidden beneath.
Subsequently, I stored two sets of linen napkins in some drawers, neatly pressed and folded for such an occasion as Thanksgiving. Each time the machine brewed, those dainty dinner napkins embroidered and scalloped soaked up the brown liquid.
While I went up and down stairs for supplies and storage of infrequently used kitchen objects, I noticed how worn the paint appeared on the risers and steps. That could mean one thing: spruce up the staircase with a coat of paint!
Between drying coats, I cleaned off coffee stains and placed the roaster oven to cook the turkey on the once-used coffee bar, then arranged counters and shelves to find a new home for the coffee maker. Finally, I pushed the brew button and poured myself a cup.
But then, when I unfolded the dry cloth napkins, I discovered dyed subtleties of coffee stains in beautiful patterns, each different from the other. Could I repurpose the embroidered, scalloped, and coffee-dyed napkins into a creative art project? I wonder.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Please share your grown-up version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
